Articles for tag: Christian Leadership

Church & Ministry Church Leadership

Authentic Leadership

By Michael C. Mack What is authentic Christian leadership? It may be best to begin with how it’s different from secular leadership. Authentic Christian leadership is a lifelong process. I’ve seen secular self-help books and blogs that provide simple steps to leadership, but becoming a leader after God’s own heart takes constant, everyday, deep-rooted transformation of the mind and heart as led by the Holy Spirit. Christian leadership happens first in loving, abiding communion with God, and second, in the environment of loving community with others. It’s rare to hear secular leadership described using the word love, but Christian leadership

September 1, 2021

Brett A. Seybold

Apologetics & Worldview

Still Learning from Ravi Zacharias: How Do We Respond When a Role Model Falls?

I was greatly humbled about a year ago when I was invited to write an article about the late Ravi Zacharias’s impact on my journey. I still stand behind every word of that piece, published in last November’s Christian Standard, a few months after Zacharias’s death. However, just prior to that issue’s cover date, apparent confirmation of Zacharias’s alleged infidelity and sexual misconduct surfaced. And I, like most people blessed by his ministry, was shocked and brokenhearted. Perhaps the most difficult challenge for me was in the fact that prior to this alarming development, there were no shortage of testimonies

April 19, 2021

Bible Study Theology & Bible

Apr 25 | Discovery

In Matthew 20:17-28, what types of attitudes do you see in the various apostles?

March 1, 2021

Dave Stone

Christian Living

Truth + Love: The Balancing Act

My wife, Beth, and I had just met a young couple as we were leaving church. After visiting with these strangers for a few minutes, we invited them to go eat lunch with our family. We found ourselves laughing and devouring sandwiches and getting to know them. And that’s when it got awkward. After asking Matt what part of town he lived in, I innocently proceeded to ask the same question of Stacie. In between bites, in matter-of-fact fashion, she replied that they lived together. Two voices in my subconscious immediately began whispering to me. One unwavering, firm voice said,

October 12, 2020

Bible Study Theology & Bible

Discovery Questions for October 18, 2020

COMPANION RESOURCES Lesson for Oct. 18, 2020: How To (2 Timothy 2:14-26; 3:1-9) “Don’t Get Sloppy” by David Faust (Lesson Application) ________ Study Questions for Groups By Michael C. Mack 1. What challenge did you face last week? 2. In what way was God’s power evident in or through your life over the past week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read 2 Timothy 2:14-26 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Repeat the process for 2 Timothy 3:1-9. Ask the third person to summarize the passages in one minute or less.

January 13, 2020

Bible Study Theology & Bible

Lesson for Jan. 19, 2020: The Deliverer Rebuffed (Exodus 5:1-14, 19-21)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in issue no. 1 (weeks 1-4; January 5-26, 2020) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ________ Lesson Aim: Persevere through trials and setbacks. ________ By Mark Scott Christian leadership is not for the faint of heart. No wonder more than one ministry leadership guru has said, “To lead God’s people you have to have the heart of a lamb but the skin of a rhinoceros.” Christian leadership is

March 1, 2018

News & Updates

Should Christian Leaders Take a Stand on Political Issues?

By Bob Russell A popular Christian blogger recently suggested ministers should avoid preaching “anything political” because that’s an automatic turnoff to most seekers. He pointed out that when preachers take a position on contentious cultural issues they minimize opportunities for evangelism—especially with millennials. He applauded one of the leading ministers in America who recently announced he would no longer preach about homosexuality because it was such a polarizing subject. WHY CONFRONT CONTROVERSIAL POLITICAL ISSUES? That may sound like good counsel because, after all, our ultimate hope isn’t in politics but in Jesus Christ. But think about the many hot-button

September 12, 2017

Don’t Let the Sheep Lead the Flock

By Michael C. Mack God often leads us as his leaders, and thus those we lead, on roads we never planned on traveling. Several months ago, I was leading a training event at a church in Central Illinois. As I left my home near Louisville, Kentucky, I set the route in the maps app on my phone and headed out. About two hours in, the app told me to exit the highway at least 30 miles before my next designated turn. I took the exit and then looked at my phone to see where it was taking me. It looked

June 20, 2017

Culture & Public Square Politics & Government

A Profoundly Influential Leader

By Ken Idleman OneÂ of the contributing factors in maintaining ourselves as a nominally Christian nation is the presence of moral leadership in the White House. Some of our presidents have used their considerable influence to point us to the God of the Bible: George Washington, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush, to name just a few. Without question, we have been blessed as a people when our most prominent national leader has demonstrated godly convictions and character. Joseph, whose biography is detailed in Genesis 37 to 50, was just such a dynamic and deep

June 19, 2017

Are You Truly Leading by (Biblical) Values?

