Series: Featured

September 9, 2016

Christian Standard

What”s to Love About ‘Fixer Upper’

By Lauren Hansen If you”re like me, you could watch Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV”s home renovation hit Fixer Upper, do just about anything. I”d be entertained watching them watch paint dry. They”re good at their work and enjoy doing it. And, perhaps even more appealing, they honor each other and laugh a lot while working together. They include their kids in projects. They”re champions for their hometown of Waco, Texas. They must”ve boosted business for every carpenter, graphic designer, and antique mall within a 40-mile radius. They”re fun, entertaining, admirable people who seem to have a pretty

September 8, 2016

Christian Standard

Spiritual Gifts Today

By Mark S. Krause Emily and Michael’s Story Newlyweds Emily and Michael have decided to begin their life together by choosing a “neutral” church to attend. Michael, raised Catholic, has had little interest in church since his confirmation 15 years ago, but he is committed to church involvement with his new wife. Emily”s family moved frequently when she was growing up, exposing her to a wide variety of Evangelical-flavored churches, small and large. Finding a new church seems easy to her, but she has never had a church where she felt grounded and committed. The couple agreed to attend a

September 5, 2016

Christian Standard

The Eternal and Spiritual Significance of Work

By Eddy Sanders Your work has spiritual importance. I”m not writing that only to Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, elders, and preachers, but also to those with “regular” jobs. Work with spiritual and eternal significance applies to believers regardless of their job title. Yet, somewhere along the way, the divine side of work was separated from regular work and was perceived as less significant. The Old Testament scholar Christopher Wright raised this issue for me a few years ago. In The Mission of God”s People, he writes, “The great majority of believers do not get sent out as traveling

September 4, 2016

Christian Standard

Work as Worship (Book Review)

Work as Worship: How the CEOs of Interstate Batteries, Hobby Lobby, PepsiCo, Tyson Foods and More Bring Meaning to Their Work Mark L. Russell, author and editor Boise: Elevate Faith, 2012 A book review by Matt Johnson Worship is not just a Sunday event; it is a lifestyle. Decades of worship wars often focused on worship as what happens only on Sunday mornings, but an examination of our practices and the Scriptures has expanded our definition of worship to include both nonmusical and non-Sunday events. With the proliferation of books on leadership, it was only a matter of time before an interdisciplinary entrepreneur like

September 3, 2016

Christian Standard

The Unspoken Vocational Hierarchy

By Dennis Bakke For those of us who are followers of Christ, we know our purpose is to live holy lives and glorify God. And part of glorifying God is making known his kingdom and his ways. So how does our workplace fit into such a purpose? Should it be our primary mission field where we seek to carry out the Great Commission? Is it simply a means to provide for our families and earn enough money to support our church, missionaries, and parachurch organizations? Or is secular work””even for-profit business””the principle mission to which God calls many of us?

August 29, 2016

Christian Standard

Leadership Condensed

By Randy Gariss and Ryan Fletcher The actual idea of leadership is profound and indispensable, but as a trendy fad it is often wearisome. The popularity of leadership podcasts, books, seminars, conferences, workshops, and sermons tell us we crave better leadership. The reality is that much of the current offerings on leadership are just spiritualized mush. It seems we”ve taken every leadership book on Amazon, reworded the points to make them sound kinder, attached a Scripture or two, and then thrown them to the church. The only thing missing is the essence of biblical leadership. We, the authors of this

August 28, 2016

Christian Standard

Growing Elders to Lead

By Jim Estep The leaders you want won”t sprout overnight, like weeds in a garden. Here”s how to develop strategies to nurture the crop of new leaders you need. The phone call is all too familiar. An elder begins the conversation stating the obvious, “We need new elders! All our elders are getting older, and no one is stepping up to serve.” I listen, perhaps ask about the church and the strengths of the current leadership; but eventually the inescapable question must be asked, “What have you been intentionally doing to bring up the next generation of leaders in your church?”

August 27, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

What About Tomorrow?

By Mark A. Taylor In recognition of CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s 150th birthday earlier this year, the North American Christian Convention featured a workshop led by three of the magazine”s contributing editors. We asked each of them to think about hopes and challenges they see for the future of the churches served by this magazine for a century and a half.  The comments below are edited from the hour-long workshop. See the whole session here. Matt Proctor What will be the future of the independent Christian churches? As I considered the churches I”ve seen, I thought of three answers to that question:

August 25, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Stories to Savor, Stories to Share

By Mark A. Taylor Convention President Dave Stone rallied California Christian churches and churches of Christ to join brothers and sisters from around the world at the Anaheim Convention Center in an exuberant gathering July 12-15. Here, close to the center of storytelling for much of our culture, Christians gathered to tell “A Better Story.” The spirit in each session was upbeat, energized by a crowd of Californians for whom this was their first NACC. Main session preaching centered on encounters with Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John, and each sermon offered hope and help for Christians and church

August 22, 2016

Christian Standard

Campus Ministry at the Crossroads

By T.R. Robertson “Missionaries have long known you don”t need permission to preach the gospel,” says Lance Tamerius, “You just need a little more savvy.” Tamerius is director of the Christian Campus House at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Like many other campus ministries, CCH is taking steps to change the way it pursues God”s mission in the face of rapid changes in the culture of secular campuses nationwide. Diversity and Discrimination at Missouri Several years ago the University of Missouri asked all student organizations to sign a nondiscrimination covenant. “At that time,” Tamerius says, “we talked with our board

August 19, 2016

Christian Standard

From Campus Ministries to Christian Leaders

By Buzz Roberts and Greg Swinney The Facebook post was the perfect picture of stepping out in faith: I can finally make the official announcement. Many of you already know that our family was just accepted into the organization Mission Aviation Fellowship. We are honored to be headed to Papua, Indonesia, to a mission school where I will be teaching. Adel will help with the airplanes and maintenance. I wish I could get with all my friends one last time. Pray for our family as we are selling everything we own, and preparing our house to be on the market.

