Articles for tag: Justin Horey

April 4, 2016

Christian Standard

We”ve Become Leaders in Church Planting

By Justin Horey Innovation is at the heart of new church planting. Spend any amount of time talking to the leaders of the church planting ministries in the Restoration Movement, and it quickly becomes clear this is a group that prizes newness: new places, new churches, new believers, new ideas, and new strategies. It”s not easy to say when this attitude began to take hold””perhaps in the 1980s or 1990s. Today new Christian churches are often established by organizations that profess to “do things no one else does.” Lance Hurley, executive director of Ignite Church Planting in Chicago, recalls how

April 3, 2016

Christian Standard

We”re Making Great Strides in Missions

By Justin Horey “If you have no churches, and you have no Scripture, you have no hope.” With those sobering words, Greg Pruett explains why he has made Bible translation his life”s work””to bring hope to those who have none. Pruett, president of Pioneer Bible Translators, says there are still about 1,775 languages worldwide without a written copy of the Bible. Pioneer Bible is one of many organizations committed to reducing that number to zero by translating the Bible into every language on Earth. Pioneer Bible”s passion for cross-cultural evangelism is shared by several missions organizations with roots in the

January 18, 2016

Christian Standard

Finding Favour

By Justin Horey Kirk Bolen likes to run marathons. It”s a good thing he does, because his family”s adoption journey lasted four years and required more than 15,000 miles of international travel. Kirk and his wife, Amanda, didn”t plan to adopt. Kirk is a worship leader at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland, and the couple has two biological sons: Asher, 7, and Eamon, 4. Around the time their second son was born, Kirk went to Uganda on a short-term mission trip with World Vision. While there, he took note of all the needy children he saw. Kirk recalls, “Everywhere we went,

January 15, 2016

Christian Standard

Faithful Families of the Fatherless

By Justin Horey Hundreds of thousands of children in America are living away from their parents, desperately in need of a family to keep and care for them. Many Christians have seen the need. Here are some of their stories. Alone and afraid, seated on a chair in the unwelcoming waiting room of a government office, holding a small plastic bag filled with a few personal belongings (or, worse, holding nothing at all). This is not the picture of an international refugee; this is how life in America”s foster system begins for thousands of children every year. Tom and Peggy

October 18, 2013

Christian Standard

Finding the Person Who Can Plant

By Justin Horey One of the most popular axioms in church planting is that new churches are the most effective means of reaching the lost. It is often the first defense given to the skeptic who questions the need for more new churches in North America. But among church planting leaders, another idea is just as prevalent: the most important factor in determining the success of a church is the church planter himself. Brent Foulke, mobilization executive at Stadia, puts it this way: “The single most indicative factor for a church plant”s survival and health is the capable leadership of

September 9, 2012

Christian Standard

Spreading the Gospel, Unleashing Compassion

By Justin Horey This summer, as Eastside Christian Church celebrated five decades of dynamic ministry in Southern California, senior pastor Gene Appel emphasized “Eastside”s second 50 years” as much as its first. Later this year, Eastside is scheduled to complete one of the largest, most expensive, and most ambitious relocation projects ever undertaken by a Christian church””with a total project cost of more than $50 million. The church”s leaders believe the project will “carry forward the congregation”s spiritual passion by positioning Eastside for exponential impact in its second 50 years.” Shortly after Eastside Christian Church began meeting in 1962, the

July 12, 2011

Christian Standard

When Churches Close

By Justin Horey Everything that begins also ends. We may recognize that fact when we”re talking about businesses or vacations or even relationships. But what can we do when it”s time for a local congregation to shut its doors? PJ”s Abbey has been one of many distinctive restaurants in Orange, California, a town that bills itself as the antiques capital of Southern California. With “an eclectic mix of old family favorites and creative cuisine,” PJ”s Abbey was notable for its menu, but most widely recognized for its facility””an old church building. It”s an unusual concept, to be sure, but certainly not a unique

September 17, 2008

Christian Standard

Should Anything Change About the NACC?

By Mark A. Taylor This year”s North American Christian Convention report offers several different perspectives with conclusions that range all the way from “We need this convention as it is” to “We should combine it with the National Missionary Convention.” We didn”t anticipate or dictate what these writers would say. We simply asked each one to comment on this year”s gathering and then to make suggestions for the future. Cost versus value is an issue mentioned or implied by many of their conclusions. Is the convention worth the price our movement invests in it? Is it worth the cost to

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