Articles for tag: Calling

August 17, 2020

Michael C. Mack

Discovery Questions for August 23, 2020

Study Questions for Groups By Michael C. Mack 1. What struggles have you faced over the last week? 2. What actions did you take this past week to pass on your faith to the next generation? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Judges 4:1-16 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to retell the story in their own words. Remind them to keep it simple. 3. Imagine we as a group are writing a sermon on this passage. Let’s brainstorm a title for the message! 4. Let’s

February 2, 2019

Christian Standard

Can Creatives Be Effective Lead Pastors?

By Ryan Rasmussen When I was a kid, I had a notepad that traveled most places with me. Hidden inside were doodles of, well, a little bit of everything. Floor plans of my dream house were wedged between drawings of my favorite comic book characters and sketches of Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I know it seems odd to think of a 13-year-old boy drawing princesses, but my dream at the time was to become an artist for Disney and I was trying to sharpen my craft. Don’t judge me. Eventually my notepad and I grew apart and I found

February 22, 2017

Christian Standard

Gateway Planning

By Michael C. Mack Spending time with God is your priority as a leader. But it doesn”t just happen. Use the following strategy questions to help you plan a time of solitude with God: How often will I get away alone with God? (Weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually?) How long will I spend alone with God? When will I get away to be alone with God? (Be specific!) Where will I go? What provisions do I need to make for getting away? (Asking for permission, lining up childcare, making financial arrangements, lining up a place to stay, etc.) On my getaways

December 9, 2016

Christian Standard

I Could Totally/Never Do That!

By Jennifer Johnson Two mistakes are easy to make when reading B.J. Leonard“s story. The first is to think you could never do what he did””give up your dream house in the suburbs to move into the inner city with your wife and three young kids. The second is to believe you could totally do what he did because you”ve romanticized it as a sequel to The Blind Side. B.J., his wife, Mary, and his daughters aren”t reaching out to urban Decatur, IL, because it”s easy, but they”re also not doing it to experience the warm fuzzy feelings of “saving”

September 4, 2016

Christian Standard

Work as Worship (Book Review)

Work as Worship: How the CEOs of Interstate Batteries, Hobby Lobby, PepsiCo, Tyson Foods and More Bring Meaning to Their Work Mark L. Russell, author and editor Boise: Elevate Faith, 2012 A book review by Matt Johnson Worship is not just a Sunday event; it is a lifestyle. Decades of worship wars often focused on worship as what happens only on Sunday mornings, but an examination of our practices and the Scriptures has expanded our definition of worship to include both nonmusical and non-Sunday events. With the proliferation of books on leadership, it was only a matter of time before an interdisciplinary entrepreneur like

July 18, 2016

Christian Standard

I Knew I Was Called

By Bart Rendel In the summer of 1985 my life changed forever during the North American Christian Convention in Anaheim, California! For years, my family had attended the convention for inspiration and connection. That summer we made the trek out west to visit family and friends. The convention was the centerpiece of our trip. I was between my 10th and 11th grade in high school. With college in the offing, I was seriously contemplating my life”s direction. How did he want to use me? Where should I focus my education? It was at the convention that I felt the Lord

April 1, 2016

Christian Standard

Can You Let Your Preacher Change?

By Jim Tune Is it OK for your preacher to change? It”s understood that with growth comes change. And most if not all churches expect their leaders to grow. Christians expect their preacher will become more saturated by, and competent in, the handling of Scripture. Time in study should lead to greater depth and maturity. Shepherding a flock should, over time, lead to stronger skills in conflict resolution, mediation, and reconciliation. Your preacher will attend conferences and read books and will embrace new ideas and fresh vision. For the most part, this kind of growth and the changes that accompany

March 22, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Where Will God Use You Best?

By Mark A. Taylor “Do you believe you”re serving in the place God can use you best?” A friend surprised me with that question several years ago. And maybe I was equally surprised by my answer. “Yes,” I said. My guess is that many Christians, certainly many Christian leaders, are a lot like me. We think about that question too little. We choose ministries like a young professional plotting his next career move. How will this job position me to work later for the kind of church I really want to serve? Does it pay more than I”m earning now?

March 14, 2016

Christian Standard

Eat, Pray, Love?

By T.R. Robertson Is there a difference in the way we Christians talk about calling versus how the rest of our culture pursues calling?  It”s certain many outside the church today have great interest in calling and identity. How can Christians be missionally purposeful in relating to that interest, especially when non-Christians may talk about calling with the same words Christians use? Oprah Winfrey is a touchstone of all that is popular in the culture at large. If it”s cool, she”ll be talking about it. If it”s not cool yet, she makes it cool by bringing it up. Winfrey has

March 13, 2016

Christian Standard

The Peculiar Duty of Pastoring

By Patrick Mitchell When I entered a conversation with a dear friend that morning at Milligan College”s exercise facility, I never would have thought that within a few months I would be pastor of a 125-year-old church in a town that boasts a population of approximately 1,000. While still chugging along on the elliptical machine, Phyllis asked if I would consider helping fill the pulpit of a rural church in our area while it searched for a pastor. You should know that at that point in my life (I was then 30 years old), I was done with church ministry.

