Articles for tag: Jack Cottrell

January 29, 2019

Christian Standard

Ravi and Me

By Jack Cottrell Several years ago Ravi Zacharias and I were on the same program. Ravi accepted an invitation to speak at Cincinnati Christian University on April 29, 2014. He spoke twice, once in morning chapel and once for an evening banquet. About three weeks before the event, the school president, David Faust, sent me a request that said, in part, “As part of the program prior to Ravi’s speech in the evening, I would like to interview you briefly about the ongoing relevance of apologetics, especially as it relates to our work at CCU. . . . If you

January 29, 2016

Christian Standard

Contraception? One View

By Jack Cottrell This is one of four views of contraception written by Bible college professors. Other views are written by Phil Kenneson, Mark Weedman, and Robert Pate. Is it moral for a married couple to use contraceptive devices to prevent pregnancy? By contraception we mean the prevention of conception, which is the fertilization of the ovum by the sperm. We do NOT mean the prevention of the implantation of a fertilized ovum””a newly formed baby””in the wall of the womb. This clarification is important because some so-called “contraceptives” do not necessarily prevent conception. Rather, they can allow the new baby to form, but then

September 7, 2015

Christian Standard

Baker Knew Speaker Choice Was Unconventional

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

July 31, 2015

Christian Standard

Tom Ellsworth’s Thought Leaders

We asked 35 Christian leaders, “Who is the influencer with the biggest impact on your life and ministry?” Most of these leaders listed several influential thinkers, writers, innovators, and leaders more of us should get to know. This response is from Tom Ellsworth, senior minister with Sherwood Oaks Christian Church, Bloomington, Indiana. ________ Theology: Jack Cottrell Devotional study: Max Lucado, Ken Gire, Mark Atteberry A deeper challenge: N.T. Wright, Dallas Willard Cultural study: Thom Rainer Inspiration and perhaps my all-around favorite: John Ortberg

July 12, 2014

Christian Standard

Wayne’s Words

By Jack Cottrell (From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I’ve Ever Received.”) As early as junior high school I had decided I wanted to be a preacher, but well-meaning high school teachers pressured me in other directions. I grew up on a farm and was active in vocational agriculture during high school, and was awarded a nice scholarship by our county farm bureau. Thus, by the time I was a senior, I had changed my mind and decided to enroll in the University of Kentucky to study agriculture. Either in the summer of 1954 or 1955, during senior

July 8, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

Their Advice””and Ours

By Mark A. Taylor Some of the best advice I ever received was from Roy Lawson, longtime member of Standard Publishing”s Publishing Committee, and one of this magazine”s original contributing editors. “Emphasize people,” he told me when I asked for ways to make CHRISTIAN STANDARD more effective. “Highlight what people are doing. Promote their ministries and their accomplishments.” Through the years I”ve followed that advice in more ways than one, including a series of special posts you”ll be seeing at this site starting today, all of them from our July print edition”s central feature, “The Best (or Worst!) Advice I

July 1, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

My Advice

By Mark A. Taylor Some of the best advice I ever received was from Roy Lawson, longtime member of Standard Publishing”s Publishing Committee, and one of this magazine”s original contributing editors. “Emphasize people,” he told me when I asked for ways to make CHRISTIAN STANDARD more effective. “Highlight what people are doing. Promote their ministries and their accomplishments.” Through the years I”ve followed that advice in more ways than one, none of them more engaging than the major feature of this month”s issue. I love our “Best (or Worst!) Advice” pieces for several reasons. First, of course, is the advice

February 10, 2014

Christian Standard

Lesson for February 16, 2014: Show Your Faith by Your Works (James 2:14-26)

This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. ______ By Sam E. Stone Some Bible teachers suggest that Paul and James disagree with each other about the place of faith and works in a person”s salvation. They don”t, however. In today”s text James did not attack Paul”s teaching that a Christian is saved by God”s grace. Instead he corrected what A. T. Robertson called “the ceremonial ritualism of the Pharisees.”   Evaluating Genuine Faith James 2:14-19 Real faith isn”t something you just talk about. Biblical faith includes trust and

July 18, 2012

Christian Standard

Their Questions, Your Answers with These Two New Titles

By Mark A. Taylor Questions are good. We can welcome questions when they come from a person with honest doubt. Most people we”ll meet with questions about our faith are not at peace with their uncertainty. They want answers. They want time to ponder our conclusions and the reasons we believe. But sometimes Christians are threatened when confronted by questions from folks who don”t believe in God, can”t accept the Bible, or consider Jesus as nothing more than a great teacher. Sometimes Christians take the questions as a personal attack. Sometimes we react with anger or derision because we don”t

