Insights from two influential theologians, Augustine and David Lipscomb, provide valuable guidance for Christian engagement in the political process. Augustine, in his book “The City of God,” introduced the concept of dual citizenship: the “City of God” and the “City of Man.”

While Christians live in the earthly city, their ultimate allegiance is to the heavenly city. This dual citizenship requires engaging in worldly affairs, including politics, with a mindset oriented toward Christian principles.

Under Augustine’s guidance, we are encouraged to participate in politics to promote justice, peace and the common good. Augustine acknowledged human government’s imperfections but believed Christians should work within these systems to reflect God’s justice and priorities.

Related: On Episode 78 of The Christian Chronicle Podcast, two Christians — Shay Cathey, a Democrat from Texas; and Michele Woodhouse, a Republican from North Carolina — discuss their approaches to politics.

His approach recognized that no earthly government will ever be perfect, yet Christians have a duty to advocate for policies that align with their values, such as protecting the vulnerable and promoting ethical governance. This active political engagement seeks the common good in a fallen world while holding firm to your ultimate place in God’s Kingdom.

In contrast, David Lipscomb, a prominent figure in Churches of Christ, advocated for a more separatist approach in his book “Civil Government.” Lipscomb argued that human governments are inherently corrupt and that Christians should refrain from participating in political processes, including voting.

David Lipscomb, right, co-founded Lipscomb University with James A. Harding, left, as the Nashville Bible School in 1891.

He believed that Christians should focus on the Kingdom of God and live out their faith apart from worldly political systems. His views have powerfully shaped our churches and our consciences since the late 1800s.

Lipscomb’s view was that Christians should avoid entanglement with governmental affairs, seeing such involvement as compromising their spiritual integrity. He suggested that true allegiance to God’s Kingdom requires complete separation from the political machinations of the world.

In Oklahoma, a line of voters three-hours long stretches around the Edmond Church of Christ building during early balloting in 2016.

This perspective emphasizes the importance of living out Christian values through personal conduct and communal life rather than through political means. His approach calls for Christians to demonstrate their faith through acts of love, charity and peaceful living, rejecting the use of political power to achieve their goals.

Often, one of these two views — Augustine’s or Lipscomb’s — are present in the people we meet in our churches. It can be helpful while listening to someone think politically to ask which approach they are taking.

But what about your own thinking? Both Augustine and Lipscomb help us think about politics. While Lipscomb’s emphasis on nonparticipation highlights the dangers of political idolatry and corruption, Augustine’s approach offers a practical framework for engaging in politics without losing sight of one’s ultimate allegiance to God.

In the end, Christians should engage in prayerful discernment, seeking God’s guidance in their political choices. Following Lipscomb, we might affirm that government, though instituted by God, is imperfect at best and harmful at worst, a point which calls for measured participation and taking care not to idolize the political choices we make.

Following Augustine, we should evaluate candidates and policies critically, considering how they align with our Christian values and principles.

Informed by both thinkers, we should participate in the political process where it can promote the common good and reflect Christian ethics, while maintaining a critical distance from political idolatry. Both thinkers would encourage us to see that our ultimate allegiance is to the Kingdom of God.

MATTHEW DOWLING is preaching minister for the Plymouth Church of Christ in Michigan and a hospital chaplain working in the surgical ICU and oncology floors at Trinity Health Ann Arbor hospital.

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The post Thinking about politics appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

The Honduran native understands the importance of elections — that Central American country’s former President Juan Orlando Hernández was recently convicted in a U.S. trial for his role in drug trafficking.

Carlos Estrada

That’s why Estrada encourages all citizens to exercise their voting rights in the face of corruption, and he counsels church members — younger ones, especially — to examine their political beliefs against the message of the Gospel.

But he never wants to give the impression that they should vote a certain way — in fact, he tries to avoid speaking about political issues from the pulpit entirely, even indirectly.

“If I want to mention something, I will talk about the Kingdom of God and how we are under the rule of the King of heavens,” Estrada told The Christian Chronicle.

While he and fellow Northwest ministers Patrick Odum and Paul Chae come to American politics from different perspectives, they agree that its only place in their preaching is in the context of the Kingdom.

“Our response tends to be not how do you vote — our response tends to be what do you do?” said Odum, who primarily preaches for the congregation’s English-speaking Black and White members. “How do you show love in those circumstances?”

Keeping ‘politics in perspective’

During another divisive political season, preachers in Churches of Christ across the nation are expressing similar messages.

Orpheus Heyward, preacher for the Renaissance Church of Christ in Atlanta, said he’s making sure church members “keep politics in perspective.”

Orpheus J. Heyward leads a roundtable discussion of “Church Music and Church Growth” during the Nehemiah Next Level Up Summit.

“That simply means when I do speak about it, I speak about it from the perspective of, the Christian faith will never find a political party that lines up with the standards that have been revealed by the apostles — that as we engage politics, we have to do so recognizing its limitations,” Heyward told the Chronicle.

“I often try to keep our church very realistic about the political realm and what it means to be part of a political party,” he added. “They need to be mindful that these things have precious little to do with God’s agenda, although God is able to use all things for his purpose.”

Walnut Street minister Chris McCurley, center, prays during a small-group meeting at his Tennessee home.

Likewise, Chris McCurley, preacher for the Walnut Street Church of Christ in Dickson, Tenn., reminds his fellow Christians that their Kingdom is not of this world.

“So while you can be active in politics, and while you have a voice and a vote and all those kind of things, just remember its place,” he said. “We know who sits on the throne. And at the end of the day, I’m a monarchist. Jesus is my king, and that’s where I land.

“And I try to present that so that folks understand politics is part of a man-made kingdom, a man-made system. And those systems always fail. They always become corrupt — I think the Bible shows us that.”

Voting with faith

At the same time, ministers are not ignorant of the impact elections have and the concerns people of faith have about who’s in the White House and other positions of government.

Robin Gough preaches for the Fairfax Church of Christ in Virginia.

“There’s almost a belief that a particular party … secures my future because at the base level, we’re human, and we are very concerned about protecting our own little sphere of influence,” said Robin Gough, minister for the Fairfax Church of Christ in Virginia. “If we just put the right person in the office of the White House, then everything’s going to be better.”

But it’s important that Christians not be motivated by fear and let their faith shape the way they interact with politics — not the other way around — he added.

“I want to speak (about) what’s going to build up the church,” Gough said. “Even though I love my country, and I vote and all those things, I’m not interested in making sure America is sustained as much as I am that the Kingdom of God is growing  — and sometimes those are at odds.”

David Duncan, preacher for the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston, agrees that the best way to influence how Christians navigate the election season is to just keep preaching Jesus.

“Politics do form people, there’s no doubt,” he said. “But what I want to do is continually preach Jesus and the principles of the Gospel. … If we are preaching and teaching those principles, then the way I treat my neighbor or the way I vote or the way I handle stress in my life — those things will eventually handle themselves if a person is truly being transformed in the image and likeness of Jesus.”

Related: Hear ministers Jerrard Davis of Spencer, Okla., Robin Gough of Fairfax, Va., and David Duncan of Houston discuss how they — as preachers — are maneuvering the 2024 election season on Episode 74 of The Christian Chronicle Podcast.

Striving for unity, not division

Patrick Odum

Ministers are also aware of the strain politics can put on relationships — in and outside the church.

“I think one of the things we have a responsibility for is to help people navigate how to disagree without turning guns on each other — metaphorically or otherwise,” said Odum, one of the Northwest ministers. “And recognize that we’re not united by voting the same way or believing the same thing politically. We’re united by what Jesus has done and by our citizenship in God’s Kingdom.

“And so we have a different standard as Christians, and we need to consider that. And unfortunately, that has not been something that Christians have done well in our country.”

The third Northwest preacher, Chae, said even the Korean members to whom he primarily ministers become divided over American politics.

Paul Chae

“We don’t want to argue in the church,” Chae said, “so we usually don’t want to (discuss) any political issue.”

Duncan, the Memorial preacher, remembers when Houston Christians left churches during the last election because of perceived political leanings of sermons and Bible classes.

That’s why he avoids talking about certain issues even in private conversations.

“I do not want to split the body of Jesus, and so, above everything, I’ve got to remember that’s what’s important,” Duncan said. “The country is not eternal, and this election is not eternal.”

Trusting in God

While Estrada, Odum, Heyward, McCurley and other ministers agree that Christians are privileged — but not obligated — to vote, they say God is still in control no matter who wins.

“Whoever’s in the White House, whoever’s leading, we’re just going to roll with the punches,” said Jerrard Davis, minister for the Spencer Church of Christ, east of Oklahoma City. “Maybe the candidate that we voted for, maybe the candidate that we did not vote for — either way, our hope and our trust doesn’t lie in a governmental position. Our trust and hope relies on God.”

That means, Davis added, that Christians have a duty to support their leaders spiritually even if not politically.

“Whoever God places in that position, I’m going to pray for them,” he said. “I’m going to encourage the members to pray for them. And it’s our responsibility to do our best to convert people to Jesus, not to a political figure. So we have to just stand right there and say we fight where God wants us to fight.”

Ultimately, McCurley, the Walnut Street preacher, said his duty is only to preach the Gospel — regardless of what’s going on in the world.

“When it comes to guiding people through a political season, I’m trying to guide them through any season,” he said, “and by doing that, getting them to focus properly and to remember where our hope lies. …

“Our responsibility as Christians, No. 1, is to be the agency by which the story of salvation is to be told. … And so I think my job is always to kind of refocus us, no matter what season it is, to remember that this world is not our home.”

CALVIN COCKRELL is the media editor for The Christian Chronicle and serves as the young adults minister for the North Tuscaloosa Church of Christ in Alabama. Reach him at calvin@christianchronicle.org.

The post Kingdom over country appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

Then again, it’s not trying to be.

The church plant — which grew out of the Hermitage Church of Christ, a half-century-old congregation that closed in 2018 — seeks to reach a new generation with the Gospel.

Located about 20 minutes east of downtown Nashville in Hermitage, New Garden meets in a middle school auditorium. A member of the praise team strums a guitar. Women as well as men speak from the stage.

New Garden Church members partake of the Lord’s Supper each Sunday.

“We often say that too many churches are known for what they’re against, but we want to be known for what we’re for,” lead minister Michael Clinger explains in a video on the church website.

“We may be small in number, but we are a group of people from different generations who are committed to being in relationship with God, with each other and with our community,” adds Madeline Clinger, Michael’s wife and a part-time ministry staff member.

In just a few years, New Garden — which averages Sunday attendance of about 70 — has become known for serving its community.

Five times a year, the church feeds hundreds of neighbors through a large mobile grocery giveaway. 

Members provide back-to-school supplies and volunteer as mentors at DuPont Tyler Middle School, the low-income school where the church worships.

In addition, New Garden organizes holiday meals and year-round snacks for the teachers and helps with special events for the community.

“I truly cannot say enough about what a blessing they are to our faculty and staff,” assistant principal Dawn Roberts said. “The love of Christ most definitely shines through in all they do.”

The praise team leads worship at the New Garden Church, which meets in a school auditorium in Hermitage, Tenn.

Growth and decline

The Hermitage Church of Christ formed in the 1940s on the outskirts of Nashville.

By 1967, when members opened a large new building at a busy intersection, average Sunday attendance approached 500.

“The building site chosen by the Hermitage congregation is considered by planners to be one of the most ideal church locations in the Nashville area from the standpoint of accessibility and growth potential,” The Christian Chronicle reported in February 1967. “The Hermitage community, which will be served by the congregation, is one of the fastest growing areas in Davidson County.”

Eventually, the Sunday count topped 800, said Andy Borchers, a former Hermitage member who made the transition to New Garden, about a half-mile away.

But by the mid-2010s, Hermitage — like a lot of churches nationwide — found itself in decline. 

The flock grayed. The membership number fell to a few hundred. The cost to maintain the half-century-old facility rose.

Andy Borchers, pictured outside the school auditorium where the New Garden Church meets in Hermitage, Tenn., reflects on the congregation’s history.

“We were looking at $3,000 a week just to open the doors and not really seeing a lot of ministry,” Borchers said. 

“We had maintenance issues. We had roof leaks. We had mold in the building,” he added. “We were just scraping by, and the bank account was always tight.”

“We had maintenance issues. We had roof leaks. We had mold in the building. We were just scraping by, and the bank account was always tight.”

The Hermitage church faced tough decisions about its future, said Blair Bryan, board chairman for Heritage21, a consulting ministry that helps congregations with financial and legal issues.

“Instead of waiting until the congregation had lost all momentum and could only serve itself while their building slowly deteriorated around them,” Bryan said of Hermitage leaders, “they determined to be proactive and become a congregation that could effectively impact their community for Christ.”

Ja’ziyah and Lily, both 3 years old, greet each other before the New Garden Church’s Sunday assembly.

Reinvesting resources

Hermitage closed in 2018 and sold its building for $1.65 million in 2019 to the Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church, according to property records.

The congregation used the proceeds to benefit various ministries, Borchers said, from Kairos Church Planting to World Christian Broadcasting to Healing Hands International.

And Hermitage reinvested some of the funds to launch New Garden, including spending $100,000 to renovate the DuPont Tyler school auditorium, he noted. In exchange, the school district gave the church five years of free rent.

The new cushioned seats replaced old wooden folding chairs that were in poor condition.

“It’s a win-win deal,” Borchers said. “So now the school has band concerts in a nice place. And we have a place on Sundays for church.”

After its former minister took a new job, New Garden became a branch campus earlier this year of Nashville’s Woodmont Hills Church, which also has a heritage in Churches of Christ.

“For Hermitage” bumper stickers reflect the New Garden Church’s devotion to serving its community.

“We did not have a strategic plan to seek out additional campuses,” said Jeff Brown, Woodmont Hills’ lead minister. “We do, however, hold the crucial commitment to pay attention to what God might be up to.

“When New Garden approached us about a partnership, we listened through that lens,” Brown added. “At every phase of discernment, we found ourselves leaning in to know more. … We decided we can do better work together than we can apart.”

“At every phase of discernment, we found ourselves leaning in to know more. … We decided we can do better work together than we can apart.”

Josh and Olsa Whitson serve as the shepherding couple assigned to the New Garden campus. The former Hermitage members made the move to New Garden.

“That was a tough journey to go through,” Josh Whitson said of the transition from Hermitage to New Garden. “But I think we’re a healthier church on this side than we were on that side. 

“We’re not too big,” he added. “But that doesn’t always mean you’re a healthy church. We’re very close-knit. We’re very active in this community and in this school.”

A sign outside the school welcomes worshipers to the New Garden Church in Hermitage, Tenn.

Accommodating culture?

New Garden’s approach — including instrumental music and increased women’s roles — concerns leaders such as Phil Sanders, speaker for the national television ministry “In Search of the Lord’s Way.”

Such innovations depart from Scriptural teachings, those leaders believe.

“I can just see lots of problems … with regard to how they worship,” Sanders said. “Even if they’re baptizing according to the Scriptures — for the forgiveness of sins — their worship is going after the modern way and not after the Scriptures. I only see it as accommodating culture.”

John Mark Hicks, a retired Bible professor at Lipscomb University and an expert on the Restoration Movement, offers a different perspective.

While some of New Garden’s practices vary from more traditional churches, the congregation represents “an authentic heir of what we call Churches of Christ,” Hicks said.

“This is a new expression of the trajectory of Restoration churches,” Hicks said. “Few of those churches want to disconnect from the original heritage of congregationalism and the believer’s baptism and the weekly Lord’s Supper.”

Members and guests gather in the school lobby before a Sunday assembly of the New Garden Church in Hermitage, Tenn.

Instead, he suggested, leaders of such churches look at the older tradition and say: “I value that because I grew up in it. It formed me. I love the people there. … But the mission of the kingdom has led us to seek a new expression of that old common ground.”

Over the past 20 years, Kairos has worked with 40 church plant projects across the U.S., executive director Bruce Bates said.

Church planters view innovation as a means — and a necessity — to fulfill the Great Commission in the modern era, Bates said.

“I think those approaches, which New Garden and other churches are bravely trying, have Matthew 28 at the heart of them,” he said. “I’m proud to stand with them.”

But Sanders said “Search” receives calls each week from seekers — including young people — drawn to the same simple teachings that helped Churches of Christ grow decades ago.

“The thing that is so interesting,” he said, “is that more often than not, it is the distinctive doctrinal things that we are teaching that are attracting them rather than pushing them away.”

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. He traveled to Tennessee to report this story. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

The post Is this church plant innovative or unscriptural? appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

Then again, it’s not trying to be.

The church plant — which grew out of the Hermitage Church of Christ, a half-century-old congregation that closed in 2018 — seeks to reach a new generation with the Gospel.

Located about 20 minutes east of downtown Nashville in Hermitage, New Garden meets in a middle school auditorium. A member of the praise team strums a guitar. Women as well as men speak from the stage.

New Garden Church members partake of the Lord’s Supper each Sunday.

“We often say that too many churches are known for what they’re against, but we want to be known for what we’re for,” lead minister Michael Clinger explains in a video on the church website.

“We may be small in number, but we are a group of people from different generations who are committed to being in relationship with God, with each other and with our community,” adds Madeline Clinger, Michael’s wife and a part-time ministry staff member.

In just a few years, New Garden — which averages Sunday attendance of about 70 — has become known for serving its community.

Five times a year, the church feeds hundreds of neighbors through a large mobile grocery giveaway. 

Members provide back-to-school supplies and volunteer as mentors at DuPont Tyler Middle School, the low-income school where the church worships.

In addition, New Garden organizes holiday meals and year-round snacks for the teachers and helps with special events for the community.

“I truly cannot say enough about what a blessing they are to our faculty and staff,” assistant principal Dawn Roberts said. “The love of Christ most definitely shines through in all they do.”

The praise team leads worship at the New Garden Church, which meets in a school auditorium in Hermitage, Tenn.

Growth and decline

The Hermitage Church of Christ formed in the 1940s on the outskirts of Nashville.

By 1967, when members opened a large new building at a busy intersection, average Sunday attendance approached 500.

“The building site chosen by the Hermitage congregation is considered by planners to be one of the most ideal church locations in the Nashville area from the standpoint of accessibility and growth potential,” The Christian Chronicle reported in February 1967. “The Hermitage community, which will be served by the congregation, is one of the fastest growing areas in Davidson County.”

Eventually, the Sunday count topped 800, said Andy Borchers, a former Hermitage member who made the transition to New Garden, about a half-mile away.

But by the mid-2010s, Hermitage — like a lot of churches nationwide — found itself in decline. 

The flock grayed. The membership number fell to a few hundred. The cost to maintain the half-century-old facility rose.

Andy Borchers, pictured outside the school auditorium where the New Garden Church meets in Hermitage, Tenn., reflects on the congregation’s history.

“We were looking at $3,000 a week just to open the doors and not really seeing a lot of ministry,” Borchers said. 

“We had maintenance issues. We had roof leaks. We had mold in the building,” he added. “We were just scraping by, and the bank account was always tight.”

“We had maintenance issues. We had roof leaks. We had mold in the building. We were just scraping by, and the bank account was always tight.”

The Hermitage church faced tough decisions about its future, said Blair Bryan, board chairman for Heritage21, a consulting ministry that helps congregations with financial and legal issues.

“Instead of waiting until the congregation had lost all momentum and could only serve itself while their building slowly deteriorated around them,” Bryan said of Hermitage leaders, “they determined to be proactive and become a congregation that could effectively impact their community for Christ.”

Ja’ziyah and Lily, both 3 years old, greet each other before the New Garden Church’s Sunday assembly.

Reinvesting resources

Hermitage closed in 2018 and sold its building for $1.65 million in 2019 to the Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church, according to property records.

The congregation used the proceeds to benefit various ministries, Borchers said, from Kairos Church Planting to World Christian Broadcasting to Healing Hands International.

And Hermitage reinvested some of the funds to launch New Garden, including spending $100,000 to renovate the DuPont Tyler school auditorium, he noted. In exchange, the school district gave the church five years of free rent.

The new cushioned seats replaced old wooden folding chairs that were in poor condition.

“It’s a win-win deal,” Borchers said. “So now the school has band concerts in a nice place. And we have a place on Sundays for church.”

After its former minister took a new job, New Garden became a branch campus earlier this year of Nashville’s Woodmont Hills Church, which also has a heritage in Churches of Christ.

“For Hermitage” bumper stickers reflect the New Garden Church’s devotion to serving its community.

