A reunion event for Cincinnati Christian University alumni will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. July 16 at the Christian Church Leadership Center in Florence, Ky. Also this week, briefs about a new book about the Restoration Movement, a Bob Russell blog piece, highly-rated dorms, and more.
May 1, 2022
The Life-Changing Ministry of the Chaplaincy Endorsement Commission of Christian Churches and Churches of Christ
May 1, 2022
By Tom Ellsworth In 1856, postal authorities accepted a new name for a little community in southern Indiana: Santa Claus. Then, in the 1920s, the Postal Service decided there would never be another Santa Claus Post Office in the United States. Consequently, every December, more than 400,000 pieces of mail are routed through the town because of its Christmas-themed postmark. I suspect the community’s founders never anticipated the full impact of the unique name. On a little knoll just a mile or so south of Santa Claus stands quaint, white-framed Mt. Zion Christian Church, the oldest church building in Spencer
March 3, 2022
"Have we outgrown the plea?" Will Sweeney is still right. The answer is, “No.” For to outgrow the plea, we would have to outgrow the Bible. . . .
December 7, 2021
Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded Milligan University a $999,230 grant to review and redesign the academic programs offered through Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan.
September 28, 2021
Three church anniversaries: First Christian Church (Monticello, Ky.) will feature an appearance by founder "Raccoon" John Smith; Oak Grove Christian Church (Lake Lynn, Pa.); and First Christian Church (Lamar, Mo.)
September 1, 2021
“I don’t want things to go back like they were. I want things to be better.” Oklahoma minister Randy Roper’s words are echoed by people in Churches of Christ across the nation as they emerge from the global COVID-19 pandemic. Roper preaches for the Edmond Church of Christ in the suburbs of Oklahoma City. The congregation, which was averaging about 1,250 for weekly worship prior to the pandemic, is one of about 12,000 autonomous congregations in the U.S. that seek to share Jesus through the practice of simple, New Testament Christianity without manmade creeds. Churches of Christ share roots with
Lloyd Pelfrey and Gareth Reese, both of whom have taught more than 60 years at Central Christian College of the Bible in Moberly, Mo., were honored with honorary doctorate degrees on Friday evening.
April 14, 2021
Mountain Mission School of Grundy, Va., celebrates its centennial anniversary this month. When the school was started, 17 denominations had mission schools in the Appalachia area; today, Mountain Mission School is the only one still operating.
April 7, 2021
Today, on this 155th anniversary of Christian Standard, we share an article from five years ago by Richard Cherok that describes how this journal has both informed and influenced the Stone-Campbell Movement from the time of its first issue in 1866.
December 16, 2020
Compiled by Jim Nieman The 26th installment of New Hope Christian Church’s annual outdoor “Journey to Bethlehem” underwent a major change this year due to COVID-19. The interactive Nativity, which traditionally starts in the Washington, Ind., church’s building and then leads participants out to a wooded area for a series of scenes telling the story of Jesus’ birth, was filmed this year for presentation via Facebook and YouTube. “We’ve always done it live but we knew that would not be an option this year,” senior pastor Joe Coquillard told the Tribune-Star. The goal of the video “is not just to
November 3, 2020
The 20th annual Stone-Campbell Journal Conference is slated for Lincoln (Ill.) Christian University next April 16-17. If necessary, due to COVID-19, the conference will function virtually. The plenary sessions (and perhaps more) will be available virtually regardless. The theme “Violence of God in the Old Testament” will be developed by featured speakers Eric Seibert, professor of Old Testament at Messiah University, Mechanicsburg, Pa.; Michelle Knight, assistant professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill.; and Mark Hamilton, Onstead Professor of Biblical Studies at Abilene (Texas) Christian University. Seibert will present “Solving the Problem of
July 15, 2020
Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon IDES will host a free webinar at noon July 22 for church leaders dealing with the reopening of their churches in the middle of this pandemic. The webinar will feature executive director Rick Jett along with IDES’s counseling experts, Drs. Paul Boatman, Tom Ewald, and Dawn Zywiec. The participants will share tools to help church leaders deal with the complexities related to reopening. Click here to learn more and to register for the one-hour event. _ _ _ Alums of Boise Bible College continue to share stories of their life experiences before, during,
