Church &amp; Ministry

Church & Ministry Church Leadership

Haddon Robinson: A Legacy of Biblical Preaching

By Damien Spikereit When my wife and I learned she was pregnant with our second child, we decided to name him after one of my favorite preachers. Several options came to mind, but in the end, we decided on Haddon, after Haddon W. Robinsonâwho was named for Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Why Haddon Robinson? Many articles and biographies tell of Robinsonâ™s humble Harlem upbringing and his distinguished career as a pastor, seminary president, and preaching professor. My purpose here, however, is more personal: to honor a man who taught us to be servants of the Word. Of the many prominent

April 19, 2019

Jerry Harris

How the Mighty Pastors and Preachers Fall

By Jerry Harris The announcement came in mid-January. James MacDonald, founding pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, based in the Chicago area, was taking an immediate and indefinite sabbatical from all preaching and leadership in his ministry. The elders took this action in response to mounting criticism concerning leadership overreach, financial questions, and alleged abuse of staff and members over a 12-year period. Stories of this sort are becoming all-too-common among megachurch pastors . . . and they show no sign of slowing. The churches that provide platforms for these leaders represent tens of thousands of people. High-visibility, powerful-personality pastors and

April 17, 2019

Gardenside Helping the Homeless in Lexington

By Jim Nieman Volunteers at Gardenside Christian Church recently finished their sixth winter of helping the homeless population in Lexington, Ky. Gardenside is one of about two dozen churches in the city that participates in the Room in the Inn ministry, says church member Karl VanDyke Jr. Gardenside houses a dozen homeless men on Tuesday nights, twice monthly, during the winter. “We provide everything they need,” VanDyke says. This past winter, 130 Gardenside volunteers were at work seven separate nights. The final tally showed the church provided 84 beds, along with 84 dinners, breakfasts, and brown-bag lunches. VanDyke says volunteers

April 4, 2019

Effective Preaching

Cecil J. “C. J.” Sharp wrote hundreds of articles that appeared in Christian Standard through the years. The first appeared in 1912, while he was still minister with First Christian Church in Hammond, Ind., which he served from about 1903 through 1929. Prior to that, he was a high school principal. He joined Standard Publishingâformer parent company of Christian Standardâin January 1930 as head of the Teacher Training Department. He retired in 1951. At the time of his death in 1953, his New Training for Service had sold more than 250,000 copies. Sharpâ™s version of that book dates to 1934,

April 3, 2019

‘We’re Not Going to Lose You, Brother!’

Redemption Christian Church in Jasper, Ind., played a crucial role in setting a young man on a path toward Christ—and toward a productive ministry to people in need called L4G (Living for God). “Our mission statement is trust God, be humble and show love,” Mo Peraza told the DuBois County Free Press. Peraza was born in El Salvador and grew up in South Central Los Angeles before moving to small-town Indiana. As a teen, he started selling drugs, which was the “beginning of a downward struggle.” He hung out with the wrong crowd, bounced from job to job, was arrested

March 27, 2019

A Fortuitous Announcement for Stadia (Church Planting)

Stadia Church Planting marketing manager Josie Barton had some fun with Google’s announcement that its revolutionary cloud-based gaming system would be called . . . you guessed it: Stadia. “These past few days, we’ve been having fun introducing unsuspecting gamers to our church planting mission,” Barton wrote on Stadia’s website Sunday, noting, “it’s easy to use the wrong handle in the twitterverse.” Cloud-based gaming could mark the end of console-based systems that have ruled since the early 1980s. If gamers are excited for Stadia, Barton opined, “We need to be as excited [because] Stadia Church Planters is even better.” She then listed several

March 27, 2019

New Churches Planted in Texas and California

Two new churches have started in recent weeks. Venture Christian Church, Katy, Texas, held a four-week grand opening from Jan. 20 to Feb. 10 and saw 151 different people come to its services. Lead planter Nathan Boldt wrote that Venture’s intent is to “reach people with no connection to a church.” He added, “If I were to share one stat, it would be that about 80 percent of our crowd are unchurched. . . . We are thrilled at what God has been up to!”VCC is a plant by Nexus Church Planting and is also supported by several Texas congregations. Further west, Luminous

March 25, 2019

Restoring the Least, the Last, and the Lost

By Mel McGowan Who are the least, the last, or the lost in our society? Most people would say the poor, homeless, or prisoners. Some might even say the sick, elderly, or children. Let me ask another question: What do you think about cafeterias at homeless shelters, prisons, hospitals, nursing homes, and schools? I think most people envision cold, stark, institutional-type places, bad smells, monotonous rows of benchlike seats, and people being herded in an orderly fashion. Given the choice, most probably would avoid eating at that kind of cafeteria on a daily basis. How about you? Restoring Hearts and

March 20, 2019

Did You Hear What They’re Preaching About?

