Family

An Unexpected Invitation That Changed Everything

Published

2 hours ago

August 22, 2026

faithandfreedo

Faith Facts

An American visitor was invited to participate in a multi-day Vietnamese funeral ceremony, experiencing profound Christian fellowship across cultures
The memorial service featured Scripture from Revelation 14:13, celebrating eternal rest for believers who die in the Lord
Missionary Tom Tune’s compassionate outreach transformed an impoverished Vietnamese family, leading to multiple baptisms and the launch of a thriving Christian English school

Imagine preparing to host a visitor from halfway around the world when a beloved family member suddenly passes away. Most of us would scramble to find another host, worried about imposing grief on a stranger.

But that’s not how faith works in Vietnam, where the body of Christ transcends cultural boundaries in ways that put our Western sensibilities to shame.

Shortly after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City to meet contact Hai Huynh, an American visitor found himself whisked away on the back of a scooter to the funeral of Nguyen Chau Son, a man he’d never met. What could have been an awkward intrusion became a profound lesson in Christian community and the eternal hope we share in Christ.

Nguyen’s casket stood in a family room opening onto a neighborhood street in Can Tho, a city of 1.5 million in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Above the casket hung a digital sign scrolling messages of mourning.

Elaborate floral arrangements filled the room. Next to Nguyen’s photo stood a Bible verse in Vietnamese—Revelation 14:13.

“I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on! The Holy Spirit said, ‘Yes, for they rest from their labors, and their works follow them.'”

The visitor had met Nguyen’s stepdaughter, Ngan, more than a decade earlier in Oklahoma City. Legendary sailor and longtime South Pacific missionary Tom Tune brought her by for introductions as she started graduate school at Oklahoma Christian University.

While working in Vietnam, Tom had started a program helping poor Vietnamese families pay for education. His efforts resulted in multiple baptisms, including Nguyen and his entire family—a testament to the power of practical Christian love.

Ngan, once shy and overwhelmed, had returned to Vietnam and launched an English school with multiple campuses serving hundreds of students. Even while mourning her stepfather, she greeted her American friend warmly.

In Vietnam, funerals are multi-day affairs. The family set up two tents and tables in the street and began cooking—and cooking and cooking.

Between visits into the countryside to meet families served by the growing Church of Christ in Can Tho, someone was always preparing a meal, always pulling guests toward tables to share in feasts. Plate after plate of prawns, beef, pork and chicken appeared, along with great bowls of pho, the Vietnamese soup with rice noodles.

The food was amazing, but the fellowship proved even better. Extended family members and teachers from the English school gathered to share stories and laughter.

We often say we want funerals to feel like celebrations. This one genuinely did—a true celebration of eternal life in Christ, not morbid ritual or empty ceremony.

At least once daily, mourners gathered around the casket as Hai led hymns in Vietnamese, including “I Need Thee Every Hour” and “There’s Sunshine in My Soul.” The American visitor was asked to pray for the family—mercifully, in English.

On the final morning, men in red uniforms with yellow stripes arrived to take down the scrolling sign and load the casket onto an elaborately ornamented truck. Ngan, her mother (known as “Miss Eight”), and immediate family wore white, Vietnam’s traditional mourning color, and carried photos of Nguyen.

At the cemetery and crematorium about 20 minutes away, after more hymns and prayers, the family said final goodbyes and shed tears. The visitor found himself remembering loved ones lost over the past decade—evidence of how shared grief in Christ transcends all earthly divisions.

He also thought about countless lives lost in the decades-long Vietnam conflict. The war changed and damaged so many Americans who served there.

What a blessing it would be if Vietnam veterans able to travel could experience the wonderful hospitality of these amazing people—to see how God’s redemptive power can heal even the deepest wounds between nations.

Steve Hawley, a longtime educator and church member from Houston who spends a month annually working with the school, wasn’t surprised by the story. Over the years, he’s participated in weddings and betrothal ceremonies in Vietnam.

