Articles for tag: Jeremiah

April 1, 2021

Dan Hamel

Pilate’s Guide on How to Miss the Truth

Most of us think we are unbiased in our quest for truth. We like to think of ourselves as impartial evaluators of data who seek to arrive at the best decision. But the truth is, most of the time, we desire a specific conclusion, and we search the data in such a way that helps us end up there. We overlook red flags and yellow lights. We come up with excuses and unreasonable explanations. And we usually don’t even realize we are doing it. We think we are looking for the best answer, when in reality we are looking for

March 1, 2021

Tyler McKenzie

Truth and Tone in an Age of Fake News

One of the disorienting realities of living in the United States today is not knowing where to go for truth. Think about it—who do you go to for truth? Politicians? The media? The church? Christian Twitter? Google? The irony is we have more access to content and commentary than ever, but who can we trust? Trust has completely eroded in our society. A 2018 research study conducted by the Pew Research Center cited these statistics: 75 percent of Americans say trust in the federal government is shrinking 64 percent say trust in other Americans is shrinking 61 percent say you

March 1, 2021

Dale Reeves

What Breaks God’s Heart?

Last year, Trevor DeVage challenged our church to pray every day for a week, “God, break my heart with the things that break your heart!” That’s not a safe or easy prayer. It’s not consistent with the God-please-bless-me-and-take-care-of-my-needs-and-answer-my-prayers-the-way-I-want-you-to Christianity that many American believers have grown accustomed to. I can’t claim to know everything that breaks God’s heart, but I know one must be when I try to hide from him and go my own way—as Adam and Eve did in the garden. If I wrote about everything that breaks God’s heart, this would be a very long article! But I’d

March 1, 2021

Michael C. Mack

‘Truth Is Something to Be Done’

Truth is personal to me. In my mid-twenties, I went on a journey seeking answers to the paramount questions, “What is truth and where can I find it?” My search took me on a logic-based study of various religions, spiritual beliefs, and systems of thought . . . and eventually led me to Jesus. In him I found the answers that nothing else in the world could provide. “What is truth?” is the foundational question for Christian faith, apologetics, and preaching. It’s especially important in today’s cultural climate in which the question has morphed to “Is there really any such

March 1, 2021

Jim Estep

Truth Is Inconvenient

The very idea of truth seems almost to have disappeared. We live in a time of facts and “alternative facts.” We too often focus on favorable information rather than verifiable data. If you don’t like what you hear on the news, simply dismiss it by labeling it “fake news.” We don’t affirm truth, it seems, but truthiness (“the quality of seeming or being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true,” according to dictionary.com). The Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year in 2016 was post-truth (“denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than

November 13, 2020

Christian Standard

What Breaks God’s Heart?

The Answer May Help Us Pray More Passionately for God’s Will in Our Lives, Churches, Communities, and Nation By Dale Reeves Earlier this month, Trevor DeVage challenged our church to pray every day for a week, “God, break my heart with the things that break your heart!” That’s not a safe or easy prayer. It’s not consistent with the God-please-bless-me-and-take-care-of-my-needs-and-answer-my-prayers-the-way-I-want-you-to Christianity that many American believers have grown accustomed to. I can’t claim to know everything that breaks God’s heart, but I know one must be when I try to hide from him and go my own way—as Adam and Eve

September 22, 2020

Michael C. Mack

The Pandemic’s Leadership Lessons

By Michael C. Mack Great leaders have a blend of humility—they know that they don’t know everything—and a curiosity to discover answers. They are constantly learning from a variety of sources, beginning with God’s Word, but also through books, mentors, failures, crises, and personal struggles, to name just a few. Perhaps John F. Kennedy summarized it best: “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” The pandemic and all of its interconnected effects have provided a wellspring of important learning opportunities for us. In this issue, our writers highlight many of these. Here are four I believe are especially worth

August 15, 2020

Christian Standard

‘I Will Bring You Back’

Lessons from the Babylonian Captivity for Modern-Day ‘Exiles’ By Arron Chambers During this pandemic, quarantine, and sheltering at-home orders, I’ve found myself drawn to Bible stories of liberation and freedom from captivity. We were created to be free—not isolated, alienated, held in captivity, or exiled indefinitely. Even so, such things happen, and it happened to the people of God during a period of 70 years we call the Babylonian captivity. They’d been warned. Warning In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump and a team of doctors gave daily briefings. Day after day they presented numbers and charts

August 15, 2020

Christian Standard

Moving from Crisis to Renewal

What Leaders Do When Their Plans Are Reduced to Rubble By Austin Gohn I was 30 days into my “first 90 days” plan when I closed our church building indefinitely. After working at the church for seven years and completing a six-month interview process, I stepped into the role of lead pastor at the end of February—barely a month before something called the coronavirus went from a fringe news report to dominating the headlines (and my Twitter feed). I had read The First 90 Days, a Harvard Business Review book, and created a plan that involved dozens of trust-building conversations,

January 2, 2020

Christian Standard

'Called to Counsel': How We Are Sharing God's Grace with the Hurting and Lost

“I was sick and you looked after me.“ _ _ _ By Heath Neal Everywhere you look, people are sick and hurting. At our church, we encounter people every week hurting from the sickness of sin. Some of their pain comes from the sin of others, but often it is the devastating result of their own sin. This shouldn’t surprise us. Scripture repeatedly tells us we all are sinners. (See Genesis 3; Romans 3:10, 23; Jeremiah 17:9; and John 3:17-21 as examples.) For years, our church’s response to the sick and hurting was to pray for them and hand them

