Series: Featured

September 23, 2017

Christian Standard

Changing Our Church to Change Our Community: The South Fork Story

By Bob Hightchew How do you change an unhealthy church culture without any pain? How do you make necessary biblical changes without upsetting people? You can”t. If we are to serve the kingdom, we will have to fight some battles. The battle is worth it, though, if the process helps move a church to better health. I”ve learned this firsthand over the course of the last 20-plus years. South Fork Christian Church in Verona, Kentucky, has been an easy congregation for me to love. Our pews are filled with kind, generous, and loving individuals. However, when I arrived, the church

September 21, 2017

Jerry Harris

A Church for Forgotten Places

By Jerry Harris Forgottonia . . . would you believe it”s a real place? The place is real but the name was more of a publicity stunt. It was adopted by 14 counties in west-central Illinois that were intentionally neglected by the state and federal government with regard to interstates and rail service in the early 1970s. Without interstate highway access, the region was denied decent transportation for commerce as other towns and cities benefitted from them. Businesses and not-for-profit entities dried up or left the area and calls for fair treatment with tax dollars for infrastructure fell on deaf

September 16, 2017

Christian Standard

The Engine that Powers Our Progress

The Vital Difference Between a Church that Prays and a Praying Church By Derek Dickinson I thought planting a new congregation in Fairbanks, Alaska, was a terrible idea. The winters are brutal. It occasionally hits 50 degrees below zero! In the winter, it”s a place of darkness, with only four hours of sunlight per day. This “terrible idea” wasn”t mine, thankfully, but God”s. I was so opposed to planting a congregation here that I fasted from all solid foods for 30 days on two occasions and prayed that I could plant somewhere else. But God”s answer was clear: I was to be

September 14, 2017

Christian Standard

A Salute to Small Towns, Rural Areas, and Micropolitan Communities (Our Attempt at a Glossary of Terms)

By Kent Fillinger and Jim Nieman This issue of Christian Standard focuses on ministry in the lesser-populated regions of our country, but defining terms associated with our nation”s nonmetropolitan areas is surprisingly difficult. For instance, a town of fewer than 2,500 with a singularly dense pocket of population has what the U.S. Census Bureau classifies as an urban component. And a metropolitan county””defined as an urbanized area by the Census Bureau when 50,000 or more people live there””usually has at least one rural section. In 2010, in fact, only 29 counties in the United States were completely urban. By contrast,

September 9, 2017

Christian Standard

Inner-City Catalyst: An Interview with Samson Dunn

By Rick Lowry Samson Dunn serves as lead pastor with Catalyst Church in Phoenix, Arizona, a culturally diverse church committed exclusively to reaching the inner city. Over the past 10 years, Catalyst has grown from a small urban work to two campuses that touch thousands of people weekly. Samson”s personal journey and the church”s journey have followed a nontraditional path. Their story will expand the vision of any church leader who takes the gospel of Christ seriously.   QUESTION: Your upbringing didn”t prepare you for ministry in the traditional way. SAMSON DUNN: I”m from southern Kentucky, Monroe County. My parents

September 7, 2017

Christian Standard

A Heart for Our City

By Aaron Brockett Six years ago, I wasn”t sure how I felt about multisite. I wanted to believe the best about all the hype I had heard about becoming one church meeting in multiple locations, but I didn”t want to throw my support behind it prematurely. I especially didn”t want to lead Traders Point Christian Church in this direction if we hadn”t clearly established the “why” behind it. I believe God calls every church to multiply (Acts 2), however I don”t think this means every church should become a multisite church. (The many reasons for this lie outside the focus of

September 1, 2017

Christian Standard

A New Church Planted in an Old Church

By Matt Summers This month, Crossroads Christian Church (the urban church we planted in Joliet, Illinois) celebrates its 10-year anniversary. During that time, we have grown from several dozen people into a thriving congregation of more than a thousand with a vision to reach thousands more for Christ. We have built our ministry by meeting the social and spiritual needs of our community. We have baptized 500 people into Christ, remodeled our original church building, built a larger worship center, started a Spanish-speaking congregation, and now we are relocating to a new building that will facilitate even greater growth and

August 31, 2017

Christian Standard

Free Indeed: Crossroads Christian Church, Joliet, Illinois

By Justin Horey Joliet, Illinois, is a prison town. The Joliet Correctional Center opened in 1858 and housed inmates for nearly 150 years until it was closed in 2002. The prison shaped Joliet”s culture for a century and a half, even bringing fame and notoriety; it served as the setting of the opening scene in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers and the site of the first season of the Fox television drama Prison Break. Even though that prison has been closed for 15 years, the Statesville Correctional Center remains open just outside of town, so the prison influence continues.

August 27, 2017

Jerry Harris

The NACC: Identity, Inspiration, and Ideas

By Jerry Harris Three words describe the core of the mission of the North American Christian Convention: identity, inspiration, and ideas. The convention has been crucial to the unity and vibrancy of the independent Christian church since its inception in 1927. The 2017 NACC in Kansas City, Missouri, June 27-29, was the first time I was tasked with setting up and manning a booth instead of just attending the NACC as a pastor of a local church. Even before the convention started, I was surrounded by many people critical to our fellowship. Identity As my wife and I checked in

August 24, 2017

Jerry Harris

David Johnson and a Harvest of Reconciliation

By Jerry Harris It was November in Charleston, South Carolina, but for our group of northerners it didn”t feel like late fall on that beautiful and warm Sunday morning. We had arrived early for meetings that would take place over the next two days, and so we took the opportunity to attend church services at Harvest Pointe Church in suburban North Charleston. It would prove to be a new experience for many of us. At that time, Harvest Pointe was a noninstrumental African-American church of Christ, a part of our brotherhood we had very little connection with until the past

