Series: Columns

July 7, 2016

Christian Standard

Miracles, Marvels, and the Vulnerable Minister

By LeRoy Lawson The Miracle of Dunkirk Walter Lord New York: Open Road Media; for Kindle, 2012 The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon Brad Stone New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2013 The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry Mandy Smith Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2015 Just about everything I thought I knew about the “evacuation” of Dunkirk (read “retreat”) was wrong. Or at least wildly romanticized. I could picture the thousand-plus boats of all sizes and types crossing the English Channel to rescue soldiers fleeing for their lives from the Nazis. My mind”s eye saw them push up against the

July 6, 2016

Christian Standard

Ministry Success

By Jim Tune “I experienced success in ministry,” the speaker said, “but it wasn”t worth it.” I was attending a church planting conference. The speaker had served as pastor and as a leader of two national church planting networks. He had written books. At one point, he worked 364 days a year. (He took most of Christmas off.) This guy is, and was, a big deal. In hindsight, he said, it wasn”t worth it. He wanted us to learn from his mistakes. In the years I”ve served as pastor and leader, I”ve seen many rise to the top. They are

July 5, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Prayer for America

By Mark A. Taylor Last Sunday, the day before the Fourth of July, I had the chance to lead worship in my home congregation. While I don”t believe Sunday-morning worship is the place for patriotic rallies (I”ve written about this before), I do believe we should be praying for our country as Christians gathered. So I wrote the following prayer as a responsive reading for the service I led. Maybe it will encourage some readers today. And some might even personalize it to use in their own congregations. Leader: Dear God, as we think about the freedoms, privilege, and possibilities

July 3, 2016

Christian Standard

Worship””Filling the Abyss­

By Tim Harlow Financial campaigns are good because they remind us where to look for the help everyone is seeking. Blaise Pascal, a 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician, is often quoted as saying there is a “God-shaped vacuum” inside of us. That”s a preacher”s abbreviation of the following paragraph: What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help

July 2, 2016

Christian Standard

Why Do We Love Superheroes So Much?

By Joe Boyd Summer means many things. Long days. Beach vacations. Baseball games and family reunions, neighborhood block parties and community fireworks””traditions that make summer great year after year. And, of course, the most consistent summer theme of all: the blockbuster superhero movie. 2016 continues the trend. Just look at the lineup: Batman v Superman, Captain America: Civil War, X-Men Apocalypse, Suicide Squad, and more. It begs the question. Why do we love superhero movies so much? I mean, we clearly do. Year after year, Hollywood spends millions of dollars making these films, and we respond by giving them billions

June 29, 2016

Christian Standard

An Enemy at the Gate

By Jim Tune Paul Kalanithi, a nonsmoking neurosurgeon, was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer at the age of 36. He chronicled his experiences in his memoir, When Breath Becomes Air. Kalanithi wrote: Death, so familiar to me in my work, was now paying a personal visit. . . . Standing at the crossroads where I should have been able to see and follow the footprints of countless patients I had treated over the years, I saw instead only a blank, a harsh, vacant, gleaming white desert, as if a sandstorm had erased all trace of familiarity. Death makes life seem

June 28, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Where Patriotism Belongs

By Mark A. Taylor The below piece, first posted here five years ago, still resonates with me as we approach the Sunday before the Fourth of July. As one commenter said when it first appeared, “Our patriotism is for our freedom and way of life in a free country; our worship is reserved only for our Creator God.” More than a decade ago, my congregation hosted a patriotic pageant each year called “Sea to Shining Sea.” We had a huge adult choir, a children”s choir, a live orchestra, actors, and dancers. We welcomed color guards from all the armed services.

June 22, 2016

Christian Standard

A Better Story

By Jim Tune In just a few weeks Claudia and I will be on our way to Anaheim, California, for the 2016 North American Christian Convention. President Dave Stone has put together a great program, and the theme, “A Better Story,” is especially appropriate considering the convention is happening in Walt Disney”s backyard. Walt Disney loved a good story and devoted his life to helping people imagine a better world and a magical future. He was tireless in his optimistic vision of a better tomorrow. The creation of Tomorrowland at Disneyland (and later at Walt Disney World) was the realized

June 21, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Three Ways Churches Can Address Biblical Skepticism

By Mark A. Taylor Americans are less engaged with the Bible than ever, according to research released by the Barna Group last week. The trend is “toward biblical skepticism,” Barna President David Kinnaman reported. The report shows, for example, that only a third of Americans agree strongly with the statement, “The Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches,” down from 48 percent in 2011. Only 45 percent agree with this statement: “The Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life,” down from 53 percent in 2011. “With each passing year, the

June 15, 2016

Christian Standard

Number 100!

