May 27, 2025
A Fine Time for Failure
Daniel Schantz shares an experience that taught him two valuable lessons that everyone in ministry should know.
Articles for tag: Daniel Schantz
November 9, 2024
Passing of Long-Time CCCB Professor Gareth L. Reese (1932-2024)
Long-time professor, author, and minister, Gareth L. Reese, passed from this life at age 92 on Thursday, November 7, 2024.
June 18, 2024
The Lone Ranger Comes to Church
We seem to be returning to those “thrilling days of the yesteryear," as more and more Americans are toting guns, even in church. News reports indicate a growing number of churches are training church members as armed guards. Is this a good idea? . . .
May 14, 2024
Big Little Churches
"A church with only 12 members is barely a church, but almost every weekend I preach in small Missouri churches whose attendances range from 12 to 112," Daniel Schantz writes. "When people hear that I am preaching at such small churches they often shake their heads and say, 'That’s a shame. Why don’t they just close the doors and go to a bigger church that has more to offer them?'” . . .
December 25, 2023
And Old, New Celebration
"Let us not get tired of doing what is right . . ."
December 19, 2023
The Wish Book
Over the next several days, Christian leaders will be sharing favorite Christmas memories with readers. Today we hear from retired Christian educator Dan Schantz about "The Holy Grail of Christmas" his mother would bring home during the last week of August. . . .
November 1, 2022
Close the Sale!
The Eternal Power of the Tried-and-True Public Invitation
September 2, 2022
Lloyd Pelfrey & Gareth Reese: 130 Years of Service
Daniel Schantz shares memories of teaching alongside Lloyd Pelfrey and Gareth Reese at Central Christian College of the Bible in Moberly, Mo. Pelfrey and Reese both concluded 65 of service to the school in the spring.
March 10, 2020
Grapes of Peace
By Daniel Schantz “The blossoming [grape] vines spread their fragrance” (Song of Solomon 2:13). The grape juice our churches use for Communion was developed by Thomas Welch, a Methodist minister, physician, and teetotaler, in the 1860s. He thought it hypocritical for preachers to oppose drinking and then serve alcoholic wine for the Lord’s Supper. Since grape juice contains its own leaven, he used pasteurization to stop fermentation. Welch’s Grape Juice Company resulted from his efforts to sell the juice to churches. But the choice of “grape juice” as the symbol of Christ was entirely God’s idea, and it was the
December 16, 2019
The Jewel Tree
By Daniel Schantz “Don’t bother to buy a Christmas tree,” my wife, Sharon, said as she peered out the window at our neighbors who were struggling to get an oversized tree through their front door. “No one is coming to see us this season, so what’s the point?” She sounded disappointed. “Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed. “I think this is going to be the Christmas that wasn’t.” This Christmas would be a special trial for me—my first since I retired after training student-leaders for world service for 43 years. All that time, I “lived” in the classrooms of Central Christian
August 22, 2019
The Inescapable Church
By Daniel Schantz A farmer came up to me after a church service and asked, “Which do you think is better, a big church or a small church?” I pondered a moment and then answered with a question of my own: “Well, which is better, a big truck or a small truck?” He grinned. “It depends. If you have a thousand acres of soybeans to harvest, you’ll need an 18-wheeler, but for most farm jobs a pickup truck is about right.” In other words, there is no one-size-fits-all truck. Likewise, there is no one-size-fits-all institution or church. Do all convenience
January 29, 2019
Learning the Ministry of Receiving
By Daniel Schantz The best thing about teaching in a Christian college was that someone always needed me for something. “Professor, help! I need ideas! I’m teaching junior high boys in camp!” “Dan, you’re up for devotions in the faculty meeting tomorrow.” “Hey, Schantzy, you’re the car guy around here. . . . Is it normal for a transmission to smell like burnt pepperoni?” Now I have retired to a subdivision outside of town, where I have suddenly gone from being needed to being needy. The 10 families who live out here are rather independent. Only my wife needs me
December 23, 2018
The Christmas Vision
