Your Christian Chronicle friends just experienced a major Thunderstorm
Meanwhile, we're trying a new approach with our email newsletters. We hope you like it.
GREETINGS from all your friends at The Christian Chronicle!
This is Bobby Ross Jr., editor-in-chief of the Chronicle, emailing this afternoon to share a few of our latest headlines.
In an effort to serve you better, we are experimenting with Substack as our platform for delivering email newsletters. Please let us know what you think!
The Chronicle is, as you may know, based in Oklahoma City. Most of us are major Thunder fans, so we’re a little bleary-eyed today. After all, OKC experienced a major Thunderstorm last night.
Thunder up, friends!
Reflecting on a 20-year journey
By Bobby Ross Jr. | Editor-in-Chief
ROANOKE, TEXAS — Somehow, 20 years have passed since I left The Associated Press for The Christian Chronicle.
After accepting the job in 2005, I actually worked on my first Chronicle story while finishing my commitment with AP’s Dallas bureau.
On a day off from the wire service, I went to interview an older Christian at his ranch home northeast of Fort Worth.
“I was really surprised when I heard The Christian Chronicle wanted to do a story about me,” the 93-year-old Church of Christ member told me.
I took the statement as a sign of Byron Nelson’s true humility.
I mean, why wouldn’t the Chronicle want to write about Nelson, a dedicated Christian known as much for his gentlemanly conduct as his 52 PGA Tour victories?
Three years later, my son Keaton, then 11, traveled with me to New York City. We mixed my work with a bit of fun, riding the subway, eating at a pizzeria and cheering at a New York Mets game. I wrote about our experience but had no way of knowing that trip might influence Keaton’s future career choice. He’s now 28 and an award-winning investigative reporter.
Jack Zorn, the influential minister and founder of Lads to Leaders, showed my 2008 column to his daughter Rhonda Zorn Fernandez. She reached out to me and reminisced about the trips she and her father took to the Big Apple when she was a girl.
In 2015, I flew to Alabama to catch up with Fernandez and explore her role as a caretaker for her parents, Jack and Frances, both of whom had entered hospice care.
“My daddy was blind and almost deaf, but y’all bonded over Blue Bell ice cream and your inquisitive spirit!” Fernandez — who now serves on the Chronicle’s national board of trustees — remembered in a recent text message. “He felt drawn to your sincerity and talked about how fascinating it must be to travel the world meeting brethren.”
It’s fascinating indeed — and an amazing blessing.
‘I stand on my faith’
By Bobby Ross Jr. | Editor-in-Chief
HOUSTON — DeMeco Ryans required no introduction as he stepped to the pulpit on a recent Sunday night.
Neither fellow members of the Fifth Ward Church of Christ nor fans of the Houston Texans — the NFL team where Ryans serves as head coach — need to be told his name.
“I am grateful and honored and humbled for this opportunity to stand before you tonight,” Ryans said after Houston’s oldest Black congregation sang familiar hymns such as “Jesus Is Coming Soon” and “We’re Marching to Zion.”
Ryans first placed membership with the Fifth Ward church in 2006, his rookie season as a Texans linebacker. He thanked the elders, especially Barry Gibson, for “hyping up” his guest sermon and “getting everybody to show up.”
“Brother Barry, he challenges me,” Ryans said. “He’s motivated me, always, to step out of my comfort zone and teach and now preach and serve.
“I get it, y’all,” the 40-year-old deacon added. “He’s my elder-coach.”
Ryans’ quip drew laughter from the congregation, which knows the coach — who has led the Texans to two straight AFC South division titles — as a devoted Christian who oversees Fifth Ward’s visitors ministry.
The former All-Pro linebacker expressed appreciation, too, to his wife, Jamila, and their four children: 11-year-old son M.J., 8-year-old daughter Xia, 6-year-old son Micah and 15-month-old daughter Zuri.
“Thank you so much for your love and support,” Ryans said to his family, sitting in the pews.
Crash kills Hawaii elder and his wife
By Kenzie James | Intern
PAST AND PRESENT members of the Honolulu Church of Christ mourn the loss of one of their elders and his wife, who were killed in a car wreck on Friday, June 6.
Ralph Schultz, 62, and his wife, Perla “Lala” Schultz, 66, were driving through Glenwood, Iowa, to visit family and hike, when a bus crashed into their vehicle on the highway.
