African Christians host the conference once every four years in nations across the continent. I attended and reported on the conference four years ago in Badagry, Nigeria. That conference was part of the inspiration for Global South.

I always enjoy finding the “hidden gems” at conferences — the presentations that don’t have top billing or well-known names but are extraordinary nonetheless. Take Tebogo Ramatsui and Machona Monyamane, for example.

“So what’s it like over there?” That’s a question Alan and Rachel Howell hear every so often from their friends in America. So, in a recent blog post, the missionaries in Montepuez, Mozambique, detail a week in their lives.

Abilene Christian University kicked off its 2010 Summit lectureship Sunday with a salute to Samson — but no hair was cut and no buildings collapsed. Instead, the 4,700-student university recognized the work of Samson Shandu for 33 years of service to Manzini Bible School (now African Christian College) in the southern African nation of Swaziland. Samson and his wife, Elline, went onstage during the first night of the Summit to receive the Towel Award. They were given a commemorative bowl and towel, signifying their servant leadership.

I’m always amused when one of my international contacts alerts me to a good news story taking place right here in the United States. That’s what happened just a few days before I left on my two-week reporting trip to southern Africa. Ibrahim Rambi, a minister for the Kado-Abuja Church of Christ in Abuja, Nigeria, sent me a Facebook message saying that a member of the congregation — Ose Aburime — had just given birth to quadruplets in Atlanta. I wrote him back and asked how I could get in touch with the family. He sent me the phone number of Brent Wiseman, a member of the Northlake Church of Christ in Tucker, Ga. (Yes, I sent an e-mail across the Atlantic Ocean to get the phone number of a guy in Atlanta.)

I’m returning from a two-week reporting trip for our Global South series to Swaziland, South Africa and Malawi. It will take me weeks to process all of the information I’ve gathered, but the one thought that sticks out in my mind is that we truly are a family of believers — no matter what continent we call home.

The D-Malikebu Church of Christ is a simple brick building with stone pews that seem to melt into the floor. I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s no sign outside the building. But everybody seems to know that it’s here. It’s been here — in a small village of the southern African nation of Malawi — since 1964, though the Christians had to rebuild it once after a fire. About 170 members worship here. The church has four elders.

No dessert is more American than apple pie. And no dessert is more South African than malva pudding, or so I’m told. I got heaping helpings of both tonight at the home of Chris Burke. I’m here at his home in Benoni, a suburb of Johannesburg, in between reporting trips to Swaziland and Malawi. I rode here this morning from Swaziland with Fielden and Janet Allison, who teach at African Christian College and are beginning a 10-week road trip with their marriage enrichment ministry.

The tiny kingdom of Swaziland, nestled between South Africa and Mozambique, seems an unlikely place to hear a debate on whether or not Jesus violated the Sabbath when he healed a man. But that was the topic in Friday morning’s class on hermeneutics (the study of interpreting Scripture) at African Christian College. I’m here on a reporting trip, gathering more stories for The Christian Chronicle’s ongoing “Global South” series. Some students argued that, yes, Jesus was breaking the Sabbath law by “working,” but it didn’t matter because God made the law. Others said that Jesus only violated the Pharisees’ interpretation of the law.

The latest two installments of our award-winning Global South series are set on American soil. It seems odd for a series focusing on church growth in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent to feature datelines from exotic locations like … Hyattsville, Md., and Indianapolis (and don’t forget our earlier story from Minnesota). But these locales are an important part of the story of the changing face of the church. We launched Global South in July 2009 to show how a century of unparalleled church growth in Africa and other parts of the world has transformed Churches of Christ. We truly are a global fellowship, and what we have long considered “epicenters” of church growth are shifting from Nashville and Dallas to places including Hyderabad, Tegucigalpa, Phnom Penh and Accra.