Series: Columns

Conferences & Gatherings Organizations & Events

Going Strong

By Jennifer Johnson “I am the least likely person to lead a trip of women,” Gayla Congdon said during our interview. “I grew up with brothers and I”m not a “˜woman”s retreat” kind of person. I want to do something that matters.” Apparently she”s not alone””the Women of Strength trips she started in 2012 have had to be capped at 65 people, and dozens of ladies have attended more than one. A significant number of the participants aren”t even Christians, but find the experience more than worth the investment of money and vacation time. Actually, Congdon does think “women”s events”

January 5, 2015

Conferences & Gatherings Organizations & Events

Showing Their Strength and Connecting as Women

By Jennifer Johnson In 2009, Gayla Congdon attended a planning meeting for the International Conference on Missions and realized she was one of only three women in the group of more than 60 people. “Our guest speaker, a man from Wycliffe Bible Translators, pointed out the discrepancy,” she says. “Then he said one of the biggest demographic groups in developed countries, and especially in the United States, is educated women age 55 and older who have discretionary income and are looking for meaningful experiences. I was reminded of the Barna study reporting that, for the first time in U.S. history,

January 4, 2015

Giving & Fundraising Stewardship & Generosity

Child Sponsorship Made Easy

By Jennifer Johnson Bruce Wydick, a professor of economics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, recently reported that sponsoring a child is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty around the world. Now Christian Missionary Fellowship (Indianapolis, IN) is making it easier than ever for churches to involve their members in child sponsorship with its new Start! program. Families, individuals, and groups can all sponsor a child through CMF, and Start! is specifically created to help churches launch events to introduce the concept and connect members to children in need. CMF provides promotional videos, sermon

January 3, 2015

Church Leadership

Do You Have Eyes But Fail to See?

By Tim Harlow I will never forget getting glasses for the first time. I was in fifth grade and was evidently in worse shape than anyone realized, because I was blown away by the clarity I suddenly experienced. I distinctly remember telling my mom, “I can see the leaves on the trees!” Until then, I had no idea there were actual individual leaves on trees. I just thought it was a big green blob on top of a brown trunk. Clarity was amazing. I was reading in Scripture the other day about another blind man, and he had an experience

December 31, 2014

The War on Sleep

By Jim Tune Have you ever heard people brag about how little sleep they require? An article in The Spectator magazine highlighted this problem in modern America: Our war on sleep is hard to miss. TV interviewers ask today”s hard driving achievers how long they sleep. . . . When the guest leaves, the interviewers bat the question around with each other, boasting about pulling “all nighters” or claiming “I”m OK with five,” revelling in a festival of one-down manship. If the standard recommendation of eight hours a night gets mentioned, it is treated with genial contempt. Napoleon, Florence Nightingale,

December 30, 2014

Giving & Fundraising Stewardship & Generosity

New Steps and a New Gift

By Mark A. Taylor Every year at Christmastime I look for a way to give something to someone who can”t or won”t give me anything in return. Usually this means an extra offering to a favorite mission, a check written to a local shelter, or gifts purchased for our church”s project to “provide Christmas” for needy children. I do this because it”s always seemed to me that exchanged gifts are trades, not really gifts. They”re fun, and they can be a good part of office or family celebrations. But true generosity doesn”t happen with rules about dollar limits or gift

December 25, 2014

Doctrinal Issues & Debates Theology & Bible

Have You Ever Seen an Angel?

By Mark A. Taylor Many of us witness costumed actors portraying angels in this month”s Christmas plays and pageants. But I”m pretty sure our versions don”t look much like the real angels of Luke 1 and 2. Years ago I attended the “Glory of Christmas” production at Southern California”s Crystal Cathedral, where the angels stole the show. There must have been a dozen of them, suspended through the vast expanse between the auditorium”s ceiling and the crowd below. Flowing gowns and ballet poses made these performers look ethereal and attractive, but that”s not how Luke describes the angels in his

December 24, 2014

Starting at the Bottom

By Jim TuneÂ Most religions begin “at the top,” but Christianity begins “at the bottom.” The mystery of the incarnation should stir our hearts every day. Much of what we learn about the incarnation we learn as children and revisit annually during the Christmas season. I wonder if we are ever guilty of treating the incarnation as a beginner”s doctrine: a nice opportunity to do something for the children and invite our friends to church. The remarkable union of God and man in the incarnation is no minor point of theology. God the Son took on flesh and dwelt among

December 23, 2014

A Promise for More Than the Shepherds

By Mark A. Taylor It was a golden moment. We were touring the magnificent Christmas displays at Longwood Gardens, a 1,000-plus-acre delight not far from Philadelphia in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Tucked in one corner of the Gardens” many-roomed, 4.5-acre conservatory is a majestic 10,010 pipe organ, a centerpiece for hourly Christmas carol sing-alongs throughout the day we were there. In spite of the instrument”s ability to fill the room with its own volume (and rumbling bass notes we could feel as well as hear), voices soared and surrounded us as we sang the carols together. And one of them””certainly not

