January 20, 2026
ICOM has announced Rob Maupin as its next Executive Director, succeeding David Empson after 25 years of leadership. Maupin will begin as transitional director April 1 and assume the role September 1.
January 1, 2026
With careful planning, clear communication, financial foresight, and sensitivity to personalities, churches can not only survive transitions, they can thrive through them.
January 1, 2026
If you’ve spent your career walking with Jesus, your last days should be your best days, not your worst. Jesus’ last moments before his death were spent pouring himself completely out for us.
January 1, 2026
If you serve as an elder or staff member, it’s not just a theoretical question, it’s a vital one. Succession planning is one of the most important, but often most neglected, responsibilities of church leadership.
January 1, 2026
Joshua Means will succeed Doug Crozier as CEO of the Solomon Foundation.
Nicolás “Nick” Griffin has been appointed the eighth president of Mid-South Christian College by the school’s board of trustees. His presidency will commence on July 1 when he succeeds his father, Larry Griffin, as president of the bilingual (English-Spanish) institution. . . .
November 1, 2022
By Jerry Harris For almost two decades, Doug Crozier has had big dreams for The Crossing, my Midwestern church home for 25-plus years. And all during that time, Doug has worked with us to remove whatever obstacles stood in the way. When the idea of a multisite church was still in its infancy, The Crossing decided to reach out into micropolitan and rural communities with a fresh approach to the gospel. Conversations with Doug gave us the confidence to push forward beyond what we ever imagined. Eleven campuses and thousands of baptisms later, the dreams we dared to imagine have
July 12, 2021
Naaman’s pride, plans, and preferences nearly prevented him from being cured. Why are humility and submission so vital to our healing?
June 23, 2021
David Vaughan plans to step down as senior minister with Whitewater Crossing Christian Church in Cleves, Ohio, on Aug. 1, 2022, and be succeeded by senior associate minister Jon Tisevich, the church’s elders announced on Sunday morning.
CDF Capital has announced a leadership transition that will see president and CEO Dusty Rubeck retire from those roles and longtime CDF board member Eric R. Schroeder replace him on July 1.
January 13, 2021
By Jim Nieman After 16 years on the board of IDES followed by 19 years as the organization’s executive director, Rick Jett has transitioned out of the latter role and David Stine has been named to succeed him. Since 2016, Stine has served as director of operations with IDES—International Disaster Emergency Service—a Christian church/church of Christ organization incorporated in 1973 to provide emergency assistance via missionaries who were in or near disaster situations around the world. “I am honored to continue the legacy of meeting the physical and spiritual needs of suffering people throughout the world in the name of
August 22, 2019
By Melissa Wuske “The community knows who we are,” said Mark Maybrey, lead minister of Creekside Community Church, Hot Springs, Arkansas. “From day one, all of us in our core group of 18 people have had a missional heart for the community.” Starting with those 18 people in 2015, the church now averages about 90 each Sunday. The key in this busy resort town is meeting people where they are. When Maybrey moved to Hot Springs, people told him, “There’s always something to do. Your kids are going to love it.” But nothing prepared him for the shock that first
May 1, 2019
By Chris Moon Gary Johnson has decided to have just one full-time job from now on . . . and he’s pretty excited about it. “I’m like a kid on Christmas Eve,” he said last week as he prepared for his last Sunday on the job as pastor of The Creek in Indianapolis. “I’m waiting for 8 a.m. on Monday morning to arrive when I only have to wear one hat.” Johnson retired Sunday from 30 years at the helm of The Creek, which he saw grow from 250 in attendance to more than 4,000 during his tenure—something he attributes
April 25, 2019
By Emily Drayne As a child, when I heard the word missionary, I envisioned an elderly lady sitting around a fire talking about Jesus to unreached peoples. Now, eight years into my job working with missionaries, I know that’s not (always) the case. Kendi’s Cows of Grace is a great example. Kendall Grace Kemerly visualized her mission when she was 8 years old. I’m not sure what you were doing at that age, but I was playing with Barbies and Cabbage Patch dolls. Purchasing livestock wasn’t on my radar. It’s key to note that no one pooh-poohed Kendi’s idea simply
March 25, 2019
Elders, Staff, Discipleship Program, Prayer Culminate in Baptisms By Melissa Wuske Compass Christian Church âhas had a heart for evangelism since day one,â said senior pastor Brian Jobe. But in recent years, the churchâ™s growth has been astoundingâeven in an area crowded with megachurches and in the midst of a culture of church hopping. Jobe said the Greater Phoenix churchâ™s eldership has been crucial to âputting the church in a place to receive Godâ™s blessingâ during his three years thereâincluding a year overlapping with pastor Roger Storms, who had served the church for 29 years and helped instill âmission-mindedness, flexibility,
October 12, 2018
E2: Effective Elders Blog Editor’s Note: Each Friday we publish a new blog post from our partners in ministry, E2: Effective Elders. We publish it here simultaneous to E2’s posting on their site. The leaders of E2 write an article for our print and online magazine every month as well. Those articles are full of wisdom and practical help for elders. Please check them out! _____ By Dick Wamsley I was beginning my eighth year as dean of students and professor of pastoral care at Nebraska Christian College. The college was in the first phase of a leadership transition. The president
September 19, 2018
(Updated Sept. 24) Dave Stone, senior pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., has announced he will retire sometime in the next six to nine months. Teaching pastor Kyle Idleman will replace Stone in the lead role at the church. “This is a process that has been in the works for a number of years,” Stone said in a story published on the Southeast Christian Church website. “My wife, Beth, and I decided on this timing about five years ago. We felt that 2019 would be the wisest time for the transition to take place.” Stone made the announcement
May 17, 2018
By Kent Fillinger This month, the focus is on large churches (average worship attendance of 500 to 999) and medium churches (250 to 499 weekly) from our annual church survey. If you missed the May issue on megachurches and emerging megachurches, you can read it online to get caught up. Next month, I’ll conclude this series with a report on small churches (averaging 100 to 249 weekly) and very small churches (fewer than 100) and share the first-ever recorded data on these two church sizes. Here are some stats and stories that show the major themes that emerged for large
May 11, 2018
Former senior pastor George Ross and his son, Nate Ross, switch roles. By Andy Rector In 1999, when George Ross arrived at Northside Christian Church in New Albany, Indiana, the congregation had been without a lead pastor for 14 months. During the interim, attendance had grown 12 percent. That fact impressed upon Ross that Northside was fertile soil. After spending more than a decade with the church, Ross was nearing retirement age, and he knew church leaders faced an important decision. What should Northside’s next step be? “Did Northside need something different from me?” Ross said. “I talked with
June 23, 2016
By Mike Goldsworthy In 2007, I was sitting in a room filled with other pastors from Long Beach, California. We were a predominately Anglo audience listening to an expert describe the city”s rapidly changing demographics. According to the last two census reports, Long Beach is one of the most diverse large cities in the United States. This in a city that for many years had been fondly referred to as “Iowa by the Sea” because of the large number of residents who are migrants from Iowa. As I sat in that room, I was in the midst of a two-year
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