Our mission: To inform, An international inspire and unite newspaper Vol. 68, No. 7 | July 2011 for Churches of Christ Wanted: Leaders for Latin America Future looks DESPITE RAPID GROWTH, few brighter for Churches of Christ have appointed elders, deacons. Mich. college BY ERIK TRYGGESTAD | THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE BY BOBBY ROSS JR. | THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Juan ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. — Each Jose Flores could’ve picked semester, Rochester College a more upbeat topic for a President Rubel Shelly teaches a devotional. required freshman course called Addressing nearly 200 “Introduction to the church members at the Baxter Christian Faith.” Institute, the minister from At a college Ibarra, Ecuador, might have where less than a focused on the providence of quarter of tradi- God in Latin America, where tional undergradu- Churches of Christ have flour- ate students iden- ished in the past half-century. tify with Churches Instead, of Christ, the class Shelly Flores flipped exposes some 18- the pages of his and 19-year-olds to the Scriptures Bible to Judges ERIK TRYGGESTAD for the first time. 19 — the story In Honduras, participants in the Baxter seminar study examples of fasting in the Old and New testaments. Shelly chuckles as he recalls of Gibeah, an one student who came up after the Israelite city Again and again, speakers lize their homelands. Now final exam and asked the profes- that adopted stressed the need for spiritual- Churches of Christ exist in sor to sign his $9.95 copy of the the ways of the ity and transformed lives dur- every Latin American country New Revised Standard Version. Flores world and com- ing the “seminario,” an annual — from Mexico to Argentina. The paperback Bible — with page mitted sexual atrocities. gathering of graduates, stu- But only a handful has the The changing face numbers that Shelly can reference Flores urged his brethren to dents and supporters of Baxter, kind of leadership described of the church along with the book, chapter and learn from the story and live a ministry training school in in the New Testament. MORE COVERAGE verse — serves as the textbook. out the faith they proclaim. this Central American capital. In Honduras, fewer than PROFILE: BAXTER INSTITUTE ..........................17 “You do understand that I didn’t “We have excellent theology, For 48 years, the institute five of the country’s 200-plus PANAMA: FAITH IN AN INDIAN VILLAGE ..........19 write this book?” Shelly said he but we don’t show the true has equipped Christians, congregations have elders, MAP: CHURCHES IN LATIN AMERICA ...............20 asked the young man. church to the world,” he said. including Flores, to evange- See LATIN AMERICA, Page 14 DIALOGUE: PAKISTAN’S HADAYAT DIN .............22 See ROCHESTER, Page 12 BOX 11000 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73136-1100 Class of INSIDE 2011 CALENDAR .....................32 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED NON-PROFIT ORG. Churches CURRENTS ......................19 U.S. POSTAGE across the DIALOGUE ......................22 PAID OKLAHOMA CITY OK nation pay INSIGHT .........................38 INTERNATIONAL ..............9 PERMIT # 276 tribute to graduating LETTERS ........................35 NATIONAL ........................5 high school OPINION ........................34 seniors. Truth in fiction Faithful duo PARTNERS .....................27 3, 7 Church members share Trade puts Willingham, PEOPLE ..........................29 faith through prose. 3 Ziegler on same team. 29 REVIEWS .......................34 Winner of eight ‘Best of the Christian Press’ awards, 2011 | Breaking news, exclusives at www.christianchronicle.org | (405) 425-5070 2 THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE JULY 2011 EASTERN EUROPEAN MISSION 1961 - 2011 CELEBRATING50 YEARS Thousands Of Children Will Receive A Bible And Teaching In Camp This Summer…The Same Camps That Used To Teach Communism. Fifty years ago who would have believed we would be teaching the Bible in the very places the communists used to indoctrinate their young people? Now communism is gone, but children still go to the camps each summer. EEM has been asked to teach and supply the Bible in the hundreds of summer camps in Ukraine. Through this process thousands of children have the opportunity to learn about God in camp and get their own Bible. They will read it and take it home for their families to read. It’s impacting lives all across the nation of Ukraine. EEM works with congregations and universities, forming teams to take the Bible into the youth camps and to teach. They are making the Bible the basis for the future. What a way to celebrate fifty years. Join us as the journey continues. 