Partners, September 2016
WESTBURY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
HOUSTON — Students at Westbury Christian collected more than $8,000 in coins to help orphans in two of the Western Hemisphere’s most economically disadvantaged countries — Honduras and Haiti.Bible teacher Steve Hawley organized the drive.
Mission Lazarus, a church-supported ministry that helps impoverished children and families in Honduras, will receive three-quarters of the funds. The remainder will support the work of Hope for Haiti’s Children, also supported by Churches of Christ.
HIGHER EDUCATION
FREED-HARDEMAN UNIVERSITY
HENDERSON, Tenn. — As a new school year begins, Freed-Hardeman’s Graduate School of Theology offers two new degrees. Professor Justin Rogers will oversee a Master of Arts in Old Testament — a fully online program — and Ryan Fraser will direct a Master of Arts degree in pastoral care and counseling.
ROCHESTER COLLEGE
JINJA, Uganda — About a dozen students and two faculty from the Rochester Hills, Mich., college traveled to this East African city to work with Kibo Group International. The church-supported ministry helps Ugandans in development activities such as digging and repairing water wells, forest replantation health and hygiene training and women’s empowerment.
The trip is experiential, said Rochester spokeswoman Cayce Kosch. The students learn as they witness the Kibo staff’s interactions with the people of Uganda. Among the nonprofit’s goals are teaching Ugandans self-sustainable practices that will improve their lives and point them to Jesus.
SOUTHWESTERN CHRISTIAN COLLEGE
TERRELL, Texas — Administrators of this 150-student college — the only historically black college associated with Churches of Christ — will give of their own time and finances to provide 250 scholarships with the goal of doubling Southwestern’s enrollment.
“Unfortunately, most of our students are not financially able to attend the college, even many who want to major in ministry,” the administrators wrote in a recent appeal. Though tuition is slightly less than $13,000 per year, “even the Pell Grant covers less than half the amount students need for two semesters.”
To contribute, or for more information, write to SwCC, P.O. Box 10, Terrell, TX 75160 or call (972) 524-3341, Ext. 122.
OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
A group photo of those who attended this year’s Global Reunion. (PHOTO BY LEWIS SHORT) OKLAHOMA CITY — Nearly 100 children and parents representing no fewer than 38 nations gathered on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University for the 11th Global Reunion, a camp designed for Third Culture Kids, or TCKs. The Reunion helps TCKs — the children of missionaries, military personnel or international businesspeople who grow up in a culture different from that of their parents — adjust to life when their families return to a home the children have never known.
“The transition, it was tough, absolutely tough,” said Charlie Hancock, right, who was born in New Orleans and moved with his family to Tokyo when he was a year old. Seventeen years later, they returned to the U.S. “I didn’t understand the social interactions in America. I feel like I kind of fire-hosed people with information right off the bat. I thought that’s how you make relationships, you just talk about your background, let it all out. But in the U.S., it’s a little different. It starts with small talk.”
Hancock came to the reunion as a camper a few years ago and now serves as a facilitator for the event.
“It saved my life, literally,” Hancock said of the Global Reunion. “I know a couple of others that would say the same. It goes to that extent.”
SEE AN EXCLUSIVE VIDEO and expanded story here.
CHURCH PLANTING
GREAT CITIES MISSIONS
OKLAHOMA CITY — About 130 Christians representing 12 church-planting teams gathered on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University for a reunion hosted by Great Cities Missions, a church-supported ministry that seeks to establish a congregation in every major city of the Latin world.
“The reunion reminded me that we are all part of a fraternity of sorts that very few people will ever participate in or fully understand,” said Executive Director Kelley Grant, a former missionary to Chile. “The time that each of us spent serving God in Latin America has changed us in ways that are hard to fully comprehend.”