“When you are there, you are family!”

Maybe we should invite fellow believers—even those we don’t know well—to our memorial services. If indeed we’re to bear each other’s burdens and share each other’s lives, as Paul tells us in Galatians 6, shouldn’t we participate in each other’s mourning?

This is what the universal Church should look like—crossing oceans, cultures, and languages to demonstrate that in Christ, we truly are family.

Memories of a Transformed Life

Ngan shared reflections about her stepfather that reveal the transformative power of Christian compassion:

“He was a very kind and loving man. Even though I was not his biological child, he treated me very kindly and supported me through school.

As each year began, he would take me on an old motorcycle (borrowed from a neighbor) to buy new schoolbooks, notebooks and a schoolbag.”

“He treated me fairly, just like his own biological child. Every week, he gave me 20,000 VND (50 cents) to put into my piggy bank so that when Vietnamese Tết (New Year) came around, I could use that money to buy new clothes.”

Nguyen married Ngan’s mother and moved to the countryside where her grandmother lived, working as a farmer. They built a small thatched hut in the middle of the field and grew vegetables, papayas and oranges to sell.

But they still faced tremendous difficulties without enough money to live comfortably.

“They were very poor, and the neighbors looked down on them. There was a wedding near our home involving a family that was related to us, but they did not invite my stepfather and mother because they thought that my parents were very poor and that would affect their reputation.”

“My mother was looked down upon and treated very badly by our neighbors and relatives. When she asked to borrow money and food, they told her to leave and cursed her.

They would not let their children be friends with me because they said my mother was not a respectable woman because she had been married three times (before she came to know God). They did not let their children sit in the same class as me.”

Hoping for better opportunities, the family moved to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Four families—15 people total—lived together in one house with only one bathroom.

Nguyen worked as a security guard for very little pay. A neighbor lent Ngan’s mother a sewing machine so she could mend clothes to help support the family.

“Although our family life was somewhat more stable than when we were in the countryside, we still faced great financial difficulties. My stepfather’s friends were other security guards, and my mother’s friends were lottery ticket sellers and recyclables collectors—people from the poorest classes of society.

Our family was never invited to any parties either.”

Then everything changed when they met Tom Tune in 2005. Tom came to their house and invited the family to eat at a buffet restaurant.

“It was the first time in our lives that we had eaten such delicious food and sat in such a luxurious place.”

“From that point on, our family came to know God. Tom helped my sister and me get money for our education through his ministry, Tom’s Kids, and my parents’ financial burden became much lighter.

Gradually, my family’s life improved. The people around us also treated us better.”

After moving to Can Tho, Nguyen and his wife sought out the very people who had treated them badly and helped their children get money for school through Tom’s Kids. The former neighbors welcomed them warmly.

Ngan’s mother explained their motivation:

“God has lifted my husband and me out of the mud, and I want everyone around us to see the beautiful change that comes from being in God.”

She invited many poor children and relatives to their house to learn English and become familiar with God’s Word.

“When my stepfather was alive, almost every day he drove her to visit poor families. My stepfather was happy to take my mother anywhere, even when the muddy rural roads were difficult to travel.

He always supported her in visiting poor families.”

“My mother would go to their homes and talk with the children’s parents and grandparents. She said that she wanted to seek out people who were in the most difficult circumstances because they would accept God’s Word more easily.

My mother wanted their lives to change for the better, both spiritually and materially, when they became children of God.”

“Now my stepfather is no longer with us, but every day I remember everything he did for me. If he had been a selfish and unkind man, he would not have taken me in and let me live with his family in Saigon.

And if I had not moved to Saigon, I would not have met Tom.”

“I understand that everyone will eventually die, but death in Christ is life. His kindness and compassion gave me the opportunity to meet the person who changed my life.

Tom is the one who brought me to Christ, and Christ brought glory to my family.”

“We do not need to be rich to do God’s work. As long as we have a kind heart, we also can change someone’s life.

