Series: A Better Story

July 30, 2016

Christian Standard

It Just Keeps Getting Better

By James Book I met Jackie when I began my ministry with First Christian Church of Kissimmee, Florida, in May 2011. Her father was a military man who became very violent and abusive toward her from the time she was 10 years old until she later moved out. Jackie worked full-time while attending high school, graduating in 1975. She married the first man to ask her in 1978. Jackie shared with me that she felt so worthless and unloved that she literally sabotaged her own marriage. She got a job shortly after the wedding and started having an affair with

July 29, 2016

Christian Standard

Better Than a Lesbian Lifestyle

By Roger Worsham Michelle was raised in an abusive home by an extremely narcissistic mom. When she was 9 her mom married for the fifth time. This stepfather was abusive, like some of the others, and molested Michelle from age 9 to 13. When she told her mother about the molestation, her mother refused to believe her. She told Michelle, “You are too ugly for him to be interested in having sex with you.” Later Michelle”s mom remarried again. This marriage didn”t last. Michelle”s mom stole a check from her estranged sixth husband, and he sent another woman to collect

July 29, 2016

Christian Standard

God Was Working

By Ben Simms Abraham was a young man who knew trouble. At 12 years old, Abraham was involved in a gang and preferred life on the streets. But God was working. A new house church was being planted in Abraham”s hometown in El Salvador. Lifeline Christian Mission”s Bible Institute students and leaders went door-to-door inviting families to this new church. Two students approached Abraham and his friends and invited them to church. That moment changed Abraham”s life. Abraham visited the church and sat on the back row, listening intently. He was intrigued. Afterwards, as Pastor José greeted all who had

July 28, 2016

Christian Standard

Living the Parable

By Tom Ellsworth Jesus” parable of the vineyard laborers who all received the same wage (despite the fact that some started at the 11th hour) has created more questions than answers for me. It just didn”t seem . . . fair. When I talked with Kenny Ooley regarding his relationship with the Lord, he shared his struggle. He didn”t struggle with his faith; he struggled with his past. How could a perfect God love and forgive him for a lifetime of lousy choices? Could God be that generous? Could forgiveness extend that far? After all, he had wasted a lifetime

July 28, 2016

Christian Standard

Shefki Selmani

By David Faust Shefki Selmani grew up in a Muslim family in the European republic of Kosovo. As a boy in the late 1990s, he heard bombs falling from NATO military action against the Serbs. During those stormy times he enjoyed lighter moments by playing soccer with British troops, and hanging around them taught him some not-so-proper English words. American missionaries introduced Shefki to the gospel and baptized him into Christ when he was a teenager. He says, “Jesus called me and that meant for me to leave everything if I wanted to follow him.” As a result of encountering

July 25, 2016

Christian Standard

He”s the Man!

By Errol Schroeder Brendon Paladichuk is a member at Journey Christian Church in Greeley, Colorado. But he hasn”t always been a believer. God did a rewrite of Brendon”s screenplay, and now he”s living out a better story. Brendon grew up in a single-parent home with his mom working four jobs to make ends meet. Brendon went to church but was present only physically. Brendon wanted to be popular, cool, and noticed. Dirty jokes, cussing, fights, and alcohol were all a part of his story. Brendon was the man! One day his life took a major turn. He was in a

July 25, 2016

Christian Standard

“˜I See the Resurrection”

By Aaron Monts Joshua stood up and walked to the front, where the bread and the juice were waiting. A huge smile swept across my face and tears welled up in my eyes. Only a week ago we had talked directly, one-on-one about Jesus. Joshua wrestled with how to integrate his Jewish faith with this emerging understanding about who Jesus was and is. He struggled with the intellectual side of a faith that believed in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and yet was overwhelmed by the real-life stories of resurrection that were all around him on display in our church

July 24, 2016

Christian Standard

My Heart”s Full Desire

By Phyllis Fox “It”s like the Rascal Flatts song, “˜Life Is a Highway,”” said Daniel. The “highway” led Daniel Ball from Chatham, England, to Milligan College in Tennessee to play soccer (and for an education). “I had never heard of Milligan College until I received a call from Adam Laney, Milligan”s men”s soccer coach. After arriving at the airport in Tennessee, my first impression was there literally is a church on every corner. I knew East Tennessee was in the South and that the area is called the Bible Belt, but I didn”t know I would be living on the

July 23, 2016

Christian Standard

Sharing Her Story

By Cindy Willison At age 16, Jani ran away to get married because she was bored and looking for adventure. She had started attending church at age 13, but it was just a social thing for her. Two years and one day after her marriage, Jani was a single mother. She started hanging out with friends and learned from them an adult entertainment club was hiring. She had no moral objection to the business, so she worked there for three years. It was a terrible experience; but she, and everyone else who worked there, talked about it being so positive,

July 22, 2016

Christian Standard

Jesus Found Me!

