October 23, 2023
Rusty George was welcomed as the new lead pastor of Crossroads Christian Church, Grand Prairie, Texas, on Oct. 15. He had served with Real Life Church in Valencia, Calif., for the past 20 years . . .
November 11, 2020
By Jim Nieman Central Christian Church in Lancaster, Calif., is mobilizing to send Military Christmas Care Boxes to a troop of U.S. Army soldiers stationed overseas. The mobilization to fill approximately 350 shoeboxes with letters, snacks, and various necessities is in response to a request from a CCC member who serves as a U.S. Army chaplain for those male and female soldiers. “We have always done [Samaritan Purse’s] Operation Christmas Child boxes in the past,” said Autumn Rutledge, who serves with Central’s women’s ministry. “This year we were asked . . . if we would consider sending care packages to
January 16, 2019
Compiled by Chris Moon and Jim Nieman First Christian Church of Decatur, Ill., took a moment between regular services Sunday to mark the 185th anniversary of the congregation and 25th year of service by lead pastor Wayne Kent and his wife, Leslie. “The original home of the congregation was the log courthouse in Decatur, where Abraham Lincoln practiced law,” Morgan Arseneau, the church’s discipleship assistant, told the Herald & Review. Church members had their choice of celebratory cupcakes marked with either “185” for the church anniversary or “25” for the Kents’ silver jubilee. “The word of God never changes,
February 4, 2018
By Alan Stein In the movie Hidden Figures, Kevin Costner plays Al Harrison, a mission director of NASA in April 1961 when the Soviets launched the first man into Earth’s orbit. Harrison (a composite character) had a single-minded mission: successfully launch an American into orbit and safely return him to Earth. NASA was just beginning to transition into the computer age, and so they had some uncertainty about the trajectory calculations provided by the agency’s IBM computer. Astronaut John Glenn, preparing for the Friendship 7 launch that would send him into orbit in February 1962, asked for mathematical genius Katherine
January 6, 2018
By Jerry Harris One of the top-selling books of the recent past by an independent Christian church writer is undoubtedly Barry Cameron’s The ABC’s of Financial Freedom, which has sold approximately 250,000 copies since its release in 2001. The book has helped hundreds of churches and thousands of people across America turn their financial situations around, and it has helped churches raise millions of dollars for kingdom causes. Through the ABC’s, readers have discovered biblical principles to help escape the burden and bondage of debt, enabling them to declare their financial independence. Churches have reduced their debt and improved their financial
January 5, 2018
By Barry Cameron The most visited museum in all of Scandinavia is in Stockholm, Sweden. It contains the world’s only preserved 17th-century ship—a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628 during the reign of King Gustav II Adolf, who is considered one of the great military minds in European history. The Vasa, built on the king’s orders as part of a military expansion during a war with Poland and Lithuania, was constructed from the timber of 1,000 oak trees; it had two gun decks with 64 bronze cannons and a mast more than 150 feet tall. The ship was covered
June 20, 2017
By Barry Cameron Wayne B. Smith is fondly remembered for many things: his humor, passion for preaching, love for fellow ministers, and hope-giving encouragement. He also is remembered for a willingness to state his position on hot-button issues. But don”t take our word for it. Acts 4:12 says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Everyone knows that name: Jesus. Almost everyone in the Christian church knows another name as well. It”s a name that evokes smiles and stories in the hearts
On Sunday, June 18, Crossroads Christian Church in Grand Prairie, Texas, gave 4,000 copies of the July issue of Christian Standard, with its new design and focus, to its members and attenders. Senior pastor Barry Cameron told those in attendance that the magazine is one of the oldest continually published magazines in the United States and is all about our “tribe.” “We told them the emphasis of this publication is to unify and rally all the Christian churches together to have a greater impact for the kingdom and to share the great stories of what God is doing in our
By Jerry Harris What”s going on with the CHRISTIAN STANDARD and The Lookout? As a pastor of a church and a founding board member of The Solomon Foundation, I was interested in the answer to that question. Both magazines have been staples of the Restoration Movement from early on, and I, like many, had assumed they would always be there. When I heard in our board meeting the CHRISTIAN STANDARD and The Lookout could be shut down because their owners had found no buyers for them, I was deeply troubled. The chairman of the Publishing Committee had informed Doug Crozier,
January 8, 2015
By Don Anderson Thank you for even starting to read an article about an important topic that is seldom considered exciting. I am certain I could find church leaders who would argue that an indebted church cannot be considered “healthy.” And others would argue that debt has little to do with a church”s overall health. I think the truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. Debt can be like a noose squeezing the necks of leaders, or it can be a useful tool for eliminating real obstacles to growth, such as the lack of seating or parking. Debt and commercial
By Kent E. Fillinger Twenty years of positive growth for a church is virtually unheard of, but that is what Barry Cameron has experienced at Crossroads Christian Church in Grand Prairie, Texas. When Cameron arrived in 1992, the church had never broken 250 in attendance, its facilities were limited and decaying, and it was in debt. The church outgrew its Arlington facility by 2004, when it was averaging 1,800, so it relocated to Grand Prairie. Even though the church could track 800 people who didn”t make the move, the church still grew. Last year Crossroads grew 15 percent to an
September 25, 2012
“¢ Our nation soon will be $16 trillion in debt. The U.S. government is living way beyond its means””it is insane and can”t continue without cataclysmic results. But the government is essentially doing what the average American citizen is doing. “¢ A tsunami of student loan debt will be upon us soon as graduates leave college and enter the workforce with an unimaginable and unsustainable albatross of debt. The average debt load of 2012 graduates will hit “a record $28,700, projects Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Finaid.org. That amounts to a $330 standard monthly payment. To handle that easily, he estimates,
September 25, 2012
By Barry L. Cameron In December 1999, my family decided to do something about our finances. We were fed up with money problems and bothered by endless bills and perennial payments on stuff that was falling apart, in need of repair, or already in a landfill. We didn”t go to a financial planner, nor did we mine the endless array of financial resources available. We went back to the Word of God. We figured the One who created everything and owns everything could give us the guidance we needed to clear up our financial mess. Early on, I found a
June 1, 2008
Brad Dupray explores how churches used The ABC's of Financial Freedom to teach biblical stewardship, address debt, encourage tithing, and help members experience practical financial change.
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