ECONOMIC BOOM!

Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced $20 million in state funding for the Florida Gulf Coast Marine Fisheries Hatchery in Pensacola and several other environmental projects in the Panhandle as part of the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment project.

The hatchery funding is among $58 million in restoration projects statewide that were announced this morning.

“We’re committed to restoring the environment and economy that families have relied upon in the Gulf for generations,” Scott said.”We will continue to work with our state, federal and local partners toward solutions that ensure impacted areas are revitalized for families.”

Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward welcomed the funding for a planned fish hatchery at the Bruce Beach site.

“This is a huge win for Pensacola,” Hayward said. “This hatchery will be a tremendous asset for our community and our region.”

Among the other funding announced today: about $600,000 for Perdido Key Boardwalk improvements and roughly $600,000 for Perdido Key dune restoration. Further, $11 million was announced for the Pensacola Living Shoreline project in Escambia County.

In addition, about $20 million was authorized for several projects: artificial reef creation in the Panhandle, as well as oyster reef restoration and scallop enhancement efforts.

The hatchery, to be located at Bruce Beach, could be open by the summer of 2015.

“I don’t see any reason we couldn’t break ground in the current calendar year and be finished in 18 months,” said Gil McRae, director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

McRae said the hatchery will be capable of raising up to two million fish of various species annually.

“They can be released anywhere there’s a need along the coast,” he added.

Hayward, who has long been lobbying for the hatchery funding, said the facility will be designed to double as a fish-farming venue and an educational institute of sorts.

“It will be a place where the public, including school children, are welcome,” he said.

McRae said the hatchery will require several dozen workers to build and employ in the range of 8 to 10 permanent staffers.

Although the prepared statement from Scott’s office on Thursday described the funded as “proposed,” and Hayward acknowledged there are some administrative hurdles before clearing the money’s release, he said, “It’s 100 percent” that Pensacola will receive the $20 million.

Originally presented to the Pensacola City Council in June 2011, the project is slated to include a state-of-the art saltwater fish hatchery, an integrated coastal habitat plant production facility and a venue for public outreach and education on marine resources conservation.

Commissioner Grover Robinson IV said today’s announcement is a big win for Escambia County.

“This is awesome,” he said. “We’re going to get a lot of things done and get that restoration.”

The money will fund projects the county might not ever had the money to do, Robinson said.

Before any of these projects get off the ground, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, the state’s trustee for the BP early restoration dollars, will host public input sessions to finalize the plans on each of the projects. That should take place this summer, said Kendra Parson, DEP spokeswoman.

Then it could take several months for DEP to secure contractors.

The money is the third allocation from $1 billion BP committed for early restoration projects in April 2011 to the Gulf states impacted by the 2010 oil spill disaster.

Florida’s take is $100 million from the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment process for projects to mitigate damage from the oil spill to the environment and public access to the natural resources.

Escambia already has received $11.4 million worth of projects to build and enhance boat ramps and restore sand dunes on Pensacola Beach.

Link to Original PNJ Article

3.5 MILLION DOLLARS IN RETROACTIVE RAISES FOR ESCAMBIA TEACHERS

Escambia County School District and union officials settled on 2 percent across-the-board raises for the district’s 6,000 employees Tuesday.

The raises are retroactive to July 1, 2012, and will cost the district about $3.5 million, Schools Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said.

“I know the economy is tough,” he said. “We have not been able to give the kinds of raises people deserve or need. We have to live within our means. The economy’s starting to pick back up, and we’re in a position we feel we can offer the 2 percent.”

The bargaining units also settled on contract language, as well as an additional 1 percent bonus for the employees on the top “step” of the salary schedule.

Teachers and staff members could start receiving their raises as early as May, pending employee ratification and approval of the School Board.

Bill Vincent, spokesman and negotiator for the Escambia Education Association and Escambia Staff Professionals, said while the process was long, both sides were committed to settling.

“Our employees have worked all year without a raise,” he said. “This is retroactive, so it will help them out.”

Negotiators will return to the bargaining table this summer to talk about raises for next year.

EEA President Kathy Breakall said she hopes raises are settled earlier and will be bigger for next year.

