Articles for tag: Joplin Missouri

February 22, 2021

Mark Scott

Feb 28 | Friendship with God

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. He also serves as minister with Park Plaza Christian Church in Joplin. This lesson treatment is published in the February 2021 issue of Christian Standard + The Lookout. ________ Lesson Aim: Be single-minded in your devotion to the Lord. ________ By Mark Scott Certain words are warm. Words like infant, soft, secure, and love. Another such word is friend. While it sometimes is used in a “distant” and unflattering sense (Matthew 20:13; 26:50), most of the

February 8, 2021

Christian Standard

Haitian Christian Mission Co-founder Etienne Prophete Dies

Etienne Prophete, 81, who co-founded Haitian Christian Mission in 1974 with his wife, Betty, died Friday, Feb. 5. Over the years, the mission has started nearly 60 churches totaling more than 10,000 members. Many of the churches also have schools that serve a total of more than 13,000 children daily. Prophete was a 1974 graduate of Ozark Christian College, which awarded him with the Seth Wilson Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2006. “Since he came to Ozark and returned to his native land, no missionary leader has cast a longer shadow of Christ-honoring influence in Haiti,” said former OCC president Ken

November 16, 2020

Christian Standard

Three Colleges Adjust Schedules Due to COVID-19

At least three Christian colleges announced changes to their fall semester plans in recent days due to the coronavirus pandemic. The most significant change occurred at Lincoln (Ill.) Christian University, where students were sent home about 10 days early, a main reason being the dwindling number of students receiving in-person instruction. “It is becoming increasingly difficult for our faculty to manage courses that have numerous students in quarantine,” LCU president Silas McCormick wrote on Nov. 9. “While we would all prefer to continue holding these classes in-person, the reality is that over the next week-and-a-half, a number of classes would

September 16, 2020

Christian Standard

Restoring the Neighborhood—and Lives—from the Sidewalk Up (Plus News Briefs)

Volunteers in the North Heights neighborhood of Joplin, Mo., spent the weekend “digging up brick sidewalks and working to restore them,” according to a story in the Joplin Globe. The bulk of the work occurred in the area around the Neighborhood Life House, a church-supported nonprofit that provides programs for children and adults. Volunteers with NLH and another neighborhood group provided the manpower. The sidewalks were identified as a key neighborhood concern in a survey earlier this year. “We’re restoring lives and we’re restoring the neighborhood and trying to put some life back in it,” NLH board member Neil Robinson

September 15, 2020

Christian Standard

Ozark Students Under Weeklong Self-Quarantine Due to COVID-19

Ozark Christian College has instituted a one-week, campuswide self-quarantine of students because of a high number of COVID-19 cases. The self-quarantine runs through this Saturday. Additionally, all fall sports have been suspended for the semester. Last Wednesday, the Joplin, Mo., school reported that 10 percent of its residential student population was in quarantine or isolation. As of this 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, Ozark had 12 total active cases—11 students and 1 employee—of people who are either symptomatic or had tested positive for COVID-19 (that was down from 21 active cases—18 students and 3 employees—on Monday morning.) The students are in isolation

July 3, 2019

Christian Standard

Ozark Student Killed, 4 Other CIY Workers Injured in Accident

(This story was updated July 3 with funeral arrangements for Jace Smothers.) An Ozark Christian College student working with Christ In Youth this summer was killed Friday when a CIY van he was riding in was rear-ended as part of a multiple vehicle accident on Interstate 24 east of Paducah, Ky. The van carried four other CIY MOVE summer event staff members; all were injured. Jace Smothers, 19, who had just completed his first year as a youth ministry major at Ozark, died at the scene. His funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. today (Wednesday) at Norton (Kan.) Christian

August 9, 2018

Christian Standard

Ozark Christian College Receives $1 Million Gift

Ozark Christian College has received a $1 million gift from Rick Bronson, a longtime friend of the college, that will be used to begin renovation of its oldest residence hall. Bronson, his wife, Kat, and his son, Chad—a 2011 graduate of OCC—believe deeply in Ozark’s mission, and they trust that God will use their gift to inspire others to give. “This is just our five loaves and two fishes,” Bronson said. “Like that little boy with his lunch, we’re putting it in God’s hands to multiply it.” The Bronsons’ gift—the largest from a living donor in the Joplin, Mo., college’s

June 4, 2018

Mark Scott

Lesson for June 10, 2018: Parables of God’s Just Kingdom (Matthew 13:24-33)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in issue no. 5 (weeks 21–24; May 27—June 17, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Parables are true-to-life comparisons that break forth into fictional analogies that seem upside down to us and often deceive us into truth by opening up the government of God. This is a homemade definition of parables, with the exception of the phrase “deceiving into truth,” which can be attributed to

August 1, 2017

Jim Nieman

The Editors: An Inside Scoop

Christian Standard managing editor Jim Nieman reflects on the four editors he has known and worked alongside.   By Jim Nieman My transition from newspaper journalist to Christian Standard managing editor came about unexpectedly almost 20 years ago. Three editors of the magazine played roles in making it happen . . . and I am glad they did. Because of my unique perch and perspective, new editor Mike Mack asked me to share my insights into these gentlemen.   Edwin V. Hayden I”ve been managing editor for the last three editors of the magazine, but a man I never worked

April 10, 2017

Christian Standard

Out of Control

By Jon Kehrer We could have learned to trust almost anywhere. But our adventure happened to be in the Middle East. I remember climbing up onto our roof one night in January, just a few weeks after our family had moved to the Middle East. Cars, with horns blaring, filled the streets below. Windows were adorned with waving flags. People all around were shouting in victory””all because a major political leader in the Arab world had just stepped down. We didn”t know it at the time, but our move had coincided with the beginning of a popular uprising in Tunisia,

