Series: Blogs

August 26, 2009

Christian Standard

Leading the Trends

By Mark A. Taylor Sometimes church leaders are more like followers. As Paul Williams wrote, “Like lemmings, churches follow one another into the latest trends, whether proven or not, desperate for that bump in attendance and increase in per-capita giving.” It”s true there”s no new idea under the sun, including the ones I”ll share below. And there”s no virtue in ignoring a successful method or ministry just because it”s new. But the Bible suggests dozens of ideas that could breathe fresh air into our ministries””and set a good example for others to copy. Wouldn”t it be great, for example, if

August 19, 2009

Christian Standard

How Will You Celebrate Great Communion?

By Mark A. Taylor It”s not too late for your church to plan a Great Communion observance October 4. Let me review what we”ve said about this event before, and then give you some new information. Review: Great Communion is an international celebration of the Lord”s Supper to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Thomas Campbell”s Declaration and Address, considered by many as the catalyst for our Restoration Movement. In it Campbell lifted up unity based on faith in Christ and obedience to the Scriptures. He decried divisions among believers in Christ and described the Lord”s Supper as “that great ordinance

August 12, 2009

Christian Standard

Serving for a Lifetime

By Mark A. Taylor We began editing this issue the week I was celebrating my 36th wedding anniversary. And I couldn”t help thinking how the advice of Randy Gariss and Paul Williams apply to my marriage as well as my ministry. Stick with a ministry for the long haul? Difficult. Stick with a marriage for a lifetime? Some would say impossible. Indeed, this summer”s tabloids have been filled with news of failed marriages, with conservative politicians as well as reality show stars confessing affairs and vowing to move on to the next chapters in their lives. Time magazine took note

August 5, 2009

Christian Standard

More Than Technology, and Not Boring at All

By Mark A. Taylor Troy McMahon walked into his local Starbucks June 18 and was surprised his friend, the barista, mentioned Troy”s recent trip to San Francisco. “How did you know about that?” Troy asked. “I”ve been following you on Facebook,” came the answer. The coffee server doesn”t attend Restore Community Church where Troy preaches””yet! But he”s one of many people the church planter reaches by using the sometimes maligned Internet social networking site Facebook. Paul Williams struck a responsive chord with his curmudgeonly critique of Facebook May 31. “On Facebook it seems all of life has been trivialized and

July 29, 2009

Christian Standard

Valuable Downloads for You and Others You Know

By Mark A. Taylor Every media outlet in the country is working to make information available to readers who want it via the Internet. Here at CHRISTIAN STANDARD we”ve been doing this for years. Our Web site, www.ChristianStandard.com, offers a wealth of new and archived material from the magazine, plus our Web-only features: blogs, weekly Sunday school lessons, extended interviews, reader comments, and more. All these are reasons thousands of Web users visit our site every week. In addition we”re creating a growing list of downloads. Each of these is inexpensive, easy to order, and valuable for teaching, preaching, or

July 22, 2009

Christian Standard

Choosing My Focus, Protecting My Ministry

I told a friend about the book we”re excerpting this week, Anne Jackson”s Mad Church Disease. “The author paints a pretty bleak picture of pain and dysfunction among those serving in local churches,” I said. My friend travels more and visits far more churches than I do, so I wanted his opinion. “Is it really that bad out there?” He answered without hesitating. “Oh, my, yes.” Some time later I listened as three Christian college professors talked about their graduates who had tried professional ministry and then left it. The details of the stories varied: unreasonable elders (or one unreasonable

July 8, 2009

Christian Standard

Remembering, Renewal, and Celebration

By Mark A. Taylor Once in awhile an article actually brings us to tears while we”re preparing it for print. Not often, mind you. But it does happen. It happened this week as one of our staff was formatting Ethan Magness”s articles about the Lord”s Supper. His insights are among several powerful pieces in this issue to help readers think afresh about Communion. He challenges us to lift our weekly observance above thoughtless routine. “The danger posed by meaningless ritual is no reason to stop the ritual,” he says. And he suggests how to keep our Communion celebrations alive. Another

July 1, 2009

Christian Standard

Establishing the Work of Our Hands

By Mark A. Taylor The picture (which accompanied the article “It’s Simple” by Luke Erickson and Tom Moen in this week’s print edition) reminds us of the virtuous woman described in Proverbs 31: “She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy” (v. 20). She is typical of men and women described in our series ongoing through 2009. The theme (borrowed from last year”s National Missionary Convention) “Get Your Hands Dirty” connects their stories. We”ve included in their number not only those whose hands are literally soiled by digging wells, collecting trash, remodeling mission outposts, or

June 24, 2009

Christian Standard

The Baptism Bandwagon

By Mark A. Taylor As Jennifer Taylor indicated in her blog May 6, it”s easy to be cynical about bandwagons. But most of us will agree with her that it”s difficult to argue with the results of what may become a trend in Christian churches: spontaneous baptism weekends. So far we”ve heard about a half-dozen churches that have hosted these events. The preacher presents Bible teaching about baptism and then invites anyone in the crowd who hasn”t been baptized to come forward on the spot. The churches don”t make provision for changing rooms and robes. Those who respond are immersed

June 24, 2009

Christian Standard

Born of the Heart

The 747 lumbered toward the runway at New York”s John F. Kennedy Airport. The preceding plane did not exit the runway quickly enough, however, and the Air India flight had to “go around,” as the air traffic controllers say. We waited another 20 minutes to see our daughter. Jael Neisha arrived at 2½ months of age. She weighed 5 pounds when she was born in Calcutta. But for no discernible reason she began to waste away in the Indian orphanage. When Jael finally emerged from the U.S. Customs arrival gate, her wrinkled face was covered with sweat. She was quite

June 17, 2009

Christian Standard

Congratulations Compass Christian Church!