“I’m happy they’re getting something,” she said. “I really wish they were getting more, but you have the constraints of where we are financially.”

Link to Original PNJ Article

NAVY FEDERAL ANNOUNCES
$1 BILLION INVESTMENT IN ESCAMBIA COUNTY

They’re calling it the 1-10-20 plan. Navy Federal Credit Union is making a $1 billion investment in Escambia County. It expects to employ 10,000 workers. And they hope to have it done by the year 2020.

The next phase will take up to the next two years. Navy Federal plans to build another parking garage; also two buildings and a central energy plant. It’s also going to add 1500 employees.

Anna Taylor lives in one of the neighborhoods near Navy Federal Credit Union. She’s lived next to them for nearly 5 years. She’s not sure what kind of impact the expansion will have on her or neighbors but thinks it will be positive overall. “It will make the area grow. I don’t know about neighborhoods, but it will make businesses more out this way, so everything won’t be far.”

The new growth is possible because Navy Federal closed a land deal with Escambia County 4-H Clubs last year allowing them to buy 240 acres next door to its campus. Many say it was the right move. “I’m kinda sad for the 4H club to be moving because I went to 4H there as a kid, but it’s good for Pensacola as far as jobs, because the economy is bad.”

The new employees will be hired locally and brought in from other branches and regions. But either way, many agree that Northwest Florida wins when jobs are involved.

Link to Original ABC Article

Greetings in the most wonderful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus!

We love you and thank God for the great and powerful time that we spent together with the Body of Christ at our Miracle Campmeeting in Orlando Florida at the beautiful Omni Resort and Hotel!

It was so incredible to join the family and the team in worship and praise; the prophetic flow of the Spirit; and the incredible miracles, blessings, and impartations that literally impacted the lives of the hundreds of families represented there! We so look forward to the testimonies that will return to us as a result of our time together at this ordained hour.

I want to encourage you and remind you of the great participation we shared together in God’s prophetic cycle of prosperity, inviting you to join us for this Pentecost weekend as we bring to you a Word directly from the heart of God. I believe that the Lord will explode an incredible blessing of anointing and revelation into your lives as you join us in Pensacola Florida by way of attendance at the Miracle Faith Apostolic Global Church; or through your participation in attending by way of the internet as part of our Global Church family.

Child of God, we are fast approaching an incredible and indescribable increase in the anointing and the power of the Lord in this prophetic hour of performance. I want to also remind every partner, member, ministry friend, and student that our upcoming Daytona Beach Miracle Campmeeting with Dr. Robin, Christie, and our ministry team, along with Bro. Norvel Hayes, will be a campmeeting of history making proportions! We will be gathering together at Relevant Church inviting all churches that make up the one Body of Christ globally to join together as we bring to you a word of fresh manna from heaven, ministering to every one of you! The dates and the times should be marked on your calendar. Make your plans to attend every event– every gathering that you can attend–in preparation for what the Lord will do in your life and through you. This will be a time of miracles, impartations, and transformation, for all of us!

I love you and I extend to you a great blessing from the Lord, from our family, and from our team,

Apostle Doctor Christian Harfouche

Why Apostolic Women?

What God wants is a population boom in the body of Christ, and in order to have that, He has to bring women back to their proper function. He’s got to bring them back to what Jesus gave them. He’s got to bring them back to what the early Church recognized that they were capable of doing– while under persecution, martyred along side their husbands, martyred along side other workers, and doing the same work as men: teaching, preaching, and exhorting–becoming bishopesses and becoming prophetesses, becoming apostles, becoming sent ones, becoming deaconesses, and doing the work of the ministry.

Through the teaching on Apostolic Women you will see that without a woman we wouldn’t have the book of Romans right now! What more proof do you need than that? The bottom line is the enemy is a liar! The early Church turned the world upside down and moved in signs and wonders and miracles. Why? They moved this way because the women were allowed to function the way God intended! Now this is not a feminist statement! When you are dealing with the most powerful momentum of the Church you’ve got to look at that time period and wonder “why was it the most powerful?” Everyone in the Church world has got to admit that it was the most powerful time in Church history!