August 21, 2017

Christian Standard

The Urgency of Sledgehammering Strongholds

(This is a sidebar to “LOVEtheLOU: Demonstrating and Declaring the Gospel in North St. Louis.”) By Walt Wilcoxson It”s not a tree you would pick to help beautify your yard. The bark on much of the trunk is gone, carved away, no doubt, by knives of North St. Louis neighborhood kids as a way to mourn the loss of a friend shot down in the street. On the bare wood are carved the initials of the victim of violence on Enright Avenue. After the shooting, the tree became a makeshift memorial, a place to remember. But over time, the gathering

August 20, 2017

Christian Standard

LOVEtheLOU: Demonstrating and Declaring the Gospel in North St. Louis

By Walt Wilcoxson North St. Louis, Missouri, is a place of contrasting realities: rich and poor, black and white, peaceful and violent, hopeful and hopeless. These distinctions are visible and well known. The term “Delmar Divide” neatly sums it up, as Delmar Boulevard divides this area”s poorer, larger African-American community to its north from the more affluent (and largely white) communities to the south. Families and young people who are among the “have-nots” of North St. Louis encounter desperation and despair every day. On this hot and humid morning just before lunchtime, Lucas Rouggly and I stood watching as a

August 17, 2017

Christian Standard

Evaluate Wisely!

Six church human-resource leaders share their best practices for successfully lifting the lids that limit the capacity of staff members Leaders and employees have one thing in common when it comes to performance reviews. Both cringe at the thought of them! How do you view staff evaluations? Are they an annual chore filled with official forms and uncomfortable face-to-face meetings? Have you ever said, “Write your own review, and I”ll sign it”? Would you prefer the “no news is good news” approach? As a new ministry season begins and as the end of the year approaches, effective churches understand the

August 10, 2017

Christian Standard

Rejuvenate Your Ministry

By Kelly Carr I was in the throes of my job editing The Lookout. The weekly nonstop pace provided a rhythm to my work, yet by the spring of 2016, two and a half years in, my freshness was waning””I just hadn”t realized it yet. Around that time, I was invited to attend the Catalyst leadership conference and interview some of the featured speakers for The Lookout. Although I intended solely to mine material for the magazine, I unexpectedly unearthed something from the sessions””rejuvenation in my own leadership. GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES After my positive experience last year, I recently attended Catalyst

August 6, 2017

Christian Standard

Hitting the Target: Measuring Success Through Outputs

A comprehensive strategy for realigning your church”s ministries, activities, and programs for fall By Tom Harper For many, August marks the beginning of a new school year and, with it, a new church year as well. Most of us now face a plethora of programs, classes, small groups, events, and holidays that stand looming like a line of horses ready to burst out of the starting gate. No matter that the pastor and his staff were supposed to enjoy a summer of rest. Dutifully, you”ll jump back in the saddle, like you always do. But before you put your feet

August 4, 2017

Christian Standard

To Be Restored: “˜Not the Only Christians”

By Trevor DeVage Messy . . . that is part of what I love about the early church. It was full of messy and unlikely people who were chosen to usher in Christ”s message to the world. Open the book of Acts and you”ll notice that these church pioneers shared in all things, cared for one another, added to their number daily, broke bread regularly, and carried the message of hope continually. They were all ordinary and messy men and women just like you and me. And out of this mess, Christ reached the world with his message. I love

August 3, 2017

Christian Standard

Now More Than Ever: Embracing the DNA that Created a Movement

By Rubel Shelly Did you ever agree to something””only to regret it later? As I begin writing this piece, that feeling hovers over me. I will not characterize the Stone-Campbell Movement as others would. (Some have already been offended that I call it the Stone-Campbell Movement rather than the Restoration Movement; it is a movement of ideas and ideals, not particular historical characters, they say. Others were offended that I dared call it a “movement” at all; it is theological rediscovery and return, not a human program.) See? I told you I didn”t feel good about this. I”m in trouble

July 27, 2017

Christian Standard

A New Lease On Life: First Christian Canton Comes Rushing Back

By Ryan Rasmussen I must admit, right off the bat, that as a minister, I”m still learning, and the church I lead, First Christian of Canton, Ohio, is a work in progress. We don”t have the greatest turnaround story of all time, but God has done some incredible things over the past few years, despite our imperfections. You see, as I write this, I am sitting at my dining room table on a beautiful 82-degree day. The sun is breaking through the blinds as if God himself is stretching the rays of light, pinching one end between his thumb and

July 23, 2017

Christian Standard

Leading Through Your Core Values

By L. E. Mackenzie You did it! As the lead pastor of your church, you established an amazing mission statement to keep everyone focused and on track. It looks so good on paper that you framed it and hung it on the wall behind your desk. You show the statement to others, you preach on it, and your people know it by heart. But something is not right . . . You have strong, practical ideas to grow and mature your church, but you feel resistance at different levels. In e-mails and quiet conversations people ask, “Why are we doing

July 20, 2017

Christian Standard

FLYING HIGHER: The Eastpoint Story

It’s sunny but chilly this Sunday morning in Portland, Maine. That’s typical for May. It’s Eastpoint Christian Church’s final week in this facility, their fourth location in 13 years, but such is the case for many church plants, especially in the Northeast. Each location has had its challenges, but this one has been especially interesting. It’s a former DHL Express warehouse on the grounds of Portland International Jetport; worship and sermons are regularly interrupted by the roar of jets taking off and landing. Churchgoers have overlooked the noise and been thankful for the building, cramming nearly 1,500 people into 15,000

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