A | CHESTER, Pa. -- The Eagles and the NFL might still be the sports favorites at Calvary Baptist Church, just outside Philadelphia. But many here are also rooting for a neighboring team which last year reached the championship game of Major League Soccer.Their new-found fandom is all about location — and revenue from parking. The Philadelphia Union plays at Subaru Park, a stadium beside the Delaware River just a few blocks from Calvary in the economically challenged city of Chester. Its poverty rate is among the highest in the metro area.As the Union continues to attract loyal fans and reach new heights, so have the blessings bestowed on this historic church where Martin Luther King Jr. attended as a seminarian.It has been crucial. Like many other Black Protestant churches, Calvary Baptist struggled financially during the coronavirus pandemic. Attendance fell, and along with it, funding. But the church has transformed its parking lot to accommodate game-day fundraisers, with volunteers from the congregation staffing the lots and selling spaces for $15 per vehicle.These days, the church raises up to $3,000 per game — about half of what goes into the collection plate on Sundays, said its pastor, Keith Dickens. The welcome influx of extra money is being used to pay for utilities, ministries and a new speaker system that will allow Calvary to reach a broader audience by broadcasting its services online.“It’s been a blessing,” said Dickens, who on a recent game day proudly sported a Philadelphia Union hat. "Not only just to generate funding, but also to meet and minister to new people.”Across the nation, houses of worship located near stadiums — from Boston’s Fenway Park to the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field — have opened their parking lots to legions of fans.For churches offering parking near pro-soccer stadiums, their coffers recently received an assist from the world’s best active player, Lionel Messi who joined an MLS roster this year. All 250 parking spaces at the Calvary lot were full when Messi’s Inter Miami played the Union.Jeffrey Scholes, co-author of “Religion and Sports in American Culture,” said churches like Calvary show a growing willingness to use “secular entities like sport for religious purposes” including, “continuing a ministry, feeding the poor, keeping the lights on, things that ideally churches do."In the past, Scholes said clergy might have preferred the “old-fashioned way” of getting churchgoers to donate while shunning the sports-fan parking business as too “worldly."“There’s just much more openness to different kinds of nonreligious tactics to perform the necessary functions of a church or synagogue or mosque,” Scholes said. It also offers an opportunity to share with fans the history of congregations like Calvary, which was founded in 1879 by a group of formerly enslaved Africans seeking freedom to worship.On a recent game day, fans decked in the Union's navy, signal blue and gold colors pulled into parking spots in front of Calvary's colorful mural that pays homage to King. The civil rights leader worshipped at the church from 1948-1951, when he attended Chester’s Crozer Theological Seminary. Chester has a notable cultural and industrial history, but now has economic difficulties that make Calvary's new parking revenue all the more appreciated.“For us, if it gives back to a cause, it makes it all the better,” Abe Gitterman, age 37 and Jewish, said before he paid the parking fee. Next to him, his 6-and 7-year-old sons pointed to the mural and asked parking attendant and church member Lisa Lewis if this was the same man they had learned about in school. “Yes,” she replied, smiling. “It feels good,” she later said, “to tell them the history about the church.”It can also be fun. In Lubbock, Texas, Leslie Cranford, a parishioner at St. John’s United Methodist Church, said Texas Tech football fans have tailgated with RVs — taking up to four spots ($10 each) — in the church parking lot, near the Red Raiders' Jones AT&T