Seymour Heights Christian Church in Seymour, Tenn., opened a shelter for people displaced in a wildfire that destroyed or damaged more than 300 structures and burned 2,675 acres in the hills near Pigeon Forge, Tenn. A second wildfire nearby scorched about 665 acres. The church also collected supplies and distributed them to firefighters.
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Christian minister and educator LeRoy Lawson will discuss “What’s Old Age Good For?” as guest speaker for Seniorfest May 19 at the Oregon Christian Camp and Event Center in Turner, Ore. The event is sponsored by the Northwest Christian Network. Learn more at nwchristiannetwork.com.
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Ottumwa, Iowa, native Donald Stephen Shaffer, 92, who inspired the character Radar featured in the M*A*S*H books, movie, and television show, died March 29. Services will be at 2 p.m. today (Wednesday) at Eldon (Iowa) Christian Church. Mr. Shaffer served as company clerk for an Army evac hospital in Korea, where he met Dr. Richard Hornberger, who would later write the book M*A*S*H. Mr. Shaffer led an interesting life—he was in the foster care system, served in the Army for 23 years, eventually earned a master’s degree, and later worked as a college professor of political science and world history. He also served as an elder at Boulevard Christian Church in Essex, Md., and at Joppatowne (Md.) Christian Church, and was adept at preaching. His obituary is available here.
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Compass Christian Church is among churches and businesses offering assistance as part of the “Let’s Pull Together” initiative that resolves minor property code violations in Chandler, Ariz. Typically, the violations involve homes owned by people who are older or physically unable to care for their properties, the SanTan Sun News reported.
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Calvary Christian Church in Swartz Creek, Mich., partnered with Lifeline Christian Mission to prepare and send 7,500 meals to people in Ukraine. The church collected money over a two-week period and gathered to pack the meals Saturday morning, according to abc12.com. Lifeline will transport the meals overseas.
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Teams of volunteers from Compassion Christian Church in Savannah, Ga., are volunteering with Proem Ministries in Poland.
“They’re ministering to people who have had to flee for their lives [from Ukraine] with nothing,” senior pastor Cam Huxford told WTOC.com. “Many of the kids that we’re taking care of at that camp are orphans who literally have had to be relocated to avoid being trafficked in the brutality of this war scenario.”
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Tom Moll recently retired as chaplain of the Christian Village at Mason (Ohio). More recently, David Ray was welcomed as the new chaplain.
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The article “When Did Evangelicals Stop Caring About Missions?” by Douglas A. Sweeney at the Gospel Coalition website included these two paragraphs under the heading “Cold, Hard Facts”:
“There are nearly 8 billion people in the world today and, according to the latest data from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, 28 percent of them are unevangelized. There are more than 2.5 billion Christians altogether (counting everyone who names the name: Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, everyone) and 435,000 foreign missionaries—so a little more than 0.01 percent of all Christians serve as foreign missionaries. The total annual income of Christians in the world is $53 trillion; the amount we spend on foreign missions is $52 billion. Christians today spend slightly more than 0.09 percent of our income on global missions.
“Bringing these numbers closer to home, the study shows that Americans spend as much on Christmas as we spend on all Christian ministries. We spend as much on dieting programs as we spend on foreign missions. And we spend more on Halloween costumes for pets than we spend on evangelizing unreached people groups.”
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