And God gets the glory.”

This is the Gospel in action—not mere words, but transformed lives demonstrating Christ’s power to redeem, restore, and reconcile. From crushing poverty and social rejection to thriving ministry and abundant life, this family’s journey proves that God’s grace truly is sufficient and His power made perfect in weakness.

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Family

How an Irish Preacher’s Words Changed a Duck Dynasty Star’s Life Forever

Published

2 days ago

August 20, 2026

faithandfreedo

Faith Facts

Jim McGuiggan, renowned Bible teacher and author, passed away at age 88 after decades of ministry spanning the U.S. and Europe
Despite early life trauma during the Belfast Blitz and wartime abuse, McGuiggan became a powerful voice on Christian suffering and redemption
Duck Dynasty star Jase Robertson found healing through McGuiggan’s teachings on suffering and the two became close friends and ministry partners

The first time Jase Robertson heard Jim McGuiggan preach, “I couldn’t understand a word he was saying,” said Robertson, star of the reality TV show “Duck Dynasty.” For Robertson, born in “parts unknown Louisiana near the local swamp,” McGuiggan’s Northern Irish accent was a challenge.

But “what I did get about Mr. Jim was that this was about a person,” Robertson said as he held up his Bible during a memorial service for McGuiggan, who died July 29 at age 88. The Northside Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee, hosted the service.

Born in Belfast, McGuiggan was a graduate of Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock, Texas. He preached for Churches of Christ in the U.S. and Europe and launched a school of preaching in Northern Ireland.

“Uncle Jim read 10 to 12 new books a week,” said his nephew, Billy McGuiggan, minister for the Three Chopt Road Church of Christ in Richmond, Virginia.

Jim also was a prolific author. Among his most-read works is “The God of the Towel.”

He was 4 years old when he endured the Belfast Blitz of 1941. He suffered abuse at the hands of those charged with protecting him during World War II, said Stan Cunningham, a former minister for the Northside church and Jim’s son-in-law.

Jim was a lightweight boxer before he met his wife, Ethel, and became a minister. Ethel, who contracted scarlet fever as a child, suffered from multiple health problems and required Jim’s constant care until her death in 2009.

“This is a kid that grew up knowing what suffering looks like,” Cunningham said.

Jim’s sermons often focused on the Christian response to suffering.

Jim was a dedicated worshiper, said Acappella Ministries’ Keith Lancaster, who led hymns during the service, including “Father Hear the Prayer We Offer.”

“That’s what worship is about,” Lancaster said. The minister “would pull back the curtain of the eternal and allow us to peer into heaven and to see God because he walked with God.”

Jase Robertson suffered abuse as a child from his father, Phil Robertson, before Phil became a Christian and patriarch of the “Duck Dynasty” family. Jase Robertson found solace in Jim’s teaching on suffering.

Despite the differences in their ages and accents, Jase and Jim became friends and coworkers in Jim’s final years. Jase, who never intended to become a public speaker, corresponded with Jim as he prepared Bible lessons to share with the audience he acquired through his reality TV fame.

Jim McGuiggan’s legacy lives on, Billy McGuiggan said as he addressed the minister’s children.

“If someone tells you that Jim McGuiggan is dead, don’t believe it. Don’t believe it,” his nephew said.

“For your daddy has gone on the best trip ever. … Your father’s never been more alive.”

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Family

When God Changed His Jamboree Plans

Published

3 days ago

August 19, 2026

faithandfreedo

Faith Facts

A young Eagle Scout’s childhood dream of attending the National Jamboree was fulfilled in an unexpected way when God led him there as a Christian journalist instead of a participant
Nearly 200 Scouts and volunteers gathered under a tin-roofed pavilion to worship together in a cappella hymns at the 2026 National Jamboree
A divine moment of remembrance occurred when the reporter discovered the same quote honoring service that was engraved on his late father’s memorial bench 400 miles away

Since he was 6 years old, Scouting has been a cornerstone of Ephraim Rodenbach’s life. Alongside honing skills like knot tying and leadership, it has also strengthened his faith, reminding him that serving others is one of the ways the Bible teaches us to serve God.