Stadium. Sometimes, rival fans park at the church. “We tell them: we got to charge you extra!” Cranford said, laughing. She introduced the parking program at her congregation two decades ago. On a good season, they make up to $2,000 per game. “Dwindling attendance is a problem," Cranford said. "So, this helps us maintain our ministries.” In Boston, the Christian Science Church opened its parking garage to the public in 2014. That includes Red Sox fans who can park for $30 — a lower rate than closer to Fenway Park. Kevin Ness, manager of the Christian Science Committees on Publication, said the revenue helps cover the operating expenses of Christian Science Plaza, a popular tourist attraction which sits on top of the garage in the Fenway neighborhood. “This in turn allows the contributions from members to directly support the worldwide healing mission of the church,” he said. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bethany Church began its Packers parking program in 2010.“We thought it would be a great avenue for outreach, and a way to get funds to help support the growing ministries,” Bethany’s administrative assistant, Jill Connerym said via email. The church doesn’t have a set charge, and instead asks for donation, Connery said, adding that “many people are very generous.”Packers parking helps fund programs, including youth ministries, small group learning and building facility upgrades, Connery said. The church parking lot is often full on game days.“We are known for our hospitality,” she said. “We had a volunteer who began giving rides to Lambeau from our parking lot, free of charge to whoever didn’t want to walk the .5 miles to the stadium. So, now we are known for our shuttle service, and friendly volunteers.”Churches also have embraced other fans. Nashville First Church of the Nazarene offered their parking lots for three shows attended by thousands at nearby Nissan Stadium during the Nashville leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The parking program ($30 a spot) also is popular during Tennessee Titans games and has helped fund ministries in Nashville and missions in Haiti and Kenya.“Every one of these dollars comes right back in to help people,” said its senior pastor, Kevin Ulmet. “When people hear that, they love that, they say ‘we want to be a part of that.’ And that, to me, is the classic definition of win-win.”__Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.。 今年第13号台风“白海豚”正快速逼近我省。为深入贯彻落实习近平总书记关于防汛救灾工作的重要论述和重要指示精神，全面落实国家防总和省委、省政府部署要求，按照“从最坏处着眼、做到顶格防御、打足提前量”和“沉下去、转到位、停下来、调控好、管得牢、氛围浓”要求，牢牢掌握防台工作主动权，坚决打赢防御台风“白海豚”攻坚仗，确保实现“一个目标”、守住“三条底线”。现命令如下。一、迅速“沉下去”，做到责任压实穿透到位各地各部门要切实把防御台风“白海豚”作为当前最紧迫的任务，立足台风正面登陆、贯穿全省、长时间影响、风雨潮“三碰头”，以及局部可能断电断路断网断通讯等极端情况，坚决克服麻痹思想、侥幸心理和经验主义，以工作的确定性、主动性应对台风的不确定性。要高效运行“1833”联合指挥体系，确保指挥有力、调度有序、不打乱仗。
B | 严格压实“市包县、县包乡、乡包村、村包户”包保责任，推动干部逐级下沉到位，做到每一级都有人指挥、每一个风险点都有人盯守。要发挥乡镇（街道）、村社干部“一线指挥官”作用，遇到突发情况当机立断，把风险隐患化解在萌芽状态。
C | 二、提前“转到位”，坚决果断实施避险转移严格落实“三提前”“三必须”以及“应转尽转、应转早转、应转快转，安全返回”要求，所有登记在册的风险点、出现异常的点位、不放心不托底的区域，特别是养老院、偏远地区老人，必须坚决果断转移，确保不漏一户、不漏一人，确保8日下午18时前全部转移到位。要落实干部与群众同吃同住同转移，做好食品安全、医疗保障和暖心服务，加强对老人、儿童、残疾人等特殊群体保障，严禁台风未过境、风险未解除前擅自返回。三、有序“停下来”，确保“五停”要求执行到位根据相关响应等级和“五停”工作指引，以县为单位，自主决策、相机果断采取“五停”措施，坚决做好停止户外活动、停课、停工、停业、停运和人员撤离工作，该停下的坚决停下来，让社会面静下来。在采取五停措施的过程中，要特别关注生产企业的停产、在建工程的停工、高速高铁等交通设施的停运，确保绝对安全。四、科学“调控好”，保证水库河网安全可控坚持“早动、快动、小动”，动态掌握泄洪河道沿线情况，抢抓台风登陆前窗口期预泄腾库、预排河网、预降水位，确保把水位调控到安全水平。
D | 坚持“一盘棋”调度，做到有令则行、有禁则止。加强病险山塘水库、老旧土石坝水库、低标海塘堤防等重点部位巡查，严格执行“病库限蓄、险库放空”措施，坚决守牢水利工程安全底线。五、风险“管得牢”，严密防范次生灾害发生聚焦“防强风、防强降雨、防地质灾害”，开展全方位、拉网式风险排查。山区要全面排摸地质灾害风险点、山洪风险区等部位，重点防范强降雨导致山洪、泥石流和地质灾害。海上要坚决落实“五个全部”要求，严防人员擅自提前出海以及船舶走锚、断缆、碰撞等风险。城市要重点防范内涝和城市运行风险，严格落实广告牌、电力设施、屋顶光伏等加固、拆除和管控等措施，针对桥梁、地铁、下穿式立交、地下空间等重点部位做好易积水点位防御工作，严防长时间大面积积水。各地各部门要统筹抓好安全生产和防台工作，防止因次生灾害引发生产安全事故。要备足备齐抢险物资、队伍、设备，加强值班备勤和前置预置，确保突发险情第一时间响应、第一时间处置、第一时间救援。六、立足“氛围浓”，全面动员打好防台“人民战争”宣传、气象等部门要强化权威发声、正面发声，组织主流媒体和新媒体平台等滚动发布台风动态、防御指引，启动Ⅰ级响应的地市要发表市长电视讲话，滚动发布温馨提示、安民告示，形成全民知晓、主动避险、互助共防的浓厚氛围。网信、公安等部门要密切关注网络舆情，加强舆论引导管控，坚决打击造谣传谣行为，为防台工作创造良好舆论环境。
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