February 9, 2021
By Ron Clark, executive director of Kairos Church Planting — Reading and signing an Ethical Conduct Agreement or Covenant before a church not only serves as an encouragement to our congregations, community, and those who have been hurt by church leaders, but it also provides a level of accountability for ministers.
April 16, 2020
By Jim Nieman David Dummitt, the founding and lead pastor of 2|42 Community Church in Michigan, has been named the new senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. “I’m so excited to become a part of the Willow family,” Dummitt said in a video posted by Willow Creek. “For the last 15 years my family and I have had the privilege of launching and leading 2|42 Community Church in southeast Michigan. And over these last few months we’ve sensed God leading us to come and be a part of what he’s doing in and through Willow.
January 12, 2017
By Jeff Faull One of the most beautiful and reassuring scenes in Scripture is found in the opening pages of Revelation. It focuses on the all-holy, all-seeing, all-powerful Jesus walking among the seven candlesticks or lampstands. And with unmistakable clarity John declares, “the seven lampstands are the seven churches” (Revelation 1:20). Incredible! In all of his love, majesty, and insight, Christ has the church as his overriding concern and passion! He moves among the candlesticks. As church members and church leaders, we frequent this place of beauty””immersed in, obsessed by, and saturated with visions of the church in Scripture. Some
March 30, 2016
By Jim Tune I”ve thought through ten axioms that are helpful for me as I try to lead others and myself responsibly. Here are five for this week, with five more to follow in next week”s blog: 1. It”s okay to ask for help. There are good people ready and willing to help you. You can”t do this job alone so get all the help you can. Ask for support and then be easy to support. 2. Make mistakes. Mistakes are a great educator when one is honest enough to admit them and willing to learn from them. Gretchin Rubin
October 25, 2015
Seven leaders tell how reading made all the difference for them. ____ TODD CLARK, teaching pastor, Christ”s Church of the Valley, Peoria, Arizona Too Busy Not to Pray: Slowing Down to Be with God by Bill Hybels (InterVarsity Press, 1998) Choosing to Cheat: Who Wins When Family and Work Collide? by Andy Stanley (Multnomah, 2003) The Life You”ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People by John Ortberg (Zondervan, 1997) Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You by John Ortberg (Zondervan, 2014) A Tale of Three Kings: A Study of Brokenness by Gene Edwards (Tyndale House, 1992) As I
July 13, 2015
We asked 35 Christian leaders, “Who is the influencer with the biggest impact on your life and ministry?” Most of these leaders listed several influential thinkers, writers, innovators, and leaders more of us should get to know. This response is from Glen Elliott, lead pastor with Pantano Christian Church, Tucson, Arizona. ________ God has used a long list of people to influence me in different seasons of my life, but Henri J.M. Nouwen“”a man I never met””may have had the greatest impact. Nouwen was a Catholic priest, but a reader might rarely sense that; perhaps it”s why he was read by non-Catholics
March 3, 2015
By Mark A. Taylor It happened again, this time on the campus of Lincoln Christian University on a cold Friday night a couple of weeks ago. Mark Mittelberg, a best-selling author, widely traveled speaker, and well-known Christian apologist, was speaking to leaders about LCU”s initiative “Room for Doubt.” But before he talked about the materials he”s helping to develop for this ministry, he paused to speak about the movement of churches that will promote and use them. Mittelberg is something of a celebrity in general Evangelical churches; his résumé includes stints on staff at Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago and
July 4, 2014
By Paul Boatman Tim Harlow, the senior pastor of Parkview Christian Church, Orland Park, Illinois, is president of the 2014 North American Christian Convention. Tell us about your work with the North American Christian Convention. My mother carried me in her womb to my first NACC. In the 52 years since then, I have attended 46 of the conventions. It really has always been a part of my life. In 1990, when I began a difficult ministry with this church, the convention was a lifeline for me. I got the empowering messages, the pats on the back, the “juice”
April 10, 2014
By Lise Caldwell Worship is a response to who God is. Can you plan to respond? Maybe not, but we find great satisfaction in crafting experiences that lead people to worship God. We huddle around 8-foot round tables strewn with laptops and iPads, soda cans and pizza crusts. The whiteboard that dominates the front of the room is ominously blank. The dates of our upcoming weekend services throb in the corners, pulsating in their urgency. I scribble on my notepad. Someone coughs. The room grows quiet. Time to plan our worship services. “Planning” worship sounds counterintuitive. We don”t “plan” to
April 14, 2013
By Carl Kuhl Have you heard about The Three Ingredient Cookbook? True to its name, every recipe has only three ingredients. One of my friends got it as a wedding present when she was inexperienced in the kitchen, the idea being that even she would be capable of these recipes. But here”s the thing about The Three Ingredient Cookbook: if you leave out one of the ingredients, it doesn”t work! Some more complicated recipes call for a dozen or more ingredients, and if you are out of one particular spice, you usually can omit it with no problem. But when
January 18, 2013
By Brian Mavis Eighty-five percent of American households have at least two Bibles. Eighty-five percent of Americans say they want to read their Bibles more.1 There”s an old saying, “Figures don”t lie, but liars figure.” Even so, the stats look promising, and it seems to me that Americans have the necessary ingredients””Bibles and motivation””to know God”s story better. Maybe having a deeper hunger for God”s Word isn”t “what”s next”; maybe it”s just what I wish was next. But if we listen to what people are saying, I do think it can be what”s next. In its REVEAL study, Willow Creek”s
January 8, 2013
By Matt Proctor As a leader, I wear many hats: team builder, decision maker, fund-raiser, and problem solver. But my favorite leadership hat””and perhaps the most important””is storyteller. A leader”s primary job is not to fulfill a mission, but to create a mission-fulfilling community. A leader”s task is not simply to get a job done, but to mobilize and inspire a group of followers to get the job done. Of course, forging a hodgepodge group of individuals into an effective team with common values and a shared mission isn”t easy. So how do we get people “on the same page”?
