29 March, 2024

Team Expansion’s Afghan Appeal Sees Record Response (Plus News Briefs)

by | 8 September, 2021 | 0 comments

By Jim Nieman

Team Expansion’s effort to raise money and work with other believers to help feed thousands of Afghanistan’s displaced people now living in dozens of camps inside that country has gone amazingly well, the ministry’s president reported Tuesday night. 

COURTESY OF TEAM EXPANSION

From the time the initiative was announced at ChristianStandard.com on Aug. 25 through last night, Team Expansion’s web page dedicated to this effort has raised $59,626. “It’s the best and most rapid response we’ve ever seen in the history of any new initiative like this,” Doug Lucas said. 

“All of us at Team Expansion are amazed at the outpouring of vision, partnership, and hope for Afghan people who did not make it out of the country in the evacuation,” he said. “These vulnerable and yet courageous people are scattered in over 50 internally-displaced people camps in and around Kabul.”

The monetary gifts are being used in tandem with supplies and monies Team Expansion already had access to inside Afghanistan. “The funds given so far in response to this [appeal] are already building sustainable infrastructure and delivering help and hope to ‘the least of these’ in Afghanistan,” he said.

Team Expansion’s focus over the next three years “will be to connect the dots between this drinking water with the living water . . . between this wheat bread and the bread of life,” Lucas said. He thanked churches and individuals for their generosity, heart, and shared vision.

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News Briefs

Three members of First Christian Church of Lamar, Mo., were awarded Missouri public safety medals last week. Gov. Mike Parson presented Public Safety Civilian Partnership Awards to Lendon J. Blanchard, Evan G. Clements, and Christopher A. Runion for assisting a Lamar police officer in apprehending a suspect at the church on Sunday morning, Aug. 2, 2020.

The three men helped officer John Simpson as he tried to arrest Lane Stephens, 29, suspected of shooting and killing a man and injuring the suspect’s estranged wife in Carthage, Mo. 

As the officer arrived at the church, he attempted to arrest the suspect, who pulled a knife and cut the officer’s hand. As they struggled and fell to the floor, the three church members rushed in to help restrain the suspect, the Joplin Globe reported. In October, Stephens was charged with first-degree murder and seven other felonies. 

See our story from last August.

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Dallas Christian College women’s basketball head coach Larry Tidwell is among eight people who will be inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022. Tidwell coached for years at the high school and college levels before arriving at DCC in 2020. Tidwell previously served as head coach at Lamar University and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and assisted at several other colleges (Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech, and Kansas). During his 12 years coaching high school ball at Frisco, Schulenburg, and Mexia, his teams compiled a 289-86 record, earned eight district championships, and made nine playoff appearances.

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Hope International University hosted its 15th annual Golf Challenge at the Alta Vista Country Club on Aug. 30. Donors and sponsors teamed up to give more than $73,000 to help fund student scholarships and departmental programs. It was a single-year record for this event.

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The International Conference On Missions has compiled resources for churches and Christian colleges to use in helping promote the annual gathering, Nov. 18-21 in Richmond, Va. Resources include printed material, videos, and social media files. Access those materials here.

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The CCL Network will present “The Church Working Right Seminar” several times over the next month or so. Go to ccl.network to learn more about—and register for—events planned at First Christian Church in Baldwyn, Miss. (Sept. 20); Oakwood Christian Church, Enid, Okla. (Sept. 28); Cedar Ridge Christian Church, Broken Arrow, Okla. (Sept. 29); Boise Bible College in Idaho (Oct. 2); and Dry Run Church of Christ, West Portsmouth, Ohio (Oct. 9). Seminars typically run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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IDES is seeking volunteers to help with Hurricane Ida recovery in Louisiana and Mississippi. Volunteers will assist the organization’s disaster coordinators with clean-up, debris and tree removal, tarping roofs, and mucking out houses. The first of the initial crews left Sunday. Additional crews are being scheduled for Sept. 12-18, Sept. 19-25, and Sept. 26–Oct. 2. Learn more at ides.org.

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In November, the Elderday Center will open a satellite campus at the First Christian Church Ministry Center in Elgin, Ill.

Elderday serves older adults with mild to moderate memory loss and/or physical dysfunction, as well as family caregivers of all ages, the Daily Herald reported.

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Greg Rowden, who with two partners owns the DHR franchising group which owns 31 Sonic Drive-Ins and 4 Slim Chickens, will be featured speaker for Manhattan (Kan.) Christian College’s 19th annual Leadership Breakfast from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Sept. 23 at Howie’s Activity Center. DHR’s mission is “to excel in honoring God in all we do!” Register for the free event at mccks.edu.

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Sgt. Odell Williams, 55, a member of Swan Quarter (N.C.) Christian Church, was named the state’s Marine Patrol Officer of the year for 2021, according to a news release.

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Central Christian College of the Bible, Moberly, Mo., is among the locations to host National Day of Volunteer Youth Ministry Training from 9 a.m. until noon on Sept. 18. Learn more at cccb.edu.

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Send news to [email protected].

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