by Stephanie Schiraldi | Mar 29, 2015 | News Slider
Collins Alumni Auditorium was full of life Saturday night — life that will help bring water to those in need. The 13th annual Anteater’s Ball brought incredible vocals, comical dance routines and a lip sync battle. The variety show is hosted by Alpha Phi Chi and Pi Kappa Sigma. Director of Anteater’s Ball Chris Netterville, a junior English major from Nashville, said putting the show together is a big task, but the end result is worth it. “What separates Anteater’s Ball from Singarama or anything that the performance art departments put on is that Anteater’s Ball is solely aimed towards serving,” Netterville said. “We aim to use our performance talents to directly impact the world around us by raising money for local nonprofits.” This year, all proceeds went toward the Well Coffeehouse’s Groundswell Project .95. The Well is a non-profit missional coffeehouse providing quality coffee in exchange for funds to provide clean water for people around the world. The Groundswell Project .95 is raising $38,000 to support the Well’s next well drilling project in Nairobi, Kenya. The project plans include building three wells around that area. “Project .95 is designed to be able to help an area of Kenya that has not had rain in over seven years,” said Steve Morrow, secretary of the board for the Well Coffeehouse. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to be raised in a nation that might not potentially see rain for that long.” The Well has built six wells in Africa, three wells in Haiti and five water filtration systems around the world since opening two years ago. “It’s been a thrilling ride to watch God,...
by Mignonne Bryant | Jan 16, 2015 | News Slider
Through casual coffee and conversation, his involvement has reached many – even those abroad in Africa and Haiti. Rob Touchstone, co-founder of The Well Coffeehouse and adjunct bible professor, knows how to think outside the box when it comes to business ideas. And now, as the newly appointed director of missional entrepreneurship in Lipscomb’s College of Business, he hopes to inspire the same thinking in others. It all started with golf balls. Touchstone grew up near a golf course where he and his friends would collect lost balls in the woods. He very soon came up with an idea: to re-sell all the missing golf balls back to the golfers. Touchstone said the golfers would find it hilarious because they were most likely buying back their own balls. With some money in his pocket, Touchstone and his friends decided to grow the ‘business’ by selling lemonade. While the golf balls continued to sell, they found that the golfers had no interest in purchasing lemonade. Toward the end of the day, Touchstone and his friends had plenty of lemonade left, so they decided to give it away for free. Touchstone said that when they did this, the golfers would reach into their pockets to pull out money. By trying to give away the lemonade for free, they ended up gaining a profit in return. Touchstone has always cherished this concept, and he’s even carried it with him through his most recent endeavor. Now, The Well gives all of its profits to missions and building wells in poverty-stricken countries. So far, the business has funded nine wells around the world. The latest development...
by Leah Raich | May 29, 2012 | News Slider
With final exams now nearly one month in the rearview mirror, Lipscomb students have turned their focus to their next objective – serving Christ across the globe this summer. Over the course of 106 days, from May 4 through Aug. 17, Lipscomb Missions will have 24 teams on the ground in 18 different countries. The timeframe is broad in scope – all summer long – and so are the locations and types of services being offered. From discipline-specific trips in Engineering that will be serving communities in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic to a first year trip to Moldova where a team of graduate psychology students will be providing therapeutic counseling to girls once caught in human trafficking, some students have the opportunity to take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it in a mission field. Students will experience a variety of cultures, from the two trips to Australia (Brisbane and Perth) where students will engage growing churches and encourage youth, to two trips in India where Lipscomb teams will spend five weeks in Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta ministering in a country where Christians are the minority. In each of these missions, students will have the unique chance to literally “go into all the world,” as Jesus directs his followers in Mark 16:15. This year’s 24 summer trips are a record for Lipscomb Missions, up from 20 trips in 2011 and just eight trips three years ago in 2009. There has been a significant shift in the landscape of the Missions Program as the number of trips offered has flipped from being heavily weighted on spring break efforts to the current majority of summer trips leading...
by Aaron Schmelzer | Apr 29, 2011 | News Slider
Care for Aids is a non-profit organization started by two college students who were confronted by the harsh realities of life for HIV-positive men and women in Kenya. Seeing both the physical and spiritual needs of these suffering people, they believed the Kenyan churches had the power to be more than a house of worship but could be a haven for medical care, life counseling and HIV support. Thus, partnership was established with local Kenyan churches. However, before meeting spiritual needs, the physical needs had to be met. Without proper medical, nutritional and hygienic care, these individuals have limited life expectancy. However, with proper care and education, their life expectancy can increase to about 10-20 years. Other physical means used are teaching them trade skills to help them produce an income and provide food. Once caring for their physical needs, spiritual needs are provided through counseling and teaching the HIV clients about the gospel. This provides hope, meaning and purpose to the lives of those who have been kicked out of their families and despised by their communities. By tangibly demonstrating Christ’s love, these churches are empowering individuals and transforming communities every day. Within Kenya, approximately 1.4 million people are infected with HIV. Care for Aids currently has 10 centers which each care for 80 clients a year. It costs about $18,000 a year to run these centers, coming down to about $20 per month, per client. So how can you help? A book drive is going to be held during finals week – Friday and Saturday, April 29 and 30, and Monday through Wednesday, May 1-3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the student center. Caroline Scherer, a senior family relations and nursing...
