A new day for Puerto Rico

August 7, 2018

As hurricane-battered U.S. territory rebuilds, a Kentucky church sends help and encouragement.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

ARECIBO, Puerto Rico — Punishing, back-to-back hurricanes that wrecked this U.S. territory nearly a year ago swept away homes, decimated crops, knocked out electrical systems and ravaged families.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria failed, however, to kill the spirits of those in this poor, coastal community who lived through the mayhem and work to rebuild.

Sandra Rosa Vargas is one.

On a recent weekday, the 62-year-old great-grandmother walked arm in arm along a pitted neighborhood sidewalk with a teenager who came with her Kentucky church to offer help and encouragement.

The two connected instantly, 13-year-old Ashton Brophy said, as Vargas shared stories of her life and offered to teach her new friend how to cook.

“I just really love Mrs. Sandra,” Brophy said of the widow whose oceanside home of rocks, seashells and cinder blocks had its roof peeled away by winds that registered roughly 150 mph.

“She is just very sweet. … She made lunch for us, rice and salad and chicken. She was telling me all about her grandbabies,” the teen added. “I just want to do everything I can to help her.”

Twenty-six other mission team members from the Reidland Church of Christ in Paducah, Ky, shared Brophy’s sentiment. They traveled nearly 2,000 miles to demonstrate their love and concern for their Puerto Rican brothers and sisters.

“I just heard about the destruction here and how bad things have been for them,” said Alethia “Ali” Williams, 14, who came with the Reidland group. “I felt really bad, and I knew I had the ability to help. … I knew God was calling me to go.”

Read the full story.

This story appears in the August 2018 edition of The Christian Chronicle.

Houses of worship mobilize for back-to-school time

August 6, 2018

By Bobby Ross Jr. | For Religion News Service

OKLAHOMA CITY — On a recent weekend, Pamela Jennings brought her 7-year-old granddaughter, Amara, and 4-year-old grandson, Trend, to People’s Church, an evangelical congregation. But though Jennings is a Christian, the family didn’t come for worship.

Instead, they were drawn by the church’s Day of Hope — an annual Saturday event where volunteers give away 3,200 backpacks filled with school supplies and offer free services such as medical exams and haircuts.

“It’s just awesome because some people really can’t afford to get school supplies or get a haircut,” Jennings said. “This is a real blessing for a lot of people.”

From the National Council of Jewish Women in Southfield, Mich., to the Islamic Center of Northridge, Calif., religious groups nationwide organize back-to-school events in the late summer and early fall to serve needy families.

Christy Watson, communications director for the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, said she has noticed a definite uptick in engagement between houses of worship and public schools throughout Oklahoma. Since much of the activity occurs at the grassroots level, though, it’s difficult to quantify, Watson said.

Houses of worship and schools “are both places people turn to and gather at in times of celebration and need,” she said. “So it makes a lot of sense that they would join forces to serve their communities.”

The Oklahoma State School Boards Association gives an annual award for outstanding community partners, and each year, school districts nominate faith groups, Watson said.

Emmaus Baptist Church, in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, has received the award. The Southern Baptist congregation not only buys school supplies and provides mentors for students, Watson noted. It also served as a temporary school location for an entire year after a tornado devastated the community.

“I don’t have any baseline data, so I’m reluctant to claim there is a trend of any sort,” said Lallie Lloyd, director of All Our Children, a national network that promotes church-school partnerships as a way to address social justice. “However, our organization was formed because we noticed that these ministries were emerging.”

Read the full story.

Religion News Service is a national wire service whose media partners include The Associated Press, USA Today and the Washington Post.

With 330 million downloads, top Bible app celebrates 10 years

August 3, 2018

By Bobby Ross Jr. | For Religion News Service

EDMOND, Okla. — A high-tech Bible in your pocket?

In 2018, it’s a reality for hundreds of millions of smartphone users around the world.

But a decade ago, when leaders of Oklahoma-based Life Church developed the popular YouVersion app, the concept was new.

“We just thought, ‘What if the Bible could be among the very first group of apps?’” said Bobby Gruenewald, pastor and innovation leader for the multisite evangelical church, which each week draws roughly 75,000 worshippers to 29 locations in nine states.

“It was profound how simple it was yet how well it connected us to God’s Word in places and environments where we didn’t have physical Bibles,” added Gruenewald, a onetime technology entrepreneur who entered full-time ministry in 2001.

Life Church enlisted a 19-year-old staff member named Sam Soffes — now a San Francisco-based software engineer for Lyft — to create the Bible app in 2008.

