Solid Rock Resources

June 2004

It’s finally here. The long awaited summer is happening. This is the time where thousands of youth across America will attend a camp and or mission trip. These young people will have the great opportunity to accept Christ and gain a deeper commitment to the will of God. I minister to youth all year long, but the season to make the greatest impact for Christ is summer. This summer I will lead two youth missions’ trips to Monterrey, Mexico, speak six camps and Camp Padre. Can you imagine the potential to reach a generation for Christ? I will speak to enough students that could literally change the world. I need your prayers more than ever, that God would lead and guide every young person I come in contact with. Statistics say that 85% of people who accept Christ as their personal Savior do so before the age of 18 and most of those find peace with God at a camp or retreat. Please understand the incredible importance and potential that this summer has for the kingdom of God. I will be gone for nine weeks, coming back home on weekends. My family will be able to be with me at Camp Padre. They understand the importance of my enormous travel schedule for the summer. We need your prayers that God bless us, anoint us and give us strength for the task ahead. You can check our website at www.solidrockresources.com for my speaking itinerary this summer. Please take time to view pictures of last years Camp Padre on the website as students play hard but pray harder. Pray that God will do even greater things in the lives of young people this summer.

Camp Padre seems to be the buzz among our own kids. It’s definitely an annual highlight. They can’t wait to see their good friends and all the cool youth pastors they have grown to love. This will be a busy month for us as Jaroy heads out for his summer schedule. I will be on overload with Camp Padre details and Carli has a birthday on the 25th. It’s so hard to believe how fast she is growing. She received a special recognition award at school this year and she also won first place in her elementary school talent show. We are very proud of her and so are her little brothers. May God bless you as you beat the heat of the summer and enjoy these special times.

Yours For Youth,

Jaroy and Kim Carpenter

THE RUTHERFORD INSTITUTE

Dedicated to the Defense of Civil Liberties and Human Rights

May 18, 2004

Contact: Nisha N. Mohammed, phone 434-978-3888 ext. 604

pager: 800-946-4646,Pin #: 1478257

e-mail: nisha@rutherford.org

Rutherford Institute Attorneys File Appeal Brief In Defense of Christian Motivational Speaker’s Right to Free Exercise of Religion

Montana School Board Withdrew Invitation to Address Students, Citing Speaker’s Christian Faith, Association with Dawson McAllister Christian Ministry

SAN FRANCISCO —Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of Jaroy Carpenter, a motivational speaker whose invitation to address an assembly of middle school students in Dillon, Mont., on secular topics was rescinded by school board members because he is a Christian and affiliated with an evangelical Christian ministry. Institute attorneys argue that the school’s fears about violating the so-called separation of church and state are unsubstantiated and due to a distrust of religious persons and a misinterpretation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Institute attorneys are asking the Ninth Circuit to reverse the district court’s ruling in favor of the school district’s motion to dismiss the case, allowing the case to move toward a trial.

“Religious persons, like all others, have the right not to be discriminated against because of their beliefs or associations,” stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “After all, the right to free speech is guaranteed to all Americans by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

As part of an effort to help students cope with a string of teen suicides and automobile deaths, concerned Dillon residents approached the Dawson McAllister Association for advice on how to reach out to local youth. McAllister, a nationally recognized youth speaker who hosts a Christian radio program and conducts Christian youth rallies across the country, suggested that local middle schools and high schools stage a three-day, citywide youth rally as well as nonreligious school assemblies focusing on respect for self and others, responsibility and making the right choices. DMA recommended that motivational speaker Jaroy Carpenter, a former public school teacher who presents nonreligious speeches in public schools across the country, be invited to address the students. Carpenter gives secular presentations at high schools and middle schools, as well as religious presentations at Christian youth rallies, retreats and campus ministry functions. After reviewing the proposal for a secular in-school assembly, the school board of School District #10 invited Carpenter to present a strictly secular speech to students at Dillon Middle School on Oct. 9, 2002. However, because of concerns by school board members and their counsel that Carpenter’s Christian faith and affiliation with DMA might put the school at risk of violating the so-called separation of church and state, the school board rescinded its invitation.

Even though Carpenter has made more than 200 secular presentations at school assemblies around the country and has never addressed religion or sought to proselytize those in attendance, school board members stated that they could not risk the possibility that Carpenter would address religious matters during his speech and subject the district to a lawsuit. Many other area schools that had agreed to hold these assemblies rescinded their offers as well.

The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.

The Rutherford Institute
1440 Sachem Place, Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone 434-978-3888/Fax 434-978-1789
website: www.rutherford.org