Articles for tag: Growth Barriers

October 6, 2017

Christian Standard

Overcoming the Challenges of Rural Ministry

By Justin Horey Imagine you live a half hour from the nearest pizza place, and no one delivers. That”s not the premise for a new reality television show. It”s how Dr. Barney Wells, graduate academic dean and associate professor of Bible and ministry at Lincoln (Illinois) Christian University, playfully defines “rural communities” for his undergraduate students. Although millions of Americans live in rural communities, small-town people are often overlooked and misunderstood by sociologists and economists more focused on serving larger population centers. Likewise, few have studied or analyzed what it takes to succeed and thrive as a ministry in a

October 11, 2006

Christian Standard

Interview with Barry McMurtrie

By Brad Dupray Barry McMurtrie is the product of a small church and has been a leader of small churches. A native Australian, he attended the Churches of Christ Bible College in Sydney and ministered in three churches “down under” at Berwick, Ballarat, and Wollongong (his home church). Each of those churches was below 50 in attendance upon his arrival and had grown to 600 to 1,000 at his departure. In 1994, Barry was called stateside to Corona , California , as senior pastor of Crossroads Christian Church which averaged 1,000 upon his arrival and runs in excess of 5,000

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