Series: Featured

April 3, 2017

Christian Standard

Holy Boldness

By Jerran Jackson and Lareesa Jackson “Eighty and six years I have served Him, and never has He done me wrong. How can I ever blaspheme my King who saved me?”1 Around AD 150, Polycarp of Smyrna gave this bold testimony of his faith before he was executed. The official who judged Polycarp”s case tried to convince the old man to swear by Caesar to avoid being burned at the stake. Polycarp could simply have said the words. He could have escaped persecution and a gruesome death. However, Polycarp would not. The reason was faithfulness””Christ had been faithful to Polycarp,

April 2, 2017

Christian Standard

Holy Risk

By Jeff Faull It”s difficult to find a follower of God in Scripture who did not take big risks. Look at those who brought Jesus into the world. Look at the first church and the ministry of the apostles. How can our ministries and personal lives follow their example? Famous psychologist Abraham Maslow is best known for his hierarchy of needs pyramid. According to Maslow, the most primal needs we have involve our bodily activities, like breathing, eating, or drinking. Second only to those needs is the basic human desire for security and safety. We are driven by the desire

April 1, 2017

Christian Standard

Why Are You So Afraid?

By Aaron and Diane Lincoln Traveling between cultures leads to some interesting moments. “Paper or plastic?” a grocery checker asked us one furlough. We looked at each other quizzically. “We’re paying with cash.” Now it was the checker who looked confused. “Paper bags or plastic bags?” was of course the question, but not one we hear in England. When a stranger (or friend) casually references a line of dialogue from a commercial or TV show, we can be left clueless. And it seems every time we return on furlough, bank card machines have changed. Lots of small differences, that have

March 27, 2017

Christian Standard

The Solomon Syndrome

By Daniel Schantz When an old friend of ours left his wife for a younger model, I was dumbstruck. “He”s smarter than that,” I said to my wife. “He knows better.” His villainy didn”t bother me as much as his sheer stupidity. We all do stupid things, like texting and driving, but when someone really smart does something dumb, well, that”s just inexcusable. And yet, being smart doesn”t make it any easier to behave. Being good has more to do with emotions and willpower than with brains. Smart people have all the same temptations we all do, plus some that

March 26, 2017

Christian Standard

Lady Wisdom, Ben Franklin, and the Marlboro Man

Jay Engelbrecht Your creator designed you to live healthy and well. How can we cooperate with his yearning for our best? Let”s test your knowledge of the book of Proverbs. Three of the quotes below come from Eugene Peterson”s modern paraphrase The Message, while the other two come from founding father Benjamin Franklin. Can you identify the source of each? 1. “Don”t stuff yourself; bridle your appetite.” 2. “He that won”t be counseled can”t be helped.” 3. “When you”re given a box of candy, don”t gulp it all down.” 4. “Eat to live, don”t live to eat.” 5. “It”s not smart

March 19, 2017

Christian Standard

Uphold the Cause

By T.R. Robertson When I identify myself with the outcasts of society that too many condemn or ignore, I am prepared to serve them in a way that pleases God. This past fall, during the heat of the presidential campaign, yet another political link appeared on my Facebook feed. The gist of the headline was that Muslims were threatening to leave the United States in protest. Typical clickbait””it didn”t tempt me to keep reading for the details. But I did notice the comments from people on Facebook, most of whom probably didn”t read beyond the headline either: “Good-bye!” “Thank the

March 18, 2017

Christian Standard

My Refugee Friends

By Kelsey McKain I first met Wurood, Alaa, and their son, Rayan, through the Kentucky Refugee Ministry Cultural Exchange program that connects local residents with newly settled refugees to help acclimate them to their new city. I”ve known them for about six months, but because of the language barrier, I”ve only recently (with the help of a translator) been able to learn more about their lives as refugees. We sat down in their modest, two-bedroom apartment in the south side of Louisville. The furniture doesn”t match and the walls aren”t decorated, but it”s cozy and it feels like a home.

March 17, 2017

Christian Standard

Welcoming the Stranger in Our Midst

By Gayla Congdon My first experience with refugees was in the early 1980s while working at First Christian Church in San Francisco. The community the church served had an influx of about 200 families seeking asylum in the United States. These families had fled El Salvador due to a bloody civil war taking place there. FCC pastor Bill Miles called me to ask for my help with a little translation problem the church was having. He said about 50 kids from El Salvador showed up for FCC”s “Summer Fun in the Son” program. A 10-year-old was the only one in

March 16, 2017

Christian Standard

Taxi Drivers, Refugees, and Other Good Reasons to Pray

By Kevin Dooley So what does the kingdom of Heaven look like when it shows up among refugees and immigrants in your town and mine? As followers of Jesus Christ, we are living in a unique time in the history of Christianity””a time when obeying the last commandment of Jesus to “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) may not include air travel, but rather taking a taxi home from the airport. For more than two decades my wife, Kim, and I have lived and worked cross-culturally seeking to honor God among the poorest of the poor in

March 13, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

Restoration Movement Media Announces Christian Standard Media Publisher Transition

PARKER, CO””The president of Restoration Movement Media, Doug Crozier, along with its board is very pleased to announce the next chapter of leadership for Christian Standard Media. Jerry Harris, senior pastor of The Crossing based in Quincy, Illinois, has been named the new publisher of CHRISTIAN STANDARD and The Lookout magazines. He will serve in this role while continuing his leadership at The Crossing. The transition coincides with the retirement of the current publisher, Mark A. Taylor, on June 30, 2017. “Mark Taylor has faithfully served in a variety of roles at Christian Standard Media, formerly Standard Publishing, for more

