Articles for tag: New Orleans

May 1, 2024

Christian Standard

2023 Annual Survey Fast Facts

AVERAGE WEEKLY IN-PERSON-ONLY WORSHIP ATTENDANCE  Megachurches: 4,499 (37 churches)  Emerging Megachurches: 1,088 (43 churches)  Large Churches: 591 (38 churches)  Medium Churches: 320 (54 churches)  Small Churches: 137 (74 churches)  Very Small Churches: 49 (68 churches)  _ _ _  AVERAGE WEEKLY IN-PERSON + ONLINE WORSHIP ATTENDANCE  Megachurches: 6,424 (37 churches)  Emerging Megachurches: 1,430 (43 churches)  Large Churches: 712 (38 churches)  Medium Churches: 370 (54 churches)  Small Churches: 162 (74 churches)  Very Small Churches: 55 (68 churches)  76% of the churches reported online worship attendance numbers  _ _ _  TOTAL ATTENDANCE GROWTH RATES (2022 TO 2023)  Megachurches: 12.0%  Emerging Megachurches: 25.2%  Large:

February 1, 2021

Justin Horey

‘My Story Is for God’s Glory’

After living a life as a criminal and prisoner, David Green has experienced—and now makes known a message of—redemption and reconciliation. In the early morning hours of Easter 1978, just after midnight, a group of adolescent boys entered a 24-hour convenience store in New Orleans’ notorious Ninth Ward, intending to steal alcohol. During the attempted robbery, shots were fired and the clerk on duty behind the counter was mortally wounded. All of the boys managed to flee the scene except one, a 15-year-old known to his cohorts as “Red.” As he tried to escape, a paying customer tripped him and

April 6, 2015

Christian Standard

Alberta Bible College Appoints New President

Alberta Bible College, Calgary, AB, Canada, announced the appointment of Dr. Stanley N. Helton as its new president effective July 1, 2015. Helton has served as professor of Bible and ministry, and later, academic dean with Western Christian College, Regina, SK, Canada. His congregational ministry experience spans almost 20 years working with all three streams in the Restoration Movement: Disciples, a cappella, and independent churches of Christ and Christian churches. He served churches in North Carolina, South Carolina, New Orleans, LA, and Chicago, IL, before pursuing full-time teaching and doctoral studies. He grew up in a small Oklahoma town. Helton

December 15, 2014

Christian Standard

Friendship & Poverty

By Stephen Lawson From a certain perspective, my neighborhood looks like a disaster area. Many buildings are vacant and appear to have been bombed out. There are collapsed roofs and precariously leaning walls on many houses. Whole blocks seem to be completely lifeless and abandoned. Nearly every corner has a church, or a school, or a store that is boarded up and closed for good. The streets are littered with broken glass, used tires, and trash. “Urban blight” is what city planners call this””neighborhoods that look like war zones. A better term for it might simply be “visible poverty.” Poverty.

August 2, 2014

Christian Standard

Planting Where Sin Abounds

By Jennifer Johnson When Vince Antonucci prepared to plant a church called Verve in Las Vegas, he thought, Of course we”ll be on the Strip. But when he began researching that area, he discovered there were no other churches there. “I wondered if that was unique to Las Vegas,” he says. “I began looking at the most “˜sinful” neighborhoods and streets in the world””places like the Red Light District in Amsterdam, Bourbon Street in New Orleans, The Sunset Strip in L.A. There are no churches there. But Jesus went to the most sinful places and the most sinful people. He

June 18, 2014

Christian Standard

Interview with Gary Johnson

By Paul Boatman   Gary Johnson serves as lead pastor/elder with The Creek, formerly Indian Creek Christian Church, in Indianapolis, Indiana.   How has your approach to God been altered over the years? Growing up, I went to church week after week without ever realizing that one could have a personal walk with God through his Son, Jesus Christ. I was following a religion, not pursuing a relationship. Leah”s family introduced me to a relationship with Jesus.   And has your approach to Christian leadership changed too? About 15 years ago I went through a period of deep introspection. We

March 15, 2014

Christian Standard

Collaboration Without Compromise

By Rick Grover The congregation I serve has a long tradition of cooperation in our city. We intend to continue on this path without compromising what we hold dear. John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:39, 40)1. Sectarianism is as

September 5, 2013

Christian Standard

Giving Up Home-Field Advantage in Memphis

By Josh Ross The local church is at its best when it gives up home-field advantage. It doesn”t mean we must neglect our buildings or that facilities are anti-gospel, but it does mean God doesn”t just stand on the stage in the sanctuary waving people into a church. He also stands in the streets waving the church into the world. On April 28, the Sycamore View Church in Memphis did what many other churches have done for 2,000 years, we left the church building to engage in service projects of restoration. We got together on Sunday, sang a few songs,

August 16, 2013

Christian Standard

I Was a Stranger and You Invited Me In

“I had never met any Christians back home, and even had a negative attitude towards any kind of belief . . . and Christianity was one of them.” “”Megumi, student from Japan By C.A. Rose* More than 900,000 international students and visiting scholars walk the sidewalks of our university campuses today. How exciting to have these bright, future leaders studying here! Yet, at the same time, statistics tell us that most international students (70 percent) will never enter an American home. Many come from restricted-access countries where Christianity is ignored or oppressed. They arrive on our soil with an attitude

