Firefighters got the call at 4:15 p.m., and on arrival smoke could be seen coming from the structure, which sustained damage to a bathroom, attic, and bedroom. No one was injured.

The residents of the damaged home will be housed in an empty cottage on the campus.

The Children’s Home is a Christian ministry established in 1955. It does not receive funds from the federal government, but depends upon donations from churches, Christians, and other sources.

Its mission is “to provide a substitute home for dependent and neglected children, and to restore the broken lives of children and families.” As a privately supported non-profit organization dedicated to caring for children in need through residential education care, foster care, and adoptive care, ten homes house up to six children on the campus.

by Oran Burt, preaching minister :: Can you imagine a gathering of the early Christians in the first century who were listening to the oral reading of a letter written to the churches? It would be the first time anyone had heard it. It would be from an apostle inspired by God to write concerning things of importance to the church and to the world.

These individual Christians would not have their own personal copies of the completed Old and New Testaments to read along in the assembly. As these letters were copied and distributed, more and more of the New Testament would be available. But, at first, there was the in-person, oral presentation to accompany the written word.

On Sunday evenings, we have undertaken an ambitious task of presenting oral readings of the Bible texts, without commenting during the reading and without sermonizing on the text — just reading and listening.

We have heard many good comments about this, and it has been well received. You have endured some lengthy readings as we began with the order in which these N.T. books were written: Galatians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and Romans.

These last three took about 40 to 50 minutes each of non-stop reading to complete them.

Here’s an oddity: Where else on the planet Earth, last Sunday night, May 15th, did anyone, especially a group of 150+ Christians, hear the entire letter of the apostle Paul to the church at Rome read aloud? Now that’s highly proprietary and completely unique, to say the least! And there is a quality and power inherent in the Word, all by itself, that is found nowhere else. When it stands alone, it stands immutable.

Whether it comes through a printed page, telegraph key, telephone, microphone, radio, TV, video, audio, CD, DVD, tape, Kindle, Nook, Blackberry, Droid, I-pad, I-pod, computer, cell phone, (and in any human language) —- the Bible says the same thing! I am happy to see people in the audience with a blue glow on their brow as they follow along in the Word on those tiny screens.

Tonight, we will hear the letter to the church at Colossae. Considerably shorter with only four chapters, it should allow for some reflection and comment following the reading. See you tonight!

by Marty Knight

VILONIA, Ark., (BNc) — Another day has drawn to a close and we were blessed with good weather in which to work. Let me begin by thanking the volunteers who poured in from ALL over the state of Arkansas. I won’t even begin to attempt to mention everyone for fear of leaving out some names. Suffice to say that churches of Christ from as far away as 200 miles were here early this morning and worked until they were ready to drop. The number of volunteers jumped significantly now that we have reached the weekend and that was expected. But, it was still overwhelming to see how much people care. THANKS!!!

I made a run to Levy late this morning to pick up more supplies. One of the Levy elders, Stan Peebles, accompanied me back to Vilonia. Crews worked most of the day finding storm survivors who needed supplies. Continued thanks to Levy and Churches of Christ Disaster Relief, Inc. of Nashville, Tenn.

The Pleasant Valley Singles cooked over 600 hamburgers and many, many hot dogs (we lost count). I can’t imagine what this week would have been like without them. The logistics of keeping all of our workers – and many, many others – fed is an enormous task. They run like a well-oiled machine!

We will pause tomorrow and gather for a much-needed period of worship to God. The Vilonia church will only have one service, beginning at 10:00 a.m. We have used the term “family time” to describe this particular service. If you can join us at VCC, please do so. The roadblocks have been taken down and you should have no problem accessing the building at 893 Main Street. For those coming from Conway, we are located on the north (left) side of Highway 64 at the west city limits. Please come and share in a special time or worship and prayer.

Some work will be done tomorrow afternoon, weather permitting. The Ministry Center will be open, rain or shine.

