Series: Columns

January 1, 2016

Christian Standard

Counting the Cost of a Growing Church

By Eddie Lowen Before you decide you want your church to grow, let me tell you the price you will pay. After taking the staff and elders of a former church to a leadership simulcast in the late 1990s, I learned that I still had a lot to learn. For several years, Rick Warren”s book The Purpose Driven Church had been making a huge impact on churches applying its principles. The simulcast was a way for our leaders to catch this kind of vision. Our church was already growing in size and health, but I knew there was another level

December 31, 2015

Christian Standard

The Spiritual Discipline of Play?

By Joe Boyd Last week I sat across from a good friend and trusted adviser at a LaRosa”s Pizzeria in Cincinnati. (He”s also a clinical psychologist, so I can sometimes get therapy for the price of a pizza.) I was telling him all the good things that were causing anxiety in my life: my growing kids, growing business, and growing church responsibilities. He looked at me and asked, “What are you doing for fun?” Almost without thinking, I replied, “I don”t have time for fun at this time in my life.” His look said it all. I knew the glaring

December 30, 2015

Christian Standard

Empty

By Jim Tune Madeline Levine had been practicing psychology for more than 25 years when she began to observe a new category of unhappy teenager. As her book The Price of Privilege relates: “America”s newly identified at-risk group is preteens and teens from affluent, well-educated families.” Social and economic advantages notwithstanding, children of affluence “experience among the highest rates of depression, substance abuse, anxiety disorders, somatic complaints, and unhappiness of any group of children in this country.” Levine admits to being startled when a bright, socially adept, 15-year-old girl from a loving, wealthy family came into the office with the

December 29, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Four Days Later””Still Time to Ponder

By Mark A. Taylor Today, just four days after Christmas, some of us are ready for the celebration to be over. We”re tired of travel (or worn out by our houseguests), we”ve exchanged or returned gifts that weren”t right, and we”re looking forward to a little rest or maybe even getting back to work. And even if we loved every minute of our family Christmas, we may still pause to wonder whether the impact of the incarnation penetrated our celebration. And so, today, here”s a word of inspiration. The following is adapted from a column first posted here two years

December 23, 2015

Christian Standard

Peace on Earth?

By Jim Tune In the movie Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a racist, embittered, retired factory worker and Korean War veteran living in a deteriorating Detroit neighborhood dominated by gang violence and Asian immigrants. Walt has little relationship with his grown sons and their self-absorbed suburban families. His two loves are his dog, Daisy, and his cherished 1972 Ford Gran Torino. A family of Hmong immigrants has moved in next door, and as part of a gang initiation, the teenage boy Thao is pressured into trying to steal Walt”s Gran Torino. Walt interrupts the attempted theft, and over

December 22, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

We Do Not Suffer Alone

By Mark A. Taylor Death intrudes into thousands of lives every day. But to each individual losing someone close, death seems like a singular experience. I remember the comment of a good friend whose dad died decades ago. He returned to his job after several days grieving with his family and found everything there decidedly unchanged. “Everyone”s just doing what they usually do, working on their own tasks as if nothing has happened,” he said. Here he was, trying to cope with his life that had been upended. But everyone around him, it seemed, was getting along just fine. This

December 21, 2015

Christian Standard

The Gift That Changed My Life

By Joe Boyd Our culture creates expectations around Christmas. One of the greatest of these is gift giving. When done out of compulsion, giving gifts can become an unhealthy habit. However, when done in love, a gift can change a life.  About a dozen years ago my wife, Debbie, gave me the most transformative gift I have ever received. It changed the trajectory of my life (and hers) forever. I”m not setting you up to talk about the birth of my kids here. I am talking about a normal, regular old traditional Christmas gift that changed everything. She had no

December 17, 2015

Christian Standard

Heaven on Earth

By Tim Harlow God has promised us overflowing abundance, immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. And that”s now””we don”t have to wait for Heaven. My life”s mantra is “Heaven to Earth, Earth to Heaven.” I have it tattooed on my arm. I would have a longer mantra, but my arm is rather limited. That our mission is to bring Earth to Heaven is a given. That”s why we”re here. The gospel. Anyone who knows me realizes if I get to talk about one thing, it”s going to be the Great Commission. However, Heaven to Earth is a big part of why God

December 17, 2015

Christian Standard

Pursuing Unity, Revisiting Assumptions, Winning with Winsomeness

By LeRoy Lawson Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces That Keep Us Apart Christena Cleveland Downers Grove: IVP Books/Intervarsity Press, 2013   Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible”s View of Women Sarah Bessey New York: Howard Books, 2013   The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission: Promoting the Gospel with More Than Our Lips John Dickson Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013   Hearing Her Voice: A Biblical Invitation for Women to Preach (Revised Edition) John Dickson Grand Rapids: Zondervan 2012, 2014 I like introducing people to authors I”ve just met. Recently I read three books that made me want to become better

December 16, 2015

Christian Standard

Two Sizes Too Small

By Jim Tune There”s been an explosive fascination with all things zombie in pop culture. The AMC series The Walking Dead has enjoyed stunning commercial success, so I wasn”t surprised to see a flood of big-screen zombie productions hitting local theaters. Most of them focus solely on gore and body counts. The 2013 zombie film Warm Bodies was unique for this weird film genre: It”s a zombie love story. I remember watching it on a transatlantic flight in the middle of the night, and I was actually pleasantly surprised. The film”s tagline more or less summarizes the plot: “He”s still

