About
BrotherhoodNews.com
“Love the brotherhood,” 1 Peter 2:17
God’s work surpasses the sight of any one person or group. Reporting on his work among the human race is an impossible task. But we delight in touching the hem of the garment in these news stories, as we remember that what is published here represents but a fraction of the wonderful stories that will be heard only in eternity.
BrotherhoodNews.com (BNc) publishes the latest and breaking news of the brotherhood, as well as interviews, stories and surveys of works and countries. Its primary focus is on congregations and individuals as they live out the example of Christ in the world and permit God to use them for his kingdom today.
Since the family of God is global, our interest also spans the planet. We make an extra effort to get stories from around the world, while still covering the American church.
BNc is not an official news organ of the church, couldn’t be if it wanted to. We do represent the interdependence of the body of Christ, working together through a bond produced by the Spirit of God. We hold to no one’s party line, but nurture our shared convictions.
Those convictions are based upon following the New Testament as our pattern for faith and practice, and refusing to go beyond what is written. BNc strives to avoid the leaven of both the ‘Sadducees’ (who minimize the authority of the Scriptures) and the ‘Pharisees’ (who bind human regulations on others). Stories and interviews focus on those who believe that obedience is necessary for Jesus to be our Lord and Savior.
Mention of people or events does not imply BNc’s agreement with all that is done or taught by those involved. Every effort is made to “turn away from evil and do good” (1 Peter 3:11). Readers are encouraged to “test all things; hold fast what is good” and to “abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Advisory Board:
- Richard Hill, farmer, elder, Eureka church of Christ, Roanoke, Ill.
- Jeff Jenkins, minister, Lewisville Tex., church.
- Ron G. McElyea, insurance company owner, Abilene, Tex.
- Mike Riley, mail expediter and Christian writer, El Paso, Tex.
- Phil Sanders, associate speaker, In Search of the Lord’s Way.
- Randy J. Short, missionary, Recife, Brazil
Publisher, Editor: J. Randal Matheny and his wife Vicki have been missionaries living in Brazil since 1984. They have three children, Micah, married to Valerie, Joel, married to Tansy, and Leila. They live in São José dos Campos, population 610,000, between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, center of the country’s aeronautics and space industries. Randal earned degrees in Bible, Communication and Missiology. He edits Forthright Magazine, co-owns Forthright Press and works in church planting, leadership training, Christian youth camp, seminars, publishing and Internet ministry. He has spoken in a number of lectureships in the U.S., including three times at the Missionary Retreat at Maywood Christian Camp, Hamilton, Ala., 2007-2009. His hobbies are swimming, poetry and chocolate. His office phone is 55-12-3942-7753.
Managing Editor: Barbara Oliver lived in Canada and India as a missions worker. Then, after a stint as an international banker, she has dedicated her life to missions since 1993. She is Associate Editor of Forthright Magazine, co-owner of Forthright Press and partners with Robert and Michal Swain in Gospel Opportunities Evangelism, based in Vilonia, Ark. Barbara worked many years with World Evangelism Foundation, as layout editor for The Voice of Truth International and its Spanish edition, La Voz de la Verdad Internacional. She also did layout and design for many books for J.C. Choate Publications, as well as several Spanish-Greek commentaries in her present ministry. Barbara lives in Winona, Miss., enjoys working with computers and loves to read. An avid beekeeper, you can find her buzzing around beezoliver.com.
Associate Editor: Joe May is a native of Arkadelphia, Ark., who grew up atttending the Pine Street church of Christ where his grandfather served as an elder. He became a Christian at age 21 in 1995 and began preaching eight months later in nearby Gurdon. Since that time, he has preached in numerous small country churches in South Arkansas, where he helped found the church at Bismarck. For three and half years, he served as the evangelist for the congregation at Manila, Ark. He returned to Arkadelphia as the minister for the University church of Christ in 2006 and currently continues to work with that group, which is now simply known as the Walnut Street church of Christ. He is married to the former Kristie McFarlin of Monette and they have two children, Alex, age 15 and Shana, age 4. Kristie is employed as a first-grade teacher, while Joe is the publisher of The Standard, a weekly newspaper in Amity, Ark., that he founded in 1996. Together, they homeschool Alex and manage the newspaper and a folk magazine, The Old Time Chronicle. Joe is available for gospel meetings the year round.
Assistant Editor: Matthew K. Clifton is the evangelist working with the church of Christ in McCrory, Ark., and the editor of an online gospel magazine, the7ones.com. He obeyed the gospel at age 23 while living in Forrest City, Ark., where he worked with the daily Times-Herald newspaper for three years. He left the Times-Herald to start his own weekly paper in West Tennessee. He and his wife operated the newspaper for five years. The desire to preach God’s word had been building over this time, and he began preaching part-time at Jerusalem church in Corinth, Miss. During this time he completed a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Southern Christian University in Montgomery, Ala. (formerly Alabama School of Religion, currently Amridge University). After moving to Arkansas for his current work, he also completed a master’s degree in ministerial leadership and a master of divinity degree from Amridge University. In addition, he is an instructor working with the Tennessee Bible College Distance Learning Program. He and his wife have three children.
Contributing Editor: Roy Davison and his wife Rita live in Flanders, Belgium. Roy has served as an evangelist in the Dutch-speaking part of Europe since 1963. Through the years he has emphasized starting new congregations (Roeselare, Antwerp, Boortmeerbeek, Hasselt and Burcht in Belgium and Eindhoven in Holland) and in training men in the new congregations to teach and preach. He has a B.A. degree with a major in Communication and minors in Bible and Greek. He publishes various web sites in English, Dutch, French, German and Russian including the Old Paths Archive which draws about 1000 visitors each day. He teaches Koine Greek online and publishes articles and books in English and Dutch. To supplement inadequate support, Roy has worked part-time as a professional free-lance Dutch-English translator since 1978. Roy and Rita have three children and nine grandchildren. E-mail: RoyDavison@oldpaths.net
Correspondents:
Michael E. Brooks, Florence, Ala. (Nepal, Bangladesh)
Barbara Galloway, Johnson City, Tenn.
Paula Harrington, Calvert City, Ky.
Michal Swain, Winona, Miss. (Spanish-speaking missions)
Robert Swain, Winona, Miss. (Spanish-speaking missions)
Kenneth L. Thomas, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Glenda Williams, Geneva, Ala.