Series: Columns

November 25, 2009

Christian Standard

Daily Choices and the Ultimate Test

By Mark A. Taylor US Airways Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger doesn”t view himself as a hero. The celebrated pilot of the January 15 Flight 1549 successfully landed his Airbus A320 in the Hudson River shortly after its engines were stalled by a bird strike. The feat soon became known as “The Miracle on the Hudson.” But, as Jeffrey Zaslow writes in the October 14 Wall Street Journal, “that description never felt right to Sully.” Of the many letters of gratitude and congratulations Sully received after the incident, it is significant which are his favorites. Zaslow, who is cowriting Sullenberger”s book,

November 18, 2009

Christian Standard

Meeting the Needs by Providing the Wants

By Mark A. Taylor What people need and what they want are not necessarily the same. For example, children need their vegetables, but they don”t always want to eat them. Creative moms find ways to combine good food in dishes that taste good too. Church leaders do this too. People want practical help for everyday problems. They need instruction from God”s Word and the advice of experienced Christians. One way to provide both is by giving them CHRISTIAN STANDARD and our sister publication, The Lookout. For example, we saw the Sunday-morning bulletin from a small Christian church in Tennessee. The

November 11, 2009

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Practical Advice for Problems We”d Wish to Avoid

By LeRoy Lawson Glen Wheeler, Widowers Hurt, Too (self published, 2008). Cheryl Savageau and Diane Stortz, Parents of Missionaries (Colorado Springs: Authentic Publishing, 2008). Daniel Gottlieb, Learning from the Heart: Lessons on Living, Loving, and Listening (New York: Sterling Publishing, 2008). Practical is the key word for this column”s books: practical advice for men who have lost their wives, practical advice for parents who have “lost” their children to a faraway mission field, and practical advice from a man who has lost the use of his arms and legs and has learned to live successfully without them. LOSING A WIFE

November 11, 2009

Christian Standard

The Most Important Leadership Task

By Mark A. Taylor Say leader to someone who is not a leader, and he”s likely to picture a public person: the convincing speaker, the meeting chairman, the decision-maker with the last word or the authority to sign-off. Those who actually lead, however, know much of their work happens in private, behind the scenes, one-on-one, or even alone. But leaders as well as followers sometimes miss one dimension of leadership, and that”s the responsibility highlighted in this week”s issue: Leaders must develop new leaders. The leaders writing this week know this. They speak in the context of a new church,

November 4, 2009

Christian Standard

Like a Good Neighbor?

By Mark A. Taylor Neighbor is one of those words supposed to evoke warm nostalgia. The quietest children”s TV star, Fred Rogers, gently invited viewers, “Won”t you be my neighbor?” And a national insurance company seeks to seem close and personal with “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there!” But my first thoughts aren”t always positive when I hear the word neighbor. I remember the frat house atmosphere across the street from where we lived 30 years ago””the loud music, the girls coming and going with their clothes in plastic garbage sacks, my mailbox knocked over by someone too

November 1, 2009

Christian Standard

My ‘Must-Read’ Books

By Contributing Editors This week we publish ideas from leaders who are readers. Below are recommendations of “must-read” books from our contributing editors. Many of them had a difficult time limiting their recommendations to the few we allowed them. How many of their choices have you read? Meanwhile, Publishing Committee member Eddie Lowen wrote an essay this week about three books he recommends. In it, he weaves in examples and principles to describe how reading can change a local ministry. And don”t miss the essay by Contributing Editor Arron Chambers in which he describes how and why he”s written several books. Additionally, Contributing Editor/Publishing

October 28, 2009

Christian Standard

Tell Us Your Read!

By Mark A. Taylor He”s a writer who was talking to booksellers about reading. Everyone in the room listened keenly to his points, partly because it was their business, and partly because most of what he had to say is bad news. “Only 5 percent of the American public ever sets foot in a bookstore,” he said. “The average man in America won”t read another book after the day he leaves high school. We”ve become addicted to screens, whose message is, “˜Let me entertain you.”” He quoted statistics that say half of the world today is illiterate, and then, “But

October 21, 2009

Christian Standard

A Life that Matters

By Mark A. Taylor After Lewis Foster died several years ago, David Faust spoke of his last visit with him in the hospital. “I read John 14 to him from the New International Version and then said, “˜It”s a little humbling to share this with you, because, after all, you translated these words.”” Then Dave told Dr. Foster all his scholarship had meant to him and how much he had learned as his student. The professor looked up at Dave from his hospital bed and said, “You make it all seem worthwhile.” Think of it. The great New Testament scholar,

October 14, 2009

Christian Standard

No Laughing Matter

By Mark A. Taylor Have you caught The Jay Leno Show, NBC”s new weeknight offering? It premiered September 14, a few days after this issue went to the printer, so this is no review of its content. But I couldn”t help thinking about the work the church does as I read about the work Leno did this summer to get ready for his new show. An August 21 Wall Street Journal piece pointed out that Leno”s move to 10 pm from 11:30 was a big risk for him as well as the network. Leno is trying something largely abandoned years

October 4, 2009

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Money–Ascendance and Dependence

By LeRoy Lawson Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World (New York: Penguin Group, 2008). Thomas Friedman, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution””And How It Can Renew America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008). My individual retirement account had plummeted by 40 percent when I read Niall Ferguson”s brilliantly timed The Ascent of Money. If there was any comfort to be culled from the Harvard history professor”s lectures to a nation of newly or nearly bankrupt investors, it was in the old adage “misery loves company.” This reader wasn”t the

September 30, 2009

Christian Standard

Tell Us About Your Celebration!

