Preparations are ongoing for the 76th Church of God International General Assembly scheduled for July 19-22, 2016. In less than three months, thousands of delegates will converge on the city of Nashville, Tennessee, “Music City.”

With a new, city comes concerns about the logistics of navigating where the General Assembly has not been held previously. However, Nashville, and the Assembly venue, Music City Center (MCC), offers an abundance of accessibility and transportation options.

First of all, more than 1,000 hotel rooms are located within a three block radius of the MCC. Most delegates will be able to easily access the MCC from either the 5th Avenue or Demonbreun entrances.

For those driving in, over 1,000 covered parking spaces are located at MCC. Downtown more than 28,000 parking spaces make it easy to bring a car downtown. Broadway, downtown’s main thoroughfare, bisects numbered avenues into north and south. Most corporate offices and government agencies are north of Broadway. For more downtown parking information, please visit parkitdowntown.com.

The Metro Transit Authority (MTA) provides hourly bus service between downtown and the airport seven days a week. Downtown circulator buses, called the Music City Circuit provide free transportation Monday through Saturday. The Green Circuit carries passengers between downtown and the Gulch, while the Blue Circuit serves key destinations between the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. Music City Central, the downtown transit station, is located at 400 Charlotte Avenue. For more information, call 615-862-5950 or visit nashvillemta.org.

Ride share services, such as UBER and others are active in Nashville. Simply download the app and request a ride. A nearby driver will be dispatched to your location within minutes. The Nashville International Airport was the first airport in the country to allow ride-sharing services to operate on the property. For those wishing to take advantage of ride share services, the Church of God discount code for UBER is GA16UBER.

Kevin Brooks, Coordinator of Public Relations and Conference Management for the Church of God, also serves on the General Assembly cabinet and has been instrumental in negotiating with hotels and local transportation services. One of his favorites is a new and unique mode of transportation for downtown Nashville called Joy Ride, a complimentary downtown golf cart ride which operates by “tips only” for all riders.

“Joy Ride has embraced what downtown Nashville has become: a fun and active place with lots to do and see,” Brooks stated. “Whether on foot, car, bus or golf cart, getting around Nashville is easy and an adventure while getting there.”

Pentecost will be celebrated in one of the world’s most visited cities as delegates from around the globe gather in London, England for the inaugural Empowered21 Europe Congress. The historic Gaumont Theatre will be the site, now home to the Ruach City Church.

If God responded supernaturally to Moses, Solomon and Elijah, we can expect Him to respond supernaturally to us. I have often said, “The only thing unchangeable in this world is the God who said, ‘I am the Lord; I do not change’ (Mal. 3:6).” Everything else is subject to change, especially when God’s people pray in faith and the Almighty responds.

Our job is to introduce kids to the One who cleans up messes–Jesus.

Cleveland, TN–The Ministerial Internship Program (MIP) Commissioning Celebration will be quite an event this year. The lineup includes Jordan Smith, soloist; Mark Williams, Commissioning speaker; Tim Hill, Celebration speaker; and Brad Moffett, worship leader. Dr. Williams, presiding bishop of the Church of God, will preach on Saturday morning and lead in the commissioning of the MIP candidates.

DMG Consumer Info Radio Show, is sponsoring a special fundraiser April 30, 2016 thru September 30, 2016. The company is promoting “Covered with the Blood of Jesus” novelty gift items, including glow-wristbands, coffee mugs and bumper stickers, all emblazoned with “I Am Covered With The BLOOD OF JESUS!” Tote bags, T-shirts, baseball caps and sweatshirts with the same phrase will, also, be available. Ten percent (10%) of all sales will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

A small Canadian publisher, Baruch House of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, has published William Tyndale’s 1535 New Testament as it was contained in the Matthew Bible, including original commentaries, all gently updated by Ruth Magnusson Davis.

Two new high school courses released Wednesday by the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (IFWE) seek to equip the next generation of young people to make an impact in the world for Christ through their work. Understanding God’s Calling and Biblical Foundations for the Economic Way of Thinking are courses designed for homeschool students but can be used in a variety of educational settings, including Christian schools, churches, and small groups.

Cleveland, TN–Dr. Nancy Hill, professor of education at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education will address graduates and guests at Lee University’s spring commencement on Saturday, May 7, at 9:30 a.m. on the lawn of the Science and Math Complex (SMC).

Hill is a developmental psychologist and researcher, and her work identifies the unique and interactive ways in which race, ethnicity, and socioeconomics status influence parenting beliefs, practices and child outcomes, especially among African American, Latino, and Euro-American children. She is the co-founder of the study group on Race, Culture, and Ethnicity and has published books such as “African American Family Life: Ecological and Cultural Diversity,” “Families, Schools, and the Adolescent: Connecting Research Policy and Practice.”

Graduation festivities at the Church of God’s flagship educational institution will begin with a hooding ceremony for students earning graduate degrees. This service will take place in the Lee University Chapel on Friday, May 6, at 4:30 p.m. After the hooding ceremony, all graduates will march in the commissioning service at 6:30 p.m. on the SMC lawn. During commissioning, six graduates will share stories of their Lee experiences, and all graduates will receive Bibles to commemorate this personal milestone.  Students earning the top three awards, as chosen by the faculty, will be recognized during the Friday service. They include the F.J. Lee Award, for the top overall student, Zeno C. Tharp Award for the student believed to make the greatest impact in the church, and the Charles Paul Conn Award, given to the student believed to have the greatest potential to academically succeed beyond the undergraduate level.

On Saturday, over 510 degrees are set to be conferred, about 50 of which are for graduate students. In addition to the awarding of degrees and the address by Nancy Hill, the three top faculty awards for Excellence in Teaching, Scholarship and Advising, will be presented.

The spring commencement weekend is the largest of three graduation exercises held each year
All three ceremonies, including hooding, commissioning, and commencement will be available for live stream viewing at http://livestream.com/leeu.

For more information about commencement exercises, please contact the Academic Events Office at  academicevents@leeuniversity.edu, (423) 614-8117 or visit the website at www.leeuniversity.edu.