March 12, 2016

Christian Standard

My Call Has Shaped My Ministry

By Weston Williams Too often we think of call solely in terms of a personal leading. It definitely includes that, but a true call from God is so much more. In Acts 13, the Holy Spirit issued a call to Paul and Barnabas for a mission, which was affirmed (and heard) by the entire church. It wasn”t just Paul”s personal desire to go into ministry; the entire church heard and supported that call. My call, while not as dramatic, was amazingly affirmed by my ordaining church. I”ve talked with many other ministers in our tradition and have learned that not

March 11, 2016

Christian Standard

The Church, the Heart of My Calling

By Guthrie Veech Olin Hay preached at South Louisville Christian Church near the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He loved football. Periodically, he would leave the office early to watch the Cardinals” football practice. One day a freshman quarterback rushed the ball down the muddy field only to be tackled by a huge linebacker. The quarterback stood up, covered in mud from head to toe, and said to Hay, “You gotta love the game, gotta love the game.” The freshman quarterback”s name was Johnny Unitas, who became perhaps the greatest quarterback in NFL history. That story reminds me of my

March 11, 2016

Christian Standard

My Opus

By David Smith “Just stay around long enough to get a little experience and then move on to “˜greener pastures.”” That statement, among others, was what I heard when I moved to Moreland, Kentucky, in 1993 to start a ministry with Moreland Christian Church. What that actually means is, put in a little time, and then move to a more “reputable” church in our brotherhood with a higher salary. Well, 23 years later, God is still blessing our little church in the cornfield. In fact, after building a multipurpose building in 1999 and a new sanctuary in 2014, we bought

March 10, 2016

Christian Standard

Our Challenges, My Peace

By Dan Lang Since my youth, the burning conviction to be a preacher moved me in the direction God wanted me to go. There was no escaping it. I was compelled. During training at Lincoln Christian University, Jesus” commission to make disciples of all people jelled for me as the simple but profound strategic mission that would shape the way I carried out my personal call to leadership ministry. A picture materialized of what my ministry in a local church might look like. I never dreamed I would be in my 28th year leading an increasingly diverse urban church with

March 10, 2016

Christian Standard

Lessons from Limestone

By LeAnne Blackmore For the past 16 years my husband, Ron, and I have led, taught, cast vision, and ministered to many in our city megachurch, First Christian Church, Johnson City, Tennessee. From college ministry to missions, greeter to elder, we have stepped into roles as variegated as the fall foliage on the Blue Ridge Parkway. By man”s standards, we experienced great successes and toyed with the temptation to take the credit. But God, in his grace, also allowed us to face colossal failures. In merging the two extremes, and through immersing ourselves in the Word, a mutual mind-set surfaced.

March 7, 2016

Christian Standard

I Look to Stay

By Casey Tygrett In 2007, I encountered a book that changed my life. The book was Hannah Coulter, a novel by Wendell Berry. I had previously read a Berry poem called “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front.” With a title like that, how could you forget? In fact, one line stays with me even today: “Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed.” Even with that poem in mind, I wasn”t prepared for Hannah Coulter. The characters, the life, the unspoken but ever present faith””Berry”s book drew me in, and I couldn”t put it down. Once

March 7, 2016

Christian Standard

Are You Sure It”s Time to Move On?

By Susan Lawrence Sometimes we think we”re done. It”s time to move on. We”re ready to be finished with a season because we”re exhausted or we see a better offer. Things aren”t going well, or things are going exceptionally well. For whatever reason, we assess (or rationalize) that God is prompting us to take a step away from where we are and move on to something else. When this is the case, and we”re ready to go, it”s hard when we sense God saying, “Wait just a minute.” It happened to Simon in Luke 5. Simon and other fishermen had

February 12, 2016

Christian Standard

My Theology and My Sense of Mission

By Nate Bush Simple gospel messages are invaluable resources that have served the church well. But have we unintentionally filtered out some important components of the gospel? J.I. Packer writes that the gospel has been “streamlined for instant comprehension and response. The question being explored was: how little do we need to tell people for them to become Christians? Was this a good question to work with? In some circles, maybe so, but in most, definitely not.”1 The gospel has become a simple-to-articulate plan of salvation. It is as simple as (A) all have sinned, (B) believe in Jesus, and

February 11, 2016

Christian Standard

My Theology and My Calling

By Doug Lucas I might have tried to become a doctor. That”s what my mother wanted. Honestly, my dad didn”t care, just so long as I landed a “secure job.” Perhaps I would have done something with music. Everyone told me I had a gift for playing piano. My high school guidance counselor said my academic test scores were high enough that I could take my pick of universities across the land. And somehow, I managed to finish high school as valedictorian and president of the student body. He argued that I had a good chance at a full-time scholarship

August 1, 2015

Michael C. Mack

4 Simple Reminders for Small Group Leaders This Fall

By Michael C. Mack This is perhaps the busiest time of the year for small group leaders. If you oversee the groups in your church, you”re probably a couple weeks into a fall campaign. If you lead a group, you”re gearing back up for the fall. Either way, where do you go from here? Here are four simple encouragements. 1. Pray! Leaders can get so busy this time of year that their time with God gets crowded out. Don”t let it happen! Right now you should be spending more, not less, time with God. Pray for your group. If you

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