February 25, 2025
Victory Bible Church Is on the Front Lines of Los Angeles Fire Relief
When wildfires tore through Los Angeles leaving a path of destruction, Victory Bible Church became a hub of assistance for those in need in the community.
Articles for tag: Melissa Wuske
KCU President Carries Sidearm in His Side Job as Las Vegas Security Guard
When he isn't fulfilling his many duties as president of Kentucky Christian University in Grayson, Ky., Terry Allcorn twice each year can be found serving as a security guard at the world's largest diamond and gun shows in Las Vegas, Nevada. . . .
September 22, 2022
Two Congregations Join Voices in Spokane
When Henry Holub moved to Spokane, Wash., in early 2020 to minister with Northside Church of Christ, a noninstrumental church, one of his first orders of business was to meet with Troy Burns, pastor of Sunrise Church of Christ, an independent Christian church. That meeting has led to a growing partnership between their churches that transcends their differences.
November 9, 2021
Virginia Church Transforms Horse Farm into First Permanent Home
LifePointe Christian Church in Toano, Va., which started in 2006, is finally moving into its first permanent home—a horse farm on 10 acres it purchased in 2018.
July 7, 2021
Bible Bowl Making Changes to Game
National Bible Bowl director Josiah Gorman said the ministry knew there was a problem when 40 percent of their players left at the end of each season and did not return. The ministry's leaders decided it was time for some changes . . .
SPOTLIGHT: South Union Christian Church, Bloomington, Indiana
Prayer as a Way of Life . . . and Ministry By Melissa Wuske From the outside, it seems South Union Christian Church caught a lucky break—but minister Jim Cain and his church know different. The church was outgrowing its building, unsure what to do next, when it received a donation of 83 acres right off the highway in December 2018. Location has always been a challenge for the church, which is still waiting to move to its new site. “We are currently four miles off the highway, out in the country next to a stone quarry,” said Cain, who
December 2, 2019
Growing Volunteers to Grow the Kingdom
How These Two Churches Recruit and Equip Servants to Live Out God’s Purposes By Melissa Wuske Crafting an effective volunteer program takes a mix of big-picture vision and nuts-and-bolts programs. Julie Liem, director of volunteers at Eastside Christian Church in Southern California, and Abby Ecker, next steps pastor at The Journey in Newark, Delaware, shared how their churches recruit and equip volunteers—and how they’ve seen the kingdom advance as a result. God’s Design For many churches, it starts with the critical shift from viewing volunteers as “a necessary inconvenience,” Liem said, to seeing them as “the lifeblood of the church.”
November 2, 2019
Children’s Ministry Best Practices (Small Church): Versailles (Ind.) Church of Christ
‘A Love for Watching Young People Grow in Christ’ By Melissa Wuske JR and Debra Stephen have been volunteer leaders in the children’s ministry at Versailles (Indiana) Church of Christ since the mid-1980s. It’s a small congregation with “more older people than younger” right now, JR said. About 20 children regularly attend, and he described the church as “a close-knit family.” As a children’s leader, that closeness is an asset: “Everybody pretty much knows everybody, and you get to know the parents well.” The couple have been through many seasons of ministry with the church: Families have moved into town
August 22, 2019
SPOTLIGHT: Creekside Community Church, Hot Springs, Ark.
