(courtesy of NASA)
Compiled by Jim Nieman
Victor Glover, an astronaut now serving a six-month mission on the International Space Station, recently was chosen as one of 18 members of NASA’s Artemis team, which the space agency said “will help pave the way for the next astronaut missions on and around the moon,” the Christian Chronicle reported. Glover is a member of a noninstrumental church of Christ in the Houston area. In an earlier article, the Chronicle wrote that Glover sent up Communion cups and a Bible to the space station before blasting off on his mission Nov. 15.
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In its annual November Health and Healthcare survey, Gallup found that those who rated their mental health as excellent or good was 76 percent this year—down from the 81 to 89 percent range where people had classified themselves every other year since 2001. Just last year, 85 percent of those surveyed rated their mental health as excellent or good. The COVID-19 pandemic is believed to be a major factor in the decline.
A chart at Gallup.com indicated only one group saw an improvement in self-evaluated excellent mental health from 2019 to 2020—that was among people who attend religious services weekly. The excellent responses in that constituency rose to 46 percent in 2020 (an increase of 4 percent).
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John Whittaker reports that his Bible in Life podcast is one of the top-rated Christian podcasts in Saudi Arabia. The podcast has seen a 60 percent increase in downloads during 2020 and doubled the number of countries where people are listening. Learn more about Whittaker’s ministry, including his crowdfunded Bible teaching project, Listener’s Commentary on the New Testament, at www.johnwhittaker.net.
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Mark Fox, who has served as vice president for student development and athletics at Milligan University since 1998, plans to retire effective Aug. 1.
“Under his leadership,” said president Bill Greer, “[Fox] has been instrumental in guiding Milligan to high levels of student retention, completion, and success.”
During Fox’s tenure, Milligan added over a dozen athletic teams and clubs and garnered its first national team championship in cycling, along with multiple individual national champions in track and cycling. The Milligan Buffaloes have won numerous Appalachian Athletic Conference All-Sports Championships and received multiple Champions of Character Five Star Institution Gold Awards through the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Additionally, major renovations were completed at Lacy Fieldhouse and the Anglin baseball and softball fields. The William T. Mathes Tennis Complex, Citizens Bank Athletic Training Center, Gilliam Wellness Center, and a new housing complex all were constructed.
Last year, Fox was named the AAC’s Athletic Director of the Year.
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St. Louis Christian College has planned a Men’s Day from 10 a.m. to noon March 6. Jeff Walling, director of the Youth Leadership Initiative at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., will be the speaker. The free event will end with a lunch.
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Hope International University has announced it will continue with all-remote learning during the first part of the spring semester. President Paul H. Alexander set the week of March 22 as the target for returning to in-person learning (though neither students nor faculty will be required to take part in face-to-face instruction after that date). The Fullerton, Calif., school conducted all learning virtually during the just-ended fall semester.
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A chaplain at Green River Correctional Complex in Central City, Ky., wrote a complimentary letter to the Southeast Outlook—an independent, nonprofit newspaper ministry that is separate from, but affiliated with, Southeast Christian Church in Louisville. Outlook president and general manager Jim Fraser shared the letter in an end-of-the-year financial appeal to the newspaper’s readers.
The letter reads, in part, “I am writing to thank you for the 25 Outlooks that you faithfully send each week to our prison. I thought you would like to know it is the most read publication we receive. The inmates come by my office each day to see if we have the latest issue. . . . You are a blessing to our institution.”
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