“We did not have a strategic plan to seek out additional campuses,” said Jeff Brown, Woodmont Hills’ lead minister. “We do, however, hold the crucial commitment to pay attention to what God might be up to.

“When New Garden approached us about a partnership, we listened through that lens,” Brown added. “At every phase of discernment, we found ourselves leaning in to know more. … We decided we can do better work together than we can apart.”

“At every phase of discernment, we found ourselves leaning in to know more. … We decided we can do better work together than we can apart.”

Josh and Olsa Whitson serve as the shepherding couple assigned to the New Garden campus. The former Hermitage members made the move to New Garden.

“That was a tough journey to go through,” Josh Whitson said of the transition from Hermitage to New Garden. “But I think we’re a healthier church on this side than we were on that side. 

“We’re not too big,” he added. “But that doesn’t always mean you’re a healthy church. We’re very close-knit. We’re very active in this community and in this school.”

A sign outside the school welcomes worshipers to the New Garden Church in Hermitage, Tenn.

Innovative or unscriptural?

New Garden’s approach — including instrumental music and increased women’s roles — concerns leaders such as Phil Sanders, speaker for the national television ministry “In Search of the Lord’s Way.”

Such innovations depart from Scriptural teachings, those leaders believe.

“I can just see lots of problems … with regard to how they worship,” Sanders said. “Even if they’re baptizing according to the Scriptures — for the forgiveness of sins — their worship is going after the modern way and not after the Scriptures. I only see it as accommodating culture.”

John Mark Hicks, a retired Bible professor at Lipscomb University and an expert on the Restoration Movement, offers a different perspective.

While some of New Garden’s practices vary from more traditional churches, the congregation represents “an authentic heir of what we call Churches of Christ,” Hicks said.

“This is a new expression of the trajectory of Restoration churches,” Hicks said. “Few of those churches want to disconnect from the original heritage of congregationalism and the believer’s baptism and the weekly Lord’s Supper.”

Members and guests gather in the school lobby before a Sunday assembly of the New Garden Church in Hermitage, Tenn.

Instead, he suggested, leaders of such churches look at the older tradition and say: “I value that because I grew up in it. It formed me. I love the people there. … But the mission of the kingdom has led us to seek a new expression of that old common ground.”

Over the past 20 years, Kairos has worked with 40 church plant projects across the U.S., executive director Bruce Bates said.

Church planters view innovation as a means — and a necessity — to fulfill the Great Commission in the modern era, Bates said.

“I think those approaches, which New Garden and other churches are bravely trying, have Matthew 28 at the heart of them,” he said. “I’m proud to stand with them.”

But Sanders said “Search” receives calls each week from seekers — including young people — drawn to the same simple teachings that helped Churches of Christ grow decades ago.

“The thing that is so interesting,” he said, “is that more often than not, it is the distinctive doctrinal things that we are teaching that are attracting them rather than pushing them away.”

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. He traveled to Tennessee to report this story. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

The post Why a Tennessee congregation sold its building and moved into a school appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

Neither was the 39-year-old Republican always a high-profile MAGA champion, denouncing liberal indoctrination; illegal immigration; LGBTQ-themed school library books; diversity, equity and inclusion programs; and the “Woke Olympics.”

Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, makes a point during an interview with The Christian Chronicle.

Decades before winning election as Oklahoma’s top education official in 2022 — and before igniting a national furor on religion in public schools by requiring a Bible in every classroom — Walters was a schoolchild in a small town in eastern Oklahoma.

Baptized at an early age at the Main and Oklahoma Church of Christ in his hometown of McAlester, Walters traces his love for the Bible and history to his late grandfather Franklin “Dee” Delano Ball. 

Ball, a U.S. Navy veteran, served in Korea and Vietnam. After retiring from the military, he opened a barbecue restaurant with his brothers and raised cattle outside of McAlester, which is known as the home of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and the nearby McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. An elder of the North Town Church of Christ in McAlester, Ball died in 2020 at age 86.

“I’d go out there and help my grandfather with the cattle, and we’d be hours and hours on the tractor,” said Walters, who grew up to become an award-winning high school history teacher before his political career. “We’d talk about the Bible. We’d talk about history. He was kind of the history guru who really got me going down that route.

“And frankly,” added the grandson, who was a finalist for 2016 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, “my grandfather was the one where we really started having these conversations about what happened when they took the Bible out of school. … And so that was a big part of my growing up.”

A view of Oklahoma’s state Capitol.

Roots of his faith

Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, spoke to The Christian Chronicle in the Board of Education conference room at the state Capitol complex in Oklahoma City.

The 45-minute interview came amid national debate on Walters’ recent order that every teacher in Oklahoma must be provided with physical copies of the Bible, the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Ten Commandments.

“These documents are mandatory for the holistic education of students in Oklahoma,” according to instructional support guidelines issued by Walters.

Asked if the roots of his faith were planted early, Walters replied, “Yes, sir. My mom and dad are very devout. My mother was very, very engaged with us kids growing up. There was a lot of reading the Bible. … We spent a lot of time together as a family, a lot of time in church.”

Like his parents, Randy and Debbie, Walters attended Harding University in Searcy, Ark., which is associated with Churches of Christ. Today, Randy serves as the minister and Debbie as the elementary education director for the North Town church.

“We spent a lot of time together as a family, a lot of time in church.”

Walters met Katie, his wife of nearly 12 years, at Harding. They have four children: Violet, 10; Ella, 7; Benjamin, 5; and Samuel, 3. 

Harding honored Walters, a 2010 graduate, as its 2021 Outstanding Young Alumnus.

“I love Harding University,” Walters told the Chronicle. “It was truly an experience that has had a major impact on me.”

‘My favorite teacher’

Before entering the political arena, Walters taught Advanced Placement courses in world history, U.S. history and U.S. government for eight years at his hometown McAlester High School.

“He was my favorite teacher, and I think that goes for quite a lot of us,” said Starla Edge, a 2020 graduate who describes herself as queer and served as president of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance her junior year.

Celeste Lawson, left, and Starla Edge were founding members of McAlester High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance.

Edge remembers Walters letting her and her girlfriend leave his homeroom class to go get coffee as long as Edge brought him back a cappuccino.

Walters engaged students in thoughtful studies on subjects such as Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, and never revealed his personal feelings, Edge said.

That’s why, she said, she’s so shocked by the right-wing policies he has pushed as Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction — an elected role overseeing a $4 billion-a-year educational system with 700,000 students.

“I want to believe that he is a better person than that,” said Edge, who joined a protest against Walters’ policies at a recent state Board of Education meeting.

Walters, who praises former President Donald Trump’s appointment of justices who overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, said students didn’t need to know about his conservative political leanings. 

The former teacher said he did incorporate the Bible into his history lessons when appropriate.

“I was trying to do the best I could do to have a true academic setting for those kids,” Walters said.

“I was trying to do the best I could do to have a true academic setting for those kids.”

He advocates that approach for history teachers using the Bible as a primary source.

“I’ve had people criticize (the mandate) and say, ‘What if a teacher pushes this or that on kids?’” he said. “And I go, ‘Well, you’re not supposed to do that as a teacher.’” 

Walters’ office issued professional guidelines for school districts statewide to incorporate the Bible into their curriculum. 

Bottom line, he said: “It’s to be done in its academic setting. It’s to be done in its historical context.”

Ryan Walters listens to a question during an interview with The Christian Chronicle.

From teacher to politician 

Walters’ rise to statewide educational leadership came after he met future Gov. Kevin Stitt, a fellow Republican, at a tennis tournament where Stitt’s daughter competed in 2018.

“We kind of struck up a friendship, and his passion for education was apparent from the very beginning,” Stitt said in a video produced by Harding when Walters won the alumni award. 

In 2020, Stitt appointed Walters to his cabinet as secretary of education. Two years later, Walters campaigned for the state schools superintendent post and won the general election by 15 percentage points.

Oklahoma, known as one of the “reddest of the red states,” hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Trump won all 77 counties in 2016 and again in 2020. 

Still, controversy has marked Walters’ tenure at the state Education Department — ranging from criticism over spending state funds to book national media appearances for himself to alleged skirting of open records and open meetings laws to his ongoing clash with state Attorney General Gentner Drummond over a proposed Catholic charter school. Like Walters, Drummond is a Republican.

The state Supreme Court has ruled that the school, which Walters supports, is unconstitutional, and Drummond agrees. But the Statewide Charter School Board, on which Walters serves by virtue of his office, voted to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ryan Walters speaks during a state Board of Education meeting in August 2023.

One school district sued Walters — and won — after he sought to remove books he deemed pornographic from its library shelves. 

At least a dozen of the state’s largest school districts have said they won’t comply with his directive on teaching the Bible, according to The Oklahoman (a newspaper Walters labels “The Woklahoman”), prompting Walters to threaten to hold “rogue” administrators accountable. 

Asked if any of the criticism he has received is legitimate, Walters replied, “No.”

“What you see,” he said, “are folks who are lying to attack the agenda for the people of Oklahoma. You see, this is what the left does. … They lie about me, and they sue me, and they try to stop the agenda from moving forward. They’ve done the same thing with President Trump.”

But the criticism of Walters is not limited to the left.

State Rep. Mark McBride, a Republican from Moore, south of Oklahoma City, chairs a House education subcommittee.

McBride, a Southern Baptist who has done mission work around the world, said he found Walters “very well spoken” when they first met during the superintendent’s teaching days. 

But since his election, Walters has seemed to take extreme right-wing positions aimed at seeking higher office, McBride said.

“I don’t know who his handlers are … telling him to be this way,” the state representative said.

Trey Orndorff, a political scientist at Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City, said it seems clear that Walters’ “whole goal has been to be a national figure.”

“You can see that because that’s where he spends his time and his effort,” Orndorff said of Walters, who has appeared on cable TV networks such as Fox News and CNN to promote his Bible mandate.

During the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Walters posted a photo and videos of himself sporting a red “Make America Great Again” hat as Trump spoke on stage.

But Walters insists he’s focused on his job — making sure Oklahoma’s educational system “is as good as it can possibly be and that it reflects the values of the people of Oklahoma.”

Ryan Walters sports a red “Make America Great Again” hat at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

‘Whose faith are you going to teach?’

Despite his own faith, Rep. McBride voices concerns about forcing the Bible and the Ten Commandments into the state’s classrooms. 

Oklahoma law already explicitly allows teachers to use the Bible when appropriate for instruction, according to the attorney general’s office.

Related: Teaching the Bible during public school hours? It’s totally constitutional?

“Once you allow this (new mandate) in, whose faith are you going to teach?” asked McBride, who said he believes in the separation of church and state. “The Church of Christ is a little bit different than the Southern Baptists, and the Southern Baptists are different from the Mormons. So where do you draw the line?”

As McBride sees it, classrooms have become battlefields.

“I want people to go to school and learn reading, writing and arithmetic and not have the distraction of having to be taught the Bible in school,” he said. “But I don’t want the gay pride flag in the classroom either.”

“The Church of Christ is a little bit different than the Southern Baptists, and the Southern Baptists are different from the Mormons. So where do you draw the line?”

Rep. Mike Osburn, a Republican from Edmond, north of Oklahoma City, attends The Springs Church of Christ in Edmond. 

Osburn and two other lawmakers were refused entry into a recent state Board of Education executive session. The attorney general’s office called the denial a “willful violation” of the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act.

Osburn said he sought to attend the closed session related to a teacher certification case in his district. Osburn and Walters haven’t discussed their shared faith specifically, the lawmaker said, but they have talked about mutual acquaintances in Churches of Christ.

Like McBride, Osburn questions the Bible mandate.

“My view is, aside from the constitutional issues, treating the Bible as only a historical document trivializes what I believe is a sacred text and the inspired word of God,” said Osburn, an attorney who began his political career as former Gov. Frank Keating’s campaign manager in 1994. “The risk of this sacred text being further compromised by mandating that all teachers, including believers and nonbelievers, explain the Bible is another concern.”

Moreover, Osburn argued, “Current law is that statewide curriculum changes require legislative approval. Textbooks are chosen by local school boards. Without legislative and local school board approval and because of the questionable constitutionality, I don’t believe the mandate is legitimate, and I disagree with it.”

Two churches’ approaches

On the Sunday after announcing his Bible mandate, Walters appeared on stage at Sheridan.Church, an evangelical church in Tulsa, with his three younger children.

The family received a standing ovation, and Jackson Lahmeyer, founder of Pastors for Trump, praised Walters’ courage in pushing to teach about the Bible’s role in American history.

“The media has lost their minds over this,” Walters told the crowd. “And you know what I told them? I said, ‘Listen, you can be offended. You can be mad. You can be upset. But here’s what you can’t do: You can’t rewrite our history.’”

“Amen!” Lahmeyer and the church agreed.

“And it is crystal clear in American history,” Walters continued. “You can go back to the Declaration of Independence — our rights are endowed by our Creator. … You can listen to Abraham Lincoln mention God and the Bible almost in every speech, every letter he wrote. You can go all the way up to, by the way, Martin Luther King Jr. referencing in the Civil Rights Movement — in the ‘Letter from the Birmingham Jail’ — what God intended, and he’s quoting the Bible.

“So how do you teach history without the Bible?” Walters added. “You can’t. It is academic malpractice, so we are incredibly proud to be the first state in the country to put the Bible back in the classroom.”

Related: ‘Overhyped’ Christian nationalism label draws political backlash

On the same Sunday that the Sheridan.Church prayed over Walters and his children, the family’s home congregation in Oklahoma City — the North MacArthur Church of Christ — made no mention of the Bible mandate or partisan politics. Minister Tim Lewis preached a sermon on peace and reconciliation in the Christian life, focusing on Jesus — not politics — as is the congregation’s general practice.

“Each church is different, right?” Walters said when asked about the varying approaches.

His family first connected with North MacArthur when his children attended the church’s Vacation Bible School a few years ago.

“They’ve embraced our family rather well, and the kids love the Bible classes there,” he said of the congregation. “We’ve loved our time there, and there are truly salt-of-the-earth people there. … It’s a really great congregation.”

“They’ve embraced our family rather well, and the kids love the Bible classes there. We’ve loved our time there, and there are truly salt-of-the-earth people there.”

The three older children attend Deer Creek public schools — a district that includes parts of Oklahoma City and Edmond. The children have great teachers, Walters said, and the girls enjoy playing school even after they get home.

Before rushing to another meeting, Walters emphasized that his faith is what drives him.

“At the beginning of the day and the end of the day, that’s what I look at as where I get my sense of right and wrong, my direction,” he said. “I am in the Bible every day. I try to read it very much openly and try to share it with my kids as much as I can. My wife and I have a very close relationship, and we read it together.”

Ryan Walters answers a question during an interview with The Christian Chronicle.

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

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She spent the first years of her life playing on a dirt floor. 

One of nine children, she shared a single-room house with her family, barely scraping by during the Great Depression and World War II.

Her family rarely had money. Most of their meals depended on food stamps. Eventually, even those were affected by war-time rationing. 

Then her mother died due to an infection.

“It was in the early 1940s,” recalled Porch, now 89. “And that’s when everything fell apart.”

Tiffany Jones, right, helps Shirley Porch with her oxygen mask tubing as she arrives at a hotel in Wichita, Kan.

A chance for more

Eight decades later, the faithful Christian lives in Arkansas and attends services led by the West Side Church of Christ at her assisted living facility in Searcy.

But a recent summer evening found her back in Kansas, nearly 500 miles from the retirement center, enjoying dinner with the Jones family.

She wondered aloud during the meal how her life might have unfolded if her mother had lived.

Maybe she would have remained impoverished. Perhaps she would have never found God. 

The sun sets as Shirley Porch reminisces about her childhood on a drive back to her hotel after dinner with the Jones family.

But those potential outcomes all changed when “one woman made a huge difference,” said Tiffany Jones, director of development for Carpenter Place, a children’s home associated with Churches of Christ.

Gladys Childs, distantly related to the little girl by marriage and a member of the Riverside Church of Christ in Wichita, heard of the family’s misfortune.

The youngest of Porch’s siblings, a newborn boy, had already been adopted. Porch’s father, struggling to hold the household together, agreed to legally terminate his parental rights. 

Childs approached the Riverside congregation with a plea: Take care of the children. 

Ruth Garthwaite, a member of the neighboring West Douglas Church of Christ, offered to house them if the Riverside church covered the expenses. 

Then church members heard about more children in need. 

In 1946, the now-defunct Riverside church opened the Midwest Children’s Home, known today as Carpenter Place in honor of Maude Carpenter, an early benefactor.

“When Ruth took those kids in, I doubt they ever dreamed it would still be going over 80 years from then,” Jones said. “I don’t think she would ever have imagined that that would have happened.”

The Brazeals, the first houseparents hired by the Midwest Children’s Home, adopted Porch when she was 10. 

“The life that they offered us gave us a chance for more,” Porch recalled.

“The life that they offered us gave us a chance for more.”

New structure, same mission

The children’s home has evolved in many ways since its founding.

Carpenter Place transitioned to being a girls-only home in the early 2000s. Girls ages 12 to 17 from all over the country stay for 18 to 24 months depending on their needs. 

Three sets of houseparents oversee their care. Therapists visit the campus weekly. Teachers give lessons in person and remotely. 

Tiffany Jones gives a tour of the Shellee Morrison Christian Learning Center at Carpenter Place in Wichita, Kan.

“Unlike with Shirley back then, these girls are not orphans,” Jones said. “They have families, so a lot of the things that will bring them to us are just behavioral issues of different and varying kinds.”

Yet the organization’s mission remains the same.

“The people in the church took us because they saw a need, and they introduced us to Christ, because that was their mission,” Porch said. “That’s still their mission. Now these girls — God only knows what’s in their future — there is no guarantee they’re going to be really good, upstanding, worthwhile citizens once they leave the influence of the home. And it was the same with us. But the church is giving them a foundation, and they gave us a foundation.”

“The people in the church took us because they saw a need, and they introduced us to Christ, because that was their mission. That’s still their mission.

Porch is the organization’s “shining example,” Jones said. 

The last surviving member of the founding children, she was baptized at 9 years old after being introduced to church through the home.

“I didn’t know there was such a thing as a church,” before living with Garthwaite, Porch said. A mother of three, Porch raised all her sons in the church as a result. 

“The home gave me my faith,” Porch stressed. “If it had not been for the church taking us into that home, I don’t think we would have ever known a faith. Right now, my family is a Christian family because of what happened when I was young.”

One of her grandsons serves as an international missionary with his family. 

Gary Ross, her middle son, taught at Harding University in Searcy for 20 years. He also served for several years as an elder of the Downtown Church of Christ and now serves as an elder for the Living Way Church of Christ.

“She taught my Bible classes and taught us to have respect for others and for God and to do the right thing,” Ross, 70, recalled of his upbringing. “She was very wonderful for us, but for her to come from the background she came from, I often wonder, ‘Man, how did she do that for us?’”

But her influence is not limited to childhood. Ross said she inspires his faith, even now. 

“I’ll go to see her, and she’ll say, ‘Look what I found in the Bible. I didn’t know that was in there. Where have I been all my life?’” Ross said. “She’s always reading and showing me stuff, knowing that she needs to learn, even at 89 years old. To me, that’s really inspirational.”

“She’s always reading and showing me stuff, knowing that she needs to learn, even at 89 years old. To me, that’s really inspirational.”

A butterfly effect on future generations

Jones and her husband, Michael, first met Porch on a trip to Harding after hearing about the children’s home connection. 

That visit led them to arranging Porch’s recent trip to Carpenter Place, where she shared her testimony with the board of directors and the seven girls currently staying at the home. 

“All of her siblings have passed,” Jones said. “The founding people, they’re all gone. So having that connection, that link, to what Carpenter Place was then and what it is now — I just felt like that was so important. 

“She’s so full of wisdom,” she added. “She knows what it’s like to be in a group home and to share her experiences with those girls was just priceless.”

Porch brought her personal collection of butterfly pins to share with the girls, which she began accumulating after learning her biological grandmother had an affinity for the colorful insects. 

The gesture represented more than jewelry or kindness to Michael Jones, preaching minister for the East Point Church of Christ in Wichita and a member of Carpenter Place’s board of directors. 

Shirley Porch poses for a portrait in one of her butterfly shirts.

“Her life reminds me of the butterfly effect,” Michael Jones said, referring to the theory that describes how one small change can lead to large, non-linear effects elsewhere. 

