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Jonas Brothers make ‘ringing’ statement WYCKOFF, NJ — The music world is buzzing about The Jonas Brothers. The popular trio — Nick, 15, Joe, 19, and Kevin, 20 — released their third album on Aug. 12. Titled A Little Bit Longer, it is the follow-up to their self-titled 2007 platinum album and their 2006 debut, It’s About Time. The Brothers are on a North American tour promoting their new album. On top of their recording and touring, they starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock, released on DVD in August. But while fans are taken by their sound — described as Hanson with a hint of punk and emo — people are also taking notice of their morality. The brothers, sons of a former pastor and contemporary Christian musician, proudly wear purity rings on their wedding fingers, symbolizing their pledge to remain chaste until marriage. The rings are “promises to ourselves and to God that we’ll stay pure till marriage,” Joe recently said in an interview with Details magazine. It’s “just one of our ways of being different than everybody else out there,” said Nick. The brothers, who have been singing and playing music together for years, got their professional start when Nick earned a record deal and the recording company realized he had two talented brothers. The three were soon cast as “The Jonas Brothers.”
Hitchhiking to heaven LA PUENTE, CA — It’s not the easiest way to get from A to B, but for James McCollough, it’s not the destination that matters as much as the journey. The 59-year-old former Marine is a ‘professional’ hitchhiker who spends his days on the road, visiting with strangers, encouraging them, and sharing the love of God. Sticking to California state laws, McCollough prefers to thumb rides on backroads, where hitchhiking is still legal. Hitchhiking became part of McCollough’s life as a youngster getting to high school and later university and work. Not a church-goer at the time, McCollough told Baptist Press, “I was hitchhiking to work one day on the 405 North in Long Beach and two guys picked me up and shared Christ with me.” He was 30. “They gave me a Bible and when I got to work, I dropped it in the trash,” he said. A few years later, however, McCollough confessed his sins to God and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. Now, almost 30 years and seven children later, McCollough travels the roads of America with the purpose of sharing the good news he received the same way so many years ago. For drivers he meets who receive Christ’s offer of forgiveness, he gives them a Bible and takes their phone number to follow up later. In the 40 years he’s been thumbing, McCollough says he’s never had a bad experience. “I just don’t worry about any danger,” he said. “I feel God appointed me to do this.”
Hall of Fame induction credited NEWPORT, RI — Former pro tennis star Michael Chang is in the history books again after his induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on July 12. The 36-year-old burst onto the Grand Slam scene in 1989, beating Stefan Edberg to win the French Open at age 17, becoming the event’s youngest men’s winner and the first American to win it since 1955. Now playing on the Senior Tour, Chang had a career-total of 34 top-level professional singles titles, and his career-high singles ranking was No. 2 in the world in 1996. “It is truly an honour to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame,” Chang said in his speech. But becoming one of the 207 members isn’t an accomplishment Chang attributes to himself. “As I have shared many times before, I would like to give thanks and praise to our Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “I know that without Him, I am nothing, so I give Him all the glory and praise of all my accomplishments and for teaching me how to love and to live life to the very fullest.” In his speech, Chang referred to his family as the team behind him enabling him to succeed. “For us,” he said, “tennis was never about the winning or losing. The Lord Jesus taught us that very early on in my career ... to my family I say thank you for loving me that way and for giving me every opportunity to excel in a talent that God has given to me.”
Golfing with God on the green OTTAWA, ON — This year’s CN Canadian Women’s Open at Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club proved exciting. Erasing a six-shot deficit, Australian Katherine Hull won the event by one stroke, fending off South Korea’s Se Ri Pak to finish 3-under-par 69 for a total of 277, earning $377,500. “I just tried to play the best I could,” Hull told the Associated Press. “I honestly did not expect to win at all.” To take her mind off the pressure-filled tournament in August, Hull recited Bible verses with her caddie as she made her way down the fairways. “We came to the conclusion that I needed kind of a spiritual reality check,” Hull told the Canadian Press. So one night during the tournament she sat down and wrote Scripture verses out. “That’s all I did on the back nine was try and recite a couple from Galatians, and I guess it worked.” The 26-year-old, who finished second in the Canadian Women’s Open in 2005, is a committed follower of Jesus Christ. “It’s hard not to take a stand for something you believe so passionately about,” she told Links Players International. “It all stems from Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He’s the One that’s working through us. It’s hard not to let that go, let that shine.” Earning her victory with perseverance and hard work, Hull knows that the greatest reward lies beyond the green. “Ultimately,” she says, “the reward of heaven is going to be better than anything else we could imagine.”
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