Articles for tag: Ministry: Specialized Leadership

March 3, 2016

Michael C. Mack

March Ministry Ideas

By Michael C. Mack Ideas for your church, group, class, or team: Spruce Up the Community. Contact a local parks department, senior living centers, or cemeteries, for instance, or ask members to provide names of neighbors who could use yard help this spring. Ask how your volunteers can do a postwinter spruce-up. Gather all the volunteers and gear you can and love your community through these acts of service. March Forth and Do Something. March 4 is “March Forth and Do Something Day.” Try planning a day of service in your community, perhaps in conjunction with the first idea. Let

February 26, 2016

Christian Standard

Our Target? Everyone

By Eddie Lowen For a long time, I believed every church needed a target group: the irreligious, the unchurched, men, young families, singles, young adults . . . some group that is underrepresented in most established churches. But my thinking has shifted. I am now cautious about identifying target groups. Let me walk you through the New Testament passage that altered my philosophy and shaped our church”s mission language. Acts 10 introduces Cornelius, captain of the Italian Regiment. It”s safe to assume Cornelius looked and sounded much like the soldiers who brutalized and killed Jesus. That unsavory association made Cornelius

January 1, 2016

Christian Standard

Counting the Cost of a Growing Church

By Eddie Lowen Before you decide you want your church to grow, let me tell you the price you will pay. After taking the staff and elders of a former church to a leadership simulcast in the late 1990s, I learned that I still had a lot to learn. For several years, Rick Warren”s book The Purpose Driven Church had been making a huge impact on churches applying its principles. The simulcast was a way for our leaders to catch this kind of vision. Our church was already growing in size and health, but I knew there was another level

December 3, 2015

Christian Standard

16 Ways to Make Your Minister Happy at Christmas

By Jennifer Johnson 1. Say the following to him in November: “What”s the biggest need for the Sunday before Christmas? What about Christmas Eve? I”m on it.” 2. Give him a gift card (or just some cash!). Do not give him a plate of cookies, an inspirational wall hanging, or a Bible. 3. Encourage him to take off the weekend after Christmas (or, even better, the entire week), and enthusiastically attend services that Sunday even though he”s not preaching. 4. Give extra money to the church. 5. Do not expect him to be at all three performances of the children”s

November 11, 2015

Christian Standard

The Secret-Driven Life

By Jim Tune (This column was first posted November 5, 2014.) To be real is to risk. I know many preachers who feel a deep reluctance (often well-founded) to reveal who they really are to those they lead. Henri Nouwen suggests that pastors are the least confessing people in the church. The expectations demanded of pastors in our Western culture are often unattainable, unsustainable, and soul-withering. I admit that I have sometimes allowed my own fear of vulnerability to push me into hiding. The trouble with life in the shadows is the double life it promotes in the shadow dweller.

October 17, 2015

Christian Standard

Gut Check

By Eddie Lowen Pixar”s movie Inside Out is clever. It”s about an 11-year-old girl whose family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. The genius of the film is its vivid and humorous portrayal of the memories, thoughts, and emotions that compete to control the girl”s behavior. If I had to select one word to capture all three of those elements””memory, thought, and emotion””I”d choose the word instinct. How good are your instincts? Let me guess: pretty good. As you read my question, you thought, I trust my gut. My instincts are above average. That”s the problem. Everyone thinks his or

October 12, 2015

Christian Standard

Quitting Solitaire

Four ministers. One concern: How to find a “band of brothers” for accountability, insight, and help to finish well. By Eddie Lowen I was set apart for ministry by the first church that employed me. I was only 19 when they hired me (and 20 when they ordained me), yet they took a chance. They took a chance that I would graduate a year after my ordination. They took a chance that I would mature in many ways. They also took a chance that I would find a wife! Seriously, at the time, an unmarried pastor was rare. Most of

October 10, 2015

Christian Standard

The Speed of Trust

By Jeff Faull Stephen M.R. Covey calls it “the one thing that changes everything.” When you have it, you can move forward quickly, confidently, and positively. When you don”t have it, your enterprise, organization, or endeavor is hindered and even paralyzed. According to Covey, trust is what changes everything. In fact his New York Times best seller on the subject is titled The Speed of Trust. Covey contends the commodity most overlooked and underrated in organizational health and efficiency is the trust factor. No, he isn”t longing for a return to the days of deals sealed with a simple handshake

October 9, 2015

Christian Standard

Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership

By Matt Proctor Why do some leaders fail? The answers often lie below the “waterline.” The Brooklyn Bridge is a New York City icon, but during its construction, controversy arose. It seemed to the watching public that no progress had been made for months on the New York tower””the Manhattan side of the river. While the Brooklyn tower rose 100 feet above the water, the New York tower was still 78 feet below the surface, unseen. Building Below the Waterline So in June 1872, the chief engineer of the project wrote: “To such of the general public as might imagine that

October 5, 2015

Christian Standard

Chasing after Integrity

Integrity is still respected. But is it expected?  Do we know integrity when we see it? Do we know how to achieve it when we find it lacking in ourselves?  In a testimony every Christian, and certainly every Christian leader, should read, this seasoned minister describes the steps he takes as he “desperately chases after God.” By Randy Gariss This afternoon my local sports-talk radio host was yelling again. In the midst of his apoplexy he kept shouting, “Where is integrity? Where is integrity? I tell you I am sick of this stuff!” It seems another high-profile, highly touted athlete

