October 5, 2022
Churches in Eastern Kentucky will gather for “Together for the Mountains” from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. next Tuesday at the Appalachian Wireless Arena in Pikeville, Ky. The new summit aims to celebrate faith and fellowship with folks from across the region. Plus briefs from Milligan University, CICM, Louisville Bible College, and more.
Church changes its DNA through service projects and grows, with room to expand. By Darrel Rowland Ten years ago, Sunbury Christian Church spent $500,000 to buy 11 acres at the edge of a village in central Ohio. The church knew its old facility less than two miles away was inadequate, despite renovations that added a gym and got rid of the 1960s-era green paisley carpet. Still, half-a-million dollars for a congregation of about 300 as the Great Recession struck? “We swallowed real hard,” remembers senior minister Mike Bratten. “The need outweighed the fear.” The parcel wasn’t just randomly selected.
September 7, 2015
By Darrel Rowland “I did not set out to do radical stuff,” says this year”s NACC president, Mike Baker. But he knew “it was going to be a bit of a risk to our tradition” to schedule a woman to preach at a main session, for one of the very few times in convention history. “There”s two things about me,” Baker said. “I”m an old-school Christian churcher, so I know full well that both my dad and my grandfather, who have passed on, would not approve of me having a woman speaker. But I”m also a word guy, and I”m
September 6, 2015
By Darrel Rowland This year”s NACC offered something from everyone, in a week filled with challenge, a few surprises, and at least one controversy. We speak . . . Both young and old . . . With voices from America to Asia . . . Through dynamic music to dramatic poetry . . . From hard-core theology to lighthearted comedy . . . Via onstage vignettes to on-screen video . . . By anointing with oil to acknowledging those who have gone to their reward . . . Every year it seems the North American Christian Convention offers something for
November 1, 2014
By Darrel Rowland We like to tell people that our brotherhood is among the fastest growing in America and contains far more than its share of megachurches. But there”s a unique factor in how God has blessed the Christian churches/churches of Christ that often gets overlooked: a trio of loan funds that now have a combined $1 billion-plus in assets. “I think it”s just a testament to our movement that it has three strong, vibrant funds,” said Doug Crozier, CEO of the Solomon Foundation and former head of the Church Development Fund (CDF). “As far as I know, there”s not
September 1, 2014
By Darrel Rowland Lee Strobel has made The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and even The Case for Christmas. At the North American Christian Convention, the popular Christian speaker and apologetics author made the case for Christian churches and churches of Christ. “This movement of churches is nothing short of miraculous,” he said the day before taking the NACC stage. “God is doing amazing things. I love their pastors””they”ve got huge hearts, they love the lost, they”re strategic, they”re prayerful, they”re culturally relevant, they”re scriptural, they”re entrepreneurial.” Strobel has appeared at several Christian churches across the country.
September 1, 2014
By Darrel Rowland As with any North American Christian Convention, not all the action was on the main stage. You could mine golden nuggets at every turn. If you found Haydn Shaw”s workshop on the impact of generational differences in the church, you would have heard the sobering observation that people living 35 years longer, on average, is one of God”s most amazing blessings on our time””and millions will go to Hell because of it. Before people started living longer, the next generation would receive the leadership torch because the old folks simply died off. Now, people with power
August 31, 2014
By Darrel Rowland It”s hard to say which was the more unusual sight at this year”s North American Christian Convention: the heavy-metal guitarist with waist-length dreadlocks and arms covered by tattoos as a featured speaker or the video of venerable Ben Merold, now 88, playing the Godfather. Or was it the appearance of a beardless Duck Dynasty star? Perhaps the oversized beach balls and foam flying discs tossed into the crowd before several of the services? Or possibly even the NACC president admitting that his primary prayer to God was “not to screw up the work of his Holy Spirit”
March 14, 2014
By Darrel Rowland Which do you perceive as the bigger danger: Christian churches and churches of Christ being overly exclusive and thus missing out on opportunities for real service and growth available by greater interaction with other Christian groups, . . . or brotherhood churches losing their scriptural distinctive, especially on baptism and weekly observance of the Lord”s Supper, by interacting with other Christian groups? Bob Russell, Retired minister, Louisville, Kentucky Twenty-five years ago I would have answered that the greater danger was that we were too exclusive””we isolated ourselves too much. Today I think the greater danger is we
March 13, 2014
