John Johnson put on the red suit for the first time 40 years ago and he's been Santa Claus ever since. But it's not just a side job or role that John plays for a few months each year; it is his calling and his ministry. In this episode, the member of the Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) Church of Christ shares his secrets and some of his stories from 40 years of loving children, the elderly, the lonely, the poor, and the sick. This episode will make you cry and laugh. And after you hear it, we promise: You'll know for sure that Santa Claus is real. Merry Christmas.
Link to John Johnson’s book, Simply St. Nick

Link to Audrey Jackson’s Christian Chronicle story about John Johnson

Link to the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame

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TAGS

Santa Claus, John Johnson, Simply St. Nick, St. Nicholas, St. Nicholas of Myra, Westbow Press, Christmas, Myrtle Beach Church of Christ, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, giving, children, hospice, Audrey Jackson, BT Irwin

Level up your business leadership with the Freed-Hardeman University MBA. Learn more at fhu.edu/chronicle.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus with Healing Hands International. Learn more at hhi.org.

SEGMENT ONE: Abilene Christian University is facing organized backlash from LGBTQ-affirming alumni, students, and even some professors for its "Holy Sexuality Week. Christian Chronicle CEO Erik Tryggestad fills in the story and talks about how The Christian Chronicle will cover it in 2024.

Link to Religion News Service coverage of the “Holy Sexuality Week” backlash at Abilene Christian University

Link to Christian Chronicle Podcast Episode 39 featuring Rubel Shelly talking about his book, Male and Female, God Created Them  

Link to online transcript of the Christian Chronicle Podcast Episode 39 interview with Rubel Shelly

SEGMENT TWO: Barbara Bagwell has never been able to use her hands, but that hasn't stopped her from living a full life and making art in her own way. The member of the Pikes Peak (Colorado) Church of Christ tells her story in her own voice and words.

Link to Barbara Bagwell’s book, Beautiful Stranger

Link to Barbara Bagwell’s art page

SEGMENT THREE: Youth minister Philip Jenkins of the Mt. Juliet (Tennessee) Church of Christ ended up in a local Waffle House for 15 hours straight. He'll explain how this happened and how it turned into one of the best-attended (but unplanned and unscheduled) church outreach events ever.

Link to Cheryl Mann Bacon’s Christian Chronicle story about Philip Jenkins’s day at the Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, Waffle House 

View the full archive of stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to The Christian Chronicle at christianchronicle.org/donate

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TAGS

Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas, Holy Sexuality Week, LGBTQ+, Wildcats for Inclusion, homosexuality, same sex, Phil Schubert, Religion News Service, traditional marriage, biblical marriage, Christopher Yuan, Christian colleges and universities, Christian education, gay affirming, sexuality, Erik Tryggestad, Barbara Bagwell, disability, living with disability, art, artist, Pikes Peak Church of Christ, Pikes Peak, Colorado, Beautiful Stranger, Philip Jenkins, Mt. Juliet Church of Christ, Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, Waffle House, youth, youth group, loving neighbors, community, outreach, fellowship, BT Irwin

Level up your business leadership with the Freed-Hardeman University MBA. Learn more at fhu.edu/chronicle.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus with Healing Hands International. Learn more at hhi.org.

Legendary performer (and Church of Christ favorite son) Pat Boone has a book and a new hit album, but he really wants to talk about what the Bible is telling him these days, what he sees God doing in the world, and what the choice he hopes everyone makes to obey the Word. And he proves that he still knows how to lead congregational singing! 

Link to Pat Boone’s book: If: The Eternal Choice We All Must Make

Link to Pat Boone’s new album, Country Jubilee

Link to Pat Boone’s website, patboone.com

View the full archive of stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to The Christian Chronicle at christianchronicle.org/donate

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TAGS

Pat Boone, Country Jubilee, If: The Eternal Choice We All Must Make, Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tennessee, country music, Hank Williams, Red Foley, Tennessee Waltz, Grits, country radio, Christian education, songleading, gospel meetings, daily Bible reading, Johushuah, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Salvation Army, BT Irwin 

Level up your business leadership with the Freed-Hardeman University MBA. Learn more at fhu.edu/chronicle.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus with Healing Hands International. Learn more at hhi.org.

