Tag: travel

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)

 

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)

Where the buffalo roam, a Passion play approaches the century mark

March 27, 2018

Oklahoma’s version of old Jerusalem provides the setting for what organizers describe as North America’s longest continuously running outdoor Passion play.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | For Religion News Service

WICHITA MOUNTAINS WILDLIFE REFUGE, Okla. — Before the sun sets at a remote mountain attraction called Holy City of the Wichitas, Jesus and a band of white-winged angels walk through a crowd gathering on the hillside.

Nobody seems fazed.

But a few hours later, a different visitor — this one an uninvited guest at the 93rd annual “Prince of Peace” Easter pageant — causes a stir among the men, women and children seated under the stars on blankets, lawn chairs and pickup beds.

An enormous buffalo wanders uncomfortably close to a group of spectators from the First Baptist Church of Olustee, diverting their attention from the donkey accompanying Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem on the living stage before them.

“Hopefully, there’s not a herd,” Morgan Adams, the southwestern Oklahoma congregation’s pastor, quips as he lifts his young daughter into his truck.

Oklahoma’s version of old Jerusalem — mixing rough stone structures resembling those in the Holy Land with occasional sightings of buffalo and longhorn — provides the setting for what organizers describe as North America’s longest-running outdoor Passion play. Although the public is welcome to tour the grounds and visit the gift shop year-round, the yearly performances draw enough of a crowd to disrupt the wildlife.

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.

South Carolina church battles opioid ‘emergency’

August 18, 2017

Addicts find love, hope — and Jesus — through ministries focused on recovery and discipleship.

First Place, Theme Issue, Section or Series, Associated Church Press

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. — Opioids, meet Jesus.

The drugs behind a crisis that President Donald Trump characterizes as a “national emergency” are no match for the savior of the world.

That’s the message at the Grand Strand Church of Christ, which has become a haven for prodigal sons — and daughters — caught up in addiction.

“The whole congregation kind of took me in and just showed me as much love as they can,” said Jordan Taylor, a recovering heroin addict who served prison time for drug crimes. “I went through ups and downs, and they’d always accept me with open arms.

“They would never judge me or anything like that,” added Taylor, who was baptized after showing up for the church’s Celebrate Recovery program and studying the Bible.

The church in this beach town battles an epidemic — linked to opioids such as heroin and prescription painkillers like oxycodone and fentanyl — that has caused drug overdoses to skyrocket nationally.

Read the full story.

This story appears in the September 2017 print edition of The Christian Chronicle.

Elvis Week reading: Faithful hordes still swarming the King’s castle

August 11, 2017

From the archives: Lead story of package my wife and I wrote at 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death.

By Bobby Ross Jr. and Tamie Ross| The Oklahoman

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Goose bumps formed just below James Hubert’s earphones as he followed the Graceland Mansion tour group into the dining room.

As Priscilla Presley recounted on audiotape how Elvis Presley chomped southern cooking, played poker and swapped stories in this room, the Lawton man passed from commercialized present to nostalgic past.

Suddenly, there at the head of the eight-foot table, Hubert could see him.

Him.

“Man,” Hubert said, “Elvis walked through here eating a peanut butter and banana sandwich.”

‘Promised Land’

The king of rock ‘n’ roll left the building 20 years ago.

When Presley died Aug. 16, 1977, at age 42, Hubert didn’t qualify as an Elvis fan.

Then a 17-year-old high school student, he banged his head to Van Halen and KISS – the hard stuff.

But as the 20th anniversary of Presley’s death approached, the Lawton city equipment operator stepped into Elvis’ world.

He was far from alone.

Twenty years after Elvis’ death from an accidental drug overdose, the King maintains his throne.

Read the full package.

These stories appeared in the Aug. 10, 1997, and Aug. 11, 1997, editions of The Oklahoman.

For preachers, a textual feast inside Austin city limits

June 16, 2017

Sermon Seminar affords spiritual — and physical — food.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

AUSTIN, Texas — Welcome to the Lone Star state capital, home of the South by Southwest Festival and the Keep Austin Weird Fest & 5K.

A lesser-known annual festival: the Gourmet Preachers Tour, conducted during the Austin Sermon Seminar.

The informal tour involves a dozen or so minister friends. It usually starts with Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que. Favorites such as Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen and Chuy’s Tex-Mex follow. Don’t forget nightly visits to Amy’s Ice Creams.

“We emphasize fellowship,” said Larry Roberts, minister for the Daugherty Street Church of Christ in Eastland, Texas.

“A lot of it has to do with the psalm that talks about oil flowing down Aaron’s beard, I think,” quipped Greg Fleming, minister for the North A Church of Christ in Midland, Texas, referring to Psalm 133:2.

Joking aside, it’s not really the food — but rather the chance to feast on God’s word — that keeps these preachers returning to Central Texas.

For 36 years, the Austin Graduate School of Theology has hosted the Sermon Seminar.

Read the full story.

This story appears in the July 2017 print edition of The Christian Chronicle.

Before baby bird leaves the nest, a trip to remember

May 20, 2017

A father and soon-to-fly-away daughter enjoy a travel adventure north of the U.S. border.

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

TORONTO — “A six-hour layover, eh?”

I posted that wisecrack on Facebook as my 17-year-old daughter, Kendall, and I awaited a connecting flight.

It was early afternoon on a snowy, late winter day at Toronto Pearson International Airport. My youngest child and I were in the middle of a four-city, 20-hour travel adventure that was part work and part something deeper.

The work part is easy to explain: I was chasing stories — as I love to do — for The Christian Chronicle.

The something deeper part requires more explanation: I was trying — as much as possible — to create memories that will sustain me (and keep the tears from overwhelming me) as my baby bird grows up and flies away.

In just a few months, this intelligent young woman — who is every bit as sassy, charming and fun to be around as her mother and every bit as driven, argumentative and (sometimes) insecure as her father — is leaving home. She’s decided to attend Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.

I couldn’t be more proud of her.

She studied hard, made top grades and was honored as one of her high school’s valedictorians. She joined our home congregation, the Edmond Church of Christ in Oklahoma, on mission trips to Mexico, Nicaragua, Utah and Colorado. She starred in school plays and excelled in debate. She taught herself to knit and worked at a yarn store. In fact, she made me a black cap for this trip.

She plans to major in political science and history and then, at some point, become president of the United States.

In my mind, though, she’s still the little girl with a red hair bow who would stand by the bathroom door and watch me shave. She’d see the white cream on my cheeks and pretend I was Santa Claus. “Daddy, will you buy me a present?” she loved to ask.

Read the full column.

This column appears in the June 2017 print edition of The Christian Chronicle.