Series: Columns

September 24, 2013

Mark A. Taylor

A Difficult Standard, a Tricky Balance

By Mark A. Taylor The September 20 issue of The Wall Street Journal quoted from a 12,000-word interview Pope Francis had given to the Italian Jesuit journal Civiltá Cattolica. “We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage, and the use of contraceptive methods,” he said. While affirming that the teachings of the church are clear about these matters, he added, “It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time. We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards.” While

September 21, 2013

Christian Standard

30 Years, 50 Elders, 2 Lessons

By Jon Walker   Which of these two lessons, if fully learned, could most help the elders at your church do their job more effectively and bring the greatest glory to God? Lesson 1: The RATS Formula One of the first elders I worked with said the life of a church is full of change, which is challenging because change changes things, and changing things can cause people to feel like they”re losing something, and when people lose something they grieve, and grief is not a widely celebrated emotion. That is why a congregation may look askance at change, even

September 20, 2013

Christian Standard

Rebranding the Pro-Life Movement

By Brian Mavis Three groups, one mission, a new day for efforts to lift up the message of life. Joe Baker was visiting his local Apple Store when a woman grabbed him, spun him around, and passionately pleaded, “Who is killing the storks?” “What?” Baker asked, still gathering his thoughts. “Your shirt.” This woman noticed Baker”s graphic T-shirt with an image of the mythological baby-carrying stork and the corresponding message, “Save the Storks.” “Oh, yeah. It”s a big problem,” Baker said, leading her on. “Especially in North Dakota right now. Guys just go and shoot them right out of the

September 19, 2013

Christian Standard

I Did a Cannonball in the Jordan River

By Tim Harlow I”m writing this from Israel. We brought a group here to walk where Jesus walked, pray where Jesus prayed, and get baptized where Jesus got baptized. I did a cannonball. A cannonball is when you jump into the water with your arms holding your knees tight against your chest. It makes a huge splash. I thought it would make a good video moment for our church as we are in the last months of a capital campaign we”ve called “Cannonball””All in and Making Waves.” We borrowed the metaphor from our friends at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa,

September 18, 2013

Christian Standard

Colorado Churches Helping Flood Victims

By Jennifer Johnson Several Christian churches in Colorado have been key in helping victims of the floods that damaged more than 18,000 homes and left many other residents without power and running water.   “¢ LifeBridge Christian Church (Longmont, CO) has served as one of the primary evacuation centers since last Thursday, assisting thousands of people and working with city and county officials as well as leaders from relief organizations. LBCC says it doesn”t need any immediate donations of food, water, or clothing, but will probably need more as rescue turns to recovery. “The LifeBridge site was almost a study

September 10, 2013

Mark A. Taylor

A Day for Hope

By Mark A. Taylor What will you do tomorrow to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11? If you”re like me, your answer may be, “Nothing.” Although none of us alive when terrorists attacked the U.S. September 11, 2001, will ever forget the day, we don”t dwell on it; we may not even think much about that horror from the past. Maybe this is because we”ve seen so much senseless tragedy since then: moviegoers gunned down in a theater, and schoolchildren murdered in their classrooms. And many are still feeling repercussions from the Boston Marathon bombing April 15. This week we”re assaulted

September 3, 2013

Mark A. Taylor

Find Us Faithful, Too!

By Mark A. Taylor “I want that song played at my funeral,” my wife whispered to me as the soaring rendition of Steve Green”s “Find Us Faithful” flowed from the grand piano onstage.  The pianist, Wayne Lundberg, morphed seamlessly into “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” as the auditorium filled for the retirement celebration honoring John and Joyce Samples for 50 years of ministry. About a decade and a half of that has been at East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis where we gathered Sunday, August 25. The 75-minute program was full of nostalgia (speakers included an elder from the first church

September 1, 2013

Christian Standard

Recalling a “˜Master” Plan for Housing

By Jennifer Johnson Many people know the Ferguson brothers, Dave and Jon, as cofounders of Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL, and as strategic visionaries behind the multisite movement. But many people don”t know the story of the church”s first multisite, or the innovative thinking behind it. A few real estate development professionals were members of a small group with the Fergusons; the group began dreaming about creating neighborhoods designed to intentionally drive strong community life, centered around a church. Eventually the real estate company and CCC partnered to create the Institute For Community and launched a master-planned area in

September 1, 2013

Christian Standard

A Serious Issue That Is a Matter of Conscience

By Jennifer Johnson As I wrote about Daron Earlewine”s Pub Theology ministry, I reread two recent Christian Standard articles on drinking. These pieces, by Tim Harlow and John Caldwell, are both available on the CS website and both worth your time. I loved Tim”s observation that the popular rationalization for Jesus turning water into wine””that the wine was watered down””would simply give it the alcohol content of beer, and I courted whiplash nodding my head vigorously at his comment that “alcohol is not the No. 1 health problem in America””it”s obesity. So it”s a tad confusing to the world when

September 1, 2013

Christian Standard

Taking Christ to Patrons of Local Clubs and Bars

By Jennifer Johnson It took a trip to Bosnia for Daron Earlewine to launch a new ministry in America. “The coffee shops become pubs in the evening,” he says. “At midnight they close and all the adults go to dance clubs. It dawned on me the same thing happens in every town in America””adults are gathering at bars and clubs. And if we could find a way to “˜own” those rooms, we could impact thousands of people.” Earlewine, then on staff at East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, also played drums in a rock band. He suggested they try

August 29, 2013

Christian Standard

The Orphan Care Movement Gets Deep and Wide

By Brian Mavis In 2004, 39 people gathered in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the first Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit. This year more than 2,500 people drove and flew from 49 states (what”s up, Vermont?) and more than 20 countries to Brentwood, Tennessee, to attend the annual summit. In just nine years, the orphan care ministry has widened, deepened, and become a legitimate movement.   Getting Wider The foster/adoption/orphan problem is huge and complex; there are more than 400,000 children in the U.S. foster care system. Of those, adoption is an available option for 120,000. Every year about 40,000 foster

August 27, 2013

Mark A. Taylor

Want to Try Digital Detox?

