In Heart of America, LTC helps train church leaders from small congregations
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Four families from the Northern Hills…
Across the nation: Nebraska puppets take home gold at LTC convention
Puppeteers from the East Hill church in York, Neb., celebrate after earning a gold medal at the Leadership Training for Christ convention in Kansas City, Mo. Pictured, from left, are Tyson Lewis, Megan Williams, Patrick Clark, Whitney Wiemer and Amanda McClure. They were among thousands who participated recently in LTC and Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes events across the nation.
GEORGIA
ATLANTA
Coach Mike Mitchell literally carried his daughter and team playerMolly Mitchell in a victory ride recently after the Lady Spartans ofGreater Atlanta Christian School won the Class AA state basketballtitle, capping a near-perfect 32=1 season.
Nationwide, several schools associated with Churches of Christ claimed state basketball championships.
Amongthem: Central Arkansas Christian School of Little Rock, which earnedthe girls basketball title, and Midland Christian School in Texas,whose boys team won the state championship.
Other statebasketball champions include the girls of Christian Academy of GreaterSt. Louis in Missouri and the boys of Madison Academy in Huntsville,Ala.
ALABAMA
BIRMINGHAM
Would you donate your kidney to a brother in Christ who needed it?
For Debbie Waid, the answer was an emphatic “yes.” Waid, a member of the Trussville church, took off 30 pounds between the Christmas holidays and early April so she could donate a kidney to fellow member Dale Marbut, the Birmingham News reported. Doctors performed the transplant surgery recently.
“We’re brothers and sisters in Christ, and I would do anything for one of them that I would do for my physical brother and sister,” said Waid, a 54-year-old grandmother who was told she needed to lose weight before she could donate her organ.
DELAWARE
NEWARK
“Blue Hens for Christ,” the Newark campus ministry to students at the University of Delaware, sent 18 students to Enterprise, Ala., recently to help in the recovery effort after killer tornadoes.
Campus minister David Blackwell said the group helped meet physical and spiritual needs in the community. The Blue Hens have made other relief trips to New Orleans and Honduras in recent years.
INDIANA
MITCHELL
The youth group at the Mitchell church has become involved with a homeless ministry in Louisville, Ky., called the River City Love Squad.
It’s a group of churches that offers food, clothing and ministry to homeless people on the streets of Louisville, said Gary Spear, youth and family minister at the Mitchell church.
“It’s awesome, and our teens are really growing from it,” Spear said.
KANSAS
OLATHE
The 151st Street church hosted Dale Manor recently for a multimedia seminar titled “The Bible and Archaeology.” Manor is a professor of archaeology and Bible at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. During the seminar, participants viewed pottery, weapons and other replicas and artifacts from Bible times, member Ryan Day said.
MISSISSIPPI
OXFORD
Elders of the Oxford church have decided to sell the church’s downtown property to a developer for more than $5 million, the Daily Journal reported. The one-acre site is slated to become a time-share hotel, elder Ernest Harland told the newspaper.
The decision will allow the space-crunched church to move to a better location, church leaders said. The church will remain in its present location for 18 months until it can buy more land and build a new facility.
PASCAGOULA
The Central church hosted about 300 volunteers in recent weeks to do home repairs, make deliveries, visit homes and work in yards in the ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Central can provide housing, food and work opportunities to groups who want to volunteer, minister John Dobbs said.
“The heaviest need is for skilled labor, including electricians, plumbers and carpenters,” Dobbs said. “We can use those who may be able to volunteer to cook in our kitchen.”
For a list of needs and work crew listings, see www.123jesus.com.
OREGON
PORTLAND
The recent inaugural service of the Agape church at Lincoln High School drew 105 people, minister Ron Clark said. Supporters from the Park Plaza church in Tulsa, Okla., helped celebrate the congregation’s birth. For more information about the church plant, see missionagape.com.
TENNESSEE
ALTAMONT
The Altamont church conducts a worldwide, Bible-teaching radio ministry called The Treasure of Truth.
The congregation’s minister, Joe Gray, is the program’s English speaker and has been since it started 13 years ago.
The church recently added a French version of the program, with Barry Baggott of Columbia, Tenn., as speaker.
“The ministry reaches every part of the world, and letters of response and request for Bible study have been received from every continent and from over 50 countries of the world,” Gray said.
TEXAS
MONTGOMERY
A record crowd of 225 people attended a recent homecoming service celebrating the 145th anniversary of the Rabon Chapel church. Minister John Lee said the usual Sunday attendance is about 85.
“We realize that many churches have closed their doors in the last 145 years, but Rabon Chapel is dedicated to not only existing in the next 100 years … but rather we are seeking to grow and mature every year,” Lee said.
The congregation, started in 1862, does not have elders but is optimistic that it will in the near future, Lee said.
SMITHVILLE
A recent campaign by West Monroe, La.-based We Care Ministries resulted in 42 baptisms, director Larry West said. Campaigners knocked almost every door in the small town and presented the gospel at about one in every four houses, West said.
“Why are too many of our congregations not growing here in our own beloved U.S.A.?” West said. “It cannot be because those neighbors around those buildings are not interested.”
