Articles for tag: Mountain Christian Church

February 27, 2012

Christian Standard

An “˜Incredible Group” for an Important Mission

By Mark A. Taylor In just under 48 hours each year our contributing editors meet in an annual retreat to consider the future of this magazine. We discuss a wide range of issues””from the lofty (“How should young leaders in our fellowship view it?”) to the specific (“What should a Christian Standard app contain?”). All of it is aimed at improving Christian Standard”s service””its content, its appearance, even its means of distribution. The group suggests topics the church needs to consider and writers who have something to say about them. They critique our past year”s product and react to future

August 31, 2011

Christian Standard

Church Cancels Services, Urges Members to Help Neighbors

In anticipation of this past weekend”s East Coast hurricane, Mountain Christian Church senior pastor Ben Cachiaras asked the congregation to be the church instead of going to church. MCC, located in Joppa, MD, cancelled its weekend services and urged members to participate in “Operation Irene” by helping neighbors with storm cleanup, groceries, child care, and other needs. “Let’s DELUGE our community with acts of love and service during this event,” Cachiaras wrote. “I want to urge you as strongly as I can to think hard about how you can be a light and a friend and a help to others””and

July 24, 2011

Christian Standard

God”s Great Story

By Ethan Magness There is a great story to be told that the world needs to hear. It is a story of rebellion and loss, chaos and destruction, punishment and fear. It is a story of rescue and restoration, order and repair, forgiveness and hope. It is a story of great redemption purchased at great cost. It is the story of great sacrifice because of a great love. This is the story of God and all people and this is the story the world needs to hear. There is a great story to be told that the church needs to

July 17, 2011

Christian Standard

Making the Father Known

By Ethan Magness Despite our best efforts and fervent hopes, God cannot be fully known. Our questions will never be fully answered. God’s ways are higher then ours and so, in some ways, God will always be a mystery. But God does desire to be known. Christ came, in part, to make God known. In Christ, we know God is good and kind. We know God cares about the lost and confused, the sick and the poor. We know God is love, not because of an abstract theological declaration, but because his love has been demonstrated and incarnated in Christ.

July 14, 2011

Christian Standard

Outrageous, New, and Glorious

By Ethan Magness   We are shocked by Jesus” words about the bread, “This is my body” (Matthew 26:26, author”s emphasis). We are shocked by the is. Much like the crowds who went away sad in John 6, we get lost in parsing verbs and miss the truly shocking nature of this sentence. The disciples were not shocked by the word is. The disciples understood stark metaphors. They were shocked by his use of the word my. This is because this meal already had meaning. The bread had meaning. The wine had meaning. The herbs had meaning. This meal was

July 7, 2011

Christian Standard

Memory Matters

By Ethan Magness Our memory matters to God. After a personal encounter with God, a pillar of rocks would be built so the mercy of God would never be forgotten. In response to the great saving acts of God, festivals were established so the people could celebrate and never forget. Pilgrimages and parties, feasts and festivals were held for the purpose of maintaining the memories that defined God”s people. When the Israelites entered the land, God gave them new disciplines of memory: doorposts and tassels, promises to repeat, stories to tell. All of these were so God”s people and their

May 12, 2011

Christian Standard

More and Better Disciples

By Darrel Rowland Eyebrow waxing, dancing, and a full-fledged mariachi band. It”s not quite the holy trinity of women”s ministry at Mountain Christian Church. But it sure helps get the buzz going in the community. More important, it”s all part of bringing women closer to Jesus and making more and better disciples by helping them take a step on their journey with Jesus “We try to offer something to women on both ends of the spectrum of discipleship,” said Susan Owens, who is on staff with the small groups team at the Joppa, Maryland, church that averages about 4,500 in

October 24, 2010

Christian Standard

The Influence of Just One

By Mike Kilgallin and Clay Perkins One servant in God”s hands can truly make a difference. Consider the story of G.H. “Dean” Cachiaras, a teenage immigrant from Greece who ended up polishing shoes. One day as he polished the shoes of a doctor casually reading a newspaper, the man discovered the boy was from Greece. The doctor lowered the newspaper and spoke to him in his native language, “Young man, what do you plan to do with your life?” The doctor encouraged G.H. to attend his alma mater, Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, Tennessee. The boy enrolled, began studying the

October 11, 2010

Christian Standard

Let”s Get Together

By Rob Kastens Our leadership at Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, Maryland, has worked hard to create a mission-first, team-first staff culture. We work hard to facilitate, encourage, and protect this culture with existing staff, but we work extra hard to ensure prospective staff understand, buy in, and fit in with our culture. In fact, we believe selecting new staff to join our team at Mountain is one of the most important tasks of leadership. Few decisions have a longer-term impact on a church”s health and mission than the people it hires. Selecting wisely can move the mission forward and heighten

September 29, 2010

Christian Standard

White as Snow? Guilty as Sin?

