February 26, 2024
"My first real attempt at contributing to the advancement of God’s kingdom in the wider world failed," James Thompson writes. But eventually, through the influence of campus ministries in Georgia, Thompson now serves with CMF's Globalscope campus ministry in Thailand. "Different environments present different challenges" . . .
November 8, 2023
Briefs about the re-release of a novel about Alexander Campbell, videos from CMF International, a Midwest Christian College reunion, Harding University's 100th anniversary, and more.
April 27, 2022
June Johnson, who served in Ukraine as a medical missionary with CMF International for 24 years, until the war started, has found a way to continue serving many of the Ukrainians she cared for previously, but now in a different country.
March 30, 2022
News briefs about CMF International, Great Lakes Christian College, Sunnybrook Christian Church, the 2022 Stone-Campbell Journal Conference, and more.
October 13, 2021
The Renew.org 2021 Gathering will take place Nov. 3 at in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Plus briefs from Southeast Christian Church (Louisville), ICOM, CMF International, Mission Aviation Fellowship, and more.
March 2, 2020
By Chris Moon The coronavirus outbreak has shaken things up for mission organizations and other Restoration Movement groups that do work internationally. The China Institute at Lincoln (Ill.) Christian University—which assists the 20 Chinese students and their families who live on campus—had a student arrive at Lincoln in January after the outbreak of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. The student came from Wuhan, China, which is the epicenter of the outbreak, said Weilun Lee, director of LCU’s China Institute. The student was checked out by local health officials and given the all clear. “We have done all the things we
October 17, 2017
By Kent Fillinger In September”s issue, I examined statistics and trends primarily affecting urban and suburban communities and churches in the United States. This month, I”m focusing on the rural counterpart. Rural America In 1950, more than a third of the U.S. population lived in rural areas. That rural percentage has consistently declined through the years to less than 20 percent today. The Wall Street Journal recently reported (“Rural America Is the New “˜Inner City,”” Janet Adamy and Paul Overberg, May 27-28, A1), [A]n unprecedented shift is under way. Federal and other data show that in 2013, in the majority
April 28, 2017
By LeRoy Lawson Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End Atul Gawked New York: Metropolitan, 2014 The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Questto Arm an America at War A. J. Jaime Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2014 There”s a Sheep in My Bathtub: Birth of a Mongolian Church Planting Movement Brian Hogan Bayside: Asteroidea Books, 2008 Atul Gawande”s Being Mortal is a book for everyone. But everyone won”t like it. It”s for everyone because it”s about dying and dying is for everyone. Everyone won”t like it because it”s about honestly accepting dying, even if you”re a doctor
March 31, 2017
By LeRoy Lawson The Good Funeral: Death, Grief and the Community of Care Thomas G. Long and Thomas Lynch Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2013 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens First published in 1859 The Neighboring Church: Getting Better at What Jesus Said Matters Most Rick Rusaw and Brian Mavis Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2016 The Good Funeral is about the importance of funerals in “getting the dead where they need to go and the living where they need to be.” Authors Thomas Long and Thomas Lynch like this maxim of Lynch”s father so well they made it the theme of
February 2, 2017
By LeRoy Lawson What”s in a Phrase? Pausing Where Scripture Gives You Pause Marilyn Chandler McEntyre Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014 A Faithful Farewell: Living Your Last Chapter with Love Marilyn Chandler McEntyre Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015 A Long Letting Go: Meditations on Losing Someone You Love Marilyn Chandler McEntyre Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015 The Gene: An Intimate History Siddhartha Mukherjee New York: Scribner, 2016 When I learned of Marilyn McEntyre”s 2014 book What”s in a Phrase? I had to add it to my “must read” list. Earlier I had read her Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies. Her purpose in
December 31, 2016
By LeRoy Lawson Unashamed: Drop the Baggage, Pick Up Your Freedom, Fulfill Your Destiny Christine Caine Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016 The Scent of Water: Grace for Every Kind of Broken Naomi Zacharias Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011 Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World Bob Goff Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012 The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters Sean B. Carroll Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016 I had the good fortune to attend the 2016 North American Christian Convention in Anaheim, California. I can”t remember an NACC that was more upbeat, more focused
