October 31, 2024
It’s hard to know which organizations to trust today, but you can tell much about an organization that pours into you when it has nothing to gain. The Solomon Foundation was encouraging me and mentoring me long before I worked for a church associated with their network of churches.
April 8, 2023
In his sixth and final devotion for the week leading up to Easter, former editor Mark A. Taylor shares thoughts about the centurion . . . "Struck by the Truth" (Matthew 27:45-54).
April 3, 2023
Questions for group discussion for use with this week’s lesson titled “All Nations Are Invited” (Mark 16:9-20).
April 1, 2021
I visited many churches for various reasons during 2020. In quite a few houses of worship, I experienced roughly the same thing. As the doors opened, I could feel vibrations from the percussion and bass in my chest. The smell of coffee would drift toward my nose and awaken me. The welcoming team would greet me and ask about my week with genuine interest. “Don’t forget to check in on social media!” they would say. Sign-up sheets for “groups who do life together” and other activities to “get involved” were on strategically placed tables. Finally, I’d enter the sanctuary, grab
March 15, 2020
By Rick Chromey Sometimes an entire life boils down to a single moment. For me it was a solitary night of divine deliverance and holy intervention that changed everything. It happened in the spring of 1982, about the time of Resurrection Sunday. I was a freshman in Bible college. I was also clinically depressed, struggling with sin, school, finances, family, and friends. I wallowed in selfishness, loneliness, pity, and apathy. I was a thousand miles from home, living alone in a dorm room that increasingly felt like a prison cell. For weeks I contemplated my life. Who am I? Why
March 15, 2018
By Michael C. Mack I have learned some of the most vital lessons from some of the most unlikely people in Scripture. Mary Magdalene is one of them. A most pivotal day in her life started “while it was still dark” (John 20:1). As she went to the tomb, her life epitomized what our lives would look like without knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection—dark and hopeless. But the resurrection changes everything. A day that began in darkness ended with her radiant proclamation, “I have seen the Lord!” (v. 18). Mary was the first to view the empty
March 3, 2016
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
By T.R. Robertson Some ignore it. Some condemn it. But others have found ways to redeem this 40-day observance with values both biblical and missional. I didn”t grow up with Lent as part of my life. My church, as well as most other congregations in the Restoration Movement of the 1960s and “70s, didn”t observe Lent at all. It was considered a nonbiblical invention of the Catholic Church. We not only looked down on Lent, we mostly ignored it. I don”t remember Lent ever being mentioned in Sunday school or in sermons. My first exposure to Lent came when I was a safety patrol guard
March 1, 2015
By Michael C. Mack Resurrection Sunday has been a big deal all over the world ever since the first one! But it”s what happens after Resurrection Sunday that can make the most impact. Here are four tips from Outreach magazine that you can use to keep the momentum going. 1. Celebrate. Capture all the stories and all the “wins” from Easter Sunday and celebrate them. Share the stories and successes with staff, volunteers, and the congregation on subsequent Sundays. Publicly champion all the people who stepped up to serve. Brag on all the behind-the-scenes people who rarely get much attention.
March 25, 2013
This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. ______ By Sam E. Stone This quarter”s theme, “Undying Hope,” focuses this month on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many evidences confirm what took place. The account of the walk to Emmaus is noted briefly by Mark (16:12, 13), but is reported at some length by Luke. It took place on the afternoon of Resurrection Sunday. We know nothing more about Cleopas and his companion other than what is stated here. Some suggest this could be Clopas (John 19:25), and that
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April 28, 2026
Rick Cherok
April 28, 2026
David Faust
April 28, 2026
Rick Cherok