By Daniel Schantz I was a high school freshman in 1957 when the Russians stunned the world by launching Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite. I was living in the little town of Sabina, Ohio, where my father was minister of the church of Christ. My brother Tommy and I were like the rocket boys in the movie October Sky. After school we would stuff homemade propellant into cardboard tubes and fire our miniature missiles high into the air, where they would disappear, never to be found. But we wanted to go higher, farther into space, so one evening my
October 4, 2018
A Furnished House for the Preacher
CS Archive from October 3, 1903 _ _ _ When I arrived at Christian Standard more than 20 years ago, I heard many arguments against parsonages. And indeed, during my time at the church of my birth, the congregation sold three “homes” for various reasons. It was surprising, then, to come across this essay from 115 years ago suggesting that churches should purchase and furnish a home for their minister. The article from page 7 of the Oct. 3, 1903, edition, was written by a man—at least, I assume it was a man—from Turner, Oregon. _ _ _ A Furnished
March 25, 2018
Surprised by Life
(This article originally appeared in the April 2013 issue of Christian Standard) By Daniel Schantz To a child, a cemetery is the perfect playground. It has a hundred hiding places, and if you fall down, the grass is very forgiving. I was 7 years old, playing hide-and-seek in the cemetery next to the country church, just outside of New Antioch, Ohio, where my father preached. “Don’t play on the graves,” my mother warned. “It’s disrespectful.” “OK,” I said, but I didn’t see it her way. I thought that if I were buried in the ground I would get really
December 17, 2017
The Merry Makeover
This essay originally appeared in the December 2012 issue of Christian Standard. ___ By Daniel Schantz It was the worst of times for children. Charles Dickens, a handsome man of 31, trudged up the steps of Number One Downing Terrace, a tall brick house surrounded by flower beds. He was returning from his morning walk. Often he walked 10 to 20 miles a day around London. One day he would walk through the rich neighborhoods. The next day he would pass through the rookeries, or slums, where as many as 30 children lived in one room, with no bathing facilities. The
November 23, 2017
All in the Family
By Daniel Schantz “Seven times a day I praise you” (Psalm 119:164). It”s Thanksgiving season, the perfect time to give thanks for the family of God. The Father””We can be thankful that God, the Father, let his Son make the trip to earth. Letting go of our children when they grow up is the hardest thing a parent ever does. We know what they will have to face, but holding them back is selfish and weakens them. How did God, the Father, find the strength to stand by while the Jewish leaders slimed his Son, kicked him around, and then
April 19, 2017
Fighting Fear with Fear
By Daniel Schantz I was at a church dinner visiting with a highway patrolman, and he said, “Dan, I deal every day with a culture that has no conscience. These guys don”t care who gets hurt. They are not afraid of the police . . . they don”t fear God himself.” It was a sobering revelation, because fear is vital to civilization, and most normal people have a number of instinctive fears. Typical Fears Surveys of the American public show a variety of fears out there””the fear of public speaking, of dentists, of climate change, for example. Women fear losing
March 27, 2017
The Solomon Syndrome
By Daniel Schantz When an old friend of ours left his wife for a younger model, I was dumbstruck. “He”s smarter than that,” I said to my wife. “He knows better.” His villainy didn”t bother me as much as his sheer stupidity. We all do stupid things, like texting and driving, but when someone really smart does something dumb, well, that”s just inexcusable. And yet, being smart doesn”t make it any easier to behave. Being good has more to do with emotions and willpower than with brains. Smart people have all the same temptations we all do, plus some that
December 23, 2016
Better Than Christmas
By Daniel Schantz “A good name is better than precious ointment, And the day of death than the day of one”s birth” (Ecclesiastes 7:1, New King James Version). There is nothing so magical as the birth of a child, whether it”s a routine birth or a baby that comes in the taxi on the way to the hospital. There is always that frisson of fear””is the baby normal? Does he have all his fingers and toes? Were there complications? Is mother OK? And there is curiosity. “Is it a girl? Is it a boy? Is she pretty? Is he cute?”