August 18, 2016

Christian Standard

List of Campus Ministries for 2016

ALABAMA Auburn University Auburn Christian Fellowship (334) 821-3963 Perry Rubin www.auburnchristianfellowship.com au***********************@***il.com ARKANSAS University of Arkansas Christ on Campus*# (479) 521-8358 Mike Armstrong www.christoncampus.org mi**@************us.org COLORADO Colorado Mesa University Christian Student Fellowship (970) 433-8585 Dave Downey www.wcccm.org do**********@***il.com Colorado State University Impact Colorado* (970) 493-0094 Austin Ballard www.impactingcolorado.com au****@***************do.com Denver University Crossroads International Student Ministries*# (308) 293-3033 Christy Dallakoti www.crossroadsinternational.net in**@*********************al.net University of Colorado””Colorado Springs Kairos Christian Fellowship (719) 357-7739 Wade Gardner www.KairosHasCome.org wa***********@***il.com University of Northern Colorado Impact Colorado* (970) 493-0094 Trevor Petty www.impactingcolorado.com tr****@***************do.com FLORIDA Edison College Impact Campus Ministry””Christian Campus Fellowship (239) 691-7314 Kerry Eastridge www.impactfgcu.com ke*************@********eu.com

August 12, 2016

Christian Standard

10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Christian College Graduate

By David Fincher Will your church hire a recent Christian college graduate? Be careful! In my experience working at a Christian college and knowing many Christian college leaders, I”ve heard some sad stories. Unfortunate hiring decisions have hurt both the church and the young minister. In many cases, the student”s Christian college experience contained warnings. But Christian college faculty can give a reference or warning only if the student has given express written permission. Privacy laws protect a student”s official records, and so employees may not offer completely transparent advice. While attending a Christian college can provide many experiences parallel

August 11, 2016

Christian Standard

Why I Believe in Christian Higher Education

By Gene Harker These schools offer a unique value proposition, a both/and approach to education that makes them unique and invaluable. In the influential book Value Proposition Design, the authors propose that a business”s success is ultimately determined by its capacity to create value for consumers by meeting their needs and helping them solve problems.1 From this perspective, one might infer that Google is wildly successful because its search engine satisfies a thirst for knowledge, offering answers to questions ranging from where to find the nearest ATM to the symptoms of the Zika virus. Google is reported to process 40,000

August 7, 2016

Christian Standard

Unschooled

By Justin Horey As more and more local congregations recruit ministry staff from among their own members, they”re seeking new ways to equip them for ministry. Several traditional colleges and universities are offering nontraditional ways to give professional ministry skills to everyday Christians.  Dave Moses never planned to serve in full-time ministry. He grew up in a non-Christian home in Huntington Beach, California”””Surf City”””playing football and enjoying the Southern California lifestyle. He entered the restaurant business shortly after graduating from high school and worked in the food-service industry for more than two decades, even owning and operating his own successful

August 6, 2016

Christian Standard

10 Ways Your Church Can Move More Young People Toward Vocational Ministry

By Matt Proctor 1. Preach on the need for full-time kingdom workers. All Christians are ministers, no matter their vocation. There is no clergy/laity distinction in God”s church, and all believers are called to witness, lead, and serve. “You got into the ministry when you got out of the baptistery.” May we never water down the biblical teaching on the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9). But this too: may we never water down the need for vocational Christian leaders. Preach on the need for those who will give their working lives to leading the church, reaching the lost,

August 5, 2016

Christian Standard

Make the Most of Your Ministry Intern

By Nate Frederick Internship. The word brings back memories for every minister who saw God”s work during ministry internships in their student days. They went on trips, spoke into people”s lives, and saw the kingdom grow. They learned what a kingdom worker looks like and had the opportunity to live that out, either in a local church or on the global mission field. They were placed in an environment that fostered their gifts and were allowed to lead in some context. Their internship was a time of learning and development that could not have been achieved in the classroom. But

August 4, 2016

Christian Standard

How You Can Pave the Way for a New Generation of Leaders

By Lito Solorio What is your church doing to prepare the next generation for leadership in ministry? Several years ago I sat in a gathering of men from area churches and a similar question was floated. Several men offered their thoughts on the current culture and struggles plaguing the church. A gentleman with a walker slowly rose, cell phone in hand, and said, “The problem is we need to reach the kids through this! The kids are all about their cell phones and social media sites.” I very politely shared my disagreement with that thought. You see, I am a

July 30, 2016

Christian Standard

It Just Keeps Getting Better

By James Book I met Jackie when I began my ministry with First Christian Church of Kissimmee, Florida, in May 2011. Her father was a military man who became very violent and abusive toward her from the time she was 10 years old until she later moved out. Jackie worked full-time while attending high school, graduating in 1975. She married the first man to ask her in 1978. Jackie shared with me that she felt so worthless and unloved that she literally sabotaged her own marriage. She got a job shortly after the wedding and started having an affair with

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