The photo, taken by Linda Hicks, was on the front page of the Log Cabin Democrat yesterday (Friday, April 29). Thanks to all of you who make those relief supplies available so that the Lord’s work can be done!

VILONIA, Ark. (BNc) –

Evangelist Ted Knight noted that his sponsoring church, the Levy congregation in North Little Rock, has already sent supplies and is organizing help for the town residents.

In an email today, Ted wrote, “Our phone has been ringing off the wall, and we are thankful for that, because it shows the interest and concerns of so many for the people in our State who have suffered from the tornados last night. I have been to Vilonia today, and it is just heart-breaking to see what has happened. However, it is a time of opportunity for us as God’s people to once again let the beauty of Jesus to be shown in us.”

The Vilonia church’s building is being used as center for accepting and disbursing assistance to those in need, he said.

“I feel confident that the Mars Hill and Liberty congregations are also ready to assist in whatever ways possible as are other congregations throughout the county,” he wrote.

The Levy congregation delivered two 16-ft. trailers this morning, loaded with food, water, and cleaning supplies.

The National Guard and state police have been called to the town to provide support. Senior Corporal David Dixon of the state police noted he had been called last night for duty in the town.

The Vilonia building is located on Highway 64 south of town. Cash funds are going to be needed, and the elders would be glad to receive and disburse this help as well, Ted mentioned.

For more information, contact David Riley, at the Mars Hill church, 501-796-2052, or Marty Knight, at the Vilonia church, 501-269-0450.

Ted and his family have worked closely with congregations in the eastern European country of Romania since 1995.

A total of 84 members each prayed for 15 minutes over 127 submitted prayer requests.

Members commented on the success of the 5 1/2 hour long prayer chain, he said.

The cause of the crash has not been released. Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board have created a three-nautical-mile restricted fly zone around the site to begin their formal investigation.

Robertson, a graduate from Texas A&M University, was a U.S. Marine Corps pilot for 10 years, serving in Kuwait and the Middle East. He retired as a Navy aircraft mechanic.

Robertson, 35, is survived by his wife of 10 years, Angie Robertson; two sons, Kale and Archie; one daughter, Abby; his parents, Marvin and Hiroko Robertson of Searcy; a brother, Wilson Robertson and his wife Tonya of Austin, Texas; two sisters, Andrea Baker and her husband Jay of Springfield, Missouri, and Jill Robertson of Shizuoka, Japan; in-laws, Wade and Sandra Green of Nashville, Tennessee; one brother-in-law, Joseph Green and his wife Maggie of Nashville, Tennessee; three nephews, four nieces, and one honorary brother, Mike Owen and his wife Amanda of Ewa Beach, Hawaii; and many friends and a large college-student family.

Visitation will be Friday, Sept. 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Powell Funeral Home of  Searcy. Memorial services will be help on Saturday, Sept. 4 at 9 a.m. at the the Downtown Church of Christ where he was a member.

JUDSONIA, Ark. (BNc) – Our early planning is paying off exceptionally well. Every container has arrived smoothly and food has been distributed without problems. Thanks to the cooperation and planning of Rang Hee, Erin Long and Counterpart International and thanks to the efforts of USAID and others involved in the government, we have had no problems with Haitian Customs.

It is the careful planning, immediate cooperation and close organization that has allowed us to see the the Lord’s Church glorified. We received this note from Pacius: “Erin Long (Counterpart) was great by helping me to get the paper quickly. People in the Customs office were so helpful to us last week. They told us what to do to get the Container out.”

Within the last seven days we have loaded and shipped seven containers with 291,500 pounds of food and relief supplies for distribution in Haiti.

We are receiving a number of reports that are providing us the means to communicate to the government how effective our distribution system is in Haiti. It is significant to point out that we are getting food delivered and distributed to areas where many of the big organizations have never touched. This is due to the fantastic cooperation and planning of our Haitian brethren.

Listen to this comment, “I lost my wife, I lost my house, I lost everything. But I find a new Family in you, because you have done a lot for me and many people in Haiti. I am happy to load this Container to help our brethren, our friends and so many others, in Port-au-Prince. You are in the States and also you are in Haiti — because in every devotion I ask for a special prayer for you. You are first in our minds.”

