Articles for tag: Church Planting

October 24, 2020

Michael C. Mack

Missing: The Main Thing

Recently I was on our website reading church job postings for ministers. (No, I’m not looking for a new job!) Many include the expected responsibilities of preaching on Sunday mornings and evenings, teaching on Wednesday nights, performing weddings and funerals, attending meetings, counseling, and visitation, to name a few. But something significant and urgent—and biblical—is often missing. Can you guess what it is? Paul said, “Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers . . .” to do what? To preach and teach, marry and bury, and attend meetings? While those roles are significant, the

September 28, 2020

Christian Standard

Virtual Spire Conference Slated for Wednesday

It’s not too late to register for the all-virtual 2020 Spire Conference, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EDT) Wednesday. A great lineup of speakers is scheduled to participate. And as a bonus, you can forgo paying the $19.95 conference registration fee if you download Spire’s app from Apple’s App Store or from Google Play. More information is available at Spire’s website. The coronavirus impacted this year’s conference—as it seemingly has affected everything else—forcing it to transition from an in-person, three-day gathering to a virtual, one-day gathering. Spire CEO Rick Rusaw called the change in plans due

May 20, 2020

Christian Standard

Unser Jr. to Share with Indiana Church (Plus News Briefs)

Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon Auto racing fans know that “the greatest spectacle in racing”—the Indianapolis 500—won’t be taking place as originally planned this Sunday due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but all racing fans have the option of watching two-time winner Al Unser Jr. interviewed that day by John Dickerson, lead pastor of Connection Pointe Christian Church, Brownsburg, Ind. The interview will be part of the church’s weekend services both Saturday and Sunday. It will be viewable at connectionpointe.org/life and Facebook Live. The theme is “When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned.” Dickerson recently told Fox-59 TV that Unser

May 17, 2020

Gonzalo Venegas

My Story . . . from Denomination to Renewed Vision

By Gonzalo Venegas The Restoration Movement is an inviting movement—that’s something I’ve learned firsthand. You see, I didn’t start out in the Restoration Movement. For a long time, my faith experience was limited to having served as an altar boy in the Catholic church. Then I spent time in gangs. (See “My Life Story . . . from Gang Member to Church Planter” from March 2019.) After coming to faith in Michigan, I was discipled, educated, and ordained by the Reformed Church in America. I developed a seemingly unquenchable desire to study God’s Word. I preached many sermons and did

May 17, 2020

Megan Rawlings

Megan Rawlings

A Restoration Movement for Everyone

By Megan Rawlings In 1962, while NASA was taking its first feverish steps to land a man on the moon (and bring him home safely) by the end of the decade, President John F. Kennedy visited the NASA Space Center for the first time. While touring the premises, he observed a janitor mopping the floor. Kennedy started a conversation with the janitor by asking what he was doing. Much to the commander-in-chief’s surprise, the custodian replied, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.” Everyone who worked for NASA—astronauts, engineers, mathematicians, janitors—shared the same vision and knew they had a

May 17, 2020

Brian Sevits

We Began as an Inviting Movement

By Brian Sevits When I stepped onto the campus of Central Christian College of the Bible in the fall of 2005, I could not have told you anythingabout the roots of the Restoration Movement or its principles. Like many of my peers, I had grown up in a denomination and chose to come to CCCB because of its proximity to home and affordability. Just two years later, I had been hired at the Restoration Movement church around the corner. Many of the members and leaders at that church share a similar story—we come from various backgrounds and have been welcomed

May 17, 2020

Brent Bramer

This Is Why We Plant Churches

By Brent Bramer Mike and Kelly were jolted out of bed by screams and the smell of smoke. They ran to their two kids and hurried out to the street. The backside of the home next door was engulfed in flames and a crowd was gathering. The elderly woman who lived in the home was screaming for her husband who had just run back into the house to search for their dog. She feared he’d been inside for too long, and there was no sign of him. Mike and Kelly, their children, and the neighbors watched in horror as flames

May 17, 2020

Christian Standard

A Listing of Church-Planting Organizations

We have compiled a listing of Church Planting Organizations associated with Christian churches and churches of Christ. Note that organizations often partner on church plants. This list is not a comprehensive count of church plants from the past five years but is meant to demonstrate who is actively planting churches and where. For each church-planting organization, we have listed its location, leader, website and contact information, the region where it plants, and total number of churches planted in the past 5 years. We will update this list at a future time. If your organization should be listed, please provide us

May 1, 2020

Michael C. Mack

Who Makes the First Move?

