Series: Featured

February 1, 2021

Kim Harris

Interview with Kadi Cole: How to Develop Female Leaders in the Church

In her book Developing Female Leaders, author and speaker Kadi Cole provides tools, coaching, and strategies for incorporating the development of female leaders into the leadership pipelines in our churches. After reading her book, I had the privilege to spend some time with her. QUESTION: Why should church leaders invest in developing their female leaders? KADI COLE: Young people have grown up in an age where diversity is the norm for them, so to walk into a worship experience and have everybody be very homogeneous is actually a deterrent. Not because they don’t agree with our beliefs, but because they

February 1, 2021

Justin Horey

‘My Story Is for God’s Glory’

After living a life as a criminal and prisoner, David Green has experienced—and now makes known a message of—redemption and reconciliation. In the early morning hours of Easter 1978, just after midnight, a group of adolescent boys entered a 24-hour convenience store in New Orleans’ notorious Ninth Ward, intending to steal alcohol. During the attempted robbery, shots were fired and the clerk on duty behind the counter was mortally wounded. All of the boys managed to flee the scene except one, a 15-year-old known to his cohorts as “Red.” As he tried to escape, a paying customer tripped him and

February 1, 2021

Terry Allcorn

Differences by Divine Design

I have been in many conversations about race recently. I’m truly pleased we are having those conversations. For some, it has not been a regular topic of concern and discussion. In the context of those conversations, I’m writing to address a well-intended comment I have heard for several years. Some have said a version of, “I don’t see color; I just see people.” Others have said something like, “I just treat everyone equally because we are all the same.” It’s possible I’ve made similar statements upon occasion. I think I understand the motivation behind those statements, and I affirm the

February 1, 2021

Dudley Rutherford

Marching Forward
with a Dream of Destiny

How One Ministry Seeks to Lead the Way in Diversity and Racial Reconciliation in the Church When Dream of Destiny was founded in the summer of 2007, I never could have imagined where we’d be as a country some 13 years later. From the coronavirus pandemic and massive unemployment, to the political divide and racial tensions, 2020 was a year like no other. Without a doubt, these will continue to be critical factors that will significantly shape our nation’s future for many generations to come. The tragic death of George Floyd shocked the entire world and became a turning point

February 1, 2021

Fate Hagood

What’s Wrong with Our Movement?
Why Can’t We Unify?
Why Can’t We Reconcile?

(Read “When Brothers Dwell in Unity,” a companion article by Fate Hagood’s brother, Rudy Hagood.) Our movement, like many other movements, has been fractured, fragmented, and frustrated. I grew up in the Church of Christ vein of the Restoration Movement during a time when our purpose and passion were crystal clear. We saw the Bible speaking of one church. That one church could be discovered through a simple reading of Scripture and a commonsense understanding of what Scripture teaches. The idea of restoration is about going back to the primitive church of the first century and attempting to be that

February 1, 2021

Rudy Hagood

A Core Conviction
(for All of Us)

(Read “When Brothers Dwell in Unity,” a companion article by Rudy Hagood’s brother, Fate Hagood.) Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore (Psalm 133, all Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version). I have always been passionate about unity. While it might be a manifestation

January 1, 2021

Tina Wilson

Opportunity and Open Doors

When the Pandemic Hit, Our Leaders Went to Work to Discover the Best Ways for Us to Serve Our Community . . . One of our pastors, while addressing the coaching staff at a local college last year, described Ekklesia Christian Church as opportunists. Any time God cracks open a door, even slightly, and we see a target that aligns with our core values and seems beneficial for the kingdom, we run at it. In our six years as a church, God has opened doors that have brought about immeasurably more than all we asked or imagined. Perhaps that’s why Saturday, March 14,

January 1, 2021

Melissa Wuske

How the Pandemic Impacted Construction Loans

Three Leaders of Church-Lending Organizations Discuss How They Are Building on a Strong Foundation in Uncertain Times Early in 2020, as the global pandemic unfolded, the uncertainty and economic losses seemed to spell disaster both for churches looking to build or expand their facilities and for the financial institutions that provide loans to these ministries. How can churches expect to build when they can’t even safely meet in person? How can giving and lending hold steady when the economy is flailing and so many people are out of work? Now, mere months later—albeit long months—the worst fears did not happen.