December 15, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

The End of an Era

By Mark A. Taylor “Do you still have a job?” The text came to my phone Friday evening from a friend cross-country who had just read the news about David C. Cook”s purchase of Standard Publishing assets. I assured him I”m still working at CHRISTIAN STANDARD, even though most of Standard”s product lines went with the sale. David C. Cook, an evangelical publisher with almost as many years of service as Standard Publishing, has acquired Standard”s complete line of Standard Lesson Commentary products as well as our Heartshaper Sunday school curriculum and related teaching resources for children. The purchase effectively

December 14, 2015

Christian Standard

For the Girls

By Jennifer Johnson Our church recently spent a Sunday afternoon distributing fliers to thousands of homes in our area, inviting community members to a cookout, and announcing the launch of our second worship service. I was pleased to see half a dozen teen girls from our youth group show up to join the teams tromping through the suburbs of Levittown. I was less pleased when, just an hour into the experience, several of them wilted onto the curb of the neighborhood with complaints about tiredness and “oh my gosh it”s so hot” and “I have a blister” and “when are

December 14, 2015

Christian Standard

A Place for Teenage Girls to Grow Together with God

By Jennifer Johnson Melanie Moore grew up loving her summertime weeks at Woodland Lakes Christian Camp (Amelia, OH), and today she loves raising her four girls. “But I see what their friends struggle with””cutting, eating disorders, and so much more,” she says. “It breaks my heart. So I thought, what if we started a girls-only week at camp?” Woodland Lakes already offered a week of wilderness camp for boys, and in 2013 agreed to work with Melanie, a member at Ross Christian Church (Hamilton, OH), to create a week for middle school girls. “The first year we had 35 girls

December 12, 2015

Christian Standard

The Art Effect

By Jennifer Johnson Many churches look at summer as a time to coast; attendance is down, staff members are vacationing, and everyone is tempted to take it easy. Not The Crossing Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year the creative arts team developed Art Effect, a seven-week emphasis on the arts tied into senior pastor Shane Philip”s sermon series on the book of Proverbs. From hip-hop music to paintings by children, The Crossing used summer 2015 to stretch its people””and themselves””with new expressions of worship. A Variety of Approaches The Crossing”s creative arts team includes several staff members, including Lee

December 9, 2015

Christian Standard

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

By Jim Tune Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: “Earth”s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes; the rest sit around and pluck blackberries.” I need to reflect more often on the awesomeness of God. I want to live with my shoes off, recognizing holy ground moments as God saturates everything with his awesome light. My posture ought to more often be that of a man standing in amazement trying to fathom the glory of Christ. Isaiah 55:9 reminds us, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are

December 8, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

The Greatest Impact

By Mark A. Taylor How should we worship? Maybe we can take some comfort in the fact that throughout church history, Christians have answered that question in wildly differing ways. As both Paul Blowers and Tom Lawson point out this month, lavish artistic expressions of worship centuries ago eventually gave way to abandonment and even destruction of them by Protestant reformers. The motivation for each approach was the desire to please and praise God. Across Christendom today, we find everything from formal liturgy in classic settings to simple, quiet contemplative gatherings in smaller groups to exuberant, loud, guitar-driven, drum-syncopated megachurch

December 3, 2015

Christian Standard

The Best Sermon I”ve Ever Heard (5)

By Arron Chambers   Larry Lewis Larry and his wife, Teri, are missionaries for Open Door Libraries in Berlin, Germany. He has a Bachelor of Theology in Missions from Ozark Christian College. Larry”s Best Sermon: The best sermon I”ve heard on the identity of Jesus is “Was It a Waste?” by Dr. Roger Chambers of Florida Christian College (now Johnson University Florida), available at https://soundcloud.com/larry-lewis-46/rc-was-it-a-waste. (Roger Chambers is Larry”s uncle and this columnist”s father.) Why Larry likes this sermon: “This sermon changed my life. I first heard it about 15 years ago while editing tape files of Uncle Roger”s old

December 2, 2015

Christian Standard

Christmas: It”s a Heart Thing

By Jim Tune In his excellent book simply titled Preaching, Tim Keller commits an entire chapter to the notion and need for preachers to preach Christ to the heart. “Preaching,” according to Keller, “cannot simply be accurate and sound. It must capture the listeners” interest and imaginations; it must be compelling and penetrate to their hearts. It is possible merely to assert and confront and feel we have been very “˜valiant for truth,” but if you are dry or tedious, people will not repent and believe the right doctrine you present.” Arguing that we should preach “wondrously,” Keller contends that

December 1, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Moving Beyond “˜Color Blind”

By Mark A. Taylor Many thoughts have threatened my internal comfort zone since I attended a daylong conference on racial unity outside Baltimore, Maryland, last month*. I came face-to-face with the reality of racism that still flourishes in my country. I came to understand the privilege that comes automatically, systemically to white people in America. And I was forced to consider how that privilege has benefitted me and hurt others. I came to see that Jesus” prayer for unity will not be answered when Christians of different races distrust or blatantly denigrate each other. (Nor will it happen when members

November 28, 2015

Christian Standard

Competitors, Charismatics, and Caregivers

By LeRoy Lawson Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies Lawrence Goldstone New York: Ballantine Books, 2014 Prototype: What Happens When You Discover You”re More Like Jesus Than You Think Jonathan Martin Carol Stream: Tyndale Momentum, 2013 Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times Jennifer Worth New York: Penguin Books, 2012 Disillusioned. There”s a sad word for you. It means that something you believe or want to believe or thought was true but never checked out turns out to be not so. You believed an illusion, and now you know. Sorrow comes

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