Church of Christ kid and small-town high school athlete Colt McCoy grew up to be one of the greatest college football players of all time before going on to play 13 seasons in the National Football League.

Just a few weeks before recording this conversation with The Christian Chronicle, McCoy announced his retirement from playing the sport that made him famous.

In this episode, he opens up about what it is like to do something at such a high level for so long, only to wake up one day and recognize that it is all over. He shares how, through the loss of big games (like the 2009 BCS National Championship) and missed opportunities (like being the Heisman Trophy runner-up his senior year), God taught him how to stay hopeful in loss.

McCoy also opens up about how he found ways to lead his teammates, tolerate constant (and sometimes debilitating) pain and see God everywhere he went in college and professional football.

Most of all, he explains how he kept his focus on God and on representing Christ in the bright lights, constant temptations and enormous pressure of big time football. And he lets us wonder with him what God might do next as he enters the second act of his life after football.

Link to The Christian Chronicle's archive of Colt McCoy interviews and stories from his 18-year college and professional football career

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This episode is brought to you by Freed-Hardeman University Church Leadership Workshop, September 27 - 28, 2024, at Mid-South Youth Camp in Henderson, Tennessee. FREE for all church leaders who register in advance.

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Visit our partners at OnlineSpanishChurch.com to find out how they can help your congregation start reaching your Spanish-speaking neighbors.

Darcy Todd (Woodland West Church of Christ, Arlington, Texas) is the 2024 Starbucks North America Barista Champion. She recently beat out 17,000 Starbucks baristas for the title.

In this episode, she'll not only tell the story of how she did it, she'll explain how working in a Starbucks is not so different from working in a church (one with exceptional coffee!). She'll even throw in a few suggestions for special (non-menu) drinks you should try next time you're at Starbucks.

Link to The Christian Chronicle's announcement of Darcy Todd's big win in the Starbucks barista competition

Link to the Starbucks company magazine story about Darcy

Link to Nehemiah Coffee Co. (referenced by Darcy in this episode)

Find more news and stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org

This episode is brought to you by Freed-Hardeman University Church Leadership Workshop, September 27 - 28, 2024, at Mid-South Youth Camp in Henderson, Tennessee. FREE for all church leaders who register in advance.

Go to fhu.edu and type "Church Leadership Workshop" in the search bar

Visit our partners at OnlineSpanishChurch.com to find out how they can help your congregation start reaching your Spanish-speaking neighbors.

In 2010, Ose Ehimare and her four(!) unborn children faced poor chances of survival unless they could get special medical care not available where they lived in Abuja, Nigeria. God made a way for Ose to come to the U.S. to get the care she needed for herself and her children at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

But she was 6,000 miles from home and all alone in a strange land. That's when the Northlake Church of Christ in nearby Tucker, Ga., gave her and her children a home and surrounded them in extraordinary care until they were all healthy and strong enough to return to Nigeria.

Fourteen years after their birth, Ose's four children, Alyssa, Bibiana, Noah and Valencia, asked to return to Northlake Church of Christ to be born again. On August 25, all four of them went down together into the waters of baptism.

In this episode, we hear from Ose Ehimare and Bibiana Ehimare, one of her daughters who returned to Northlake Church of Christ for her baptism. We also hear from Cathy Hendrick, the Northlake member who, along with her husband, Jeff, made their own house a home for Ose and her babies in 2010.

The closing song is the Northlake Church of Christ singing "Great Things".

Link to The Christian Chronicle's Erik Tryggestad's original 2010 report on Northlake Church of Christ coming alongside Ose Ehimare and her quadruplets

Link to Erik Tryggestad's Christian Chronicle report on Alyssa, Bibiana, Noah, and Valencia coming back to Northlake Church of Christ for their baptisms in 2024

Find more news and stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org

This episode is brought to you by Freed-Hardeman University Church Leadership Workshop, September 27 - 28, 2024, at Mid-South Youth Camp in Henderson, Tennessee. FREE for all church leaders who register in advance.

Go to fhu.edu and type "Church Leadership Workshop" in the search bar

Visit our partners at OnlineSpanishChurch.com to find out how they can help your congregation start reaching your Spanish-speaking neighbors.

How much should you trust the people in your own congregation to not steal money? This may seem like an almost offensive question, but in this episode we explore the astonishing increase in embezzlement in congregations and ministries around the world. According to data from our guest, 1 in 3 churches will become victims of embezzlement at some point and 6 percent of all Christian giving worldwide is lost to internal theft.

Churches of Christ are not immune. In the last few years, several trusted members and ministers stole enormous amounts of money from congregations in several states.

What is at the root of this problem and what might congregational leaders do to prevent their own members from succumbing to the temptation to steal from the church and its ministries?

Our guest, Dr. Todd Johnson, co-director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, shares the latest research on financial crimes among Christian congregations and organizations and what the future may hold. He explains how congregations often make themselves prone to financial crime and offers suggestions for closing the lapses and loopholes that tempt Christians to steal.

