With the president and Congress contemplating a budget that puts thousands of NASA jobs on the line, shaken members of a Clear Lake church are petitioning a higher authority.
Clear Lake Presbyterian Church is collecting 500 prayer requests online for people affected by the changes coming to Johnson Space Center.
The congregation has been charged with asking friends, neighbors and co-workers what they need during this period of uncertainty, then submitting the requests to 500prayers@gmail.com.
The entire community is invited to the church at 1511 El Dorado to pray for each request at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 27.
Pastor Steve Oglesbee said that among the concerns gathered so far:
• A NASA manager has asked for help alleviating her staff's stress.
• A group of 6th and 7th graders submitted 25 names of people they're worried about.
• Many bracing for layoffs are seeking guidance on what to do next.
• Some people with health problems are worried about losing their medical benefits.
• Some people taking new jobs elsewhere are asking for peace during the transition.
• Someone's asked that Kennedy Space Center workers be remembered, along with hotel workers and business owners in Florida.
• There have been requests that Congress be moved to support manned space exploration.
Oglesbee said the idea for a prayer campaign grew out of a sermon he preached on difficult times the week after the president announced plans to abandon NASA's back-to-the-moon Constellation project. Between that budget decision and the retirement of the space shuttle fleet, 11,500 direct and indirect jobs could vanish.
Oglesbee's congregation, of course, includes many NASA workers and contractors who were stunned to hear the news. Nearly everyone in the congregation is close to someone who will be affected.
"The sermon resonated with them," the minister said. "We wanted to do something to help the community."
Prayer was an obvious choice, and gathering specific prayer requests requires congregants to reach out in a practical way.
"We want to connect with what people’s real and specific needs are," he said. "We want to know what people are really worried about."
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Comments
Hope for a better spacefaring future.
I adore space exploration. That's why I care enough to ask: Why shouldn't NASA simply replace its Shuttle through its (still underfunded) competitive prizes program instead of through more central planning, and in fact bureaucratically stifling policies of the past? Here's NASA's genuinely pro-entrepreneurial NASA prizes program:
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http://www.CentennialChallenges.nasa.gov
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Why does that get less than 1/2 of 1% of NASA's nearly $20 billion annual budget?. Have you noticed how when Google decided that they wanted data from the Moon, they didn't request viewgraphs and (often unkept) promises? They simply offered competitive prizes, with the winners taking all:
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http://www.GoogleLunarXPrize.org
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In the spirit of enabling space launch entrepreneurs even further, how about if we finally recognize property rights in space, and have tax incentives for spacefaring companies too?
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At any rate, why is it that Google offers more in space-related competitive prizes, despite its tax burdens, than tax-exempt NASA which gets nearly $20 billion a YEAR of our tax dollars? Isn't it time our pork-barreling elected officials finally meaningfully and responsively answered that increasingly-asked question? The U.S.S.R. wasn't free enough to ask these kinds of questions, and collapsed as a result. We're enduring similar national debt pressures, as this demonstrates: http://www.usdebtclock.org
Don't we deserve better in exchange for such an ever-growing, record-setting national debt?
church prayer
How about some prayers for those in the Bush administration who squandered a surplus and left us too broke to fund schools, much less space exploration
prayers for Bush administration?
Surely you meant for those AFFECTED by their administration, not for THEM...I have no prayers for THEM but many many for those they affected
prayers for Bush
I stand corrected. For a moment I was feeling that there should be some forgiveness but upon reflecting I agree these people are beyond all redemption.
God Hates Constellation
The man is holdin you down!
You Must Be Joking
"We wanted to do something to help the community.
Prayer was an obvious choice, and gathering specific prayer requests requires congregants to reach out in a practical way."
WTF? A food drive, or setting up a fund to help the needy ex-workers is obvious and practical. If they insist on prayer (which doesn't work), they could ask people in person and on line to sed a prayer request *with a donation.*
God Lives on Mars
We need to to go Mars to see if God lives there. He certainly does live here on Earth, and we've been to the moon and didn't find him there either. Hence Mars is the next logical destination.
More belief
I need plenty more belief, plenty more power of prayer and more Holy Ghost with me. Please pray also that God gives me gifts of God's grade.
marriage
Please pray that my marrige will be restored from my seperation with my wife. That Brianna will unconditionally love her husband and follow their vows. That I, James, will get the help that I need and that the love we have share will be stronger than ever and backed by the will of God. In Jesus name I pray this.
Heal Relationship for Marriage
Dolores is deeply in love with me and I with her. I would love to marry her, but she suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). The devil is using the MPD to ruin our relationship. Dolores is in denial and refuses to talk with me about it. Please pray in Jesus's name: (1) for Dolores to have the strength to resist the devil and be delivered from evil, (2) for us to have an honest conversation about this problem leading to a resolution according to God's Will, (3) for Dolores to be healed of MPD, and (4) for us to have a fabulous relationship, in Christ, and a happy marriage. Please add this request to your prayer circle or prayer chain. Thank you, and God Bless you! Love, Mark
prayer request
To be free of persecution,protection,healing,blessing,miracles in finances,miracles to have good job and woork,miracles in pastor Thiebestro's life in Jesus Name .
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