By Ruth T. Reyes She was a child prodigy leaving her homeland to follow a dream of being a concert pianist. She had lived a charmed life, performing on television and concert halls for government dignitaries and a first lady. Now she was armed with a scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School. It was a kind of fairy-tale story, one thousands of aspiring musicians would wish for””and it actually happened to me. On my way to America, my thoughts turned to Little Jimmy Taylor”s gospel chorus “Dear Jesus Abide with Me,” which my mom would sing with me when I

July 22, 2016

Christian Standard

Carrying to Completion

By Earl Winfrey I can”t remember a time when church was not part of my life. I was baptized into Christ at 12 and felt the call to ministry and started pursuing a deeper knowledge of the Bible at the age of 14. Unfortunately, I got mixed up with the wrong crowd during my senior year of high school. I got married two weeks after graduation, and we had our baby five months after the wedding. For the first year and a half, I lived in denial, thinking my marriage was good. Then one day I woke up to find

July 21, 2016

Christian Standard

“˜You Choose”

By Bobby Wallace I was a mess. On the outside, I seemed like I had it all together. But on the inside, I was wrecked. I grew up in church. Yet I didn”t become a Christian until I was heading to college””and only then, after years of procrastination, because I feared I would be a hypocrite. Deep down I knew I was running away from conviction. When I got to college, I had every intention of living for Jesus. I attended Campus Christian Fellowship from day one and even lived in the campus house, but my resolve didn”t last long.

July 21, 2016

Christian Standard

So Grateful

By Chris Garrett I”ve told my story many times over the years. Sadly, I”ve found it a common one. A young woman marries her high school sweetheart, has a baby boy, and one year later, the father doesn”t want to be married anymore and leaves. Struggling with the aftermath, mom and child live in poverty, experience years of physical and sexual abuse during a second marriage, and that boy grows up living a life full of poor choices born out of a deep struggle with self-worth. That was my story, but it didn”t end there. I love to tell people

July 18, 2016

Christian Standard

People Like You and Me

By J.K. Jones Eastview Christian Church, Normal, Illinois, is a church marked by continual encounters with Jesus. I hope that doesn”t sound boastful or bombastic. We regularly witness genuine life transformation in people of all walks and stripes. That long and incomplete list includes police officers, public school teachers, insurance employees, strippers, bartenders, drug and alcohol abusers, self-righteous religious folk, gay and lesbian, black and white, rich and poor, male and female, coaches and athletes, children and elderly, and outsiders and insiders. Some are as intentional and seeking as the pearl merchant described in Matthew 13:45, 46. Others are as

July 18, 2016

Christian Standard

I Knew I Was Called

By Bart Rendel In the summer of 1985 my life changed forever during the North American Christian Convention in Anaheim, California! For years, my family had attended the convention for inspiration and connection. That summer we made the trek out west to visit family and friends. The convention was the centerpiece of our trip. I was between my 10th and 11th grade in high school. With college in the offing, I was seriously contemplating my life”s direction. How did he want to use me? Where should I focus my education? It was at the convention that I felt the Lord

July 18, 2016

Christian Standard

Living Out the Mystery

By Travis Hurley My story changed when I served as lead minister for a multiethnic congregation in the Washington, D.C., area. Suddenly I was seeing an answer to Jesus” prayer for the visible unity of his people (John 17:20-23) in a way I had never seen before. As I developed deep, rooted relationships across ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic lines, my faith was sharpened, my willingness to love and serve all people was stretched, and a newfound humility and teachability was born within me. The mystery of the gospel””reconciling us to each other as well as to God himself””defies conventional wisdom.

July 17, 2016

Christian Standard

Never Give Up

By David Eubanks In the spring of 1963, while I was a professor at Johnson University, I preached for the Main Street Christian Church, McConnelsville, Ohio. It was the most productive revival I have ever held in terms of attendance growth and responses for both conversion and placing membership with the congregation. In a church running 150 on Sunday morning, the attendance increased every night to more than 300 on Friday evening, with chairs set up and down the aisles and even on the platform. The whole experience was exhilarating. There were 79 responses to the invitation, 39 of them

July 16, 2016

Christian Standard

After Seven Years of Friendship

By Jeff Vines On the surface, it seemed as though Bill McCarthy had it all: a beautiful and talented wife, two exceptional daughters, and a prominent career in broadcasting. His career spanned more than 50 years, taking him from sports anchor to newsreader to a renowned producer and director. He anchored coverage of the 1974 British Commonwealth Games and produced broadcasts for the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. Yet, despite all of his achievements, Bill could not fill the unexplainable void in his life, and like most Kiwis (as the people of New Zealand are called), he never even considered God

July 15, 2016

Christian Standard

From Vile to Victory

By Matt Proctor “I remember being in the bars at 3 years old with my mother singing in the bands,” says Juliet Rose. Juliet was born into addiction. Her mother drank heavily, and her dad was a drug addict. Her mother married another man when Juliet was 4, and “that”s when monsters became real.” Her new stepdad molested her for the next five years. She always felt alone. “I had no friends, so I quit school in the ninth grade. I had no education, no life skills.” At 16, she fled to Las Vegas, where she survived as a prostitute.

July 15, 2016

Christian Standard

Full Circle

By Raymond Bodley His name was Larry, a 20-year-old soldier who came into the church in Frankfurt, Germany, in the 1980s. When he arrived, he seemed to be running from what he thought was expected of him, while also searching for where God could use him. I wondered how he fit into the U.S. Army mold, though he was really smart. When I met Larry, he was a “gun bunny” who carried howitzer shells from point A to point B. After he dropped two or three shells, however, the command decided to make him a driver for a captain. That

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