SOUTH CAROLINA
SURFSIDE BEACH
The Grand Strand church is building a 400-seat auditorium, in addition to a foyer and a nursery area.
The $750,000 expansion will allow the 260-member congregation to turn its old auditorium, about half the size of the new one, into a fellowship hall, church leaders said.
GEORGIA
ATLANTA
Coach Mike Mitchell literally carried his daughter and team playerMolly Mitchell in a victory ride recently after the Lady Spartans ofGreater Atlanta Christian School won the Class AA state basketballtitle, capping a near-perfect 32=1 season.
Nationwide, several schools associated with Churches of Christ claimed state basketball championships.
Amongthem: Central Arkansas Christian School of Little Rock, which earnedthe girls basketball title, and Midland Christian School in Texas,whose boys team won the state championship.
Other statebasketball champions include the girls of Christian Academy of GreaterSt. Louis in Missouri and the boys of Madison Academy in Huntsville,Ala.
ALABAMA
BIRMINGHAM
Would you donate your kidney to a brother in Christ who needed it?
For Debbie Waid, the answer was an emphatic “yes.” Waid, a member of the Trussville church, took off 30 pounds between the Christmas holidays and early April so she could donate a kidney to fellow member Dale Marbut, the Birmingham News reported. Doctors performed the transplant surgery recently.
“We’re brothers and sisters in Christ, and I would do anything for one of them that I would do for my physical brother and sister,” said Waid, a 54-year-old grandmother who was told she needed to lose weight before she could donate her organ.
DELAWARE
NEWARK
“Blue Hens for Christ,” the Newark campus ministry to students at the University of Delaware, sent 18 students to Enterprise, Ala., recently to help in the recovery effort after killer tornadoes.
Campus minister David Blackwell said the group helped meet physical and spiritual needs in the community. The Blue Hens have made other relief trips to New Orleans and Honduras in recent years.
INDIANA
MITCHELL
The youth group at the Mitchell church has become involved with a homeless ministry in Louisville, Ky., called the River City Love Squad.
It’s a group of churches that offers food, clothing and ministry to homeless people on the streets of Louisville, said Gary Spear, youth and family minister at the Mitchell church.
“It’s awesome, and our teens are really growing from it,” Spear said.
KANSAS
OLATHE
The 151st Street church hosted Dale Manor recently for a multimedia seminar titled “The Bible and Archaeology.” Manor is a professor of archaeology and Bible at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. During the seminar, participants viewed pottery, weapons and other replicas and artifacts from Bible times, member Ryan Day said.
MISSISSIPPI
OXFORD
Elders of the Oxford church have decided to sell the church’s downtown property to a developer for more than $5 million, the Daily Journal reported. The one-acre site is slated to become a time-share hotel, elder Ernest Harland told the newspaper.
The decision will allow the space-crunched church to move to a better location, church leaders said. The church will remain in its present location for 18 months until it can buy more land and build a new facility.
PASCAGOULA
The Central church hosted about 300 volunteers in recent weeks to do home repairs, make deliveries, visit homes and work in yards in the ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Central can provide housing, food and work opportunities to groups who want to volunteer, minister John Dobbs said.
“The heaviest need is for skilled labor, including electricians, plumbers and carpenters,” Dobbs said. “We can use those who may be able to volunteer to cook in our kitchen.”
For a list of needs and work crew listings, see www.123jesus.com.
OREGON
PORTLAND
The recent inaugural service of the Agape church at Lincoln High School drew 105 people, minister Ron Clark said. Supporters from the Park Plaza church in Tulsa, Okla., helped celebrate the congregation’s birth. For more information about the church plant, see missionagape.com.
TENNESSEE
ALTAMONT
The Altamont church conducts a worldwide, Bible-teaching radio ministry called The Treasure of Truth.
The congregation’s minister, Joe Gray, is the program’s English speaker and has been since it started 13 years ago.
The church recently added a French version of the program, with Barry Baggott of Columbia, Tenn., as speaker.
“The ministry reaches every part of the world, and letters of response and request for Bible study have been received from every continent and from over 50 countries of the world,” Gray said.
TEXAS
MONTGOMERY
A record crowd of 225 people attended a recent homecoming service celebrating the 145th anniversary of the Rabon Chapel church. Minister John Lee said the usual Sunday attendance is about 85.
“We realize that many churches have closed their doors in the last 145 years, but Rabon Chapel is dedicated to not only existing in the next 100 years … but rather we are seeking to grow and mature every year,” Lee said.
The congregation, started in 1862, does not have elders but is optimistic that it will in the near future, Lee said.
SMITHVILLE
A recent campaign by West Monroe, La.-based We Care Ministries resulted in 42 baptisms, director Larry West said. Campaigners knocked almost every door in the small town and presented the gospel at about one in every four houses, West said.
“Why are too many of our congregations not growing here in our own beloved U.S.A.?” West said. “It cannot be because those neighbors around those buildings are not interested.”
SOUTH CAROLINA
SURFSIDE BEACH
The Grand Strand church is building a 400-seat auditorium, in addition to a foyer and a nursery area.
The $750,000 expansion will allow the 260-member congregation to turn its old auditorium, about half the size of the new one, into a fellowship hall, church leaders said.
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