Landon Saunders, a broadcaster and preacher who won millions of fans and friends around the world, went to his rest on November 14, 2023. He was 86 years old. In this episode, you'll listen to recordings of Saunders preaching and speaking in his own words. You'll also listen to two friends who knew him well. Mike Cope, director of the Thriving in Ministry program at Pepperdine University was a close friend for over 40 years. Candace Nicolds was Saunders's minister at his home congregation, Brookline Church of Christ in Brookline, Massachusetts. 
Some segments edited for brevity and clarity

Link to Cheryl Mann Bacon’s Christian Chronicle report on the death of Landon Saunders

Link to the complete Landon Saunders archives at Brown Library at Abilene Christian University

View the full archive of stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to The Christian Chronicle at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send comments, ideas, and questions to [email protected]

TAGS

Landon Saunders, Heartbeat, Herald of Truth, Freed-Hardeman University, Harding University, Harding Graduate School of Theology, evangelism, preaching, gospel, marketplace, joy, see this woman, Mike Cope, Pepperdine University, Harbor, Pepperdine University Bible Lectures, Thriving in Ministry, Candace Nicolds, Brookline Church of Christ, Brookline, Massachusetts, James Wiser, Abilene Christian University, Brown Library

Level up your business leadership with the Freed-Hardeman University MBA. Learn more at fhu.edu/chronicle.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus with Healing Hands International. Learn more at hhi.org.

A few weeks before this episode, The Christian Chronicle reported that Oklahoma Christian University is closing its graduate school of theology due to budget cuts and declining enrollment. This latest news follows the trend of enrollment decline in Bible, ministry, and theology programs at colleges and universities with roots and ties in the Church of Christ. For some Christian Chronicle readers, it raised questions: Do graduate programs like the one at Oklahoma Christian University truly benefit local congregations? Are the costs of a graduate education really worth it for Church of Christ ministers? And how might graduate programs need to change to better prepare ministers and support local congregations in the 21st century? In this episode, you'll hear from Dr. Frank Yamada, executive director of the agency that accredits graduate programs in ministry and theology. He'll talk about the trends that are inspiring innovations in graduate education for ministers. You'll also hear from David Shannon, a 26-year veteran of local congregational minister who became president of Freed-Hardeman University in 2017. Shannon makes the case for why graduate education is important and valuable to Church of Christ ministers and congregations. PLUS, we end this one with another Bible bowl bonus segment featuring Amy Bowman, children's minister at the Brentwood Hills Church of Christ in Brentwood, Tennessee.
Some segments edited for brevity and clarity

Link to Cheryl Mann Bacon’s Christian Chronicle report on Oklahoma Christian University closing its graduate school of theology

Segment One: The state of graduate education in ministry and theology (Dr. Frank Yamada, executive director, Association of Theological Schools)

Link to Association of Theological Schools

Link to Dr. Frank Yamada’s bio

Segment Two: The case for graduate education in ministry and theology (David Shannon, president, Freed-Hardeman University)

Link to Freed-Hardeman University Graduate School of Theology

Link to Christian Chronicle story announcing David Shannon’s appointment as president of Freed-Hardeman University (from 2017)

View the full archive of stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to The Christian Chronicle at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send comments, ideas, and questions to [email protected]

TAGS

Oklahoma Christian University, Edmond, Oklahoma, graduate school, graduate studies, Bible, ministry, theology, religion, seminary, minister education, minister training, Christian higher education, Christian education, Christian college, Christian university, enrollment, budget, Cheryl Mann Bacon, Association of Theological Schools, Frank Yamada, accreditation, seminary, seminaries, denominations, discipline-based, competency-base

Level up your business leadership with the Freed-Hardeman University MBA. Learn more at fhu.edu/chronicle.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus with Healing Hands International. Learn more at hhi.org.

Some segments edited for brevity and clarity

Segment One: An Arab Israeli Christian talks about what is happening in Gaza and Israel (Sandro Jadon)

Link to Erik Tryggestad’s Christian Chronicle interview with Sandro Jadon in the days imm

ediately after the October 7 attack on Israel from Hamas

Link to Erik Tryggestad’ Christian Chronicle interviews with Israeli Christians serving in their country’s armed forces in the days following the October 7 attack

Link to The Christian Chronicle op-ed by Evertt Huffard on the crisis in Israel

Jeremie Beller’s Christian Chronicle story about communing and worshiping with the Nazareth Church of Christ in Jesus’s hometown

To contact Sandro Jadon about bringing your congregation or a group to visit Israel (with Sandro as your tour guide) and to visit Nazareth Church of Christ, email [email protected]. 