July 7, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Still Painful

By Mark A. Taylor All the news about conservative churches and their response to those with same-sex attraction reminded me of a post I wrote three years ago. That week I challenged  the church to demonstrate both grace and truth as we discuss this difficult issue and reach out to those celebrating and seeking gay marriage. Follow the links in the below post to even older posts, and you’ll see a constant message urging us to find ways to show gays that Jesus loves them. More than once in recent years, CHRISTIAN STANDARD has advocated for compassion toward homosexuals. We

June 27, 2015

Christian Standard

The Softball Sermon

By Daniel D. Schantz My father had a magical way with men. In his 87 years, my father led a host of men to Christ and guided several into the ministry. I think it was because Dad was more than just a preacher. He was first and foremost a truly fine man. Like Jesus, Dad was both godly and human, and men could identify with that. On Sunday, Dad was “the preacher,” but at Friday night church softball, he was just “Ed.” On Sunday my father dressed like a prince. The navy blue suits preachers wore in the 1950s seemed

June 15, 2015

Christian Standard

Responding to Jim Putman

We asked three leaders to react to Jim Putman’s article describing his church’s decision to plant churches instead of develop multisites. By Brent Storms, president, The Orchard Group (www.orchardgroup.org) ONE OF THE BIGGEST FACTORS in starting healthy churches is the quality of the lead planter. One of the characteristics of the best church planters is that they are great communicators. The only way to develop one”s communication gift is to be afforded frequent opportunities to speak and receive helpful feedback. I share Jim”s concern that the trend toward campuses that are video venues effectively reduces the opportunities younger leaders have to preach. That

June 1, 2015

Christian Standard

Missed Turns

By Eddie Lowen Three college buddies and I decided to attend a conference that was 1,200 miles away. Inadequate budgets didn”t allow us to book a hotel along the way. Inadequate brains didn”t allow us to consider anything other than a 24-hour marathon drive. During the early morning hours of our journey, as three of us napped, our on-duty driver missed a turn. About an hour later, I awoke and asked, “Where are we?” The answer: 50 miles off course. That”s how missed turns are discovered. Someone wakes up and says, “Hey, this is not where we intended to be.”

April 26, 2015

Christian Standard

Enough Is Enough

By Jay Engelbrecht Jacob never won a “Father of the Year” trophy. When his boys were young, he was scheming, acquiring. Enough was never enough. You know the story, the tragic news, weeping for his beloved Joseph. By the time he was an old, old man, he had learned. Told that Joseph was back from the dead, Jacob said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die” (Genesis 45:28, World English Bible). Quality time. Fast-forward thousands of years. Bitterness and grief poured out of the preacher”s daughter, who loves her

April 24, 2015

Christian Standard

Super-size Your Volunteer Base

By Eddie Lowen In August 2014, our church raised up 700-plus brand-new volunteers and commissioned our entire volunteer force for a new era of volunteer ministry. Below are excerpts of the talk I delivered at Volunteer Bootcamp 2014. Readers are welcome to adapt and use it. When Marshall Faulk played college football at San Diego State, he entered training camp as the team”s fifth-string tailback, eventually working his way up to second-string. Early one game, the starting tailback was injured, so the coach gave Faulk the nod. The rest is football history. In the remaining three and one-half quarters, Faulk

April 16, 2015

Christian Standard

19 Ways to Recognize a Hero

By Jennifer Johnson Real heroes don”t wear capes. They can”t fly or leap tall buildings or breathe underwater. Real heroes wear khakis and polo shirts. The younger ones wear jeans and untucked Diesel button-downs with pockets on both pecs. On good days they wear waders in a baptistery. Heroes answer the phone at midnight and change back into the jeans before driving across town to sit with a grieving family. Heroes still get up early the next morning to have breakfast with their kids. Heroes are strong enough to unite opinionated volunteers and gentle enough to dedicate new babies. Heroes

April 13, 2015

Christian Standard

What Is Hospice?

By Karen Diefendorf The first modern hospice began in England in 1967. It was introduced in the United States by its British founder, who came to Yale University in 1974 to speak about its benefits at a medical symposium. In 1982, Congress included a provision to create a Medicare hospice benefit. Here is some basic information: Hospice . . . “¢ is not a place, but a concept of care; “¢ can be given anywhere . . . home, nursing home, assisted living, hospital, hospice house, etc.; “¢ is for those with a terminal illness that no longer responds to

April 13, 2015

Christian Standard

Life Lessons Among the Dying

By Karen Diefendorf I”ve served as a chaplain with Hospice Care of South Carolina for almost a year now. I”ve been privileged to be invited into the lives of patients and their families. I”m not a novice in pastoral care, but I”m still learning from my patients. I have been surprised at why people who are eligible for hospice care never take advantage of it, and I have learned that all hospices are not the same. I have also learned some very important life lessons. Pain Is a Given, Suffering Is Optional Most of the people I serve know about Job,

April 11, 2015

Christian Standard

Way Better

By Steve Wyatt You probably wouldn”t have liked the man I once was””though you might”ve been impressed by my résumé. I certainly was! I sang my first solo at 6, taught a seventh-grade Bible class at 15, preached my first sermon at 16, and was a youth pastor at 19. I served as senior pastor of a multistaff church at 23, and wrote two books by my early 30s while leading a church of 200 to more than 3,500! And all God”s people said . . . ? Big whoop. Back in my former life, I was on most short

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