When Apple launched its app store 10 years ago this month, YouVersion was one of the first 200 free apps available — and the only Bible app.

“That first weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, we saw 83,000 people install it on their iPhone, and it blew our minds,” Gruenewald said. “We had no idea that was possible.”

That was only the beginning.

Read the full story.

Religion News Service is a national wire service whose media partners include The Associated Press, USA Today and the Washington Post.

This Catholic journalist has witnessed 400-plus executions but won’t say if he approves

August 1, 2018

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

It’s almost incomprehensible: Associated Press journalist Michael Graczyk has served as a media witness for more than 400 executions.

When I worked in AP’s Dallas bureau from 2003 to 2005, Graczyk was a Houston-based colleague of mine — and a great guy.

Graczyk, 68, is making headlines this week because of his retirement after 46 years with the news service.

The Dallas Morning News featured the veteran newsman on today’s front page. The Washington Post had a story on him Tuesday. And AP got the scoop on Graczyk’s plans. No surprise there, right?

All of the interviews, of course, are fascinating. And all paint a portrait of an accurate, fair-minded journalist: In hundreds of cases, Graczyk has made it a point to interview condemned inmates who were willing. But not only that, he also has given victims’ relatives an opportunity to speak, if they so desired.

Here’s a journalist who epitomizes the best of his profession.

But right about now, you may be thinking, “OK, but what’s the religion angle?” I’m glad you asked.

Read the full column.

• • •

All of my GetReligion columns (July 2018):

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Running away from religion

July 21, 2018

In Montreal’s secular culture, many native Canadians see no need for faith. Immigrants ‘are readier to hear about God,’ minister Roger Saumur says.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

MONTREAL — Montreal’s heart has grown cold to the Gospel.

The largest French-speaking city in North America can be a lonely place to be a Christian.

“Our society, it’s secular,” said Horald Shabanaj, an Albanian immigrant and member of the Ville-Émard Church of Christ in the Quebec city. “People don’t care about God. There is a strong temptation to do things other than coming to church.”

A 2016 article in The Economist characterized Quebec this way: “The Catholic heritage is everywhere, in street names, monuments and church buildings which often have been converted to secular use. But Catholic practice has plummeted. The province’s main metropolis, Montreal, is as non-religious a place as any in secular Europe.”

While 75 percent of the province’s people still identify as Catholic, only 11 percent say they are regular worshipers, the article noted.

It’s against this backdrop that the Ville-Émard Church of Christ ministers. That’s “Église du Christ” in French, as the sign out front proclaims above spray-painted graffiti.

The church meets in a one-time funeral home a few doors down from a Hindu temple and across the street from a Vietnamese restaurant. There’s a Tim Hortons, the quintessential Canadian coffee and doughnut shop, at the corner.

The close-knit congregation, five minutes from downtown and close to a subway station, brings together Christians of about 15 nationalities, from Chinese to Haitian to Ukrainian.

Read the full story.

This story appears in the August 2018 edition of The Christian Chronicle.

Related: ‘The way to the heart’ (reporting from Winnipeg, Manitoba): Canada’s largest Church of Christ brings together Christians of various nationalities.

Campbellites, meet the Campbells: Utah conference mixes sights, food, dialogue

July 21, 2018

At Brigham Young University, diverse panel discusses media coverage of religion — and what to do if a reporter calls.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

PROVO, Utah — This is definitely not Church of Christ country.

Utah boasts fewer than 1,100 adherents of Churches of Christ — to go along with, oh, 2 million or so Mormons.

Suffice it to say that my wife, Tamie, and I were outnumbered during a recent visit to Brigham Young University, the flagship university of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Nonetheless, we had a terrific time and got to know kind people with different beliefs from our own.

“I understand Campbell is a pretty important name in Churches of Christ,” Joel Campbell said, smiling, as handshakes and introductions were made. “No relation that I know of, though.” His comment was a reference to Alexander Campbell’s role in the Restoration Movement.

Joel and Jolene Campbell hosted us for a night and showed us sights such as the Bridal Veil Falls waterfall in the scenic Provo Canyon. In the quaint tourist town of Park City, the Campbells and Rosses browsed bookstore shelves and souvenir shops and discussed politics and religion over pizza.

As we talked about our respective faiths and current events, we discovered shared convictions. Our time together became more than a meal — it evolved into a forum to ask, answer and better understand.

Read the full column.

This column appears in the August 2018 edition of The Christian Chronicle.