Churches Unite to Love South Florida

Anitra Parmele
3 Nov 2016
one comments

Your church is planning their annual Thanksgiving outreach. Down the street, another congregation is collecting Christmas gifts for the under-resourced. Across town, they are meeting to talk about how to support single moms within the congregation during the holidays. This is the season when many churches turn their attention to outreach. But what if the impact wasn’t defined by needs or even resources within each individual church? What if churches set aside denominational lines and the structure of “this is what we’ve always done” to come together to transform our city? What would happen in our city if thousands of […]

-Read More

Living a Legacy

Anitra Parmele
1 Nov 2016
no comments

Past the privates planes and the slots for rental cars, left of the aquarium before the sparkling carafe of lemon water and just across from the fully equipped business center is a simple office. Physically it is squarely rooted in Fort Lauderdale but once you have spent more than a couple minutes with Don Campion, owner of Banyan Air Services, you would be forgiven for thinking outside his office door is the bush of Egbe, Nigeria. As the story of Egbe unfolds through Don’s words and pictures, the low hum of a foreign tongue seems almost audible as you reflexively […]

-Read More

Living a legacy

Without Rival Hammers Home the Dangers of Comparison

Anitra Parmele
18 Oct 2016
no comments
without rivals

  According to the advance press, Lisa Bevere’s latest book, Without Rival, is designed for “each of us to discover who and why we are a daughter without rival, loved by a God without rival, entrusted with a promise without rival, to complete an assignment without rival, that is destined for an eternity without rival.” And Without Rival fulfills on its promises. The first thing you will notice when you grab your copy is that there are discussion questions after each of the chapters. Designed to be experienced in a small group along with a video, it seems only fitting […]

-Read More

On the Edge of a Revolution

Anitra Parmele
22 Sep 2016
no comments

  Peek into a classroom and you may see students learning their letters while in the next room they’re learning how to multiply. Welcome to Pompano Beach Elementary (PBE) where, whether they know it or not, these students are on the front lines of a revolution and the battlefield is their future. And they’ve got lots of support. Much of what you see on your tour can be traced back to the first meeting of what became the Neighborhood United Project where community leaders were challenged to become levers for student achievement. It was in the conference room at PBE […]

-Read More

When Walls Talk: Inside 4KIDS

Anitra Parmele
2 Aug 2016
no comments

Scattered. Living out of boxes. Always on the move. It’s poignant to realize that the same words that can be used to describe the condition of the temporary orphans in our community, our children in foster care, can also be used to describe those committed to finding them a permanent home. For the past twenty years, 4KIDS of South Florida has been making it work in borrowed office space, often carrying their files in their cars and scheduling meetings at area restaurants because there just wasn’t a permanent place for them. Katy Mills, 4KIDS director of public relations, explains, “People […]

-Read More

God As A Kid in The Young Messiah

Anitra Parmele
1 Mar 2016
no comments

So what was it like to raise the Son of God? When He was learning to walk, did He know He had made the flowers his feet crushed? Was He popular? Did He make childhood friends? Is it at all telling that no one ever steps forward claiming to be His best friend after His public ministry is launched? What did being fully man and fully God look like in the body and life of a seven-year-old Jesus? “The Young Messiah” in theaters around the country on March 11, begins with these words: Inspired by Scripture and rooted in history, […]

-Read More

When You Need to Go Fast

Anitra Parmele
no comments

There are so many reasons to fast: To silence the clamor, To re-establish Christ as pre-eminent in your daily life, To glimpse the heart of God, To experience massive transformation in a situation or relationship, To unite as believers to experience personal and community revival, And the list goes on. The reasons why we fast are as varied as the details on how we fast and how we gauge a fast’s “success.” Then there are the reasons we don’t fast. At least in my life they are much fewer and by nature, almost pedestrian. I don’t feel like it. I’m […]

-Read More

Jesus Loves Porn Stars

Anitra Parmele
5 Jan 2016
one comments

The guest pastor talked about a group of people largely outside of a Christian influence and immediately I was intrigued. With all the technology at our disposal, with all the organizations committed to communicating God’s love, there are few groups as isolated from the gospel as this population. It was hard to imagine thousands of people within the United States in need of a vibrant and consistent Christian witness. I began to ask God if I could be a part of His solution. Knowing the people I would encounter would have unfamiliar vocabulary, modes of dress, and even worldviews, I […]

-Read More

The Power of a Simple Gift

Anitra Parmele
3 Nov 2015
no comments

Samaritan Purse’s Operation Christmas Child program is simple; you could even say it is simple enough for a child. You take a box, pack it for the gender and age you choose, and they place it in the arms of a child. They call it The Power of a Simple Gift. It’s easy to underestimate the impact of a shoebox of toys, school supplies and hygiene items until you start to hear the stories from the other side of the gift. There’s the little boy who prayed for something he could share with his parents and seven siblings. A pretty […]

-Read More

Unshaken In the Midst of the Storm

Anitra Parmele
1 Sep 2015
no comments

When the emails to confirm the interview details are full of things like summer camp schedules, you realize Naghmeh Abedini is not just a tireless advocate for her imprisoned husband, Saeed, but she is functioning as a single mother trying to simultaneously balance the challenges of their two young children, Jacob and Rebekka, and the challenges of every-day life. Naghmeh explains, “I really have so much compassion for single mothers, military wives or people who are handling their life and kids alone. When Saeed was taken in Iran, I realized how much of life I processed with him– how much […]

-Read More