Category: Christian Chronicle

1,000 wells around the world

June 3, 2018

A Tennessee-based ministry that drills for clean drinking water in Haiti and other nations hits a major milestone.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

AKDESÉ, Haiti — In this remote mountain village, water gushes from a well drilled by Healing Hands International.

As one woman pumps the handle, another gleefully splashes the clear, flowing liquid on her face.

Little boys and girls giggle as they cup their hands under the spout, taking giant gulps before filling plastic buckets to carry home.

In an area where donkeys ferry supplies and entire families squeeze onto small motorbikes, the $7,500 well’s dedication brings celebration and dancing — and the opportunity for healthier lives.

“The people wanted it so badly,” said Art Woods, president of the Nashville, Tenn.-based humanitarian aid organization, which is associated with Churches of Christ.

It’s a scene repeated hundreds of times in this impoverished Caribbean island nation: Since the Jan. 10, 2010, earthquake that claimed 230,000 lives and left 1.5 million people homeless, Healing Hands has focused on providing access to clean water.

Read the full story.

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

Related: In Haiti, a calling — and a baby (reporting from Tintanyen, Haiti)

 

Amid political violence in Nicaragua, dozens of church groups cancel mission trips

June 1, 2018

More than 90 people have died since clashes began six weeks ago between government forces and civilian protesters, according to observers.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

Normally, a team from the Highway Church of Christ in Judsonia, Ark., would be sweating for God in the mountains of Jinotega, Nicaragua.

For 15 straight summers, the congregation has sent teens and adults to help with Misión Para Cristo — Spanish for “Mission for Christ.” The humanitarian aid organization shares Christ’s love with thousands in Central America’s poorest nation.

But amid ongoing deadly clashes between Nicaraguan government forces and civilian protesters, the Arkansas congregation reluctantly canceled this week’s planned trip to Nicaragua.

“It’s just heartbreaking not to be able to see our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters,” said Danny Deramus, a Highway church elder.

Dozens of U.S. church groups have made the same difficult choice to stay home.

Read the full story.

This story appears in the online edition of The Christian Chronicle.

Related: For thousands of Nicaragua’s poor, mission ‘a gift from God’ (reporting from Jinotega, Nicaragua)

Related: For a Nicaraguan church, a revival (reporting from Masaya, Nicaragua)

 

In Haiti, a calling — and a baby

May 31, 2018

When an infant’s mother died, missionaries from Kentucky suddenly found themselves with a new member of the family.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

TITANYEN, Haiti — Ten days after Jason and Jennifer Carroll began Christian missionary work in this Caribbean island nation in 2014, they got an unexpected gift: a newborn boy.

The mother of an infant named Edyson — “Edy” for short — had died during childbirth.

In this poor, developing nation, a can of baby formula can cost more than a day’s wage. The family asked the Carrolls to take Edy. They’re now trying to adopt the boy, who will turn 4 in September, along with his 16-year-old sister, Rogeline, who helps care for her brother.

Since November 2016, Jason Carroll has served as water project coordinator for Healing Hands International, which is associated with Churches of Christ.

Carroll and his wife, Jennifer, manage Healing Hands’ gated complex in this rural community north of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. Just a few miles from the leased Titanyen facility, scores of victims of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake are buried in a mass grave.

The Carrolls, both in their 40s, previously owned a family tire business in Murray, Ky. Their son Chantry, 23, works for a nonprofit in Nashville, Tenn. Son Cole, 15, and daughter Callie, 14, are a part of the work in Haiti.

While shuttling American mission team members to various sites, the couple — who will celebrate their 25th anniversary this month — discussed their Haiti experience with The Christian Chronicle.

Read the full interview.

This interview appears in the June 2018 edition of The Christian Chronicle.

Related: 1,000 wells around the world (reporting from Akdesé, Haiti)

Best Reporter winner: My portfolio honored by Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists

May 20, 2018

TULSA, Okla. — I was honored May 19 to win second place for “Best Reporter” from the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists.

The award recognized my 2017 stories on Syrian refugees in Canada, the 50th anniversary of the Detroit race riot, Hurricane Harvey disaster relief, a woman who confessed to murder after her baptism and a prom for special-needs teens and adults.

Jennifer Palmer of Oklahoma Watch earned first place, and Darla Slipke of The Oklahoman came in third.

The contest is open to Oklahoma-based news media, which includes The Christian Chronicle. Most of the competitors are secular news organizations. Because of our circulation size, we compete against the largest newspapers in the state.

I also placed in four other categories: election reporting, government reporting, diversity reporting and criminal justice reporting. Winners were announced at the SPJ’s annual banquet.

