By Chris Moon
Redemption Christian Church in Jasper, Ind., discovered a powerful way to spur its members to begin reading the Bible.
On the final Sunday of 2017, senior minister Darrel Land challenged the church to read—as a group—at least 500,000 verses of the Bible during 2018. The church created an online form so that members could submit the number of verses they read each day, week, or month.
(To provide context, there are 31,102 verses in the Bible: the Old Testament has 23,145 and the New Testament has 7,957, according to various online sources.)
“Here’s the deal: If we get in the Word of God, it’s amazing what he’s going to do to get into us,” Land told the congregation.
But the church’s expectations apparently were too small.
By the end of May, the church reported its members already had read 520,028 verses of the Bible.
The church since has increased the “500,000 Verses Challenge” to 1 million verses.
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NEWS BRIEFS
Catalyst Church in Phoenix has been hosting its “Catalyst School of Music” weekly this summer for middle and high school students who want to learn what it means to be in a worship band. Students are being taught the purpose of their instruments within the context of a band and get to make music with their friends.
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First Christian Church in Canton, Ohio, will host a communitywide “FunFest” this Saturday that will feature a car show, petting zoo, pony rides, 3-on-3 basketball, inflatable games, and bounce houses.
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Plant Utah hosted a “Girls Weekend” this summer for pastors’ wives and their daughters. The church-planting organization’s Facebook page said, “We encourage you to find a way to bless your pastor’s wife in the coming weeks. Love on her children, let her know that you see the things she does, and that she’s appreciated!”
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Donations to the Food Bank of Central New York fall off each summer, so for the third consecutive year, Liverpool (NY) Christian Church has helped pick up the slack by sponsoring the PBJ500. This year, however, the church decided to bump up the goal and try to collect 1,000 jars of peanut butter and/or jelly for the food bank. The local Chick-fil-A is helping out, serving as a collection point on Tuesdays and enticing givers with a free “Icedream Cone.” NewsChannel9 is also a collection point.
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Northside Christian Church in Spring, Texas, hosted a “Festival of Manliness” in June for men in the church. The event came with the tagline, “Meat. Games. Brotherhood.”
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Kentucky Christian University hosted “Summer in the Son” conferences for high school and middle school students in June featuring concerts by David Crowder and Andy Mineo. There also were numerous speakers—and dodgeball. KCU has hosted “Summer in the Son” for 30 years.
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