“The effect that she has had because she’s been at Carpenter Place and the effect that Carpenter Place has had on her life have affected her children and her children’s children’s lives,” Tiffany Jones added. “And we see that like every day at Carpenter Place. 

“We see things that are going to affect the girls and their families, their lives and — hopefully — generations to come.”

Shirley Porch hugs Sophie Jones during her recent trip to visit Carpenter Place in Wichita, Kan.

AUDREY JACKSON is Managing Editor of The Christian Chronicle. Contact audrey@christianchronicle.org.

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Cynthia Powell

Vic McCracken, professor of ethics and theology at Abilene Christian University, co-teaches the medical bioethics course with Cynthia Powell, who directs ACU’s Center for Pre-Health Professions.

Every year the class includes students who were born through IVF.

“It’s not uncommon in our fold,” Powell said.

The professors tell students up front that technological advancements spurred many questions to be explored.

“It was harder to argue about embryonic life when people didn’t know what’s happening in the womb,” McCracken said. But now they must ask, “What is the moral status of embryonic life? Do they have the status of undeniable persons, no status at all or some lesser status?”

Powell wants future health professionals to be understand the viewpoint of the patient when they consider medical interventions to treat infertility.

Read this related story about Christians experience with infertility and IVF.

“It’s easy to say, ‘I don’t think IVF is morally permissible’ if you aren’t a person suffering with infertility,” Powell said.

Jim Nichols, now retired, is past chair of ACU’s biology department and has served as a chaplain at Hendrick Health in Abilene for 16 years.

“It’s easy to say, ‘I don’t think IVF is morally permissible’ if you aren’t a person suffering with infertility,”

He says those experiences — and approaching 80 — have impacted his views.

“At the stage I am in my life right now, I don’t like to make decisions for other people on much of anything, especially something as private and personal as this is,” he said.

Jim Nichols

“Part of me says this is something where a couple is not accepting nature and the boundaries nature has put on the world.”

But, he added, “The other part of me says that’s judgmental of people, and they should have the right to exercise whatever science options they have, and this is a science option that works. I would not apprise people not to do it.”

He is concerned about the growing throng of unused embryos cryogenically preserved in labs.

So is McCracken who would prefer to minimize the number of embryos created, though that would make the process more invasive and more expensive.

“I’m supportive of IVF, but I have moral reservations about a practice that entails creation of embryos for research. And yet it’s hard to argue we should choose to discard embryos rather than use them.”

“I don’t think they’re a person,” Nichols said, “but they have some value morally.”

CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact cheryl@christianchronicle.org.

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“I just tell her, ‘A very nice family gave us you, and you were sooooo tiny. And they put you inside me so you could grow. When it was time to come out, you did. We had shared blood, but I have brown hair, and you have blond,’” said Chelsea Buchholtz, an Austin, Texas, attorney. “‘But I’m your only mommy.’”

Neither Chelsea nor her husband, Scott, was able to have biological children. After exploring fostering and traditional adoption, she learned about embryo adoption.

“It’s the most clear time in my life in which the Holy Spirit has spoken to me. It allowed us to have a family in kind of a traditional way.”

The Buchholtzes attend Providence Church, a church plant that partners with the University Avenue Church of Christ, where Chelsea grew up and her father served many years as an elder. Her youth minister from those years and his wife were the first of several to mention in vitro fertilization by donation.

“It’s the most clear time in my life in which the Holy Spirit has spoken to me,” Chelsea said. “It allowed us to have a family in kind of a traditional way.”

So she tells Rosie what she believes to be true: “That embryo was created by God, and I’m so glad he created you for us.”

The Buchholtz family

Chelsea’s fertility doctor explained that IVF by adoption could be facilitated as a traditional adoption or as a transfer of property with a contractual agreement.

“I’m a lawyer. I said, ‘Let’s do a contract.’” They met the donor parents and their children previously conceived through IVF. The family gave the Buchholtzes five embryos, one of which was implanted and became Rosie.

Chelsea, 45, serves as executive director of the Texas Real Estate Commission but said her favorite title is Mom. Scott, 52, works as operations director for the Texas Economic Development Corporation. Though Rosie wishes for a sibling, they don’t plan to have more children.

“We have a dog named Sister!” Chelsea said, laughing.

They would like to give the other embryos to the next family.

How it works — and doesn’t work

The Buchholtz story is typical. And not at all typical. Which is the case for all families who choose IVF.

Their story is nothing like that of Brent and DeShonna Taylor, a Dallas couple whose 27-year-old quintuplets were born through IVF. And theirs, in turn, is nothing like Jessica Hemenway Knapp and her husband, David. The Arizona Christians endured three failed IVF attempts and a 14-year sojourn with infertility that included four miscarriages. Their four children were all conceived naturally over that same span of time.

“Nobody does IVF without a passion for having babies,” Jessica said. “It’s not just, ‘This is how I’ll get a kid.’”

Jessica Knapp

Knapp is minister of The Seed Gathering, a church plant associated with Churches of Christ on the University of Arizona campus, but she began her professional career as a math professor. David is an engineer.

Jessica described the expensive last resort treatment for couples dealing with infertility as physically and emotionally brutal. Doctors tailor the process to each couple’s needs. But typically it begins with a regimen of hormones and injections to stimulate the woman’s ovaries to overproduce eggs that are harvested through the first of two surgical procedures. The number harvested varies from as few as five or six to as many as 30, determined by factors including the mother’s health, age and history.

The eggs are fertilized in a lab using the father’s sperm or, if the father is infertile, using donated sperm. If the mother is infertile, a donated egg may be fertilized. Odds of infertility being due to the woman, the man or undetermined are about equal.

About 5 percent of couples with infertility will try IVF, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The total cost can range from $20,000 to $40,000 with insurance coverage varying.

Spontaneous abortion, or miscarriage, happens in 10 to 20 percent of pregnancies, even in naturally occurring, clinically recognized pregnancies. Clinically unrecognized loss is likely even higher. The numbers increase with maternal age.

In the IVF process, as in the womb, some eggs die. Some embryos die. In Knapp’s case, all of them died in the first two attempts before any could be transferred to her womb. A third attempt failed when the implanted embryo died in utero.

Embryos develop to six to 10 cells each within just two or three days of fertilization. They are tested for genetic anomalies and graded to assess which have the highest viability. One or more of the most viable are implanted in a second surgical procedure.

Chelsea Buchholtz only had to undergo the second procedure since she was using a donated embryo. And only one was transferred. That one became Rosie.

But when the Taylors underwent IVF 27 years ago, doctors commonly transferred multiple embryos, assuming some would not survive. Today, doctors more commonly transfer only one or two or three to avoid multiple births beyond twins.

The Taylor quintuplets at ages 1 and 18: Kenedy, Jonah, Jacob, Aleksi and Zachary. The five, now age 27, are the IVF babies of Brent and DeShonna Taylor of Dallas.

The remaining embryos are frozen. Parents may choose to use them later, donate them to other couples, donate them for medical research or allow them to be discarded.

And that’s where things get even more complicated. Enter the Catholics, the courts, the bioethicists, the Baptists. And, of course, the politicians.

Moral complexity

IVF was invented in 1978 by British physiologist Sir Robert Edwards. Since then, more than 8 million IVF babies have been born, according to the Cleveland Clinic. And Christians have sometimes found themselves conflicted, some objecting to the process, others to its consequences for unused embryos.

Yet there’s widespread support for what many call a pro-life practice. IVF allows babies to be born who would not have life without it.

Roman Catholic opposition to IVF was documented in “Donum Vitae: Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation,” issued by Pope John Paul II in 1987. The instruction details objections to the side effects of IVF, specifically the creation of extra embryos and their destruction. But at its heart it disdains any form of reproduction outside the natural order, which it calls “the fidelity of the spouses in the unity of marriage.”

Read this related story about how Christian bioethicists at Abilene Christian University are helping students consider the moral complexities of IVF.

A May 2024 study published by Pew Research found that 65 percent of American Catholics believe IVF is a good thing, but the official stance remains unchanged. In the same study, mainstream Protestants and evangelicals also responded that IVF is a good thing at a rate of 63 percent to 78 percent, depending on how the groups were defined.

In a Gallup survey a month later wherein religiosity is measured by frequency of church attendance, 63 percent of Americans who attend weekly believe IVF is morally acceptable. But 54 percent believe destroying frozen human embryos is morally wrong.

That divergence was evident at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in June. The nation’s largest Protestant denomination engaged in emotional debate over IVF. Delegates, called messengers, passed a resolution largely opposing IVF but most particularly the “destruction of embryonic human life” and “dehumanizing methods for determining suitability for life.”

They commended couples who have “sought to only utilize infertility treatments and reproductive technologies in ways consistent with the dignity of the human embryo as well as those who have adopted frozen embryos.”

What was once a fairly rare and little-discussed procedure designed to treat the most personal of medical conditions entered the spotlight via court cases in Alabama and Texas, legislation in Alabama and party posturing in Congress. A GOP bill called the IVF Protection Act and a Democratic bill, the Right to IVF Act, both failed amid political maneuvering.

Yet despite genuine moral complexity and protracted political wrangling, support for IVF remains surprisingly bipartisan — even in states such as Alabama and Texas, which have two of the largest concentrations of Churches of Christ.

Michael DeBoer

In February, a conservative Supreme Court in Alabama ruled that “extrauterine unborn children” created through IVF must be considered exactly the same as in utero embryos. Thus parents could sue clinics or physicians, or theoretically be held responsible themselves, for the embryos’ demise under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, passed in 1872.

Michael DeBoer, associate dean for academic affairs at Faulkner University’s Jones School of Law in Alabama, said the legal issue in LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine was straightforward: “What does the statute say, and what does the statute mean?”

In this case, DeBoer said, that is, “What would the meaning of ‘minor child’ have been in the 1870s when that legislation was enacted?”

“Of course they didn’t know anything about what is termed ‘extra uterine children.’ But a minor child would have been known,” he said, “and I think what Justice (Jay) Mitchell is saying is ‘minor child’ was meant to be encompassing rather than excluding. So it’s minor children whether born or unborn.”

Property or personhood

DeBoer, a Southern Baptist, has been on the Faulkner faculty since 2011. His courses have included healthcare law, public health, and law and religion. His explainer on LePage, published by the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Center for Faith and Culture in Wake Forest, N.C., details the case and its rationale.

After LePage, many fertility clinics statewide put procedures on hold. Then less than three weeks later, the Alabama Legislature passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Bill Melson, a member of the Wood Avenue Church of Christ in Florence, protecting IVF providers and patients from prosecution in the event embryos die before they are implanted.

Melson, a Republican and an anesthesiologist, has a long list of conservative bonafides. The bill he authored passed in Alabama’s Republican-dominated House and Senate by overwhelming margins, garnering national and international media attention. The Christian Chronicle made multiple attempts to reach Melson for this article but failed to connect with him.

In the political arena, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Southern Baptist, and several governors, including Texas’ Greg Abbott, a Catholic, issued cautious statements supportive of IVF.

In June, Texas’ Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of Antoun v. Antoun, a case challenging a divorce settlement. The appeals court held that a contract between both parents and a fertility clinic several years earlier was enforceable, and in keeping with the contract, unused embryos would be the property of the father.

The property or personhood issue is abstract to some. Jessica Knapp understands it concretely.

“We still have two embryos frozen. We know they are not viable, but I’m not quite ready to have them destroyed. I don’t have an adjective for how it feels.”

“I did three rounds of IVF and got no babies,” she said and paused. “We still have two embryos frozen. We know they are not viable, but I’m not quite ready to have them destroyed. I don’t have an adjective for how it feels.”

“I want them to be considered my babies when I decide to implant them,” the mother said. “But I need them to be considered property in terms of how my husband and I manage what happens next. It’s both.”

‘Blessings we don’t have all the answers for’

Bill Chambers of Tyler, Texas, is retired now, but for 40 years he was an OB-GYN specializing in high-risk pregnancies and a life fellow in the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Chambers, a former elder of the Glenwood Church of Christ, said he “had no apprehension in referring couples, for whom we had done every other reasonable thing, for IVF.”

“Man has forgotten that there are many blessings that we don’t have all the answers for. (One of those is) the gift of unbelievable technological medicine.”

“Man has forgotten to be humble. Man has forgotten that there are many blessings that we don’t have all the answers for,” the physician said. One of those is “the gift of unbelievable technological medicine.”

Brent Taylor told his own mom something similar — but in West Texas vernacular — when she raised concerns almost three decades ago.

From left, Joshua, Kenedy, Zachary, Jonah, Jacob, Aleksi, Deshonna and Brent Taylor pose for a family photo.

Both Taylors are nurses and attend Highland Oaks Church of Christ in Dallas, where DeShonna is director of heart, lung and vascular at UT Southwestern Medical Center. In 1997 she was working at the hospital in Snyder, Texas, a small town midway between Abilene and Lubbock, and Brent was sports editor at the local newspaper.

“Mom was old, staunch C of C,” Brent said, “but I told her one day, ‘Mom, God gave these doctors and scientists the ability to figure this out, so what’s the problem?’ And of course from that point on, especially after they were born, she doesn’t have any problem. She added five grandkids in three minutes!”

The 37th Avenue Church of Christ in Snyder marshaled volunteers to work four-hour shifts helping care for the five little ones and their older brother.

“Even though we love all our kids unconditionally, I wouldn’t wish five kids on anybody ever,” Brent said.

When the fertility clinic called to ask what the couple wanted done with two remaining embryos, embryo adoption wasn’t yet a thing, DeShonna recalled.

“I’m not sure what I would have chosen — research or adoption,” she said. “Maybe my decision was made rashly — at the time I just remember having all those toddlers who were 2 or 3 years old. We knew we weren’t going to have any more kids. We just told them to let them thaw.”

Grace and redemption

In LePage, DeBoer saw an opportunity for one state to take a small first step toward better regulation of IVF, which he believes has not received the attention it deserves from the law.

“There’s a human impulse at work with IVF and assisted reproductive technology. … It’s an expensive process but one that holds a lot of promise for people who could not otherwise have children,” DeBoer said.

“I have lived long enough to see God’s redeeming hand in the care and development of technology that is within his will. And God has shown that blessing among his disciples.”

“That’s one reason people haven’t given it attention,” he added. “It’s a very difficult subject to speak into because it involves a lot of pain for a lot of people.”

As healthcare professionals, Chambers and DeShonna Taylor echoed DeBoer’s concerns about too little regulation of IVF.

Bill Chambers

Until that changes, Chambers believes physicians and patients must work it out together.

“It is not God’s fault that men will take those tools and use them for profit and convenience and fail to recognize or acknowledge the sanctity and miracle of life,” he said. “I have lived long enough to see God’s redeeming hand in the care and development of technology that is within his will. And God has shown that blessing among his disciples.”

Judges, politicians and ethicists debate whether an eight-celled organism is a human being to be protected or a collection of cells that lacks viability for life outside the womb.

Knapp believes the church must be part of the discussion. But because the church has denied science in a lot of places, “we aren’t getting to have a voice about ethical matters like this,” she said. “We have to be part of a conversation that’s aware of the legal and medical implications.”

Meanwhile, physicians sit with patients who arrived in their exam rooms after months or years of pain and prayer in pursuit of a positive stripe on a pregnancy test –– years praying to have a baby.

“If society wants to prohibit technology, then prohibit the misuse of it. But not those aspects that reveal the Creator’s mercy, grace and redemption of one of the most deeply embedded evidences, which is motherhood and fatherhood.”

“If society wants to prohibit technology, then prohibit the misuse of it,” Chambers said. “But not those aspects that reveal the Creator’s mercy, grace and redemption of one of the most deeply embedded evidences, which is motherhood and fatherhood.”

Perhaps 40 years spent delivering babies informs the physician’s conviction that grace and redemption can be found in IVF. In those 40 years he has seen several IVF babies grow to adulthood and lead Christian families of their own.

Babies like Rosie.

CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact cheryl@christianchronicle.org.

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Featured image (above): Crowley’s Ridge College leadership Tim Wooldridge, advancement executive; Paul McFadden, vice president for student affairs; Richard Johnson, president; Brett Carlile, vice president for enrollment and advancement; and Jeremy Pierce, vice president for academic affairs, pose with a grant from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation. The organization awarded a $662,333 grant to the college in Paragould, Ark., which is associated with Churches of Christ. The grant will partially fund the construction of the college’s new chemistry building and lift stations detailed in the college’s “Mission Possible $12 Million Capital Campaign.”

MISSOURI

CABOOL — More than 80 residents of this small Midwestern town gathered under a large canopy on a recent Sunday night to hear the gospel message, eat and fellowship together.

The Cabool Church of Christ hosted the tent revival with visiting preacher W. Tom Hall, minister for the Mt. Pleasant Church of Christ in Bowling Green, Ky.

The leadership team for the tent revival at the Cabool Church of Christ.

It was a significant turnout for a congregation that had averaged around 20 at Sunday worship — thanks in part to members knocking on hundreds of doors.

“We met so many people,” Hall said. “We could see their interest and realized maybe this would make a difference in this community.”

“And I believe it did. God can use old ways and new ones to remind us to share the Gospel.”

“There is something about being close to God’s creation that inspired worship without air-conditioned buildings and padded pews.”

For Cabool minister Jerry Tackitt, the meeting reminded him of a time of “evangelistic fervor.”

“Tent meetings were common,” he said. “There is something about being close to God’s creation that inspired worship without air-conditioned buildings and padded pews.”

OHIO

MIDDLETOWN — The Crosspointe Church of Christ recently moved from its rural cornfield location to a historic downtown building that formerly belonged to the Bethlehem Lutheran Church.

It’s the fourth move in the church’s 75-year history.

The Crosspointe church celebrates its move to a new location.

Though the 115-member congregation is downsizing its facilities, it has baptized an increasing number of new believers — some in a horse trough, since the new building doesn’t yet have a baptistery — and hopes to continue that trend.

“We are moving back to the center of our city, which is a mission field, where we can help more people,” said elder Jim Cornwell.

The sale of the previous building to Grace Point Fellowship has also provided the Crosspointe church with resources for additional Kingdom work, including a $5,000 check to Shalom Homeless Ministries given at the new location’s inaugural worship service.

Middletown Mayor Elizabeth Slamka, who attended the June 9 service, proclaimed the day “Crosspointe Church of Christ Day.”

SOUTH CAROLINA

ANDERSON — Two Churches of Christ in this community about 30 miles southwest of Greenville recently joined in fellowship and racial unity.

The predominantly White Upstate congregation and predominantly Black Graceview congregation worshiped together in Graceview’s building. Upstate minister Dakota Moody spoke from the pulpit.

His message was on the struggle of covetousness, based in Luke 12.

Afterward, members of both churches shared a meal with a goal of sitting with and getting to know unfamiliar faces.

Members of the Upstate and Graceview churches in Anderson, S.C., worship together in a unity service.

“As a White Christian, I realize how I and my other White brothers and sisters in the faith are missing out on the blessings of worship, teaching, singing and fellowshipping with our Black brothers and sisters in the faith,” Upstate member Connie Burth said. “Jesus prayed for unity — I’m sure this sort of unity was included.”

The two churches plan to swap roles in a future unity service, with Upstate hosting and Graceview minister John Davis Marshall preaching.

NEWSMAKERS

APPOINTED: Kaylan Stewart as associate vice president for enrollment management for Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn. Stewart previously spent seven years leading the university’s undergraduate admissions.

BAPTIZED: Taron Barger and Dana Goodwin-Ross at the Newburg Church of Christ in Louisville, Ky. Rich Cicilia of the San Nicolas Church of Christ in Aruba. Brian Keith Johnson at the Vansant Church of Christ in Virginia. A.J. Schweinzger at the Violet Ridge Church of Christ in Crittenden, Ky. Blakley Highsmith at the Maysville Church of Christ in Oklahoma. Breanna Dishongh at the Hickory Knoll Church of Christ in Harahan, La. Gloria Arel at the Owens Cross Roads Church of Christ in Alabama. Nomar and Xyrus Macario at the Midtown Church of Christ in Baguio City, Philippines. Bo Neely Fowler at the Ninth Avenue Church of Christ in Haleyville, Ala.

From left, Kaylan Stewart, Taron Barger, Blakley Highsmith (center), Greg Ziegler.

NAMED: Scott Wyatt as the new director of chorale and an assistant professor of music at Freed-Hardeman University.

RETIRED: Greg Ziegler from ministry after more than 40 years. Ziegler served at the Odessa Church of Christ in Missouri for 30 years before moving to work for the Bentonville Church Of Christ in Arkansas 10 years ago.