By Michael C. Mack The churches in our movement are “devoted to the restoration of New Testament Christianity, its doctrine, its ordinances, and its fruits.” That is stated in the indicia of every issue of Christian Standard—but what about its processes? What can churches today learn from the start of the church on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 about how to plant and grow the church? An Acts 2 church begins in community: “They were all together in one place” (v. 1). Biblical community is the context or environment in which God does his work. This simple act

April 22, 2020

Christian Standard

SCJ Conference Rescheduled for September (Plus News Briefs)

Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon The COVID-19 outbreak forced the rescheduling of the 2020 Stone-Campbell Journal Conference. The event, originally set for March 20, 21, has been rescheduled for Sept. 11, 12. The location—Johnson University Tennessee in Knoxville—has not changed. The theme “Politics and the Stone-Campbell Movement” will be developed by the originally scheduled speakers: Shaun Casey, director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and Public Affairs and professor in Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service; Jess Hale, attorney with the Tennessee General Assembly; and Richard Cherok, professor of history with Ozark Christian College. Stone-Campbell Journal

March 18, 2020

Christian Standard

Stadia Honors Tom, Debbie Jones with Award Named for Them (Plus News Briefs)

Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon Tom and Debbie Jones recently received a new award from Stadia Church Planting that is named in their honor. The Dr. Thomas and Debbie Jones Church Planting Impact Award was presented to the Joneses at Stadia’s annual Celebration and Dessert Party at Exponential in Orlando, Fla., on March 3. In the future, the award will be presented to leaders like the Joneses who champion the cause of church planting. Together, the Joneses planted two churches, before Tom joined Stadia in 2003. He soon became executive director of the nationwide church planting organization. His

February 19, 2020

Christian Standard

Carolina Movement Seeks to Involve More Churches in Planting

By Chris Moon The Carolina Movement is growing and learning. The four-year-old church-planting group in North Carolina is in the process of putting together a more permanent organizational structure as it prepares for its second statewide conference in April. The group has planted 10 churches so far and has connected with more than 30 churches that are helping financially to start even more. The group is hoping for 150 pastors and church leaders to attend the conference in Asheboro, up from 50 at its first statewide conference last year. Chris Hankins, lead pastor of Point Church in Raleigh, N.C., and

February 5, 2020

Christian Standard

More Nexus Church Planters Choosing Bi-Vocational Path

By Chris Moon If you’re going to coach it, it helps to live it. And so Phil Claycomb got another job. That is, he got an additional job. The executive director of Texas-based Nexus Church Planting during the past year and a half also has worked 10 to 12 hours weekly helping out a local church that is trying to resurrect itself after falling on hard times. Central Christian Church in Richardson, Texas, saw its attendance drop in half and its finances lag. The church convinced Claycomb to come serve as its pastor in 2018. Claycomb was happy to help.

January 3, 2020

Michael C. Mack

Recapturing a 'Phenomenal' Vision for Our Churches

By Michael C. Mack January 2020 seems like an excellent time to think about vision. The articles in this issue focus on significant church strategiesfundraising, assessing, training, neighboring, church planting, and reaching men, for examplethat can help churches fulfill Jesus’ vision and carry out his mission. But I want to make sure we don’t confuse strategiesthough they may be biblical and beneficialwith the church’s vision and mission. Strategies must never supplant our mission. I did a quick topical search of the bookshelves in my office: The Five-Star Church, The Seven-Day-a-Week Church, The Emotionally Healthy Church, Becoming a Healthy Church, Building