By Jim Tune Just over two years ago Mark Taylor asked if I would write for Christian Standard regularly. He offered me the back page and the opportunity to write on a weekly basis online and once a month for the print edition. That”s 450 words, 52 times a year. Occasionally I sail up over the 500-word mark. Brevity is always a tough challenge for me. Mark and I kicked around a couple of possible titles for my column. I submitted four or five suggestions, but we ended up going with Mark”s title: “A Different Tune.” It really is a

June 14, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Just a Beginning

By Mark A. Taylor We know at least two things about our posts about racial justice at this site this month. First, we know they are inadequate. They do not convey the scope or the whole burden of the race problem in America. “¢ They only hint at the fact that America”s fortunes were built and wealth was created on the backs of those enslaved in a land that abused them while proclaiming “All men are created equal.” “¢ They barely mention the long history of egregious statements from both church and state claiming that Africans and African-Americans are somehow

June 13, 2016

Christian Standard

Read More About Religion, Racism, and Practical Steps Forward

Compiled by Travis Hurley Divided By Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America, by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) “” Despite its age, this remains essential reading for anyone looking to get a grasp on evangelical religion and the problem of race in America. There are helpful historical summaries of the church and race in America in early chapters, and once you understand their explanation of the “white evangelical tool kit,” you”ll start to see how using these tools actually hinders reconciliatory progress before it even begins. Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical”s

June 8, 2016

Christian Standard

“˜American Idol” Comes to Church

By Jim Tune The tension was almost unbearable. Fourteen anxious people awaited their turn to perform. The audition would be rigorous. Most of them had been through tryouts before. Nearly all of them were young, fit, and attractive. Every single one of them could sing or play an instrument proficiently, but only one would make the cut. After all, this was the church and only the exceptionally gifted would be chosen to perform on Sundays with the worship team. I think our contemporary culture has developed an unhealthy obsession with discovering talent. From youth sports to spectacular TV shows like

June 7, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Fresh Air This Summer

Mark A. Taylor Summer”s here””or almost, anyway. And by June, most of us, unfortunately, have given up on all those resolutions we considered January 1. Well, how about a fresh start? Summertime is the perfect time to try something new or do something special. Break the routine and give your spiritual life a boost. Here are six possibilities for fresh air this summer. 1.  Spend the summer with Jesus. If you”ve bogged down on the Bible-reading plan you began in January, set yourself a summer goal. The Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John contain 89 chapters. Start this

June 6, 2016

Christian Standard

Leadership Reincarnated

By Eddie Lowen With changing times has come fresh interest in leadership. That”s good, because a constantly evolving culture demands regularly rethinking how we lead. If there is a field of study that has been reclaimed or reincarnated by baby boomers, it is leadership. When I entered ministry, leadership wasn”t a hot topic. There were a handful of leadership books and a few gurus making the rounds, but not many. Dale Carnegie and Zig Ziglar talked leadership before it was cool, no doubt. But over the last 25 years, there has been an explosion of writing, speaking, tweeting, and blogging

June 5, 2016

Christian Standard

Advice from an Elder

By Joe Boyd We live in a youth-obsessed culture. A quick glance at the way we market and sell products makes that clear. While traditional cultures had a way of honoring their elders, most of us modern Americans tend to struggle with that. This, I would submit, is to our disadvantage. It”s countercultural today in America to honor our elders, yet they hold the wisdom we so desperately need. This was clear to me as I prepared this spring to return to Cincinnati Christian University, my alma mater, to be a commencement speaker. It may be the first time in

June 4, 2016

Christian Standard

Open Arms Provides Hope for Kids

By Jennifer Johnson Open Arms provides homes, care, and education for children of all ages who have been neglected and abused. Most of all, Open Arms provides hope. The ministry, located in Switz City, Indiana, started as the Indiana Christian Children”s Home by a Johnson University grad named Bill Tucker more than 40 years ago. Today, Open Arms not only runs “The Miriam Home” for abandoned, abused, and troubled teenagers, but also provides training and support for foster parents and educational opportunities for young adults. “The core of this ministry has always been the children”s home because there”s such a

June 3, 2016

Christian Standard

Lawlessness and Poverty, Freakonomics, and Strategies for Succession

By LeRoy Lawson The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence Gary A. Haugen and Victor Boutros New York: Oxford University Press, 2014 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner New York: HarperPerennial, 2009 SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner New York: William Morrow, 2011 Think Like a Freak: the Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner New York: William Morrow, 2014 Next: Pastoral Succession that Works William

June 1, 2016

Christian Standard

Perfectly Executing the Wrong Vision

By Jim Tune In his acclaimed book Why Smart Executives Fail, Sydney Finkelstein describes a fictional situation about a meticulously planned military operation. In his scenario, a special forces unit moves in with devastating efficiency and successfully accomplishes every objective; the forces kill or capture everyone in the base they were attacking. The unit suffered very few casualties. There was only one problem. The target they had attacked and captured belonged to friendly forces. Central command launched a massive investigation to figure out what went wrong. Several missteps were eventually identified. Operational protocols were reviewed, changed, and corrected. The only

May 31, 2016

Christian Standard

It”s Time to Talk About Money

By Mark A. Taylor Do a Google search for “minister dropout statistics” and you”ll find a sea of bad news. Sorting out fact from fiction can be a challenge, but even conservative estimates say half of all ministers leave that calling for some other career. The reasons for this are many, but research conducted by the Center for Church Leadership in Cincinnati found financial concerns as the top challenges facing the ministers they interviewed. Heading the list was personal and educational debt; 71 percent of those interviewed mentioned this concern, according to a report to be published in the July

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