Series: News

October 2, 2015

Christian Standard

A Backstage Pass to Volunteerism

By Jennifer Johnson Like many churches, Compass Christian Church in Colleyville, TX, has a new members class””theirs is called “Discover Compass”””to share information about the church, its mission, and its ministries. Unlike most churches, Compass follows this up with a behind-the-scenes tour to help each person find a way to serve. “We hold the Discover Compass class one week and invite people to come back the following week for Serve Tour,” says Rich Green, serve pastor at Compass. “We begin with a short overview of the importance of serving and why it”s part of the Christian life; then we walk through

October 1, 2015

Christian Standard

First Christian Steps in to Fill Hospital Chaplaincy

By Jennifer Johnson When the chaplain of Decatur (IL) Memorial Hospital retired after 25 years of service, Wayne Kent, lead pastor at First Christian Church in Decatur, got an idea. “I approached the hospital leadership because this kind of hire is different from what they normally do,” he says. “I told them we could help with the process””or they could just ask us to do it.” With that, Kent began a series of conversations with the hospital administration that resulted in First Christian “just doing it”””evaluating applicants for the chaplaincy position, hiring the chaplain, and expanding the program to provide

September 21, 2015

Christian Standard

Rethinking What I”m Doing

By Jennifer Johnson I don”t know what it”s like to grow from boyhood to manhood or, for that matter, to spend four days wandering through Angeles National Forest. However, one part of my conversation with Dane Johnson about Christ”s Church of the Valley“s new Leadership USA program did resonate with me. (Read the related article.) “The guys explore whether they are a doer, a thinker, or a feeler,” he told me, “and they learn that each one is valuable. If you don”t fill your role, the team suffers.” I agree with the idea that each type is important, but after

September 21, 2015

Christian Standard

CCV Growing Boys into Leaders

By Jennifer Johnson For more than 30 years, a group in Australia has led a three-stage program to help teenage boys transition from boyhood to adulthood. Last year Christ”s Church of the Valley (San Dimas, CA) launched the program for its own young men. Leadership USA is designed in one-week stages spread out over three years, with boys starting stage one at age 15 and completing stage three at 17. “THIS IS NOT SUMMER CAMP” the church”s webpage explains; instead, it is an intense and challenging experience designed to help the participants grow spiritually, physically, mentally, and socially. “When I

September 20, 2015

Christian Standard

Discovering Your Potential for Missions

By Jennifer Johnson Christian Missionary Fellowship plants international churches, trains national leaders, coordinates a child sponsorship program, develops campus ministries in key cities around the world, teaches Community Health Evangelism, drills wells for clean water, manages a microloan program, and more. But much of this work depends on consistently recruiting new people to serve””as interns, exchange students, and short- and long-term missionaries. Recently CMF developed a new “Is Missions for Me?” seminar designed to discover more potential recruits for its programs while resourcing and supporting local church efforts. The event is hosted by a church (although several churches can partner

August 21, 2015

Christian Standard

‘Story of God’ . . . for All Mankind

By Jennifer Johnson Story of God was designed simply to enhance a sermon series””and now it just might go international. Sherri McCready originally developed visual and performance art to accompany a four-month sermon series focusing on 16 key stories from Genesis to Revelation. At the time she was the creative arts director at Highland Christian Church in Asheville, NC, and her husband, Shannon, served as lead pastor. “Shannon was burdened by how many people don”t read the Bible””or anything else,” she says. “He began researching missionaries who dealt with people groups without a written language and how they communicated the

August 20, 2015

Christian Standard

Thanks, Dan

By Jennifer Johnson Thanks, Dan. It”s been 20 years since high school, and I am still so indebted to my youth minister. I was in high school more years ago than I care to remember, so long before anything Internet that information about our fall retreats, ski trips, CIY conferences, service projects, church camp, parties, and mission trips was communicated via photocopied handouts. Dan Giese arrived at our church early in my middle school career and stayed until long after my high school graduation, so he was the only youth minister my friends and I knew. And he was the

August 20, 2015

Christian Standard

Youth Advance Evolving

By Jennifer Johnson Youth Advance began as a way to build student leaders and recruit them for Christian college. In 1982, representatives from Northeastern Christian Junior College in Villanova, PA, developed the event””with speakers, workshops, worship, and more””as a way to identify and encourage promising high school students in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. “It wasn”t a youth rally,” says Bill McGee, the vice president. “The idea wasn”t to send your entire youth group. It was for church leaders to handpick a few kids with potential and for the church to pay their way.” Northeastern eventually merged with another college and

July 30, 2015

Michael C. Mack

10 Ways to Get Out of the Way of God Building His Church

By Will Mancini Nearly 30 years ago, Joe Ellis wrote in The Church on Target: “Sometimes the voice of Jesus saying, “˜I will build my church,” can hardly be heard amid the babble of human voices affirming, “˜We will build the church. Our plans, our organizations, our resources will accomplish it, and we will have it the way we want it.”” More recently, “clarity evangelist” Will Mancini wrote similar words, describing 10 ways we often get in the way of God building his church, and what we can do about it. 1. Rely on God”s wisdom, not human wisdom by

July 12, 2015

Christian Standard

Group for Women Grows Online

By Jennifer Johnson It started as a regular small group. In October 2013, Hasandra Heyward, a member at Burnt Hickory Church of Christ in Marietta, GA, began talking to women experiencing marital issues, job struggles, and parenting problems. “It burdened my heart,” she says. “I prayed and fasted about it and decided I was going to start a group for women in my home. But it was difficult to find a time that worked, and here in Atlanta the traffic is so terrible I knew some women wouldn”t be able to participate. I thought, what about trying this online?” Heyward

