By Chris West I recently had the chance to sit down (virtually) with Melissa Florer-Bixler to discuss her new book How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger & The Work of Peace. Florer-Bixler is the pastor of a Mennonite congregation in Raleigh, NC, that is actively involved in social justice work and advocacy for marginalized … Continue reading
by Grayson Hester Rev. Dr. Libby Grammer never really cared for sports. And, despite living in Martinsville, Virginia, known primarily for its racetrack, she especially didn’t care much for NASCAR. That is, until she became the first woman ever to deliver a pre-race prayer. “I think it’s important that NASCAR and this community know that women … Continue reading
by Caleb Mynatt With a nearly 30-year career as a chaplain under his belt, Paul Byrd can’t imagine his life being any different. But before his career began as a resident in a Clinical Pastoral Education program, Byrd had never really considered pursuing a career in chaplaincy. In childhood, Byrd thought he would grow up … Continue reading
By Jennifer ColosimoFor the past 17 years, CBF field personnel Shane McNary and his wife, Dianne, have lived more than 5,000 miles away from home ministering to the Roma people in Slovakia and Czechia. From teaching English and serving children to spearheading missions teams to helping the poor and starting churches, they’ve worked to encourage … Continue reading
By Jennifer Colosimo Angel Pittman’s passion has always been steeped in education. She spent many years as an elementary school teacher before joining CBF as field personnel to lead out-of-school programming at Touching Miami with Love (TML). Now 25 years into her career, she has discovered a new way to live out her calling. As … Continue reading
By Andrew Nash Sanela doesn’t read or write English. So, without the help of CBF field personnel Sasha Zivanov, she would not have been able to pass the computer test that landed her the job at Walmart that feeds her family. “When I was starting out, I had to take pictures of the questions and … Continue reading
by Grayson Hester To tell this story about a ministry in the Knoxville, Tenn., area in 2021, we have to travel back in time to rural Indiana in 2015. Scott County, Indiana, a majority-white, rural, working-class area, only notable, as many such counties are, for not being very notable, suddenly found itself the epicenter of … Continue reading
by Andrew Nash It is always hard to take on a new role as a senior pastor in your 20s, but there is an added degree of difficulty when doing so during a global pandemic. There’s even more of a challenge doing so in Flint, Mich., site of a water crisis that has had lasting … Continue reading
By Andrew Nash Mirsada’s parents had a plan to escape from the Bosnian Civil War. The first step was getting to Germany. The second step was getting arrested intentionally. “When we came to Germany, we had to actually go to the bus station and act like we didn’t have money to pay for tickets so … Continue reading
By Jennifer Colosimo In the southeastern U.S., the tiny town of Immokalee, Florida, is home to a growing population of migrant workers who make up a large part of the local workforce. They’re predominantly farmworkers who help grow millions of tons of food for exportation every year. Ironically, for these residents, the place they call … Continue reading