December 18, 2014

The Crime-Poverty Connection

Book Review by Doug Priest The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence Gary A. Haugen and Victor Boutros Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 The Locust Effect made me extremely angry. I seethed with righteous indignation for the entire first half of the volume. Gary Haugen is the founder of International Justice Mission, an international human rights agency that provides service to “impoverished victims of violent abuse and oppression in the developing world.” His book begins with several gut-wrenching illustrations of injustice in the majority world. From Yuri, the small Peruvian child who was raped

December 17, 2014

Colleges & Seminaries Organizations & Events

Green Transitions to Become LCU’s 7th President

TheÂ Lincoln (IL) Christian University Board of Trustees announced today the unanimous selection of Dr. Don Green as LCU”s seventh president. Green has been serving as LCU”s transitional president since June 1. Though he has been acting with the full authority and responsibility of the office since June, his official tenure begins immediately. Green is a graduate of Lincoln Christian University (BA from the former Lincoln Christian College and MDiv from Lincoln Christian Seminary) and earned his DMin from the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School of Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL. Green has been an integral part of the Lincoln Christian community

December 17, 2014

Why I”m Hoping to Lose

By Jim Tune In his memoir Report to Greco, Nikos Kazantzakis reflects on his early years as a searching, God-haunted man needing direction from God. One summer the young Kazantzakis climbed Mount Athos to visit a monastery. There he met Father Makarios, an old monk with a reputation for deep wisdom. In one remarkable exchange, the young Kazantzakis asked the monk, “Do you still wrestle with the devil?” “Not any longer, my child,” Father Makarios replied. “I have grown old, and he has grown old with me. He doesn”t have the strength.” The young man assumed that the battle must

December 16, 2014

What Does “˜Justice” Mean?

By Chris Travis Generous Justice Timothy Keller New York: Riverhead, 2010 In Generous Justice, Tim Keller leads us through a straightforward, well-reasoned, and brief but comprehensive survey of what the Bible says about justice. It”s eye-opening to see how much emphasis God puts on justice in Scripture. This is a particularly relevant book in the wake of socially volatile situations like this summer”s shooting of Michael Brown and ensuing protests in Ferguson, Missouri. There is so much impassioned public discourse about what”s right and wrong, and not nearly enough deep contemplation about what the Bible actually says about justice. Generous

December 16, 2014

Restoration Movement History

A Moving Decision

By Mark A. Taylor The Disciples of Christ Historical Society has decided to move its archive from the T.W. Phillips Memorial Archives building in Nashville, Tennessee, to a college or seminary affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. Dr. Todd Adams, interim president, said the Society”s directors plan to choose a place in March; actually preparing the archive to move could take three years, he said. A press releaseÂ distributed in November explained the move, saying, “there are insufficient funds to maintain both an archive and the T.W. Phillips Memorial Library building.” Adams, associate general minister and vice president with the Disciples,

December 14, 2014

For Anyone Concerned about Poverty

By LeRoy Lawson Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not WorkingÂ and How There Is a Better Way for Africa Dambisa Moyo New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009 Toxic Charity: How ChurchesÂ and Charities Hurt Those They Help Robert D. Lupton New York: HarperCollins, 2011 When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009 Grace at the Garbage Dump: Making SenseÂ of Mission in the Twenty-First Century Jesse A. Zink Eugene: Cascade Books, 2012 I”m writing this month about poverty. Maybe you are on your

December 12, 2014

Creating a Framework, Unleashing Potential

Book Reviews by Becky Ahlberg A Framework for Understanding Poverty By Ruby K. Payne, PhD Highlands: aha! Process, 2013 Ruby Payne”s book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, is already considered a classic and must reading for people working with families in poverty. It is a simple book and a fast read, but it is truly an eye-opener. Its initial audience was educators trying to break through to children in poverty. It has since become an industry standard training course for employers, policy makers, and service providers of all kinds. What makes it so valuable are the practical, clear tools and

December 10, 2014

Culture & Public Square Politics & Government

Power, Politics, and the Kingdom

By Jim Tune There seems to be a set of unwritten rules and preferences concerning which political party one must belong to in order to be considered a Christian of good standing among many Evangelicals. I have heard such things as, “I am sorry, but I really have to question your faith if you”re a Democrat.” Of course, the left can serve up remarkably similar disdain by inferring that no real thinking person could possibly vote Republican. Both sides claim to cherish freedom, democracy, and the American way. Political differences are so polarizing that they can readily turn friends and

December 9, 2014

Christian Living

Taking Time

By Mark A. Taylor Too many in the developed, Western world feel trapped in the treadmill of now. They work for companies whose investors demand profit growth this quarter, not next year. They go to doctors and expect a drug to cure their aches and pains today. They rush from work to meetings, sports events, or kids activities with hardly time to eat. So they grab fast food, quick take-out, or an instant dinner from the grocery store shelves full of them. And church leaders are not immune. We expect to see higher giving after a 12-week class, or more

December 7, 2014