January 1, 2021

Renee Little

Crossing Rivers

Dealing with COVID-19 is like trying to cross a swift-moving river on foot; both present a formidable challenge to get safely to the other side. After 40 years in the wilderness, Joshua and the Israelites found themselves just needing to cross a river to finally enter the Promised Land. Can you imagine standing on the banks of the great Jordan River when it was swollen and surging during spring rains? As you look across the river, you know God is calling you to the other side, I don’t know about you, but my feelings would be as charged-up as the

January 1, 2021

Andy Hansen

How the Pandemic Impacted Christ In Youth

The beginning of March had a vibe that 2020 was going to be a banner year of ministry at Christ In Youth. SuperStart preteen and Believe junior high events were on a roll! The teaching and interactive elements were powerful and impacting hundreds of youth. Large numbers were waiting to attend the seven remaining major city sites in April and May. Plus, registrations were at a record pace for CIY’s Move high school and Mix junior high summer events. Hundreds were also prepared to participate in an Engage mission experience. Several new projects were coming together, and the culture and

January 1, 2021

Dr. Orpheus J. Heyward

A Renaissance Rebirth

How God Worked through the Pandemic to Move Our Church from Local to Global Ministry One of the most potent theological tenets of Scripture is called the Providence of God. The doctrine of Providence provides us with insight into God’s care for his creation as he continuously provides for its existence and sustenance. Additionally, Providence suggests that God is guiding his creation according to his divine purpose. A particular passage that accentuates this notion is Romans 8:28: “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”

January 1, 2021

Dee Ann Billings

God Didn’t Stop When the Pandemic Started

When We Decided to Teach People in Our Community How to Study the Bible, God Provided Everything We Needed When COVID-19 first hit and life ground to a halt, I didn’t know what I would do with myself. As a volunteer outreach coordinator at Copper Creek Christian Church in Maryville, Illinois, as well as a leader with several independent outreach opportunities in the community, I was devastated when all events were unexpectedly and indefinitely canceled. Suddenly my involvement in two to three outreach events per month dropped to zero. No more events. No more kids’ activities. No more social gatherings.

January 1, 2021

Phil Claycomb

How the Pandemic Impacted Planting Churches

7 Counterintuitive Ways to Interpret Reality By Phil Claycomb I’ve coached, mentored, and trained church planters since 2001, so I’ve been involved in many different crisis situations. I’ve sighed deeply and asked, “OK, what just happened?” more times than I care to remember. I’ve brainstormed through a host of “where do we go from here?” discussions. I’ve rolled up my shirtsleeves and jumped in to help “pick up the pieces and move on.” And I’ve discovered that while the causes of crises may vary, and churches are amazingly creative at finding ways to get into trouble, the one thing leaders

January 1, 2021

Aaron Couch

People-First Finances

How Our Church Prioritized Our Spending and Resources During the Pandemic   News about the coronavirus in mid-March sent fearful shockwaves down my spine. I had no idea what it all meant for the nation, for Southeast Christian Church in Parker, Colorado—which I serve—or for the people who call Southeast home. I had received no instruction in how to lead a church through a global pandemic, nor did I have practical experience in doing so. Consequently, while considering next steps for the church, I immediately thought of the worst-case scenario of people at Southeast—and young people especially—dying of COVID-19. There

November 22, 2020

Rusty Russell

How to Lead a Peacekeeping Church

Practice These Three Crucial Habits to Live at Peace with Everyone and to Be an Example for Our Communities and Nation to Follow Never before has peacekeeping in the church been so difficult! This past summer in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis, I received two emails from people who were upset at how we were handling the situation. The first said she was leaving the church because we weren’t properly social distancing (although we thought we were) and we weren’t making people wear masks. The second said she was leaving the church because we were listening to the liberal

November 22, 2020

Erik Tryggestad

Rebuilding Hope from the Ashes

Lewis Street Church of Christ faced one obstacle after another; then, after the building was firebombed, people from across the country came together to help restore the building . . . and much more. Just weeks after he was named minister of the Lewis Street Church of Christ, Jameel Robinson delivered a message that shocked the congregation: Get out of the building. It wasn’t a “go into the community and serve” sermon, said Robinson, who had just moved from Mississippi to preach for the Little Rock, Arkansas, church. It wasn’t a sermon at all. The congregation literally could not be

November 22, 2020

Caleb Kaltenbach

The New Year, No Fear Challenge

How You Can Begin 2021 with Courage and Understanding   This year-end article was written in mid-September. Due to the magazine’s production schedule, I simply don’t have the luxury of knowing if we’ve made strides toward loving each other well, who won the election, the state of the economy, or whether there is a coronavirus vaccine. As I type these words, my mother is suffering from COVID-19. She’s older, in poor health, and already fighting cancer, so I have no clue whether she will survive or go to be with the Lord. Remember the old saying, “hindsight is 20-20”? If

November 22, 2020

Tyler McKenzie

How Social Media Robs Us of Peace and Joy . . . and How We Can Get It Back

I’m not a doomsayer. I do not believe social media is inherently evil. Instead, I believe it’s morally neutral. Like most technology, its capacity for good or evil lies in the hands of those who wield it. However, to pretend that you and I are the hands that truly wield it is naïve at best and irresponsible at worst. You may have good intentions when you sign in, but once you tap on that app you are entering a space that lauds your ability to shape the world by what you share, but in actuality, social media tends to shape

November 22, 2020

Mark E. Moore

The Anxiety Antidote (A Study of Luke 2)

Two Announcements of Peace and How We Live In Between And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:8-10). What a sweet story. We can almost hear Linus recounting the entire passage in “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” We see images of sweet children in a

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