Church &amp; Ministry

Church & Ministry Church Leadership

The Ministry of Being Misunderstood

By Emily Richardson You’re not that great. I apologize if that’s a blunt way to start, but I think it needs to be said. If it makes you feel any better, I’m not that great either. If you know Jesus, it shouldn’t hurt to hear the brutal truth that you’re not that great. It should make you laugh, because much of Scripture highlights human sin and depravity and mess. Yet somehow, we still often buy into the lie that who we are and what people think about us is of utmost importance, that our identity is constantly on the line.

August 30, 2022

Campus Ministry Church & Ministry

Carl Junction Church Adds Campus at Joplin’s Neighborhood Life House

The Christian Church of Carl Junction has launched a new campus at the former home of Ozark Christian College, which now is the site of Joplin's Neighborhood Life House, a Christ-centered nonprofit.

August 26, 2022

Church & Ministry Church Leadership Preaching

After 70 Years, Carroll Kakac Still Preaching the Gospel

Carroll Kakac, 93, has been preaching for more than seven decades. His hearing isn’t great, he said, and neither is his eyesight. But it’s good enough. “As long as my health will permit me to do it, I’m going to do it,” said Kakac, who serves as minister of McLeansboro (Ill.) Christian Church. . . .

August 11, 2022

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

10 Louisville Churches Unite to Serve 40 Local Schools . . . So that the World May Believe

This past weekend, more than 1,000 volunteers from 10 churches united to serve over 40 schools throughout the Louisville, Ky., community. Although each church served their respective schools in diverse ways, there were shared goals.

August 8, 2022

Church & Ministry Church Planting

Swearingen Assumes Full-Time Lead Role with Florida Church Planters

After 17 years as lead pastor with Crosspoint Church, Cape Coral, Fla., Jeff Swearingen has assumed the full-time lead role with Florida Church Planters. The church's elders, meanwhile, selected Jeff's son, Matt, to lead Crosspoint.

August 3, 2022

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

10 Churches Uniting to Serve 41 Schools in Louisville, Ky.

How does your church show love to area schools, teachers, and students? For the last eight years, Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky.—known as the Love the ‘Ville church—has done so with thousands of bags of mulch and hundreds of volunteers. . . .

July 20, 2022

What Issues Are People Concerned about Today?

Our elders at Risen Church Westside, Santa Monica, Calif., were challenged to make decisions that addressed the present reality of post-COVID-19 life. To better serve our congregation and community, we decided to conduct a survey to understand the questions and issues being asked and considered by our members, local Christians, and non-Christians in the community. . . .

July 18, 2022

Church & Ministry Church Planting

‘Hungry for Something New’: Orchard, Harvester Teaming Up to Plant a Church in Ferguson, Mo.

Orchard Group and Harvester Christian Church are partnering to plant a new church in Ferguson, Mo. “The city is hungry for something new, something fresh—but more important, something genuine,” church planter Lenny Brown said.

July 15, 2022

An Invitation: Beer Parties or Bible Bowl?

As a young teen, I thought that value would come from being popular among my peers. The popular kids went to beer parties, so I wanted an invitation. . . . The invitation I ultimately received, however, was to join Bible Bowl. It changed my life forever.

July 4, 2022

Michael C. Mack

More Than Characters

Authors, artists, composers, architects, and car restorers are all creators who develop attachments to their work. Have you ever heard someone refer to something they’ve created as their “baby”? God feels that way about us.

July 1, 2022

Matt Merold

The Vital Signs We Must Measure

By Matt Merold In every hospital room, sitting right by the patient’s bed, is an electronic vital signs monitor. Most of these monitors display the four main vital signs that are regularly checked by medical professionals. A vital signs monitor is a quick and simple way to assess the patient’s current health. Body temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, respiration rate—if all four of these are in the normal range, the patient is assumed to be stable and healthy. Based mostly on vital signs, a physician will describe the patient’s condition with just one word: good, fair, serious, critical, or dead.

July 1, 2022

Church & Ministry Small Groups

How Can We Move from Independence to Connection?