December 4, 2019

Christian Standard

Three Stories of Hope: The Legacy of Cincinnati Ministry Education

By David Fincher (This article is adapted from comments delivered at the Cincinnati Christian University alumni homecoming on November 9 and at the International Conference on Missions on November 15.) As a graduate of Central Christian College of the Bible, Moberly, Mo., I have long known the influence of Cincinnati upon our Christian churches and colleges. In 1989, I began as a freshman at CCCB. My teachers were primarily graduates of Cincinnati Bible Seminary who quoted their teachers and shared memories of their school. Before I ever visited the Cincinnati campus, I was already grateful for the work of CBS.

July 22, 2019

Christian Standard

Planting Roots in the City (Los Angeles)

By Andrew Alesso “Wait. So, you’re a minister, right?” she blurted out in the middle of our book club’s group discussion. “Ha ha. Yeah, something like that,” I responded nervously. “I’m surprised you’re being so nice to me,” she said. And then—with no hint of sarcasm—she asked, “And you really don’t hate me?” I’d recently started the book club as a way to meet people in my city. I moved to Los Angeles to facilitate conversations like this. She had just told the group she was an evolutionary biologist. I had just acknowledged she must have a fascinating job. “Wait.

July 22, 2019

Christian Standard

Mid-Atlantic States: Going Back to the City (Part 1)

After 50 Years, a New Generation of Young Leaders Spurs Urban Church Planting in the Mid-Atlantic States By Tim Cole One of the seminal events on the timeline of the Restoration Movement occurred 50 years ago. Although tensions had been brewing for decades with their conservative counterpart, the more progressive wing of our tribe formally adopted a denominational design and officially changed their name to Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1969. In urban areas, which typically espouse a more liberal stance on theological issues, a significant portion of downtown churches aligned with this newly formed denomination. Their impressive buildings,

December 9, 2018

Michael C. Mack

When God Doesn’t Feel Like ‘Immanuel’

By Michael C. Mack What do you do when everyone around you is singing about joy and glad tidings and peace on earth . . . but your life reflects none of it? How do you get through “the most wonderful time of year” when your season is anything but merry and bright? And let me ask leaders, how do you lead others to experience Immanuel, God with us, when God feels far away this Christmas? Let’s face it, we are surrounded by people who are experiencing sadness, depression, sorrow, discouragement, and pain this December. Perhaps you are among them.

October 16, 2018

Christian Standard

My Heart Pounds within Me

By Vince Antonucci When our kids were younger my wife and I took them to a big waterpark. Our son was 5 and our daughter was almost 3, so we spent the day in the kiddie pools. Each pool had slides and all kinds of fun stuff. We played in one for a while, then walked about 100 yards to a second kiddie pool where we let the kids splash around. We then walked another 100 yards to the next one, where my kids repeatedly slid down one big slide. My wife walked over to the other side of the

October 7, 2018

Michael C. Mack

You Do You

By Michael C. Mack   You do you. When managing editor Jim Nieman asked what I’ve learned over the last year and a half as Christian Standard editor, this is the first thing that came to mind. You do you. It’s a common catchphrase in today’s culture that means “Just be yourself.” (It can also be used as a sarcastic response to someone who is doing something simply because they want to. Pastor Jeremy: “My new 10-week sermon series is titled, ‘Spiritual Lessons from Paddington 2.’” Elder Frank: “You do you, pal.” Or . . . Student: “I’m having Declaration

June 20, 2018

Christian Standard

Five Best Practices for Restoration Movement Elders and Leaders

By Jeff Faull “Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug” (Isaiah 51:1, New American Standard Bible). The Old Testament prophet Isaiah was not writing about church leadership or the Restoration Movement, but his words could easily be appropriated for Restoration church leaders. It is both refreshing and profitable for us to “look to our quarry” and gratefully consider the noble and admirable beginnings, underpinnings, and the future of our Restoration heritage. But could we start with an admission? Some inherent pitfalls come with our simple plea and its accompanying

April 24, 2018

Christian Standard

Three Prayers

By Jackina Stark A few years ago, Anne Lamott wrote a little book on prayer titled Help, Thanks, Wow. Many of our prayers can fit those informal labels. It is not surprising that Help is first in the list. News outlets remind us the world is full of need. Help, Father. Children all over the world are being sold as labor and sex slaves. Help, Lord. Hurricanes and fires and earthquakes and mudslides and tornadoes and floods are taking homes; they’re taking lives. Help. Maniacs are shooting people at concerts and in churches. Help. Corruption and greed are ravaging the

March 8, 2018

Christian Standard

Our Heavenly Father’s Favorite Thing

The True Story of a Defeated Pastor, a Dying Church, and God’s Redemption of Both   By Ken Idleman  Both the Old and New Testaments reveal something about God that we tend to either quietly doubt or glibly take for granted. We can find it buried in the historical narrative of the book of Jeremiah, who speaks for God, revealing both his heart for and goodwill toward his people: This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says . . . “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and

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