November 5, 2025
Missions of Hope International began in the Nairobi slums with the goal of serving the poor through education, spiritual development, economic empowerment, and basic medical care.
April 28, 2021
Outlook Christian Church in McCordsville, Ind., will plant a new church early next year in a vulnerable neighborhood in the Indianapolis metro.
By Melissa Wuske “I’m the grandson of a preacher,” says Daryl Reed, “so I always had it in my mind that it’d be cool one day to be a preacher.” When it came time for college, however, “I really didn’t want to go to any preaching school or seminary, because . . . I thought I was still too cool for that,” he laughs. This isn’t a story about youthful overconfidence, though; Reed was following the example of earlier generations of his family, and now he’s helping subsequent generations of young people live it. “My grandfather was a reluctant preacher,”
February 2, 2018
By Jerry Harris Last year at the North American Christian Convention, David Johnson of Harvest Point Church in North Charleston, South Carolina, stopped by the Christian Standard Media booth to talk. When I mentioned that I had been reading about Marshall Keeble, David just lit up. He began to share things he’d learned about Keeble’s methods of establishing churches and raising up leaders for them. He mentioned names of some other folks and asked if I’d heard or read about them. It was my favorite part of the convention, and it energized me for writing the article about Keeble this month.
October 5, 2016
By Jim Tune “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28, English Standard Version). “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18, ESV). ___ A number of widely publicized events have many people concerned about racial tensions in America. Blacks and whites may not agree on underlying causes or potential solutions, but skin color aside, it seems no one is happy about the present state of
By Pat Magness In 2006, ethnic minority students made up only 5 percent of the Milligan College student body. By 2010, that figure had increased to 14 percent. (In raw numbers, there were 19 ethnic minority students in 1998 and 121 in 2012.) This dramatic increase was no accident. It began in prayer and was energized by a deep commitment to the idea that diversity is God”s intention and desire, that Milligan College needed to take a proactive role in bringing about diversity, and that a multipronged approach would be necessary. The desire to be “a strong, vibrant, and diverse
December 28, 2015
By Jeff Walling Someone asked me why I like using hip-hop poetry, sometimes called “spoken word,” as sermon illustrations. I answered, simply, “Because God is a hip-hop artist.” Before you brand me a heretic, consider this: God is the original spoken word artist. From the first introduction of God in the Scriptures, the creator of all things seems to love using words to create art. He could have made the universe with a snap of his fingers or a nod of his head, but instead he spoke it into existence. And it”s not just any words he prefers, but poetic
December 2, 2013
By Jennifer Johnson “We didn”t set out to recruit three African-American church planters for our 2014 plants,” says Brent Storms, president of the Orchard Group, a church planting organization based in New York City. “Our goal is always to find the very best young leaders, and Watson, Jordan, and Derrick were simply the right people.” Watson Jones will plant in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, an area rich in history and diversity, but with little church attendance and a growing Islamic community. Jordan Rice, currently a leadership resident at Forefront Church in Manhattan, will start a church in Harlem, once
March 19, 2012
By Gary Weedman Our colleges face the same 21st-century issues as the rest of higher education: rising costs, changing demographics, the impact of technology, the effect of globalization, and, especially for us, a question of whether what we do provides value relative to expense or need. The history of our institutions makes these challenges even more acute, since from their origins they have been independent of one another, which hinders any unified response to these 21st-century challenges. I want to address five issues that we must consider if our schools are to remain healthy and effective. 1. Show Me
October 3, 2010
By Bruce Koblish I”m a child of the “60s, and my generation is no stranger to racial tension in our country. So I guess I should not have been surprised that when I became the president of the Gospel Music Association, I faced these same issues within the world of Christian music. The second day on the job I found myself in a room with 30 African-American members of the gospel music community, from artists to managers to attorneys. I may have been ill prepared to deal with such a setting, but I listened intently and resolved early in my
February 12, 2006
By W. Ray Kelley In a February 1992 Restoration Herald article, I discussed a basic philosophy concerning racial integration. A minister in Arizona had asked for specific methods he could implement to help integrate his congregation. My response presented the reality that it is very difficult for a congregation to integrate if its local community is not diverse. Generally speaking, a congregation should reflect the racial makeup of the community in which it ministers. It would be easy to apply this basic concept to our brotherhood and attempt to justify the lack of minorities in our local congregations. The rationale
March 27, 2026
Rick Cherok
March 27, 2026
David Empson
March 27, 2026
David Faust