Articles for tag: Chris Philbeck

The Listener’s Role in Preaching

By Chris Philbeck Recently I’ve been walking through a season of life filled with disappointment. At one point my attitude got so bad I decided I needed to listen to a great sermon on how to overcome disappointment. I’ve always loved to listen to great preaching; I try to carve out time for that each week. I found a sermon from Dr. David Jeremiah called, “Joseph: Overcoming Disappointment.” I got out a notepad and a pen, clicked the link on my computer, and the first thing I heard him say was, “God takes our setbacks and turns them into comebacks.

January 1, 2023

The Power in Preaching

By Chris Philbeck In 2001, when I came to my current church, I had to adjust to having a Saturday night service. I had been a pastor for over 20 years, but the weekend service had always been exclusive to Sunday morning, and it took a while to feel comfortable preaching on Saturday night for various reasons. We didn’t have a particularly large crowd, and the people would be pretty spread out in a worship center that could seat around 1,400. The energy level was different on Saturday night, and the service just felt different. More often than I like

November 1, 2022

Apologetics & Worldview

How Do We Answer the Great Questions in Life?

By Chris Philbeck Our preaching team decided to devote June to an “Ask Me Anything” series. I know that’s nothing new or dramatic; churches and preachers have been doing these kinds of message series for years. But I’ve never done one, so we encouraged our church family to send in their questions during May. And even though I had a basic expectation of the kinds of questions people would submit, I was surprised by the response. On the first weekend of the series, I began by saying that upon reviewing the questions I was left with two overwhelming feelings. First

October 31, 2022

Book Reviews Reviews

‘When We Preach . . . We Speak for God’: A Conversation with Daniel Overdorf About His New Book

Chris Philbeck speaks with Daniel Overdorf about his new book, "Preaching: A Simple Approach to the Sacred Task," which comes out next week. Overdorf, who directs the preaching program at Johnson University, says the book is for students, preachers, and lay leaders.

September 1, 2022

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

Stay the Course

By Chris Philbeck When it comes to ministry, for me, one Scripture verse stands above the rest. Paul wrote in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” I love this verse for many different reasons, but mostly because of Paul’s honesty in saying that doing good can wear you out. How else can you interpret those first eight words? While I invest my life in many “good” things, preaching is the one constant “good” thing that takes up most of my

July 1, 2022

Pour Yourself into Your Preaching

By Chris Philbeck When my wife and I had been married for about 20 years, she took a part-time job to help pay for our children’s college. Fortunately for her, an opportunity came along to do something that fit with her artistic talent and interests, and she went to work for a small company that manufactured custom-made windows using a process called Stained Glass Overlay. Unlike traditional stained glass, she would use multiple materials like glass, multilayered polyester film, bevels, jewels, etc. to form a solid piece of decorative art glass. She absolutely loved her job and came home each

May 1, 2022

Church & Ministry Community Outreach

Preaching the Gospel

By Chris Philbeck One of the “Core Four” strategies for living out the vision and mission of Mount Pleasant Christian Church, where I’ve been the senior pastor for the past 20 years, is “Serving others across the street and around the world.” A few years ago, that strategy gave birth to a unique multisite model focused on underserved and underresourced neighborhoods in and around Indianapolis. The Message paraphrase of John 1:14 says about Jesus, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.”We have followed that example by expanding the ministry and influence of our church by acquiring two

March 1, 2022

The Most Important Thing

By Chris Philbeck My wife and I recently attended a pastors and wives retreat just outside of Phoenix. It was a great experience for both of us. While we’ve been married for almost 40 years, it’s always good to get away from the busyness of life to reconnect. The retreat also included some times when the pastors and wives split to focus on separate topics. One session for the pastors began with the question: What do you think is the most important thing in good preaching? Hearing the various answers—such as connection, engagement, relevance, vulnerability, etc.—was interesting. At one point

March 1, 2022

Authentic Preaching

By Chris Philbeck In a scene from Walk the Line, a 2005 biographical movie on the life of Johnny Cash, Johnny and his band are in a studio with music executive Sam Phillips. The musicians are auditioning a gospel tune, but they are performing with little emotion or conviction. Finally, Phillips interrupts: “Hold on. Hold on. . . . Do you guys got something else?” After some interesting dialogue where the angry singer says Phillips is accusing him of not believing in God, Cash finally protests, “Well, you didn’t let us bring it home.” “Bring it home?” Phillips asks in

