Compiled by Chris Moon and Jim Nieman
Lake Springfield Christian Assembly in Chatham, Ill., is learning the power of the penny.
The Christian camp has collected a million pennies from 26 churches during the past two months to help generate funds to acquire an additional 2.7 acres of land. The $10,000 in pennies were put on display in a large bin at the camp; they weighed 6,000 pounds.
“(The lesson here) is that every penny counts, especially when you’re a 501(c)(3),” camp manager Kerma Yotter told the State Journal-Register. “What’s more amazing, and we see it all the time, is God’s provision through his faithful people and the way people have supported this (camp) ministry for years and years and years. It’s just remarkable.”
The camp was founded in 1939 and is governed by 30 Christian churches and churches of Christ. It now consists of 32 acres. The additional land will be used for the camp’s canoeing and kayaking program.
The camp runs 25 sessions for children and adults.
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News Briefs
Wilbur Fields, 92, a beloved member of the Ozark Christian College faculty for 36 years, died on May 7 after a brief illness. He had been living at Spring River Christian Village in Joplin, Mo. He was preceded in death by his wife, Louise, in 2016.
He taught Old Testament history and other courses at Ozark. He was presented the Seth Wilson Outstanding Alumnus Award in 1993.
The Hugoton, Kan., native had many interests, especially archaeology. He participated in numerous digs in the Middle East.
Ozark President Matt Proctor wrote: “I took my first Ozark class, OT History at 7 a.m., with Wilbur Fields, and I remember a man so deeply saturated in Scripture that he could tell Bible stories as if he’d been there.”
A tribute service will be scheduled at a later date, according to his obituary.
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The son of actress Candace Cameron Bure—of Full House fame—preached recently at Shepherd Church in Porter Ranch, Calif.
Lev Bure, 19, is a student at Shepherd Church’s Bible college and was one of four students selected to preach during the May 5 service, according to the Christian Post. Cameron Bure thanked Shepherd Church pastor Dudley Rutherford on Instagram after her son and his fellow students preached.
“They are our future leaders and God anointed their words as they spoke truth, love, encouragement and a call to action to all of us,” Bure said. “Thank you @dudleyrutherford for giving them this opportunity, believing in them and trusting them.”
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Since its launch in 2012, Kairos Benevolence Fund has provided financial assistance to about 100 aging Christian church ministers and missionaries who were facing a financial or health crisis that they did not have the resources to meet.
Kairos was started, said founder David Pace, because “we just couldn’t live with the idea that some of our older ministers and missionaries are living in poverty conditions simply because of the sacrifices they made to preach the gospel here in the United States and literally around the world.”
Since late last summer, Kairos has been working to grow an endowment fund to enable it to respond more quickly to emergency situations, while also earning interest to help multiply the funds available for KBF to put to work.
Learn more about Kairos, watch a two-minute video, and make donations by going to the www.cdfcapital.org website.
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Gary Selby’s new book on the theology of C.S. Lewis will come out next week. Pursuing an Earthy Spirituality: C.S. Lewis and Incarnational Faith will be released by IVP Academic on May 21. Selby, who serves as professor of ministerial formation at Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan College, said Lewis has inspired him in his Christian faith perhaps more than any other writer.
“Lewis raised the tantalizing possibility that our richest experiences of beauty and pleasure might actually be pointers to the nature of God and the purpose for which we were made,” Selby said. “My dream is to share that perspective with as many people as I possibly can.”
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Members of Millersburg (Ohio) Christian Church will vote this Sunday [May 19] on what to do with their aging building. A range of options—from buying another facility and relocating to tearing down the existing building and starting from scratch—were laid out in a recent story in the Daily Record.
MCC’s building was constructed in 1904 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. However, the building suffers from a shifting foundation, a lack of parking, low ceilings in some areas, and bats in the attic, the Daily Record reported. The cost to renovate is estimated at about half a million dollars, which would include bringing the building up to current codes.
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Northwest Christian University has received a $383,750 grant to upgrade its student information system. President Joseph Womack said the grant from The M.J. Murdock Memorial Trust will be a “game-changer” for the Eugene, Ore., university. The university’s student population has grown 60 percent during the past eight years and has maxed out the school’s current technology for student records.
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