Series: Columns

March 28, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

Not Happy? Don”t Worry

By Mark A. Taylor Just when you think the world is beyond hope, here comes the United Nations trying to bring a smile. Did you know that Monday last week, March 20, was International Day of Happiness? Did you know it was the fourth such day, having been “adopted by consensus of all 193 member states of the United Nations” on June 28, 2012? Did you miss your local International Day of Happiness celebration? If so, I”m right there with you. Maybe Americans don”t make much of celebrating happiness, because, according the U.N.”s World Happiness Report 2017, the United States

March 25, 2017

Christian Standard

A Woman”s Place

By Tim Harlow In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, many women in the U.S. are feeling devalued. What should be the church”s response?  Although many issues were debated during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, gender issues didn”t seem to be at the forefront. Most people seemed prepared for the possibility of a female president. It wasn”t a big deal. Even those who were dead set against Hillary Clinton for president seldom said it was because she”s a woman. And while many people were offended by Donald Trump”s comments and apparent attitudes toward women, they tended to overlook this

March 24, 2017

Christian Standard

Where Has All the Shopping Gone?

By Joe Boyd Traditional retail is struggling. What might this mean to local churches in the United States?  A giant of the American economy is slowly dying. You may not notice it yet because giants die at such a sluggish pace. Traditional American department stores are struggling. Over the last year Macy”s has closed nearly 100 stores and laid off 10,000 employees. Sears is also closing more than 100 stores after a 2016 holiday shopping season that dropped more than 12 percent from 2015. Kohl”s closed 18 stores and laid off more than 1,500 people in 2016. This isn”t Forbes

March 23, 2017

Christian Standard

Focusing on Discipleship

By Jennifer Johnson You may know Exponential as the premier conference for church planting, but you may not know that a similar event exists for leaders focused on discipleship””and that some of the same people are behind both. Todd Wilson, founder and director of Exponential, and Bobby Harrington, lead pastor at Harpeth Christian Church in Franklin, TN, launched the National Disciple Making Forum in 2014 at Saddleback Church in Southern California as a way for disciple-making leaders around the country to learn, pray, worship, and grow together. “I wasn”t sure if I wanted to take this on, honestly,” Harrington says.

March 22, 2017

Christian Standard

The Weight of What We Love

By Jim Tune We carry a lot of extra weight with us. No, I”m not talking about the extra pounds around our middle. I”m thinking of our loves. Augustine once described wealth as a weight. “My weight is my love,” he wrote. “Wherever I am carried, my love is carrying me.” This makes sense. We all want money, but we recognize that those who love money must worry about how to accumulate, protect, and manage it. James K. A. Smith helps us understand what Augustine meant. “Our orienting loves are like a kind of gravity””carrying us in the direction to

March 21, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

Immigration: My Final Word

By Mark A. Taylor It”s true for every web post, published article, or magazine cover theme: Some agree. Some object. And many ignore what has been written. That”s been the pattern for the immigration posts appearing at christianstandard.com this month (all of them lifted from the March issue of the print magazine), and your editor is tempted to reply to each response. I”ll resist, but I am motivated to give 500 or so more words to the subject. First: the positive comments, Facebook reposts, and retweets of links to the articles are gratifying. But I”ll admit that some of this

March 20, 2017

Christian Standard

Basic Training

By Jennifer Johnson A few years ago I wrote a proposal for an online initiative that would provide customizable resources for churches wanting to develop their pastors, worship leaders, campus ministers, church planters, elders, and key volunteers. I suggested an online portal with everything from 101 to seminary-level books, articles, podcasts, and videos, as well as suggested “tracks” with curated lists of resources for specific groups. I referred to research from the Barna Group and Ed Stetzer as well as insights from the leaders of Orchard Group, Stadia, and some of our megachurches to support my argument. It was summarily

March 20, 2017

Christian Standard

Milligan, Stadia Partner Together

By Jennifer Johnson Milligan College and Stadia recently announced they have partnered to raise awareness of church planting and further the mission of both institutions. The new partnership was announced in December during a “Church Planting Emphasis Week” at Milligan College and Emmanuel Christian Seminary in Tennessee. The partnership opens a variety of opportunities for both organizations, including theological training for church planters at Milligan/Emmanuel, Stadia-developed church planting courses for students, new internship opportunities for Milligan and Emmanuel students at church plants, and Stadia speakers for Milligan”s Youth in Ministry Student Leadership Conference. Phyllis Fox, who served as director of

March 15, 2017

Christian Standard

Keeping Smartphones in Their Place

By Jim Tune The New York Times reports people spend close to three hours a day looking at a mobile screen, and that excludes the time they spend actually talking on the phones. In a 2015 survey of smartphone use by Bank of America, about one-third of respondents said they were “constantly” checking their smartphones, and a little more than two-thirds said they went to bed with a smartphone by their side. One teenager reports, “I bring my [iPhone] everywhere. I have to be holding it. It”s like OCD””I have to have it with me. And I check it a

March 14, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

My Retirement Plan

By Mark A. Taylor Yesterday”s announcement of Jerry Harris as the new publisher for Christian Standard Media includes news of my retirement. I”d like to use my space this week to add a little background. I told Standard Publishing management about 20 months ago, in July of 2015, that I planned to retire after the North American Christian Convention in Anaheim in 2016. But when most of Standard Publishing (but not the magazines) was sold to David C. Cook in December 2015, I changed my plan. We assumed that some new owner would also eventually acquire CHRISTIAN STANDARD and The

