Church &amp; Ministry

Church & Ministry Small Groups

Make 2017 a New Year for Your Group or Class

By Michael C. Mack When we make resolutions, we usually emphasize what we will do under our own power and will. When we run out of willpower, we begin to fail at keeping those resolutions. For Christians, there”s a far better way. Move from New Year”s resolutions to spiritual reconstitutions! Here”s how. At your first group or class meeting of the new year, look at the list of what comprises the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, 23 and discuss what each one looks like in everyday life. For instance, what would it look like to display love for

December 15, 2016

Many Gifts, Much Service: A Profile of Eleanor Daniel

By Bruce Parmenter I call Eleanor Daniel “The Queen of the Deans” because, to my knowledge, she is the only woman, aside from Dr. Dinelle Frankland and Karen Diefendorf, to serve as academic dean in seminaries of the more “traditional” side of the Stone-Campbell fellowship. Daniel has been dean at not one, but three seminaries. She is also a missionary, and a missionary to missionaries, a scholar par excellence (summa cum laude graduate of Lincoln Christian College, master”s degree and PhD from the University of Illinois), and an extraordinary teacher and preacher. Tucked in among the plethora of her gifts,

December 15, 2016

Training the Next Generation of Women in Ministry: An Interview with Anne Menear

By T.R. Robertson The back of Anne Menear”s office door is covered with dozens of photographs of smiling young people, mostly women. “Those are all my kids,” she says, with a proud smile. “The ones over there,” she adds, pointing to more photographs arranged on a world map, “are all in missions. They”re all the girls that I”ve had contact with that are working in places like Germany, Japan, and Mexico. “It was great to have seen them graduate and now they”re grown-up adults, and to see them as such””it”s cool.” As director of the Christian Education department and dean

December 13, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

What Women Can Do

By Mark A. Taylor While opinions differ about what women should or should not do in a Christian church, no one can deny that God is working through women today. And, as Matt Proctor, Jennifer Johnson, and Chad Ragsdale remind us this month, women have always been at the center of God”s work on earth: “¢ Several significant and surprising women are included in the genealogy of Jesus. “¢ Mary, the mother of Jesus, demonstrated strength, character, and obedience to equal that of any male Bible hero . “¢ And in this virgin”s submission, God showed the divinity of her

December 9, 2016

I Could Totally/Never Do That!

By Jennifer Johnson Two mistakes are easy to make when reading B.J. Leonard“s story. The first is to think you could never do what he did””give up your dream house in the suburbs to move into the inner city with your wife and three young kids. The second is to believe you could totally do what he did because you”ve romanticized it as a sequel to The Blind Side. B.J., his wife, Mary, and his daughters aren”t reaching out to urban Decatur, IL, because it”s easy, but they”re also not doing it to experience the warm fuzzy feelings of “saving”

November 25, 2016

Serving to Be the Church

By James C. Jones These believers are working together to make a difference in their community.Â Many houses where I live in Illinois are old. The house where I live, for example, was built in 1900. Since the population of many small towns in central Illinois has stayed roughly the same or decreased over the years, few homes are being built. Consequently, many people live in relatively old houses. Because so many houses are old and require continual maintenance, many people struggle to keep up with all that needs to be done. Many houses in our small town have fallen

November 22, 2016

Other January Ministry Ideas

New Year”s Eve””January 1: Contact a New Year”s Eve party venue and arrange to offer free rides home. The venue can call or text you when someone needs a ride. (Be sure to take someone with you. Do not go alone.) January 16″”Martin Luther King Day: Plan a day of service in the community to help meet pressing needs. For more information, go to www.nationalservice.gov/mlkday. “”Outreach Magazine, www.outreachmagazine.com

November 13, 2016

The Church Needs the Hood

By Justin Horey It took a gang member for Tommy Nixon to understand grace. In 2002, Nixon cofounded Solidarity, a ministry designed to “help churches transform their cities,” but after a decade living and working in the low-income neighborhoods of Fullerton, California, he was frustrated. Nixon”s work with Solidarity had introduced him to a number of local gang members, and he had been ministering to one in particular for 10 years””but the young man”s life wasn”t changing. Despite Nixon”s efforts to help him, the gang member wound up in jail, and even was deported. Nixon recalls turning to God in

November 12, 2016

Church & Ministry Church Planting

When God Brought the Homeless: An Interview with Ed Taylor

By Brian Jennings Ed Taylor took the leap of faith to plant a church in Arlington Heights, an upscale suburb of Chicago, three years ago. My soul was blessed to hear how Quest Church opened her arms to the people God surprisingly sent their way. If I had a nickel for every friend who went from overseeing university standardized testing to planting a church, I guess I”d have one nickel. How did you get from there to here? I”d worked at the University of Iowa for about 10 years when I started leading worship at Iowa City Church of Christ.