August 4, 2011

Christian Standard

Inexpensive Downloads to Help Your Ministry

By Mark A. Taylor Here”s a reminder about a whole host of inexpensive, downloadable resources available for your church now. As you anticipate the after-summer ramp-up of activities and ministries, which of the following would help your ministry most? For new members and nonmembers””Our most popular “What Kind of Church Is This?” gives you 8 full-color pages that explain the unique and beautiful nondenominational position of Christian churches and churches of Christ. “Simply Christians,” which originally appeared in The Lookout, is a 12-page overview to accomplish the same purpose. One user called “Simply Christians” “the best short-form overview of the

July 19, 2011

Christian Standard

The Holy Spirit and the First-Century Church

By Jack Cottrell The Holy Spirit, as one of the three persons of the Trinity, has been working alongside the Father and the Son since the world began (Genesis 1:2). He was involved in the life of God”s people, Israel, from the days of Moses onward (Numbers 11:17, 25; Isaiah 63:10-12). When the church took the place of Israel as the people of God, the Spirit continued his work and indeed added a new blessing, as indicated in Acts 2. He will continue to work among God”s people throughout this age and in the age everlasting. This essay focuses upon

September 1, 2010

Christian Standard

Answering the Challenge for Bible Materials in Spanish

By Jennifer Taylor Good Books When Jon and Kathy Underwood visited Colombian Christian Mission in 2005, missionary Dale Meade asked the couple to outline a course of study for general and graduate-level Bible training. Jon created a sequence including Bible surveys, history, and theology””and received another request from Dale. “The team really wanted more challenging materials and asked us to consider translating and publishing books into Spanish,” Kathy says. “We were concerned about a conflict of interest, since Jon works at Standard Publishing. But we explained the project and received their blessing to move forward.” In 2006 the Underwoods created

April 11, 2010

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Focusing on Grace

By LeRoy Lawson Murray Hollis, Preacher, You”ve Got Friends (Joplin: Christian Friends Connexion, 2009). Jack Cottrell, Set Free! What the Bible Says About Grace (Joplin: College Press, 2009). Michael C. Mack, Burnout-free Small Group Leadership (Houston: Touch Publications, 2009). Roger Parrott, The Longview: Lasting Strategies for Rising Leaders (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2009). Murray Hollis has done Christian church ministers a real favor. His Preacher, You”ve Got Friends compiles 25 stories by “battle-tested Christian leaders” whose personal experiences “will fortify your faith and build your determination to face your next trial or challenge.” I know most of the writers; I even knew some of

July 29, 2009

Christian Standard

Valuable Downloads for You and Others You Know

By Mark A. Taylor Every media outlet in the country is working to make information available to readers who want it via the Internet. Here at CHRISTIAN STANDARD we”ve been doing this for years. Our Web site, www.ChristianStandard.com, offers a wealth of new and archived material from the magazine, plus our Web-only features: blogs, weekly Sunday school lessons, extended interviews, reader comments, and more. All these are reasons thousands of Web users visit our site every week. In addition we”re creating a growing list of downloads. Each of these is inexpensive, easy to order, and valuable for teaching, preaching, or

March 8, 2009

Christian Standard

Read More About Baptism . . .

By Jon Weatherely (This is a sidebar to Jon Weatherly’s article, “What Baptism Requests”)   G.R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962). The most detailed work on the subject, from a British Baptist scholar. G.R. Beasley-Murray, “Baptism, Wash,” New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975″“85), 143-161. A briefer version of material found in the same author”s book. G.R. Beasley-Murray, “Baptism,” Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (Downers Grove: InterVarsity), 60″“66. As above, with particular focus on Paul”s letters. Jack Cottrell, Baptism: A Biblical Study (Joplin: College Press, 2006). A thorough,

February 15, 2009

Christian Standard

Still Amazed! The 2009 North American Christian Convention

By Jeff Stone A few years ago I was returning with a carload of ministers from another minister”s funeral. We stopped for lunch at a Ponderosa. As I opened the back door to climb out of my friend”s car, I accidentally clipped the truck beside it. I surveyed the damage. The door had left a white mark on the gleaming pickup. I winced, in part, because I am a truck lover. I determined I needed to locate the truck”s owner and offer to pay to have it buffed out at a body shop. As we ate, from my window seat,

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