Articles for tag: Restoration Movement

March 1, 2013

Christian Standard

Christian Colleges on the Move!

Read these reports from Christian colleges around the world to discover their progress, plans, and creative initiatives to educate Christian leaders for tomorrow.   Boise Bible College Boise Bible College develops well-equipped servant leaders with integrity and a biblical worldview for the global church. Classroom instruction, campus events, and practical ministry opportunities help BBC students grow in knowledge and faith. The college begins the year with a rafting trip and an all-school retreat that allows staff, returning students, and new students to get to know each other while growing spiritually. Students are involved in off-campus service events like “Rake-up Boise”

February 11, 2013

Christian Standard

The Spirit in Spiritual Formation

By J.K. Jones Jr. I”m grateful for our emphasis on logic and reason, but I believe the Holy Spirit is larger than something we can capture or fully understand. But starting with the words of Scripture, we can begin to grasp the Spirit”s role in the life God has planned for us to enjoy. Some things are so big they nearly resist explanation. Consider the way of an eagle in the sky. I”ve watched our national bird soar over the Mississippi River, gliding effortlessly on waves of unseen air currents, then dive at light speed to scoop breakfast from the

February 10, 2013

Christian Standard

Spiritual, Like Jesus

By Les Hardin When it comes to spirituality, I find myself caught between two conflicting truths. The first truth is I was born and raised in the church. My parents took me to church when I was only two weeks old, and there”s never been a time in my life when I didn”t know Jesus on some level. I am descended from elders and deacons, trained at the seminary by serious men: a discipler, a teacher of Israel, and a ministry veteran. But here”s the second truth: in spite of my upbringing and training, I have no idea what it

January 10, 2013

Christian Standard

Quality People, Challenging Content

CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s contributing editors will enjoy their annual retreat January 16-18, a meeting that is a highlight of the year for many of us who attend it. The discussions each meeting focus on the magazine”s and this website”s content and appearance. What are the topics and who are the writers that must be included in coming issues?  Which are the events and trends that our readers want to read more about? This is all very serious stuff, but in the midst of it there”s plenty of laughter, an abundance of good-natured kidding, and the brand of hilarious true stories that

December 10, 2012

Jerry Harris

Rediscovering the Sacred Stones

A church”s new multisite campus. A town steeped in history. The grave of a Restoration Movement pioneer”s wife. A reflection on what this frontier preacher stood for, and the message we still proclaim today.  By Jerry Harris There she was. Her stone lying on its back, broken and weathered among scores of neglected reminders of lives long since past. The inscription was hard to read because of a combination of age, moss, and dirt, but careful examination gave witness to the precious soul long forgotten to so many.   Celia W. Wife of Elder B.W. Stone Died Apr. 23, 1857

December 9, 2012

Christian Standard

The Passion of Barton Stone

By Jim Tune Barton Warren Stone was one of the foremost leaders for religious freedom on the western frontier during the first half of the 19th century. He led a movement with goals many—including me—are still pursuing today. Barton Stone was born in Maryland in 1772 and as a boy decided to become a preacher. At age 19 he was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian church. In 1801, Stone moved to Cane Ridge, Kentucky. As he took up his preaching ministry, he discovered that some of the things he read in his Bible seemed inconsistent with the strong Calvinist

November 22, 2012

Christian Standard

A People to Be Thankful for

By Mark A. Taylor For several years now the National Missionary Convention, recently renamed International Conference on Missions (ICOM), has met the weekend before Thanksgiving. This morning I”m struck by how good it is for the convention and the holiday to be so close together. ICOM reminds us how thankful we can be for our fellowship of Christian churches. Our movement (variously called the Restoration Movement, Stone-Campbell Movement, and more recently the Christian Church Movement) is thriving and well. The throngs of teenagers and young adults crowding the Indianapolis Convention Center November 15-18 bear testimony to that. And so do

November 15, 2012

Christian Standard

What”s the Point of Pursuing Unity?

By Mark A. Taylor “So what”s the payoff you”re expecting as a result of these meetings?” The question came from my roommate in the middle of a spiritual formation retreat sponsored by the Stone-Campbell Dialogue November 9, 10, outside Dallas. The Dialogue is a loosely organized group that has met at least annually since 1999 to build understanding and trust among members of a cappella churches of Christ, Christian churches/churches of Christ, and Disciples of Christ. In the late-19th and mid-20th centuries, these three “streams” diverged from each other while remaining a part of what we call the Restoration Movement,

July 26, 2012

Christian Standard

What Our Websites Say about Baptism

By Daniel Overdorf I baptized my younger son on New Year”s Day. On a day of new beginnings, we celebrated his new birth. My voice cracked when I asked him to confess what he believes about Jesus. He responded, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” These words rang sweeter in my ears than the first words he spoke as a toddler. My tears mixed with the baptismal water when I lowered him into the burial of his old self, and raised him as a new creation in Jesus. I experienced the same joy

July 24, 2012

Christian Standard

An Important Step Forward

By Mark A. Taylor This is one for the history books! After being published weekly since April 7, 1866, Christian Standard will become a monthly magazine in September this year. It will be in the mail mid-August, 68 pages of information, encouragement, news, and commentary””all of it by, for, and about our dynamic fellowship of Christian churches and churches of Christ. We”re looking forward to the change! Here”s why. The new monthly will be more appealing. Each month”s edition will provide several articles around important themes, and longer, more substantive articles when the subject warrants it. You”ll read and keep

