Articles for tag: church leadership

May 9, 2011

Christian Standard

Reaching Their Potential?

By Darrel Rowland Women”s ministry leaders across the country””plus a token guy””were asked: “Do most Christian churches/churches of Christ you”re aware of allow women to reach their full potential in Christ?” Paul Boatman, seminary dean at Lincoln (Illinois) Christian University Of course they do! The trick is to keep their full potential limited so that they are prevented from exercising any God-given talents that might impinge on our fantasies of masculine control. Some leadership roles just cannot be filled without testosterone! Having participated in at least a dozen ordinations of women to specialized ministries, I experience frustration at consistently seeing

April 15, 2011

Christian Standard

Trying to Keep Up with Books by “˜Us”

By LeRoy Lawson Superman on Earth: Reflections of a Fan Gary D. Robinson / Baltimore: PublishAmerica, 2010 Thoughtprints: Poems En Route Wilma Curtis Buckner / ©Wilma Buckner, 2009 Daily Disciple: A One-Year Devotional Guide Gary Holloway / Abilene: Leafwood Publishers, 2008 Steppes of Faith: Discovering God”s Goodness in Ukraine Janice Lemke / Purpose Press, 2010 Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How It Affects You Craig Gross and Jason Harper / Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010 I remember grumbling with some fellow Christian church ministers many years ago that we did not seem to be a publishing fellowship. We

March 21, 2011

Christian Standard

Lesson for March 27, 2011: Compassionate Service (1 Timothy 5:1-8, 17-22)

This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for March 27) is written by Robert Woolfolk who serves with Agape Christian Church in Denver, Colorado. ____________ Compassionate Service (1 Timothy 5:1-8, 17-22) By Robert Woolfolk As we read Paul”s instructions to the young preacher Timothy, we gain wisdom about godly relationships in the church, which is the body of Christ. Families Godly family interaction is important to the health and vitality of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. How we treat one another speaks louder than anything we teach, preach, or counsel. Paul”s instructions still reverberate 20 centuries

March 14, 2011

Christian Standard

Lesson for March 20, 2011: Leadership Priorities (1 Timothy 4:6-16)

This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for March 20) is written by Bruce Stoker who serves as adult education minister with Memorial Church of Christ in Livonia, Michigan. ____________ Leadership Priorities (1 Timothy 4:6-16) By Bruce Stoker It”s a shame we have made worship such a divisive thing within the church. If we can get back to the “heart of worship,” as Matt Redman”s song says, and recognize with him that it”s all about God, then Paul”s directives in 1 Timothy 4:6-16 ought to clarify the priorities of church leaders. When leaders have their priorities straight, division

March 7, 2011

Christian Standard

Lesson for March 13, 2011: Leadership Qualities (1 Timothy 3)

This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for March 13) is written by Cheryl Frey, a freelance proofreader and editor from Rochester, New York. ____________ Leadership Qualities (1 Timothy 3) By Cheryl Frey Because I make my living as a proofreader, I find it very hard to ever read a book for pleasure. But not wanting to miss out on all the wisdom to be found in good literature, I now check out books on tape or CD from the library. I especially love to listen to authors Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, Stephen Covey, and John Maxwell, who

February 7, 2011

Christian Standard

Improvisation Is Hard Work

By Kyle Baker A jazz musician and a church leader walk into a bar. No wait, the jazz musician walks into a bar, the church leader walks into a church. The jazz musician walks into a room with a band of misfits who will improvise on standard material. The church leader walks into a room with a team of experts who will play parts they”ve honed for years. No wait, the church leader has the band of improvising misfits; it”s the jazz musician who has the team of experts. I had the good fortune to study jazz trombone with Delfeayo

December 30, 2010

Christian Standard

Regrafting: A Matter of Motivation

Ken Swatman “Dying on the vine,” it seems to be the new catchphrase among leaders of struggling churches. Often I hear from these ministers and leaders that they do not want to “die on the vine.” Here are some key issues/questions that need to be addressed in order for a church to grow. I do not believe churches just die on the vine. Branches of a vine die because they are either diseased, malformed, infested with parasites, or somehow choked off from their source of nutrition and health. This is also true for churches. Churches wither and die because of

December 10, 2010

Christian Standard

Emerging for the Rest of Us

By Josh Tandy In 2003 I was in college and reading Brian McLaren”s A New Kind of Christian. It was unlike anything I had ever read in Christian literature. The book simultaneously bothered and encouraged me. I thought I understood about half of the issues discussed, but I actually grasped far less. Despite my ignorance, I was hooked””even though I didn”t fully know why. To varying degrees I think many church leaders, whether paid or unpaid, have had a similar experience with their first contact with the emerging church movement. Perhaps you were like me and had no context to

October 27, 2010

Christian Standard

Read a Book!

By Matt Proctor I love books. As a kid, I read everything””westerns, science fiction, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Most kids think Disneyland is “the happiest place on earth,” but for me it was the public library. I was such a bookworm that, when I got in trouble at home, my parents would ground me . . . from reading! It wasn”t until I enrolled at Ozark Christian College that I discovered reading books could actually be a spiritual discipline. Growing up, books were entertainment””a way to feed my imagination, but I had never considered that the right books

September 26, 2010

Christian Standard

2010 NACC: The Why Behind Our Ministry Mistakes

By Vince Antonucci Why do we make the mistakes we make? Why does the senior minister have an affair with his secretary? Why won”t the youth pastor confront the student struggling with the not-so-secret sin? Why won”t the elder agree to the change that obviously needs to be made? Why does the preacher spend all his time counseling until the fatigue becomes too much and he leaves the ministry? Obviously, every situation is different, but in almost every case, most of the mistakes we make in ministry result from a lack of self-awareness. What do I mean by self-awareness? Well,

