Series: Columns

Days of Beauty

By Jim Tune A few of my friends have been participating in a project called “Days of Gratitude.” In an effort to be mindful of their blessings, each day they record, usually on social media, something for which they are grateful. It”s a useful exercise, and some have said the daily habit is having a positive effect on their disposition. On Canadian Thanksgiving (yes, Canadians have their own annual holiday on the second Monday of October), I decided to do something similar. My journey was to recognize and appreciate something beautiful every day for 30 days. I confess that this

November 22, 2016

Conferences & Gatherings Organizations & Events

Good Smells, Great Lives

By Mark A. Taylor I got to the Lexington Center at 1:15 Saturday afternoon, a little before I”d promised to be there. We were planning a special 2:00 event in our International Conference on Missions booth, and the attendant had promised to be there at 1:30 to help us get ready. But as soon as I entered the exhibit hall, I knew she was already on the job. I could smell the popcorn popping. Soon the aroma was filling the whole, huge facility. And even before our announced start time, we relented and allowed the people lining up to grab

November 16, 2016

You Are What You Want

By Jim Tune Jesus twice asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” It seems an odd question. The first time Jesus asks it, he”s talking to disciples James and John. Their answer isn”t good. They want prominent places in God”s kingdom. “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory,” they say (Mark 10:37*). Jesus knows they still don”t get it. I sigh, because I know I”m infected with the same desire sometimes. Who among us isn”t tempted by prominence and glory? A short time later, Jesus asks this

November 15, 2016

Culture & Public Square Justice

Tell and Show

By Mark A. Taylor It”s one thing to talk about justice; it”s another to work for it. It”s one thing to study justice; it”s another to seek it. But talking and studying are important, of course, especially at first. So in posts at this site this month we”re talking about the justice God seeks for those beaten down by society and circumstances. Three writers look at Scripture to see God”s compassion and the gospel”s concern for those ill served by the systems and situations trapping them in poverty, homelessness, or despair. Look again at the prophecy of Amos, the experience

November 14, 2016

Colleges & Seminaries Organizations & Events

Lipscomb Takes Students to Prison

By Jennifer Johnson Leading Bible studies in prison? Old news. Coordinating worship services in prison? No problem. But holding college classes in prison””for both inmates and traditional students? Since 2007, Lipscomb University”s LIFE program””short for Lipscomb Initiative For Education“”has brought undergraduate students from its Nashville campus to the Tennessee Prison for Women, also in Nashville, to learn everything from conflict management to business communication””and to learn from each other. “I often quote the old biblical passage about “˜silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give you,”” says Dr. Richard Goode, professor of history at Lipscomb and

November 9, 2016

Do It Again

By Jim Tune The hardest part of life, one preacher said, is that it”s so daily. Every day the bed needs to be made. Breakfast needs to be cooked. Dishes, dusting, work, and sleep demand our attention every single day. The same with ministry. Many of our churches need hundreds of volunteers to operate every week. The numbers vary depending on the size of the church, but every church needs people to show up and do their job. There”s not much glory in showing up faithfully, but without it we”re sunk. We get tired, though. The thousandth time a husband

November 8, 2016

Tomorrow

By Mark A. Taylor Here”s a theme song for every upset voter in America. With Annie in the musical of the same name, we can sing, “The sun”ll come out tomorrow.” That was Peggy Noonan’s theme in her post for The Wall Street Journal last week: “Someone is going to win Tuesday,” she said, and then with tongue in cheek added: “If trendlines that have proved reliable in the past continue, the sun will come up on Wednesday. (We claim this with a 3 percent margin of error.)” Max Lucado was looking ahead to tomorrow, too, when he wrote “My

November 5, 2016

Mission & Evangelism

My One Life

By Jennifer Johnson I have been a Christian for 28 years, and I have not led anyone to Christ. It is painful to admit that. There were no “prodigal years” in my youth when I got off track with my faith. I never left the church, and my good friends who aren”t Christians know that I am. But I have never brought anyone into a relationship with Jesus. I don”t like that, but it”s true. When I talked to Jeff Vines about OneLife, an initiative that challenges every person to bring someone to Christ every 12 months, he quoted Andy

