Four Stories of Good News

Easter Weekend Events Are Good News For the Future of the Church

by Stafford North

Over the Easter Weekend, I attended the Lad to Leaders/Leaderettes event in Dallas, Texas.  There were a thousand there and, including similar events in Atlanta, Nashville, Indianapolis, Memphis, and Orlando, a total of some 20,000 youth, parents and sponsors attended the Lads/Leaderette programs.

On the same weekend, Leadership Training for Christ was conducting similar events with three in Dallas, and others in Kansas City; Phoenix;  Indianapolis; Houston ; Mobile;  San Francisco, Rogers, Arkansas; Hickory, North Carolina; and Spearfish,  South Dakota.  They had an estimated total of almost another 20,000.

It is very good news that …

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Large Church Helps Small Church in Arkansas

by Stafford North

The great majority of congregations within churches of Christ, as with many religious groups, are small.  And many of these smaller churches are struggling to survive.  Such was the case with the church of Christ in Hampton, Arkansas, a congregation which had declined to about twenty.  Although it once was larger, the usual factors have taken their toll—youth not returning, older members passing away, families with children leaving for a larger congregation with a more robust youth program, and the lack of something to get members excited.  Such circumstances can easily put a church in decline.

One …

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Oklahoma City Church Has Successful Outreach On Easter Sunday

The North MacArthur Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, a church of 550, decided to use Easter Sunday of 2012 as a special Friend’s Day.  Their thought was that since many who do not attend church regularly want to go to church on Easter, they could capitalize on that by making that a special day to invite friends. 

Ty Hale, who works with evangelism at North MacArthur, reports that their plan for getting members to invite guests is to provide a slip of paper on which a member writes the name of someone …

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Texas Church Featured in The New York Times

In its Saturday, March 31, edition, the New York Times had a long story about the use of “clickers” which enable an audience to respond immediately to questions.  Through the “clicker,” a speaker or teacher can check attendance, see the results to multiple choice questions, or take polls of the group.  Providing the opportunity for such responses can keep the students involved, and the teacher can use the responses to adjust the lesson to what students are comprehending.

The article mentioned a number of places using these devices such as schools, …

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