Click here for access to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity research on embezzlement (and other facts about Christianity worldwide)

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This episode is brought to you by Freed-Hardeman University Church Leadership Workshop, September 27 - 28, 2024, at Mid-South Youth Camp in Henderson, Tennessee. FREE for all church leaders who register in advance.

Go to fhu.edu and type "Church Leadership Workshop" in the search bar

S.J. Dahlstrom is one of the most award-winning and critically-acclaimed authors of youth fiction. He is the creator of the "Wilder Good" series of nine books that follow the adventures of a 12-year old boy growing up in the American West. Dahlstrom is a four-time winner of the Wrangler Western Heritage Award, five-time winner of the Will Rogers Medallion, four-time finalist for the Lamplighter Award, and two-time finalist and one-time winner of the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. He's also a lifelong member of Churches of Christ and the son of a Church of Christ preacher.

In this episode, Dahlstrom talks about the crucial role the church and its men play in forming and training boys for Christian manhood.

Find more news and stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org

This episode is brought to you by Freed-Hardeman University Church Leadership Workshop, September 27 - 28, 2024, at Mid-South Youth Camp in Henderson, Tennessee. FREE for all church leaders who register in advance.

Go to fhu.edu and type "Church Leadership Workshop" in the search bar

Visit our partners at OnlineSpanishChurch.com to find out how they can help your congregation start reaching your Spanish-speaking neighbors.

Rochester Christian University, founded in 1959 as North Central Christian Junior College, has deep roots and strong ties to Churches of Christ. Like other colleges and universities in this tradition, Rochester Christian built itself around its school of ministry and theology so that its graduates would become leaders and ministers in churches around the world.

In June 2024, Rochester Christian made history as the first university associated with Churches of Christ to appoint two women, Dr. Naomi Walters and Dr. Beth Bowers, to lead its graduate and undergraduate ministry and theology programs.

In this episode, Dr. Walters and Dr. Bowers survey the landscape of congregational ministry now and the horizon of what it may become in the future. And they cast their vision for educating, forming and training ministers for the congregations of tomorrow.

Find more news and stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org

This episode is brought to you by Freed-Hardeman University Church Leadership Workshop, September 27 - 28, 2024, at Mid-South Youth Camp in Henderson, Tennessee. FREE for all church leaders who register in advance.

Go to fhu.edu and type "Church Leadership Workshop" in the search bar

Visit our partners at OnlineSpanishChurch.com to find out how they can help your congregation start reaching your Spanish-speaking neighbors.

In front of a live audience at Sycamore View Church of Christ in Memphis, Tennessee, we interview Josh Ross, author of Coreology: Six Principles for Navigating an Election Season Without Losing Our Witness.

So many things that Christians hear, read and talk about these days have to do with how they get along with political opponents or how they use their political power. In this conversation, however, we focus on how the church of Christ protects and upholds its unique witness in times of political strife. How does the church hold onto its story, maintain its credibility and integrity, rise above the discord and noise and proclaim good news that is truly good?

Link to Josh Ross's book, Coreology: Six Principles for Navigating an Election Season Without Losing Our Witness

Find more news and stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org

This episode is brought to you by Freed-Hardeman University Church Leadership Workshop, September 27 - 28, 2024, at Mid-South Youth Camp in Henderson, Tennessee. FREE for all church leaders who register in advance.

Go to fhu.edu and type "Church Leadership Workshop" in the search bar

Visit our partners at OnlineSpanishChurch.com to find out how they can help your congregation start reaching your Spanish-speaking neighbors.

These days, politics in the United States seems to be a dividing force even among Christians. Over the last few years, how many Christians changed congregations or cut off relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ over politics? How many Christians feel, and sometimes give into, the temptation to attack other Christians because they identify with a different political figure or party?

In this episode, two Church of Christ members who are leaders in opposing political parties come to the table to share their thoughts on how Christians can run counter to the current political culture and rise above its negativity. How might Christians disagree (even strongly) on policy without judging and waging war on each other?

Shay Cathey is a member of Central Pointe Church of Christ in Dallas and vice chair of the Texas Democratic Party. She is a delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Michele Woodhouse is a member of Biltmore Church of Christ in Asheville, N.C., and Republican Party chair of North Carolina's 11th Congressional District. She was a delegate to the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Find more news and stories at christianchronicle.org

Donate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donate

Send your comments, ideas, and suggestions to podcast@christianchronicle.org

This episode is brought to you by Freed-Hardeman University Church Leadership Workshop, September 27 - 28, 2024, at Mid-South Youth Camp in Henderson, Tennessee. FREE for all church leaders who register in advance.

Go to fhu.edu and type "Church Leadership Workshop" in the search bar

Visit our partners at OnlineSpanishChurch.com to find out how they can help your congregation start reaching your Spanish-speaking neighbors.