The post Across the Nation: A tent revival, a ‘Church of Christ Day,’ a unity service and more quick takes appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

Curious, he took it home and signed up.

A few months later, a missionary from Texas showed up at his family’s doorstep to present him with a certificate of completion — and to invite him to worship with a Church of Christ.

“All churches are churches of Christ,” Cardona’s dad replied. But he allowed Antonio to attend.

Antonio Cardona

A few decades later, Antonio Cardona became the newest member of The Christian Chronicle’s board of trustees, a group of Christian men and women who provide governance and guidance for the nonprofit, international newspaper for Churches of Christ.

“I am really excited to be a part of the board,” said Cardona, a member of the Princeton Church of Christ in New Jersey. “I will provide some good advisory information, contacts and inroads into the church.”

A New York native with Puerto Rican roots, Cardona recently retired from the New Jersey state government, where he served in a variety of training and human resource roles.

He has worked as an adjunct instructor at universities including Rutgers and Ohio Valley University. He also has served as a part-time minister for Churches of Christ in Sebring, Ohio, and Puerto Rico. He serves as a Spanish interpreter for the Princeton church.

Cardona and his wife, Rosa, have three children.

“I am looking to expand my horizons and help other people expand their horizons as well,” Cardona said. “I am trying to influence the world in a positive way within the communities I touch base with.”

Whether it is advising or writing for the paper, Cardona’s goal is to “expand the kingdom” with his input and guidance.

“I think that The Christian Chronicle is doing a fantastic job across the board,” Cardona said. “I see this as a place where I can expand the influence of the Chronicle.”

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Those words are every bit as relevant in 2024 as they were in 1981 when Howard Norton wrote them in his first editorial for The Christian Chronicle.

Brother Norton climbed many mountains during his 88 years on earth. He and his wife, Jane, were members of a pioneering mission team to Brazil. He was a preacher, a Bible professor, a school administrator and a gifted storyteller.

He helped to bring this publication back from near-death, serving as its first editor after missionary John Beckloff gifted The Christian Chronicle to Oklahoma Christian University. Howard was part of a team of dedicated Christians who revived the newspaper and expanded its reach — including Bailey McBride, Joy McMillon, Scott LaMascus, Lindy Adams, Glover Shipp and many more.

Jane and Howard Norton in 2016.

After a long battle with cancer, Howard Norton died Oct. 22, 2023, just 17 days after Jane Norton passed away. About a month earlier, I spoke to Howard about establishing an endowment to honor his service to the Chronicle, and he graciously agreed.

The Howard Norton Endowment, which already has $250,000 in commitments, will help the Chronicle keep telling the stories that meant so much to the Nortons. We will use income from the endowment for these purposes:

The Nortons celebrate Howard’s 80th birthday in 2015 with children (seated) Ted Norton, Laurie Diles and Tom Norton plus spouses and grandchildren. Survivors include their children, seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

• Covering Latin America: The Nortons dedicated 16 years to the people of Brazil as part of a mission team. Later in life, they moved to Honduras, where Howard served as president of Baxter Institute, which trains Spanish speakers for missions. They were instrumental in the founding of Great Cities Missions.

We plan to expand our coverage of Latin America, highlighting new generations of believers. One exciting development we plan to cover is Harvest Brazil, a Brazilian-led effort to plant churches in the six remaining Brazilian states with no Churches of Christ. Efforts in the capitals of three of these states already are underway.

After a group photo, members of the 1961 São Paulo mission team — including the Nortons — and their children sing hymns in Portuguese and English.

• The Norton Colloquium: We want to follow Howard’s example by facilitating robust discussions of issues facing our fellowship. The Chronicle will partner with lectureships, Christian universities and nonprofits to provide guest speakers, panel discussions and special events throughout the year.

The first Norton Colloquium is scheduled for Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 as part of “Inspire: The 101st Lectureship” at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. We plan to present classes on “The Present and Future of Churches of Christ,” “How Should We Talk About Politics?” and “Modern-Day Josephs (and Josephines).”

Howard Norton speaks to an attendee at the Baxter Institute’s annual seminar in Tegucigalpa in 2011.

• The Chronicle en Español: We will pursue opportunities to offer high-quality Spanish translations of our coverage online and in print.
Generous donors have stepped up to help us honor Howard Norton’s legacy. We would love to see this endowment grow to $1 million or more, allowing us to expand on the initiatives you see here.

Please consider a one-time or recurring gift to The Norton Endowment. See christianchronicle.org/norton or mail checks to The Christian Chronicle, P.O. Box 11000, Oklahoma City, OK 73136-1100 (note “Norton Endowment”).

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Police snipers were aiming at the AGR International Inc. building, he told her.

“I looked, but I felt safe, and I wanted to watch Trump,” said Becky, a member of the Zelienople Church of Christ, about 20 miles southwest of Butler. “That’s when I heard the first bullet.”

The exact timeline of Saturday’s events at the Butler Farm Show, the rally venue, is the subject of multiple law enforcement and congressional investigations. 

Trump and at least two others were wounded. Retired fire chief Corey Comparatore was killed. Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman, opened fire from the AGR roof, less than 150 meters (164 yards) from the farm show stage but outside the secured area.

“We didn’t know he was hit,” Becky said of Trump. “We were just getting down and taking cover.”

Former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, Saturday in Butler, Pa.

‘A bad feeling’

Becky almost skipped it all. But the farm show grounds are just a 15-minute walk from the couple’s home. So she and John, a former Church of Christ minister, went there the evening before to see how things would be set up. They decided to join the crowd of Trump supporters.

Becky had never been to a Trump rally before and said she was somewhat fearful about attending. But the ardent Trump supporter said her husband had been praying about the event for several weeks — and for 30 minutes before they left.

Some friends and family members she called “radicalized” have disowned her over her political views, she said. But young people at the dental practice where she’s the treatment coordinator were planning to go, and she wanted to stand up for what she believed. In the end, at least one co-worker did not attend because “she had a bad feeling about it.”

The first few hours she described as “like a family reunion.” She chatted with some women she met as they were waiting to get in, and they sang an impromptu “Star-Spangled Banner” together. She said that went well, “until it got to that high soprano part!”

A flag hanging over the stage became twisted by the wind, and Becky thought it looked like an angel, that perhaps the event staff had shaped it that way intentionally. They lowered it and untangled it before Trump took the stage. Later, images of the flag had “the internet convinced that (Trump) was protected by a higher power,” the New York Post reported.

John and Becky Krivak, members of the Zelienople Church of Christ in Pennsylvania, on the day of the campaign rally.

Becky grew up in western Pennsylvania. She and John lived in several places, including a tour of duty in Japan when he was in the military, then returned home. He earned a biblical languages degree from Harding University in Searcy, Ark., and preached for about a decade.  Today he works for MSA Safety Inc., which produces safety equipment for a variety of high-risk industries. 

The Zelienople church, the couple’s home congregation, comprises about 50 folks. Preacher Nathan Mayes describes the group as “not super political for the most part, though most have a conservative background.”

“I cannot think of anyone I know who specifically espouses a liberal or Democratic leaning,” Mayes said, “but there are several who certainly don’t call themselves Trump supporters, and I’d call myself one of them.”

He knew of no one at the church other than the Krivaks who would have gone to the rally.

And Mayes said no mention was made of the shooting that took place just hours earlier when the congregation gathered for Sunday worship.   

“We prayed for the country in the opening prayer,” he said, “and that was about it.”

President Donald Trump posted on his social media network after the attempted assassination.

‘We’re all grieving’

Becky wants people to pray for her community. She loves Butler.

She’ll be 63 next month, not old enough to remember the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and she thinks she and John were overseas when President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. But when she returned to the dental office and what should have been normal on Monday after the shooting, the Dallas reality of six decades ago was reincarnated in her hometown.

President John F. Kennedy rides in the limousine in Dallas minutes before the 1963 assassination.

“It was eerie,” she said.

“No one was talking about what happened, but as I reflected, we’re all grieving. This happened in our community. The farm show is where we go for fun. No one will want to go there for fun anymore. I don’t think any of us will be the same going there.”

On her personal Facebook page four days after the shooting, she wrote about chasing an elderly neighbor’s escaping dog down their shared fence line, even though every conversation with the neighbor includes the woman making it clear that she doesn’t like Trump.

“Jesus says, ‘love your neighbor and do good to those who hate you!’” Becky wrote in her post. “I’d run the fence line again! Be the neighbor Jesus would want you to be!”

CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact cheryl@christianchronicle.org.

“No one was talking about what happened, but as I reflected, we’re all grieving. This happened in our community.”

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Fifty years later, my fond memories of that time remain strong.

I was reminded of that experience as I perused the booths at last week’s inaugural Polishing the Pulpit conference in Branson, the popular vacation destination in the Ozark Mountains.

More on that in a moment. But first, a bit of background: Polishing the Pulpit began with three preachers — Allen Webster, Mark Howell and Floyd Bailey — getting together to brainstorm sermons 30 years ago.

Now, 5,500 men, women and children gather each August in Sevierville, Tenn., at the edge of the Smoky Mountains. The weeklong event has become so popular that organizers added a second Polishing the Pulpit this July in Branson, nearly 700 miles west of the East Tennessee location.

“The thought was that we would take some pressure off the Sevierville location because we’re maxing it out,” said minister Todd Clippard, who spoke to The Christian Chronicle at the request of Polishing the Pulpit’s directors. “And second, the Polishing the Pulpit in Sevierville is always the third week of August, and you have a lot of parents who can’t come because their kids are in school.”

A giant “PTP” sign — short for “Polishing the Pulpit” — greets attendees at the inaugural conference at the Chateau on the Lake Resort Spa and Convention Center in Branson, Mo.

Clippard, who preaches for the Burleson Church of Christ in Hamilton, Ala., characterizes Polishing the Pulpit as a spiritual feast.

The Branson conference featured more than 150 speakers and 500 classes for various age groups. Special tracks were geared toward preachers, elders, women, teens and children. Worship assemblies brought together the entire crowd for singing, prayer and preaching.

“You’ve got 2,000 people who are all on the same page, all striving toward the same goal,” Clippard said of the Branson gathering, which drew 1,944 attendees. “You see people — from newborns to 100 years old — who are still fighting the good fight.”

Dan Winkler preaches during the inaugural Polishing the Pulpit conference in Branson, Mo.

A minister’s ‘getaway’

Doug Gregory, pulpit minister for the West Side Church of Christ in Elkton, Ky., drove 420 miles to Branson with his wife, Annetta, and three sons.

Doug Gregory preaches for the West Side Church of Christ in Elkton, Ky.

Gregory, who recognized me from my picture in the Chronicle, calls Polishing the Pulpit his “getaway.”

“The minister stands in the pulpit every week and is supposed to be a well and pour out,” he said. “But if you don’t pour something in, you ain’t got nothing to pour out.”

He shared how last year’s Polishing the Pulpit in Sevierville galvanized his ministry.

Until then, he spent most of his workweek in his church office. But a series by Chris Donovant, evangelist for the Kensington Woods Church of Christ in Hattiesburg, Miss., changed his perspective.

“To sum it up … Jesus went around to meet physical needs to gain an opportunity to meet spiritual needs,” said Gregory, whose church has launched an addiction recovery ministry and turned its former parsonage into a refuge for the homeless.

Producing gospel preachers

Preaching is, of course, a focus at Polishing the Pulpit.

I couldn’t help but notice all the booths for preaching schools — from the Georgia School of Theology to the Bear Valley Bible Institute in Denver.

The Chronicle has reported extensively on the minister shortage in Churches of Christ, so I was eager to hear from the preaching school representatives.

Tom Moore, who has preached for 40 years, serves as dean of students for the Texas School of Preaching.

I talked to Tom Moore, dean of students for the Texas School of Preaching, a ministry of the BCS Church of Christ in the Bryan-College Station area. Now in its third year, the school graduated its first class of five last summer.

“We want to prepare people to be bold in the pulpit,” Moore said. “We just want to produce gospel preachers.”

“We want to prepare people to be bold in the pulpit. We just want to produce gospel preachers.”

I talked to Ethan Tate with the Tri-Cities School of Preaching and Christian Development — which started in 2001 and has its own building by the Stoney Creek Church of Christ in Elizabethton, Tenn. 

Tri-Cities serves about a dozen on-campus students and more than 50 in distance learning classes.

“Our focus is not just training men to preach the Word of God,” Tate said. “We want to train ladies to be Bible class teachers. … We want to help men become more mature in their position, wherever they serve in the church. 

“We want to help equip all Christians,” he added, “to be able to do the work for Jesus and for God’s glory.”

David Deagel with the West Virginia School of Preaching reports that recruiting students has been difficult.

‘We need students’

I talked to David Deagel with the West Virginia School of Preaching. The 30-year-old school is sponsored by the Hillview Terrace Church of Christ in Moundsville, about 70 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

Lately, recruiting has been a challenge for the school, which has six students enrolled for the fall.

“You’ve probably seen all the ads you’ve been running in The Christian Chronicle where there are so many churches that need preachers,” Deagle said. “And we need students. But things have been kind of light the past couple of years (in terms of) men taking up that mantle to preach the Gospel.”

I talked to Caleb Griffith, a graduate of the Brown Trail School of Preaching in Bedford, Texas. The 20-year-old serves as a field representative for the school, which opened in 1965 and has six students.

Caleb Griffith serves as a field representative for the Brown Trail School of Preaching in Bedford, Texas.

“We believe there’s a shortage of quality preachers,” Griffith said. “We’re focusing less on turning out the quantity of men so much as the quality of men.”

I talked to Jackie Walker and Wayne Rodgers with the Memphis School of Preaching in Tennessee. Walker, whose late husband, Don, taught at the school, works with admissions and the library. Rodgers and his wife, Cindy, started 4:16 Ministries (based on Ephesians 4:16), which is partnering with the school on stateside mission work. 

Founded in 1966, the school expects about 50 students this fall.

Wayne Rodgers and Jackie Walker work with the Memphis School of Preaching in Tennessee.

“We have a preacher shortage — a sound preacher shortage — and we get calls all the time for preachers,” Walker said. “A lot of preachers are staying at congregations a long time, so the littler ones are struggling to find good preachers.”

I talked to Trent Kennedy and Steven Lloyd with the Southwest School of Bible Studies in Austin, Texas. The school, started in 1974 and sponsored by the Southwest Church of Christ, ranges between 12 and 25 students at any given time.

“There are more pulpits than there are men who want to preach,” Kennedy said. “In rural congregations, the salary is not real high, so a lot of those men will need to work part time and do a secular job of some sort to support themselves and their family.”

And I talked to Brian and Jagie Kenyon with the Florida School of Preaching, hosted since 1969 by the South Florida Avenue Church of Christ in Lakeland.

Brian Kenyon started as a student at the school in 1989 and has directed it since 2009. 

“I’m just full-out fired up about Jesus,” said Kenyon, who grew up in a nonreligious household and found his Christian faith after going through drug rehabilitation.

Brian Kenyon, pictured with his wife, Jagie, directs the Florida School of Preaching.

If everyone shows up, the school will have eight students this fall.

“The foundation you get at a preaching school — the Bible foundation — is something you can use no matter what you do in life,” said Kenyon, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn. 

“Even if you don’t preach, it’ll make you a better husband,” he stressed. “It’ll make you a better elder or deacon in the church. It’ll make you a better employer or employee. It’ll just make you better.”

“The foundation you get at a preaching school — the Bible foundation — is something you can use no matter what you do in life.”

Why choose a preaching school?

In Churches of Christ, four basic criteria help explain the appeal of preaching schools, according to Carlus Gupton, director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn.:

• Cost: “Preaching schools are much less expensive.” Most charge no tuition.

• Sense of trust: “Preaching schools are viewed by those who attend and the churches who hire their graduates as being more in line with their understanding of what constitutes sound teaching.”

• Curriculum: “Preaching schools often cover the entire canon of Scripture and related topics and are often focused strictly on those areas instead of requiring other subjects that may be helpful but not necessary for ministry roles.” 

• Community: “Preaching school cohorts are often small and tight-knit, with everyone taking the same classes and often living near each other for a few years. This is part of the reason their lectureships are strongly supported in that they allow friends to reconvene.”

On my 300-mile drive home from Polishing the Pulpit in Branson, I called my 79-year-old father, who still preaches for a rural congregation in North Texas.

While living in West Monroe, La., in the mid-1970s, the Rosses pose for a photo. Pictured are Bob and Judy with son Scott, daughter Christy and son Bobby.

We reminisced about the two years Dad spent at the since-closed White’s Ferry Road School of Preaching, devoting late nights to Bible study, making lifelong friendships and going on evangelistic campaigns across the U.S. — often taking along the entire family.

Ah, the precious memories.

“It was one of the highlights of our lives,” said my father, who later earned a Bible degree from Freed-Hardeman.

Amen, Dad.

Mike Vestal, minister for the Westside Church of Christ in Midland, Texas, poses for a photo with Bobby Ross Jr. during the Polishing the Pulpit conference in Branson, Mo. Vestal attended Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., with Bob Ross, Bobby’s father.

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

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But until this past weekend, that category of memories did not burden our children and grandchildren. Other tragedies have. Columbine. The Oklahoma City bombing. 9/11. Sandy Hook. Too many others. 

But more than four decades had passed since an assassination attempt on a current or former U.S. president — at least since one that was known to the public, one that happened on live TV.

For a time, we told ourselves these events brought us closer as a people. We recall 3-year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting his father’s casket and President George W. Bush grabbing a bullhorn to thank first responders digging through the 9/11 rubble. We find bizarre comfort in nostalgia.

But in reality we are a flawed and cynical people, suspicious of all who see things differently. We have not mastered the lessons of history, much less the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount.

We forget that Christians with no political power whatsoever, believing in a risen Christ who never sought nor espoused any earthly power, changed the world in a generation.

They did it without a bully pulpit, without a 24/7 news cycle, without social media.

Amid war, disease and disaster, they fed the hungry, rescued abandoned babies and created hospitals to care for the sick and dying.  

The Romans didn’t change. Christians loved their neighbors anyway.

Heed that lesson.

Your community has hungry people in it. Go feed them.

Former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, Saturday in Butler, Pa.

Your state has neglected, abused and unwanted children. Take care of them. 

Your community has immigrants and refugees — legal and otherwise — who are frightened and lonely. Welcome them. 

In the process, you’ll almost certainly discover that someone working next to you votes differently than you do. Let them. Love them. Don’t waste your breath berating them. 

Just work together to help the hurting person in front of you. One of you will lose the election. One will win. Keep serving together anyway.

Paul told the Corinthians, “Christ’s love compels us.”

As we process the violence in Pennsylvania that killed a retired fire chief, Corey Comperatore, and wounded at least three others, including the former president, don’t be consumed with anger. Don’t get caught up in the blame game. “It’s his fault. It’s their fault. It’s the media’s fault.” 

The only path back to sanity is consistently choosing to follow in the steps of the Savior — a path of sacrifice, compassion and generosity to one another.  

Because Christ’s love compels us.

The Hashemis and the Kluvers pose for a group photo at the Afghan refugee family’s Oklahoma home. Christians, including the Kluvers, have helped the Hashemis acclimate to life in America.

CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact cheryl@christianchronicle.org.

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About 270 miles southeast of the Pennsylvania farm show grounds where shots rang out at Trump’s Saturday night campaign rally — and about 20 miles west of the nation’s capital — minister Robin Gough stepped to the pulpit at the Fairfax Church of Christ in Virginia.

The preacher immediately focused the congregation’s attention on the assassination attempt.

Robin Gough preaches for the Fairfax Church of Christ in Virginia.

“In times like these, it’s important for us to come together and pray for our nation,” Gough said. “Pray for the families of those who were killed, for healing and comfort. We should pray for former President Trump and President Biden, asking God to protect and guide them.

“We need to stand against divisiveness and violence,” the minister emphasized to the Washington, D.C.-area church. “What happens in an eye-for-an-eye world? Everyone ends up blind.”

The attack left the Republican presidential candidate bloodied — after a bullet grazed his ear — and claimed the life of a retired fire chief, Corey Comperatore. Two other spectators were wounded, while a U.S. Secret Service sniper gunned down the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

At the Newark Church of Christ in Delaware — Biden’s home state, where the Democratic president was attending a Catholic Mass at the time of the Trump shooting — minister K. Rex Butts voiced his alarm and sadness Sunday at the political violence.

