Articles for tag: Ministry Life

February 26, 2020

The Power Room

By Brian Cook Three people gather quietly around a small table. Their bodies hunch forward as their lips move silently. The drone of electrical machinery whirs around them, punctuated only by the soft rustling of Bible pages and the gentle creaking of chairs. The sign on the door says Power Room. It is a cramped electrical closet situated on the far side of the stage in our worship center. Our churchs facilities have been updated significantly over the years, but its sturdy mid-century bones can still be seen amid the bulky circuit breakers and snaking wires that inhabit this secluded

February 22, 2020

Brian Cook

Prayer Worship & Prayer

The Power Room

By Brian Cook Three people gather quietly around a small table. Their bodies hunch forward as their lips move silently. The drone of electrical machinery whirs around them, punctuated only by the soft rustling of Bible pages and the gentle creaking of chairs. The sign on the door says “Power Room.” It is a cramped electrical closet situated on the far side of the stage in our worship center. Our church’s facilities have been updated significantly over the years, but its sturdy mid-century bones can still be seen amid the bulky circuit breakers and snaking wires that inhabit this secluded

January 3, 2019

Christian Standard

Devotionals

Amazing Grace: How One Sunday in a Small, Dying Iowa Church Changed My Life

By Rick Chromey “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me.” I’ve been singing that hymn my whole life, yet never captured what it truly meant until one frigid Sunday morning. I was a student at Nebraska Christian College. For extra money, I’d occasionally preach for churches in need, and this particular weekend, I agreed to speak for a small church about two hours from school. It was a brutally cold Sunday. The tiny, white, clapboard and steepled church was miles from the nearest town, saddled by snowbanks, and guarded by Iowa cornfields. Only a

October 16, 2018

Christian Standard

Christian Living

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

June 29, 2018

Tyler McKenzie

Mission & Evangelism

Love Is the End

By Tyler McKenzie “If we never become Christians, will you still be our friends?” I was shocked by the question. Even a little angry. Did the last year of our friendship mean nothing? My wife, Lindsay, and I had met Joe and Amy at our church. We were leading a group for skeptics designed to answer tough questions. It was my favorite hour of the week (secretly, because their questions have always been mine). When I walked in, the two of them were huddled on a black leather couch we retired from the church lobby to one of the

February 8, 2018

Christian Standard

Family & Relationships Marriage

Finding Joy in Marriage and Ministry

By David and Rachel Dummitt For the last 22 years, my wife, Rachel, has been my partner, best friend, and comrade-in-arms. When I was asked to write about experiencing lasting joy in marriage and ministry, I immediately thought of her and how she has helped to build both our home and our church with strength, grace, and joy. So for this issue, I asked Rachel to share her insights and wisdom. When Dave and I married, neither of us could have imagined the journey God had in store for us. While both of us had grown up in the

October 27, 2016

Michael C. Mack

Family & Relationships Marriage

The Pastor”™s Wife: 7 Discoveries She Wishes She Had Understood Sooner

By Michael C. Mack Christine Hoover has been a pastor”™s wife for 14 years and is author of The Church Planting Wife. She says when she and her husband, Kyle, started in ministry, she felt unprepared and afraid. After all, she says, “There is no training ground for ministry life for the pastor”™s wife, there is just the doing it.” If she could go back in time to the beginning of their ministry life together, she says on her blog at www.gracecoversme.com, she”™d tell that young girl these seven things: 1.Â Humbly yet boldly accept the opportunity to influence others