In 2021, after months of planning his project and passing his board of review, Rodenbach became an Eagle Scout at the age of 14. Like many Scouts, he dreamed of attending the National Jamboree, Scouting’s capstone event every three to four years.

But as happens so many times in life, the path God lays out isn’t always the one you had in mind.

While reviewing a previous issue over the phone with his editor, an advertisement for the Members of Churches of Christ for Scouting caught their attention. Given Rodenbach’s decade-long background in Scouting, they realized that the approaching National Jamboree presented an opportunity to tell a unique story.

Five years after earning his Eagle, a series of conversations led him to the Summit Bechtel Reserve in Glen Jean, West Virginia — not as a participant, but as a journalist covering the event.

While hiking miles around camp, he had the opportunity to meet Scouts and volunteers from across the country and explore the beautiful Mountain State. Standing among towering oak trees in front of the world’s longest steel-arch bridge at New River Gorge National Park, it was hard not to marvel at God’s creation.

However, the beauty of West Virginia isn’t what stuck with him — it was the people.

Over the course of the week, he met leaders who dedicated nearly two weeks to more than 12,000 Scouts and Scouters at the National Jamboree. From chaplains offering a listening ear to volunteers staffing activity areas, their willingness to serve reflected the ideals Scouting strives to instill.

For the volunteers with MCCS, it wasn’t just about staffing a booth or putting on a worship service. These adults and youths were building relationships, answering questions about Christ and, as they described, planting seeds.

That mission became especially evident during the Sunday morning worship service.

With nearly 200 people crowded beneath a tin-roofed pavilion, hundreds of voices blended in praise of the Lord.

“The hymn ‘In Christ Alone’ echoed through the camp, and for an hour, the National Jamboree’s activities faded away as everyone remembered the one who made it all possible.”

Later that evening, Rodenbach made the trek to see the Summit Circle, a memorial campfire area commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s national honor society. As he walked down the gravel path to the main fire ring, one of the first stone pillars bore a familiar quote from the order’s founder, E. Urner Goodman.

“He who serves his fellows is, of all his fellows, greatest.”

This quote — one he had seen countless times before — was the same one engraved on a memorial bench over 400 miles away, honoring his late father, Stacey Rodenbach.

For a moment, he stood still. After spending four days surrounded by examples of faith, the coincidence between the two places felt anything but random.

His first response was to thank God in prayer.

After thanking God for all the blessings He had provided through Scouting and his family, he finished his hike and witnessed the beautiful stonework built by Scouts just like him.

As he hiked back from the Summit Circle that evening, he realized God had fulfilled the dreams he carried as an ambitious 14-year-old looking for adventure at the National Jamboree — just not in a way he could have ever imagined. The Lord led him to West Virginia to tell others’ stories and, in the process, reminded him of His faithfulness.

This testimony serves as a powerful reminder that God’s plans often exceed our own expectations. When we surrender our dreams to His will, He transforms them into something far more meaningful than we could design ourselves.

The intersection of faith and service demonstrated at the National Jamboree reflects the biblical principle found in Matthew 20:28, where Christ teaches that He “did not come to be served, but to serve.” These young Scouts are learning early what it means to live out their Christian values through practical action.

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Family

Argentina Rejoins Global Pro-Life Covenant

Published

4 days ago

August 18, 2026

faithandfreedo

Faith Facts

Argentina has officially rejoined the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a coalition of nations defending life from conception and rejecting abortion as an international right
The move reverses the country’s 2023 withdrawal and places Argentina back alongside pro-life nations including the United States, Brazil, and Hungary
The Geneva Consensus emphasizes national sovereignty, family values, and women’s health without promoting abortion as a method of healthcare

Argentina has made a bold return to the international pro-life movement by rejoining the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a coalition of nations united in defense of unborn life and traditional family values. The decision signals a significant shift in the South American nation’s stance on the sanctity of life and marks a victory for Christian conservatives worldwide who have long advocated for the protection of the unborn.

