Acts of Faith (16 images)

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  • John "Blackfeather" Jeffries, veiled in smoke rising from his smudge bowl, filled with tobacco and sage, blesses 25-acres of new land where the Occaneechi Band of Saponi Nation has reconstructed an Indian Village on an old tobacco farm just north of Mebane.

  • AOF.FE.080205.EDR.JPG "Gracious Lord, thank you for this food," whispered Rufus Mitchell, saying grace over lunch in his garage at Nu Tread Tire Co. in Durham where he has repaired truck tires for nearly 30 years. After replacing seven tires on Tuesday morning, Aug. 2, 2005, Mitchell clocked out for his 1-hour lunch break, scrubbed his hands with a tire brush and sat down to a relative feast of fried chicken, bread and sweet tea. "I don't have money all the time, and sometimes it's just nabs and a soda," Mitchell said, "but I always take time to thank God for meeting my needs." staff/Ted Richardson.

  • AOF.FE.080307.EDR.JPG Iconographer Tom Clark re-touches the halo around his 22-foot portrait of Christ inside the dome of St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte on Friday, August 3, 2007. "This might be the only time some people see the light of Christ," said Clark, who tries to guide souls, not as a priest, but as a painter. "My hands, this paint, these visions ... they are all gifts from God," said Clark, who explains he is making visible an invisible world he sees full of angels, saints, and Christ. "Going between these two worlds ... what a thrill!" Clark, originally from Chicago, lives near Athens, Greece, with his wife and five sons. He expects to complete this, the largest commission of his 25-year career, by October. Staff photo by Ted Richardson/News & Observer...

  • AOF.FE.022008.EDR.JPG Gregory A. Poole, Sr. belts out "Jesus Cares for Me", a church song he rehearses twice a day to prepare for his first-ever solo with the Male Chorus at Lincoln Park Holiness Church. "I asked the Lord to groom me to sing this song," said Poole, whose raspy, poweful voice fills his favorite rehearsal spot, a small bedroom at the back of the house where he grew up on Edenton St, a home he now shares with his grandmother. Poole's blend of singing and screaming makes it easy to believe he can do a mean James Brown impression. "This screaming, this song, is a gift from the Lord," said Poole. "There's nothing I won't do for Him." Staff photo by Ted Richardson/The News & Observer.

  • Raqib Brian Burke, left, and Jane Garland whirl to the poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, while celebrating the Sufi spiritual leader's 800th birthday at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro. "Whirling is a form of prayer," explains Garland, "a way of connecting to the divine. As you become a human prayer wheel, the right hand receives, and the left hand transmits. You become like a channel of energy so that the divine energy can come through and express itself."

  • AOF.FE.011108.EDR.JPG About one third of the way through his 1,000-mile walk from Ellicott City, MD, to Miami, FL, David Valderrama (cq), 28 , passes students along Hillsborough St. in Raleigh while pulling his wooden cross on Friday, Jan. 11, 2008. "My goal is to bring salvation to those who are lost," said Valderrama. " I love to stop and talk, but God really wants me to walk. The more people who see me, the more people who might be touched," he said. Valderrama, who starting walking on Sept. 10, 2007, expects his trek to last one year. "I am walking with God alone on this journey, and all I have with me is a few clothes, journals to write in, a little water, a small first-aid kit, and my cross." Valderrama relies on the kindness of strangers he meets along the way, and says he's never been without a place to stay overnight. You can track Valderrama's progress on his website: http://www.bravegeneration.com/ Staff photo by Ted Richardson/News & Observer.

  • Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (from left) Elders Adams, Allen, Carlston and Diaz, pray as they do daily, at precisely 8am, in their Durham apartment before a 12-hour day of proselytizing and community service.

  • Evangelist Gene "Bones" Boswell says a blessing over 2-week-old Autumn Raines, held by mother Christine Gravely, in front of Gravely's home in Burlington. The baby, born with a cleft lip and palate, will have her first surgery in August. "I meet people where they are, out on these streets and inside these neighborhoods," said Boswell. "That's where God met me."

  • Arajav Patel, 6, paces around his grandfather, Babulal Patel, during a Hindu meditation and prayer ritual called Puja that the family, originally from India, practices every morning in their Durham home. Puja consists of meditations, chanting, Scripture readings, prostrations and food offerings, all honoring a single God.

  • Kevin Ross, aka Irvin D. Clown, prepares his costume at home for a Christian ministry tour in Durham. Clowning around in the name of Christ has been his full-time job for the past 10 years. 'God is a joyful God. He wants us to have fun," said Ross.

  • Bradley Mercer, 8, rehearses his baptism in the hands of Brother George Corrigan at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Raleigh. 'I thought I was going to fall out of his hands,' Bradley said, 'but I got more comfortable after a couple of tries. I just had to trust him.'

  • Pastor Sam Gibbs and his wife Helen answer prayer requests mailed recently to their Hillsborough home. As they do each morning, the couple placed their hands on the letters, stacked neatly on their kitchen table, and prayed for the specific needs inside. "Whatever problems we face today, God will handle them," said Helen Gibbs. The letters come from people the Gibbs have met through more than 30 years of Christian evangelism, including missions to Trinidad, Haiti and Israel. "This is the way of our lives," said Pastor Gibbs. "We start each day in the Spirit of the Lord, asking God what he wants from us today."

  • Octavio Cruz and his wife Isabel Cruz pray while their children Octavio, 5, and Karina, 2, nap during a church service in Warsaw, NC.

  • AOF.FE.062907.EDR.JPG Rodney Carolina (left), whose 15-year-old nephew Quincy Bowens died in his arms earlier that week, holds his 2-year-old daughter Zyandrea Carolina on Friday, June 29, 2007. Quincy Bowens was ushering Zyandrea into her South Roxboro St. apartment in Durham when the drive-by shooting took his life. Kamesha Alston (right), 9, was the oldest of four cousins who witnessed the killing. Rodney Carolina recalls Bowens' last moments, "He was looking up at me with this expression in his eyes, like 'Help me. Help me.' It was the first time in my life that I've felt helpless. I felt like losing it," said Carolina. "I'm asking God to help me lift up my kids, to make me strong for them," he said. "I have faith that God will answer their questions. He will make a way for us." Staff photo by Ted Richardson/News & Observer...

  • VT2.NE.041608.EDR.JPG Demonstrators lie down to honor the anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings and to protest gun proliferation in front of Duke Chapel on Wednesday, April 16, 2008. Among the demonstrators was Dean of Duke Chapel, Sam Wells, top. Staff photo by Ted Richardson/The News & Observer.

  • Amber Blankenship, 5, takes a peek at Wooster, guidedog for Maggee (cq Maggee) Jespersen, second from left, who prayed with others on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009, at Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Raleigh. Jespersen, who has lost most of her eyesight due to retinitis pigmentosa, says of Wooster, "My faith is totally turned over to him, and I lean on him every day. I feel safe and secure when he's leading me." Jespersen was sad because her yellow lab, age 9, is about to retire, and she'll have to find a new dog. "He's just getting tired," she said. Seeing Wooster age, and dealing with an accelerated loss of her eyesight over the past 6 months, are challenges that Jespersen believes have a purpose. "Everything is a lesson from God," she said. "These challenges are helping me get to a better place." Staff photo by Ted Richardson/The News & Observer

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