Reading Time: 4 minutes
Team Expansion sees amazing response to appeal to help internally displaced Afghans. Plus briefs from First Christian Church (Lamar, Mo.), ICOM, IDES, Dallas Christian College, Hope International University, and more.
News
Where Have All the Deacons Gone? (Part 2 or 3)
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Part 2 of 3: Who to Select and How They Should Function — Four scriptural texts help shape our understanding . . .
A Loving Sacrifice: Pastor Donates Kidney to Church Member
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Pastor Jack Coultas, of Park Grove Christian Church in Deepwater, Mo., encourages people to “love dangerously”—just as Jesus did. It’s a self-sacrificing message Coultas can preach boldly because he was able to live it out. Early last year, Coultas donated one of his kidneys to a church member.
THROWBACK THURSDAY: ‘Is Divorce the Unpardonable Sin?’
Reading Time: 6 minutes
“In churches of Christ and Christian churches, is divorce the unpardonable sin?” Judy Norris asked in this column from 1980. “Have we become so Pharisaical that our own self-righteousness causes us to negate love?”
Longtime Ozark Prof Gordon Clymer Dies (Plus News Briefs)
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Thousands are praying for Charlie Russell . . . plus updates on Team Expansion’s efforts to help Afghans and efforts to plant churches in New England. And much more . . .
Hurricane Ida Is Latest in String of Disasters for IDES
Reading Time: 3 minutes
When Hurricane Ida roared ashore in Louisiana on Sunday, it caused damage and destruction that continues to be assessed, and it added to the mounting workload for IDES—the International Disaster Emergency Service—a Christian church/church of Christ organization that provides emergency assistance around the world.
Where Have All the Deacons Gone? (Part 1 of 3)
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Part 1 of 3: What Deacons Are and Do — To some, the term “deacon” is a signpost of an outdated model of ministry. Let’s reexamine the biblical material . . .
Seeds of a Movement
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Excerpts from Jerry Harris’s devotional thoughts presented on the 220th anniversary of the Cane Ridge Revival earlier this month.
Update on Afghanistan: Where Do We Go from Here?
Reading Time: 3 minutes
If we want to see God do something big and miraculous, we need to pray. The Afghan people are in a dangerous moment in their history. Pray for a miracle . . . but also pray for endurance and tenacious faith. . . .