By Chris DeWelt “O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us!” —Robert Burns (“To a Louse”) Many years ago, Carol and I were learning Spanish while temporarily living in Costa Rica and attending a school that specializes in helping missionaries prepare linguistically for life in Latin America. Not long after we arrived, the school’s director invited us to his office to get to know us. “So what agency are you with?” was his first question. “We are direct-support missionaries,” I happily replied. His face turned quizzical, and then he asked, “What church are

July 1, 2022

Matt Proctor

Can Our Churches Continue to Grow and Bear Fruit?

By Matt Proctor The movie Apollo 13 tells the true story of astronauts James Lovell, Fred Haise, and John L. “Jack” Swigert. On their way to the moon in April 1970, an explosion left them in a crippled spacecraft 200,000 miles from Earth—low on power, losing cabin heat, flight trajectories off. “Houston, we have a problem.” As John Ortberg relates the story in Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them, suddenly, these three astronauts needed a community of NASA scientists to save them, and these scientists were not your normal movie heroes—no chiseled good looks or superpowers. They were

July 1, 2022

Alan Ahlgrim

Church & Ministry Church Leadership

The Rhythms of a Well-Lived Life: Being Healthy Is Your Responsibility

By Alan Ahlgrim Too many times in my life my “stinkin’ thinkin’” and substandard theology led me to patterns that failed to improve my well-being. A few examples: I once determined to read the entire Bible out loud over the course of a year. That drained me more than blessed me. I once committed to a schedule that included both evening appointments and early morning meetings. Burning the candle at both ends left me flamed out. I was depleted by weariness and self-pity. I once adhered to a daily jogging regimen in all weathers. That led to injuries, especially when

July 1, 2022

Wes Beavis

Healthy Church Leaders Never Do This!

By Wes Beavis Healthy church leaders do not spiritually abuse their church staff. Abuse of staff happens all too often, and it must stop. I’ll share an example. Recently, a senior pastor called the family life pastor into a meeting. The executive pastor also attended. It was a two-against-one coalition. The family pastor felt vulnerable. This vulnerability escalated when the senior pastor relieved the family life pastor of his ministry position. This was not a response to moral failure or professional misconduct. It was simply a case of, “We don’t feel like you are the right person for this position.”

July 1, 2022

Jim Estep

Church & Ministry Church Leadership Preaching

How to Measure Church Health

By Jim Estep I hate going to the doctor. The first thing they ask me to do is step on the scale. Then, they take all the standard measurements: blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and oxygen level, among others. Finally, they ask, “So why are you here? How are you feeling?” I describe my ailment (while trying not to sound like a whiner). Doctors evaluate a person’s health based on some very objective (quantitative) measures as well as verbal (qualitative) descriptions. A church’s health should be evaluated the same way. We need to remember the church is an organism, not an

July 1, 2022

Chris Philbeck

Pour Yourself into Your Preaching

By Chris Philbeck When my wife and I had been married for about 20 years, she took a part-time job to help pay for our children’s college. Fortunately for her, an opportunity came along to do something that fit with her artistic talent and interests, and she went to work for a small company that manufactured custom-made windows using a process called Stained Glass Overlay. Unlike traditional stained glass, she would use multiple materials like glass, multilayered polyester film, bevels, jewels, etc. to form a solid piece of decorative art glass. She absolutely loved her job and came home each

July 1, 2022

Tyler McKenzie

8 Ways Church Growth Has Reached an Idolatrous Level (Part 1)

By Tyler McKenzie I love the church. That’s why I would like to suggest that pursuit of church growth by some leaders has reached an idolatrous level. Growth has become synonymous with health and success. It’s why we invest so many resources in the weekend gathering. It’s why we platform the leaders we do. Having led a large congregation for a decade now, I’ve experienced some of the lusts and obsessions in my own heart. Growth shouldn’t be the main thing. Tim Keller wrote in “Leadership and Church Size Dynamics,” Out of necessity, the large church must use organizational

July 1, 2022

Michael C. Mack

Health: Give Careful Attention!

By Michael C. Mack Why are we committing an entire issue to health? Because health begets growth, good fruit, and reproduction for God’s people, our families, our churches, and the future of our movement. (Of course, unhealthy things can also grow, bear fruit, and multiply, but we don’t want them to!) We all desire health in the various arenas of our lives, but we may not be very mindful of it . . . until something happens and our health is jeopardized. I know what I’m talking about. In October 2021, I was mountain biking with a friend in Brown

June 24, 2022