Articles for tag: COVID

May 1, 2021

Justin Horey

SPOTLIGHT: Crossroads Christian Church (Macon, MO)

Delivering Groceries and Joy At Crossroads Christian Church in Macon, Missouri, the biggest wins of 2020 came in the form of spontaneous acts of service. In a year filled with unexpected challenges and unexpected ministry opportunities, Crossroads found two simple but significant ways to bless their neighbors. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the owners of the local grocery store asked the church to assist with deliveries. For years, the store had delivered groceries to elderly residents in the community each week, but when the first stay-at-home orders were issued, it was impossible to keep up with the

May 1, 2021

Justin Horey

SPOTLIGHT: Discovery Church (Bristol, TN)

Making an Impact Through Service Service is a way of life at Discovery Church in Bristol, Tennessee. The church was founded on a culture of service that has endured throughout the congregation’s 10-year history. Discovery’s current lead pastor, Matt Korell, served as a missionary in Taiwan before accepting the call to lead the church, and his experience overseas impressed upon him the importance of service. “This church has a spirit of serving,” Korell said, and that spirit is part of what attracted him to Discovery. One tradition at the church is “Sent to Serve” Sunday; these take place typically four

May 1, 2021

Justin Horey

SPOTLIGHT: Boones Creek Christian Church (Johnson City, TN)

God’s Word Brings Growth At the beginning of 2019, Boones Creek Christian Church in Johnson City, Tennessee, started a three-year sermon series on the Trinity. Senior minister David Clark planned to spend a year preaching and teaching on God the Father, a year on the person of Christ, and a year on the Holy Spirit. In 2020, the focus was on Jesus. David Eversole, the church’s administrative minister, recalled that the first two months of 2020 were an encouraging time for the congregation because of the churchwide emphasis on learning about Jesus. Not only were the Sunday sermons all about

May 1, 2021

Justin Horey

SPOTLIGHT: ONE&ALL Church (San Dimas, CA, and International)

More Than Just a Name Change Until recently, ONE&ALL Church was known as Christ’s Church of the Valley. The church changed its name when it began expanding its multisite model outside of Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley. Today, ONE&ALL Church has campuses as far away as Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain, and Pakistan. Its worship services are also broadcast daily on Christian radio into many other countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Indonesia. Through partnerships with various Christian radio networks, ONE&ALL Church is transmitting the gospel to remote parts of the globe—what senior pastor Jeff Vines calls “unreachable places.” Vines explained

May 1, 2021

Justin Horey

SPOTLIGHT: Alvadore Christian Church (Junction City, OR)

Exactly What This Very Small Church Needed Advancing their technology has never been a top priority at Alvadore Christian Church, a congregation of about 65 people in the small, rural town of Junction City, Oregon. It’s not that senior pastor Marcus Omdahl is old-fashioned. Omdahl is a sharp young leader with a wife and school-age daughter. But until recently, he understood that livestreaming was not something the congregation or the community was likely to embrace. Of course, that all changed with the spread of COVID-19 early in 2020. Immediately, Alvadore Christian, like so many other churches, suspended in-person worship services

May 1, 2021

Justin Horey

SPOTLIGHT: 2|42 Community Church (Michigan)

No Needs Meets Many Needs The first few months of 2020 brought a series of major changes to 2|42 Community Church. First, the church added three new campuses, increasing its total number of locations from four to seven. Next, founding pastor David Dummitt departed after accepting the call to serve as senior pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. Then, of course, the pandemic shut down live worship services at all seven of the congregation’s campuses. Despite all of that, executive pastor Eric Rauch said the most significant event of 2020 was “The No Needs Project,” a

April 26, 2021

Christian Standard

Comfort Food

When Jesus and his followers gathered together in Jerusalem to share the Last Supper, they were tired, anxious, weary, and afraid. They definitely needed some “comfort food”!