By Mark A. Taylor Earlier this summer I accomplished something new for me. I went 14 days with no cell phone or computer. My two weeks were completely free of digital connections””no Internet, no texting, no Facebook updates, no e-mail or web browsing. And I must admit it was not comfortable””at least at first. My wife and I were part of a Christian group cruising around Italy and Greece. We enjoyed a taste of a dozen different destinations, including several we”d like to visit again. And if that is ever possible, I will certainly consider a technology boycott like the

August 26, 2013

Christian Standard

How We Choose Our Elders

By Ron Kastens When I arrived in October 2001, CrossWay Christian Church was still a very young church and I was able to help shape our elder process, role, and culture. I am grateful to the fellow elders with whom I have served during my time at CrossWay. One of the things I am most pleased with is our process for selecting new elders. When I was growing up, and during college, it seemed many churches selected elders by simple nomination and secret ballot vote. Yet as I read the New Testament, I see no example of this in the

August 25, 2013

Christian Standard

Disciples Who Make Disciples

By Greg Nettle I don”t believe I can overstate that one of the most effective ways to be a disciple who makes disciples is simply to model what it means to be a follower of Jesus. In other words, to say to those in our sphere of influence what the apostle Paul says to us: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). How do we invite others to follow our example as we follow the example of Jesus? How do we become disciples who make disciples? The short answer is through relationships. But I

August 24, 2013

Michael C. Mack

The Secret to Small Group Multiplication

This is the time of year to plan for the long-term health, growth, and continual expansion of your small group ministry. Here are some tips for making that happen. By Michael C. Mack One of the most “reproductive” leaders I”ve ever known is Laura. I lost count of how many times her group multiplied. Since she was an expert, I asked her to conduct a training session for other leaders on how to multiply a group. Her response offers a clue to the secret of multiplication: “I have no idea what to teach others about this,” she told me. “It

August 23, 2013

Christian Standard

Your Church Is Like a Family

By LeRoy Lawson Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue Edwin H. Friedman New York: The Guilford Press, 1985 A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix Edwin H. Friedman New York: Seabury Books, 2007 Friedman”s Fables Edwin H. Friedman New York: The Guilford Press, 1990 Where was Edwin Friedman”s Generation to Generation when I needed it? It”s out of print now, published in 1985, but fortunately still available in used books at Amazon.com. I would have missed this one if it hadn”t been for a highly regarded minister friend who said, “This is

August 20, 2013

Mark A. Taylor

Collapsing Culture Brings Family Ruin?

By Mark A. Taylor The deterioration of Christian influence in our culture has caused the collapse of stable families in our society, right? Although many conservative Christians believe the above idea, at least one writer challenges it. Mary Eberstadt, in her book How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization, proposes that the collapse of family structures in our country and several others has caused the loss of religious influence, not vice versa. Quoted by Justin Taylor at The Gospel Coalition website, Eberstadt said: People are social beings. They learn religion the way they learn language: in

August 13, 2013

Mark A. Taylor

They Need a Friend!

By Mark A. Taylor Young adults may lead the way in social networking, but their hours with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram don”t help all of them feel connected. In fact, among Americans today, the youngest adults are most likely to say they”re still looking for a friend. The Barna Group reports 20 percent of Americans describe themselves as lonely, up from about 10 percent just 10 years ago, “a paradoxical reality in the full swing of the social media age.”Â  In that same decade, the number of Americans “trying to find a few good friends” has increased from 31 to

August 6, 2013

Mark A. Taylor

Ministry and Family””They Go Together!

By Mark A. Taylor One of the questions late in our June BlogTalkRadio* program was, “How can a Christian leader get started with a missional approach to ministry?” All three of those interviewed””Jon Ferguson, Greg Nettle, and Jon Weece””agreed with the same principle: “Start by being a model of missional ministry with your own class and your own family.” Weece, especially, took up the family theme. “We”ve reoriented our whole life around serving other people,” he said. “It”s very normal, for example, for our kids to understand this is what we”re going to do on Tuesday nights; we”re going to

August 4, 2013

Christian Standard

Church Goes “˜All-in” to Reach Latinos

By Jennifer Johnson Many congregations start Spanish-language services, but few go “all-in” like Eastside Christian Church in Anaheim, CA. “Our mission is to reach 1 percent of the 5.8 million people within a 20-mile radius of our building,” says communications director Jan Lynn. “A third or more of these people are Latino, so we needed to be intentional about creating new ways to serve them and share Jesus.” For Eastside, that”s “Semilla@Eastside,” a new service held each Sunday at 2 p.m. Hector Hermosillo serves as the new pastor for the initiative, and works closely with the rest of the staff

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