July 16, 2006
Starbucks has mastered community, consistency, and customization. Kent Fillinger explores what churches can learn about welcoming people, shaping first impressions, and offering accessible pathways for spiritual growth.
June 4, 2006
When churches use raffles, prizes, or entertainment to boost attendance, what are they teaching people to expect? This article contrasts gimmicks with prayer, fasting, and missional love as the truer path to lasting growth.
June 4, 2006
Using a “Magic Pill” metaphor, Arron Chambers explains why some churches prefer to stay small—avoiding change, cost, and shared leadership—and urges congregations to pursue healthy growth under Christ.
Capital campaigns can strain a congregation—or strengthen it. Alan Ahlgrim shares hard-won lessons on vision, broad involvement, wise counsel, sustained follow-through, and confident faith that God is at work.
April 9, 2006
Adventure Christian Church grew rapidly from its earliest days to a major campus in Roseville, California. After years of fast growth, leaders are pausing to clarify vision, strengthen systems, and keep evangelism and compassionate outreach central.
April 9, 2006
SouthBrook Christian Church embraced “less is more,” pruning complexity and focusing on mission clarity. Learn how strategic simplicity, multisite ministry, and “Water Cooler Weekends” helped fuel remarkable growth and community.
April 9, 2006
Founded in 1824, Mountain Christian Church blends longstanding community trust with a future-focused mission. Leaders emphasize conversion growth through preaching, worship, and community service, supported by a robust small-group system and a strategic church plant in White Marsh.
By Mark A. Taylor When we say CHRISTIAN STANDARD is a magazine for leaders in the local church, immediately we create a problem. Just who is a leader? At no time is that question more clearly answered than when we consider the Leaders in Christian Service program cosponsored by Milligan College and Standard Publishing. Leaders in Christian Service recognizes men and women who have discovered the beauty in the paradox presented by Christ: “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26, New Living Translation ). Those who have received this reward in the past
March 8, 2006
Disconnected comments can reveal a lot about how elders and ministers relate. Mark A. Taylor contrasts unhealthy patterns with a better path marked by mutual respect, shared accountability, and stronger leadership.
March 5, 2006
John Faust reflects on four early elders at Southeast Christian Church and the leadership qualities that helped lay a lasting foundation—quality, trust, unity, and availability—for the church’s growth in Louisville.
March 5, 2006
Arron Chambers examines how church buildings can help—or hinder—the mission of reaching lost people, urging leaders to “think outside the box” and keep the church moving, growing, and caring like a living body.
November 30, 2005
“Can your kind of church change your kind of world?” Drawing from a profile of 113 megachurches and emerging megachurches, this piece highlights growth trends and indicators to help leaders improve church health and effectiveness.
November 27, 2005
Even thriving church plants can swallow up the planter. Jim Tune shares hard-won principles for endurance—certainty of calling, freedom to be yourself, and boundaries that protect marriage, home, and long-term ministry.
Floyd Strater offers practical guidance for ministers weighing a move or a stay—why not to decide on Monday, how to evaluate the whole church context, and how to leave with peace and integrity.
June 29, 2005
Church conversations often treat size as a badge of credibility. A Catholic case in Spain raises a harder question: can a smaller, purer church have deeper impact than cultural Christianity that has lost its “saltiness”?
May 29, 2005
A popped balloon becomes a lesson in contentment, and a pastor’s journal becomes a window into harder questions: how Christians respond, why church health matters more than formulas, and how leaders can resist the bitter pull of cynicism.
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June 3, 2026
David Faust
June 3, 2026
Kent Fillinger
June 2, 2026
Erick Riddle