March 8, 2017

Christian Standard

The Crack in Everything

By Jim Tune In his song “Anthem,” Leonard Cohen writes that everything has a crack. He then adds, “That”s how the light gets in.” Could Philip Yancey have been listening to Cohen as he reflected on the amazing nature of grace? Yancey writes: “Imperfection is the prerequisite for grace. Light only gets in through the cracks.” It”s not easy to acknowledge one”s imperfections. Wherever the line is drawn between right and wrong, between gentle or cruel, between clean or dirty, all too often I find myself crossing over to the wrong side of the line, despite all my efforts to

March 7, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

Her Final Lesson

By Mark A. Taylor What should we note about the life of Eleanor Daniel? Thousands of her former colleagues and students are telling what they remember about her now, after her death March 2 and her memorial service yesterday, March 6. They speak of her skill and passion as a Christian teacher. The remember her encouragement in their own teaching ministries. They recite her faithfulness in Christian service. They note the impact she made on three seminaries among the Christian churches and churches of Christ. (Some are quoting from Bruce Parmenter”™s tribute, published last December, in which he describes her

March 2, 2017

Christian Standard

The Devil, the Disbeliever, and the Politicians

By LeRoy Lawson Reviving Old Scratch: Demons and the Devil for Doubters and the Disenchanted Richard Beck Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016 Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense Francis Spufford New York: HarperOne, 2014 The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan Rick Perlstein New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015 What should we do when faith falters, either our faith in God or our faith in no God? Either loss is a life-changer. Like most serious believers, I have had my own doubts. I am not alone. Some of my best friends have

March 1, 2017

Christian Standard

For the Suffering and Their Friends

By Jim Tune The book of Job is mystery to me. It”s the story of immense suffering, unhelpful friends, few answers, but a great God. The more I look at the book, the more I see. It”s a book that”s so relevant to our times, for both those suffering and their friends. That”s all of us. For those who are suffering, Job lets us know we”re not alone. “I used to think that the book of Job is in the Bible because this story of suffering is so extreme, so rare and improbable and unusual,” says pastor and scholar Ray

February 26, 2017

Christian Standard

The Best Sermon I”ve Ever Heard (20)

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. Bob Blanshan Bob Blanshan, his beautiful wife, Sarah, and three children live in Crowley, Louisiana, where he serves as the children and family minister at Forest Park Church of Christ. He grew up on the other end of the Mississippi River in northern Minnesota, attending a church just six miles from the Canadian border. Bob is fortunate to have heard a lot of great preaching throughout his lifetime, including his father, Dale Blanshan, and his grandfather, Bob Blanshan,

February 22, 2017

Kelly Carr

The Simplest Way to Change the World

  By Jim Tune Twelve people sat in silence. They had traveled from Minnesota to Orlando for a weeklong course on evangelism with Steve Childers, one of the country”™s top church-planting strategists. “You know what the key to evangelism in the 21st century will be, don”™t you?” Childers asked them. He had them captivated. He waited an uncomfortably long time. Finally he answered: “Hospitality.” David Mathis, who records this story, writes: In a progressively post-Christian society, the importance of hospitality as an evangelistic asset is growing rapidly. Increasingly, the most strategic turf on which to engage the unbelieving with the

February 21, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

FAQ

By Mark A. Taylor With the acquisition of Christian Standard Media, announced February 13, itӪs only natural that some readers may have some questions. Here are some answers. Acquisition? Who acquired you?ӬChristian Standard Media, consisting primarily of The Lookout and CHRISTIAN STANDARD magazines, was acquired by The Solomon Foundation. Solomon created a wholly owned, independent, nonprofit subsidiary that will manage this ministry Solomon is in Denver, right? Does this mean youӪll be moving there? ҬNo, and yes. It is true that we have a new business address: 16965 Pine Lane, Suite 202 Parker, Colorado 80134 All correspondence for the magazines,

February 20, 2017

Christian Standard

A Next Chapter

By Jennifer Johnson Several years ago I wrote a series of case studies for Kairos Legacy Partners that described their work with dying and declining churches across the country. Kairos works with these churches to evaluate their impact, their finances, and overall health and determine whether it makes sense for them to stay open as a congregation. If the decision is no, Kairos also works with those churches to help them “recycle” their facilities and financial resources in ways that can fund another ministry. I”m a fan of Kairos and I appreciate its desire to honor the sacrifices of past

February 20, 2017

Christian Standard

Church Moves from Mortgage to Ministry

By Jennifer Johnson It”s common for church plants to meet in school buildings, and leaders in those new churches happily haul gear, set up rooms for children, and tear down worship spaces each week. It”s much less common for decades-old congregations to give up their buildings and go back to this way of worshipping, but for Journey Christian Church in Roswell, GA, this facility decision is opening up new opportunities for ministry. When Dan Garrett became lead pastor at Journey (then First Christian Church of Roswell) in 2011, the church was paying off $2.5 million in debt. The church had

February 19, 2017

Christian Standard

Single on Purpose, with a Purpose

By Jennifer Johnson Northeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY) has a history of giving money to church members who want to use the funds to make a difference””and the recipients of these donations have a proven track record of changing lives with the money. Several years ago as part of a sermon series, Northeast”s leadership team chose 100 people and gave each one a hundred dollar bill with instructions to use the money for something God was calling them to do. From this investment came a number of ongoing ministries, including a “Mom”s Closet” which helps single moms with education, food, and clothing,

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