UMTV Web Brief 10/16/02 -

Welcome to UMTV’s web brief. I’m Reed Galin.

"Let the games begin!"

BILL LORENZ HELPED GET GAMBLING APPROVED IN HIS TOWN, THEN OPENED A SMALL CASINO HIMSELF. HE THOUGHT GAMBLING REVENUE WOULD SAVE HIS TOWN, BUT NOW?

Bill Lorenz: "I look at gambling as a wild beast that devours everything in its path - communities, people, families."

25 YEARS AGO, LEGAL GAMBLING WAS SCARCE, AND HABITUAL GAMBLERS MADE UP LESS THAN ONE PERCENT OF THE POPULATION. BUT NOW STATES WITH LEGALIZED CASINOS SAY AS MUCH AS SEVEN PERCENT OF ADULTS ARE PROBLEM GAMBLERS.

"Anna": "It was a game at first, and then it became an obsession. It made me feel powerful. Of course, I only talked about my wins, not my losses."

ONE REASON GAMBLING IS NOW SOCIALLY ACCEPTED IS THAT IT'S SEEN AS A VOLUNTARY TAX, FUNDING EVERYTHING FROM SCHOOLS TO HISTORIC PRESERVATION. COLORADO'S LOTTERY, FOR EXAMPLE, PROVIDES NEARLY A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR FOR PARKS.

Dr. Linda Chamberlain, Psychologist: "There have been some communities that, when gambling has come into them, have essentially revived themselves out of desperate financial straits."

BUT INDIVIDUAL STORIES ARE SOMETIMES JUST THE OPPOSITE. BILL LORENZ MOVED AWAY - TO A TOWN WITH NO GAMBLING.

LORENZ THINKS OLD MORAL OBJECTIONS TO GAMBLING HAVE BEEN BURIED UNDER A PILE OF CASH, BUT OVER THE LAST TWENTY YEARS GAMBLING HAS GAINED WHAT IT ONCE LACKED - GOVERNMENT SPONSORED LEGITIMACY, IN MOST STATES.

This November, five more states have gambling referendums on their ballots: North Dakota, Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, and Tennessee. Tom Grey, leader of a United Methodist anti-gambling effort, is working for “no” votes.

Live up to your social principles. Gambling is a menace. It’s deadly, and it’s destructive. You don’t help. You engage it, you fight it.

It’s a product, an activity, that leads to addiction, bankruptcy, crime and corruption for a significant portion of the population that participates in it.

If this were a factory that spewed carcinogens in the air we wouldn’t be opening it up just because it provided jobs and revenue. We’d be asking, “What’s the cost?”

They market it as entertainment, just like shopping and the movie. You cannot put a dangerous product on Main Street in America and not label it for what it is.

Common sense tells you that if you have a product that is devastating in terms of finances for individuals and families, that that cost then should be borne by the product maker. We did that with tobacco. Very simply, society said, people have the freedom to smoke, but we do not have to pay for their health costs.

Like the Marines used to say, “A few good people,” I’m looking for some Methodists who would love to get in a good fight.

A United Methodist woman in North Carolina openly admits she has an addiction … a need for speed. She’s not unlike millions of NASCAR fans, except that she’s turned her passion into a ministry.

Dr. Arnetta Beverly, District Superintendent NE District of Western NC Conference: “All around the wall you will find nothing but my NASCAR pictures.”

THE OBJECTS OF THIS OBSESSION ARE THE POSSESSION OF ARNETTA BEVERLY. THE “REVEREND” ARNETTA BEVERLY.

Dr. Arnetta Beverly: “Racing for Jesus! Driving for the Lord! I love it!”

THIS UNITED METHODIST MINISTER IS NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO GORDON.

Dr. Arnetta Beverly: “Jeff Gordon beanie bear!”

HER FASCINATION WITH NASCAR HAS SPREAD AMONG CONGREGATIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA. OCCASSIONALLY, THE COLLECTION PLATE CONTAINS AN ADDITION TO HER COLLECTION.

Dr. Arnetta Beverly: “The guy came out and said, ‘We have something for you.’ And of course I’m very dignified in my robe, as befitting a United Methodist minister. And when they brought out this standup of Jeff Gordon, I lost it!”

LEST YOU THINK HER NASCAR MADNESS IS WITHOUT MERIT, REVEREND BEVERLY USES PRINCIPLES OF RACING IN HER MESSAGE.

Dr. Arnetta Beverly: “I have a sermon, N-A-S-C-A-R: Not Another Soul Can Atone or Redeem. And the sermon starts off like one is preparing for a race of life. And when the sermon ends up, we are in victory lane - not to see King Richard, but to see King Jesus. And I've had people tell me, ‘I’ll never look at another race the same way again.’”

REVEREND BEVERLY’S MISSION IS NEVER OVERSHADOWED BY THE SPORT - EVEN IF SHE SOMETIMES VEERS INTO ANOTHER LANE.

Dr. Arnetta Beverly: “It tickles people in the church when I tell them, ‘The boy’s about to drop the green flag. We’ll have the benediction shortly.’”

Reverend Beverly believes employing NASCAR in her ministry has helped some congregations to see past her African American ethnicity. “It’s easier to reach people and help them identify with your message,” she says, “if you work through their own interests.”

On the next UMTV web brief …The road less traveled - two missionaries come home from a ten thousand mile trek.