March 13, 2017

Christian Standard

OUR MINISTRY TO REFUGEES: “˜Love your neighbor as yourself”

By Matt and Jordan McGuire Early one Thursday morning, we pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex in an area of Louisville, Kentucky, that is oftentimes overlooked. We were among a small group of folks from area churches who drove four Syrian families to Kentucky Refugee Ministries for their first orientation class. We were some of the first Americans they had met, and they were putting their trust in us to drive them an unknown distance to an unknown place. We could sense their anxiousness, as they had just arrived in America the previous night. Though it was

March 12, 2017

Christian Standard

OUR MINISTRY TO REFUGEES: “My only memory is war”

By Aaron Thomas “In front of us was the Turkish border, and their soldiers were shooting at any refugees they could see. Behind us, we had ISIS,” said “M,” a Syrian refugee describing his flight from Syria and attempt to sneak across the Turkey border. “This is what the media doesn”™t show,” he continued. “The media shows people coming over on boats. The hardest part is getting out of Syria because Turkish soldiers are shooting at anyone trying to cross their border, and ISIS will kill us if we go back. One night, a woman and her baby running next

March 11, 2017

Christian Standard

OUR MINISTRY TO REFUGEES: We are being changed ourselves

By Juliet Liu She gestures at her stomach, making a bulging motion with her hands. Then she looks up and points at my belly. “You?” she asks. Embarrassed, I pat my stomach . . . a few inches larger than I”d like it to be. What is she asking? Is she pointing out the extra pounds I”m carrying from the holidays? I know some cultures don”t have the same stigma against extra weight that Americans do, but still . . . isn”t it kind of rude to call attention to my belly? The “conversation” continues like this for a while.

March 10, 2017

Christian Standard

OUR MINISTRY TO REFUGEES: “˜Jesus shows up for the brokenhearted”

By Justin Horey Tucson, Arizona, may seem an unlikely destination for international refugees, but it is a federally designated “hub city” with one of the largest refugee populations per capita in the United States. Roughly 1,000 international refugees arrive in Tucson every year. Most of them come feeling frightened and alone with few possessions and little money. But a growing number are greeted at Tucson International Airport with balloons, “Welcome to America” banners, and friendly, smiling faces from the people of nearby Pantano Christian Church eager to show the love of Christ to their new neighbors. Pantano Christian started its

March 10, 2017

Christian Standard

OUR MINISTRY TO REFUGEES: A “˜loaves and fishes” alternative

By Brad Pontius In an effort to help displaced victims of violence by the Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East, Sherwood Oaks Christian Church in Bloomington, Indiana, discovered a different way to assist thousands of Iraqi Christians who have been forced from their homes. An initial effort to host refugees in Hoosierland was transformed into a campaign to provide necessary, life-giving tools to 125,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), Christians who lived in the Ninevah Plains near Kurdistan, Northern Iraq. It all began simply enough: an Indiana University undergrad asked Rawand, a Kurdish student from Iraq, “Can I help you?”

March 9, 2017

Christian Standard

Questions and Answers about Refugees and Resettlement

By Kevin Lines Who are refugees and displaced persons? They are men, women, and children fleeing war, persecution, and political upheaval. They are uprooted with little warning and endure great hardship during their flight. They are displaced when they are forced to flee their homes, but remain within the borders of their native country. They become refugees when they cross borders and seek safety in another country. The United Nations” 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, as amended by its 1967 Protocol, defines a refugee as a person who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for

March 6, 2017

Christian Standard

The New Diaspora

By Doug Priest As the world becomes globalized, opportunities for evangelism multiply. Now is the time to develop new strategies for reaching dispersed people living in our own cities, towns, and neighborhoods. Back in the 1970s, when I drove on the freeways in Los Angeles where I lived, I saw signs for “Little Saigon,” “Chinatown,” and “Little Korea.” I could go into the center of the city and find myself in neighborhoods of Mexican-Americans, Guatemalans, and Salvadorians. Today the situation has changed. Go to any school district in Southern California and you will find 30 to 40 or more languages

March 6, 2017

Christian Standard

Close to God”s Heart

By Bethany Anderson When Solidarity started almost 15 years ago in a troubled neighborhood of Fullerton, California,1 we were simply an idealistic group of college students eager to change the world in the name of Jesus. That desire, although rooted in privilege and a slight savior complex, led us to a deeper understanding of Jesus, his heart for us, and specifically his heart for immigrants. It also led us to move from an organization that just runs after-school programs in immigrant neighborhoods to one that acts as a bridge between the local churches and immigrant neighborhoods throughout our city. As

March 5, 2017

Christian Standard

A Christian Perspective on Immigration

A conversation with immigration attorney Land Wayland By Justin Horey President Trump”s election in November left many Americans wondering: Will he really “build that wall,” as his supporters chanted at campaign rallies? Will our new president follow through on his campaign promise to deport millions of undocumented (illegal) immigrants? Will he institute a ban on Muslims entering the United States? The 2016 presidential campaign brought the issue of immigration back into the news and back into the minds of many American voters. It also left millions of people in fear of imprisonment, deportation, or worse because of their immigration status.

March 4, 2017

Christian Standard

Immigration: What You Can Do

By Kevin Lines American communities today contain more migrants than ever before. The ends of the earth have come to us! You and your church can reach out to the immigrants living close to you. Within our fellowship of churches, multiple organizations have joined together to form the RISE (Refugee and International Student Engagement) Project. If you are interested in starting a ministry to refugees or international students through your church, the RISE Project website (www.theriseproject.com) has great resources and training materials. Your church can even apply for a grant to help start a new ministry! Volunteer If you”re not

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