See a full list of my awards.

Related: Christian Chronicle again wins top national prize, plus four first-place honors for my stories

Christian Chronicle again wins top national prize, plus four first-place honors for my stories

May 12, 2018

CHICAGO — For the fourth year in a row, The Christian Chronicle — where I serve as chief correspondent — was recognized as the top national or international newspaper in the Associated Church Press’ annual “Best of the Church Press” contest.

I was blessed to receive six individual honors — including first place in four categories — at the April 20 awards banquet.

In case my mother is reading, here is a list of the awards:

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First Place, Feature Article, for “In Canada, Syrian refugees find love and hope” from St. Catharines, Ontario.

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First Place (with Bob Smietana), News Story, for coverage of mass shooting at Tennessee church, including my story “For survivors of Tennessee shooting, healing will take time and patience.”

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First Place (with Chellie Ison), In-depth Coverage, for coverage of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, including my stories “Faithful mobilize shelters for Hurricane Harvey flooding victims” from Belton, Texas, “In a small town, a church becomes a hub for Harvey relief” from La Grange, Texas, “After Harvey, hope for heroes and victims” from Houston and “18 vans, 150 volunteers, 465 miles, one goal: to help Harvey victims” from Houston.

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First Place (with Chellie Ison and Lynn McMillon), Theme Issue, Section or Series, for coverage of faith and opioids, including my stories “South Carolina church battles opioids ’emergency'” from Surfside Beach, S.C., ” “The leprosy in my neighborhood is addiction” from Pontiac, Mich., and “One church’s ‘compassionate and Christ-like’ approach to the opioid crisis.”

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First Place (staff award), Best in Class, National or International Newspaper, for The Christian Chronicle.

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Second Place, News Story, for “Catholic faith moves Houston’s ‘Mattress Mack’ to shelter Hurricane Harvey victims” from Houston. (This was a freelance piece I wrote for Religion News Service.)

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Third Place (with Bob Smietana), In-depth Coverage, for coverage of mass shootings at churches, including my stories “For survivors of Tennessee shooting, healing will take time and patience” and “Texas hero risked life to save others.”

Related: Best Reporter winner: My portfolio honored by Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists

From Vietnam to Kenya, two boys’ lives touched by God

May 10, 2018

How an 11-year-old came to donate ‘the biggest gift’ ever received by a California church.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

MALIBU, Calif. — A little boy from Vietnam.

A little boy from Kenya.

This is the story of how one of those boys — all grown up — paid forward his blessings from God.

The recipient of that boy’s extreme gratitude? The other boy.

At age 11 in 1975, Hung V. Le escaped Vietnam on a military transport plane, but he was forced to leave his family behind. Just a few weeks later, Saigon fell to the communists.

For the next several years, Le lived with foster parents in the Seattle area. When he finished high school, a guidance counselor urged him to consider Pepperdine University. That’s how he ended up at the Southern California university, which is associated with Churches of Christ, in the fall of 1983.

At Pepperdine, Le — who had grown up in a devout Roman Catholic household and contemplated becoming a priest — studied the Bible and felt he truly understood it for the first time. The campus minister, Tom Reynolds, baptized Le, and he met his future wife, Corinne, a fellow student, through the University Church of Christ.

“God just gave me so much more than I could ever imagine,” said Le, who earned a degree in business administration and worked on Wall Street for a few years before returning to serve on Pepperdine’s staff in 1990. “I expected a school, and I found a family.”

Not only did Pepperdine nurture Le’s faith, but the university community also rallied to reunite him with his family.

Read the full column.

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

When God comes with a loud thud

May 2, 2018

Why an old, declining church closed to make way for a new, growing congregation to take over its building.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jeff Pendleton met and married his wife, Marcia, at the Red Bridge Church of Christ, a once-thriving congregation less than a mile from the Kansas state line.

He baptized his daughter, Kelly, there.

When loved ones died, he sang hymns and shed tears there.

“It’s a cherished place for so many,” said Pendleton, who served as a church elder. “There are so many memories there.”

At one point, average Sunday attendance topped 350. The church expanded to two morning worship assemblies.

But in more recent years, the congregation became older and grayer. The numbers shrank, down to about 80 on a typical Lord’s Day. Attracting and retaining young families became increasingly difficult.

“Lord, show us your will for Red Bridge,” the church’s leaders began praying a year ago. “What do you want us to do? What do you want us to become?”

The answer came not with a whisper but with a loud thud — as God opened the door for the old, declining church to close and a new, growing church to replace it.

Read the full story.

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

Road Notes: 19-year-old cancer victim’s faith inspires parents to keep serving (reporting from Kansas City, Mo.)