December 5, 2016

Christian Standard

To Women, By Women: RAPHA HO– USE

By Jenny Knowles Stephanie Freed was very busy doing busy things, she says, when her father, Joe Garman, issued a challenge. Cambodian Christians that Garman knew well had told him about the epidemic of child trafficking in their country””their own communities. When Garman mentioned the problem to his daughter, Freed”s response was denial: If this was an epidemic, why wasn”t anyone talking about it? That was in 2002. Freed accepted the challenge to research the truth about trafficking and was soon overwhelmed. One UNICEF statistic indicated 1.2 million children disappear into trafficking every year. What difference could one person make

December 3, 2016

Christian Standard

To Women, By Women: LIFECHOICES

By Jenny Knowles The LifeChoices Health Network in Joplin, Missouri, is in pursuit of opportunities to help people, and they”re taking hope on the road. Three area clinics offer the services most of us associate with pregnancy centers””counseling, ultrasounds, and new parent assistance. LifeChoices literature breaks the services down into three groups: prevention, intervention, and extension. Prevention includes the sexual risk avoidance program the network takes into 15 local school districts. Intervention is pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, sexually transmitted infection screening, and treatment. Extension is prenatal, parenting and post-abortion recovery classes, and new dad training. LifeChoices has also added a mobile

November 20, 2016

Christian Standard

Studying the City: Ozark Christian College

By Jennifer Johnson Several of the colleges and universities affiliated with our movement understand the need to reach their own cities while preparing students for an urban future. Here”s what one of them is doing. ________ OZARK CHRISTIAN COLLEGE Joplin, Missouri At first glance, Ozark seems an unlikely place to study urban ministry. “Most of our students come from small-to-medium-size towns,” says Mike Ackerman, professor of church planting and New Testament. “Some of them have never even been to a large city. But we need to care about cities because the world is moving to cities.” Previous study opportunities included

July 15, 2016

Christian Standard

From Vile to Victory

By Matt Proctor “I remember being in the bars at 3 years old with my mother singing in the bands,” says Juliet Rose. Juliet was born into addiction. Her mother drank heavily, and her dad was a drug addict. Her mother married another man when Juliet was 4, and “that”s when monsters became real.” Her new stepdad molested her for the next five years. She always felt alone. “I had no friends, so I quit school in the ninth grade. I had no education, no life skills.” At 16, she fled to Las Vegas, where she survived as a prostitute.

May 27, 2016

Christian Standard

Fields

By Tom Lawson Not far from where I live, vast acres of grain fields extend as far as the eye can see. It is intriguing to see the land transition from muddy brown to springtime green to harvest gold. Huge combine harvesters make their slow passage through the fields in August and September, pouring tons of harvested grain into the beds of waiting trucks, as the rich fields are reduced again to brown stubble and mud. Few of us give much thought to where our food is produced, or by whose hands and efforts it comes to our table. To

May 13, 2016

Christian Standard

Crowded Tables

By Tom Lawson One thing Americans traveling in the United Kingdom will notice almost immediately involves what people call “personal space.” Houses are smaller. Automobiles are smaller. City streets are smaller. People simply live closer together. Nowhere is this more evident, or more awkward, than when eating lunch in a sidewalk cafe or British pub. Do not expect to eat alone. Even if you are by yourself, you will not be eating alone. The American custom of devoting an entire table to a group, or even a single person, is simply ignored. If there are empty places, don”t be surprised

February 26, 2015

Christian Standard

Paradise Lost, Maybe

By Jay Engelbrecht Is there a link between the way we care for the earth and our closeness to the creator? Put another way, can we serve Christ and sully his creation? The link between mankind”s spiritual health and the vitality of the earth courses through Scripture. John Milton, though blind, saw the connection. In his classic Paradise Lost, Eve, seduced by the idea of becoming a god, disobeys her creator, and nature “gave signs of woe.” A short time later, Adam opts to defy his creator and follow Eve. The rebel couple “fancy that they feel Divinity within them

July 25, 2014

Christian Standard

Persecution Preparation

By Ziden Nutt (From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I”ve Ever Received.”) The date: October 24, 1952. The place: East Gary, Indiana. I was sitting in the front row, in the third chair from the right side. A very frail gentleman stood on the platform speaking. He had just spent 15 months in a Communist China prison, from March 22, 1951, to June 20, 1952. Among the torture methods used was a giant nutcracker, large enough to apply pressure to a human head. He said the only thing to help him keep his sanity was quoting Scripture over

April 24, 2014

Christian Standard

Ministry When the Tornado Rumbles

By Paul Boatman Shortly after 11 a.m. on Sunday, November 17, 2013, an EF-4 tornado, with winds nearing 200 mph, cut a devastating quarter-mile wide swath through Washington, Illinois. Jeff Browning, lead pastor, and Jon Pittman, worship/youth minister, were leading services at Washington Christian Church as the storm roared through the city, narrowly missing the church building. This interview took place two weeks later.   Tell about your experience. Jeff Browning: When we heard tornado sirens after Sunday school, we got people into tornado shelter areas, but when an ominous dark cloud blew past and the sky appeared to be

January 23, 2014

Christian Standard

A Conversation with Randy Gariss

Interview by Jennifer Johnson Last time we talked, you”d just finished a sabbatical. How has it changed you and the church? We decided on my six-months sabbatical partly to give me prep time for the next five to eight years, because all leaders need some extended time to study and refill the well. But the other reason is no congregation accidentally gets younger. There are four of us on staff who had been here 25 years or longer, and that wasn”t setting us up for the future. Clearly, we”re not a “throw-out-the-old” type of church. But you only get younger

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