By Mark A. Taylor As we finished this issue in the final days of August, we continued to hear news about Great Communion celebrations planned for October 4 in community after community. “We started planning for the Great Communion in 2005,” Glenn Carson, president of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society, wrote. “And what we expected from the beginning is now occurring.” Many have posted details about their celebrations at www.greatcommunion.org. Yet we”ve also received notes from some who have searched in vain for a Great Communion service in their area. “I am profoundly disappointed that nothing is happening close

September 23, 2009

Christian Standard

What We Do, Why It Matters

By Mark A. Taylor Actually what we do at the North American Christian Convention is not dramatic. We talk. We eat. We laugh. We sing. We pray. We listen to sermons, some of them excellent. Some of us go to meetings. Often we encounter people with names we recognize, but we”ve never actually met them before. How could we, when we live across the country from each other and they”re busy with their ministries while we”re occupied with our own? This is how it has been through the decades. The beauty of the NACC is its simplicity, its predictability, its

September 20, 2009

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: What to Do About Poverty?

By LeRoy Lawson Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time (New York: Penguin Books, 2005). William Easterly, The White Man”s Burden: Why the West”s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (New York: Penguin Books, 2006). Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Oxford University Press, 2007). Ruby K. Payne, Philip Devol, Terie Dreussi Smith, Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities (Aha! Process, 2001). What can one 21st century middle-class American””or even one nation””do

September 16, 2009

Christian Standard

Put on Your Shoes

By Mark A. Taylor Claudia Cain ran into the house to moan about the latest crisis in her young teen life. Her dad, Doyle Cain, minister at the local Christian church, took her into his arms to let her cry and give her comfort. And then he said something that at first seemed strange. “Oh, Claudia, just put on your shoes.” He soon reminded her of the story in Acts 12 that tells how the angel miraculously released Peter from prison. “That angel was powerful enough to break through that cell and tear off those chains, but he still told

September 9, 2009

Christian Standard

Read the Report, Get the Deluxe Edition

By Mark A. Taylor Late last year when Kent Fillinger, Ben Simms, and I were planning our annual megachurch issue, Kent and Ben had a new idea. “Why don”t we do the same research with a group of smaller churches?” I thought that idea sounded interesting, and the result is the issue you”re holding in your hands. As is always true with projects of this kind, getting churches to send us their data is the most difficult part. For this issue, we invited churches in repeated printed and e-mailed announcements. Kent and Ben made several personal contacts. We fell short

September 6, 2009

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Seeing Ourselves as Others See Us

By LeRoy Lawson Barry Hankins, Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008). Frank Schaeffer, Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2007). If it hadn”t been for Francis and Frank Schaeffer, the car wouldn”t have hit me and I wouldn”t have gone to the hospital. If the elder Schaeffer hadn”t been such a prominent Christian leader in the 1970s, I wouldn”t have been crossing the street in front of the Indianapolis

September 2, 2009

Christian Standard

Reflecting Our Desire to Serve a Diverse Fellowship

By Mark A. Taylor How does one institution or instrument serve a fellowship like ours? Consider our diversity: “¢ Geographic: We exist all over the world, stronger in some countries than in the United States. “¢ Cultural: We thrive in small towns and at rural crossroads. But we”re growing in urban centers, too, and some of our most prominent congregations are in the suburbs. “¢ Size: Most congregations average less than 300 on Sundays. But we have the highest number of megachurches per capita of any denomination in America. “¢ Political: Even though some would never see it, we”re not

August 26, 2009

Christian Standard

Leading the Trends

By Mark A. Taylor Sometimes church leaders are more like followers. As Paul Williams wrote, “Like lemmings, churches follow one another into the latest trends, whether proven or not, desperate for that bump in attendance and increase in per-capita giving.” It”s true there”s no new idea under the sun, including the ones I”ll share below. And there”s no virtue in ignoring a successful method or ministry just because it”s new. But the Bible suggests dozens of ideas that could breathe fresh air into our ministries””and set a good example for others to copy. Wouldn”t it be great, for example, if

August 19, 2009

Christian Standard

How Will You Celebrate Great Communion?

By Mark A. Taylor It”s not too late for your church to plan a Great Communion observance October 4. Let me review what we”ve said about this event before, and then give you some new information. Review: Great Communion is an international celebration of the Lord”s Supper to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Thomas Campbell”s Declaration and Address, considered by many as the catalyst for our Restoration Movement. In it Campbell lifted up unity based on faith in Christ and obedience to the Scriptures. He decried divisions among believers in Christ and described the Lord”s Supper as “that great ordinance

August 12, 2009

Christian Standard

Serving for a Lifetime

By Mark A. Taylor We began editing this issue the week I was celebrating my 36th wedding anniversary. And I couldn”t help thinking how the advice of Randy Gariss and Paul Williams apply to my marriage as well as my ministry. Stick with a ministry for the long haul? Difficult. Stick with a marriage for a lifetime? Some would say impossible. Indeed, this summer”s tabloids have been filled with news of failed marriages, with conservative politicians as well as reality show stars confessing affairs and vowing to move on to the next chapters in their lives. Time magazine took note

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