“I reminded the church that we are blessed to be peacemakers and then read 1 Timothy 2:1-4, ‘I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness,’” Butts said. “‘This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.’”

Related: Where does God Almighty stand on Biden vs. Trump?

A Newark elder then “offered a prayer for peace in our nation as well as around the world,” the minister said, “and for the safety of both President Biden and former President Trump.”

For months, leaders of the Reidland Church of Christ in Paducah, Ky., had planned a special service Sunday centered on praying for the nation’s leaders, minister Brian Brophy said.

The schedule called for a left-leaning member to pray for Trump and a right-leaning member to pray for Biden.

The idea was to “demonstrate that we can stand together praying for people we don’t necessarily agree with,” Brophy said. “We wanted to follow Paul’s command to Timothy to pray for our leaders regardless of how we feel about them.”

Saturday’s shooting caused the Kentucky church to reassess those plans.

“It was quite a shock to see the news,” Brophy said. “Needless to say, those involved in planning our service were texting back and forth about how this impacted what we would do. In the end, we decided it was more important than ever for us to pray for our leaders.

“We can sometimes forget that these political caricatures we see on TV are real people with real fears, real traumas and real families who care about them,” he added. “We need to pray for their safety and for their families and, most of all, that God would capture their hearts in such a way that they would lead our country in wisdom and peace, that the Gospel may spread.”

“We can sometimes forget that these political caricatures we see on TV are real people, with real fears, real traumas and real families who care about them.”

At the McDermott Road Church of Christ in Plano, Texas, minister Wes McAdams already planned to talk Sunday about “things going on in the world.” But after the attack on Trump, he decided to acknowledge specifically the “events in Pennsylvania.”

“I talked about violence, division and unrest but didn’t speak of anyone by name,” McAdams said. “I spoke briefly about the fear and anger many might be feeling.”

However, he intentionally kept his remarks within the context of his planned sermon, hoping to “acknowledge the tragedy and the emotions” without distracting from the Gospel or inflaming political passions on either side.

Wes McAdams preaches for the McDermott Road Church of Christ in Plano, Texas.

“I’m not sure whether I walked that tightrope in the best way or not,” McAdams said. “At least one member did not care for the way I handled it. He wished I had taken more time to talk explicitly about what happened and asked people to pray. However, shortly after that man spoke to me, another member admitted that he had been very angry, and the words this morning were helpful.”

In his communion remarks at the Pitman Road Church of Christ in Sewell, N.J., elder Dan Cooper said he “reminded the audience that we are in a world very much like the first century world” with “great political turmoil then as now.”

“Even as Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper in the upper room, he did so in a land that was occupied by the hated Romans,” Cooper said. “He reminded his disciples of the importance of his spiritual kingdom before any physical kingdom.”

During Bible class time at the Como Church of Christ in Mississippi, minister and elder Taylor Francis prayed for peace, asking that “God would heal the divisions in our nation and give us the willingness and ability to talk and discuss instead of lash out.”

The Alma School Road Church of Christ in Chandler, Ariz., “prayed for peace for our country and good health for Trump,” said Ryan Bitikofer, one of the ministers.

Dean Kelly, minister for the Highland Home Church of Christ in Alabama, took his Sunday sermon from Isaiah and focused on the hope in Christ.

“A mention of what happened to Trump fit naturally in talking about not finding hope in this world but only in Jesus,” Kelly said. 

“I mentioned where I was when both Kennedys were killed and stated that this is evil no matter what party is involved,” he added, referring to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the 1968 assassination of U.S. Sen. and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.

President John F. Kennedy rides in the limousine in Dallas minutes before the 1963 assassination.

A leader of the Brunswick Church of Christ in Maine “denounced the act of violence, and prayers were offered for all involved and all in government,” minister Charlie Harrison said.

Bobby Valentine, minister for the Eastside Church of Christ in Antioch, Calif., spent about 10 minutes talking about the shooting in the introduction of his Sunday sermon.

“Then we prayed for President Trump, the family of the shooter, the other victims,” Valentine said, and “for leaders of the various political parties to sow seeds of peace.”

Former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, Saturday in Butler, Pa.

Adam Davis, minister for the Wheeler Road Church of Christ in Midland, Mich., announced a special prayer service for next Sunday.

“This service will invite us to lament the violence in our country, confess any role we have played in exacerbating it and listen to God’s voice through Scripture,” Davis said. “We will also allow the Holy Spirit to guide and challenge us in how to practice our faith during times of violent tragedy.”

Back in Fairfax, Gough said Christians can either escalate political polarization or struggle to embody a better way.

He prayed for the latter, which he called “the Jesus way.”

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

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“Free Bibles.”

The simple messages catch the attention of motorists passing the Bridgewood Church of Christ — at a busy corner just off the East Loop 820 thoroughfare.

“Is it really free?’” people ask.

“It’s free,” church member Booker Williams assures them. “It’s like salvation. You’ve just got to come and get it.”

Bridgewood Church of Christ member Booker Williams, center, greets neighbors during the congregation’s regular Saturday food giveaway.

The North Texas church started giving away physical — and spiritual — food in its parking lot nearly three years ago. 

The outreach began as a one-time pop-up. It transformed into a twice-weekly benevolence program that connects the congregation with neighbors and leads souls to Jesus.

“A food pantry that I volunteer with … used to give us like two or three of these banana boxes of bread,” minister Jon McKenzie said. “Our members would just kind of grab the bread from the kitchen … and they could give it to a friend or a neighbor who needed it.”

But one day, the charity called and offered McKenzie extra bread — 24 cases in all.

He gulped and took it.

Contemplating how to distribute it, he thought, “We’re on a busy road, so why don’t we just try and give it away?” 

He rounded up Bibles to hand out with the bread, but he feared the impromptu pop-up might just go … pop.

“I was worried it was going to flop, so I didn’t call anybody for help. It was just me,” McKenzie recalled. “And the people came. … I guess the rest is history.”

Jon McKenzie serves as the minister for the Bridgewood Church of Christ. He’s pictured at the congregation’s regular Saturday food giveaway.

Doing good in Jesus’ name

Built in 1969 in an affluent area, the Bridgewood church grew to more than 500 members in the 1970s.

Ensuing decades brought increased poverty and crime to east Fort Worth. As many moved away or chose to worship elsewhere, Sunday attendance fell to about 80.

“Crime has leveled out and decreased,” McKenzie said, “but crime and the working poor remain a key issue.”

Several years ago, Bridgewood became known mainly as “the church across the street from Whataburger.” While the fast-food restaurant is a nice neighbor, the minister said, the church “wanted to be known for the things we actually do in the community — in the name of Christ.”

Members started volunteering at nearby schools. 

They planted a community garden. 

And — whether the result of happenstance or providence — they began organizing the bread-and-Bible pop-ups each Wednesday and Saturday.

Guests browse the options during the regular Saturday food giveaway of the Bridgewood Church of Christ.

Pam Griffin became a Christian after McKenzie and his wife, Brianne, mentored her granddaughter Alexus Giffen, now 13, at a public elementary school. 

Griffin’s husband, Robert, and other friends and relatives were baptized as well.

“The one thing that got me was that they were very loving, very caring,” Pam Griffin said of the Bridgewood church. “They don’t look at what you’re wearing. … They care more about the person that you are.”

“The one thing that got me was that they were very loving, very caring. They don’t look at what you’re wearing. … They care more about the person that you are.”

Longtime member Catie Mckee, 35, is a licensed barber and cosmetologist. 

She offered free haircuts during a recent pop-up.

“I do remember when Bridgewood was 500-plus strong,” Mckee said. “I have seen many families come and go, but I love seeing the new faces who become familiar faces.”

Bridgewood Church of Christ member Catie Mckee gives a free haircut during the congregation’s regular Saturday food giveaway.

A growing Spanish ministry

Those faces used to be predominantly White.

Now the flock reflects the area’s multicultural mix — with sizable numbers of Black and Hispanic members.

Average attendance tops 120 a week, including about 20 Spanish speakers, many reached through the pop-ups.

One of Bridgewood’s key volunteers, 80-year-old Carrol Harris Sr., grew up on a South Texas farm.

“All my friends were Mexican,” Harris said of how he became bilingual.

Carrol Harris Sr. hauls a trailer with drinks during the Bridgewood Church of Christ’s regular Saturday food giveaway.

Federico Sandatte and his wife, Amalia, lead the church’s Spanish ministry.

Federico previously served as an elder for a different congregation. The Sandattes connected with Bridgewood when they noticed the pop-up and stopped to say hello.

Harris recalls that first conversation.

“Hey brother, how are you doing?” Federico said to Harris in English.

Harris drew a chuckle when he responded in Spanish. 

Federico Sandatte, right, and his wife, Amalia Sandatte, look through a box of bread during the Bridgewood Church of Christ’s regular Saturday giveaway.

As the two men talked, Harris explained to Federico “that we were praying and trying to get the Spanish work started in this congregation.” 

“That’s really good,” Federico replied. “Keep praying.”

Two months later, the Sandattes decided to join the work at Bridgewood.

As Harris sees it, Bridgewood had no choice but to adapt to the area’s demographic changes.

“If we don’t change, we might as well go ahead and shut the door,” he said. “Because guess what? You don’t have to fly on a plane or ride on a bus to be on the mission field. It’s right here.”

The Bridgewood Church of Christ added a Spanish assembly to serve the changing needs of its neighborhood.

‘A fantastic thing’

“Pan, alimentos y biblias gratis,” reads a sign by the road.

In English, that means, “Free bread, food and Bibles.”

Bridgewood’s Spanish services draw attendees from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and other countries.

On a recent Sunday, the group sang hymns such “Tuyo Soy Jesús” (“I Am Thine, O Lord”), “Canten del Amor de Cristo” (“When We All Get to Heaven”) and “En la Viña del Señor” (“In the Vineyard of the Lord”).

Richard Garcia leads singing during the Bridgewood Church of Christ’s Spanish assembly

Juan Noriega and his wife, Nuerys Malavè, visited the assembly. 

They came to the U.S. from Venezuela about a year ago. The free bread and Bibles led Noriega’s brother to accept Jesus in baptism.

“This is a fantastic thing for new immigrants,” Malavè said of the pop-ups, “to have some help and be able to get their feet on the ground.”

What accounts for the Spanish ministry’s growth?

“I think part of the reason,” Brianne McKenzie said, “is because (the immigrants) are coming from hard places, and they’re finding a sense of community.”

Carrol Harris Sr. chats with Juan Noriega and his wife, Nuerys Malavè, who visited the Bridgewood Church of Christ on a recent Sunday.

A prime location

For a smaller congregation, maintaining a facility built to serve hundreds presents a major challenge, as does paying for the upkeep and utilities, leaders said.

“But we’ve got such a good spot,” Jon McKenzie said of the location. “We hate to give it up.”

He quoted a neighbor who told him: “We need your church on that corner. We need someone to share good into the community on that corner.”

Church member Marsha Fry, a 74-year-old retired schoolteacher, volunteers at the pop-ups.

She began helping when key ministry leaders were out of town on mission trips to El Salvador and the Caribbean island of Dominica.

And she liked it.

“These men work very hard … lifting heavy boxes and everything,” Fry said. “I was blown away with admiration for them and respect. I may not be as strong as they are, but I come up here, and I do my best.”

Church member Marsha Fry offers a free Bible to a neighbor during the Bridgewood Church of Christ’s regular Saturday food giveaway.

A guest picks out a free loaf of bread during the Bridgewood Church of Christ’s regular Saturday food giveaway.

Rose Batiste, a 63-year-old grandmother, characterizes herself as a French-speaking Louisiana Cajun. 

A regular at the pop-ups, the transplanted Texan welcomes the free bread. The home health care worker said she makes about $10.50 an hour and struggles to make ends meet.

Through partnerships with the Midwest Food Bank of Texas and N.E.E.D. DFW, Bridgewood distributes thousands of pounds of bread and other grocery items each month.

“It helps people like me that don’t have anything,” Batiste said.

Bridgewood Church of Christ members pray for a neighbor — whose husband recently got out of the hospital — during the congregation’s regular Saturday food giveaway.

Getting too comfortable

Church member Williams often prays with those helped.

“A lot of times in the churches, we tell people, ‘Just come to see us on Sunday,’” said the 52-year-old information technology professional, who teaches Bridgewood’s Wednesday night adult Bible class. 

“But it’s like going to the mall,” he added. “Have you ever done any window shopping? You see something that you like, and you make the choice to go in there.”

Through the pop-ups, Williams said, hurting people meet Christians who care and then decide to visit.

On a recent Saturday, a woman receiving help asked for prayers. She meant prayers in a general sense. But Williams bowed his head and lifted her up to God right then and there.

Members sometimes lament what Bridgewood has lost — in terms of numbers.

Williams takes a different view.

He tells fellow Christians: “Y’all are so focused on what we lost that you don’t look at what we’ve gained. If you just invite one person every week, we can rebuild.”

A guest picks up a free Bible during the regular Saturday food giveaway of the Bridgewood Church of Christ.

Christians have become “so comfortable in these benches that we stopped inviting people,” he said. 

The pop-ups cultivate conversations that lead to such invitations. And it starts with simple messages.

“Free Bread.”

“Free Bibles.”

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. He traveled to Fort Worth to report this story. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

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A true test of patience — waiting for the moment to celebrate. The pitcher hurled the ball to the plate, followed by a swing and a miss.

Black hats with orange logos flew under the lights of Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb. Tennessee Volunteers fans sang the words of “Rocky Top” by the Osborne Brothers.

Players shared hugs and smiles on the infield clay. The occasion marked a first national championship for the University of Tennessee baseball team — and for freshman Hunter High, a member of the Brentwood Hills Church of Christ in Nashville. 

“It was just surreal,” High told The Christian Chronicle. “We have done what we said we are going to do, and it’s an awesome dream come true.”

High said he always prays the same thing before games, telling God, “You are good. Whatever happens in this game, let it be your will. Without you, I am nothing.”

This season, the infielder from Crieve Hall, south of Nashville,  registered a .385 batting average in 11 games with the Volunteers. 

But the journey to the College World Series title began long before High’s time in college.

Hunter’s parents, Brent and Emily High, knew he possessed talent from a young age. 

“All talent is given from God,” Emily said. “Whatever it is that you do, try your best to use that talent to bring God glory.”

Emily, a former basketball player for Lipscomb University in Nashville, said struggles in athletics provided lifelong insight for her family.

“Sports and faith go hand in hand because it teaches you how to do hard things,” Emily said.

Hunter attended Lipscomb Academy, a K-12 Christian school operated by the university.

He succeeded on the diamond and gridiron, winning two state football championships with the Mustangs. 

Hunter is on Joey Roberts’ “Mount Rushmore” of favorite players. 

Hunter High, right, embraces Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello.

“We put him out there as a 140-pound linebacker, and he never flinched,” said Roberts, a former Lipscomb Academy football chief of staff. “He never backed down from any play, and he led from the sideline.” 

Hunter “spearheaded the brotherhood” that existed within the locker room, said Roberts, now a football administrator at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

But his leadership translated on and off the field. He would lead Bible studies and speak in the players’ chapel. 

“He had a servant’s heart,” Roberts said. “He was a leader, but his version of leadership was serving.”

His servanthood and talent earned him the chance to play baseball for Tennessee. 

As the Volunteers began fall practices, Hunter said, he knew the team was fit for a national championship run. 

“The amount of talent was there, but also the amount of competitiveness too,” he said. “Everyone was treating each other well, and there was a sense of camaraderie.” 

Members of the team not only grew together as teammates but as brothers of Christ, Hunter told the Chronicle. 

Some Vols players, including Hunter, participate in a discipleship group led by Luke Hochevar, a former major league pitcher. 

“We all have the mindset that we are going to pursue God, regardless of our performance,” Hunter said. “That’s probably what helps the most when getting through that little tough patch.”

Hunter High poses with his mom, Emily, after the national championship victory.

Even after winning the national championship, Hunter pushes to improve on the diamond. 

He’s playing with the Bristol State Liners, a collegiate summer baseball team in the Appalachian League. (Bristol is a twin city on the Tennessee-Virginia state line.)

Whether competing in Bristol or Knoxville, High said he appreciates the teammates, coaches and family who surround him. 

“I have been really blessed with coaches and teammates that have helped me in all situations,” he said. “I’m loved just like how God loves us.”

Following the 6-5 title win over Texas A&M, scenes of jubilation filled the Tennessee crowd. 

As the celebrations took place on the field, Hunter High reminisced on the team’s motto: Next task.

After 73 hard-fought battles, the ultimate accomplishment was complete. 

“It’s kinda funny because there was no next task,” Hunter said. 

No next task for this season, but he’ll be praying again next season — before every game — for God’s will to be done.

NIC FRARACCIO, a senior journalism major at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., is The Christian Chronicle’s summer intern. Reach him at nic@christianchronicle.org.

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The groom, barely 19, borrowed a white sport coat from his younger brother. His black tie matched his perfect flattop.

On July 2, 1964, Bob Ross and Judy Nanney exchanged wedding vows in their southeastern Missouri Bootheel hometown.

Bob and Judy Ross are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary.

Long before the simple living-room ceremony 60 years ago, seeds of hard work, Christian faith and commitment to the institution of marriage were planted in both my parents’ hearts.

My father, the third of four children, grew up in a farming family.

My grandfather Lloyd Ross served in World War II and he was shot in the face. After the war, Papa worked as a cotton sharecropper and later as a carpenter and commercial fisherman. My grandmother Margaret Ross helped support the family by sewing in a garment factory.

My mother, the middle child of three siblings, grew up in a less stable — but equally loving — family.

My grandfather Earl Nanney, a sweet man who battled mental illness all his adult life, found it difficult to retain a job. My grandmother Edith Nanney dealt with Grandpa’s frequent stints in jail and mental hospitals and her own chronic physical ailments. Through it all, Grandma fought to keep her family together.

From early ages, both my parents picked cotton in Missouri fields.

The young couple on their wedding day, with Judy’s parents Earl and Edith Nanney, left, and Bob’s parents Margaret and Lloyd Ross, right.

Dad’s family raised cows and pigs, so the Rosses ate meat more often than the Nanneys. Mom’s family relied on its garden for potatoes, corn and tomatoes.

In both households, belief in Jesus was stressed. In fact, my parents first connected at a teen Bible study.

The young couple enjoyed roller skating, drive-in movies and ice cream cones at a local café.

Dad grew up in the Church of Christ. Some of my earliest memories of Papa and Grandma are on a light blue church bus. Every Sunday, they’d drive all over the countryside, picking up children for worship and teaching them to sing “Jesus Loves Me.”

Mom grew up in the First Baptist Church. I still remember Grandpa — when he wasn’t hospitalized — rising before dawn on Sunday and playing gospel music at an ungodly volume.

He loved my dad but couldn’t resist calling him a “Campbellite.” I can’t recall a day, meanwhile, that I didn’t see Grandma open up her Bible and spend time in God’s word.

While they were dating, Mom and Dad visited each other’s church from time to time.

“I went to church just to be with her,” Dad said.

“Our lives have certainly been God-centered.”

“But he wouldn’t sing,” Mom said with a laugh — a reference to his concern over the organ and piano used in the Baptist church’s worship.

About six months after they married, Mom stepped forward at a Church of Christ assembly and asked to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.

“Our lives have certainly been God-centered,” Mom said. “If we didn’t have God to talk to about our kids and our grandkids and ourselves and when terrible things happen, I don’t know what we’d do. I don’t know what people do if they don’t have God.”

Bob and Judy Ross during their early years of marriage. Bob served in the Air Force and spent a year in Greece away from his wife and children.

Mom and Dad were raised to believe that saying “I do” means forever. Papa and Grandma Ross were married 69 years. Grandpa and Grandma Nanney were married 52 years.

As young adults, my parents spent a year apart as Dad joined the Air Force and served overseas — in Greece — during the Vietnam War.

Dad later studied at the White’s Ferry Road School of Preaching in West Monroe, La., and Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., and became a preacher.

In 1982, Mom and Dad began 25 years of full-time ministry as houseparents at Christ’s Haven for Children in Keller, Texas.

Now retired, they dote on their seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren and remain madly in love. Dad still preaches at a little country church in Greenwood, Texas, about 55 miles north of Fort Worth.

Bob and Judy Ross hold a portrait of their extended family at a wedding.

I thank God for giving me Christian parents who shared their legacy of faith with me, my brother Scott, my sister Christy and our entire extended family — not to mention the hundreds of girls for whom they cared at Christ’s Haven.

