August 11, 2021
Ozark Christian College is starting a master's program, SpireConference announces its Huddle lineup for Sept. 15, Silas McCormick to be inaugurated at Lincoln Christian University, and more . . .
The manipulation capabilities of the “invisible government” are chilling and terrifying.
April 1, 2021
Who we are becoming is more important than what we are doing. This statement has been part of my spiritual formation for the last five years, and yet it is antithetical to the values of the culture and country in which I live. An aspect of the American dream is to pull yourself up from nothing to make something of yourself. Unfortunately, that noble rags-to-riches quest has become a stamp of identity. For many of us, our identity is found in what we can do, provide, give, and improve. Who are we if not a successful businessperson, parent, grandparent, or
February 1, 2021
In her book Developing Female Leaders, author and speaker Kadi Cole provides tools, coaching, and strategies for incorporating the development of female leaders into the leadership pipelines in our churches. After reading her book, I had the privilege to spend some time with her. QUESTION: Why should church leaders invest in developing their female leaders? KADI COLE: Young people have grown up in an age where diversity is the norm for them, so to walk into a worship experience and have everybody be very homogeneous is actually a deterrent. Not because they don’t agree with our beliefs, but because they
January 6, 2021
By Chris Moon A pair of Christian colleges saw a wave of baptisms of student-athletes in the fall as coaches continue to make the gospel a priority while still teaching the Xs and Os of their sports. Kentucky Christian University saw six of its football players baptized. That was in addition to at least five baptisms of student-athletes from the school’s volleyball and basketball programs. Point University in Georgia, meanwhile, saw four members of its football program baptized in a six-day span in October. Videos from several of those baptisms were posted to social media. “It’s amazing how it all
October 24, 2020
Leslie sat in the dorm lobby on her Christian college campus thinking about the last question on the get-to-know-you survey she and the rest of the girls in her dorm were completing. Her sophomore year had just begun, and Leslie had been considering where God was leading her. The last question asked, “What is something you have dreamed of doing?” She scribbled her answer in the blank: “missions in Europe.” Leslie Hall had been learning about the decline of Christianity in Europe, and she wondered what God might be doing there. “I guess God paid attention to what I wrote,”
September 28, 2020
It’s not too late to register for the all-virtual 2020 Spire Conference, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EDT) Wednesday. A great lineup of speakers is scheduled to participate. And as a bonus, you can forgo paying the $19.95 conference registration fee if you download Spire’s app from Apple’s App Store or from Google Play. More information is available at Spire’s website. The coronavirus impacted this year’s conference—as it seemingly has affected everything else—forcing it to transition from an in-person, three-day gathering to a virtual, one-day gathering. Spire CEO Rick Rusaw called the change in plans due
September 22, 2020
By Randy Frazee Before I share my perspective on what the church will look like after the coronavirus, let me offer a couple of disclaimers. First, I missed the “Pastoring through Pandemics” class in seminary. Who would have thought we would ever need that? Second, I do not claim to be a prophet. (As a matter of fact, I lead a non-“prophet” organization.) And besides, if I were a prophet, I would have bought more toilet paper! The coronavirus has created the single greatest disruptive inflection point for American society in our lifetime. It has called us to a critical
January 2, 2020
“I was sick and you looked after me.” _ _ _ By Nate Graybill “I’m one of ‘those people.’ Hypocrite. Liar. Addict.” This admission was a moment of rigorous honesty that changed my life. It came after hours of bingeing on my drug of choice. More afraid of where my habit was leading me than of being exposed, I woke up my wife and said, “Honey, I need to tell you something. I’m addicted to porn. I need help.” I finally accepted the fact that I was not powerful enough to control my sin. Broken and afraid of losing my
October 23, 2019
By Jim Nieman Milligan College’s move to strengthen its ministry program is starting to generate momentum. The school added several majors to its program last year, redesigned it to expose students to more ministry settings and incorporate more ministry practitioners, and beefed up the scholarship monies available to most students. “It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been really exciting,” Ron Kastens, director of Milligan’s new Ministry Leadership Program, said last Wednesday. “Friday morning [Oct. 18] a van leaves for Pittsburgh on a ‘ministry expedition’ . . . to help our students see what it looks like to do church in
June 22, 2019
