CALIFORNIA

ANDERSON — The Anderson Church of Christ delivered buckets of seedlings to senior citizens recently, allowing them to grow tomatoes and peppers.

The church’s Victory Garden Bucket Project is aimed at providing seniors living in apartments with healthy vegetables and herbs, The Redding Searchlight reported. The hope is for seniors to reap both nutritional and emotional benefits.

“It can kind of lift the spirit to see tomatoes make the full cycle from bloom to food on your table,” member Tom Bryant told the newspaper.

KANSAS

WELLINGTON — Gary Bodine, minister of the Wellington Church of Christ, developed a plan for involving more members in doing good works.
Bodine calls it “Monday Night for the Master,” and a number of congregations have borrowed the idea.

At Wellington, it works like this: Cooks prepare a hot meal that is served at 6 p.m. At about 6:40, participants gather for a devotional and instruction period.

Then participants break into small groups for activities such as visiting prospective and new members, writing encouragement cards and making repairs and doing lawn work at the church building.

For more information, call Bodine at (620) 326-7511 or e-mail gb4jc@sbcglobal.net.
 
KENTUCKY

HARRODSBURG — When minister Rick Leach and his wife, Laura, left the Northside Church of Christ in Jeffersonville, Ind., their former home stayed on the market for 15 months.

But then members of the Northside church did an “Extreme Home Makeover” on it, and a buyer made an offer within a week, Laura Leach said.

To “Pay It Forward,” the Leaches’ new congregation — the Mercer Church of Christ in Harrodsburg — did a makeover on the home of its former minister, Jason Pierce.

Pierce is now minister of the Parsons, Tenn., church.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to help ministers who are transplanting, and it’s especially good for the church to be involved,” Laura Leach said.
 
MARYLAND

BALTIMORE — Why open a Christian bookstore during a recession? Andrea Lorick said that’s the question her daughter, Erica, asked her parents.

“Our answer was simple: It was time to stop dreaming and start doing,” Andrea Lorick said. She and her husband, Eric, are members of the East Baltimore Church of Christ.

The mission of Agape Christian Books Gifts & Music “is to speak to the spiritual hunger of people today and empower Christians to enjoy their faith by learning more about our Savior,” she said.
 
MISSOURI

TROY — The Fairgrounds Road Church of Christ on the outskirts of St. Louis has an average Sunday attendance of 80. But that number swelled at the church’s recent Vacation Bible School.

The three-night event drew a Thursday crowd of 137 children and adults, deacon of education Rod Dollins said. The church distributed fliers inviting the community to VBS.

“The theme ‘In His Service’ made a positive impression in the community,” Dollins said. “Children who attended filled appreciation bags with snacks and other useful items, which were then distributed to local fire and police personnel.”
 
OHIO

AMHERST — If Cleveland Browns rookie Colt McCoy is looking for a church home, the young people at the Amherst Church of Christ, west of Cleveland, want him to know he’s welcome there.

“All of the teens wrote him a letter telling him a little about themselves and inviting him to worship with us when he moves to Ohio,” said Barb Ziegler, wife of church elder Keith Ziegler.

The teens sent the letters to Brad McCoy, father of the former Texas Longhorn star quarterback. Colt’s dad promised to share the letters with his son.

TEXAS

DALLAS — The Preston Road Church of Christ has more room for ministry. A new youth area, gymnasium, playground and children’s wings have expanded the congregation’s facilities to 70,000 square feet, administrative assistant Shanna Dusza said.

Also, the church has hired Dr. Kiran Robertson as medical director for the Christ’s Family Clinic. The health-care clinic inside the church building serves the working poor, Dusza said.