Tag Archives: Missions

‘What if something happens while we’re gone?’ asked this preacher’s wife never

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Carolyn Gilbert speaking to women

Carolyn Gilbert speaking to women

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (BNc) by Ronald D. Gilbert — My wife Carolyn and I started our long journey to Malaysia Apr. 1. We arrived early Wednesday morning Apr. 3.

We were scheduled to conduct several gospel meetings, teacher workshops, seminars, and a youth day. We were to work with four different congregations. At the end of our trip, we planned to go to Singapore to conduct a meeting at the Jurong congregation and visit with the brethren at Four Seas Bible College.

Carolyn’s mother had been in the nursing home for about three years. She was not in good health, but was doing OK when we departed for this trip.

We had been there for only two days when we got word that her mother had taken a turn for the worse. The third day there we were told that her kidneys and liver had stopped functioning.

After preaching on Sunday morning at Subang Jaya, I turned on my cell phone and had a text to call home. When we called, we discovered her mother had passed away.

On Monday, Apr. 8, we started our journey home. We were fortunate to get on flights and return home on such short notice. Some of the flights we were on every seat was taken.

We arrived home on Tuesday, Apr. 9, and drove to Pikeville, Tenn, for visitation at the funeral home. On Wednesday, Apr. 10, Carolyn’s mom, Mary Ann Seals, was buried.

Three years ago, while we were in Malaysia, we received word that Carolyn’s father had passed away due to an accident.

I am thankful for my good wife and her love for the Lord and her willingness to travel around the world helping take the precious gospel of Christ “into all the world.”

Our thanks for the many cards and calls and prayers and words of encouragement given to our family. We plan to go back next year and continue our work and efforts there.

Ronald is the Director of International Bible Teaching Ministries. This story appeared in the May, 2013, issue of The Seeker.

‘Church of Christ country’: The gospel spreads in South Sudan (audio)

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MT. JULIET, Tenn. (BNc) — Don Humphries gave a report on the progress of the work in South Sudan Sunday night, Mar. 3, at the Mt. Juliet congregation. Churches are being established, a new Bible training program has had three sessions of preacher training, and a medical clinic cares for needs for many.

Don is a member of the Mt. Juliet missions committee. He has been instrumental in working with the effort in South Sudan. Continue reading →

Missionary Kyle Allen dies on return to India

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Missionary Kyle Allen

Missionary Kyle Allen

NEW DELHI, India (BNc) — Kyle Spencer Allen, 35, died Sunday, Feb. 17, on his return to his India where he had worked for nearly seven years.

Kyle became ill on a flight back to India and over the next day or two afterwards, his health worsened.

According to Larry Benderman, elder with the Stiversville congregation near Culleoka, Tenn., speculation is that he had a diabetic problem and his sugar level rose so high that he went into a coma. As a result, his organs shut down and a heart attack caused his death. Continue reading →

20 Brazilians commit to mission call during leadership event

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RECIFE, Brazil (BNc) by Randy Joseph Short — Twenty Brazilian Christians responded to a call to commit to adopting one of the municipalities in the Northeast in a leadership encounter held last weekend.

The Brazilians accepted the responsibility to encourage their congregations to do what they can to preach the gospel of Jesus there. What a great culmination to our time together this was! Continue reading →

Levy church gives special missions offering

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Levy church of ChristNORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BNc) — The Levy church made its annual special contribution for missions yesterday, offering $275,921, missionary Ted Knight said.

With this special offering in hand, the missions committee considers every request made by missions efforts.

The annual event, called Harvest Sunday, featured guest speakers and an all-church luncheon. Continue reading →

Sam Gorman dies with ‘his goal in his mind’s eye’

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Sam GormanABILENE, Tex. (BNc) — Sam Gorman, former missions committee member and World Bible School coordinator for the Baker Heights congregation, passed away Monday morning, Oct. 15, according to John Hanson, missions deacon. Sam was 84.

After a three-week hospitalization for a probable heart attack, and after quickly deteriorating health, Sam had expressed his desire to go on home to be with our Lord.

“He always had his goal in his mind’s eye, no matter what. Typical Sam! What an example!” John said.

