High Stakes – LeadershipJournal.net
High Stakes With internet wagers unregulated, gambling is on the rise and closer to home. How will we help the hooked and persuade the unconvinced? by Abram Book Jeanne* was trapped. Her social outings to the nearby casino had grown into an addiction to slot machines and video poker. “I’m hooked, and I could be facing bankruptcy,” the 59-year-old grandmother told her pastor. Gulfport wasn’t a casino town when Dean Register accepted the call to pastor First Baptist Church. But soon after he moved there, Mississippi voted to allow casino boats, and the three coastal counties were soon transformed into a seaside Las Vegas, minus the showgirls. Knowing the pain legalized gambling would cause in his community and his congregation, Register fought approval.
