Series: Featured

January 12, 2011

Christian Standard

Making a Difference

By Joni Sullivan Baker Christmas decorations are down, second semester is underway, and snow is on the ground. It”s January. For those involved in children”s ministry that means only one thing””it”s time to start planning Vacation Bible School. Every summer, Standard Publishing puts its brand-new, unpublished VBS curriculum to the test by asking a local church to actually try it. Christ”s Church at Mason (Ohio) tested the new VBS last June. VBS 2011 is called “Inside Out & Upside Down on Main Street: Where Jesus Makes a Difference Every Day!” The children in the field test learned about five of

January 12, 2011

Christian Standard

VBS Changes Lives

We all have stories of VBS. We can remember the songs we have sung, the crafts we have made and even many of the Bible stories we learned each year, but do you remember the names of the volunteers who gave up their time to help you learn about Jesus and plant seeds that would blossom years later? Do you remember when you first heard about how Jesus loves us or how we can help others? Was it at VBS? Do you have some stories of how VBS affected you or someone you know? Check out www.vbschangeslives.com to read life

January 11, 2011

Christian Standard

Generation of the Ethiopian Eunuch

By Jeff Arthur It happened about six months after our church launched in 2007. I had preached about Abraham and Isaac that Sunday morning. After the service, one of our ladies told me she was familiar with Abraham and Isaac, because she had drawn the image of Abraham offering Isaac to God while pursuing her degree in art. But she had never heard of other Bible characters I had been talking about in my sermons. That resonated with me all week long. I knew I was preaching to a group divided into three parts””non-Christians, nominal churchgoers, and former Catholics””and that

January 10, 2011

Christian Standard

The Cure for Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

By Jon Weatherly Nothing alarms church folk quite so much as problems with the young folk. So it was about five years ago with Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton”s book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Smith and Denton”s research produced the phrase “moralistic therapeutic deism” to describe the typical American teen”s view of God. It”s “deism” because the god of the typical teen is mostly distant and uninvolved. It”s “therapeutic” because that distant god still wants everyone to have a happy life and occasionally is willing to get involved when a person has an

January 8, 2011

Christian Standard

Choosing What You Remember

By Brian Giese It has been said, “Education is everything you have learned minus all you have forgotten.” How can you be certain you remember the most important stuff? One way is by memorizing the information and regularly reviewing it. I was motivated to do just that when I was told I probably was going to become legally blind. I asked myself, What do I want to have in my head if I get to the point where I can no longer read? That was 24 years ago, and my experience in memorization has proven to be a real blessing.

January 5, 2011

Christian Standard

A Book Like No Other

By Ward Patterson For 65 hours one October several years ago, students at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, read the Bible aloud at a crossing in the heart of the university campus. Standing under a tent and reading into a microphone in 30-minute shifts, they read from Genesis to Revelation. Erica Wothen, a senior student and member of His House Christian Fellowship, led more than 200 students in the event. Erica said, “We came together to read the Word. We didn”t worry about what we would say or do. We just read and watched God move.” God”s Word

January 2, 2011

Christian Standard

What Should We Believe About Hell?

By Glen Elliott People of the Restoration Movement know the declaration well. These days I hear it quoted by many in the church worldwide. I use it when I introduce our doctrinal position to the new members at our welcome event. Most attribute the statement to St. Augustine. This 1,500-year-old declaration remains powerful in its simplicity: “In essentials, unity. In opinions, liberty. In all things, love.” Nothing has the potential to divide us so much as differences over doctrine and theology. We take different stands regarding the end times and the “rapture.” We still have debates over speaking in tongues.

December 31, 2010

Christian Standard

The Lasting Influence of a Small Church

By Gordon R. Clymer Recently six Timothys of Indiana”s Black Oak Church of Christ returned to say thank-you to the church where each was baptized. Located between Hammond and Gary, the community has become more inner-city than metropolitan. Fewer than 100 people now meet to worship with this congregation. In years past it was never a large church, but it had a vision of outreach. These six men sent out to preach the gospel include James North, professor of church history at Cincinnati (Ohio) Christian University; Ziden Nutt, executive director of Good News Productions, International (Joplin, Missouri); Gordon Clymer, professor

December 30, 2010

Christian Standard

Regrafting: A Matter of Motivation

Ken Swatman “Dying on the vine,” it seems to be the new catchphrase among leaders of struggling churches. Often I hear from these ministers and leaders that they do not want to “die on the vine.” Here are some key issues/questions that need to be addressed in order for a church to grow. I do not believe churches just die on the vine. Branches of a vine die because they are either diseased, malformed, infested with parasites, or somehow choked off from their source of nutrition and health. This is also true for churches. Churches wither and die because of

December 29, 2010

Christian Standard

Family Resemblance

Teresa Schantz Williams At first, joining an a cappella church of Christ was like attending a family reunion of second cousins on your father”s side. Sure, we had kin in common; we definitely shared ancestral roots. The potluck spreads were every bit as good””that lovely “table” where everyone can find a seat. Still, we were enough different to feel awkward around our rediscovered family. Raised in independent Christian churches that do use musical instruments, I”d nevertheless been taught that churches of Christ shared the same vision of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. In college, and in the years before marriage, I