April 1, 2021

Terrence Turman

How Simon of Cyrene’s Unexpected Journey Can Change Us

I relish my memories of playing college football. I often think back to the locker-room antics and bus rides. I think about the big wins and bad losses. I remember all the sayings from the coaches and laugh; some would be fight-worthy insults except for the personal relationships we had. In saying all of that, I should clarify that I wasn’t just an ordinary football player, I was an offensive lineman. I specify that because most offensive linemen would tell you what we most enjoyed about football was moving a man against his will wherever we wanted to push him.

April 1, 2021

Renee Little

Open

I had always assumed suicide rates were higher in the winter months. Cold winds, icy streets, gray skies, and more time alone indoors were all things I equated with sadness and depression. This most recent winter brought an even colder chill—a storm in the form of a pandemic that shut down activities, closed stores, and stopped people from gathering. And with this storm came the gusty wind of political tension. People bundled themselves up with fear, worry, and a deep sadness in what had been lost over the past 12 months. Save.org—a website operated by Suicide Awareness Voices of Education—shares

March 24, 2021

Christian Standard

Church Planter Reflects on Life, Ministry a Year after Nashville Tornado

Just six months after the launch of Alive Nashville, a tornado swept through East Nashville and destroyed the building the church had been meeting in. The tornado struck March 3, 2020. "About 24 hours after [that], we were at an impromptu meeting with several area churches," lead pastor Brandon Jacobs said. "An hour later, my wife and I were standing in the middle of rubble coordinating volunteers and relief workers."

March 1, 2021

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

The Truth about Bible Reading

By Kent E. Fillinger Biblegateway.com offers 61 different Bible translations and paraphrases for readers to choose from. I’ve half-jokingly said for years that most Christians choose to read the MOV(My Own Version) Bible. The Jefferson Bible—more properly called The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth—may be the most noteworthy example of trying to make the Bible fit one’s personal perspective. Our nation’s third president, Thomas Jefferson, like many at the time, shed his orthodox Christianity in stages. He started by doubting the Trinity, then Old Testament miracles, and then New Testament miracles. During his presidency, Jefferson extracted, reduced, and

February 3, 2021

Christian Standard

‘Best Christian Workplaces’ Selected (Plus News Briefs)

The Best Christian Workplace Institute has honored 157 faith-based organizations as “2020’s Certified Best Christian Workplaces.” Among those churches, mission organizations, and parachurch ministries honored: • 2|42 Community Church, Brighton, Mich. • Canyon Ridge Christian Church, Las Vegas, Nev. • Christ’s Church of the Valley, Peoria, Ariz. • Compass Christian Church, Chandler, Ariz. • Kingsway Christian Church, Avon, Ind. • Northridge Christian Church, Milledgeville, Ga. • Southeast Christian Church, Parker, Colo. • StoneBridge Christian Church, Omaha, Neb. • Summit Christian Church, Sparks, Nev. • Traders Point Christian Church, Indianapolis • CDF Capital, Irvine, Calif. • Christian Children’s Home of Ohio, Wooster,

January 20, 2021

Christian Standard

Grubert Named CFO/COO of Financial Planning Ministry (Plus News Briefs)

Grace Grubert has been promoted to the new dual positions of chief financial officer and chief operations officer (CFO/COO) of Financial Planning Ministry in Irvine, Calif. Grubert joined FPM in 2008 and has been serving as director of administration during a time of great growth at the organization. FPM is a nonprofit partnership of national charities dedicated to providing a path to sound biblical stewardship through donor estate planning. In her new role, Grubert will be supported by a national team of 35 staff members serving 100 charitable partners. Together they serve 34,000 estate planned families and have helped facilitate

January 18, 2021

Christian Standard

The Power of Blood

By Randy Ballinger During the pandemic, blood donation centers have sought out individuals who have recovered from COVID-19. Apparently, the antibody-rich blood plasma these individuals donate possibly can save the lives of those critically ill with the virus. The lone purpose for blood is to sustain life. Donating blood brings healing. There is power in the blood. God personified blood in rebuking Cain after Abel’s murder: “Your brother’s blood cries out to me” (Genesis 4:10). After the flood, God instructed Noah, “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood” (Genesis 9:4, New American Standard Bible,

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