Gordon Clymer, 85, a veteran Christian worker who served with Ozark Christian College (OCC), Good News Productions International (GNPI), and what became the Consortium for Christian Online Education (CCOE), died Thursday, Aug. 26, in Joplin, Mo.
The Carl Junction, Mo., resident was born near Gary, Ind., and graduated from OCC with a Bachelor of Theology in 1959. He then served in church ministry for 10 years. For five years during that time he was chairman of the National Bible Bowl Committee. He also earned two more degrees from the University of Tennessee.
He was professor and director of the Christian Education Department at OCC for 28 years (1969-97). He then spent 6 years as special projects director with GNPI and 10 years as coordinator with CCOE.
He also served in leadership roles on various boards throughout his life. His latest project was organizing meetings for 58 retired Christian ministers. In 2007, he was presented the Seth Wilson Outstanding Alumnus Award by Ozark Christian College.
He is survived by his widow, Mary; one son, David, of Joplin; and three grandchildren. He was preceded in death by one daughter, Sharon Fisk, and one grandson.
Funeral services were Monday at the Christian Church of Carl Junction. Memorial contributions may be made to Ozark Christian College or Good News Productions International.
A complete obituary is available here.
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News Briefs
People across the country are uniting in prayer for Charlie Russell, who has been in a Nashville, Tenn., hospital for more than three weeks with COVID-19 pneumonia and multiple organ failure. Charlie is the son of Rusty and Kellie Russell and grandson of Bob and Judy Russell. (Rusty serves as senior pastor at New Day Christian Church, Port Charlotte, Fla. Bob is retired senior minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky.)
A Facebook group, Charlie’s Road to Recovery!—started by Charlie’s wife, Faith, to keep friends and family updated on her husband’s journey—has nearly 5,200 members who are offering prayer and encouragement. Bob Russell’s blog post on Sunday, “Lessons Reinforced in God’s Waiting Room,” begins with a special thanks for everyone praying for Charlie, followed by an update on his condition. It also includes audio of a prayer for Charlie offered by Liz Curtis Higgs. On Aug. 11, during his isolation with COVID-19, Charlie and Faith’s daughter, Charity Rose Russell, was born.
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How can Christians pray for and help the people of Afghanistan? In last week’s newsletter, Doug Lucas provided an update on the country that just fell to the Taliban. This week, Team Expansion, the ministry Lucas leads, developed a webpage that provides ideas for prayer for some 100,000 displaced Afghans who are now in camps sleeping under trees, with no food, water, or hope. Team Expansion has also developed a way for supporters to help provide essential items such as rice, flour, cooking oil, beans, tea, sugar, salt, and blankets. Click here for more information.
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North Carolina State women’s basketball coach Wes Moore is featured in the Summer 2021 issue of Johnson University’s magazine. Moore, a 1984 graduate of JU (who majored in youth ministry), has taken NC State to the Sweet Sixteen three times and was named the 2021 United States Marine Corps/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association NCAA Division 1 National Coach of the Year.
“I didn’t have the means to attend college on my own,” said Moore, who played basketball at JU, “but the generous alumni and friends who contributed to the school made it possible for me. Coach [Russell] Morgan and coach [Doug] Karnes, Dr. [Philip] Eubanks, Dr. [William] Blevins—without these people I might not have a college education. I owe so much to Johnson.”
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Drew Froese, lead pastor with Real Life Christian Church in Chesapeake, Va., has a new book coming out today. In Faith FULL—A Practical Guide for FULLY Living Out Your Faith, Froese shares how to read the Bible, engage in spiritual disciplines, discover gifting, and then disciple and share the good news with others.
“Essentially, it’s a comprehensive guide to deepening [the reader’s] relationship with God . . . and then a tool they can use to help others do the same,” Froese said.
The book is available from Amazon.
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Restoration House Ministries and Orchard Group, which in June formed a partnership designed to strengthen and accelerate church-planting efforts in New England, have hired Tanner Green to serve as regional director to oversee church-planting efforts there.
Green has served as founding and lead pastor with SouthPointe Christian Church near Providence, R.I., for the past nine years. He’s also served on RHM’s board of directors for seven years, the last three years as board president. The Lincoln (Ill.) Christian University graduate recently completed a Doctor of Ministry degree through Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Hamilton, Mass.
Green’s responsibilities will include identifying new church-planting candidates, generating new partnerships, overseeing management teams for new churches, and nurturing community among church leaders in the six New England states. Green, his wife Bethany, and their three children will relocate to the Boston area soon.
Meanwhile, Paolo Hugo will soon begin serving as media coordinator. The native of the Philippines spent his teen years in New Jersey. Hugo has been serving as creative and marketing director with Icon Church in Seattle.
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Central India Christian Mission is supporting five Afghan-led churches in India. These churches are praying for and working to help those now fleeing their native country. CICM is accepting donations as it partners with these Afghan-led churches as they help minister to the food and lodging needs of approximately 200 Afghanistan refugee families. Learn more at CICM’s website.
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Point University has named Dr. Nathaniel Dunlap Jr. as the school’s chief diversity officer. The U.S. Army veteran will lead diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at the school in West Point, Ga.
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Mosaic Christian Church, Elkridge, Md., just completed its seventh-annual Impact Week, during which it tackled 100 projects in its quest to make a difference in its region, a local TV station reported.
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The Los Alamos (N.M.) Daily Post wrote about the close relationship that has developed over a period of many years between the Christian Church of Los Alamos and Haitian Christian Mission.
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The McCook (Neb.) Chamber of Commerce recently honored McCook Christian Church as its third quarter Honor Business. The chamber’s Lori Beeby told the Gazette that MCC was chosen, in part, because of its extensive efforts to provide the city with an Independence Day celebration through the Freedom Festival.
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The congregation of First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, voted by a 2-to-1 margin recently to demolish the sanctuary where a gunman killed 26 people in November 2017, the Christian Post reported.
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An atheist recently was named president of the chaplains at Harvard University, the Daily Mail reported. “Humanist chaplain” Greg Epstein, 44, has served with the school since 2005. Harvard—the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States—was founded in 1636 to train clergy.
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Author: Christian Standard
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