The Geneva Consensus Declaration was originally co-sponsored by the United States under the Trump administration in 2020, bringing together countries committed to affirming that there is no international right to abortion. The declaration also emphasizes the importance of national sovereignty in health policy and promotes authentic women’s health without resorting to the destruction of innocent life.

Argentina’s return to this vital covenant reopens critical conversations about the defense of life at every stage, the importance of the traditional family structure, and the rights of nations to govern according to their own values and beliefs. The move comes as a stark contrast to the country’s brief withdrawal in 2023, which had disappointed many faith leaders and pro-life advocates both within Argentina and abroad.

The reinstatement places Argentina once again in fellowship with a growing global coalition that includes Brazil, Hungary, Uganda, and other nations that have refused to bow to international pressure to embrace abortion as a fundamental right. This alliance represents millions of people who believe that every human life, from conception to natural death, possesses inherent dignity and worth.

For Christian conservatives in America and around the world, Argentina’s decision is a reminder that the battle for life continues on multiple fronts. While the United States celebrated a historic victory with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the international arena remains a crucial battleground where nations must stand firm against efforts to normalize abortion worldwide.

The Geneva Consensus also underscores the vital role of the family as the foundational unit of society. By affirming natural family structures and parental rights, the declaration stands against radical ideologies that seek to undermine God-ordained institutions. Argentina’s renewed commitment to these principles is a testament to the enduring power of faith-based values in shaping public policy.

National sovereignty is another pillar of the Geneva Consensus that resonates deeply with conservative principles. The declaration affirms that health policy decisions should be made by individual nations, not dictated by unelected international bureaucrats or organizations that often promote agendas contrary to biblical values. Argentina’s participation reinforces the idea that countries have the right and responsibility to legislate according to the conscience and culture of their own people.

The timing of Argentina’s return is particularly significant as global abortion advocates continue their aggressive campaigns to expand so-called “reproductive rights” worldwide. International organizations and foreign governments have increasingly attempted to pressure developing nations into liberalizing abortion laws, often conditioning aid and trade relationships on compliance with progressive social agendas.

Argentina’s stand is a powerful rebuke to this cultural imperialism. By rejoining the Geneva Consensus, the nation is declaring that the lives of the unborn matter more than international approval or financial incentives. This is the kind of moral courage that Christians are called to exhibit in an age when convenient lies often triumph over uncomfortable truths.

The pro-life movement in Argentina has been active and vocal despite significant opposition. Faithful believers throughout the country have organized prayer vigils, marches, and educational campaigns to promote a culture of life. Their perseverance has been instrumental in bringing about this policy shift, demonstrating that grassroots faith activism can indeed influence national and international affairs.

For American Christians, Argentina’s example serves as both an encouragement and a challenge. It proves that nations can change course, that pro-life principles can gain ground even in difficult cultural climates, and that international cooperation among like-minded countries can strengthen the global defense of life. At the same time, it challenges believers in the United States to remain vigilant and active in promoting life-affirming policies both domestically and in the international arena.

The global pro-life movement gains strength when nations stand together in defense of God’s creation. Argentina’s return to the Geneva Consensus is not merely a political decision—it is a moral statement that reverberates across continents. It reminds the world that human life is not a commodity to be discarded for convenience, but a sacred gift to be protected and cherished.

As this development unfolds, prayer and continued advocacy remain essential. Believers must pray for Argentina’s leaders, that they will have wisdom and courage to maintain this commitment in the face of inevitable opposition. Prayer is also needed for other nations to join this growing coalition and for the hearts of people worldwide to be turned toward a recognition of the sanctity of life.

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.