December 1, 2016
By LeRoy Lawson Eisenhower in War and Peace Jean Edward Smith New York: Random House, 2012 For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet”s Journey Richard Blanco Boston: Beacon Press, 2013 Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore:Â And How 4 Acts of Love Will Make Your Church Irresistible Thom and Joani Schultz Loveland: Group Publishing, 2013 Why Nobody Wants to Be Around Christians Anymore:Â And How 4 Acts of Love Will Make Your Faith Magnetic Thom and Joani Schultz Loveland: Group Publishing, 2014 Dwight Eisenhower was America”s president during my teen years. To this Oregon adolescent he loomed
July 21, 2014
By LeRoy Lawson (From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I”ve Ever Received.”) The best advice I ever received? An almost impossible question! When you”ve lived as long as I have, and have sought as much counsel as I have needed, how do you highlight just one bit of advice? I could write a book on the extrabiblical proverbs (from unlicensed, insightful masters of living) that have guided me. Here”s one that would receive a whole chapter of its own in that book: Be more than you seem. When I”m tempted to boast about this or that achievement or
July 6, 2013
JUSTINE HAYES Missionary serving with CMF International My first dealings with Justine were through e-mail. Justine works with Missions of Hope in Kenya. Our church was planning a mission trip to the slums outside Nairobi, and Justine was our contact person. I assumed she was a retired woman who had moved to Kenya to help the mission there. A few months later I was in Kenya to attend a Christian Missionary Fellowship board meeting. Imagine my surprise when someone knocked on our cabin door as my roommate and I were settling in for the night. The visitor was to be
December 11, 2012
By Jennifer Johnson In February we wrote about the history, goals, and current projects of eight missions agencies supported by Christian churches and churches of Christ. (Visit Christian Standard”s website to read the articles*.) As the year comes to a close, we invited each organization to share its “Christmas wish list.” Here are their most pressing needs and how you can help during this season of giving. Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMFI) Christian Missionary Fellowship works with a variety of missionaries and leads a number of programs around the world, from developing international campus ministries to improving the lives
January 28, 2011
Whether you are going across the street or around the world to serve on a short-term mission trip, the ideas and resources provided through a series of six free webinars presented by CMF International will equip you and your church as you plan, lead, and evaluate your short-term mission trips. Starting February 17, the topic will be: “Where to Go and How Best to Get There? (Tips on trip selection, scope, and travel logistics).” Future webinars will include resources on spiritual preparation, cultural intelligence, team development, development versus relief, and trip debriefing. You can register at http://cmfi.org/partner/missionsresources/tripresources/webinars.
July 6, 2008
By Staff Nearly 2.5 million people live in poverty in the slums and urban areas of Nairobi, Kenya. They lack the basic necessities of life, including adequate housing, clean water, and sanitation services. Educational opportunities are negligible. Diseases run rampant throughout the communities. Complicating the problem, there are very few jobs to provide the income needed for families to improve their lives. In addition to these difficulties, the effects of AIDS are devastating the area. There are countless orphans and vulnerable children throughout the slums, where the infection rate approaches 40 percent. For every person who dies of AIDS, another
February 17, 2008
By LeRoy Lawson A good book can have quite unintended consequences. Thomas Friedman”s The World Is Flat (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005) is not a book on missions. It is, flatly stated, a stimulating, prejudice-shattering study of global economics. America”s reign as the sole superpower, defining “business as usual” as whatever advances American interests at whatever cost to other nations, is over. The revolution now underway is as mind-boggling as the Copernican discovery that the world is not flat. Only this time, we round-earthers must accept the fact that economically, it is. It”s no longer “business as usual” time for
December 3, 2006
Florence Muindi shares how local churches in Africa are offering practical care and lasting hope amid HIV/AIDS. Through fellowship, worship, and community support, stigma can fade and lives can be renewed.
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