October 18, 2009
Words of Life and Death
Larry W. Timm encourages ministers to treat funeral messages as sacred ministry, offering grieving families biblical comfort, personal care, humility, and honest grace.
Series: Featured
October 18, 2009
Reflections of a Public Servant
Rod Roberts reflects on the faith, family, church, and community influences that shaped his life of service and led him to pursue a campaign for governor of Iowa.
October 4, 2009
Still Declaring and Addressing: Thinking About Thomas Campbell 200 Years Later
Paul M. Blowers reflects on Thomas Campbell, the Great Communion, and the Stone-Campbell Movement’s continuing call to Christian unity, reconciliation, and mission.
October 4, 2009
A Document for Today
A Stone-Campbell Journal Conference symposium marked the 200th anniversary of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address, reflecting on Christian unity, missions, emerging church conversations, and the document’s continuing relevance.
October 4, 2009
It”s Simple!
Terry O'Casey calls churches to recover simple Christianity, shaped by Thomas Campbell’s plea and the ministry pattern of Jesus, rather than complexity, bylaws, and over-programmed systems.
October 4, 2009
In Communion
 by C. Robert Wetzel “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body” (1 Corinthians 10:17). In 1909 Christians from the Restoration Movement were making plans for the centennial celebration of the Declaration and Address to take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that October. At the same time, in what was then a remote part of mountainous western North Carolina, a small group of believers were making plans to establish a church. Late in 1908 there had been a 30-day evangelistic meeting that led to the baptism of 14 people. In the spring of the following year,
October 4, 2009
Preparing for Ministry, Preparing for Community, Preparing for Change
Robert Wetzel and Michael Sweeney discuss Emmanuel School of Religion’s leadership transition, community-focused seminary education, financial pressures, and the need for deeper theological formation in churches.
September 27, 2009
A Look at This Year”s NACC: Grace Week
Steve Reeves reflects on the 2009 NACC in Louisville, highlighting grace-filled preaching, practical workshops, worship with Casting Crowns, and the lasting value of face-to-face ministry connections.
September 27, 2009
A Look at This Year’s NACC: I”m Glad I Was There!
Clay D. Perkins reflects on the 2009 NACC, describing meetings, friendships, “holy hugs,” preaching, and the convention’s role in encouraging leaders and preparing future ministers.
September 27, 2009
A Look at This Year”s NACC: Going Home
Thomas F. Jones Jr. reflects on the North American Christian Convention as a yearly homecoming where friends, ministry partners, former students, and church planting leaders reconnect.
September 27, 2009
“˜Whatsoever” Prayer
by Greg Pruett I could hear my neighbor wailing, I just didn”t know why. My wife and I had just started our missionary career in a West African village, moving into a dusty tin-roofed shack that could have doubled as a solar oven. We found someone who could explain to us in French that our neighbor”s son was dying. When we saw the child, he was lying on the beaten earth floor of a grass-roofed hut, his breathing labored, pupils fixed and dilated. Despair crept into us as we realized he might not live long. I remember standing over
September 20, 2009
MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: The Leadership Factor
Kent E. Fillinger examines how senior minister age and tenure affect church growth and urges leaders to face succession planning, delayed retirements, and crucial conversations with courage.
September 20, 2009
Full Circle
Southland Christian Church’s Circles of Influence program serves Lexington through school partnerships, local ministry collaborations, and Refuge Medical Clinics offering care to uninsured neighbors.
September 20, 2009
Care for the Earth Is Bringing Good News to the Poor
Doug Priest connects creation care with Christian mission, arguing that caring for the earth is a matter of stewardship, justice, and love for neighbors harmed by environmental degradation.
September 20, 2009
Worship: We Exalt Thee O God
Karen J. Diefendorf reflects on Hebrews 8, Orthodox worship, and Revelation to recover a reverent vision of worship as joining what is already happening before God’s throne.
September 13, 2009
MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: The Elephant in the Room
Kent E. Fillinger compares medium-sized churches with megachurches and emerging megachurches, highlighting growth, baptisms, multisite ministry, church planting, giving, debt, and outreach trends.
September 13, 2009
MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: The 2008 List
Kent Fillinger and Ben Simms introduce Christian Standard’s 2008 Medium-Sized Churches chart, featuring survey data from 66 churches averaging 500-999 in worship attendance.
September 13, 2009
MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: Fun Facts
A collection of notable statistics from the 2008 Medium-Sized Church Report, including attendance comparisons, fastest-growing churches, baptism totals, Easter attendance, and senior minister age trends.
September 13, 2009
Don”t Just Change, Upgrade
Mark Atteberry urges churches to fight shoddiness, resist autopilot ministry, and pursue excellence because God gives his best and deserves our best in return.
September 6, 2009
Why Plant Churches?
Tom Jones reflects on his home church’s lifelong influence and explains why church planting is central to the church’s mission of evangelism, compassion, transformation, and sending.
