Compiled by Chris Moon and Jim Nieman
Wally Rendel was honored for 58 years of ministry at a “Celebration of Faithfulness” on Sunday at Jessamine Christian Church, Nicholasville, Ky. Rendel enters retirement after serving with JCC the past six years. Sharing messages Sunday were his son, Bart Rendel, cofounder and president of Intentional Churches in Las Vegas, and son-in-law, Bart Stone, lead pastor of Momentum Christian Church in Atlanta.
Wally Rendel grew up in Miami, Ok., and was active with First Christian Church there. He started preaching while a 17-year-old student at Cincinnati Christian University. He preached on weekends for three years at English Christian Church, Carrollton, Ky. He planted and served several years with First Church of Christ in Florence, Ky. (now located in Burlington and Walton), and was founding pastor of Southern Acres Christian Church in southern Lexington, serving there for 34 years. He became director of church relations with CCU in 2006, serving six years in that role before being called to Jessamine Christian Church.
He is married to Barbara and they have three children and five grandchildren. The Jessamine Journal recently wrote a story about Rendel’s retirement.
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Hope Christian Church’s building in Paradise, Calif., is among several church buildings in and around that city destroyed by the Camp Fire. Dozens have died in that fire, which was about 75 percent contained as of this morning. Lead pastor Stan Freitas and his family escaped to a daughter’s house in San Jose, according to a Facebook post. The church also wrote: “Building was burnt down but cross and rock still standing. The church is still alive.”
Hope Christian met at Chico, Calif., on Nov. 11 and was planning to meet there again Nov. 18. Donations to the church can be made via this link.
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Students and staff at Ozark Christian College purchased, packed, and prayed over 179 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child this year.
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Glenview (Ky.) Christian Church is nearing its 50th anniversary. The church held its first service on Dec. 1, 1968, in a rented building on West Main Street. Lead pastor David Mackie recently wrote that the last charter member who was still attending GCC passed away earlier this year. The church will celebrate its anniversary on Dec. 2.
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Ozark Christian College President Matt Proctor saluted the long career of pastor Chuck Terrill in a recent Valley Center (Kan.) Christian Church newsletter. Terrill is a 1988 Ozark graduate and recently concluded more than a decade of service at Valley Center.
“Chuck Terrill is the picture of an effective small-town preacher,” Proctor wrote. “His church in Mulberry, Kansas, grew from 27 to 97. The Haverhill Christian Church [Augusta, Kan.] grew from 54 to 230, and Chuck led the Valley Center Christian Church from 109 to 230. Each ministry was marked by evangelistic outreach, spiritual health, and financial growth.”
Proctor also noted several other highlights of Terrill’s career—and thanked VCCC for supporting OCC over the years.
Terrill, meanwhile, is continuing his ministry to small towns. He recently became pastor of First Christian Church, Cassville, Mo.
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Johnson University’s pastoral care and counseling degree has been named the top online counseling degree by Affordable Colleges Online. The website noted the Knoxville-based school’s tuition cost ($13,000), acceptance rate (47 percent), and graduation rate (66 percent). A total of 33 university pastoral care and counseling degree programs made the ranking.
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The smallest members of Central Christian Church in Wichita, Kan., baked cookies for veterans during the church’s preschool service project. The “Cookies for Courage” project gave the church’s 3- to 5-year-old children a chance to show appreciation for the area’s veterans.
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Milligan College in Tennessee recently brought a nationally recognized Islamophobia expert to campus to discuss how to address common fears that many people harbor about Islam. Dr. Todd Green, associate professor of religion at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, gave two lectures: “Assuming the Best of our Muslim Neighbors” and “The Sins of the Fathers: Erasing Christian Violence in the Age of ISIS.” Green has written two books on the subject and served in the U.S. State Department analyzing Islamophobia in Europe.
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In news unrelated to our movement, an atheist United Church minister who leads a congregation in the east-end of Toronto, Canada, will be allowed to keep her job under a settlement that was reached earlier this month, according to The Star. Gretta Vosper, 60, who was ordained in 1993 and has served as minister of West Hill United Church since 1997, will not be defrocked. United Church is Canada’s second-largest religious denomination.
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