November 1, 2021

Devotionals

Relevance

By Chris Philbeck One of the great blessings of my life over the past 40 years has been the privilege of leading a church plant, a turnaround church, and a megachurch. And while these churches have been incredibly different, the one constant has been the opportunity and responsibility to preach. I was 23 when I started, and I’m 63 today. To be honest, I’m not sure I would have wanted to listen to my 23-year-old self every week in that first church. But I am forever grateful for a group of people who loved me and gave me the opportunity

September 1, 2021

The High Call of Preaching

I’m sure every preacher can think of a time when they were convinced God had given them a life-changing, church-altering message. I’m talking about a message born out of significant time alone with God and his Word. I’m referring to a message that grew inside of the preacher’s heart for some time as the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, led them into all truth. I remember a weekend like that at the church I serve. I was convinced my message that week had a special anointing from God. I believed it was a message that could change lives as

May 6, 2021

Ministries & Nonprofits Organizations & Events

CICM Responds to Unprecedented Surge of COVID-19 in India

People are flocking to Central India Christian Mission’s new hospital in the city of Damoh for treatment of COVID-19. CICM founding director Ajai Lall described the challenges CICM is facing as well as some tangible ways people might help.

March 25, 2020

News & Updates

Mt. Pleasant’s Dollar-Giving Campaign Eclipses $1 Million (Plus News Briefs)

Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon Earlier this month, Mount Pleasant Christian Church, Greenwood, Ind., surpassed $1 million in giving through its Change for a Dollar program, which was started in July 2015 and thus far has helped 250 individuals and families. The fund was created after pastor Chris Philbeck asked attendees to give an extra $1 weekly to help people in need. “It’s powerful, because it’s just such a simple formula,” Philbeck told the Daily Journal. “One dollar alone doesn’t go very far, but all together, it can be a big deal.” The ministry “allows ANYONE from ANYWHERE

February 27, 2019

Book Reviews Reviews

Preach the Word: How to Embrace Biblical Preaching in the 21st Century

By Chris Philbeck In âThe Urgency of Preaching,â Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Albert Mohler begins by asking, âHas preaching fallen on hard times?â The August 28, 2017, blog post goes on to talk about the centrality of preaching in the New Testament church and whether or not that has been diminished in a day when, using Mohlerâ™s words, âsome contemporary preachers now substitute messages intentionally designed to reach secular or superficial congregationsâmessages which avoid a biblical text, and thus avoid a potentially embarrassing confrontation with biblical truth.â Some have called this âneeds-based preaching.â And some promote needs-based preaching as

February 26, 2019

Money & Debt Stewardship & Generosity

IN THE ARENA: Should Churches Embrace and Utilize Debt? (NO.)

By Chris Philbeck I have been in ministry for 38 years, serving as senior pastor of three churches: a church plant, a turnaround church, and a megachurch. Over those years, my churches have borrowed money for ministry expansion. Raising money was not something I knew much about when I was young, but time and experience have helped me grow in this area of leadership. As the result, two of the three churches I have pastored became debt-free, including the church I serve today. When I look at the opportunity being debt-free has provided those two churches to make a greater

July 10, 2018

Church & Ministry Church Leadership Pastoral Transitions & Succession

Making an IMPACT in Indy

By Jim Nieman On June 24, the Fairfax Christian Church family in inner-city Indianapolis celebrated their final weekend of worship together under longtime minister Tom Richason, and on July 1, the church became the newest site of Mount Pleasant Christian Church’s IMPACT Ministry. Chris Philbeck, senior pastor of Mount Pleasant—a church of about 4,700 located in Greenwood, Ind., about a dozen miles south of Indy—says MPCC hopes to “bring renewal to this new ministry opportunity.” Fairfax voted unanimously to transfer ownership to MPCC on Feb. 25, but no ministry changes occurred until the first of this month. Like many urban

December 30, 2009