By Darrel Rowland Some 50 years ago Martin Luther King Jr. pierced the church”s soul by pointing out that the most segregated hour in America was 11:00 Sunday morning. Things sure have changed in the five decades since, haven”t they? I mean, we gather at all sorts of hours other than 11 am Sunday these days. But about that other part . . . Let”s just ask ourselves a brutally honest question: Why are Christian churches and churches of Christ among the last bastions of society to remain predominantly white? Once we answer that one, we must tackle an even

September 21, 2010

Christian Standard

Special for Many Reasons

By Mark A. Taylor What made the North American Christian Convention this year so special? The question has more than one answer. Certainly, the theme itself struck a chord with many. These were not self-help sermons meant to calm their hearers. Instead, “Disturb me”””President Ben Cachiaras”s prayer for months before the convention””underscored every main session. His vision was not so much to encourage us where we are as to challenge us to go someplace we”ve never been. Listeners resonated with the possibility to be and do something new for God. This substance””both in content and in spirit””permeated the convention. Workshop

July 18, 2010

Christian Standard

Dreaming It, Modeling It, and Then Giving It Away

By Jennifer Taylor Day of Fest Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, Maryland, began “ServeFest” in 2003 as an event for Mountain members. The church contacted schools and other local organizations and spent a day landscaping, removing trash, and painting. Within a few years three more churches had joined the party, then 17, then 41. In April of this year 77 churches in five counties participated in the one-day event, unleashing thousands of people to serve across the city in 127 projects. “We have disappeared as owners of the event and it truly belongs to churches all over our region, including some

July 18, 2010

Christian Standard

NACC “˜Beyond”: A Sermon Series and BEYOND

By Ethan Magness In our own congregation, the BEYOND theme has been a channel for change. When we see what has happened here, we have great hope for what God will do through our convention. All of us want to be a part of churches that are moving beyond. We want to be always following Jesus to a place we have never been before. Certainly this desire to move beyond is a central value of Mountain Christian Church, where I serve on staff and where NACC President Ben Cachiaras is senior minister. One of the reasons we are excited to be

May 5, 2010

Christian Standard

Interview with Bill and Mike Buher

Bill Buher and his wife, Mary, raised their two sons in an a cappella church of Christ in southern Indiana and then, a few years ago, transferred membership to Sherwood Oaks Christian Church in Bloomington. Bill was called to serve as an elder at Sherwood Oaks and was one proud dad when his son Mike was similarly called to serve at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland. Bill, retired for about 10 years, finds plenty of ways to keep busy serving Christ. Mike is an audit partner for Grant Thornton, an international accounting firm. Did you grow up in the

February 14, 2010

Christian Standard

NACC: BEYOND

By Ben Cachiaras When visiting Capernaum last summer, I paused on the rocky shoreline looking out at the Sea of Galilee. Knowing it could be the very stretch of beach Jesus walked when he called those first fishermen gave it a surreal sense of being holy ground. What struck me is that Jesus” call to them was abrupt and demanding: “Follow me!” Doing so would mean a life of perpetual movement and adventure, risk and change. It meant dropping familiar nets, leaving cherished family, and abandoning well-worn paths in pursuit of a leader who wanted to take them BEYOND any

February 14, 2010

Christian Standard

NACC: A Blend of the Fresh and Familiar

By Ben Cachiaras Special Guests A trademark of the convention will be great preaching at our main sessions, anchored by some of our movement”s strong speakers, like Brian Jones, Dick Alexander with Mary Kamau, George Ross, and Gene Appel. In addition, we will welcome some special friends as guests; Christian brothers we have invited to share with us, and from whom we can benefit, include Efrem Smith, Francis Chan, Rick Warren, and others. Added to that will be rich worship experiences led by Eric Olson and the team from Mountain Christian Church of Joppa, Mary-land; Bible studies led by John-ny

February 14, 2010

Christian Standard

NACC: Hmmm . . . Let Us Think

By Rob Kastens Recently I was given a complete original set of The Millennial Harbinger. As I read through the discolored, fragile pages of several issues from the 1800s, I was struck by the discourse and exchange around all sorts of issues. Positions were stated and confronted by Alexander Campbell as he responded to writings published elsewhere and letters he received. This exchange of views through the Harbinger and other publications, in addition to public debates and discussions, helped shape and hone our movement in its early days. In these pages, I found Christians who were committed to Scripture and

February 14, 2010

Christian Standard

The NACC Is for Students Too!

By Phyllis Fox Youth in Ministry (YiM) is excited to go BEYOND with the North American Christian Convention”s Student Convention in Indianapolis this summer. Our goal is to encourage students to go BEYOND ordinary worship and BEYOND radical discipleship. We have several familiar program elements plus new features that will excite students and their parents. What’s New We are encouraged by the many churches enjoying intergenerational worship, so we are trying something new in the 2010 Student Convention by having the students join the adults for the evening sessions. When students are in high school it is critical that they

February 14, 2010

Christian Standard

Testimony of an NACC Newcomer

By Daryl Reed I serve as lead minister of DC Regional Christian Church in metropolitan Washington. Our church was reorganized and relaunched as a congregation in 2003. For the past five years or so, our young congregation has been encouraged by new connections we”ve made with new ministry friends, especially our friendship with Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland. I have a rich history within the Restoration Movement. I consider myself blessed to have been raised in the mainline a cappella churches of Christ in Wisconsin. My grandparents on both sides and my parents are longtime church of Christ members

February 10, 2010

Christian Standard

Interview with Ben Cachiaras

Ben Cachiaras By Brad Dupray As the president of the 2010 North American Christian Convention, Ben Cachiaras has led the planning of a convention that goes “beyond” the ordinary. “What if we didn”t have a North American? What would we wish we did have? What would we need? Let”s plan that convention,” he says. Ben and his wife, Karla, met in the food court of the 1987 North American Christian Convention and this year will be celebrating their 20th year of marriage. For the last 12 years, Ben has served as senior pastor of Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland.

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