December 18, 2025
The Best Christmas Ever
Dr. Joe Grana recalls the story of a Christmas that changed everything in his life and was the best Christmas ever.
Articles for tag: Invitation Hymn
November 1, 2022
Close the Sale!
The Eternal Power of the Tried-and-True Public Invitation
January 20, 2015
After Selma
By Mark A. Taylor About 100 people were at the 7:05 p.m. showing of Selma in the theater where my wife and I sat last Saturday night. Of that number, we were two of about 10 white folks in the house. Everyone else was African-American. This was something different from the typical weekend movies crowd. Whole families were there. And senior citizens; I saw at least two on walkers labor to their seats on the handicapped row. It would be much more than two hours of entertainment for them. We were about to see a depiction of history these folks
December 27, 2014
The Agony and the Honor
By Daniel Schantz I rose from my chair and shuffled over to the pulpit. My hands were shaking and my voice wavered. “I”m sorry,” I said to the congregation, “but I have nothing for you today. I just couldn”t come up with a sermon.” Members of the audience stared at each other in bewilderment. Then I awoke, relieved to find I was just having a nightmare, one that I have had on and off all my life””that I am stepping into the pulpit unprepared, the ultimate disgrace. Writing sermons is the hardest writing I ever do; it is exquisite agony,
March 2, 2012
Sitting Pretty
By Daniel Schantz The wooden pew is a kind of symbol of the church in the past century. For a preacher”s son who grew up in the 1950s, the church pew provided me with stability, discipline, and plenty of fuel for a child”s imagination. Stability Almost everything in those old churches was made of wood. Wood was warm, smooth, pretty, and as stable as an anvil. Children sat with their parents during worship in those days before graded worship, a practice that many churches are reviving today. The first thing a child learned in church is that God is forgiving. The second
January 15, 2011
Whatever Happened to the Invitation?
By Mark Atteberry The elders at my church very graciously gave me seven weeks off, a kind of mini-sabbatical. It was during the summer and my wife and I had a trip planned anyway, so we laid out a plan to visit a different church every weekend. We chose a mixture of large and small churches, city and rural churches, and Restoration Movement and denominational churches from Florida to the mountain west. Overall, it was a positive experience. We heard some fine sermons, met some nice people, and picked up a few good ideas. There was, however, one big surprise
January 2, 2011
The Essential About Opinions
by Mark A. Taylor Any parent of young adults knows two things: First, you”ll always be a parent. Just because they”re out of the house, you don”t stop worrying about their health and their choices and their future. Just because they”re earning a living, you don”t stop wondering if they have enough money. Second, and more important, the parent of young adults must keep his opinions to himself””or at least state them in a gentle way that earns a hearing. Grown children don”t respond well to lectures from their parents, especially when they passionately disagree about the issue at hand.
August 8, 2010
Were You Old Enough to Be Baptized?
By Mark A. Taylor A discussion of baptism in Christian Standard usually stimulates spirited response, and that will probably happen after readers digest this issue, too. As always, we welcome your letters and e-mails, but we hope readers will keep two things in mind as they write us: Remember that a fourth article, Part 2 of Theresa Welch”s “search for a new model,” will appear next week. She offers a balanced, careful approach, one that does not reject current understandings, but only serves to enrich them. You may want to read the next issue before writing us about this one.
January 22, 2006
The Public Act of Accepting Christ
How do churches help people respond to the gospel? This article shares real-world approaches—from invitations and counseling rooms to baptism practices—highlighting celebration, clarity, and the next steps of discipleship.
