Series: Featured

January 1, 2024

Christian Standard

Investing in Your Leader’s Mental and Emotional Health

By Tim Harlow  It’s worth pointing out that I was not asked to write about a deep doctrinal issue, or leadership, or how to respond to a difficult social problem. No, I was asked to share about the benefits of therapy for Christian leaders.  I own it.   I needed therapy. I need therapy. I have had very few seasons of my life when I had my stuff together.   In fact, I wouldn’t be where I am today without the occasional counseling help I’ve received, specifically from the good folks at Blessing Ranch Ministries.  I’ll share a specific example from a

January 1, 2024

Christian Standard

A Recovery Ministry that Works

By Jim Dennis  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).  What comes to mind when you hear the word recovery?  Perhaps your first thought takes you to people with addiction issues. The alcoholic who can’t get his act together who rides a motorized bike around town because of his multiple DUI convictions. Or the emaciated drug addict with sunken eyes. These are just two of the stereotypes recovering people and recovery groups have dealt with for years.  Perhaps you envision groups

January 1, 2024

Christian Standard

The Best Investment I’ve Ever Made

Experiencing Growth and Community in a Covenant Group  By Chad Goucher  In my life, I have made some good investments and some bad investments. Let me begin by telling you about one of the really bad ones.   I made what was perhaps my worst investment when I was in college. I took out a student loan and used the funds to purchase a membership at a local golf course. It’s the truth. I was in Bible college, and I obviously wasn’t majoring in finance. I loved golf and wasn’t fond of the classroom so—at the time—it made perfect sense to

January 1, 2024

Christian Standard

Soul Care Covenant Groups Explained

THIS IS A SIDEBAR TO CHAD GOUCHER’S ARTICLE, “THE BEST INVESTMENT I’VE EVER MADE.” _ _ _ By Alan Ahlgrim  What is Soul Care?   The model we follow at Covenant Connections for Pastors is typically 4-3-2-1: four leaders (and one experienced facilitator), meeting over three years, twice a year in retreat, and once a month by Zoom or phone calls.   This model allows honest, transparent, and even vulnerable sharing as relationships deepen through the consistent devotion of a disciplined community. The group is not out to “fix others” or even to hold others accountable; rather, the commitment to “be close”

January 1, 2024

Christian Standard

Tin Man Ministries: Helping Leaders Live from the Heart

Part of the problem people suffer lies in the fact that we tend to compare “our insides” to everybody else’s “outsides.”  Compiled by Justin Horey, Jim Nieman, and Shawn McMullen  There’s nothing the unbelieving world loves more than to see church leaders succumb to temptation and experience a moral failing. But it’s not just the unbelieving world. The church has been known to eat its own.   Christianity Today, for example, produced a popular multipart series of podcasts called “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” that focused on the spectacular collapse of a Seattle-based megachurch and its founder/leader Mark Driscoll. 

January 1, 2024

Christian Standard

How Should Christians View Gender Dysphoria?

By Rubel Shelly  Stated in the most basic terms, sex is an objective category defined by empirically discernible and set-at-birth qualities, whereas gender is a subjective self-perception and option for the presentation of oneself to others. The former is biological, while the latter is psychological. The former states who a person is in terms of bodily taxonomy, and the latter offers what a person may feel about one’s placement in the world’s social structures.   A biological male with a high-pitched voice, shorter-than-average height, and/or wearing a pink shirt is still male. A biological female whose voice has a lower pitch

January 1, 2024

Christian Standard

The Chemistry of Mental Health

By Dr. Wes Beavis  The church has shown a growing openness to conversations about mental health. I have been privileged to speak on the subject “Faith and Mental Health” at many Restoration Movement churches across the United States. Recently, Clayton Hentzel of The Crossing in Quincy, Illinois, developed a teaching series called “Weeds in My Garden” that has become a tremendous resource to Restoration Movement churches across the nation. It is encouraging to see churches tackle the subject of mental health.   But I am aware of an underlying concern among believers that Christian theology and doctrine are being replaced by

November 1, 2023

Michael C. Mack

The Advent of Jesus into a Wicked World

The Advent of Jesus into a Wicked World

By Michael C. Mack   Each Christmas I faithfully sing the hymn . . . though I question the historical accuracy of the words.   Silent night, holy night! All is calm, all is bright. . . .  As I read the biblical accounts, I imagine the atmosphere surrounding Jesus’ birth as something other than silent, calm, and bright. More like clamorous and chaotic.   The streets of Bethlehem are bustling as people from across the region arrive in their ancestral hometown to register for Caesar Augustus’s census. Joseph and Mary walk wide-eyed through throngs of fellow Jews from King David’s line hectically looking