December 28, 2010

Christian Standard

A Ministry Based on Proverbs

By Javan Rowe It”s hard to find any part of our lives not affected by the state of our nation”s economy. Unemployment is up, businesses are folding, and individuals are paying much closer attention to personal finances. The church is not exempt from such challenges. How can our ministries survive today”s hard times? There”s no sure answer. As the Bible says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1*). But the book of Proverbs does offer wisdom to help our ministries succeed. Three principles in particular can help. Prayer Proverbs

December 20, 2010

Christian Standard

Worthy of Honor

By Terry O”Casey She was nearly divorced, forced to become an immigrant in her teens, welfare poor, left alone with seven kids, and witnessed her oldest boy”s gruesome execution. Eventually, her descendants split up. In a heated custody battle lasting to this day, some of them still aren”t allowed much time with Mom.  Who is she? Join me, Bible in hand, for some holy imagineering. Two families: Joe and his dad, Jacob (Matthew 1:16), headed over to her dad”s house. Jacob spoke: “Heli1, my son would like to marry your daughter. If you agree, we”ll draw up the ketubah for

December 17, 2010

Christian Standard

The Tyranny of the Paradigm (Part 3)

Read “The Tyranny of the Paradigm (Part 1) Read “The Tyranny of the Paradigm (Part 2)” ________ By Jack W. Cottrell My thesis is that the understanding of the doctrine of salvation in most Protestant groups is captive to the Zwinglian version of the sola fidei paradigm. In the previous article (last week) I showed how this is the case in the way faith is treated as the sole condition for justification, and not just its sole means. It is also seen in the way repentance either is excluded as a condition altogether, or is diminished by being made simply

December 14, 2010

Christian Standard

The Tyranny of the Paradigm (Part 2)

Read “The Tyranny of the Paradigm (Part 1)” Read “The Tyranny of the Paradigm (Part 3)” _________________ By Jack W. Cottrell Previously I noted that Michael Denton speaks of how modern science regards Darwinian evolution as the determinative paradigm or controlling interpretive principle to which all scientific data must be made to conform””even when the data are in conflict with the paradigm. He calls this faulty methodology the “priority of the paradigm” (à la Thomas Kuhn). In that earlier essay I applied this concept to certain faulty theological systems, which likewise are distorted by the tyranny of their respective paradigms.

December 10, 2010

Christian Standard

Emerging for the Rest of Us

By Josh Tandy In 2003 I was in college and reading Brian McLaren”s A New Kind of Christian. It was unlike anything I had ever read in Christian literature. The book simultaneously bothered and encouraged me. I thought I understood about half of the issues discussed, but I actually grasped far less. Despite my ignorance, I was hooked””even though I didn”t fully know why. To varying degrees I think many church leaders, whether paid or unpaid, have had a similar experience with their first contact with the emerging church movement. Perhaps you were like me and had no context to

December 9, 2010

Christian Standard

A New Perspective for a “˜Bunch of Jerks”

By Chris Beard It was just a billboard. We saw it as little more than a tool to help our congregation reach out to our community. But God had an even bigger plan. At 8:30 Monday morning I received a call from an elder informing me that our billboard had been featured in the local newspaper”s blog. “Well, good,” I said, “that will be a good conversation starter for our people.” I had no idea that by the end of the week people would be calling and e-mailing from all over the United States to talk about our billboard. Afterthought

December 6, 2010

Christian Standard

Leading Beyond Your Ability

By Rick Grover I recently told our staff, “We are now at a place where I have never been. I have no experience in leading beyond where we currently are. We have surpassed where I believe my education, skills, abilities, and experience can take us. So where do we go from here? How are we going to get to the next level in our ministry and go where God wants us to go?” I paused, not for dramatic effect, but because I wasn”t sure what to say next! So much for leaders having all the right words to say at

December 3, 2010

Christian Standard

Built for Speed

By Brent Foulke Charles Hill runs at about 6,000 rpm all the time! To some degree, that”s normal for church planters””big dreams, tough challenges, long to-do lists, and expansive hearts. But when Charles and his wife, Tiffany, moved their family to plant a church in South Jordan, Utah, they entered a particularly challenging race. South Jordan is one of only two places in the world with two Mormon temples and almost no churches that follow Christ alone by the authority of the Bible alone. But the Hills intend to win this race by introducing Jesus as “the way and the truth

December 2, 2010

Christian Standard

Immeasurably More

By David Limiero When Bryan and Missy Meyers participated in a Stadia church planting assessment in the fall of 2009, they had a clear goal in mind””plant a church in northern Nevada in the fall of 2011. It seemed like the perfect plan. Bryan was serving as associate pastor at Hope Community Church in Reno, Nevada. Missy was the church”s preschool director. The church”s senior pastor, Bill Sherman, was solidly behind both the strategy and the timing. And Hope had just planted her first daughter church in nearby Fernley. Bryan and Missy”s church plant would be the next step in

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