June 24, 2022
CrossCity Christian Church in Fresno, Calif., is spearheading an effort to offer a summer camp for Afghan refugee children in its community. Forty families relocated to Fresno after the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer. CrossCity has been sponsoring one of those families . . .
November 1, 2021
By Laura McKillip Wood Amy and Terry Ruff visited a friend soon after arriving in Ghana. During that visit, the Ruffs struck up a conversation with another guest. As they got to know one another, the man told the Ruffs, “You need to meet my friend, Solomon*.” He gave Solomon’s phone number to Amy and Terry, and they called him to set up a meeting. Solomon told the couple where to drive and said he would wait for them by the side of the road. After driving several hours, the Ruffs repeatedly thought they had reached the rendezvous site, but
December 9, 2016
By Jennifer Johnson “A number of churches were moving to the suburbs, but we made a commitment to stay,” B.J. Leonard says. First Christian Church in Decatur, IL, has seen lots of change during its 180 years in the city. However, over the last 15 years some of the area”s bigger manufacturing and industrial companies have shut down and left, the unemployment rate soared, and people began to move. The congregation had to wrestle with its future. “We sensed God was leading us to reach outside our building and try to make a difference where we are,” says Leonard, missions
May 12, 2014
By Chris DeWelt “With great power comes great responsibility” (Voltaire, not Spiderman) The megachurch missions minister occupies a new and unique role. In their article, “U.S. Megachurches and New Patterns of Global Mission,”1 researchers Robert J. Priest, Douglas Wilson, and Adelle Johnson make several important observations. One is that the American megachurch missions pastor is a gatekeeper who watches over a very significant portion of the megachurch budget. Their survey found the average annual foreign missions budget in the megachurch was $690,000. Outside of general payroll and facility needs, the missions budget of the typical megachurch easily eclipses all other
May 11, 2014
By Chris DeWelt Suspicious of missions? Uninterested in missionaries? Disengaged from foreign fields? Not the megachurches I interviewed for my doctoral thesis and this report. Actually, I found just the opposite. The American megachurch is interested in missions! The advent of the megachurch is a phenomenon unique in church history. The fact that the megachurch is here is hardly a news item, but the growth and influence of megachurches is a significant part of our current story.1 Just 53 years ago there were only 16 Protestant megachurches2 in America. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research lists about 1,500 megachurches.3 Currently,
April 7, 2026
John B. Penrose Jr
April 7, 2026
David Faust
March 27, 2026
Rick Cherok