By Michael C. Mack Ken Blanchard, widely known author and management expert, challenges leaders to think about this important question: “Are you truly leading by your values?” Blanchard says he believes “when a company is truly leading by its values, there is only one boss””the values.” As Christian leaders, our values are God-centered and biblically defined. When a church or any other Christian organization is truly leading by its values, we lead according to God”s purposes under his power. These values guide””or should guide””every aspect of church life: how staff members interact with one another, how senior leaders manage, how

March 23, 2016

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

Ingenuity

By Jim Tune One of my favorite stories in the Bible is of the paralyzed man and his four friends. We aren”t told much about him, but we know he had four deeply compassionate friends who were determined to place him at the feet of Jesus (Mark 2:1-11). This man could do very little to help himself. He was completely dependent on others to feed him, bathe him, clothe him, and care for his other needs. Fortunately, the paralyzed man had friends who cared for him. Better yet, his friends also had initiative and ingenuity. They took him to the

March 22, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

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?

December 11, 2015

Devotionals

Meditating on Hope: December 11

By Becky Ahlberg Friday, December 11 Read 1 Timothy 4.Â In this well-known passage, the apostle Paul shares his wisdom with young Timothy and reminds him his behavior is critical to his credibility as a leader. It”s always good for leaders to remind themselves of these important truths. And right in the middle of it is this nugget, “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God” (v. 10). Ours is not hope built on quaint stories or wishful thinking. The incarnation wasn”t magic. It was the purposeful, powerful behavior of the

October 5, 2015

Chasing after Integrity

Integrity is still respected. But is it expected?Â Do we know integrity when we see it? Do we know how to achieve it when we find it lacking in ourselves?Â In a testimony every Christian, and certainly every Christian leader, should read, this seasoned minister describes the steps he takes as he “desperately chases after God.” By Randy Gariss This afternoon my local sports-talk radio host was yelling again. In the midst of his apoplexy he kept shouting, “Where is integrity? Where is integrity? I tell you I am sick of this stuff!” It seems another high-profile, highly touted athlete

September 1, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Chasing after Integrity

By Mark A. Taylor The October issue of CHRISTIAN STANDARD is devoted to the theme of integrity. As we finish making final corrections before sending it to the printer this week, I know it contains some of the best material we”ve ever published. Surely the issue will prompt soul-searching in every reader. In a world characterized by concern for image management more than private goodness, even Christians too often fail to walk their talk. But a question has come to me in recent days that we do not consider in those pages. What do we do with integrity failures we

July 31, 2015

Chuck Sackett’s Thought Leaders

We asked 35 Christian leaders, “Who is the influencer with the biggest impact on your life and ministry?” Most of these leaders listed severalÂ influential thinkers, writers, innovators, and leaders more of us should get to know. This response is fromÂ Chuck Sackett, preaching minister with Madison Park Christian Church, Quincy, Illinois. ________ Slavic Prochavska was a preacher in Prague, Czech Republic, who died a few years ago. I first met Slavic on the platform at the train station in Praha (Prague). Slavic was a leader in the days when Communist leaders punished him for being a preacher by withholding his asthma

July 26, 2015

Toney Salva’s Thought Leaders

We asked 35 Christian leaders, “Who is the influencer with the biggest impact on your life and ministry?” Most of these leaders listed severalÂ influential thinkers, writers, innovators, and leaders more of us should get to know. This response is fromÂ Toney Salva, founding and lead pastor, Discovery Christian Church in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. ________ Five individuals have impacted my life in the most profound ways. I grew up without a godly male role model until I met Scott Reinemeyer, my youth minister. He taught me what it meant to be a follower of Jesus and discipled me through my teen years

July 14, 2015

John Derry’s Thought Leaders

We asked 35 Christian leaders, “Who is the influencer with the biggest impact on your life and ministry?” Most of these leaders listed severalÂ influential thinkers, writers, innovators, and leaders more of us should get to know. This response is fromÂ John Derry, president of Hope International University, Fullerton, California. ________ There are almost 100 books about leadership on the shelves in my office and on my e-reader, representing 40 years worth of reading and studying the subject. Among them are several by Jim Collins, John Maxwell, and Peter Drucker. I have learned much from these prolific writers about what is necessary

July 13, 2015