November 1, 2023

Chris Moon

Why Some College Presidents Were Hesitant to Respond to Our Survey

This is a sidebar to the article, “Staying True? (A Christian Standard Report on Our Colleges)” _ _ _ By Chris Moon  To answer or not to answer.  That was a question 23 college presidents faced upon receiving a Christian Standard survey asking about their institution’s views on biblical inerrancy, human sexuality, and women in ministry. The survey was sent to presidents of colleges affiliated with the Restoration Movement.  In the end, 16 presidents responded. Seven did not.  Multiple presidents who responded to the survey said they grappled with the decision because such topics are controversial. Proclaiming one’s views about

November 1, 2023

Ben Cachiaras

Fighting for Relationships: Striving for Unity in Politically Divisive Times

Fighting for Relationships: Striving for Unity in Politically Divisive Times

By Ben Cachiaras  Shortly before his recent unexpected passing, my friend, Christian Standard editor Mike Mack, asked me via email: “How can we love one another in a culture where there is so much sharp disagreement? . . . Would you write something on the challenge of fighting for relationships?”   Before his untimely death, the burden on Mike’s heart—and likely many of our hearts—was to see Christ followers navigate the nasty culture wars, the lack of civility, and the political polarization to live out faith in God-honoring ways. “How do we disagree without hating?” he asked.   Indeed, some people now

November 1, 2023

Ben Simms

How to Lead with Love . . . Without Compromising Truth

How to Lead with Love . . . Without Compromising Truth

By Ben Simms  “How can we love people without compromising truth?”    This is a complex and challenging question, yet Jesus demonstrated it throughout his ministry. In a world that increasingly seems to want to bring down the church and challenge the teachings of Jesus, we must seek to love.  As culture wages war with the truth, we are constantly bombarded with messages that run counter to how Scripture calls us to live. One of our primary purposes on earth is to love people toward the kingdom of Jesus. The culture wars, while significant, can be a way for Satan to

November 1, 2023

Christian Standard

Is It Time for a New Restoration Movement? (Part 2)

Is It Time for a New Restoration Movement? (Part 2)

By Jim Putman As I shared in Part 1, I am skeptical of any new view of original things. My reasons are twofold. First, when speaking about something historical in nature, eyewitnesses and their contemporaries are more likely to have it right. Second, Scripture warns that people will come seeking to change views that were once well understood.   Thomas Campbell, a Restoration Movement founder, coined the phrase, “Where the Bible speaks, we speak, and where it is silent, we are silent.” It captures the spirit of Romans 14 and resonates with me. Freedom exists where Scripture is silent, but we

November 1, 2023

Gary L. Johnson

Love Is Always a Choice

Love Is Always a Choice

By Gary L. Johnson  We make choices from the time we get out of bed until long after the sun sets. Some choices are simple and some are more serious, ranging from what clothes we wear to whom we marry. Weighty decisions are difficult, while simple decisions are made with little thought or effort.   “What the World Needs Now Is Love” was a hit song in the mid-1960s, but that sentiment holds true in today’s era of conspicuous conflict. But will we choose to bring actual love into the corner of the world we call home?   In a TED Talk

September 1, 2023

Doug Redford

Embrace Hope

Embrace Hope

A Biblical Character Study By Doug Redford  In the first part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, entitled “Inferno” (Italian for Hell), Dante comes across the gates of Hell during his travels. There he sees these ominous words etched above the entrance to the underworld: “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”  But when one enters the world of the Bible and travels through the landscape of its contents, a far different message resounds throughout its pages. That message is, “Embrace hope, all ye who enter here.”   Paul’s words in Romans 15:4 affirm this invitation: “For everything that was written in

September 1, 2023

Shawn McMullen

Helping the Church Thrive Between Ministers

Helping the Church Thrive Between Ministers

An Interview with Leaders from Transitional Interim Pastor Services  By Shawn McMullen  Recently Christian Standard met with three leaders who serve with Transitional Interim Pastor Services, a ministry of NXTStep Church Services (yourncs.org), to learn about their unique approach to interim ministry.  John Cutshall, a graduate of Cincinnati Christian University, has been in ministry for more than 40 years. He spent his first 20 years in youth ministry before serving in senior ministry positions.  Greg Comp, also a graduate of CCU, is a second-generation minister. Following his graduation from Bible college, Comp served as an associate minister. At age 30

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