July 10, 2015

Christian Standard

Milligan, Emmanuel Merge

On July 1, Milligan College President Dr. Bill Greer announced the merger of Emmanuel Christian Seminary into Milligan. Since the summer of 2012, the college has worked with Emmanuel to help the seminary overcome significant financial issues and prepare for its eventual integration into Milligan. With its financial situation much improved and its viability secured, the merger will allow Emmanuel to continue its work of preparing men and women for effective ministry, while enabling Milligan to add important new programs to its curriculum. Emmanuel is now part of Milligan”s School of Bible and Ministry, one of five schools comprising the

July 9, 2015

Christian Standard

Next Question

By Jennifer Johnson This past weekend Matt and I had the rare chance for a Friday night date and somehow, after cheesesteaks and The Imitation Game and overpriced desserts at a French bistro, our conversation turned to the future of the church in America. Yes, we are nerds. Yes, this is what happens when a blogger and a pastor get married. I predicted that many of the churches enjoying success today will no longer be recognizable in a few generations, since most communities go through cycles of growth and decline. I predicted that churches will continue to franchise, with large

July 9, 2015

Christian Standard

Unpaid but Accountable

By Jennifer Johnson Since its launch in September 2011, Mission Church in Ventura, CA, has grown from a small team of three families to more than 700 people and a large staff. But only six of those staff members are paid. The volunteer culture began with the launch of the church, when several members of the core team agreed to lead without receiving pay. “We have 16 people in our staff meetings, but only a few of them are paid by Mission,” says Jodi Hickerson, herself one of the volunteers. (She serves as programming director and preaches regularly.) “We have

May 31, 2015

Christian Standard

Advancing Apologetics at Lincoln

By Jennifer Johnson In May 2013, a representative of the Loftis Foundation contacted Lincoln (IL) Christian University with a perceived need and a solid solution. The result is Lincoln”s new “Room for Doubt” initiative. “John Loftis lost his faith when he went to college,” says Dr. Richard Knopp, professor of philosophy & Christian apologetics at Lincoln. “He returned to church as an adult but says his faith at the time was shallow. The turning point, he says, was when he came across apologetics material in his 50s and it changed his life and his commitment to Christ. He wondered if

May 30, 2015

Christian Standard

Acting My Age

By Jennifer Johnson A new thing for me is being one of the older people in situations where I used to be young and cool. Most recently I experienced this in my preaching class at Emmanuel Christian Seminary; when Dr. Aaron Wymer discussed the various generations currently alive in the church and surveyed our class, I sheepishly raised my hand as a Gen Xer. The millennials who made up most of the class peered at me with curiosity. (“Look, she can use a computer!”) I realize that at not-yet-40 (you didn”t think I”d give you my real age, did you?),

May 29, 2015

Christian Standard

Students Stoked about Pepperdine”s “˜Surf Chapel”

By Jennifer Johnson Three years ago, Grant Waggoner, an alumnus and employee of Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA), began mentoring a few students at the school. This “small group” shared a love of surfing, and one of the guys eventually invited his professor, Dr. Robert Shearer. “Grant and I began sharing leadership of the group,” Shearer, assistant professor of decision science, says. “Last year he got married and moved, but I”m at Zuma Beach, about 15 minutes north of the Pepperdine campus, every Wednesday morning at 7:30. This year we”ve been averaging 100 students each week.” There are no classes on

May 26, 2015

Christian Standard

Scholars, Students Gather for SCJ Conference

Biblical scholars and students representing 36 colleges and universities from 16 states and two foreign countries assembled in Indianapolis April 10, 11 for the 14th-annual Stone-Campbell Journal (SCJ) Conference, this year sponsored by Hope International University. The conference, held at East 91 Street Christian Church, featured three plenary speakers exploring the 2015 theme, “New Testament Explorations: Septuagint, Acts and Paul,” along with parallel sessions, study groups, and a student paper competition. Nationally recognized scholars Dr. Karen Jobes, Gerald F. Hawthorne Professor of New Testament at Wheaton (IL) College; Dr. Carl Holladay, Charles Howard Candler Professor of New Testament Exegesis at Emory University,

May 24, 2015

Christian Standard

Serving People Every Single Day

By Jennifer Johnson A century ago, churches were known for building hospitals, schools, universities, and community centers instead of constructing buildings only for their own use, say leaders at Crosspointe Church of Cary, NC. This month, the church is breaking ground on a new 130,000-square-foot facility that will increase its space for Sunday programming””and provide a new YMCA for the community. As the church leadership team considered the need for new facilities, they wanted to create something that would serve people in the area every day of the week. While discussing potential options, they noticed a lack of activities for

May 9, 2015

Christian Standard

Call Centered

By Jennifer Johnson Eighteen months ago it was my extreme privilege to be invited to visit the work of Central India Christian Mission. During our 10 days there, Matt and I were struck by the incredible range of ministries CICM has started. In addition to planting more than 1,100 churches, CICM has recruited sponsors for 5,000 children, published dozens of books, started Bible colleges, created a college of nursing, built hospitals and clinics, and more. Through the work of CICM”s many initiatives, a quarter-million (!) people in India have come to know Jesus””all on a yearly budget that”s one-sixth the

May 8, 2015

Christian Standard

Training, Empowering Workers in India

By Jennifer Johnson When Greg Matney talked with Ajai Lall about the biggest ministry needs at Central India Christian Mission, Lall, director and CEO of CICM, mentioned his desire for their newly trained church planters and pastors to be more financially independent. The idea struck a chord with Greg, who had previously worked with Business as Mission initiatives, and his wife Abhineeta (Ajai”s daughter), who had gone to law school in India. In 2011 they held an advocacy and empowerment conference for 500 local leaders, and in 2012 they began offering a variety of vocational training opportunities to help pastors

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