The People of Mostly Up
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Our mission: To inform, An international inspire and unite newspaper Vol. 70, No. 11 | November 2013 for Churches of Christ University enrollments The people of mostly up BY BOBBY ROSS JR. | THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE At least two universities associated with Churches of Christ report all-time high enrollments this fall. Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., has 4,593 students, and Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City has 2,424 — both records. Elsewhere, Harding University in Searcy, Ark., DAN McGREGOR In Abilene, Texas, many refugees who fled wars and persecution in their homelands find shelter in the apartments of Nonesuch Road. has a record number of undergradu- ates at 4,429, Refugees find new struggles, new faith, in a Texas town although the total headcount BY ERIK TRYGGESTAD | THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE among thousands of their countrymen. fell to 6,295. “I killed a lot of cobras in Nepal,” Enrollment ABILENE, Texas Purna Lamgadey says. Poisonous at Abilene huddled mass crowds Purna snakes claimed hundreds of lives in Christian Lamgadey’s apartment on the camp. One of his relatives was University in Nonesuch Road. trampled by an elephant. Texas jumped Aunts, uncles and cousins Five years ago, the family joined to 4,461, — some related by blood the ranks of the “homeless, tempest- Elliot JONES including and others given the titles ceremoni- tost,” those “yearning to breathe At Rochester College in 1,030 ally — chat and laugh in their native free,” as the poem inscribed on the Michigan, students meet freshmen tongue as they sit on the cramped Statue of Liberty reads. The nonprofit for twice-weekly chapel. — ACU’s living-room floor. The sofa is reserved International Rescue Committee fourth-largest for the honorary mothers, Pat Cranfill resettled them in the humble apart- entering class. Lubbock Christian and Pricilla Browder, members of the ment on Nonesuch Road. University in Texas has 2,002 students, Southern Hills Church of Christ. ERIK TRYGGESTAD It’s an oddly appropriate address for topping 2,000 for the fourth straight year. In the 100-degree, West Texas heat, Lachi and Purna Lamgadey with children “people without a country,” as Cranfill Freed-Hardeman in Henderson, Tenn., box fans and a steady stream of chil- Dipendra, 11, and Dibya, 6, in Abilene. calls them. Here, they struggle to find has 1,811 students, Rochester College in dren running in and out of the room jobs, pay rent and taxes and prepare Michigan has 1,115 students, and York provide a stale breeze. homeland in Bhutan, a remote kingdom for the U.S. citizenship test. College in Nebraska has 459 — all down Lamgadey’s wife, Lachi, sets a tray in the Himalayas. They were Hindus, But here they have hope. slightly from last year’s totals. of cookies and tiny cans of Coca- descended from the people of Nepal. Their children have a future. Not all Christian universities reported Cola before the guests. She joins her The Bhutanese, mostly Buddhist, And, thanks to people such as their figures by press time. For an expanded husband on the floor — despite the forced them to work for the govern- honored guests, they have Christ. story, see www.christianchronicle.org. guests’ insistence that she sit with ment without pay, denied them access “I found the real things in the Bible. I them. She’s six months pregnant with to hospitals and threatened to take their found the truth,” says Purna Lamgadey, MORE COVERAGE their fourth child — who will be their family’s ranch, Purna Lamgadey says. one of more than 40 Bhutanese baptized CHAPEL: SHOWING FAITH IN HIGHER LEARNING .....................15 first born in the U.S. They fled at night, finding refuge at a by members of the Southern Hills DIALOGUE: HARDING PRESIDENT BRUCE McLARTY ................19 Decades ago and half a world away, camp in eastern Nepal. There, they spent church. The congregation offers classes EDITORIAL: CHRISTIAN VS. POST-CHRISTIAN EDUCATION .......26 the family was expelled from their 18 long years, packed into thatched huts See NONESUCH, Page 10 2 THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE NOVEMBER 2013 In Memoriam Mladen Jovanovic 1945 - 2013 Eastern European Mission joins with Bammel church of Christ for a Celebration of Life honoring Mladen Jovanovic. All are welcome. Mid-January 2014 - Houston Texas Visit bammel.org for information. NOVEMBER 2013 THE CHRISTIAN CHronICLE 3 Mother-in-law’s Croatian church leader Mladen Jovanovic dies at 68 BY ERIK TRYGGESTAD | THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE in 1971. Jovanovic and his wife, Dragica, Lynn McMillon, the Chronicle’s editor, faith-filled life met with a small group of Christians and president and CEO. “European missions Mladen Jovanovic, the first Church of quietly shared their