June 24, 2022
CrossCity Christian Church in Fresno, Calif., is spearheading an effort to offer a summer camp for Afghan refugee children in its community. Forty families relocated to Fresno after the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer. CrossCity has been sponsoring one of those families . . .
April 17, 2019
By Jim Nieman Volunteers at Gardenside Christian Church recently finished their sixth winter of helping the homeless population in Lexington, Ky. Gardenside is one of about two dozen churches in the city that participates in the Room in the Inn ministry, says church member Karl VanDyke Jr. Gardenside houses a dozen homeless men on Tuesday nights, twice monthly, during the winter. “We provide everything they need,” VanDyke says. This past winter, 130 Gardenside volunteers were at work seven separate nights. The final tally showed the church provided 84 beds, along with 84 dinners, breakfasts, and brown-bag lunches. VanDyke says volunteers
January 30, 2018
The “Big C” Church shows up to provide a flood of support after Harvey By Tim Liston Hurricane Harvey, the first Category 4 storm to hit the United States since 2004, made landfall south of us on August 26, 2017. That put Houston on the “dirty” or rainy side of the storm. To make matters worse, Harvey stayed on top of Houston for days, pulling water from the Gulf of Mexico and dropping it on the region. Water rose in the streets, with every highway in Houston impassable because of flooding. At one point, nearly 10 inches of rain fell
August 30, 2017
Read “Houston-area Churches Coping with Harvey Flooding.” ________ By Chris Moon All pastor Greg Garcia could do Tuesday evening was wait. Garcia, founding pastor of Creekside Christian Fellowship in Needville, Texas, and his wife were in a hotel room, having been evacuated from their home in Katy, Texas, as the floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey rose. The last he had heard, hours before, was that the water was at his garage””and it was expected to rise another two feet. Serious damage to the family”s house and the loss of three cars seemed quite possible. “If that happens, we”re down to
November 9, 2016
By Jim Tune The hardest part of life, one preacher said, is that it”s so daily. Every day the bed needs to be made. Breakfast needs to be cooked. Dishes, dusting, work, and sleep demand our attention every single day. The same with ministry. Many of our churches need hundreds of volunteers to operate every week. The numbers vary depending on the size of the church, but every church needs people to show up and do their job. There”s not much glory in showing up faithfully, but without it we”re sunk. We get tired, though. The thousandth time a husband
March 22, 2016
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?
September 15, 2015
By Mark A. Taylor Not long after I left ministry in the local church to come to the nine-to-five office environment at Standard Publishing, I had an epiphany. I had taken for granted the volunteers who had helped me at the church. When I needed them to come to a meeting, they came. When I asked them to teach a class, they taught. When I recruited them to give up time to keep my latest notion from failing, they were there. Meanwhile, I counted everything I did for the church as part of the job they were paying me for.
September 14, 2015
Tips, tactics, and testimonies by church leaders who know the value of a volunteer. Compiled by Jennifer Johnson ________ 1. Last fall, I wrote a note to each Bible study leader mentioning specific strengths I see in her. Then I read the notes aloud in our start-up leader meeting. The fun thing was they weren”t expecting this type of affirmation at the beginning of the year. “”Nancy Karpenske, women and spiritual transformation pastor, LifeBridge Christian Church, Longmont, Colorado 2. A couple of times a year we hold major serving events in our community. In our weekend services after each of these events,
September 12, 2015
By Melissa Sandel Without the proper attention, it”s easy to see volunteers drift away from your church”s ministries. Here are proven strategies to keep that from happening. At the center of a local park near my home stands a giant sandbox filled with dozens of well-used toys. From a nearby park bench, I recently observed an industrious toddler filling a plastic bucket with sand and lugging it to his construction site. Back and forth across the sandbox he traveled many times, hauling sand in his tattered bucket. Yet little progress was being made on his sand castle. Why? The kid
August 12, 2014
By Mark A. Taylor In many places, the first day of the new school year is on the horizon, if it hasn”t occurred already. And the local church”s Bible-teaching program is ready to gear-up too. A new season of classes, youth groups, children”s choirs, and small groups usually brings a flurry of worker recruitment. Some churches, unfortunately and ineffectively, will post “help-wanted” ads in church newsletters or make impassioned pleas from the pulpit for nursery workers and children”s teachers. But while support from the preacher can be a vital ingredient in worker recruitment, asking everyone is never as effective as
July 28, 2013
Hear Wayne Cordeiro’s take on balance, sabbath, ministry fruitfulness, apostasy, and how his church approaches volunteers with a challenge to serve. See this interview with CHRISTIAN STANDARD Editor Mark Taylor, recorded in July at the North American Christian Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.
March 24, 2011
By Jennifer Taylor Before developing a new outreach ministry, DaySpring Christian Church (Fort Collins, Colorado) wisely asked community members about their biggest needs. Although the area is noted for an especially high incidence of multiple sclerosis, many people using wheelchairs said they did not have ramps to their front doors. Jim Stroh and other DaySpring volunteers have spent years changing that, one ramp at a time. The team created a consortium with Volunteers of America and local resource agencies for the disabled. Using a combination of his own skills, online information, and official specifications from the Americans with Disabilities Act,
January 17, 2010
By Wilbur Reid III Volunteer church leaders are busy. In addition to the typically demanding workweek, they have family responsibilities: driving kids to practices, maintaining the lawn, staying up with housework and laundry, and everything else that makes a healthy and happy home. On top of that, they feel a calling and responsibility to support the kingdom of God in their local church. They spend hours each week as elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers, nursery workers, and small group leaders. They maintain the building and grounds, sing in the choir, and work with the youth group. This busyness leads to
December 20, 2006
Standard Publishing is underwriting and expanding the Energizing Smaller Churches Network (ESCN). Discover the roster of 10 conferences scheduled for 2007—offering vision, testimony, practical ideas, and encouragement for smaller church leaders and volunteers.
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April 28, 2026
Rick Cherok
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David Faust
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Rick Cherok