By Mark A. Taylor The votes are in, each round of balloting has finished, and the winner in our first-ever Church Branding Competition has been named. Congratulations to Compass Christian Church whose logo rose to the top and garnered the most votes in each of four face-offs. The competition began the week of April 19 with 16 church logos (see list below). Eight were eliminated the first week, and four more the second week, leaving the top four vote-getters. The third round of voting determined the final match-up: Parkway Christian Church (Surprise, Arizona; see below) vs. Compass Christian (a multisite

June 10, 2009

Christian Standard

Through the Ages and Around the World

By Mark A. Taylor Where would the world be without the church? Good question, but it”s far too general. Where would Glen Cove or Tonawanda, New York, be without the church? Or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania? Or Everett, Washington? Or Mesa, Arizona? The stories we are posting this week offer answers to the questions. We tell the stories of Christians in each of these towns, everyday believers like you and me who are helping their neighbors and bettering their communities in Jesus” name for God”s glory. As Mark Moore said in his article we published April 5, “The notion that our churches care

June 3, 2009

Christian Standard

Much More Important Than Money

By Mark A. Taylor Why do some committees work well, while others only spin their wheels? Why do some groups of elders lead effectively while others baffle with their poor choices or inability to decide? Why are some colleges, missions, and similar ministries directed into effective futures by their trustees while others only tread water? Whole books have been written to answer questions like those, but insight from an unlikely source bears some attention. The article appeared April 25 in The Wall Street Journal. In his column, “The Intelligent Investor,” Jason Zweig discussed a host of bad decisions made by

May 27, 2009

Christian Standard

Simply Appealing

By Mark A. Taylor Is simplicity a biblical concept or just a cultural trend? As David Ray mentions this week, striving for simple was popular even when folks thought they could afford excess. Now, in a struggling economy, eliminating extras has often become necessary as well as trendy. All this might suggest that talk about simplicity in the church is just another fad. Time will tell, but Thom Ranier and Eric Geiger wrote Simple Church before the poor economy hit the headlines. Their book, profiled this week, says simplicity is an idea that should last. David Browning agrees in Deliberate

May 20, 2009

Christian Standard

More Than Talk About Unity

By Mark A. Taylor Most biblical ideals are easier to talk about than to practice. I may be able to quote Bible verses about love or patience or forgiveness or grace. But just let the neighbor”s dog wake me with its barking or my coworker across the aisle talk too loud on the phone, and let”s see how I express those virtues! Perhaps no value is easier to promote and also more difficult to experience than unity. Whenever I”m called upon to explain the Restoration Movement to someone who doesn”t know us, I”m faced with this reality. Soon into my

May 13, 2009

Christian Standard

The Final Challenge

By Mark A. Taylor Every sports fan knows the importance of ending well. We remember games won in the ninth inning, come-from-behind victories cinched in overtime, runners prevailing only in the final lap. All the game was important, but victory was sure only in the final seconds. Every gardener knows a successful harvest is the point of planting. Neat rows of new sprouts are attractive, and beautiful blooms on healthy vegetable vines are encouraging. But if by summer”s end the plants dry up, rot away, or become the food of garden pests, what real good is a garden? So it

May 6, 2009

Christian Standard

Doing Good”“an Earmark of Our Times?

By Mark A. Taylor Could it be that cultural and sociological trends are supporting and energizing the church”s “external focus” that we seem to be seeing everywhere? Our weekly e-newsletter and semiweekly “Buzz” column are filled with stories of churches reaching out to their communities. Youth groups and seniors ministries and whole congregations are organizing themselves to feed the hungry, erect Habit for Humanity homes, tutor in the public schools, build playgrounds in urban parks, and serve in dozens of other ways. Last year”s National Missionary Convention rode this wave with its challenge to “Get Your Hands Dirty.” And we

April 29, 2009

Christian Standard

Campus Ministries”“Something Special

By Mark A. Taylor It was a typical college visit, the kind high school students across the land make in their junior and senior years. But something special happened at this one. To get a real feel for the school she was visiting, this student stayed overnight in the dorm. That evening her host invited her to a get-together on campus, a Bible study sponsored by the Christian campus ministry there. Later her parents smiled as they spoke about their daughter”s positive experience with the group of Christian students and the campus minister she met. Christian parents of new college

April 15, 2009

Christian Standard

Your Vision”“and Ours

By Mark A. Taylor One sentence stands out in Kent Fillinger”s introduction to this week”s special issue. “If you copy someone else”s vision, who will accomplish yours?” Kent quotes the book Church Unique to remind us that we must do the particular work God has for us in our communities, not copy the strategies working for someone else somewhere else. So why does CHRISTIAN STANDARD devote a whole issue to megachurches every year? “¢ Megachurches are news, and our goal is to tell you news about Christian churches and churches of Christ you won”t find anywhere else. “¢ Megachurches are

April 8, 2009

Christian Standard

Exciting Times, Hopeful Times, Times to Be a Blessing

By Mark A. Taylor I was visiting with a seasoned minister at a leadership meeting not long ago. As is usual these days, talk went to the difficult economy. But he quickly said, “This is really a time of great opportunity for the church,” squelching any negative comment I might have made. “Oh, yes, of course,” I answered. And then I thought about our Get Your Hands Dirty emphasis this year and all the stories we”re running about churches making a difference in their communities and with those in need around the world. I was a little sheepish he had

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