The early Church turned the entire world upside down. Why? Because they didn’t take women out! When you take women out of the equation you take the body of Christ and make it half of what it’s supposed to be. I understand that women are alright with just serving… but that is the pre-requisite for ministry.

At the end of the day, if we want to bring a population boom to the body of Christ then we have to know the end from the beginning; and the beginning was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Adam. God said be fruitful and multiply. You cannot multiply without women. The multiplication factor is coming back to the Church now! The declaration has been made, the freedom has been released, and the body of Christ is going to rise up to what she is supposed to be! Male and female alike in the body of Christ.

Women don’t want to usurp a man, but for 1600 years when the church began to wane in its power–even though the Holy Ghost never left the planet, even though the Word of God never left the planet, even though in the eastern Churches they had the Aramaic scriptures all the way back to the beginning–the Church’s momentum was effected.

In the early Church, in that community of believers, there was equal respect both to men and women. A lot of men and women were team ministry– husbands and wives together! The woman didn’t immediately qualify to be in the episcopate, or be in a priestly level or rank, to teach and do miracles, simply because they got married to the Bishop. They were ordained the same way that Paul and Barnabas were when the Holy Ghost said “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” They were laid hands upon by the early Apostles– Peter, James, John, Andrew, and so on. They laid hands on women and spoke over them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost. They ordained them and sent them!

When you become an Apostolic Woman and the body of Christ gets made whole and we stop worrying about denominations and we let the lines between this and that, and this and that, and that and this disappear, and we get a real head on our shoulders with real knowledge, and we function the way we are supposed to function, then God is going to be able to give us the Glory covering the earth as the waters cover the sea. That’s the only way it’s going to happen.

So, why Apostolic Women? Because you needed to be told! The word needed to get out world-wide …and I will not stop preaching it!

~ Apostle Doctor Robin Harfouche

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Christian Harfouche Ministries Receives 2013 Best of Pensacola Award

Pensacola Award Program Honors the Achievement

PENSACOLA April 29, 2013 — For the second consecutive year, Christian Harfouche Ministries has been selected for the 2013 Best of Pensacola Award in the Places of Worship category by the Pensacola Award Program.

Each year, the Pensacola Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business [organization] category. These are local companies [organizations] that enhance the positive image… through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies [organizations] help make the Pensacola area a great place to live, work and play.

Nationwide, only 1 in 70 (1.4%) 2013 Award recipients qualified as Two-Time Award Winners. Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2013 Pensacola Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Pensacola Award Program and data provided by third parties.

About Pensacola Award Program

The Pensacola Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses [organizations] throughout the Pensacola area. Recognition is given to those companies [organizations] that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Pensacola Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses [organizations] in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy.

SOURCE: Pensacola Award Program

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“28 years in the making, but today is the day, the movement has begun!” ~ Apostle Doctor Robin Harfouche

Apostolic Women: Rare But Not Impossible. Just that within itself, just the entitlement of this conference has sent ripples throughout the earth; and the movement has begun!

We are looking at a population boom in the body of Christ that will exceed every other population boom that the world has ever seen. Women will come into their rightful place in God no longer being pressed down, pushed around or taken advantage of. Women will begin to recognize and become all, and I mean all, all that God has made us to be.

We are apostolic people; we are the Church of the living God. We are the Church of the Firstborn; we are a new species in Christ Jesus. There has never been a generation on the planet that is likened unto the generation that we see today, we are involved in the mightiest momentum of the Holy Spirit that has ever been given to man. We shall become all that God has meant for us to be. We shall become one in God, one around the world, a global movement to raise up 400,000 active miracle workers for the final revival and harvest of souls where the Glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Never before has man or woman or child seen the Glory that shall be released in this time, says the Spirit of Almighty God. I am pouring and continue to pour my Spirit upon my men, upon my women upon my children and the miracles, and the miracles, and the miracles, and the miracles, and the creative miracles that no one will be able to deny, not even the skeptic, not even the agnostic, not even the new ager, not even any other form or fashion of religion can deny the Christ that lives on the inside of you and I. “I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I, but it is Christ who lives within me.” Galatians 2:20. And all Gods saints can say amen to that.