July 20, 2012

Christian Standard

Interview with Alicia Ellis Crumpton

By Paul Boatman Alicia Crumpton has made a midlife career change to lead a unique academic program with a global impact.   Tell us about your ministry.I”ve been doing ministry all my adult life. I was a consultant””ministering by listening, assessing, and helping people set and move toward goals. For many years I did that with businesses, from “mom and pop” operations to corporations and city governments. I think I am doing the same thing, but now my clients are international Christian leaders who are doctoral students.You just hinted at a major leap. Oh, it is different, but I think

July 19, 2012

Christian Standard

Preaching, Prevailing, and Seeking

By LeRoy Lawson The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock Fred B. Craddock Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011 When You Come Home: The True Love Story of a Soldier”s Heroism and His Wife”s Sacrifice Nancy Cavin Pitts Kingsport: Christian Devotions Ministry, 2011 The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West . . . AGAIN (10th Anniversary Edition) George C. Hunter III Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2010 I”ve known of Fred Craddock almost as long as I”ve been preaching, but I”ve never met him. When I was a guest preacher at the Christian Church in Newport, Tennessee, his ghost filled the church. He wasn”t dead,

July 12, 2012

Christian Standard

Just One NACC Story

By Mark A. Taylor Meet Tyrone Benson, minister with the  Pontoon Beach (Illinois) Christian Church, not far from St. Louis Missouri. Tyrone graduated from St. Louis Christian College this spring, and this is his first ministry. This is his first North American Christian Convention too. He’s at the event in Orlando, Florida, this year because of convention president Rick Rusaw’s idea to honor new ministry graduates at a special service during the convention’s closing session Friday morning. Tyrone is one of several dozen such ministers who will be singled out then. I can’t imagine a candidate more deserving of our

May 29, 2012

Christian Standard

Cross Creek: Facing the Challenge of Change

By Kent E. Fillinger Leading a 68-year-old, multigenerational church in a small Southern town presents a unique set of challenges. Cross Creek Christian Church, located in rural Georgia, takes pride in its history, and its members often find comfort in maintaining the status quo. On the other hand, senior minister Rick Evans is committed to gently challenging people to move beyond their comfort zones to help the church be more effective in reaching its community for Christ. Prior to coming to Cross Creek in 2002, Rick served as a senior minister at a small church for six years. He also

May 24, 2012

Christian Standard

Elders: A Key to Growth in the New Church

By Jim Tune In my previous article on elders and submission, I suggested that church planters may be hesitant to install elders due to a misunderstanding of biblical authority. We”ve become accustomed to thinking about abuse and power in the same sentence. We have so many poor models of leadership around us today, it is easy to cringe when words like submission, authority, and rule come up. But a new church plant can provide a unique opportunity to create a workable and biblical model unhindered by any existing and entrenched system. At Churchill Meadows we followed an intentional pathway””one embarked

May 14, 2012

Christian Standard

Obituaries from 2011

ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF OBITUARIES Connie Lynn Bolinger, 58, of Nashville, TN, died May 22, 2011, after an extended illness. She was born Feb. 12, 1953, in Gary, IN, the daughter of Elwood and Bonnie (Starks) Bolinger. She grew up in the First Christian Church of Hessville, Hammond, IN. A graduate of Morton High School in Hammond, she attended Indiana University and Saint Brieuc in Brittany, France. After moving to Nashville, TN, in 1990 she became staff assistant at First Christian Church, later Aspen Grove Christian Church, of Franklin, TN, a position she held for 21 years. She was a gifted

May 12, 2012

Christian Standard

Partnership Hoping to Start 200 Churches in LA

By Jennifer Taylor Three years ago, Stadia partnered with Kevin Haah to plant New City Church of Los Angeles. Last month, Haah announced a partnership with Stadia that will result in 200 more churches across Los Angeles. “New City has grown to about 400 people,” he says. “We reflect the ethnic and economic diversity of downtown and have built an amazing community of believers here. We want this same experience in every neighborhood in the city.” Haah says Los Angelenos identify with specific neighborhoods, mentioning one of 119 areas when asked where they”re from. The neighborhoods range from small, 10,000-person

April 13, 2012

Christian Standard

What”s Missing?

By Ron Downs Something seems to be missing in many churches today when it comes to the issue of salvation. There is strong emphasis on believing in Jesus. There also seem to be strong emphases on confessing Jesus and baptism. But it seems there is little or almost no emphasis on repentance. Repentance has been dropped from the church”s vocabulary. John the Baptist came preaching repentance. Jesus preached repentance. Both John and Jesus made repentance the heart of their message. The message on Pentecost was not to accept Jesus and be baptized, nor was it to ask Jesus into your

March 27, 2012

Christian Standard

Considering the Question of “˜Them” and “˜Us” and “˜Ours”

By Mark A. Taylor The spirit of the day was one of inclusiveness. “Denominationalism is dead.” “Sectarianism is to be shunned.” “People today are more interested in Jesus than any human hierarchy or divisions.” Hear, hear for the plea to be “Christians only.” But this discussion was not just about whom to treat as Christians, but also about whom to include in one of “our” meetings. And here opinions were not as uniform. If the meeting is by and for “us,” some wondered, shouldn”t those credentialed by the meeting planners be from among “us”? Their question of “them” and “us”

March 26, 2012

Christian Standard

We’re Not Alone

By Darrel Rowland Colleges in the a cappella stream of our movement are also experiencing greater religious diversity in their student bodies. Abilene Christian University crossed a historic threshold in 2008. For the first time since the Texas college was founded 102 years earlier, a majority of its freshman class was not part of a (noninstrumental) church of Christ. Just 10 years before, about two-thirds of its students belonged. The decline at Abilene Christian shows that the a cappella branch of the Restoration Movement is experiencing the same, if not a greater, decrease in the proportion of fellowship students making up its

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