I’m reminded of Brad Paisley’s 2001 hit song “Two People Fell In Love.” I’m so incredibly blessed that my parents fell in love.

Happy 60th anniversary, Mom and Dad!

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

Editor’s Note: This column is adapted from one originally published at the Rosses’ 50th anniversary.

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Behind him, the projector read: “With God, you can do it.”

“With God, you can do it.”

As soon as the final stragglers took their seats, Parry, a member of The Park Church of Christ in Tulsa, began signing to his fellow brothers and sisters.

“You never know what happens in your life, whether it is good or bad,” Parry said. “But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

As The Park’s lead deaf minister, Zeth Pankhurst, translated Parry’s signs for hearing attendees, the crowd waved its hands in the air rapidly — a sign of applause in American Sign Language.

Zeth Pankhurst signs to a group at the National Deaf Christian Workshop.

The northeast Oklahoma church recently hosted the National Deaf Christian Workshop for the second time in its history. Formerly known as the Park Plaza Church of Christ, the congregation first welcomed the workshop in 2012.

The annual event — offering classes, lectures and opportunities for Christians to share their experiences — coincided with the 50th anniversary of deaf ministry in Tulsa.

The ministry began at the Memorial Drive Church of Christ and transitioned two decades later to the congregation that became The Park.

Carl Moore, a member of the Cedar Crest Church of Christ in Dallas, returned to Tulsa — where he served as The Park’s first deaf minister — for the workshop.

Moore offered his testimony during Parry’s lecture.

“I am so glad to be back here,” Moore signed to the crowd. “It is always a blessing being able to share my experience of how I received Christ.”

Workshop speakers, including Moore, Pankhurst and Parry, focused on topics such as facing fears and spreading the Gospel within the deaf community.

In addition to deaf translation during regular assemblies, the Park church hosts a monthly special worship service for its deaf ministry.

The services offer a great opportunity “to reach lost souls” within the deaf community, Pankhurst said.

“When the people see that encouragement, their eyes are wide open,” he said. “That’s why we have deaf ministry.”

Lewis Parry leads a lesson at The Park Church of Christ.

Fewer than 2 percent of the world’s 70 million deaf people know God, according to Pioneer Bible Translators.

“They are not getting the message,” said Fred Bogan, a member of The Park. “They are probably the most isolated demographic in the country.”

“They are all around us. You don’t realize how many deaf people are around you, and every large city has many.”

Workshop attendee Steven Russell, a member of the Franklin Road Church of Christ in Indianapolis, said the need for deaf ministry is crucial.

The Franklin Road congregation offers the only deaf ministry in Indiana among Churches of Christ, according to Russell.

“They are all around us,” he said. “You don’t realize how many deaf people are around you, and every large city has many.”

When asked about encouraging churches to begin their own deaf ministries, Pankhurst provided a simple, yet powerful answer: “Just do it.”

After 50 years, the deaf ministry remains as important as when it started, said Brenda Rumsey, a former Memorial Drive member who now attends The Park.

“What we like to say around here is that we are family and together we are stronger,” Rumsey said. “God has given each of us certain talents that we can use to teach others. That is what we are here for.”

An attendee carries a National Deaf Christian Workshop bag.

NIC FRARACCIO, a senior journalism major at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., is The Christian Chronicle’s summer intern. Reach him at nic@christianchronicle.org.

The post ‘Together we are stronger’ appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

His research led him to recommend six action steps for ministers who don’t want to find themselves working forever or living dependent on family in retirement.

1. Read “How to Retire with Enough Money and How to Know What Enough Money Is” by Teresa Ghilarducci, whom he interviews in episode three of the podcast.

2. Don’t opt out of Social Security, but delay benefits until age 70 if at all possible.

3. Seek out a vehicle that provides pension-style income. You need Social Security/Medicare and a pension. Maybe your spouse will have a pension. Also consider the Pension Fund of the Christian Church or an indexed universal life policy. Not everyone agrees on what’s best, but do something.

4. If offered a defined contribution plan, i.e. a 401(k) or 403(b), do it. While the shift from pensions to 401(k)s has created the problem we now face, it’s the best we’ve got. So if your employer provides a match, use it.

5. If possible, own a home instead of living in a parsonage.

6. Mainstream Churches of Christ need to begin with the end in mind — and help provide the new third leg of the traditional retirement stool — pension, Social Security/Medicare and personal savings. Ghilarducci says the new third leg is having to work longer, so think about what your retirement job will be. Double major while in college. Be thinking about it from the beginning.

CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact cheryl@christianchronicle.org.

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Featured image (above): A group from the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston poses for a photo inside an airport. The 42 Christians — ranging in age from 14 to 63 — spent time at the Southern Africa Bible College and several Churches of Christ in South Africa as a part of the Memorial church’s short-term missions initiative.

MONTANA

GREAT FALLS — After nearly 30 years, the Great Falls Church of Christ is welcoming a new lead minister: Matt Burleson.

Burleson succeeds Scott Laird, the congregation’s longest-serving lead minister, who had preached for Great Falls since 1994.

Scott and Patty Laird accept a plaque recognizing their three decades of service in Great Falls, Mont.

Laird watched it become the largest Church of Christ in the state. The Montana native and his wife, Patty, have also served churches in Canada and New England.

But Burleson and his wife, Hannah, are not new faces for the church — he’s served as an evangelist for Great Falls since 2019.

Previously, the graduate of three universities associated with Churches of Christ — Heritage Christian, Harding School of Theology and Lipscomb — served churches in Arkansas and his home state of Alabama.

After a six-month sabbatical, Laird will return as a part-time administrative minister.

“We have been blessed by this great body of Christians and look forward to a continued partnership even though it will look a bit different,” Laird, who serves on The Christian Chronicle’s national board of trustees, said in a Facebook post.

MICHIGAN

DEARBORN — The 40-member Parkside Church of Christ serves this city of about 110,000, which is home to the nation’s most Muslim residents per capita and the largest mosque in North America.

That demographic shift in the seven decades since Parkside’s founding has forced members to reevaluate the way they share the Gospel, minister Wayne Beason said.

That change has meant serving halal food at the church’s summer block party, helping sell goods made by immigrants and refugees at the farmer’s market and starting a conversation group for members to help English language learners.

Learn more on Episode 66 of The Christian Chronicle Podcast.

WASHINGTON

SPOKANE — Two Spokane Churches of Christ less than a mile from each other — the Northside and Sunrise congregations — will soon merge.

The churches had been in close fellowship since 2021, holding joint gatherings and events — even preacher swaps — before the elders of Northside and Sunrise decided to “bring the complementary strengths of the two congregations together.”

In addition to helping staff Bible classes and providing more volunteers for existing ministries, the merger will allow the group of Christians — about 130 from Northside and 100 from Sunrise — to expand outreach efforts toward their neighbors.

“It is apparent to us that God will accomplish much more through us together, rather than separate, when it comes to reaching new people for Jesus, serving our neighborhood and schools, shining a light in our community, and increasing the effectiveness of our ministries,” the churches said in an announcement.

The united membership will keep all existing elders, deacons and staff from Northside and Sunrise — which have both existed since the 1940s — as well as both buildings and take on a new name, yet to be announced.

NEWSMAKERS

APPOINTED — Claire Davidson Frederick as the inaugural director and Richard Beck as senior fellow for the Landon Saunders Center for Joy and Human Flourishing, which will launch in the fall of 2024 at Abilene Christian University in Texas. Mike Cope to the board of directors for Kairos Church Planting in Portland, Ore. Steve Shaner and Albert Coley as elders of the Clear Creek Church of Christ in Hixson, Tenn.

From left, Claire Davidson Frederick, Mike Cope, Betty Sculley (middle), and John and Julia Mitchell.

BAPTIZED — Aleigha Conway at Uplift, a summer camp hosted by Harding University in Searcy, Ark. Ally Nolen at the Bargerton Church of Christ in Lexington, Tenn. Betty Sculley at the Airport Church of Christ in Valdosta, Ga. John and Julia Mitchell at the Prattville Church of Christ in Alabama. Jordan Burt at the Germantown Church of Christ in Tennessee. Mark Mann at the Booneville Church of Christ in Mississippi.

HIRED — Jake Perkins as minister for the Grace Crossings Church of Christ in Conroe, Texas. Mark Powell as lead minister for the Donelson Church of Christ in Nashville, Tenn. Zack Martin as instructor of historical theology and dean of students at Heritage Christian University, which is associated with Churches of Christ, in Florence, Ala.

From left, Zack Martin, Luke Hall and Amy Bowman.

HONORED — Luke Hall as 2024 Madison Firefighter of the Year in Madison, Ala. Hall is a member of the Twickenham Church of Christ in Huntsville, Ala., and serves as a paramedic. His department previously honored him with two Lifesaving awards this year. Amy Bowman for 20 years of service to the Brentwood Hills Church of Christ in Nashville, Tenn. Bowman serves as the Brentwood church’s children’s minister.

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Bad advice decades ago led him to opt out of Social Security.

His congregations paid poorly, in part because they provided a parsonage. They offered no retirement benefit.

Age 65 or 70 rolls around, and the minister finds himself with little savings, no equity in a home, no source of income and no health insurance. Opting out of Social Security also means no Medicare.

If he quits, he’ll have no income, no home. If he can, he keeps preaching. If he can’t, he lives on the edge of poverty or relies on his children.

That could have become Paul Clark’s story. After 23 years preaching for the Nashua Church of Christ in New Hampshire, the 58-year-old recently went part time so he could work full time in the golf industry for Titleist. The change will allow him to get enough quarters in Social Security to be eligible for Medicare in retirement.

Paul Clark with his wife, Leanne.

Reality hit two years ago when his wife, Leanne, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had insurance through her teaching job.

“The good news is she’s now cancer free and doing well,” Clark said. “But thank goodness for insurance.”

“It was more about being uninformed and financially asking, ‘How do we make enough to put food on the table?’”

Clark, however, faced a future without health coverage. His first church paid him when contributions were enough to cover his salary. Otherwise he had to wait. A previous minister there had opted out of Social Security, so he did, too.

“It was more about being uninformed and financially asking, ‘How do we make enough to put food on the table?’” Clark recalled. He’d like a do- over, he said, but that’s not an option.

No retirement benefit and no Social Security

The IRS has long allowed ministers to opt out of paying into Social Security for reasons of conscience or religious objection but not for financial exigency.

Once a minister makes that choice, he or she cannot opt back in without leaving the profession.

Brandon Lanciloti

Brandon Lanciloti teaches accounting and serves as assistant dean of Freed-Hardeman University’s College of Business in Henderson, Tenn. He works with about 300 ministers through his multistate tax consulting firm. He explained that opting out involves more than just forfeiting future Social Security payments.

“You opt out of survivors benefits, disability coverage, Medicare — you’re opting out of all of that,” Lanciloti said. “That’s a very big risk.”

To cover all of that as an individual, the tax expert said, would require about 20 percent of one’s income. Because the IRS requires that the exemption be sought within two years after entering ministry, most make the decision around age 23.

“You opt out of survivors benefits, disability coverage, Medicare — you’re opting out of all of that. That’s a very big risk.”

“They think someday they’ll get around to dealing with all of it, but someday never comes,” he said.

The 2024 Ministers Salary Survey conducted by the Siburt Institute at Abilene Christian University in Texas indicates that about 37 percent of respondents have opted out of Social Security. And 59 percent of full-time respondents receive no retirement benefit.

That’s somewhat less bleak than the 2019 survey when 68 percent received none.

The IRS allows ministers to opt out of self-employment tax using Form 4361. But doing so is an irrevocable decision that means no Social Security income, Medicare, disability or survivors benefits.

But among solo ministers — typically in smaller, poorer churches — the number with no retirement benefit rises above 80 percent.

Many ministers now approaching retirement were advised in the 1980s and 1990s to opt out. Many are embarrassed to tell their stories or don’t want to speak badly about churches they served that left them wanting.

DIY retirement in a DIY fellowship

Jordan Coss knows their stories. The former California minister began doctoral studies at Fuller Theological Seminary while preaching for the Campbell Church of Christ and living in its parsonage in the most expensive housing region in the country. Now a single dad of three, he teaches at a Christian high school in Santa Cruz.

For many years, financial planners talked about the three-legged stool of retirement planning: pension, Social Security and personal savings. The pension leg is largely gone in the U.S. Thus ministers lack one or two and sometimes all three legs of that stool.

Coss’ doctoral project, “Almost Essential Evangelists: Improving Retirement Asset Accumulation for Mainstream Church of Christ Pastors,” tells that story through a podcast series and proposes action steps.

Coss said Churches of Christ are a microcosm of “a do-it-yourself (DIY) retirement system which is breeding an American retirement, economic and moral crisis.”

The problem is exacerbated for Church of Christ ministers because “they also serve a DIY fellowship,” where autonomy often works against the best interest of ministers.

Andrew Cooper

Andrew Cooper knows the stories, too. The founder and president of Cooper Eagle, a Pennsylvania financial services company, is a preacher’s kid and deacon at the King of Prussia Church of Christ, about 30 miles west of Philadelphia.

“I’m in this business because when I was 13 or 14 years old my dad pulled me into his office and showed me some paperwork” for a small individual retirement account, Cooper recalled. “Because he was a minister, he had to do it all himself.”

Through his firm Cooper wanted to provide a plan for small- and medium-sized churches “who don’t have expertise or bandwidth to start something on behalf of their ministers.”

“The really cool thing is when you retire, any distributions you take out (from a 403(b)-9 plan), your church can elect to call them housing distributions. And as long as you use it to cover housing costs, it’s not taxable income at all.”

Cooper Eagle offers a 403(b)-9 plan just for ministers and staff in Churches of Christ. The 403(b) was created by the IRS for nonprofits and operates basically like a 401(k). The 403(b)-9 provides an advantage specifically for churches.

Lanciloti is a fan of 403(b)-9 plans, though he says few churches take the time to set them up.

“They’re really, really nice. The minister’s contribution is pre-tax, and if the church matches it, that’s pre-tax. And the really cool thing is when you retire, any distributions you take out, your church can elect to call them housing distributions. And as long as you use it to cover housing costs, it’s not taxable income at all.”

Caleb Sams, also a preacher’s kid, grew up in a parsonage. Today he’s a financial adviser with Brentwood Financial Partners in suburban Nashville, Tenn. His dad spent 35 of his 40 years in ministry at one North Carolina congregation.

“I grew up very attached to ministry,” Sams said, “and you get to see all the good that can come of a minister who’s been at one church for that long. But there are also things that fall through the cracks.”

For his dad, one of those things was a retirement plan.

“Dad opted out of Social Security, lived in a parsonage, had inadequate savings. They’re the perfect storm.”

“Dad opted out of Social Security, lived in a parsonage, had inadequate savings,” Sams said. “They’re the perfect storm.”

So Sams also had “a soft spot for ministers and churches.”

While Brentwood offers a wide range of services, Sams focuses much of his energy on educating churches and ministers about what’s possible. He’s spoken at several preacher training schools and the National Children’s and Youth Ministries Conference, where often young ministers’ “eyes glaze over” at the topic.

And elders typically just don’t know they have options.

“It’s not that they’re opposed to it,” Sams said, but elders navigate the constant tension of leading the body and overseeing a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has employees with needs. “Those are very different spaces to operate in.”

Other similar firms exist. Assist Inc. in Lubbock, Texas, for example, works exclusively with ministers and churches.

One of the oldest and largest organizations that exclusively serves ministers and churches within the Restoration Movement is little known among Churches of Christ.

Pension Fund of the Christian Church, based in Indianapolis, was founded in 1895, prior to the split of the Stone-Campbell Movement. But Todd Adams, president, said the company has had limited participation from Churches of Christ despite efforts to make inroads. “We would love to serve them more fully,” he said.

The fund serves 15,000 individuals and manages $3.5 billion in retirement assets, Adams said, making it “one of the most well-funded, defined benefit, true pension plans in the country.” Only one person interviewed for this story had ever heard of it.

Educating ministers, educating churches

Logically, education about financial planning should begin early. Universities and preacher schools associated with Churches of Christ often include a lecture or unit on personal finance in a ministry class, but of the dozen institutions contacted by The Christian Chronicle, none that replied includes a course on the subject.

Like Sams and Cooper, Robert Oglesby is a preacher’s kid. His father pushed him when he entered ministry to make a plan and start saving.

Today he’s director of the Center for Youth and Family Ministry at ACU. He also spent more than 40 years working full- or part-time with congregations in Abilene and Temple, Texas. In his youth ministry course, Oglesby shares data from Fidelity and Merrill about how much ministers should have in savings as they age.

Several years ago he met with the oldest group at the national youth ministry conference.

“I said, ‘I’m approaching retirement, and I have a game plan together. I want to be sure you’re OK.’ When I started showing them how much they need to have in savings to live at about the $50,000 to $60,000 level, I saw a room full of people who looked like a deer in the headlights.

They had a lot of questions — they said, ‘I wish you had come and talked to us when we first started.’”

“When I started showing them how much they need to have in savings to live at about the $50,000 to $60,000 level, I saw a room full of people who looked like a deer in the headlights.”

He’s since worked his way through older attendees down to those who have just three to five years in ministry. Working backwards from retirement age, he helps them see how much they should already have in savings or investments.

“When I asked how many were on target, it might be three or four out of a room of 40,” Oglesby said.

He emphasizes that if they have gotten behind, they may need to pick up a side hustle to fund retirement — a third leg for their stool.

Oglesby owns rent houses. He knows guys who flip houses or have other side jobs. “But the best idea is to start early and start quickly, even though you think there’s no way.”

Churches have to help educate ministers as well, Oglesby said, and “matching funds for retirement, whether 2, 3 or 10 percent, is so good to train people that this is important. It helps them do what they want to do anyway.

“It’s the church being like my dad. ‘You’ll thank me later,’ he said. And I do.”

CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact cheryl@christianchronicle.org.

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A military brat who spent time as a child in Japan as well as Florida and Tennessee, the father of three prepares his lesson in English. 

ChatGPT has helped improve missionary Leslie Taylor’s sermon preparation process.

Then he goes through his manuscript — sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph — to translate it into Japanese.

“That translation aspect can obviously be very difficult at times,” said Taylor, who earned a master’s degree in ministry from Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn. 

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot made by the company OpenAI, has helped improve the missionary’s process.

“I do as much as I can by myself, but sometimes it helps with particularly complicated sentence structures,” Taylor said of the AI program, “or I may ask it to explain a nuance, etc.

“It’s still necessary to know Japanese because sometimes it gives mistaken translations — or just slightly off my meaning — so I need to discern,” he added. “But it is a helpful tool in the process to be sure. I would never even consider it as a source for any actual content, however.”

Roughly 6,500 miles away, Dion Frasier, senior minister for the Reynoldsburg Church of Christ in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, relies on ChatGPT to translate his sermon into Creole.

“We have a growing Haitian population in our area, and they are starting to attend church regularly,” Frasier explained. “We translate and hand out copies to families each week.”

Above, missionary Leslie Taylor takes a selfie with his wife and children in Japan.

Translating the Bible at a faster rate

The number of languages with full Bible translations tops 700 — accounting for the native tongues of 80 percent of the world’s population, the American Bible Society notes. 

About 3,750 vernaculars lack full translations, but AI could help speed the process of taking the Bible from its original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek into more languages, according to ReligionLink.com.

A team at the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute “is using natural language processing, which enables machines to understand and respond to text or voice data, to help increase the efficiency of Bible translation and allow for more languages to be reached at a faster rate,” reports Ken Chitwood, ReligionLink.com’s editor.

Christians in the U.S. express complicated feelings about AI, with 30 percent believing it is exciting but 34 percent seeing it as scary, according to a recent survey by the Barna Group in partnership with Gloo. (A Catholic advocacy group in California recently dismissed a robot priest who advised its followers to “baptize children in Gatorade.”)

Mary Nelson, a missionary with her husband, David, in Tauranga, New Zealand, identifies with both the enthusiasm and wariness toward AI.

“Myself, it makes me nervous — the whole AI arena,” Nelson said. “Automatically, our mind goes to all the different problems that can come about from AI and still may. But if there’s a tool that means we can get Bible lessons out quicker … I can’t think of why we should just say no.

“I think we put all the precautions in place and use the tool but use it intelligently,” she stressed. “If we use our own human intelligence to use this artificial intelligence, then I think it’s really good.”

