Care &amp; Counseling

Care & Counseling

Alone in a Crowd

By Tom Claibourne The Lord”s Supper is quite paradoxical. It looks backward and forward. It calls us to look upward but also inward. It is utterly profound yet disarmingly simple. It celebrates life while focusing on death. The Communion emblems prompt feelings of assurance while also calling for an honest self-evaluation regarding our sin. They honor Jesus” death but also his resurrection. They help us celebrate the forgiveness of our sins while reminding us of our ongoing struggle with temptation. The Lord”s Supper stirs tears of repentance but also smiles of celebration. It calls forth horror at the intensity

January 9, 2014

Hakuna Matata

By Rick Chromey Like most Americans, I love to spend, consume, and accumulate. But my whole outlook on capitalism and cash was turned upside down by just three weeks in Africa. Americans are addicted to affluence. We love our money. We hoard cash in retirement plans, savings accounts, and safe boxes. We love to spend and accumulate. We buy boats, Buicks, bikes, televisions, toasters, sofas, and super-sized stuff like it”s everybody”s business. We take grand vacations to exotic locales and pamper ourselves with spa treatments. Our garages are so full our driveways display a lineup that looks like a used

January 6, 2014

Fighting Against “˜the Death of Hope”

By Neal Windham Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire William T. Cavanaugh Wm. B. Eerdman”s Publishing Company, 2008 The United States has one of the lowest savings rates of any wealthy country, and we are the most indebted society in history. What really characterizes consumer culture is not attachment to things but detachment. People do not hoard money; they spend it. So warns William Cavanaugh in his book, Being Consumed (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008). Cavanaugh published these words at the beginning of the Great Recession, just as millions of baby boomers were readying to settle into their 401(k) lives. Having

January 5, 2014

The Kingdom of Anxiety or the Kingdom of God?

By Ryan Connor Instead of satisfying us, the things we buy can leave us simply frustrated or even afraid. A Christian”s first weapon against consumerism is deciding which master he or she will serve. Are you worried about your life? We Americans are an anxious people. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports anxiety disorders to be the most common mental illness in the United States. From a biblical worldview, anxiety disorders are ultimately a result of the curse God placed upon all of

November 29, 2013

Questions, Answers, Death, and Life

By LeRoy Lawson Honest Questions, Honest Answers: How to EngageÂ in Compelling Conversations about Your Christian Faith David Faust Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 2012 Cheating Death: The Doctors and Medical MiraclesÂ that Are Saving Lives Against All Odds Sanjay Gupta New York: Wellness Center, 2009 Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival,Â Resilience, and Redemption Laura Hillenbrand New York: Random House, 2010 David Faust is known: pastor, preacher, author, columnist, editor, professor, university president, and national Christian leader. We don”t have a more prominent leader in the Christian churches/churches of Christ. His reputation is reason enough to read Honest Questions, Honest Answers. It”s

October 24, 2013

What I”m Learning from the Suffering so Close to Me

By Dave Smith When I left for seminary more than 27 years ago, I had stars in my eyes and wings on my feet. I knew God was calling me to vocational ministry. After fulfilling my obligation to the United States Army, I resigned my commission and moved to Chicago. And what could go wrong? In my Disney World Discipleship, Candy Land Christianity view of the world, life was going to be easy. After all, why wouldn”t God protect me from difficulties since I was now training for pastoral ministry? And to sweeten the pot for God, I told him

August 31, 2013

Care & Counseling

Interview with Mike and Kari MacKenzie

Drs. Mike and Kari MacKenzie of Marble, Colorado, are the directors of Marble Retreat Center (www.marbleretreat.org) specializing in “pastor care” through intensive counseling for Christian leaders. By Paul Boatman What is “pastor care”? Mike: Pastor care is ministry that focuses on the spiritual, mental, emotional, and relational healthiness of Christian leaders. The ministry of Marble Retreat is to help bring healing, hope, and restoration to those in vocational Christian ministry. What led you to this ministry? Mike: We each had some influences before we were a couple. I was first sensitized by seeing some of my brother”s

April 30, 2013

Defining Normal

By Mark A. Taylor It”s been two weeks since the Boston Marathon bombings, April 15. The cable news channels and major web portals continue to report on the aftermath with any shred of related content they can muster. But most of us have turned away from the horror of that day and are concentrating, instead, on the demands of this one. What other choice do we have? We must be about our jobs, our families, our churches””our kids, our spouses, our parents, our neighbors. And besides the press of our own responsibilities, there”s another factor that pushes us to

April 23, 2013

In Contrast to the Ugliness

By Mark A. Taylor Robert Randolph, minister with the Brookline Church of Christ in Boston, described Monday, April 15, as a “terribly emotional day” for Boston. Christian ChronicleÂ reported that Randolph was providing an energy drink for his daughter Margaret Randolph a few miles from the finish line when the first bomb exploded. She had sprained her ankle and was running slower than usual. Otherwise, “we would have been at the finish line when the bombs went off,” Randolph said, according to the Chronicle. Hank Wilson, pastor with REUNION Christian Church in Boston, met with his ministry team early Tuesday, the