Preachers can sometimes experience creative lulls, so in the interest of providing inspiration, but not duplication (we hope), here are what some of our churches have been preaching about in recent weeks. By the way, most sermons from these series are available at the respective churches’ websites (and we’ve provided links). ________________________ Christ’s Church of the Valley (Phoenix, Ariz.) aTypical “Society has taken an interesting turn on what’s considered typical; activity-packed schedules, strained relationships, overextended budgets, and piles of debt. If this is what typical looks like, then now is the time to break the mold! Join us for our

March 20, 2019

Michael C. Mack

Two Vital Preaching Principles

By Michael C. Mack We decided to focus on “biblical preaching” for this year™s annual Easter issue. The need is as great as ever to “preach the Word.” I hope this issue serves as a sort of “preaching guide” for our readers. Four of our feature articles provide powerful, practical, thought-provoking principles for preaching. (Amazingly, alliteration is not one of them.) Our e2 and Metrics columns also focus on preaching this month. We seek to restore, among several things, biblical preaching. To that end, I™d like to consider two vital preaching principles I don™t hear discussed much. Perhaps we take these

February 27, 2019

Develop These 4 Habits to Increase Your Outreach

By Emily DrayneÂ Iâ™m a missionary . . . and you are too. Missionaries look to make a difference in a community. Itâ™s simply not true that a missionary must relocate to a new country. There are more âhomeâ-based ministry efforts than ever before working in local communities, in inner cities, in childrenâ™s homes, on Native American reservations, and elsewhere. Where can you and the people you lead get involved? This year Iâ™ve personally committed to being a âmissionaryâ where God has placed me. Iâ™ve written out some foundational steps Iâ™m pursuing along this journey that I want to share

February 27, 2019

Four Ideas for Illustrating Truth

By Jeff Faull âThe elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teachingâ (1 Timothy 5:17, New American Standard Bible). Church leaders are often called to work hard at preaching and teaching. One of the most challenging aspects of that responsibility is finding and developing sources of relevant, interesting, and compelling illustrations. Here are a few simple suggestions for finding fresh illustrations for sermons, meditations, or Bible studies. SCOUR THE NEWS, ESPECIALLY THE WEIRD NEWS The news provides illustrations from real life that are instantly documented, perennially

February 23, 2019

Greekaholics Anonymous

From After Class Podcast Sponsor: Welcome, everyone, to this week’s meeting of Greekaholics Anonymous. The purpose of this support group is to help those of us who are helplessly addicted to using biblical languages in our sermons—even though we really don’t know what we are saying and most listeners have no idea what we’re talking about. Let’s begin with our GA preamble. Everyone: Preachers who don’t know Greek shouldn’t use Greek in their sermons. Sponsor: Would someone like to be the first to share with the group? Pastor Strong: Hello, my name is Jim and I’m a Greekaholic. Everyone: Hello,

February 2, 2019

Kent E. Fillinger

Church Multiplication Scorecard

By Kent Fillinger A new question on our last annual church survey asked, “Using the scale created by Exponential.org, which of the following best describes your church in 2017?” Level 1: Declining (attendance going down) Level 2: Holding Even (attendance largely unchanged) Level 3: Growing (attendance growth by 5 percent or more) Level 4: Adding/Reproducing (we directly launched another new campus or church plant) Level 5: Multiplying (a campus or church we helped to start has itself become a reproducing church) In Exponential’s e-book Becoming a Level Five Multiplying Church Field Guide, Todd Wilson, Dave Ferguson, and Alan Hirsch provided

February 2, 2019

Rewritable

By Brian Jennings “Man, I don’t have any rewritable CDs. I don’t think anyone still has rewritable CDs.” My words failed to calm him down. De-escalation seemed impossible. He got louder and angrier. He took a step forward and I was thinking, It’s about to go down—right here, right now. Twenty minutes earlier I’d asked my friend, José, if he wanted to walk from our office to my favorite lunch spot in the neighborhood. I was in the mood for Korean food—I’m always in the mood for Korean food. About a half-mile of worn-out parking lots and side streets separated

February 2, 2019

Eyes on the Community: Bayside Church

By Mel McGowan We serve a God of purpose and strategy, and we are called by him to be strategic with our resources and the stories we tell the world. The leadership of Bayside Church in Northern California found itself in a property predicament. The church owned three types of land: property that needed developing, property it was leasing, and property it didn’t make sense to sell. These properties all required strategic money management and planning to transform them into spaces that honored God and were inviting to the community. So pastor Ray Johnston created an ambitious master plan designed

January 29, 2019

My Life Story . . . from Gang Member to Church Planter

By Gonzalo Venegas as told to Christian Standard I was sitting in a prison cell, serving time for crimes I had committed as the leader of a street gang, when God spoke to me: “My children, my children—take care of my children.” I sensed his radical love. It is the only time I have ever heard from God in such an amazing way, and I cried because I knew exactly what he meant. God wasn’t talking only about young children, but all of his children. He was calling me to be a pastor. My Life on the Streets

January 29, 2019

Church & Ministry Church Leadership Pastoral Transitions & Succession

The ‘Package Deal’: How to Choose a New Church Leader and His Wife

By Melissa Brandes After many months, the search committee finally zeroes in on their top choice for pastor. The formal interview goes very well. He seems a perfect fit. “Trial sermon” Sunday arrives. He preaches a solid biblical message with a great application. Later that afternoon, church leaders’ spouses take the potential pastor’s wife out for coffee while the men go boating on a lake. That evening, an elder asks his wife about the candidate’s spouse, but she hesitates. “She’s interesting,” the elder’s wife finally says, but not enthusiastically. “I guess she’s pleasant enough. Honestly I just don’t know her

January 2, 2019