Kentucky Christian University plans to host a celebration at Cane Ridge (near Paris, Ky.) on the 220th anniversary of the Cane Ridge Revival. The events at Cane Ridge started on Aug. 6, 1801, lasted a week, and grew to perhaps 20,000 participants. The revival there was one of the most important events in the history of the Restoration Movement.
On Aug. 7, KCU will host a Cane Ridge tour and Communion service. Registration and check-in will begin at 8 a.m. at the KCU campus in Grayson. KCU will provide transportation to Cane Ridge, as well as lunch. Douglas A. Foster, a leading scholar of Restoration Movement history, will make a presentation of what took place at Cane Ridge. Jerry Harris, pastor of The Crossing (Quincy, Ill.) and publisher of Christian Standard, will lead a devotional for all in attendance. The tour will end with a Communion service led by Bob Russell, retired minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville.
Tickets cost $35 and are available at kcu.edu/caneridge. For more information, go to the website or contact Megan Rawlings at [email protected], (606) 474-3298 or (606) 474-3258.
_ _ _
News Briefs
Israeli archaeologists this week announced the discovery of dozens of Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing a biblical text found in a desert cave.
“The fragments of parchment bear lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum and have been dated around the first century based on the writing style,” the Associated Press reported. The scrolls are the first ones found in archaeological excavations in the desert south of Jerusalem in 60 years.
When found between 1947 and 1956, the Dead Sea Scrolls were 1,000 years older than what had previously been considered the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible.
_ _ _
The Equality Act, which would “ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” passed the House Feb. 25 and likely will be debated in the Senate. NPR.org reported on the proposed legislation last week in a story headlined, “Some Faith Leaders Call Equality Act Devastating; For Others, It’s God’s Will.” Ed Stetzer of Christianity Today wrote earlier, “While discrimination toward people created in the image of God should, indeed, be opposed, the EA does so in ways that significantly disregard religious liberty concerns.”
_ _ _
Daniel Jarchow, campus minister with Sojourn at the University of Washington, recently interviewed Ron Clark, executive director of Kairos Church Planting, and Ron’s wife, Lori, about recent revelations that Ravi Zacharias engaged in sexually abusive and manipulative behavior—revelations that have been substantiated by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. The conversation, available on YouTube, explored the widespread problem Zacharias’s story represents.
Last month, we shared a column Ron Clark wrote about the Ethical Conduct Agreement that Kairos church planters sign that serves as an “encouragement to our congregations, community, and those who have been hurt by church leaders,” while also providing “a level of accountability for ministers.” Read his column here.
_ _ _
Historian Douglas A. Foster, author of A Life of Alexander Campbell, spoke at a digital convocation that marked Bethany College’s 181st year on March 4. In his talk, the Herald-Star reported, Foster examined the accomplishments and flaws of Campbell, who founded Bethany College and co-founded the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement of churches.
“Campbell accepted, as did most white Americans, the myths that defined the nation then, and even still today, that America was the chosen nation, the Christian nation, the innocent nation, the white nation,” Foster said. “He could not see that slavery was built on the ideology of white supremacy, which contradicted the very gospel that he sought to restore. …”
The three streams of the Restoration Movement, as they exist today, include the a cappella churches of Christ, the Christian churches/churches of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
_ _ _
The Oconee Enterprise told an interesting story of how Antioch Christian Church in Watkinsville—founded in 1807 and considered “the oldest Christian Church in Georgia”—came to house a school bell that welcomed generations of students to old Goshen Schoolhouse, until it closed in the 1920s. In the late 1960s, $2,500 was raised to construct a steeple at the church in which the bell was installed. The bell continues to be rung for special occasions.
_ _ _
Two Lexington-area churches—Southland Christian and Ashland Avenue Baptist—teamed up to donate a truckload of cleaning supplies to the Christian Appalachian Project to help victims of flooding in eastern Kentucky.
_ _ _
Send news to [email protected].
0 Comments