News & Observer | newsobserver.com | Acts of Faith: 2002

September 27, 2002 Susan Vera [/assets/story/image_buynow.comp]
Terry Smith, 12, whispers in nine-year-old Naomi Bass's ear during a Sunday morning service at the House of Prayer and Deliverance Holiness Church off of Highway 42 near Willow Springs. The congregation gathers at a former Citgo gas station on Sundays for Sunday school and worship. " When your car is empty and you need gas you go to a gas station. When your spirit needs refilling you come here, to the house of prayer. We were pretty happy when we found this place," evangelist Eddie Bass III, 22, says. The church's bishop is Bass's father, Eddie Bass Jr. II, who started preaching 11 years ago. Seventeen-year-old Ebony Bass, right, plays drums while Tremain Thorb, 16, foreground, listens to the service. All the Bass's children help out throughout the service in one way or another, playing music, leading Sunday school, reading announcements and being ushers.
About This Project


Ethan Hyman
"Acts of Faith" explores the different belief systems that co-exist in the Triangle area. Ten years of heavy migration has brought many new faiths to the region, turning the Bible Belt home of Billy Graham into a spiritual coat of many colors. Mosques, Buddhist and Hindu temples, Sikh Gurudwaras, synagogues and scores of Christian churches have become spiritual and social centers for a radically changing population. The demographic shift has pushed congregations to find innovative ways to keep their members while attracting new arrivals. "Acts of Faith" was born as a way to show this new religious diversity and analyze the role spirituality plays in people's daily lives.


Pailin Wedel
When covering an event for Acts of Faith, we look for situations that evoke strong emotion and try to bring readers into the moment. Though holidays and major celebrations are important, we also look for unexpected expressions of faith and quieter moments of solitary exploration. We hope to give readers insight into the breadth and depth of faith by showing how people incorporate it into their everyday lives.


Ted Richardson
For two years, Sher Stoneman and Susana Vera produced this column. In 2004, they handed it over to Ethan Hyman, Scott Lewis and Lisa Lauck. In 2005, Ted Richardson replaced Scott Lewis on this project. In 2006, Pailin Wedel replaced Lisa Lauck.

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