April 25, 2012

Christian Standard

Missional and Attractional

By Rick Grover Versus is such a compelling word. It immediately communicates conflict, and it ushers concerned parties to set up camp on which side of vs. they believe to be correct. With a basic understanding of missional as to go and be the church and attractional as to come and see the church1, I”ve been on both sides of the vs. I prefer to see it as faith development. When my family and I moved to New Orleans to plant a church, we did so with great clarity on what kind of church we believed God was calling us

November 20, 2011

Christian Standard

“˜Drop in the Bucket” Ladies Ready to Bring Blessings

By Jennifer Taylor Beth Ladd, a teacher and the wife of New Hope Christian Church senior pastor David Ladd (Everett, WA), met each Monday to pray with her friend Debbie Powell. After the 2004 tsunami hit Indonesia, the two friends said, “I wish we could go there and help.” After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, they said, “We can go there and help. Let”s do it.” Like other volunteers around the country, Ladd and Powell organized a group to travel south and help the churches and people of New Orleans. However, their yearly “drops” have continued””to Louisiana, Oklahoma,

October 14, 2010

Christian Standard

Partnering with God to Help a New Orleans Church

By Jennifer Taylor Indian Creek Christian Church (Indianapolis, Indiana) is more than halfway through “Project 52″“”a 52-day challenge to complete construction on a new church building in New Orleans with at least 5,200 hours of labor and an additional $52,000 in funding. Five years after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the city, New Orleans residents “are still rebuilding their lives, particularly spiritually,” writes Indian Creek senior minister Gary Johnson. “That”s why a group of people has formed a church called The Gathering and have established it . . . where some of the greatest destruction occurred.” The time, money, and labor

March 21, 2010

Christian Standard

When You Feel Like Giving Up, Giving In, or Getting Out

By Rick Grover I probably shouldn”t be writing this on a Monday. But deadlines are deadlines, and ministry, as you know, isn”t all about how we feel . . . even (and perhaps especially) when we feel like giving up, giving in, or getting out. I didn”t always feel this way, and I don”t always feel this way now. But it is Monday. And I, like so many other preachers, look back on Sunday with those “woulda, coulda, shoulda” thoughts that drag us downward. Maybe I”m sounding a bit overdramatic, but I don”t think so. Ministers don”t always like to

October 12, 2008

Christian Standard

Double-Espresso Church Planting in New Orleans

By Rick Grover Church planting can be described as a high-octane, caffeine-pumping, roller-coaster-riding, faith-testing, prayer-building, life-changing experience. If conventional church life can be likened to espresso, church planting would fit the double-espresso category followed by a “chaser” of Red Bull. Journey Christian Church launched October 6, 2002, with 212 people (40 of whom were “well-wishers”). We experienced the roller-coaster ride of dropping down to about 100 people with the gradual climb back up to about 200, the development of a discipleship process, small groups, and the beginning stages of an eldership-study process. Within three years things were moving along pretty

June 17, 2007

Christian Standard

Our “˜Easy” Sacrifice

By Tim and Sheila Hudson It began with a student named Nelson Davis and his dream of a giant egg hunt for children. When he shared that dream with his campus ministry, he had no idea that a church in Denver would make it come true. Rocky Mountain Christian Church offered $20,000 to Christian Campus Fellowship at Georgia Tech to come up with a “big idea” for an overlooked area of New Orleans. “Eggs in the Easy”””a student-led initiative””was devised to accomplish two goals over Easter weekend: build a quality playground for the Hurricane Katrina devastated community of Chalmette, Louisiana,

February 21, 2007

Christian Standard

A Series About Calvinism

By Mark A. Taylor “We need a thorough treatment of Calvinism to share with our members.” The young preacher of a growing new Christian church in the East made the comment to me just as we were finishing this issue. His request confirmed our decision to devote significant space to the subject of Calvinism, but it didn’t prompt it. The catalyst for our decision was a September cover story in Christianity Today that claimed, “Calvinism is making a comeback and shaking up the church.” Calvinism may not be shaking up Christian churches and churches of Christ yet. Indeed, three prominent

September 24, 2006

Christian Standard

Why the U.S. Will Never Win the World Cup (and Why This Matters to the Church)

By Rick Grover By the time you read this, the World Cup will have come and gone. This global event that occurs every four years may have passed without even a hint of awareness on your part. Before this year”s World Cup (which is all about soccer, by the way) I considered this event about as important as my need to pull the weeds behind my shed once a year. It wasn”t until one of our church interns informed me that the U.S. was in the World Cup””and that this might be the year for us “Yanks”””that I even knew

August 20, 2006

Christian Standard

Hurricane Katrina–One Year Later

By Brad Dupray Just one year ago a watchful nation witnessed the power of Hurricane Katrina via televised reports and Internet updates as residents of the Gulf Coast experienced its power firsthand. The result was the greatest natural disaster to strike the United States in its history. Nearly 1 million homes were damaged or destroyed, more than 1,800 people were confirmed dead, and the population of the city of New Orleans decreased by well over 50 percent causing severe economic impact. The Christian Church Responds In the wake of this devastation Christian churches across the U.S. and around the world

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