January 2, 2020

Laura McKillip Wood

Laura-McKillip-Wood

River of Life

By Laura McKillip Wood “When I was 14 years old, I traveled with my father to a little town in the middle of nowhere to teach one man. This man was planting a church in his house. My dad went there every month to teach him, and when I saw this, it really touched my heart. He left the city where we lived, a classroom full of students, and a big church where he ministered to go to just one person in a small town.” Jeff Fife watched his father on that trip. He saw his father’s care for that

December 31, 2019

Jerry Harris

The Rules Have Changed

By Jerry Harris The January issue of Christian Standard focuses on the business side of church. Leaders make decisions every day about spending, staff, volunteers, fundraising, organizational structure, leader development, staff and volunteer education, debt, facility management, marketing, media, and online presence. Yet, despite all of that, it is rather amazing how little most church leaders know about business, finance, real estate, administration, or management. Many mainly rural and small churches are closing daily because they can no longer manage their own existence. Attendance and giving might be dwindling; the churches may no longer be able to pay for a

December 18, 2019

Christian Standard

Stadia’s Generosity to Church Planters Pays Off in First Year

By Jim Nieman Stadia Church Planting’s decision to give away the majority of its services starting last January had little noticeable effect on its financial bottom line in 2019, but the change helped Stadia to double the number of U.S. churches it helped plant last year. In 2018, Stadia assisted in planting 34 churches in the United States; that figure jumped to 68 in 2019, said Matt Murphy, strategic services and marketing executive with Stadia. How is that possible, when Stadia provides, on average, about $74,000 in services to help each new church get off the ground? It has a

November 6, 2019

Christian Standard

Multiethnic Church Planned for Johnson University Florida Campus

By Chris Moon A church plant is in the works at Johnson University Florida. Encounter Church is expected to launch at the Kissimmee campus in September 2020. It will be led by pastor Gonzalo Venegas and is backed by Florida Church Partners and Nexus Church Planting. “Things have gone pretty fast,” Venegas said. The church already has 53 committed adults involved in its prelaunch phase. Venegas was featured in March 2019 article in Christian Standard as he embarked on planting a church in Florida after leaving his former home in Michigan. Part of Venegas’s story is his history as a

August 22, 2019

Laura McKillip Wood

Laura-McKillip-Wood

Jesse Yangmi: A Lifetime of Service in Southeast Asia

By Laura McKillip Wood “We knew your father,” the old man said, “and we have heard about you for many years. We’ve been waiting for you.” Jesse’s lifelong dream had been to return to his father’s remote village, where he too had lived as a child. He had thought about his father’s people, the Jerwang, many times through the years, wondering when he would get a chance to return. But the Jerwang live in a very remote area where China, Myanmar, and Tibet share an ill-defined border area, and visiting them is difficult. To reach the villages, Jesse traveled from

August 22, 2019

Christian Standard

Mid-Atlantic States: Moving Back to the Small Town (Part 2)

Church Planters Find Big Opportunities in Small Places By Tim Cole During the past generation, Christian churches and churches of Christ have become respected within the body of Christ at large for our leadership in church planting. This position of national influence mostly results from our outsized success planting new churches in rapidly growing suburban areas surrounding larger metropolitan centers.  More recently, within the past decade, many of our church-planting organizations have begun to focus on planting churches in downtown, urban settings. Waypoint Church Partners enjoys a rich, 80-year history of starting and serving Christian churches and churches of Christ

Help Keep Christian Standard Free & Accessible with a Tax Deductible Donation

We can do more together!

Every gift makes a difference!

No, thank you.
100% secure transactions - receipts provided.
Does Your Church Want to Support Christian Standard?

Would your church consider including support for Christian Standard in its annual missions budget? Your support would help us not only continue the 160-year legacy of this unifying ministry, but also expand the free resources, cooperative opportunities, and practical guidance we provide to strengthen churches in the U.S. and around the world.

We can do more together!

Every gift makes a difference!

No, thank you.
100% secure transactions - receipts provided.
Secret Link