Up & Coming Weekly

16 UCW JANUARY 6-12, 2010 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Renee Gibbs, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or renee@cranberryquill.com The Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana are icons and they reign su- preme in the minds of most young people. In my generation, the Jackson Five reigned supreme. I, (along with three friends), used to practice for hours the ways we would approach the front door of the Jackson com- pound in Encino, Calif., and boldly knock on the front door. We would scream and laugh about what our reactions would be if either of the Jacksons opened the door and greeted us. We collected every printed picture of the group and plastered them on our bedroom walls. We bought every album. Oh…to be 12-years-old again. Emma Carter is 12-years- old but instead of shrieking and screaming over today's music superstars, she's enjoying listen- ing to — and making music of a different kind — Christian music. Carter also reigns as this year's Young Miss Fayetteville Dogwood Festival. She received the highest interview score of all the contes- tants in the pageant. This very tal- ented and gifted young lady makes no apologies for her faith and her strong Christian beliefs. She's not afraid to talk openly about Jesus (who she accepted when she was only 7) and to share her faith with others. Carter admits that the challenges she faces are similar to those of other 12-year-olds. She has non-Christian friends whom she enjoys being around but sometimes feels the pressures to listen to secular music or be influ- enced in other negative ways. However, she cares about her friends and just prays that she stays on track and continues to live for Christ around them. Music has been a part of her life since she was born. Her grandparents, Jay and Mary Stone, formed the Southern gospel group, The Jay Stone Singers. Until recently, The Stones, their son Jeff Stone (of Cape Fear Music Center) and the Carter family (Bobby, Sharona, Stone and Emma) all performed together. The group has been mainly comprised of the Carter family, with Emma and Stone playing various in- struments. Emma is also very active in her local church youth choir and has won many music awards, both locally and na- tionally. She loves all types of Christian music but she has a few favorites which include Toby Mac and Group 1 Crew. She said that the difference between contemporary Christian music and secular music is the lyrics and that people should listen to the message in the songs. Her advice to young people who are wrestling with how to live for God and avoid peer pressure is they should "Pray every night when they have a problem and read their Bible because that always helps me." For booking information, please visit www. JayStoneSingers.com Faces of Faith: Majestic Music by RENEE GIBBS Young Miss Fayetteville Dogwood Emma Carter Many people find insurance confusing. We hope to explain, in our column, some of the mysteries and misconceptions about insurance in general. Most of the personal lines of policies in North Carolina are written by the North Carolina Rate Bureau. This is done to provide uniformity between the policies offered by the hundreds of companies that offer coverage in the state. These policies are then approved by the North Carolina Department of Insurance. Most of the commercial policies are written by ISO (Insurance Services Office, Inc.). All policies, regardless of authorship, must be approved by the NCDOI. Companies publish rates that are approved by NCDOI and can offer discounts for a variety of situations. Some of the common discounts are a Home and Auto discount, a Multicar discount, a 55 and over discount and many more. Your credit rating can also play an important part in your insurance rates. The better your credit rating, the better your rates. Most companies have a rate tiering sys- tem and they plug in the information gathered, and the tier determines the rate. We will go into many of the variables in future columns, and hopefully can give hints that will help you reduce your insurance rates. If there are specific questions you might have, please email us at HYPERLINK "mailto:ron@dardenmiranada.com" ron@dardenmiranada.com or HYPERLINK "mailto:bryan@dardenmiranda.com" bryan@dardenmiranda.com. We will try to answer some of these questions in a later column. Bryan Miranda After seven years of business management in wireless telecommunications in both Virginia and South Carolina Miranda returned to his hometown of Fayetteville to begin his insurance career in 2003 by opening Miranda Insurance Group in Hope Mills, NC. In 2007 Miranda Insurance Group merged with the Vanstory-Exum Agency (owned by Ron Darden) to form a new entity — Darden, Miranda & Associates Insurance. A native of Cumberland County, he is a gradu- ate of Fayetteville State University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education. Miranda has served as on the Board of Directors for the Hope Mills Chamber of Commerce and cur- rently is the Chairman Elect of the YMCA Board of Directors. He also has held offices of President, Vice-President, and Educational Coordinator for Business Network International. Bryan is a member of the local chapter of Mortgage Bankers of America, Education Committee member for the Fayetteville Association of Realtors and a member the Home Builders Association. Miranda teaches the Homeowner's Insurance Basics course for new realtors through the Fayetteville Association of Realtors. He has served as the Agent Advisory Council Representative for Eastern North Carolina for Erie Insurance and is active in the Young Agents division of the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina. Ron Darden After a 13 year career in LTL trucking and liv- ing in 3 states, Darden returned to his hometown of Fayetteville, NC and started an insurance agency with Allstate Insurance in 1989. He sold the Allstate Agency in 1998 in order to enjoy the freedom and flexibility of becoming an independent agent. Darden joined the Vanstory-Exum Agency, Inc. as a producer and bought 50% interest in the agency in 2001. He bought the remaining stock in the agency in 2007. In 2008 Vanstory-Exum Agency, Inc. merged with Miranda Insurance Group, Inc. (owned by Bryan Miranda) and the combined agency relocated to its present location at 3007 Ft. Bragg Rd. The agency now operates as Darden, Miranda & Associates Insurance. Darden grew up in Linden (northern Cumberland County) and graduated from Pine Forest High School. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Relations in 1974 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ron has served on the local board of directors of The Educational Foundation (UNC-CH), The Fayetteville Urban Ministry and the Restore Warehouse. He has been a deacon and two-time elder at First Presbyterian Church. Darden has a real estate broker's license and is a member of the Fayetteville Association of Realtors and the Home Builders Association of Fayetteville, Inc. He is an active member of the Fayetteville Kiwanis Club and a 30 year member of the Rams Club (UNC- CH). He has served as an assistant basketball coach at Pine Forest High School for three years and the last four years at Terry Sanford High School. Darden, Miranda & Associates by RON DARDEN

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