Series: Columns

September 1, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Chasing after Integrity

By Mark A. Taylor The October issue of CHRISTIAN STANDARD is devoted to the theme of integrity. As we finish making final corrections before sending it to the printer this week, I know it contains some of the best material we”ve ever published. Surely the issue will prompt soul-searching in every reader. In a world characterized by concern for image management more than private goodness, even Christians too often fail to walk their talk. But a question has come to me in recent days that we do not consider in those pages. What do we do with integrity failures we

August 31, 2015

Christian Standard

Back to the Present

By Eddie Lowen Over the last couple of years, I”ve heard several of my pastor heroes reveal what they would do differently (and the same) if they could start over in church leadership. Those talks have been rich with wisdom. Since I emulated them in multiple ways, I listened closely each time, wondering if they would express regret over something I mimicked. I carry notes from their leadership talks on my phone, an indication of the regard I have for the wisdom of these men. I reread and meditate on them. It seems wise to give weight to the reflections

August 26, 2015

Christian Standard

Behind My Back

By Jim Tune I wasn”t intending to eavesdrop. It just sort of happened. I had left the company of two close friends, but realized minutes later I had left a personal item behind. My friends were still talking when I returned, and they were talking about me. I wasn”t trying to eavesdrop, but I couldn”t keep from listening as they discussed a very personal decision I had shared with them earlier. There was nothing mean-spirited in anything they said. I made my presence known almost immediately. I had heard enough to feel a flash of betrayal and embarrassment. When I

August 25, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Recognizing the Body

By Mark A. Taylor I first prepared the following as a Communion meditation for the church where I worship. It occurs to me that it considers a biblical challenge that Christians everywhere do well to remember. We don”t read far in Paul”s first letter to the Corinthians till we see this was a church with problems. “I appeal to you brothers,” he wrote, “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and

August 23, 2015

Christian Standard

The Best Sermon I”ve Ever Heard (2)

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. Steve Malone Steve has been in the preaching ministry for 24 years and currently is lead pastor at Maple Grove Christian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. Steve”s Best Sermon: The best sermon I”ve heard on God”s love is by Jud Wilhite, senior pastor at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nevada (www.southeastchristian.org/sermons/pursued-for-relationship). Why Steve likes this sermon: “In this message, Jud makes the story of Hosea come alive, and he does an incredible job of showing how what God

August 22, 2015

Christian Standard

Powerful, Prolific, and the Professor

By LeRoy Lawson   Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Jack Weather ford New York: Broadway Books, 2005 Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues N. T. Wright New York: HarperOne, 2014 Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness Richard B. Hays Waco: Baylor University Press, 2014 When I told a friend I was reading a biography of Genghis Khan, he laughed at me. “You will read anything, won”t you?” No, not anything, but a lot of things! “But why Genghis Khan?” Because I don”t know very much about him, that”s why, and because he was

August 21, 2015

Christian Standard

‘Story of God’ . . . for All Mankind

By Jennifer Johnson Story of God was designed simply to enhance a sermon series””and now it just might go international. Sherri McCready originally developed visual and performance art to accompany a four-month sermon series focusing on 16 key stories from Genesis to Revelation. At the time she was the creative arts director at Highland Christian Church in Asheville, NC, and her husband, Shannon, served as lead pastor. “Shannon was burdened by how many people don”t read the Bible””or anything else,” she says. “He began researching missionaries who dealt with people groups without a written language and how they communicated the

August 20, 2015

Christian Standard

Thanks, Dan

By Jennifer Johnson Thanks, Dan. It”s been 20 years since high school, and I am still so indebted to my youth minister. I was in high school more years ago than I care to remember, so long before anything Internet that information about our fall retreats, ski trips, CIY conferences, service projects, church camp, parties, and mission trips was communicated via photocopied handouts. Dan Giese arrived at our church early in my middle school career and stayed until long after my high school graduation, so he was the only youth minister my friends and I knew. And he was the

August 20, 2015

Christian Standard

Youth Advance Evolving

By Jennifer Johnson Youth Advance began as a way to build student leaders and recruit them for Christian college. In 1982, representatives from Northeastern Christian Junior College in Villanova, PA, developed the event””with speakers, workshops, worship, and more””as a way to identify and encourage promising high school students in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. “It wasn”t a youth rally,” says Bill McGee, the vice president. “The idea wasn”t to send your entire youth group. It was for church leaders to handpick a few kids with potential and for the church to pay their way.” Northeastern eventually merged with another college and

August 19, 2015

Christian Standard

Contact

  By Jim Tune Gordon Allport was an American psychologist and early groups theorist with a knack for broadly conceptualizing important behavioral topics including religion and prejudice. Allport is said to have used the following conversation to show how group segregation leads to bad attitudes toward the other group. “See that man over there?” “Yes.” “Well, I hate him.” “But you don”t even know him.” “That”s why I hate him.” Allport believed that homogeneity is never harmless. He introduced contact theory as a way of bringing groups together in order to reduce prejudice. The idea is if separation of one

August 18, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Just Say Yes!