May 17, 2020
By Melissa Wuske An identity crisis is occurring among many denominational churches today. As they wrestle to define themselves amid the competing voices of denominations and modern culture, the Restoration Movement offers leaders and their churches the freedom, in Christ, to craft an identity that fits who they are as a local body while placing Christ firmly at the center. Shifting Identity Is Nothing New Churches leaving their denominations to become independent Christian churches is not a new phenomenon. “Most of the churches that became [part of] the Stone-Campbell Movement were something else first,” said Tim Cole, executive director of
May 1, 2020
By Megan Rawlings I have always wanted a bonsai tree. The whole concept absolutely fascinates me. Unfortunately, I was born with a black thumb. When I enter a greenhouse, the plants lean away from me, scared for their lives. It’s so bad, a friend once asked me to come to their house to touch their grass so it would stop growing. OK, so I am not a farmer, but it did not stop me from researching bonsai trees. When You’re Planted in a Small Container Bonsai is an umbrella term for small trees—not dwarf trees—that are clipped and tied in
April 30, 2020
In 1940, Christian Standard published a lengthy series of articles called “Stars” by Frederick D. Kershner, then serving as dean of the School of Religion at Butler University in Indianapolis. In introducing the series on March 9 of that year, Kershner wrote, “We shall strive to interpret the ongoing of a great movement in the life of the church through the contribution of six of its most significant advocates. . . . We shall be occupied only secondarily with the mere details of biography. . . .” Those six Restoration Movement “advocates” included: • Thomas Campbell . . . “who
February 26, 2020
By Chris Moon Stanley Helton believes Alberta Bible College is in the middle of a turnaround. The president of the Christian college in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has overseen doubling of the school’s enrollment during the past five years. Its adult learning population is starting to take off. And financially, the college finished 2019 in the black—the first time since 2014. “We’ve been steadily chipping away and putting things back in place,” Helton said. The turnaround has been five years in the making. The college hit hard times after several years of inconsistent leadership following the 26-year tenure of Ron Fraser
February 26, 2020
Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon Austin Gohn will speak on “Finding My Roots in the Stone-Campbell Movement as a 20-Something Pastor” and “Three Movements that Will Shape the Stone-Campbell Movement in the Next Decade” at Milligan College’s annual Webb Lecture Series at 11 a.m. March 3 and 5, respectively. Coming up in June, Gohn will be writing about the near-term future of the Restoration Movement for Christian Standard. Gohn serves as lead pastor at Bellevue Christian Church in Pittsburgh. He also serves as a ministry coach for Milligan’s Ministry Leadership Program. Milligan’s Webb Lecture Series is named for
January 1, 2020
A man pulled a shotgun from his clothing during Communion at a noninstrumental church of Christ in Texas and shot two men dead before a member of the church security team drew a handgun and killed the shooter. The shooting occurred at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, near Fort Worth. Police say the man entered the church shortly before 11 a.m. and sat down. One church member told media she saw the man prior to the shooting and thought “something’s not right.” She said she was planning to move her family to another part of the
December 12, 2019
Most devotees of American literature know of Mark Twain’s connections to Hannibal, Mo., but few people in the Stone-Campbell Movement likely are aware of Twain’s connections—through his life in Hannibal—to the movement’s namesake pioneers, Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell. Donald Tingle shared some research on this topic 40 years ago. _ _ _ Mark Twain was a part of early restoration history Tom Sawyer, Barton Stone’s Grandson By Donald S. TingleJuly 29, 1979; pp. 15, 16 Some of you may stop at Mark Twain’s boyhood home in Hannibal, Mo., on your way to or from the North American Christian
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