November 4, 2016

Mission & Evangelism

Leveraging One-on-One Relationships for Christ

By Jennifer Johnson Jeff Vines, lead pastor at Christ”s Church of the Valley (CCV) in San Dimas, California, was a missionary in New Zealand for 10 years. In the first four years of his ministry at Shore Community Christian Church in Auckland, he grew the congregation from 350 people to more than 1,000 by challenging people to connect with “one life.” Today the same strategies are bringing growth to CCV as a whole and to many of its members. “New Zealand is a post-Christian nation,” Vines says. “I quickly learned that the best way to evangelize in that culture is

November 2, 2016

Culture & Public Square

Evangelical Outrage

By Jim Tune There seems to be a lot of anger in our culture. People are seething about something . . . or everything! The economy, politics, the culture war””the list goes on. The “rant” has become a contemporary art form. And the church seems to have followed right along. We”re angry too. We”re mad at liberals, Democrats, Muslims, Hollywood, and homosexuals. New York Times op-ed writer Tim Kreider calls this modern epidemic “outrage porn”: So many letters to the editors and comments on the Internet have this . . . tone of thrilled vindication: these are people who have

November 1, 2016

Culture & Public Square Politics & Government

A Look in the Mirror?

By Mark A. Taylor A church friend wrote on Facebook this week, “Why don”t all of you QUIT posting about the election?! Hasn”t everyone already decided who they”re voting for?” Certainly a majority of Americans have decided how they”ll vote””or whether they”ll vote. This year, as in most years, millions and millions of dollars are spent to sway the undecided minority. What may be different this year (in a campaign with a long, sad list of firsts), is the way some undecided voters keep switching from one choice they don”t like to the other. In the midst of all the

October 31, 2016

Church & Ministry Church Leadership Preaching

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 28, 2016

Book Reviews Reviews

Reconsidering Lawrence, Rediscovering Conversation, and Recently Recommended

By LeRoy Lawson Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial FollyÂ and the Making of the Modern Middle East Scott Anderson New York: Anchor, 2014 Reclaiming Conversation:Â The Power of Talk in a Digital Age Sherry Turkle New York: Penguin Press, 2015 Above the Waterfall Ron Rash New York: Ecco, 2016 Fools Crow James Welch New York: Penguin, 2011 (originallyÂ published in 1987) For a reader, seeing is never enough. Neither is being there. You have to read up on it, get another”s point of view, reflect on and modify previous impressions. That happened with a vengeance earlier this year. My wife, Joy, and

October 26, 2016

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

Vine-Ripened Disciples

By Jim Tune When I was a boy, my dad and I grew a vegetable garden together every summer. Our tomatoes were amazing. Grown in nutrient-rich soil, staked, and ripened to deep-red, sunshine-infused perfection, it was love at first bite! Our tomatoes were never perfectly round or uniform in shape. Sometimes they were so ripe they would spontaneously split during the 30-yard stroll from garden to kitchen. There”s something about a homegrown, sun-ripened tomato. Bite into one and you can taste the sunshine as the juices burst into your mouth””a delicious surge of flavor tantalizing your taste buds. Years ago

October 25, 2016

Culture & Public Square Politics & Government

Nice Advice

By Mark A. Taylor “Wow, it seems like Niceville is a place all of us would like to visit these days.” The radio host made a joke about the name of the Florida town where the call-in questioner lived. She was responding to a panel of newspaper reporters who had just commented on the unprecedented bitterness and divisiveness of the current U.S. presidential campaign. “It”s rare today to find an advocate for either candidate who can understand any good reasons to vote for the other,” he said. “Family members aren”t talking to each other,” another said. “People are shutting down

October 24, 2016

Church & Ministry Leadership Development

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

Church & Ministry Leadership Development

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 19, 2016

Church Life

The Power of Belonging

By Jim Tune When William Broyles was drafted into the United States Marine Corps in 1968, his early career as a journalist was put on hold. Some know him for his subsequent screenwriting work on the television series China Beach and films such as Apollo 13, Cast Away, Planet of the Apes, and The Polar Express. But today I”m quoting from his book Brothers in Arms documenting his experiences in Vietnam and the impact of that war on himself and his fellow soldiers. Broyles writes: “A part of me loved war . . . the comradeship our platoon experienced in

October 18, 2016