By Melissa Wuske “The community knows who we are,” said Mark Maybrey, lead minister of Creekside Community Church, Hot Springs, Arkansas. “From day one, all of us in our core group of 18 people have had a missional heart for the community.” Starting with those 18 people in 2015, the church now averages about 90 each Sunday. The key in this busy resort town is meeting people where they are. When Maybrey moved to Hot Springs, people told him, “There’s always something to do. Your kids are going to love it.” But nothing prepared him for the shock that first
July 22, 2019
Changing Church Culture to Achieve God’s Mission (Woodlawn Park Church of Christ, Baltimore)
By Melissa Wuske Woodlawn Park Church of Christ is an a cappella congregation located a few miles from the center of Baltimore. Many people would consider the church to be “real urban, but to us, we are urban-suburban,” said minister Elmer V. Sembly III. The community doesn’t deal with intense poverty and other typical inner-city issues. So, “it blew me away,” Sembly said, when he learned the top two Google search topics in his area were depression and anxiety. It made him pause to seriously consider the events and series the church was promoting. But God has been preparing the
July 22, 2019
‘You Can’t Do Better Than That’ (Inner City Church of Christ, Baltimore)
By Melissa Wuske “We were in heaven. You couldn’t tell us we weren’t in heaven.” That’s how Eric Lorick recalls the early days of Inner City Church of Christ in Baltimore, which started in January 2014. On Sundays the church would set up for worship—and then tear down—in a rented space in a community center. “[Such] work brings us together as a church family,” he said. From those earliest days, his vision was “to make a difference, to bring hope to the hopeless. . . . You can’t do better than that in a city like Baltimore.” That vision is
Daryl Reed: Building Bridges for the Next Generation
By Melissa Wuske “I’m the grandson of a preacher,” says Daryl Reed, “so I always had it in my mind that it’d be cool one day to be a preacher.” When it came time for college, however, “I really didn’t want to go to any preaching school or seminary, because . . . I thought I was still too cool for that,” he laughs. This isn’t a story about youthful overconfidence, though; Reed was following the example of earlier generations of his family, and now he’s helping subsequent generations of young people live it. “My grandfather was a reluctant preacher,”
March 25, 2019
SPOTLIGHT: Compass Christian Church, Chandler, Arizona
Elders, Staff, Discipleship Program, Prayer Culminate in Baptisms By Melissa Wuske Compass Christian Church âhas had a heart for evangelism since day one,â said senior pastor Brian Jobe. But in recent years, the churchâ™s growth has been astoundingâeven in an area crowded with megachurches and in the midst of a culture of church hopping. Jobe said the Greater Phoenix churchâ™s eldership has been crucial to âputting the church in a place to receive Godâ™s blessingâ during his three years thereâincluding a year overlapping with pastor Roger Storms, who had served the church for 29 years and helped instill âmission-mindedness, flexibility,
February 27, 2019
A Different Kind of Death, Burial, & Resurrection Story
Two New Chicagoland Churches Planted Where All Seemed Lost By Melissa Wuske Biblical stories are full of surprisesâitâ™s easy to forget that when you become so familiar with them. Seas part, cowards lead, the sick are healed, people with shady pasts are listed in the genealogy of the Son of God. Resurrection is the biggest surprise of them all. Dead things are supposed to stay dead. Sure, a sick person may recover, but whatâ™s dead is dead. God still uses the element of surprise to remind us who he is and what heâ™s capable of, to bring his kingdom on
September 19, 2011
Lesson for Sept. 25, 2011: Acting with Discernment (Proverbs 25:1-28)
This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for September 25) is written by Melissa Wuske, a freelance writer and editor living in Cincinnati, Ohio. ____________ Acting with Discernment (Proverbs 25:1-28) By Melissa Wuske Most often we best know discernment when we don”t see it. I could name scads of political, business, and church leaders who”ve led people astray and betrayed trust. The news is full of stories of screw-ups from Washington, D.C., to the living room down the street. (I”d name names, but by the time this is published, there will be more.) It undoubtedly stings worst when
May 16, 2011
Lesson for May 22, 2011: New Order of Things (Revelation 21:1-8, 22-27)
This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for May 22) is written by Melissa Wuske, an editor for F+W Media in Cincinnati, Ohio. ____________ New Order of Things (Revelation 21:1-8, 22-27) By Melissa Wuske My grandpa recently died after a far-too-long battle with Alzheimer”s disease. After decades as a faithful husband, father, and leader in the church, he spent the last decade or so of his life struggling to think or speak or remember. He spent the last few years unable to leave his bed on his own, unable to perform the basic daily functions that adults and