August 18, 2010

Christian Standard

Prophetic Lessons for the 21st-Century Christian Leader (Part 2)

(This is part 2 of a 2-part article.) By Edward Sanders The calling of Christian leaders today is different and more general than Jeremiah”s prophetic call recorded in Jeremiah 1. But themes reflected in Jeremiah”s call should apply to commitments today”s Christian leaders make, because these commitments came from God. The first commitment asked of leaders appears in the first paragraph of the book of Jeremiah. This paragraph records a superscription, a biographical form of literature that often gives some historical, theological, and religious context for the prophet in reference. Jeremiah”s superscription is the longest of the writing prophets1 and

July 18, 2010

Christian Standard

They Trust Me, They Trust Me Not

By Dave Ping Richard had been on the staff of a rapidly growing church for six months, and things were going great. “Some of the small groups I”d started were thriving and some were just getting off the ground when suddenly we discovered that our perfect church wasn”t as perfect as we thought. Our senior pastor, a dynamic preacher who”d befriended me and mentored me in ministry, was caught having an affair with a female staff member. “Suddenly the church I loved was engulfed in a storm of hurt, betrayal, and distrust. And I was just as grieved and stunned

July 18, 2010

Christian Standard

NACC “˜Beyond”: Beyond the Misguided Spiritual Disciplines

By Brian Jones Whenever people talk about moving beyond facilitating conversions to making disciples, someone will inevitably say that teaching and practicing the spiritual disciplines will be vital to making this happen. I couldn”t disagree more. Years ago Richard Foster released a perennially best-selling book called Celebration of Discipline. In it he outlined 12 disciplines Christians have engaged in over the last 2,000 years to help them live more spiritually abundant lives””meditation, prayer, fasting, study, simplicity, solitude, submission, service, confession, worship, guidance, and celebration. The church should be profoundly grateful for that book, and profoundly ticked off. Someone said a person”s greatest

July 11, 2010

Christian Standard

Risky Faith

By Stephen Bond Thirty-four years have passed in the blink of an eye. That”s how long ago I became a Christ follower. I was 21 when I began the grand faith adventure of living for Christ. Along the way I”ve had my share of bumps and bruises. But, except for the foibles I brought on myself, I wouldn”t change much. It has been exhilarating to barrel through the years living, for the most part, by faith. The journey has taken me and my family to the Midwest twice (once for seminary and once for ministry), to South America for 10

June 30, 2010

Christian Standard

Our Gift to You, Your Gift to Us

By Mark A. Taylor I have a friend who can”t wait till Christmas to give his wife her gift. He”s so excited about his “perfect find,” he wants her to see it immediately. His anticipation for her pleasure is greater than hers! We feel the same way about the “gift” we”re offering you this week. You”re holding it in your hands, a newly redesigned version of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. Our goal was to introduce our new look with the July 18 issue we”ll distribute at the North American Christian Convention. But the design was finished ahead of schedule, and we decided, “Why

May 9, 2010

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Will You Lead? Will You Serve?

By LeRoy Lawson Jeff Jarvis, What Would Google Do? (New York: HarperCollins, 2009). Gary Hamel with Bill Breen, The Future of Management (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2007). Seth Godin, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us (New York: Penguin Group, 2008). Does WWGD? look familiar, like maybe WWJD? If so, then Jeff Jarvis has made his point. As Christians ask what Jesus would do, Jarvis argues that organizations wanting to prosper in today”s brave new world need to ask what super-Internet-searcher Google would do, because Google does it right. No company in history has grown like it. Jarvis has “reverse engineered”

May 5, 2010

Christian Standard

Why Do Sons of Elders Become Elders Too?

By Mark A. Taylor How does a young person growing up in the home of a Christian leader decide also to become a leader? This week we suggest answers to that question as we let church leaders and the children of church leaders tell about their experiences with each other. Earlier this year, in our weekly e-newsletter* we asked elders whose sons or fathers are elders to add their insight to the mix. Their responses point up both the simplicity and the mystery of a process that may take a lifetime to complete. “I think my being asked to serve

April 25, 2010

Christian Standard

The Integrity Mirror

By Chuck Booher Once upon a time there was a pastor on staff at a church who became disheartened by the behavior of the senior pastor and the leadership team. The senior leader demeaned his employees, led by intimidation, and lacked integrity. The staff followed his example and also treated one another disrespectfully. While standing in front of the congregation, these leaders were loving and kind, but among themselves, they were mean and malicious. The disheartened pastor finally confronted the senior pastor and told him his behavior and the staff”s behavior were not Christlike. But instead of improving things, this

April 11, 2010

Christian Standard

Megachurches: Repentance Leads to Real Life

By Kent Fillinger At age 28, when Justin Miller transitioned from the role of youth minister to senior minister at Real Life Christian Church (Clermont, Florida), the church was in the midst of a nine-month spending freeze. It was 2002, the church had no money, and Miller”s paychecks often came with a note attached: “Do not cash until . . . “ The elders hired him to be the solution to the church”s problems; they told him, “We”re putting our hope in you.” But Miller quickly realized God didn”t choose him for this position for any of the reasons the

March 21, 2010

Christian Standard

Building Bonds Between Elders and Ministers (Part 1)

By Bob Russell One of the most intense topics in church leadership seminars these days is elder/preacher relationships. One minister said, “In our church I get the impression that it”s the preacher”s job to cast vision and the elder”s job to prevent it from happening.” But it”s not always the elders who are to blame for conflicts with the minister. Many times the problem lies with a preacher or staff member who is lazy, unethical, controlling, defiant, or spiritually immature. I”ve observed four ministries recently that looked impressive from the outside, but suddenly the preacher was asked to resign. People

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