April 6, 2013

Brite Opens “˜Soul Repair” Center

By Jennifer Johnson No one returns from war unchanged, but some return so devastated that they kill themselves or linger in states of isolation, depression, addiction, or despair for years. Brite Divinity School (Fort Worth, Texas) launched its new Soul Repair Center in November 2012 out of concern for veterans of combat. Statistically, these veterans take their own lives at three times the civilian rate””6,000 a year, or more than one every 90 minutes. The center will offer public education and congregational training about the relatively new Veterans Affairs term “moral injury.” Moral injury, which often occurs with post-traumatic stress

December 19, 2012

We Still Can Celebrate

By Mark A. Taylor Some residents in the small, close-knit community of Newtown, Connecticut, took down and put away their Christmas decorations this weekend, and we probably can”t blame them. In the wake of Friday”s trauma and loss, many residents of that small town can”t face holiday festivity. Any of us, even those far from Connecticut, have trouble sorting out our feelings after nonstop news about the horror. The Muzak cycle of “Holly, Jolly Christmas,” “Jingle Bells,” and “I”ll Be Home for Christmas” rings hollow””especially when we think about so many who will never again be home for Christmas. But

November 1, 2012

Considering the One Who Truly Is in Control

By Mark A. Taylor In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, we”re seeing heroic rescue efforts and exhausting work to feed and repair and clear and rebuild. Churches are holding special times of prayer, and many are reaching out to help the suffering in Jesus” name. I would encourage one more activity, and that may look like no activity at all. Let us simply pause in God”s presence and admit that he is in control and we never will be. Amid pictures of cars submerged in flooded parking garages, yachts tossed aside like discarded toys, and whole subdivisions blown or burned

August 30, 2012

The Language of Loneliness

By Daniel Schantz “Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, “˜What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”” (Matthew 26:40*). Thomas Wolfe described loneliness as “the central and inevitable experience of every man,” but when we are lonely, we think no one else on earth understands. Loneliness is everywhere, but it wears many disguises. To the teenage girl, loneliness is an overwhelming pressure to be just like her girlfriends, at any cost. To the college student, it”s going home for the summer to find that home has changed. To the housewife, loneliness

February 13, 2012

What We Learned

By Brad Neal I remember feeling the anguish surface again. The pain of dealing with a fractured ministry, and the resulting fallout, all came rushing back when it came time for public restoration. Was this the right course? Would members trust us? The easy path would have been just to leave it in the past. Take sin seriously. The restoration process takes time. In our case, two years. It takes time for the seed of repentance to bear the fruit of a changed life. It also takes time for those who are hurt to be ready to trust again

February 12, 2012

Celebrating the Restoration of a Broken-World Brother

By Don Green About two years ago one of the ministers of the church I attend was asked to resign following a confessed sin and an acknowledged act of deception. Within days of his confession and resignation, he initiated conversations with some of his ministry friends that ultimately led to the creation of a restoration team. The minister was Todd Parmenter who served with Lincoln (Illinois) Christian Church. I was privileged to serve on this restoration team. We served together for 20 months in one of the most rewarding experiences in my more than 40 years of ministry. Resources

September 12, 2011

Interview with Jim Phegley

By Brad Dupray Jim Phegley was sitting in the barber”s chair when he heard that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers in New York City. With half-shorn hair, he saw another airliner strike the second tower and went right to work doing what he does best, ministering to people in his church. Jim has been senior minister of Glen Cove (New York) Christian Church for 27 years. The church on Long Island became a place of solace on the evening of September 11, 2001, and continued as a place of ministry outreach after that. Jim”s heart

September 10, 2011

Interview with David Beamer: The Worst Day of My Life

By Darrel Rowland David Beamer and his family will get through today just like they have every day for the past 10 years. “The Beamer clan, the faith and the assurance and frankly the conviction that we had on September 11, has not waned,” he said. “We know that God is sovereign, his word is true. We know that for those who accept the saving blood of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, their future is secure. Having that assurance has enabled us to deal with the attack. Happily, that is not different 10 years later.” Beamer”s son, Todd, is

September 9, 2011

Beauty from Ashes

By Mark A. Taylor Time and again we see and feel God”s presence most clearly in the midst of human tragedy. It”s as if we need to strip away all our pretense of self-sufficiency before we can fully submit to God, who was the only one in control all along. Consider the ongoing reports of Christians at work in the aftermath of the terrible Joplin tornado. What besides such a crisis would have stimulated the outpouring of service and generosity that Joplin residents have received at the hands of Christians from across the continent? What else could have brought the

September 7, 2011

Help, hope, and lives . . . Forever Changed

By Darrel Rowland Perhaps none of us can forget where we were and what we felt when we first heard of the September 2001 terrorist attacks. But perhaps many of us don”t know how God has worked through individuals and the local church to bring redemption and hope since then. This week we want to tell that story. Chip Gilgen was staring at the burning World Trade Center from a 25th-floor window of his FBI office when he saw the second plane slam into the other twin tower. Lisa Gilgen was still at work near Rockefeller Center while a coworker

July 2, 2011