1-800-486-1818 · www.eem.org Since 1961, We’ve Been Delivering The Same Message. The Bible. We Want Everyone To Get It. JULY 2011 THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE 3 Why it takes a Preacher’s wife church family The Truth in fiction survives deadly to raise a child CHRISTIAN NOVELISTS use stories, character development to share y 17-year-old son, Joplin tornado Brady, and I celebrated their faith, show Jesus. Mhis high school gradu- BY BOBBY ROSS JR. | THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE ation by making a three-hour BY KIMBERLY MAUCK | FOR THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE drive down Interstate 35 and For three hours after a massive tor- going to see our beloved For as long as she can remember, Laura nado ripped through Joplin, Mo., on Texas Rangers play. Anderson Kurk has loved writing. May 22, Kim Spink was missing. We sat eight rows behind She didn’t find her story, though, until Spink, wife of Greg Spink, minister for home plate two years ago. That’s when she experi- the Mt. Hope Church of Christ, had gone Inside Story one night enced a deeply upsetting dream. shopping at a Walmart where one wall and 10 rows “I was in a house that wasn’t familiar to was left standing, her husband said. behind first me, and I heard a girl crying,” said Kurk, “She was behind it,” Greg Spink said. base the next a member of the A&M Church of Christ “God blessed her and took care of her. afternoon. in College Station, Texas. “I looked and She’s one of the few that walked out. She “I have looked for her, afraid that it might be my stepped over bodies on her way out.” the best dad own daughter. At press time, southwestern ever,” my “I found her in an upstairs room Missouri’s death toll stood at 116. son wrote on looking out a window, crying that cry of The tornado heavily damaged the his Facebook true grief,” said the mother of two, who 26th and Connecticut Church of Christ Bobby Ross Jr. page. received a bachelor’s degree in English building, leaders said. Hurrah! from Abilene Christian University in 1991 The Mt. Hope church building did not Dad hits a home run! and earned her master’s from Texas A&M sustain damages and has become a hub Honestly, though, I have University in 1992. “She wouldn’t talk to of relief efforts by individuals, congrega- struck out way too often in me, and I felt helpless.” tions and ministries, including Nashville, raising this incredible young That girl became Meg Kavanaugh, the Tenn.-based Churches of Christ Disaster man. On too many occa- main character in Kurk’s debut novel, Relief Effort. Donations can be sent to sions, I have been too dis- “Glass Girl,” published in 2010 by WestBow the Mt. Hope church at 2830 Mt. Hope tracted, too short-tempered, Press, a division of Thomas Nelson. The Road, Webb City, MO 74870. too selfish. story takes a teenage girl from the dark- PHOTO PROVIDED BY LAURA ANDERSON KURK The tornado spared Ozark Christian As Brady prepares for the ness of grief to the light of hope. Texas church member Laura Anderson Kurk is College, which is associated with next stage of his life, I pop Kurk said the darkness of young adult the author of the novel “Glass Girl.” instrumental Christian Churches. Victor straight up in bed and won- fiction frustrated her — vampires, were- Knowles, founder and president of Joplin- der if I have done my part to wolves and zombies but few real teens said Kurk, who worked in public relations based Peace on Earth Ministries, said the fulfill Proverbs 22:6: “Train with real problems. Real teens need and marketing before becoming a stay-at- storm devastated south Joplin. up a child in the way he hope, and so did that girl in home mom. “Ozark Christian College is in north should go: and when he is old, her dream. Joplin, where a lot of the ministries are he will not depart from it.” Kurk couldn’t let MINISTRY OF WORDS located, and all are OK,” Knowles said. Fortunately, I have not that girl — or that Does God use novels — and the had to raise my firstborn message — go. writers who spend countless hours EXPANDED COVERAGE: www.christianchronicle.org/blog child alone. I am blessed “When I saw that it writing, editing and seeking publica- with a remarkable Christian wasn’t going to go away, tion — to widen his kingdom? wife. Tamie is, in many I said, ‘OK, God, let’s This might be difficult for some of ways, everything I am not: find a way to turn dark- the “people of the Book” to believe, nurturing, patient, focused ness into light, despair into but Kurk is just one of many fiction on the tiniest details of our hope, in a story that appeals authors in Churches of Christ three children’s lives. to all the teenagers who are who see their writing as a vital Yet she, like me, is far from this sad,’” Kurk said. ministry. perfect. If we were the only Kurk found her voice — Fiction can reach some people where influences in Brady’s life, I and her ministry.