For many years, Sam was an integral part of the Baker Heights missions committee and coordinated the local efforts for World Bible School. Continue reading →

The whole state of Texas planted in tomatoes

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World Missionsby Ronald D. Gilbert — An evangelist calculates how far 1.2 million is to 1 billion

(BNc) — According to the book, 2012 Churches of Christ in the United States, published by 21st Century Christian, the churches of Christ in the USA number 12,447, with 1,209,176 members. It is difficult to know how many New Testament Christians there are in the world today. For the sake of this article, let’s just suppose there are 1.2 million Christians in the USA and 1.2 million outside the USA, for a grand total of 2.4 or even 2.5 million New Testament Christians in the world. Continue reading →

Catholic Priest obeys gospel

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by Glenda Williams, BNc correspondent

GENEVA, Ala (BNc) — A former Catholic priest and his wife obeyed the gospel when Jerry Davidson took a team into the Amerindian Village of Moruca, June 18-July 9, 2012. The group  taught and baptized 21, saw two restored and one wedding. Team members were: Mike and Melissa Barnes, Jay Mikel, Opp, AL; Jerry Davidson, Hazel Rands, Summerdale, AL; Gene Johnson, Decatur, AL; David and Philena Paher, Flint, MI.

Aubrey Vincent LaCurz, former Roman Catholic Priest, wrote the following letter expressing his appreciation for being taught the truth of the gospel.

Dear Brother Jerry,

It is with gratitude and heartfelt thanksgiving to God that I pen these few words to you. Fifty four years ago I was born a Catholic. I was schooled in the best Catholic schools in Guyana. I attended the Catholic seminary and the best university in the West Indies. I was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on June 24, 1984. Among my former colleagues are Catholic bishops in the West Indies. Among them the bishop of Georgetown, Guyana, who was at Santa Rosa, Moruca the day I was baptized in the waters of the Moruca river. Continue reading →

Weekend retreat ponders missions priorities

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Maywood missions retreatHAMILTON, Ala. (BNc) – Over a hundred people interested in world missions gathered May 10-12 to consider the theme “Priorities in Missions Today.”

Maywood Missionary Retreat featured six speakers from several locations around the world, such as the Pacific Islands and Brazil, as well as a number of stateside ministries, such as an Alabama alcohol recovery center for men. Continue reading →

Former Brazil missionary Bill Jordan remembered

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Former Belo Horizonte, Brazil, missionary Charley Huffman reminisced today about Bill Jordan, who served in the same city in the 1970s. Bill passed away Monday, Feb. 6. His last residence was in Yellville, Ark. We reproduce Charley’s email by permission.

Brazil missionary Bill JordanBill Jordan had a heart attack while we were playing volleyball at camp one day. We rushed him to the heart hospital, where my wife Joyce stayed with him in the emergency room to interpret for him, since he had been in Belo Horizonte only a short time and spoke little Portuguese.

The Brazilian doctors said he needed to go to the USA for open-heart surgery, since he had been in Brazil for such a short time and everything was strange to him. However, the commercial airlines refused to fly him in that condition. Continue reading →

11/11/11: Bible institute fasts and prays for 24 hours

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by Jim Waldron

GUWAHATI, India (BNc) — The above date, though it simply designates a day on the calendar, is unique in that there will not be another like it for a hundred years. Not only so, but it is taking place just ten days after the United Nations announced on Oct. 31 that the world population had reached 7,000,000,000 (seven billion) in just twelve years’ time.

Here in India at the Northeast Bible Institute the students and staff will fast and pray for twenty-four hours from breakfast on the morning of the 11th until breakfast on the 12th for the billions that have not heard. Continue reading →

Brazil city hears gospel for first time

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Brazil missionsby Joseph McKinney, Jr.

The true gospel comes for the first time to a city in  Brazil’s northeast region.

Sapé is the tenth largest city in the state of Paraíba, population 50,000. It began in 1883 with a Great Western train station, coming to be recognized as a city in 1925.

Its name comes from the Indian word for a type of grass predominant in the area, eçape. The Indians would bundle the grass together, making a torch to light their path at night. Continue reading →