“Myself, it makes me nervous — the whole AI arena. … But if there’s a tool that means we can get Bible lessons out quicker … I can’t think of why we should just say no.”

‘Maybe we should be using AI’

A decade ago, Nelson developed an online ministry called Mission Bible Class.

Now sponsored by the Memorial Road Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, the ministry provides free resources to teach children around the world. 

Nelson’s collection of more than 170 Bible stories — all in English — draws about 8,000 pageviews a day. For years, she has dreamed of making the materials available to the world’s roughly 500 million Spanish speakers.

To pursue that goal, she and a team worked with translator Tae Perkins — a former missionary to Chile who lives in Lubbock, Texas — to develop a plan estimated to cost $100,000 and take two years.

But then ministry supporters asked if they’d considered enlisting AI.

They had — and rejected it.

Still, they tried it again, unaware how quickly — and how much — the technology had advanced.

“We were basically just testing it out,” said Gina Nored, who works with Nelson in New Zealand through Memorial Road’s Helpers in Missions program. “The logic kind of was: Let’s give some reason to why we’re not using AI. And then we realized: Maybe we should be using AI.”

They discovered ChatGPT could translate the English lessons into Spanish in an easily editable format.

“It takes me about two to three hours to translate one of her lessons,” Perkins said of the previous manual process — which was followed by an additional hour for editing.

“By using AI, it allows us to be more efficient in projects that we feel passionate about.”

By comparison, AI requires less than 15 minutes to translate the same lesson before it goes to the human editor. Then, Perkins said, “It takes me about 30 to 45 minutes to edit one that’s been passed through the AI.”

Suddenly, the expected overall project cost dropped 75 percent to about $25,000. The anticipated timeline split in half to one year.

“By using AI, it allows us to be more efficient in projects that we feel passionate about,” said Nored, who earned degrees in ministry and elementary education at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn. “But then it allows us to have more time and energy and resources spent on other things that we would otherwise have to put on the back burner or just not be able to do.” 

In a Zoom interview, Tae Perkins, top, and Mary Nelson and Gina Nored, bottom, discuss the use of artificial intelligence by the online ministry Mission Bible Class.

Better technology, lower costs

Veteran minister James Nored, Gina’s father, speaks just one language: English.

“I took Greek and Hebrew and all that, but I’m not all that fluent in another language,” said Nored, who holds degrees from Oklahoma Christian University, Harding School of Theology and Fuller Theological Seminary. 

But through the magic of AI, his voice can be adapted to numerous languages — from Arabic to Portuguese.

Nored serves as executive director of Next Generation for Christ, a Virginia-based ministry focused on evangelism, discipleship and missions. He wrote and produced the Story of Redemption Film Series, filmed in Israel and other countries. It’s available in more than 60 languages.

“Most of our languages for our Story of Redemption series have been done by humans and professional translators, who are often assisted by AI tools,” Nored said. “And we have found some really great, talented people to do voiceovers.”

But AI advancements allow the ministry to “quickly produce” computer-generated voiceovers for videos and subtitles, he said. That’s especially helpful, he noted, when faced with scarce funding, voice talent or time.

He cited a ministry to the blind in Albania as an example.

“We had the video series with subtitles, but that obviously would not be very helpful for this people group,” Nored said. “We were able to quickly produce an AI-generated Albanian voiceover, and it worked well.”

James Nored shoots a video in Israel for the Story of Redemption Film Series.

A sacred task

Back in Japan, Taylor stresses that his sermon represents more than words on a piece of paper.

When he stands before his multicultural congregation, which includes American, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Lithuanian members, he’s not just conveying information.

He’s sharing the Gospel.

“It’s sharing the heart of the text, obviously,” he said. “But I mean, if I really think about it, it’s very humbling because you’re really representing God to people. … And so I think it’s a sacred task that needs to be taken seriously.”

AI, he believes, can help with that task.

But it can’t replace the value — and necessity — of humans interacting intelligently with the Holy Bible.

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Ross writes the Weekend Plug-in column for ReligionUnplugged.com, where this piece originally appeared. He uses an AI program called Otter to transcribe his interviews. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

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I keep running into Ethan Bilbrey … and I keep quoting him in The Christian Chronicle.

The funny thing is, I had never met him — or even heard of him — until three months ago.

Scott Laird, a longtime Montana minister who serves on the Chronicle’s national board of trustees, introduced me to Ethan at the Equip Conference, hosted by York University in Nebraska in March.

Students and Equip Conference attendees stand to sing during chapel at York University.

Ethan did a two-year apprenticeship with Scott and the Great Falls Church of Christ before moving to the Minneapolis area, where he has preached for the Richfield Church of Christ since 2016.

The theme of the York event was “Hope for Churches,” so I interviewed Ethan about the congregation he serves.

“We’re like a lot of Churches of Christ,” he said in my Equip Conference story, “who have had better years in the past, who’ve experienced decline over the decades and want to see new life and hope and the Gospel continuing to spread and new disciples being made.”

(Ethan also told me that he enjoys the Chronicle’s podcast, and I couldn’t resist shooting a quick video of him saying that and sharing it with host B.T. Irwin.)

About a month later, I saw Ethan again — this time in Memphis, Tenn.

As Harding School of Theology prepares to relocate to the university’s main campus in Searcy, Ark., students, alumni, faculty and staff came together to celebrate the seminary’s past — and pray for its future.

Attendees applaud a speaker at a recent reunion at Harding School of Theology in Memphis, Tenn.

Ethan, a 2018 HST graduate, traveled to Tennessee for the reunion.

When I talked to him, he called the move to Searcy “disappointing.”

“Like a lot of alumni, we understand why it’s happening, but we also believe the process was done very poorly,” he said in the story I wrote.

I mentioned to Ethan that I planned to visit the Minneapolis Central Church of Christ to report on its growing food ministry. I asked if he had any ideas for other stories in the area.

He told me about Richard Inyang, a native Nigerian preacher who serves a predominantly African immigrant congregation in Roseville, a suburb that borders both Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Ethan explained that Inyang had suffered severe burns in a grease fire and that Churches of Christ in the Twin Cities area had rallied around him and his family.

The Inyang family poses for a photo by the Roseville Church of Christ sign. Richard Inyang has served as the congregation’s minister for 15 years.

That sounded like an amazing story (and it was).

Again, I quoted Ethan.

“What a blessing to see our congregation and other Churches of Christ in Minnesota praying for Richard and his family, bringing meals and making significant financial contributions to help offset medical costs,” Ethan said in my story, published today.

Ethan and his wife, Skylar, both grew up in the Monterey Church of Christ in Tennessee. Both earned bachelor’s degrees from Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., Ethan majoring in biblical studies and Skylar in elementary education. 

Beyond his FHU and HST degrees, Ethan is pursuing a doctorate in ministry through Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Mass.

Ethan is a friendly, soft-spoken minister who impresses me as anything but a self-promoter. Perhaps that’s why I find him so quotable.

He invited me to join him and his family for lunch while in Minnesota. We met at Pizza Luce, a Richfield eatery not far from the airport.

That handmade gourmet pizza is special to the Bilbreys because it’s what the couple ate after the birth of their oldest child, Sage, who is 6 years old. Their other two children are equally delightful: 3-year-old Judah and infant Cedar. 

Ethan and Skylar Bilbrey with their three children

I asked Sage about her school, and she spoke highly of her teacher. I’m glad she said kind things because it turns out that Skylar homeschools her.

I may have mentioned — once or twice or a million times — that I’m a big fan of the World Series champion Texas Rangers.

I made my first visit to Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, during my reporting trip. Conveniently, the Twins were playing my Rangers.

Ethan is not a sports nut like me, but he joined me at the game. We parked at the Mall of America in Bloomington and took the light rail to Target Field.

Patrick Doherty and Steve Countryman — who serve on the ministry staff of the Woodbury Church of Christ, east of Minneapolis — met us at the ballpark, along with Patrick’s son Liam. 

We all had a terrific time, although they might have enjoyed it just a little more since their team won!

For the record, I’ll probably wait a month or two — or perhaps longer — before I quote Ethan again.

“I will try to give you a ‘No comment’ the next time we meet,” he joked.

Seriously, I thank God for putting Ethan and his family in my path. They are wonderful, and I am blessed to get to know them.

Ethan Bilbrey and Bobby Ross Jr. at Target Field in Minneapolis.

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

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But it didn’t.

As the Minnesota preacher sees it, the Lord still has a purpose for him.

After his brush with death, the longtime missionary from Nigeria has no doubt about that.

“I know that the hands of God are involved in this,” said Inyang, 49, who has served the Roseville Church of Christ for 15 years. “Even the doctor said, ‘With the nature of your injuries, you were really saved by a divine power.’”

Richard Inyang in his office at the Roseville Church of Christ in Minnesota.

Inyang wore special gloves — with just the tips of his fingers sticking out — as he shared his story. Underneath his clothes, a custom-made compression garment covered his fire-ravaged body.

Inyang first came to America nearly two decades ago to further his Bible education. He decided to stay and share the Gospel with Minneapolis-St. Paul’s fast-growing African immigrant population. 

“This is where God called me to come,” he told The Christian Chronicle.

Since the kitchen fire four months ago, Churches of Christ in the Twin Cities area have rallied around Inyang and his family: wife Emem, 17-year-old son Joseph, 12-year-old twin sons Ikoobong and Itembong and infant Edikan.

“What a blessing to see our congregation and other Churches of Christ in Minnesota praying for Richard and his family, bringing meals and making significant financial contributions to help offset medical costs,” said Ethan Bilbrey, who preaches for the Richfield Church of Christ, south of Minneapolis.

Said Russell Pointer, senior minister for the Minneapolis Central Church of Christ: “It was only by the grace of God that Richard is still here. I’m telling you, it’s a great story.”

Minister Richard Inyang receives treatment for grease burns at a Minnesota hospital.

Risking his life to do God’s work

A flashing marquee sign outside the Roseville church invites passersby to help care for Nigerian orphans.

The message reflects the deep commitment of the predominantly African immigrant congregation — with members from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo — to serve children at the Solace Orphanage International Center, roughly 6,500 miles away.

United Nations of Faith: Read all the stories in the series

Inyang and the 50-member Roseville church started the orphanage in Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria’s coastal south in 2020.

Inyang still returns to his native Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon each year and takes his survival from the fire as a sign God wants him to keep doing so.

“That is why God brought me back to life … because I still have a lot to accomplish,” he said.

Richard Inyang, in the white T-shirt, distributes clothes on a past mission trip to Nigeria and Cameroon.

It’s not the first time, Inyang said, that God has surprised him by keeping him alive.

On a 2018 mission trip, he ignored the pleas of French soldiers and his own father and entered a war zone in Cameroon to deliver medical and educational supplies. 

“Should I stay back?” Inyang remembers asking his wife.

“No,” he said she told him. “If anything happens, I will take care of the children. But God will not allow anything to happen.”

Later, as guerrilla fighters shouted and aimed assault rifles at him, Inyang put his head on the dashboard of his rented truck, which blared Christian music from a loudspeaker. 

“Jesus, take my soul.”

“Jesus, take my soul,” he recalls saying as he prepared to die.

But the combatants let him and his driver pass safely through the checkpoint. Not long after that, he said he learned, they killed a Catholic priest. 

During his monthlong mission trips, he visits the numerous African churches he has planted, distributing medicine, glasses, clothes and Bibles and baptizing hundreds of new converts.

And he checks on the children and the orphanage’s facilities, including a three-story school for which he and his wife took out a second mortgage on their Minnesota home.

Inyang’s willingness to risk his life in a war zone — and tap into his family’s meager finances to help orphans — exemplifies his commitment to his Christian calling, Roseville member Stacy Sikes said.

“That was no fluke,” Sikes, a retired minister and chaplain, said of Inyang’s fraught Cameroon experience. “It’s his life. He’s a man that says, ‘I believe God will be with us, and let’s go for it.’”

The Inyang family poses for a photo by the Roseville Church of Christ sign. Richard Inyang has served as the congregation’s minister for 15 years.

‘The fire exploded all over me’

Inyang’s latest opportunity to put his life in God’s hands came Feb. 19.

Flames erupted that night after one of Inyang’s sons put oil in a pan to cook on the stove and then left to play a video game, according to church leaders. 

In the living room, the father of four talked on the phone with a person from the orphanage.

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” Inyang heard one of his children yell.

The shirtless minister ran to the kitchen and jerked the pan off the burner.

“The fire exploded all over me,” he recalled.

Inyang spent more than a month in the hospital and has undergone a half-dozen surgeries. Still fighting pain and battling to recover, he hopes to return to the pulpit soon.

Men in the church have stepped up to preach and teach Bible classes.

“It’s been really stressful for the congregation. Richard has a good heart for the Lord,” said Isaac Karmue, a 50-year-old Liberian refugee. “We all are just trying to support him in the best way possible.”

The Roseville church formed in 1963, but decades later, declining membership and rising maintenance needs prompted some Christian leaders to advise selling the building and donating the proceeds to mission work, Sikes said.

Inyang refused.

“He really looked at this location as being a place for God’s people, and it is,” Sikes said. “And so he and his wife both worked for Walmart in order to have an income.”

Their resoluteness and trust in God led to the multicultural influx. 

“We see no race line or culture line,” Karmue said of the Roseville congregation. “Christ is first. Everybody here — I can’t say a single bad thing about anyone. I see the presence of God.”

Roseville Church of Christ members pray on a recent Sunday.

‘Unity among the brethren’

Charlene May, a former American missionary to Haiti with her husband, David, organized meal deliveries for the Inyangs.

David and Charlene May, former missionaries to Haiti, wear African-style attire on a recent Sunday at the Roseville Church of Christ.

She relied first on Roseville members and later enlisted other area Christians.

“I have decided it’s one of my gifts to model how we take care of each other,” said May, who has attended Roseville since 2020. “I knew that family was going to need long-term help. And the mom, you know, she had that baby a month before this accident.”

Inyang praises God for all the support his family has received.

He enjoyed a hearty laugh as he reflected on a noninstitutional Church of Christ that helped.

“The congregation that they don’t believe you can eat in the building, they brought food to my house,” Inyang said with a thankful chuckle. 

“Really, I can see the unity among the brethren,” he added. “I can see their support, so we really, truly appreciate it and thank God.”

Richard Inyang speaks at the Roseville Church of Christ on a recent Sunday.

Confident in his calling

On a recent Sunday, Inyang stood at the front of the Roseville church and updated members on his progress.

“God is improving my health,” he reported.

“Amen!” members responded.

“Every day I see the power of God,” he added.

“Amen!”

He voiced hope that he could start driving again soon — and resume preaching in the not-so-distant future.

Even Inyang’s return to worship has made the church more joyful, said Ikoobong, one of his sons.

“Everyone misses him,” the 12-year-old said.

Richard Inyang and other Christians enjoy a fellowship meal at the Roseville Church of Christ.

After the assembly, the minister greeted fellow Christians at a multicultural fellowship meal that featured Nigerian-style coconut rice, egg rolls, pizza and fried chicken.

“Spiritually, I’m very, very strong,” Inyang told the Chronicle. “Physically, I’m still under recovery.”

But he’s pleased with his progress — and eager to fulfill God’s purpose for his life.

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. He traveled to Minnesota to report this story. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

How to help

The Roseville Church of Christ is seeking to raise about $30,000 to fund Richard Inyang’s next mission trip to Nigeria and Cameroon.

Contributions may be sent to:

Roseville Church of Christ

241 Larpenteur Ave. W.

Roseville, MN 55113

Richard Inyang baptizes a woman during one of his mission trips to Africa.

The post ‘Divine power’ saves minister appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

With songbooks in hand, the northwest Arkansas congregation leaned on the words from the hymn “Be Still, My Soul”:

Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;

bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

in every change He faithful will remain.

The storm damage to the stained glass at the front of the Southside Church of Christ auditorium building.

Behind the screen, broken stained glass littered the baptistery. 

The church — which averages Sunday attendance of about 220 — had canceled its assembly the previous Lord’s day, May 26, after this growing community of 73,000 took a direct hit from an EF2 tornado. 

The 1.7-mile wide tornado that struck Rogers came as powerful storms killed at least 15 people, injured hundreds and left a wide trail of destruction across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, according to The Associated Press. 

The first Sunday service since the twister focused on the theme “For Such a Time as This,” a reference to the biblical account of Esther stepping up when the Jewish people desperately needed it.

The Southside Church of Christ congregation worships in its auditorium after an EF-2 tornado hit Rogers, Ark.

As lead minister Jared Mayes spoke to the storm-weary congregation, his attitude demonstrated a sense of gratefulness. 

“I don’t quite think it’s the worst church day ever,” said Mayes, alluding to his 6-year-old daughter’s disappointment that Bible classes and children’s worship were canceled. “In fact, I find it to be a tremendous blessing.”

“Amen,” the churchgoers responded.

Smiles and hugs, despite the difficulties

A week earlier, the church doors flew open during the tornado, filling parts of the building with debris.

Above the lobby entrance, the awning barely withstood the storm. 

The congregation came together to repair and mend the damages before the Sunday service. No Southside members were injured, although some of their homes were hit.

Members smiled, shared hugs and affirmed Mayes’ sermon with frequent amens, despite the previous week’s difficulties.

“When you stare tragedy in the face, it’s tempting to go down and say, ‘There is nothing I can do,’” Mayes said.

“When you yourselves were shaken, you stepped up,” he told his fellow Christians, many of whom helped with disaster relief efforts. “When your homes were damaged, and you were without power, you stepped up.”

Pastoral minister Paul Woodhouse said the church was fortunate not to suffer more damage considering the property is located “in ground zero.”

“I did not think it was possible for us to be able to be back here a week after this happened,” Woodhouse said. “I was figuring at least two weeks.”

A damaged cabin at the Green Valley Bible Camp in Rogers, Ark.

Along with Southside, Green Valley Bible Camp in Rogers sustained damages.

The camp — which is associated with Churches of Christ — reported “many trees down with damage to some buildings.” The caretakers, Curtis and Pam Skelton, were not hurt.

It’s “extremely fortunate” that children were not on the property, said David Cherry, the camp board’s vice president.

“I’m hoping that God continues to have his hand on everything,” Cherry said. “This illustrates how important the church is to our kids and communities.”

‘You know that God was watching over us’

At 1 a.m. May 26, Alan Cruz grabbed a late-night snack in his kitchen. While he ate, a tornado warning alert sounded on his phone. 

Cruz immediately woke up his wife, Sarai Martinez, and turned on the television. 

As the tornado approached, the couple — who are Southside church members — sheltered in a closet with blankets and pillows.

“We just felt the pressure,” Cruz said. “Our ears popped like if we were on a plane.”

While the twister rumbled through the neighborhood, they kept their faith steady.

“We put our trust in God,” Cruz said. “That is how we always live our lives. He is in control, and his will is done.” 

As the couple emerged from their closet, the damage was apparent. Trees toppled in their yard, and one fell on their car. Water seeped through cracks in the roof. 

But the husband and wife did not ponder the destruction. 

“It gave us a peace that no one else could give you,” Martinez said. “You know God was watching over us.”

‘We do love our neighbors’

As people rose from closets and cellars, it did not take long for Southside members to start serving the community. 

Brothers and sisters teamed together to send chainsaw groups to homes and neighborhoods. 

From one tree to another, the groups showed love to one another as they explored the destruction.

“Somebody said, ‘Y’all are so good to be doing this,’” Woodhouse said. “I don’t know that we are that good, but we do love our neighbors.”

Ocean Craig stands in front of a white board with the names of Southside Church of Christ members affected by the storm in Rogers, Ark.

In the church’s family life center, names of those seeking help filled a whiteboard. 

Ocean Craig, the church media director, oversaw the groups sent into the battered community. 

“I saw some people that you would least expect to come help,” Craig said. “It was a whole church effort.”

As Southside provided aid, relief poured in from fellow Christians across the U.S., including faith-based disaster relief organizations.

Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort sent four truckloads of supplies to the Arkansas church building. Elsewhere, the Nashville, Tenn.-based ministry recently rushed tractor-trailer rigs full of food and emergency items to help after tornadoes in Valley View, Texas, and Greenfield, Iowa.

Here in Rogers, Southside’s family life center transformed into a relief hub overnight and became a beacon of hope for the community. 

Southside member Amy Dotson coordinated the relief efforts. She said the church has always been taught to “be the hands and feet of Christ.”

“In all my years of ministry, I have never seen anything that can compare to the beauty of what this church has done.”

