September 2024: The global military community; veteran involvement in OCF; and OCF ministry news

Crosspoint Show Notes, August 2024

Got an idea for a guest or topic?

If you would like to share your own story, complete the form on OCF’s “Be a Guest” webpage. Alternatively, if you have an idea for a guest or topic we should consider for a future episode of the show, send an email to [email protected].

OCF Ministry News

• Fort Knox OCF update: Continue praying for the ROTC cadets as they’ve returned to their campuses and begun new semesters. To learn more about and/or get involved with OCF’s ROTC ministry, visit ocfusa.org/rotc 

• Connected print newsletters: If you don’t receive this biannual piece in your mailbox this fall, be sure to update your info via ocfusa.org/update so that we don’t miss you next spring. This fall’s newsletter will also be available online at ocfusa.org/connected 

• Ted & Beverly Kaiser: Contact this newest couple on the OCF team by emailing [email protected] 

• OCF Mid-Atlantic & Northeast Fall Retreat: Visit whitesulphursprings.org/events to learn more and register, and email any questions to the Chiaravallottis at [email protected].    

• The Bowens’ Fort Carson OCF group: Visit ocfusa.org/directory to connect with groups like the Bowens’, and visit ocfusa.org/list-me to start your own group wherever you are. 

Ask OCF

COL Steve & Miriam Shambach, USA (Ret.), who serve as the OCF Mountain Central Regional Coordinator couple, answered this question from another OCFer: Retired, I don’t live near a military base, no local OCF folks near me…what opportunity is there for fellowship/training through Zoom? 

In case you missed the Shambachs’ article in the spring 2024 issue of Connected print newsletter, you can find it here: From Service to Support: How Veterans Can Stay Engaged in OCF. 

If you have a question that you want us to consider for a future “Ask OCF” segment, send an email to [email protected]. 

Guest Spotlight

COL Andy MacLean, USA (Ret.), graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1995 and later returned there to be a professor. After retiring in 2019, he joined the Association for Christian Conferences, Teaching, and Services (ACCTS), a sister ministry of OCF. He currently serves as the ACCTS coordinator for Latin America.

Whether discussing the origin story of ACCTS, the countries he works with as an ACCTS staffer, or his own life, Andy’s passion for sharing how God works in the details is clear. He talks about the upcoming AMCF World Conference, approaching this October in Brazil, which you can support by attending, praying for the gathering, and/or contributing to a scholarship for other guests.

If you would like to share your own story, complete the form on OCF’s “Be a Guest” webpage. Alternatively, if you have an idea for a guest or topic we should consider for a future episode of the show, send an email to [email protected].

Points to Ponder

As you listen to this conversation with Andy, here are a few questions to ponder in your personal time, with a small group, or with a mentor:

1. How can you engage in the international ministry ACCTS does?
2. When have you seen God work through hard situations, whether in your own life or in events across the world?
3. Why is it important to discuss how God is working in other nation’s military communities?