By Mark A. Taylor Most of us obey most of the laws most of the time. But how often could we say the law delights us? How often is our obedience grudging (tax time is coming), or forced (radar detectors, anyone?), or incomplete? How often do we think about the law, any law, with gratitude and joy? The news today is full of protests against bad law-keeping and unjust treatment of some citizens. But these exceptions underline the value of the law; without it there would be no recourse against those who violate it. Theft is forbidden, murder is punished,

August 12, 2015

Christian Standard

Armed and Dangerous

By Jim Tune A few years ago, a Seeds of Compassion event in Seattle, Washington, was organized around the visit of the Dalai Lama. One of the highlights was a joint speech by the Dalai Lama and South African bishop Desmond Tutu. Both men have committed their lives to peace and nonviolence. Their humanitarian work has saved lives and made the world a safer place. Both men espouse the value of enemy love. Both are committed to the call to love their enemies just as they would love their friends. They have lived out this commitment in ways most of

August 11, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Shopping for a Church? Check Here!

By Mark A. Taylor Welcome to Choose-a-Church.com, the one-stop shopping source where you can find exactly the church you”re looking for . . . FIRST SECTION: Please tell us a little about yourself. Check every phrase that accurately completes the following sentence: “I”m looking for another church because . . .” “¢ I”m not being fed at my current church (indicate whether you”re referring to sermons or fellowship dinners). “¢ My current church changed something (indicate whether or not the church asked your permission). “¢ I don”t like the way my current church spends money. (If you check this sentence,

August 5, 2015

Christian Standard

Stay

By Jim Tune The great myth of this generation is that you can love Jesus but not the church, that Christ can be separated from his bride. Having served the same congregation for 15 years, I have seen a lot of people come and go. Some leave other churches to come to ours, and some leave our church to attend another. Others leave church and the faith entirely, or think they can follow Jesus without assembling with his people. Some leave because they”re under the false impression that Jesus” people down the street would be better people to follow Jesus

August 4, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Let”s Build Families

By Mark A. Taylor Any college teacher, particularly one who is a Christian, will tell you this: Many, maybe a majority, of college students today come from troubled families. Chris DeWelt, an Ozark Christian College professor, described the students he knows: “Most . . . bring with them much more than just computers, clothes, and small fridges. They often bring baggage that is not so easily identified or addressed.” It”s true on secular campuses too. In his interview this month, longtime campus minister Gary Hawes says, “The largest percentage of students we are involved with today come from either dysfunctional

August 1, 2015

Christian Standard

Why We Loved ‘Jurassic World’

By Joe Boyd Is Jurassic World the best movie ever made? Subjectively and artistically, probably not. But objectively, by at least one very important Hollywood standard, it is indeed the best movie ever made. A few weeks back, Jurassic World, the massive reboot of the popular 1990″s Jurassic Park series, set the all-time record for opening weekend box office with a whopping $524 million worldwide. It beat the domestic record of The Avengers set in 2012 and the international record of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 set in 2011. In this monthly series, we take a glance

July 29, 2015

Christian Standard

Plausible Deniability

By Jim Tune In the United Kingdom, members of Parliament have long been allowed to bill taxpayers for the expense of maintaining a second home because they are required to spend time in both London and their home districts. The office responsible for deciding what was reasonable approved nearly every request. Consequently British members of Parliament (MPs) treated it like a big blank check. And because their expenses were hidden from the public, MPs thought they had it made, until a newspaper printed a leaked copy of those expense claims in 2009. Not surprisingly, the MPs had behaved abominably. Many

July 28, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Calm in the Chaos

By Mark A. Taylor How shall we react in times that seem to become more unsettled every week? In a society besieged by gun violence, in a culture increasingly fragmented by political division, in a world where peace seems impossible and conflict far away breeds pain and destruction close to home, what should be the Christian”s outlook? When the media celebrates and the government certifies rights we believe God forbids, and when Christian leaders struggle to find middle ground between the extremes of permissiveness and legalism, where will we take our stand? In blog posts and coffee shop conversations all

July 27, 2015

Christian Standard

Growth, Grace, and a Writer I Like

By LeRoy Lawson   Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeing God in the Crucible of Ministry Ruth Haley Barton Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2008 Lila: A Novel Marilynne Robinson New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014 Persuasion: A Novel Jane Austen Originally published in 1817   I”ve written here before about how much I learn from my students. Many books in this column have appeared because they told me I needed to read a favorite of theirs. Ruth Haley Barton is one of those favorites. She is president of the Transforming Center, where she and her colleagues are in the business

July 26, 2015

Christian Standard

Call Me if You Need Anything

By Tim Harlow Where do you go when weariness sets in or you”re up against a problem that won”t be solved without some muscle? When my oldest daughter was almost 3, I remember her comforting me as I left for work one day. She said, “Call me if you need anything.” Now I”m sure she meant it more sincerely than the person she had heard the empty phrase from (probably me), but all I could do was laugh. “OK, Rachel, if I have some trouble in this big crazy world, I”ll give you a call and see if you can help

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