Thank you for your involvement in the Haiti Relief efforts. You have made it possible for the Lord’s compassion to be known by thousands!

FAULKNER COUNTY, Ark. (BNc) – A couple of months ago my friend Dickie Harris approached me about doing a gospel meeting for a house church that he started in his home last year.

Dickie has been a professional musician, playing in several places including Nashville. He has friends in all walks of life.  Some of his friends who he wanted to reach with the gospel felt very uncomfortable going to a typical church building, so he started to hold services in his home and they came.

I believe that Dickie is doing a great thing and might be an avenue of evangelism that most of us have not looked into.  It is great that right here in Faulkner County, Ark., two new congregations of the Lord’s church (the Vilonia congregation and this house church) have been established in the past two years.

If there was a congregation at every intersection it still would not be enough to reach all of the lost!

He asked if I would be willing to hold their first meeting and, of course, I said yes.

He told me not to dress up and to pick lessons that would evangelize and encourage. I tried to do that.

Throughout the four-day meeting we had between 14 and 17 each night. The singing and fellowship were great.

I was surprised by the number of visitors from the community who came.

This little church has already had two baptisms since the summer.

If you are interested in having a meeting at your congregation, feel free to call!

JUDSONIA, Ark. (BNc) – Minister John Kachelman will keynote for two U.S. government humanitarian conferences in the Ukraine and Tajikistan and speak about the Lord’s church.

Kachelman, minister with the Judsonia church, will be the keynote speaker at the Small/Medium Transportation Program (SMTP) conference.  SMTP is funded by the U. S. Department of State Office of the Coordinator for U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia.

Kachelman will speak on the topic, “Who are the churches of Christ that care for Tajikistan?”

He is scheduled for Kiev, Ukraine on May 22 and for Dushanbe, Tajikistan, May 29.

The population of Tajikistan is over 90% Islam.

The program supports small to medium sized U.S. non-profit organizations with transportation assistance to deliver critically-needed humanitarian aid commodities to their overseas recipients in 40 foot sea containers.

The congregation has earned a well-deserved reputation as being deeply involved in humanitarian aid around the world.

The congregation has sent aid into Ukraine, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Sri Lanka, Honduras, El Salvador, India, Sudan, Zambia, Nigeria, Somalia and Georgia.

It continues efforts in these countries as well as developing efforts to send aid into Ghana, Uganda, Afghanistan, Romania, Kenya and Tanzania.

Kachelman says that the relationship with the Ukraine, which was the catalyst for their other many works, began in 1999 when the congregation shipped over a ton of medicines into the country.

The work was so successful that it made a dramatic impression on Washington and in turn grew relationships with many members of Congress.

Another project that caused the work to be noticed was the collecting, loading and simultaneous sending of 10 containers into Ukraine in the fall of 2004. The shipment arrived at the outbreak of the Orange Revolution, a series of nationwide protests fueled by Ukraine’s presidential election and alleged political corruption.

Christians around the world, such as Erlindo Nunez in Honduras, Vladimir Paziy in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, and Vijay Rao in Ibrahimpatnam, India, keeps the Judsonia church informed through reports and photos.

For additional information on the good work of the Judsonia church or to sign up for Kachelman’s newsletter, visit www.kachelman.com

The CTP was created to provide Hispanic Christians with deeper Bible knowledge. Classes began on Saturday, Oct. 18, with 21 students from various congregations in central Arkansas.

The students meet at the Geyer Springs church building once every three months for class, where they are provided with materials and assignments.

They are studying under such respected teachers as Jorge Pineda and Enrique Martorell, professors at the Alpha and Omega Bible Institute in Geyer Springs.

The effort is called the Programa de Entrenamiento Congregacional in Spanish.

The project leaders asked for prayers for God’s guidance.

Ribbon-cutting ceremonyJorge Pineda and Elders.