“We did it the Southside way,” Dotson said. “If you came through those doors, we were going to love on you and find out what you needed.”

Karen Kofahl, volunteer coordinator for Churches of Disaster Relief Effort, said the Southside members have been “phenomenal.”

As Mayes wrapped up his sermon, the faces of those in the pews reflected elation and satisfaction.

“In all my years of ministry,” the preacher said, “I have never seen anything that can compare to the beauty of what this church has done.”

NIC FRARACCIO, a senior journalism major at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., is The Christian Chronicle’s summer intern. Reach him at nic@christianchronicle.org.

The post ‘You stepped up’ appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

Then, someone put him on a bus and sent him 1,400 miles farther north, to America’s third-largest city.

“We didn’t know anyone here,” said Daviel, speaking through a translator, as he stood in the small foyer of the Northwest Church of Christ in Chicago. A church member, Barbara Foucher, helped the Venezuela native fill out paperwork to receive help through the congregation’s food program.

Sacks of vegetables line the stairs in the foyer of the Northwest Church of Christ. Workers with the church’s food pantry distribute the sacks to clients who wait outside. Near the sacks, a sign advertises the church’s upcoming Vacation Bible School.

Daviel’s brother, Albert, stood nearby, silent. Albert suffers from “a kind of paralysis” and is nonverbal, his brother said. Bringing Albert on the journey was dangerous, Daviel said, but their parents could no longer care for him. And the gang warfare and medicine shortages that plague Venezuela gave him few alternatives.

The brothers were among 70 families who made a pilgrimage through Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood on a sunny Saturday afternoon, past dog walkers and Little Leaguers, to the church’s food pantry. Christians and volunteers from a nearby high school loaded sacks of fresh vegetables, canned goods and loaves of bread into their cars, vans or backpacks as airplanes soared overhead, landing at O’Hare International.

Some of those in need came here from distances even greater than Venezuela. For Ukrainian Anastasia Sokolova, Chicago was her third move in less than a decade. Her parents died when she was 7, and she grew up in an orphanage in the eastern city of Donetsk. In 2014, pro-Russian separatists took over the region, sparking a long, bloody conflict. She went for nearly two years “without money, without food,” she said, before she fled west to Kyiv. Then, in 2022, Russia rained missiles on Ukraine’s capital as it launched a full-scale invasion.

Ivan Shutenko and Anastasia Sokolova, refugees from Ukraine, receive assistance from the Northwest Church of Christ’s food pantry.

She evacuated through Russia — “I hate Russia,” she stressed — and eventually settled in Germany. Her godfather, who lives in Chicago, invited her here. She arrived three weeks ago. Another Ukrainian refugee, Ivan Shutenko, drove her to the Northwest church. The food she received will help her as she waits for permission to work.

The conflicts she’s endured (“my two wars,” as she called them) have strengthened her resolve to carry on, Sokolova said. “I never, never give up.”

‘The weirdest and worst-possible time’

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, sending Chicagoans back to work, Churches of Christ experienced a spike in need, representatives of two churches with food pantries told The Christian Chronicle.

Skyscrapers including the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), right, rise above downtown Chicago — as seen from the 360Chicago observation deck in the John Hancock Tower.

Since 2022, the Windy City has welcomed more than 30,000 Ukrainian refugees, including Sokolova and Shutenko. Most have integrated into the city’s preexisting Ukrainian communities, where blue and yellow flags still fly from balconies two years after the invasion. Meanwhile, U.S. politicians argue over continued spending for Ukraine.

More problematic for Chicago, however, is the influx of more than 19,000 Venezuelans, including Daviel and Albert. Few have families here, and many arrive on buses sent from Republican-controlled border states. Under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the Lone Star State has bused more than 100,000 migrants to cities run by Democrats, including Chicago.

J.P. Grosser, right, speaks with volunteers as they unload and shelve food in the basement of the Lakeview Church of Christ in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.

Although J.P. Grosser certainly has his opinions about the politics of the surge, he said he does his best simply to serve the souls at his doorstep. He coordinates the food program for the Lakeview Church of Christ in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, about five miles east of the Northwest church.

The influx of migrants “caught us at the weirdest and worst possible time,” Grosser said on a recent Wednesday as he supervised the unloading of a large shipment from an area food bank. The city already had a housing crunch and a homeless problem, he said, and has struggled to find places for the new arrivals.  

@christianchronicle CHICAGO — Members of the Lakeview Church of Christ in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood stock their expanded food pantry. The chuch has experienced an uptick in people needing help as busloads of migrants are bused from Republican-controlled border states to Democratic-led cities. The church doesn’t delve into the politics of the surge, focuing instead on meeting needs. #migrantsurge #chicagomigrants #chicagofoodpantry #churchofchrist #uptownchicago #foodministries ♬ original sound – The Christian Chronicle

Uptown once had a reputation for gang activity and violence, second only to Chicago’s South Side, said Grosser, who moved here from southern Illinois in 2019. He remembers hearing gunshots down the street from his home.

Since the pandemic, the neighborhood has gentrified and prospered. The local ward also has become the temporary home for one of the largest groups of Latin American immigrants in the city, said Christa Pierce, wife of Lakeview minister Walter Pierce and Grosser’s sister. The student body of the local school district doubled. Uptown residents routinely see immigrant families asking for help outside Costco Wholesale and Starbucks.

Theatris Cobbins, minister Walter Pierce and a new volunteer, Maury, take a water break as they unload a shipment of food for the Lakeview Church of Christ’s food pantry.

The church brought in translators to help with its program, Krista Pierce said, and contributed coats to help the migrants weather the winter months. She and her husband attend community meetings for updates on the migrants. At a recent meeting, city officials reported a decrease in buses sent from the border states. One alderman said, cynically, that he expects another surge in August just as the city hosts the Democratic National Convention.

A development grant helped the Lakeview church expand its basement food pantry. As Grosser took inventory, church members sweated through their shirts as they unloaded large crates of milk, Brussels sprouts and an unexpected gift — multiple boxes of frozen vegan pepperoni pizzas. 

Audrey Bowen looks for space to store vegan pizzas in an already packed refrigerator.

Volunteer Audrey Bowen called on her Tetris-playing skills as she worked the pizzas into freezers already stuffed with brown-and-serve sausages.

On Saturdays, those in need line up and make quick shopping trips to the church basement. The brief interactions, plus the language barrier, make it tough to share Jesus with the migrants, Grosser acknowledged.

Artwork lines the streets and the sides of buildings in rejuvenated Uptown Chicago, including a mural commemorating the lunch counter sit-ins of the civil rights era.

But perhaps the best way to feed people spiritually, he said, “is to lead by example and to let them see how we are toward them.”

“We do feel the urgency, the desire and the importance of serving God,” he added. “God has blessed our family so much, it’s ridiculous. So we know we have a lot to give back. And we’re honored to do it.” 

Scenes from a giveaway

At the Northwest church, interactions may be even shorter than those at Lakeview.

The congregation doesn’t yet have the facilities to accommodate indoor shoppers, so it still follows protocols used during the pandemic. Nonetheless, a few of the church’s clients have attended worship services, and some have helped out with the pantry, minister Patrick Odum said.

Clients park their bikes and cars outside the Northwest Church of Christ on a Saturday afternoon to receive food from the church’s pantry ministry.

During the Northwest church’s Saturday distribution, Odum met recipients as they stood by their cars or on the church’s freshly mowed lawn. He entered their information on his phone and did his best to remember — and pronounce — the names of repeat customers, who came to Chicago from Latin America, Vietnam, the Philippines and elsewhere. Then volunteers brought out the food, presorted into individual crates.

A few of those who came to receive food spoke with the Chronicle. Some declined to give their last names.

Abdiel Estrada loads food into the car of a client at the Northwest Church of Christ’s food pantry.

Barbara, who moved here from a small town near Krakow, Poland, more than two decades ago, said she has come to the Northwest pantry for at least seven years. “The food service is amazing,” she said, adding that she always shares what she’s given.

She doesn’t think she’ll ever return home, especially since her town is less than three hours from the Ukrainian border. She’s worried that, should Ukraine fall, Poland may be next.

Laticia Soto, originally from Mexico, works at a textile factory. Lately the company has cut back her shifts, and the food from the church helps her make ends meet. Two other Mexicans, Luis and Jorge, said they’ve had the same problem at the plant where they work. The food allows them to save money to send back home.

Daviel, the Venezuelan, preferred that the Chronicle not use his last name nor take his photo, said his interpreter, Abdiel Estrada, whose father preaches for the church’s Spanish service.

Volunteer John Cobbins carts donated food up the wheelchair ramp for the Lakeview Church of Christ’s food ministry.

Instead, a Chronicle reporter and Estrada prayed with Daviel and his brother before Estrada invited them to visit the church’s clothes closet. As they browsed, volunteers retrieved a box of food for the Venezuelans.

During their 5,000-mile journey to the U.S., the danger often seemed too much, Daviel said as he loaded the produce into his backpack. But each time, before he turned back, he remembered the political Armageddon and economic desperation that he and Albert had left behind in their homeland.

Going north, he said, at least there is hope.

ERIK TRYGGESTAD is President and CEO of The Christian Chronicle. Contact erik@christianchronicle.org, and follow him on X at @eriktryggestad.

The post Church food pantries respond to increased need amid migrant surge appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

More than an hour before the church’s weekly food distribution, vehicles stretched down a neighborhood street — an indication of the extreme need the congregation serves.

“My fellowship hall is a Walmart now,” said Russell A. Pointer Sr., senior minister and elder.

Minneapolis Central launched its food ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic and fed hungry neighbors after violence following George Floyd’s May 2020 murder destroyed nearby stores.

Four years later, the number of needy families relying on the ministry has more than doubled, averaging between 325 and 375 per week, church leaders said.

“People now have to choose between paying rent or getting something to eat,” said Mariea Overton, a social worker and the food ministry’s deputy director. “So I think that the growth … of the need for food has a lot to do with the economy.”

Volunteers organize sackfuls of food for distribution at the Minneapolis Central Church of Christ.

With grocery prices high and pandemic-era benefit programs ended, many Churches of Christ across the nation report increased demand for food benevolence.

“With inflation and the cost of living here in Hawaii, it’s still expensive,” said Ruth Byrne, who started the food bank at the Pearl Harbor Church of Christ in Honolulu about 15 years ago. “When they have children, they’ll choose between rent and electric or water bills, and there’s nothing left. So that’s where the food pantry comes in.”

Jay Plank, elder and administrative minister for the RiverWalk Church of Christ in Wichita, Kan., said, “We’ve seen a huge increase in both the number of clients served as well as the cost of food.”

Becky Almanza, food pantry director for the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas, has noticed a similar trend.

“We are seeing and serving more of the working poor versus the no-income to low-income clients we served prior to COVID,” Almanza said. “Most clients are being affected by a crisis — loss of job, hospital stay, big car repair — and have to decide which bills to pay.”

Diapers and other baby supplies cover a table outside the Minneapolis Church of Christ.

Nothing profound — just helping

Here in Minnesota, charities including Second Harvest Heartland and The Food Group help supply the food Pointer’s church gives away.

Other area Churches of Christ as well as denominational churches provide support as well.

Minneapolis Central member Lenard Johnson helps with the food distribution from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Saturday.

As needy families kept arriving, he rolled crates full of milk to the church’s lawn. 

Nearby, other volunteers sorted sackfuls of carrots, cabbage and apples and organized a table covered with diapers and baby supplies. 

“We’re just here to help the community — to help those who are in need.”

The ministry keeps pork separate from beef, chicken and fish to accommodate clients who abide by halal dietary restrictions.

“I can’t think of anything profound to say,” Johnson said. “We’re just here to help the community — to help those who are in need.”

Minneapolis Central is the state’s only predominantly Black Church of Christ.

Its food ministry serves a diverse clientele: 60 percent Hispanic, 20 percent African American, 11 percent Somali, 6 percent Hmong and 3 percent White, according to church leaders. 

Lenard Johnson, center, organizes food and milk for distribution at the Minneapolis Central Church of Christ.

A dozen freezers — and an equal number of refrigerators — in Minneapolis Central’s basement attest to its commitment to the ministry, led by director Bettie Crowe, who is away battling cancer.

“It’s unbelievable how devoted they are and how willing they are to give up their time and how consistent the volunteers are,” said Anne Selvig, an Edina Community Lutheran Church member who helps each Saturday. “It’s really inspirational.”

Allison Roorda, a volunteer who attends the City Hill Church in Eden Prairie, southwest of Minneapolis, echoed Selvig: “All of the people connected to (the Minneapolis Central church) and to this program have such a passion for their community. They really want to help out, they love serving, and I found myself wanting to get into that spirit.”

Still, the rising needs coupled with higher costs stretch the ability of the congregation — with post-COVID attendance of about 100 — to meet them.

The ministry’s total monthly food bill — even at its nonprofit suppliers’ discounted rates — has jumped to $11,000, up from $7,000 just recently, Pointer said. 

Russell A. Pointer Sr. in his office at the Minneapolis Central Church of Christ.

“We usually do three meats a week (per family),” the minister said, “but because of the price of everything lately — and the funding is low — we’re having to cut back to maybe one meat and maybe a tuna fish or something like that. Because it just got too expensive.

“The last month or two at our church, we now have a separate offering just for the food,” he added. “We stopped some of our other programs just so we could keep this one going.” 

Sometimes, the ministry’s organizers worry they won’t be able to serve everyone who shows up, said Overton, whose 5-year-old twins, Cornell and Ca Mariea, played as she organized about two dozen volunteers. 

But as when Jesus fed 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish, she stressed, God never fails to deliver.

“There’s never been a car that hasn’t been fed,” Overton said, referring to the families who line up for help. “So it’s pretty cool.”

Volunteers prepare food bags for distribution at the Minneapolis Central Church of Christ.

Food for the body and soul

Mary Coleman, a 60-year-old disabled former machine operator, lives a few blocks from the Minneapolis Central church.

Produce is ready for distribution at the Minneapolis Central Church of Christ.

Making just over the income limit to qualify for food stamps, she stumbled upon the ministry about a year and a half ago.

“I was walking my dog, and they were handing out food,” she recalled.

Coleman became a beneficiary of the church’s generosity — and then joined the volunteer effort.

Since the ministry accepts food from government-funded entities, it’s not supposed to proselytize. But helpers can talk about their faith if someone asks, and Coleman did.

She’s one of a handful of neighbors baptized as a result of Minneapolis Central’s food distribution.

“I got food for my mouth,” Coleman said. “And I got food for my heart — through God — from the people in the church.”

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. He traveled to Minneapolis to report this story. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

How to help

To partner with the Minnesota church’s food ministry, send donations to:

Minneapolis Central Church of Christ

1922 4th Ave N.

P.O. Box 50603

Minneapolis, MN 55405

The post Demand for food ministries rises with grocery prices appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

It’s no ordinary residence.

The building will provide a safe haven for foster children awaiting placement, minister Bob Turner said.

Bob Turner, pictured at Harding School of Theology in Memphis, Tenn., preaches for the White Station Church of Christ.

One year ago, the White Station church sold the half acre to Isaiah 117 — a faith-based nonprofit that has grown to nearly 60 locations in 13 states.

“This is how God does it,” Ronda Paulson, the organization’s founder and executive director, said of the expansion. “He moves his people, and he unites them. If people just give a little bit of what they have, you have a home that can lavishly love on children.”

Based out of Elizabethton, Tenn., roughly 500 miles east of Memphis, the organization seeks to reduce trauma for children, lighten the load for child welfare services and ease the transition for foster families, according to its website.

Ava Conley serves as Isaiah 117’s location director for Shelby County, where Memphis is located. She said the new house will allow children to spend “one of the hardest days of their lives” with loving people.

“We know that there are gaps here, and we just want to be a part of changing the trajectory of our communities,” Conley said. “It’s so fulfilling to be around people who are missioned together.”

Thread of Hope leads to Isaiah 117

The White Station church’s work with foster care began before its involvement with Isaiah 117.

The congregation started its own ministry to provide for foster children in 2014, member Anna Barber said.

The Paulsons pose for a family portrait.

“Our ministry is called Threads of Hope,” said Barber, who leads the effort. “We collect clothing, diapers and all sorts of things to just meet the child’s needs.”

Threads of Hope’s work eventually connected the church with Isaiah 117.

“I feel like God was preparing White Station to be a part of Isaiah 117 for many years,” Barber said. “It’s really opened their eyes to that need, and it has really become heavy on their heart.”

In advance of the Isaiah 117 house opening, White Station is hosting fundraising meals and volunteer events. The location next to the church will be the organization’s first in Memphis, a metro area of 1.3 million people.

“Any city church needs to have partnerships,” Turner said. “You can’t do all the work on your own. But if you are going to care for orphans, this is one way to do it.”

“Any city church needs to have partnerships. You can’t do all the work on your own. But if you are going to care for orphans, this is one way to do it.”

Isaiah ‘opened our eyes to this world’

The idea for Isaiah 117 originated on a Thursday afternoon when the Paulson family went to pick up a foster child at the Department of Children’s Services in Johnson City, Tenn.

Ronda Paulson and her husband, Corey, entered the foster parent pool in 2014.

“It was literally just putting one foot in front of the other trying to live out what I’ve been studying and researching,” Ronda Paulson said.“It led us to foster care classes, and that’s when you learn about children who enter the foster care system and what they are going through.”

Before that class, the Paulsons had never thought about how difficult foster care could be for a child during placement.

“You don’t stop and think, ‘What does that day feel like?’ or ‘What does that removal feel like?’” Ronda Paulson said. “As that all started to unfold, it truly devastated me that it’s not a day to celebrate for that child.”

A year later, the Paulson family picked up their first foster child at the Department of Children’s Services office. That baby boy, Isaiah, left the office under the Paulsons’ care in a borrowed outfit and a cockroach-infested diaper bag.

“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

“Isaiah came to us and opened our eyes to this world that we didn’t even know existed,” Ronda Paulson said.

Their vision for a safe haven began forming, and in 2017, the couple founded the nonprofit.

The name derives from Isaiah 1:17, which declares, “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

Following God’s calling

As Isaiah 117 pushes for more locations across the nation, Memphis volunteers and White Station members are connecting with the cause.

Amy Abbott poses with a check from Altar’d State for Isaiah 117.

Amy Abbott, who serves on Isaiah 117’s community awareness committee in Memphis, said she always wanted to be involved with the foster care system.

“I was listening to a podcast randomly, and it was talking about this Isaiah 117 house coming to Shelby County,” said Abbott, a member of the Highland Church of Christ in Cordova, east of Memphis. “And I just thought, ‘Wow, did (God) hit me over the head?’ This is all I needed to be involved with.”

Ronda Paulson urged others to follow Abbott’s example.

“If you feel that God is leading you to start something new, don’t ignore that prompting,” she said. “I do think he is calling his people.”

NIC FRARACCIO, a senior journalism major at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., is The Christian Chronicle’s summer intern. Reach him at nic@christianchronicle.org.

The post Safe haven for ‘the hardest day’ of foster children’s lives appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.

Dennis Loyd served as a teacher, professor and administrator for more than five decades at the Nashville, Tenn., university and its neighboring K-12 school, both associated with Churches of Christ. From the time he was a college student, Loyd preached for Churches of Christ across Middle Tennessee. For 23 years he served as an elder of the Granny White Church of Christ, now the Church of Christ in Green Hills.

Dennis Loyd, right, visits with David England, former news bureau director for Lipscomb University, and Jimmy McCollum, communications professor, during a celebration of 100 years of student journalism at Lipscomb in 2023.

From 1996 until earlier this year, he served as associate editor of Gospel Advocate publications.

Visitation is scheduled for noon to 2 p.m. Thursday, May 30, followed by a memorial service at 2 p.m. at the Church of Christ in Green Hills, 3805 Granny White Pike, Nashville, TN 37204.

Loyd taught in the high school at Lipscomb Academy from 1959 to 1968 before he moved to the university, where he served as chair of the English department and as dean of students. Lipscomb students knew Loyd as a strict-yet-compassionate disciplinarian who also had a sincere love for literature and the arts. He coordinated the spring Singarama musicals at Lipscomb and appeared in student productions including “Arsenic and Old Lace” and “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” University officials named Loyd a Lipscomb Legend in 2005 and he received the Mustang Alumni Award from Lipscomb Academy in 2023.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The post Lipscomb legend Dennis ‘Dean’ Loyd dies at 87 appeared first on The Christian Chronicle.