April 10, 2012
By Rick Chromey The next two decades will produce unimaginable change. By 2040, much of what we now call “modernity” will be history as the digital revolution finalizes its reinvention of commerce, communication, and education. In 2010, Amazon e-books outsold print books, and in 2011, Borders booksellers filed bankruptcy, signaling an end of the age of Gutenberg. The iPad and Kindle are changing how we read. The CD and DVD are dead media (and books are next), while Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter continue to flex digital muscles. In the midst of this cyber revolution stands a generation waiting to
February 20, 2012
By Jennifer Taylor Christian Missionary Fellowship (Founded 1949) P.O. Box 501020, Indianapolis, IN 46250 www.cmfi.org Doug Priest, Executive Director Many people have learned of Christian Missionary Fellowship because of its work in Nairobi, Kenya; since 2006 Executive Director Doug Priest has invited ministers and other Christian church leaders to visit the area and learn about The Hope Partnership. The Hope Partnership offers a strong Community Health Evangelism (CHE) program, teaches HIV/AIDs awareness and other basic health and wellness education, plants churches, and provides hope to the people living in the Mathare slums. “At the Willow Creek Leadership Conference in 2006, Bill
October 30, 2011
By Jennifer Taylor Boundaries: When to Say YES, When to Say NO, To Take Control of Your Life Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992 Think about the frustrations you”re currently experiencing in your relationships. Maybe you resent your spouse for a recurring hurt or feel exhausted from chauffeuring your kids to countless sports practices and play dates. Maybe you can”t say no to a friend despite his constant demands on your time and energy. Maybe you”re struggling with an addict, an abuser, a manipulative leader, or a selfish family member. All of us experience (and contribute
December 20, 2009
By LeRoy Lawson Bill Hybels, Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008). As a rule, I don”t promote leadership books. Most of them seem like the same old same old, prettied up in new packaging. Sometimes, though, rules are made to be broken. So I”m breaking one. If you are looking for an easy-to-read, common-sense set of principles that can lift your effectiveness to a new level, try Bill Hybels”s Axiom. PROVERBS, NOT TRUISMS My appreciation rose when I learned from these pages that Hybels holds in high regard another of my favorite books on the subject, Steven Sample”s
July 6, 2008
By Debbie Legg One woman”s church was expanding its missions program into India. Would it be addressing the AIDS issue? Two nurses had been on short-term mission trips. Could they get their congregation more excited about AIDS programs? A woman had lost her son to AIDS. Could she do anything locally for the AIDS community? A couple wanted to know, is there any good news in the battle against AIDS? The answer to all of those questions was a resounding “yes” at the Your Church and AIDS conference, sponsored by Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMF) and Fellowship of Associates of
By Mandy Smith When church historians look back on the 1990s, they”ll undoubtedly refer to the “worship war” years. But what will they call our current age? My guess is that when discussing the first decades of the 21st century, historians will talk about “The God Gap.” The worship war looked like a discussion about instruments and songs, but it really swung on, “How much can we allow culture to affect our church experience and the expression of our faith?” Today, the collision of faith and culture continues in new arenas. And as if faith isn”t a hot enough topic
March 26, 2008
By Mark A. Taylor The nuns in Nell Merlino”s school told her to do good because God was always watching. But she didn”t accept that. According to an article in the March Reader”s Digest, Merlino asked her teachers, “Wouldn”t it be better . . . if we were just good and did good things and it didn”t matter who was watching? If I gave food to somebody who was hungry, what did it matter whether God knew about it or not?” Her teachers were scandalized, maybe because Merlino”s question implied some doubt that God can see everything. But evidently many
February 3, 2008
By Brett Andrews I suspect one day in Heaven we will be treated to a long parade of the greatest leaders in history. And we won”t recognize most of their names. One of those uncelebrated but great leaders I wish you could have known was Eldreth L. Russell, minister of my home church in Meadville, Pennsylvania, for most of the 1960s and “70s. Under his ministry, the Meadville church grew, sent out ministers and missionaries, and became a middle-sized church with a megachurch influence. Setting the Pace with Joy Ministry taxes the strongest. Paul wrote of carrying the daily pressure
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