faith. will long bear the imprint of his influence.” leaves a legacy Christ minister in communist Yugoslavia, Twenty years later, as the Soviet Union More than 400 people from around a church planter and mentor for congrega- collapsed, Yugoslavia “went through the the globe attended his funeral, said Bart HARRAH, Okla. tions across Central Europe, died Sept. 6 most painful process of Rybinski, a native of Poland who works obby and Patricia Dillard at his home in Zagreb, Croatia, after suf- disintegration,” Jovanovic for Eastern European Mission in Vienna, raised their daughter, fering a heart attack. He was 68. said. Austria. BTamie, on a strong foun- Jovanovic “was probably the best-known Four years of civil war “Mladen was a friend, mentor and dation of Christian faith. preacher in this part of the world,” said claimed 210,000 lives. spiritual father to us and so many across I am blessed beyond Drasko Djenovic, a member of a Church With assistance from Europe,” Rybinski said. “I pray that God will measure that they did. of Christ in Belgrade, Serbia, also part of Churches of Christ in the raise other men and women to have the far- My future wife — the the former Yugoslavia. U.S., Croatian Christians reaching impact Mladen has had.” mother of Once a professor at the University of ministered to more than Jovanovic Inside Story our three Zagreb, Jovanovic studied the Bible with 3,000 refugee families. MEMORIAL DONATIONS to help the Kuslanova Church of children — two of his exchange students from the Jovanovic helped plant congregations Christ in Zagreb expand its facilities may be sent to the Bammel grew up in U.S., Bud Pickle and David Gatewood. across Croatia and Central Europe. He Church of Christ, 2700 FM 1960 Rd. W, Houston TX 77068-3202. the Harrah “They were religious in a different served as president of the Council of Church of way than all the others I knew before,” Churches in Croatia. MORE COVERAGE Christ on the Jovanovic told The Christian Chronicle in a “Mladen is one of the most remarkable VIEWS: ‘WE CANNOT FORGET EUROPE’...........................................27 eastern out- 2003 interview. Pickle baptized Jovanovic Christian men I have ever known,” said INSIGHT: McBRIDE SHARES MEMORIES OF JOVANOVICS ................30 skirts of the Oklahoma City metro Bobby Ross Jr. area. “Mama Saddle up for Sunday school loved us kids,” said Tamie, the middle child between Tod and Lance. “She told us A CALIFORNIA CONGREGATION kicks and showed us and worked hard for us. But the best off fall with a Western theme.º way she loved us was by loving Jesus. She took us to BY LARENDA ROBERTS | FOR THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE church, this wonderful little church right here. AGOURA HILLS, Calif. “She taught Sunday owdy, partner. school. She and Daddy Welcome to Cowboy Church. drove a JOY bus. They As members of the Conejo picked us up late at night Valley Church of Christ of after youth events. They sent Thousand Oaks, Calif., gather for me to a Christian university Hworship on a recent Sunday, a dusty trail when I wanted to go. Our leads to a Main Street lined with typical parents made sure our foun- Western storefronts. dation of faith and family was A sheriff’s office, a blacksmith/livery, ingrained in us, and I am so a saloon, barns and a Wells Fargo office very thankful for that.” provide an unconventional backdrop as the So am I. congregation assembles amid the wide- I met Tamie in the fall of open spaces and rolling grasslands of the 1988 — 25 years ago — in a sage-brushed Santa Monica mountains. journalism class at Oklahoma One Sunday each September, the Christian University. She was Southern California church meets at a gorgeous freshman. I was Paramount Ranch, an old movie set. a geeky junior. It did not take In an outdoor pavilion, members sing me long to fall in love. It took praises, commune with God and grill her a bit longer — to remem- burgers — all to kick off the congrega- ber my name. But soon, we tion’s fall program. RON HALL started dating, and Tamie “Following the summer season, which As the congregation and praise team lift voices in worship, the Lord’s Supper is prepared in the See GRAMMY, Page 4 See COWBOY CHURCH, Page 12 back of the open pavilion at Paramount Ranch, an old Western movie set in Agoura Hills, Calif. 4 THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE INSIDE STORY NOVEMBER 2013 www.christianchronicle.org Go online to find news updates, an expanded calendar, classifieds and much more. Use the barcode at right to visit our mobile site. • See the web sitcom “Ladies Small Group,” produced by the Normandie Church of Christ in Los Angeles. • Breaking news: Don’t wait to read all the latest news or check out exclusive online features. improve your serve GRAMMY: A woman of grace, perseverance, vision FROM PAGE 3 morning to have coffee with Daddy and www.harding.edu/mmin brought me home to meet her family.