By Darrel Rowland Most of us love this old Restoration Movement slogan: “We are not the only Christians, but Christians only.” But Christian leaders from across the country contacted by CHRISTIAN STANDARD all wrestle with big-picture questions about what overarching principles flow from the adage. Most generally agree with Bob Russell, retired senior minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, about what to do when invited to attend or speak at an event outside the immediate fellowship. “I will go anywhere as long as I”m not restricted in what I can say or my presence doesn”t leave the impression
November 8, 2013
By Darrel Rowland Ajai Lall once preached with AK-47s pointed at him. Another time he had 200 bullets fired into his bedroom for sharing the gospel. Many of his fellow Christians in India have been killed, raped, had their homes and church buildings burned, and/or were driven from their jobs and schools because of their faith. “We are a microscopic minority,” Lall says. “Either you are a committed Christian or you are not. You don”t compromise. You live out your faith.” When Lall looks to the United States, he sees how values and standards have slid as committed Christians become
September 14, 2013
By Darrel Rowland For decades Americans fled the city for suburbs, and their churches followed them. But the trend has reversed””at least for now””with more people moving into the city. Will churches return with them? That”s a key question because the statistics showing the new boom in city growth collide with findings on spiritual beliefs, such as those compiled by pollster George Barna. The country”s current demographic upheaval is stark. From 2001 to 2010 only five U.S. cities grew faster than their surrounding suburbs. Now most cities are outstripping the “burbs, which hasn”t happened since the 1920s. A U.S. Census
September 2, 2013
By Darrel Rowland The February weekend Matt Proctor found out his wife, Katie, had cancer was filled with tears, fears, and scary portents. The Sunday morning lesson he had to teach didn”t help; it was on Ruth and Naomi, both widowed when their spouses died. Emotionally wrung out by Sunday night, he suggested his kids pick out a movie and they would all gather downstairs and watch it together. The choice was the Disney-Pixar animated film Up. Within the first few minutes of the movie, the husband loses his wife. “I had tears rolling down my cheeks,” Proctor says. Less
August 5, 2013
By Darrel Rowland The woman who can never stand up got a standing ovation simply for guiding her wheelchair onto the stage. Why did the entire hall of thousands of Christians rise to applaud Joni Eareckson Tada””an honor given to no other speaker during this year”s North American Christian Convention in Louisville, Kentucky””even before she uttered a syllable? Perhaps because her life embodies the theme of the 2013 gathering: “Victorious.” Convention President Matt Proctor”s decision to spend July 9-12 plowing through the book of Revelation may have generated skepticism beforehand, but the reaction afterward was overwhelmingly positive. “I think this is
June 1, 2013
By Darrel Rowland RiverTree Christian Church in Massillon, Ohio, has not tried to become just a little more missional. Led by visionary minister Greg Nettle, more than three years ago the church made a revolutionary commitment to a missional strategy for all its ministry. The result is breeding influence and disciple-building in a way Nettle believes is vital for the very survival of the church in America. Just a few minutes after Greg Nettle”s message and the closing song, a man with an idea pulls him aside in the hallway. “You know what? I know all these remodelers,” the contractor
September 11, 2012
Two churches gave away more than $176,000 through special offerings, supporting community organizations and a children's hospital. Their experiences show how generosity can strengthen relationships, encourage congregations, and extend the church's impact.
By Darrel Rowland As citizens of the U.S. prepare either to re-elect Barack Obama or elect Mitt Romney as president of the United States, one issue some will consider is the candidates” positions on immigration. President Barack Obama (Democrat) “¢ Says the U.S. Border Patrol is better staffed than at any time in its almost 90-year history, with more than double the agents from 2004 (much of the hiring happened under President George W. Bush); unmanned aerial surveillance covers the border from California to Texas; some 650 miles of the southwestern border has been fenced, including about 300 miles
June 20, 2012
Jon Weece reflects on fatigue, discouragement, conflict, and generational divides in church leadership—and the love, humility, shared burdens, and multigenerational relationships needed for long-term ministry.
June 8, 2012
Research about church growth and ministerial longevity raises difficult questions for longtime ministers—and challenges congregations to examine their outreach, comfort, and willingness to embrace new approaches.
Bob Russell and Dave Stone reflect on leadership longevity, pastoral succession, changing energy, and the importance of sharing responsibility with younger leaders during a senior minister's later years.
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