November 3, 2016

National Diabetes Month

By Michael C. Mack November is National Diabetes Month in the United States. In 2012, 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3 percent of the population, had diabetes. Here are a few ideas for your church or group: “¢ Host a family diabetes gathering. Invite a local representative from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) or a diabetes educator to speak and answer questions. Provide a healthy meal. “¢ Provide information about diabetes, which can be found on the ADA website, www.diabetes.org, or from a local office or a local endocrinology office. Help clear up many of the common myths about diabetes. “¢

October 31, 2016

The Best Sermon I’ve Ever Heard (17)

By Arron Chambers Christian leaders, some of them preachers themselves, tell us about a sermon they can”t forget””and maybe you won”t either. Barry CameronÂ Barry L. Cameron has been senior pastor of Crossroads in Grand Prairie, Texas, since 1992 when the church was averaging 188 in morning worship. Today, more than 7,500 people call Crossroads their church home. Cameron is a second-generation pastor. He and his wife, Janis, have three children: Katie, Matt, and Kelli, and a daughter-in-law, Lindley. They also have two grandsons, Will and Levi. He”s the author of the bestseller, The ABCs of Financial Freedom. He also

October 30, 2016

God Spoke through the Sermons

What I learned from a year”s break from preaching By Dustin Fulton A few years ago, after a difficult season of ministry, my wife and I sensed a definite call to plant a church. Since we were weary, we were advised to take a sabbatical, as well as quit our jobs, sell our house, move out of town, and wait to see where God was leading us. Of the many aspects of the sabbatical, one that really excited me was getting to refresh my preaching skills by hearing from as many preachers as possible during my year”s break from the

October 24, 2016

The Sisterhood

By Jennifer Johnson A few years ago I planned a special event for women in ministry, open to any lady on staff at a church or parachurch organization. A few guys I know found it hard to understand. “So it”s a women”s ministry event?” “Not exactly. It”s for women who are in ministry.” “Oh, you mean like women married to pastors?” No. I don”t have anything against celebrating women or pastor”s wives (I happen to be both) but that”s not the audience I”m most interested in. Those groups enjoy plenty of conferences, blogs, and books developed especially for them. However,

October 23, 2016

Helping Women Live Well, Lead Well

By Jennifer Johnson Blessing Ranch (New Port Richey, FL) is well known for its intensive counseling services and spiritual formation work with pastors and their families. Facilitating personal transformation is at the core of what they do, and now with “Beyond Her Story” they”re hoping to multiply that work among women across the country. “Over the last year or two I started feeling like God was leading us to make more efforts to reach women in ministry,” says Dr. Charity Walker-Byers, executive director of clinical services at Blessing Ranch. “We”ve worked with women in leadership here in the United States

October 20, 2016

Church & Ministry Church Growth

What Operating System Is Your Church Using?

By Michael C. Mack Chris Lagerlof is the executive catalyst at Mission Orange County (www.missionoc.org). In a Q&A with Exponential (www.exponential.org), “a growing community of leaders committed to accelerating the multiplication of healthy, reproducing faith communities,” Lagerlof talked about the biggest aha”™s he had while reading Becoming a Level 5 Multiplying Church by Todd Wilson and Dave Ferguson. He says he was moved by Chapter 1, “Rethinking Our Operating System.” He was especially struck by Wilson”™s words: Pause and reflect on the potential unintended consequences [of the prevailing operating systems, especially in megachurches]. We are called to make biblical disciples

October 13, 2016

Church & Ministry Small Groups

Seven Tips from Twitter on Facilitating a Group or Class

By Michael C. Mack Michael C. Mack (@michaelcmack) tweets “Small Group Leader TIPS of the Day” every weekday. Here are seven tips on facilitating a great group meeting: “¢Â Don”™t be the small group answer man or woman. Let group members experience aha moments. “¢Â Become comfortable answering questions with, “I don”™t know, but let”™s all find out this week.” “¢Â As you study God”™s Word together, “remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” “¢Â Try different approaches to Bible study (e.g., read various “I will” statements of God and discuss/apply).

October 9, 2016

The Best Sermon I”ve Ever Heard (16)

By Arron Chambers Two preachers and their preacher sons tell us about a sermon they can”t forget””and maybe you won”t either. Scott Eynon Scott Eynon has been pastor at Community Christian Church of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for 22 years. Community Christian celebrates its international diversity with attendees from 85 nations! Scott loves to say, “We get to be part of a church that looks like Heaven, with people from all over the world worshipping together.” Scott has been married to his wife, Lori, for 33 years and they have two sons, Chris and Steven. Scott”s Best Sermon: The best sermon

September 29, 2016

Church & Ministry Small Groups

To Kill or to Keep an Intriguing Idea?

By LeRoy Lawson This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories ThatÂ Are Blocking Progress John Brockman, editor New York: Harper Perennial, 2015 The Hunt for Vulcan: . . . And How AlbertÂ Einstein Destroyed a Planet, DiscoveredÂ Relativity, and Deciphered the Universe Thomas Levenson New York: Random House, 2015 The Cross andÂ the Lynching Tree James H. Cone Maryknoll: Orbis Books,Â 2013 (reprint) So you are running into resistance to change in your church, are you? So you believe religion alone is the great resister of new ideas, do you? So you”ve been thinking science, on the contrary, is always based on objective, bias-free research and

September 27, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Back to the Middle

By Mark A. Taylor “We need to rediscover the midsize groups of 20-50 people,” Alex Absalom told our interviewer Kent Fillinger not long ago. When I read that quote, I knew I wanted to know more. For years I”ve grieved the virtual abandonment of adult Bible fellowships””Sunday school classes””by most local churches. Among the many reasons for their demise is the fact that few Christian church/church of Christ leaders were taught how to use adult Sunday school as something more than a place for often-mediocre Bible teaching. Early in my ministry I was trained to use such adult groups as

September 25, 2016