Christian Standard bloggers: snippets you may have missed
Some of the best writing for CHRISTIAN STANDARD never appears in the magazine. Here are three excerpts from our bloggers that highlight leadership clarity, praying for revival, and renewed urgency in ministry.
- Leaders are challenged to confront reality instead of postponing hard decisions.
- A revived church begins with members truly praying for revival.
- Growing older can deepen urgency to lead the church toward what matters now and for eternity.
By Mark A. Taylor
Some of the best writing for CHRISTIAN STANDARD never appears in the magazine! I’m talking about our three bloggers, whose regular posts can be found at our Web site, www.christianstandard.com. Read these three snippets, and then log on to discover what you’ve been missing.
From Jennifer Taylor’s blog, “Write About Now,” February 23:
Leaders clutch dog eared copies of Good to Great but are unable to practice one of its major points: all the great companies (and their level 5 leaders) could “confront the most brutal facts of current reality.”
They wait for situations or people to suddenly improve on their own, although every law in the universe says that won’t happen. They shy away from conflict but follow Jesus who confronted Pharisees, disciples, entire towns, and the reality of our sin. They avoid unpleasant news but follow God, who moved quickly to deal with Adam and Eve’s sin and proactively create a redemptive solution. . . .
When [the leader] refuses to make a choice, he’s making a choice to postpone the inevitable, to cause even more conflict, and to make the process twice as painful for everyone involved.
From Arron Chambers’s blog, “My Lord and My Blog,” March 21
What would happen in our churches today if every member really prayed for revival? If Christians came to meet with the Church already revived then the preacher could do more coaching/teaching than cheering/motivating. Youth and children’s ministers could spend more energy equipping and organizing volunteers and less time desperately recruiting volunteers. Worship ministers might be able to focus more on tapping into our passion for God rather than having to work so hard to awaken it . . . and us . . . on Sunday mornings.
And, if Christ’s church was to be revived today, lost people in our communities would have a little more hope before going to bed tonight.
From Brian Jones’s blog, “Speaking Out of Turn,” March 9
Just a few days ago I was taken aback as I walked out of a staff meeting and into another room where someone had hung shiny silver streamers from the ceiling and scattered large black balloons that read, “Over the hill.” You can imagine my delight as I sat down and my staff members, men and women who are supposed to represent the character of Jesus, handed me wrapped gifts of denture cream, Grecian Formula, and Ensure the complete balanced nutritional drink for healthy, active senior adults.
Oddly enough, as I enter the second half of my days, I’m beginning to wrestle with fundamentally different questions than the ones I asked two decades ago. . . .
Maybe it’s my age. Maybe it’s watching my kids grow up. Or maybe, more probably, it’s the spirit of God working in my heart. Whatever it is, I have never felt more deeply the urgency to lead our church in doing something that matters both now and for eternity.
Author: Mark A. Taylor
Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).
