02 Jul Death of Marilyn Yocum

Many people in the former Central Conference are familiar with Dean and Marilyn Yocum, who were very active in the conference and, in Marilyn’s case, Women’s Missionary Fellowship. Marilyn passed away on Monday, June 30.

There will be celebration of her life in Jesus Christ on Monday, July 7, at 3 p.m. The service will be at Dublin Baptist Church, 7195 Coffman Rd, Dublin, OH 43017.

Dean has directed that memorials be divided among her three favorite ministries: Global Ministries, Better Way Ministries, and Precept Bible Study.

01 Jul Anchor Co-Sponsors Walk Thru the Bible

Anchor Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.) co-sponsored a Walk Thru the Bible (Old Testament) seminar on June 28, along with five other churches in their zip code: Presbyterian, United Methodist, Mennonite, Evangelical Lutheran, and Church of Christ. The churches held a joint Vacation Bible School the past two years, but this year decided to try a Walk Thru the Bible seminar instead.

About 120 adults attended the event, most of them from the six sponsoring churches. They included 19 people from Anchor, some of whom are in the photo on the right. Folks from probably a dozen other churches scattered around the city also attended, most having learned about the seminar through a newspaper article.

The six churches are all fairly small, with around 100-150 people attending. They all have a heart for reaching neighborhood people for Christ and for growing as Christians.

Earlier this year, Anchor joined three Presbyterian churches in building a Habitat for Humanity home for a nine-person family from Somalia, who had previously spent 13 years in refugee camps. After about a year of fundraising, construction began in May; a number of Anchor people helped with construction. The home was dedicated on June 21.

30 Jun The Crossroads Up Close

A few days ago, Jeff Bleijerveld talked about “crossroad cities,” a concept that fascinates me. He says he’s got a lot more to unpack on that subject.

Fort Wayne, like so many American cities, has some crossroads qualities. We’ve got the largest population of Burmese outside of Myanmar, plus a lot of immigrants from Bosnia and Darfur. And yet, they remain somewhat invisible to me. I don’t know where to find them.

Last Saturday, I attended the dedication of a Habitat for Humanity home that my church, Anchor, along with three local Presbyterian churches, funded and built. The keys were handed over to a Muslim family (seven kids!) from Somalia. That’s them in the photo, along with some other folks from Somalia. This family spent 13 years in refugee camps before making it to the States four years ago. The husband and wife, and I assume the kids as well, now speak English very well.

During the ceremony, two young men, immigrants from Ethiopia, expressed their appreciation to us for helping their “brothers and sisters” from Africa. Very cool.

So we got a touch of the crossroads thing. In building this home, they saw the best of Christianity, and maybe some seeds were planted.

25 Jun Entrust to Young Men…

Bethany House of the Lord is a four-year-old United Brethren church planting project in Cumberland, Maryland. The congregation emphasizes a simple household approach to ministry and worship. Using an age-integrated curriculum for daily devotions based on the Sunday sermon, parents are encouraged to take responsibility for the discipleship of their own children.

On Fathers Day 2008, Pastor Michael Mudge took vacation and left the responsibilities for leading worship and preaching to the congregation for the fourth consecutive year. This year, the preaching was done by three young men of the congregation…ages 15, 13, and 39!