280 Living
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April Features
Volume 5 | Issue 2012 | April 20128 | April |
$$ AAA TRAVEL DOLLARS OFF $$ SAVE UP TO $100 WHEN YOU BOOK A CRUISE, TOUR, OR VACATION PACKAGE.
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2400 Acton Road Birmingham, AL 35243 (205) 978-7030
Oak Mountain’s Dahl has New light major league talent system to
address 280 traffic
By MADOLINE MARKHAM
the Birmingham area, but the nation. For him though, it is not all about the hype. “I don’t keep up with it all honestly,”
The timing of lights on Highway 280 will soon allow for traffic to flow with less congestion. A new traffic signal system will use surveillance cameras to read traffic volume and monitor the traffic flow. The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is now completing plans for this Adaptive Control System with hopes to implement it this fall. “ALDOT is still looking at an elevated highway plan, but that would be 10 years down the road,” said ALDOT Division Engineer Brian Davis. “We have to do something to get 280 more passable now, and we know this is the best thing to do for today and tomorrow and next month. I think this [Adaptive Control System] is the most innovative signal system there is.” “We don’t always have to choose the first sexy choice for it to be a good choice,” said Greg Wingo, public affairs officer at the Regional
See DAHL | page A11
See 280 TRAFFIC | page A13
Home Guide- Section B Editor’s note
A4
Local runs and festivals
A6
Recycling tips
A8
Rebuilding after tornadoes
A9
Spring shoes
A10
People You Should Know
A11
Recipes for springtime
A12
Ministry Spotlight
A13
Restaurant Showcase
A15
Business Spotlight
A16
280 Business Happenings A17 Calendar of Events
A18
Summer Camps
B5
School House
B6
Sports
B10
Paul Johnson
B13
Library Happenings
B14
Kari Kampakis
B15
Rick Watson
B15
Auburn commitment and MLB prospect David Dahl played on Team USA at the Pan-American games in Colombia. He is a senior at OMHS. Photo courtesy of the Dahl family.
By PATRICK THOMAS There are good players. And then, there are premier players. David Dahl falls under that last category. In his final season of high school, David is one of the most coveted baseball prospects out of not only
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Church at Brook Hills pastor and author David Platt teaches a crowd of 2,300–and thousands more worldwide—at a previous Secret Church. The next event will be held on Good Friday, April 6. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Whitt.
By CRAIG KLEIMEYER On Friday, April 6 thousands of people all over the world will spend their Friday night not movie watching or sharing dinner with family or friends— but taking six hours to study the Bible and what it
says about suffering. At the heart of the night is the fact that churches in many countries are forced to meet in secret because of persecution, but the physical heart of it is right off Highway
119 at the Church at Brook Hills. Seeing firsthand the risks Christians in persecuted countries took to study the Bible led Brook Hills Pastor David Platt to start Secret Church, a sort of theological boot camp, in 2006. “We wanted to get together and not have all of the bells and whistles or big programming, but just make the Word the center,” said Communications Director for Disciple-Making International Angelia Stewart. Today the 2,300 seats at Brook Hills for a Secret Church event sell out in a couple of minutes. And that number is only a small fraction of the people tuning in to Secret Church through simulcast worldwide. At the last event in November, 22 groups in 14 other countries tuned in. In addition, around 75 groups in the Birmingham metro area and 55 churches and 127 small groups in Alabama gathered to watch. Platt’s book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, published in 2010, helped the word about Secret Church spread faster. “It’s been kind of organic and viral,” Stewart said. “It’s monumental, and it
See SECRET CHURCH | page A10