Link to donate to support Sandro and other Israeli Christian tour guides who are out of work because of the conflict in Israel

Segment Two: The past, present, and future of The Gospel Advocate and The Spiritual Sword (Dr. John Young)

Link to Calvin Cockrell’s Christian Chronicle report on the status of The Gospel Advocate and The Spiritual Sword

Link to The Gospel Advocate

Link to The Spiritual Sword

Link to Dr. John Young’s blog and website

Link to B-Team Consulting Podcast

Segment Three: Remembering Howard and Jane Norton (Dr. Laurie Diles)

The clip at the top of this segment comes from a sermon that Howard Norton preached at the Memorial Church of Christ in Edmond, Oklahoma, in 2017. 

Link to Christian Chronicle CEO Erik Tryggestad’s report on the passing of Howard and Jane Norton in October 2023

Link to The Christian Chronicle’s announcement of Howard Norton’s death in October 2023

Link to Howard and Jane Norton memo

Level up your business leadership with the Freed-Hardeman University MBA. Learn more at fhu.edu/chronicle.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus with Healing Hands International. Learn more at hhi.org.

Some segments edited for brevity and clarity

This episode explores what is going on in Christian education and among people between the ages of 13 and 25.

Segment One: Dr. Trace Hebert of Lipscomb University talks about his annual report on enrollment trends at colleges and universities from the Church of Christ tradition. Once again, Church of Christ students as a percent of total enrollment decreased, continuing a decline of more than 60 percent in the last 20 years. Dr. Hebert talks about what this means, not only for colleges and universities with roots and ties in the Church of Christ, but Church of Christ congregations in North America.

Link to Dr. Trace Hebert's annual report on enrollment at colleges and universities with roots and ties in the Church of Christ

Link to Dr. Trace Hebert’s bio and credentials

Link to The Christian Chronicle’s report on Dr. Hebert’s 2022 annual enrollment report

Segment Two: Small schools with low endowments are resorting to intercollegiate sports to boost enrollment and tuition revenue. While this is helping those schools grow or stay steady, it is quickly changing the makeup of their student bodies, putting pressure on their Christian commitments, culture, and mission. The president of one of those schools, Mitch Henry of Faulkner University, talks about how his institution is turning this challenge into an opportunity for evangelism.

Link to Audrey Jackson’s Christian Chronicle story on student athletes committing to Christ at York University

Link to Calvin Cockrell’s Christian Chronicle story on 37 baptisms on the Faulkner University football team

Link to Calvin Cockrell’s Christian Chronicle report on the inauguration of Mitch Henry as Faulkner University’s president 

Link to The Christian Chronicle Podcast Episode Nine (first interview with Faulkner University president Mitch Henry)

Segment Three: Dr. Tricia Bruce of Springtide Research brings the latest study on how people between the ages of 13 and 25 think about the Bible, church, God, and spirituality. How might congregations reach and keep these young people?

Link to Springtide Research Institute

Link to Dr. Tricia Bruce bio and credentials

Link to report: State of religion and young people 2023

Level up your business leadership with the Freed-Hardeman University MBA. Learn more at fhu.edu/chronicle.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus with Healing Hands International. Learn more at hhi.org.

After the mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, the surviving victims needed a place to resume learning...and a place to try to recover. Nearby Brentwood Hills Church of Christ opened its building and its hearts to them. Ministers Amy Bowman and Jonathan Seamon talk about what it's like to love neighbors who are grieving and recovering from unimaginable horror.

'The Blind' is a motion picture that reveals the true story of Phil and Miss Kay Robertson and their family of 'Duck Dynasty' fame. Their oldest son, Al Robertson, talks about what it was like to make the movie and what his family hopes it will accomplish for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God.

Retirees Chris and Connie Stinnett call in from their RV, where they live full-time and travel the country. They tell the stories of showing up unannounced at more than 13 Church of Christ congregations in ten states.

Segment One: How Brentwood Hills Church of Christ is loving its neighbors who are victims of a mass school shooting (Amy Bowman and Jonathan Seamon)

Link to The Christian Chronicle’s coverage of Church of Christ congregations and members responding to the Covenant School shooting

Segment Two: The Blind (Al Robertson)

Link to The Blind movie website

Link to an archive of The Christian Chronicle’s coverage of Duck Dynasty, the Roberston family, and West Monroe (Louisiana) Church of Christ

Link to The Christian Chronicle’s review of The Blind

Link to Duck Dynasty

Link to Duck Commander

Link to Phil Robertson’s Unashamed Podcast

Segment Three: Showing up unannounced and uninvited at 17 churches in 12 states (Chris and Connie Stinnett)

