The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 71, No. 6, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 1, 2014 Page: 3 of 36
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The Second hi
THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE 3
JUNE 2014
Church members
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BY JEFF ABRAMS | FORTHE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
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Erik Tryggestad
Making joyful
noises
Gladkih
Sherbakov
Rachel Riley speaks at Women Walking with God.
Petrussenko
WEBSITE: womenwalkingwithgod.org
RELATED EDITORIAL, Page 26
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in Ukraine, Russia
are ‘united in God’
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WOMEN WALKING WITH GOD draws sell-out crowd of almost 1,200
WICHITA, Kansas
hristians — unlike 100-calorie packs
of Oreos — must be authentic.
■ That was Lisa Smartt’s message
to nearly 1,200 women at the eighth
annual Women Walking with God
conference. The author and humorist, who
struggles with her weight, expressed her
genuine disappointment in the diet-friendly
snack bags, which don’t contain actual Oreo
cookies but tiny, black, hexagonal crackers
with little taste, she said.
Hosted by the Northside Church of
Christ in Wichita, organizers had to move
this year’s venue from the church building
to a community center to accommodate
demand. The 300 additional seats sold out
within hours of their online posting.
“Joyful on the Journey” was the theme,
taken from Romans 12:12: “Be joyful in hope,
patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Beth Robinson, assistant provost for
Lubbock Christian University in Texas,
talked about her experiences working
with foster children and told participants
that their circumstances shouldn’t dictate
whether or not they feel joyful.
She warned against using personal
experiences to interpret Scripture. Instead,
followers of Christ should use Scripture to
interpret their experiences.
Other speakers included Lisa Robertson,
wife of “Duck Dynasty’s” Alan Robertson,
Rachel Riley of Abilene Christian
University in Texas and Brianne Banning,
mother of a cancer survivor and author of
“The Beautiful Bald Princess.”
and I start
to wonder if
I’ve made a
mistake.
I try to be
sensitive to
the ways of
my African
brethren, but
giving a guy a ride into town
— to be baptized — can’t be
a cultural faux pas. Can it?
It’s our last day in Togo,
a tiny, sliver of a country in
West Africa that you have to
squint to find on a map.
There’ no oil here, no
brutal conflict, nothing that
would attract the attention
of the world’s media. But an
Eglise du Christ (Church of
Christ) in this former French
colony just appointed elders
— one of the first congrega-
tions to do so in French-
speaking Africa.
The Wilshire Church of
Christ in Oklahoma City
asked me to attend the instal-
lation ceremony. And I never
say no to Africa.
Just like most of my visits
to this continent, I’ve spent a
lot of time in cars, bouncing
along dusty backroads.
With Togolese preachers
as our guides, we’ve visited
churches, schools and a
community garden — works
supported by the African
Mission Fund, overseen by
See EXPENSIVE, Page 4
Z
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine—Tanks have roamed
the streets of this city in recent weeks.
Rumors of government buildings seized and
police chiefs taken hostage by pro-Russian
demonstrators flash across the Internet.
Though the Donbas region of eastern
Ukraine is a focal point of conflict between
the two former Soviet nations, more than
200 Christians — from Ukraine and Russia
— gathered here for a
“Celebration of Unity.”
“This subject is of great
importance for us and our
country — at this moment
when our country is on the
edge of division,” said Katya
Gladkih, a church mem-
ber from Kostiantynivka,
Ukraine. “If God’s people
don’t understand and value
the unity in Christ, then it’s
just a mass of people who
belong to a community cen-
ter, but not the church.”
Participants represented
16 Churches of Christ — in
the Donbas region and
cities including Odessa
in far southern Ukraine,
Chernivtsi in western
Ukraine and Russia.
“The most important
thing (was) to see all the
Christians united in God,”
said Genadiy Sherbakov, a
church elder in Syktyvkar,
Russia. Followers of Christ
in both nations, he said,
should adhere to the apostle
Paul’s plea in Philippians 2:2, that believers
be “one in spirit and of one mind.”
The Christians encouraged each other to
remain strong, despite the current tension
and uncertainty about the future.
Valentina Petrussenko, a church mem-
ber in Kramatorsk, said that seeing so
many believers — from across Ukraine
and Russia — “helps us to understand how
mighty we can be in Christ.”
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In Africa, an
expensive soul
gets new life
SANGUERAJogo
his man’s soul is
I expensive.”
It’s an offhand
remark, uttered by a
preacher named Doh Satiffait
(which sounds like “Satisfy”
to us English-speakers).
He says it
Inside Story without a
hint of scorn
j or malice,
II
PHOTOS BY MARKYEAKLEY
Deborah Allen, center, and a couple of friends share a laugh at Women Walking with God.
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Tryggestad, Erik. The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 71, No. 6, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 1, 2014, newspaper, June 1, 2014; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1509341/m1/3/: accessed July 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.