28 September, 2023

A Strong ‘Harvest’ Despite Pandemic (Plus News Briefs)

by | 4 November, 2020 | 0 comments

Despite the pandemic, this year’s “Harvest of Talents for World Hunger,” a unique ministry started in 1984 by Lincoln (Ill.) Christian Church, raised more than $100,000 to combat hunger around the world.

Each year, people in and around Lincoln use their talents for cooking, crafts, art—whatever—to create items that are sold at events and auctions to raise money for Harvest of Talents. All of that money is routed to International Disaster Emergency Service (IDES), which distributes those funds to mission partners that request it to feed starving people. This year’s “Harvest” raised $116,558 (equal to 388,527 meals), increasing the 37-year total raised to more than $2.5 million.

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News Briefs

Compiled by Jim Nieman

Owensboro (Ky.) Christian Church will host a Friends of Sinners Banquet featuring a local comedian at 6 p.m. this coming Tuesday (Nov. 10). Ben Cecil is a local firefighter and real estate appraiser who has developed a stand-up routine “to support very gospel-centered charities and worthy causes in our community.”

“For the past 10 years, we would have a guest speaker come with something deep and inspirational to touch your heart,” FOS development director Jordan Wilson told the Messenger-Inquirer. “We’re [doing] a total 180 this year. We think that we need [to]. We think that people have been just depressed, locked down and restricted. So we think this will really boost morale.”

The in-person and virtual event raises money for Friends of Sinners, a Christ-centered residential substance recovery program.

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Milligan University is participating in a study of a COVID-19 rapid antigen test. MU is partnering with the state of Tennessee and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the validation study of the Abbott BinaxNOW rapid test.

Participating in this study allows Milligan to provide rapid COVID-19 testing to symptomatic students and employees. A secondary test administered at the same time will serve to validate the rapid test. Both tests use nasal swabs.

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A global online celebration of God’s love called “PrayerFast,” hosted by TCM president Tony Twist, will take place from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. (EST) Nov. 14. People connected with TCM’s ministry from dozens of nations are expected to participate. Go to www.tcmi.org to learn more and register.

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A 2003 alum of Hope International University who is battling brain cancer recently completed a triathlon of swimming, biking, and running that covered 140.6 miles and took 13 hours, 40 minutes.

Jay Hewitt, 39, started triathlon training on the first day of radiation and chemotherapy in August 2019. Hewitt wrote in Newsweek that the triathlon was a “grand gesture of love” for his 7-year-old daughter, Hero. A goal of the race was to teach her about resiliency and perseverance. At present Hewitt has no tumors on his brain, but his prognosis is not good.

ESPN interviewed Hewitt recently, and the Orange County Register wrote a story about him.

Hewitt serves as lead pastor of the Orange, Calif., campus of Friends Church.

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Patricia “Trish” Griffin, 80, who served for many years at Roanoke Bible College (now Mid-Atlantic Christian University) in Elizabeth City, N.C., with her husband, Bill, a 20-year president of the institution, died Oct. 23.

Mrs. Griffin earned a degree in home economics and planned to teach that subject. Shortly after marrying in 1962, her husband accepted a position at Roanoke (his alma mater), and she learned of the school’s need for a librarian, so she changed her career and began to work on a degree in library science. Mrs. Griffin served as director of RBC’s library from 1963 to 2004. Both she and her husband retired in 2006. A complete obituary is available here.

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Great Lakes Christian College president Larry Carter, who recently recovered from COVID-19, teamed with professor of cross-cultural ministry Kate Blakely for a pair of Restoration Appreciation Week chapel presentations. Carter’s “The Didache and the Restoration Movement” is available on YouTube, as is Blakely’s “Reading the Scriptures Fruitfully: Alexander Campbell’s (Humble) Principles of Interpretation for the Bible.”

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Harding University’s board of trustees announced president Bruce McLarty will retire effective Nov. 30 and be replaced by chancellor David Burks, the school’s president from 1987 to 2013 (and McLarty’s immediate predecessor). The board also announced, “A committee will be formed to evaluate a broader presidential search” for the institution, located in Searcy, Ark.

Late last week, the Christian Chronicle detailed recent controversies at the 4,500-student university that is associated with the noninstrumental churches of Christ.

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