Articles for tag: Bible Belt

July 24, 2016

By Phyllis Fox “It”s like the Rascal Flatts song, “˜Life Is a Highway,”” said Daniel. The “highway” led Daniel Ball from Chatham, England, to Milligan College in Tennessee to play soccer (and for an education). “I had never heard of Milligan College until I received a call from Adam Laney, Milligan”s men”s soccer coach. After arriving at the airport in Tennessee, my first impression was there literally is a church on every corner. I knew East Tennessee was in the South and that the area is called the Bible Belt, but I didn”t know I would be living on the

May 30, 2015

Christian Standard

Church & Ministry Church Leadership Ministry Training & Education

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?),

April 3, 2012

Christian Standard

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

A Room Called Remember

By a Lifelong Christian Church Member (ANONYMOUS) In 2006, the Barna Group conducted a study about church attendance and found that most twentysomethings leave the church after being active through their teen years. The data showed that “61 percent of today”s young adults had been churched during their teen years but are now spiritually disengaged, i.e. not actively attending church, reading the Bible, or praying.” One of the insights David Kinnaman, the director of the research, offered was, “Every teen has different needs, questions and doubts, so helping them to wrestle through those specific issues and to understand God”s unique

January 13, 2012

Christian Standard

Church & Ministry Church Growth

Counting Sheep

By Steve Carr “Of course God cares about numbers. There”s a book in the Bible called Numbers!” “Each number represents a soul, and God desires every one of them.” These statements are simplistic but serve as an apologetic for both tracking congregational size and aiming for larger attendance numbers. They affirm what we seem to know innately””that bigger is obviously better when it comes to the church. It makes perfect sense, doesn”t it? The more people in the pews, the more ministry being accomplished, and the better off the kingdom of God. As a student of the church growth movement,

December 9, 2010

Christian Standard

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

A New Perspective for a “˜Bunch of Jerks”

By Chris Beard It was just a billboard. We saw it as little more than a tool to help our congregation reach out to our community. But God had an even bigger plan. At 8:30 Monday morning I received a call from an elder informing me that our billboard had been featured in the local newspaper”s blog. “Well, good,” I said, “that will be a good conversation starter for our people.” I had no idea that by the end of the week people would be calling and e-mailing from all over the United States to talk about our billboard. Afterthought