A young Roma girl clasps her hands in prayer.

IMB photo

BP

CHARLOTTE - When King Solomon began building the temple in Jerusalem in the 10th century B.C., it took 80,000 stonecutters to lay the foundation.

Betty Easter identifies with that effort as an International Mission Board (IMB) strategy coordinator among Roma Gypsies in southern Europe. Her team strives to lay a groundwork for the gospel among the 2.5 million-plus Roma hardened by centuries of bondage in the region and decades of communism.

Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich.,reviews a script for one of his popular NOOMA videos with supervisor Rachel Dik.

Katy Batdorff/The Grand Rapids Press

RNS

GRANDVILLE, Mich. - Rob Bell hops up onto the circular stage in his tennis shoes, his headset microphone in place. "Hi," he says. "Good morning. If you're coming in late, we still love you. Make yourself at home."

It's Sunday morning at Mars Hill Bible Church, and Bell is doing his thing, using "Philippians" and "awesome" in the same sentence.

A Mars Hill College English professor who was named the "Next Great Crime Writer" by truTV (formerly Court TV) will read from his new novel during an April 2 event at the college. Hal McDonald's novel The Anatomists was released March 25 by HarperCollins. A reading, sale, and signing session is scheduled at 7:00 p.m. in Broyhill Chapel.