Across the Nation, September 2017
COLLINSVILLE — More than 100 people attended the recent inaugural service of The Crossings Church Collinsville in the ballroom of the Doubletree Inn.The congregation is the third St. Louis-area church plant by The Crossings Church, a Church of Christ in Wentzville, Mo., staff member Wes Woodell said. A fourth church plant is planned in 2020.MICHIGAN
BRIGHTON — Every Tuesday, more than 100 people visit the Brighton Church of Christ to receive donated clothing, household goods and toys.
“We have no restrictions, no interviews,” minister Adam Matthews said. “Some are immigrants who send clothing home. Many are poor, using our ministry to clothe their families.”
TEXAS
ALLEN — “Aunt Melba” Warrach was a huge fan of country and western music.
Melba WarrachInto her 90s, she loved to wear cowboy boots, blue jeans and rhinestone-studded denim jackets, recalled her nephew Harold Tidwell.
“Before she moved to Christian Care, her preferred mode of transportation was her late husband’s pickup truck,” said Tidwell, an elder of the Greenville Oaks Church of Christ in Allen, north of Dallas.
Perhaps it’s fitting that Aunt Melba died on the same day as one of the stars she adored: Glen Campbell, the legendary singer of “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Wichita Lineman.”
Both were diagnosed in their latter years with Alzheimer’s disease.
Warrach, 97, “passed away very peacefully” Aug. 8 at the Bluebonnet Memory Care unit at Christian Care Centers’ newest senior living community in Allen, her nephew said.
As part of its Caregivers series, The Christian Chronicle profiled Aunt Melba in a front-page story earlier this year.
HOUSTON — The growing Vietnamese Church of Christ meets at the Northwest Church of Christ’s youth house while raising funds to construct its own building.
The congregation started with the conversion of three leaders of a denominational church.
The group already has purchased a building site.
To contribute to the effort, send checks earmarked for “Vietnamese building fund” to the Northwest church at 6720 West Tidwell Road, Houston, TX 77092.
Look for a feature on the Vietnamese church in an upcoming edition of The Christian Chronicle.
ALABAMA 
Brandon Pressnell, Vacation Bible School coordinator at the Madison Church of Christ in Alabama, encourages children to watch out for the bad guys, the Weevil Brothers. Sam Thrasher, aka “Bo Weevil,” sneaks up with his pet skunk, hoping to convince the kids to reject God’s seed. Madison’s “Bible Barn Seed and Feed” VBS featured a modern-day application of the Parable of the Sower. The aipproach was to teach the story of the sower from Matthew 13 while using fictitious characters in learning centers to help personify the different types of hearts. The children enjoyed interacting with Hank, the Bible Barn co-op specialist, as he encouraged all to prep their soil for God’s seed.
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