Link to The Christian Chronicle story about Chris and Connie Stinnett’s travels

View the full archive of stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to The Christian Chronicle at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send comments, ideas, and questions to [email protected]

https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2111187/13903732/transcript

TAGS

Covenant School, Covenant School shooting, school shootings, mass shootings, Brentwood Hills Church of Christ, Brentwood, Nashville, Tennessee, Erik Tryggestad, Amy Bowman, Jonathan Seamon, church building, neighbors, loving neighbors, community, recovery, Tennessee Titans, Will Levis, Ryan Tannehill, Nashville Predators, Vanderbilt Commodores, Nashville Sounds, Wynonna, Wynonna Judd, Macon, Georgia, Jason Aldean, Morgan Wallen, The B

Level up your business leadership with the Freed-Hardeman University MBA. Learn more at fhu.edu/chronicle.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus with Healing Hands International. Learn more at hhi.org.

Few changes in popular culture are causing more discomfort and raising more questions in the church than how the LGBTQ+ lifestyle is going mainstream in North America. It's not just outside the church. Over the last 20 years, Christians who accept and even approve at least parts of the LGBTQ+ lifestyle increased from next to none to almost one in three today. For this reason, prominent biblical scholar and congregational leader Dr. Rubel Shelly wrote his latest book, 'Male & Female God Created Them: A Biblical Review of LGBTQ+ Claims.' In this episode, Dr. Shelly answers questions about his new book and the scholarship and thinking that went into its conclusions. 


Link to archive of Christian Chronicle reports and stories on LGBTQ+ issues

Link to Male & Female God Created Them: A Biblical Review of LGBTQ+ Claims by Dr. Rubel Shelly (College Press)

View the full archive of stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to The Christian Chronicle at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send comments, ideas, and questions to [email protected]

TAGS

LGBTQ, LGBTQ+, Rubel Shelly, Male & Female God Created Them, book, College Press, Bible, God, Jesus, church, congregations, popular culture, marriage, relationships, family, gender, sex, sexuality, homosexuality, gay, straight, trans, traditional family, gender roles, questioning, same sex, same sex attraction, same sex marriage, bigot, bigotry, hate, accountability, salvation issue, single, chastity, purity, Luke Timothy Johnson, Onanism, universal morals, creation order, creation, purity, nature of God, Leviticus, holiness, Genesis 1-2, affirming, welcoming not affirming, The Ink is Dry, lesbian, Holiness Codes, Apostle Paul, BT Irwin

Level up your business leadership with the Freed-Hardeman University MBA. Learn more at fhu.edu/chronicle.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus with Healing Hands International. Learn more at hhi.org.

On September 6, 2018, off-duty Dallas police officer Amber Guyger entered the apartment of Dallas West Church of Christ member and Harding University alumnus Botham Jean. Mistaking his apartment for her own, she came through the unlocked front door, found Jean eating ice cream and watching TV on the couch, and shot him with her service weapon. Jean died and a jury later convicted Guyger of murder, sentencing her to ten years in prison. News media around the world covered every minute of the trial, but the moment that most people will remember is when Jean's younger brother, Brandt, forgave Guyger and embraced her at her sentencing. Five years later, Jean's older sister, Allisa Charles-Findley, still struggles with how her brother's murder plunged her into anger, despair, doubt, grief, and the struggle to forgive the killer. This fall, she released her first book 'After Botham', to write about that struggle. In this episode, you will hear from her in her own voice and words.
Link to an archive of The Christian Chronicle’s coverage of events surrounding Botham Jean’s murder

Link to After Botham: Healing From My Brother’s Murder By a Police Officer, by Allisa Charles-Findley and Jeremiah Cobra (Chalice Press)

Link to Botham Jean Foundation

Link to Allisa Charles-Findley’s website

Color of Change

View the full archive of stories at christianchronicle.org

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TAGS

After Botham, Chalice Press, Botham Jean, Allisa Charles-Findley, Amber Guyger, Dallas, Texas, Dallas West Church of Christ, Harding University, forgiveness, law enforcement, police brutality, Botham Jean Foundation, racism, grief, Grief Share, therapy, anger with God, anger, forgiveness, justice, accountability, Brandt Jean, trauma, police reform, no-knock warrants, Breonna Taylor, Amir Locke, chokeholds, Antwon Rose, George Floyd, Justice in Policing Act, decertification, Color of Change, BT Irwin

Level up your business leadership with the Freed-Hardeman University MBA. Learn more at fhu.edu/chronicle.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus with Healing Hands International. Learn more at hhi.org.