By Wes Sebree Not even an extremely gifted communicator can rival experience as a teacher. My good friend Mike would add, “Truth is discovered, not downloaded.” In other words, truth must be experienced to take root. If these statements are accurate—and they are—we need to consider whether we want to proclaim the truth or whether we want to equip people to live faithfully. The first can be accomplished without doing the second. Additionally, equating information transfer with spiritual growth robs Christ’s body of experiencing God’s truth and love in tangible ways. This results in a subtle brand of gnosticism where
March 25, 2019
Elders, Staff, Discipleship Program, Prayer Culminate in Baptisms By Melissa Wuske Compass Christian Church âhas had a heart for evangelism since day one,â said senior pastor Brian Jobe. But in recent years, the churchâ™s growth has been astoundingâeven in an area crowded with megachurches and in the midst of a culture of church hopping. Jobe said the Greater Phoenix churchâ™s eldership has been crucial to âputting the church in a place to receive Godâ™s blessingâ during his three years thereâincluding a year overlapping with pastor Roger Storms, who had served the church for 29 years and helped instill âmission-mindedness, flexibility,
By Jennifer Johnson Several of the Restoration Movement”s largest churches have created internship programs, some that involve entire cohorts of students and work with colleges and universities for academic credit. “Those are wonderful opportunities for students, and we love what those churches are doing,” says Becki Kern. “But we decided our niche would be a more customized program that works one-on-one with each individual. With that goal in mind, we launched the Reveal Residency in 2014.” Kern, who serves as campus launch pastor and director of Reveal at Pantano Christian Church, Tucson, AZ, designed the program to work with people
May 11, 2017
Secret weapon. Unrealized potential. By Michael Crosley A secret weapon””does your church have one? Recently Jeff Faull, our senior minister at Mt. Gilead Church in Mooresville, Indiana, said in a sermon, “We are unleashing a secret weapon . . . grandparents.” He was inviting all grandparents to attend a seminar on the biblical mandate to teach God”s Word “to your children and to their children after them” (Deuteronomy 4:9). We were astounded by the response. Four weeks later, more than 90 grandparents of 325 grandchildren participated in a Saturday morning vision-casting seminar that launched a grandparenting ministry at Mt. Gilead. The
January 20, 2017
By Jennifer Johnson Christian leaders often try to “fill the well” by reading, praying, resting, and spending time with God, and they talk about “leading out of the overflow” of a life that”s replenished by these activities. This type of spiritual development is about much more than sermon preparation, and it”s vital to strong leadership at churches of every size. J.K. Jones, pastor of spiritual formation at Eastview Christian Church in Normal, Illinois; Kelly Kastens, worship arts pastor at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland; and Glen Schneiders, lead pastor at Crossroads Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, each play a
November 28, 2016
By Casey Tygrett Oppressed. What does that word evoke for you? I typed oppression into Google, clicked Search, and it returned 36.5 million results. There is a lot being said about oppression. And Scripture says much about oppression, too. In fact, the word oppression appears nearly 4,500 times there. The first Bible story about oppression details the plight of the Israelites in Egypt and the beautifully momentous exodus that set them loose to chase the everlasting land and the everlasting covenant under the everlasting God. It”s a wonderful story, but it begins with oppression. To Be Helpless, to Be
October 23, 2016
By Jennifer Johnson Blessing Ranch (New Port Richey, FL) is well known for its intensive counseling services and spiritual formation work with pastors and their families. Facilitating personal transformation is at the core of what they do, and now with “Beyond Her Story” they”re hoping to multiply that work among women across the country. “Over the last year or two I started feeling like God was leading us to make more efforts to reach women in ministry,” says Dr. Charity Walker-Byers, executive director of clinical services at Blessing Ranch. “We”ve worked with women in leadership here in the United States
October 17, 2016
How and Why America Is Still Searching By Neal Windham I fear that our ability””maybe even our desire””for dialogue is gone. What does this mean for a people whose first and greatest prayer is, “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”? I live and dwell and have my being in a nation that”s been in search mode for better than 50 years. Long before Google, in the decade of the Kennedys and Vietnam, of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Greenwich Village and Haight-Ashbury, Americans were engulfed in a search for what it means to be a free
September 26, 2016
By Neal Windham I recently took six college students to a state park not far from my home for an afternoon of prayer. It was a dreary spring day. Intermittent rain showers soaked our plans, cooled the air, and beckoned us to drier conditions after we toured the park. So we went to a Dairy Queen””you can always pray at a Dairy Queen””where we celebrated Abbey”s birthday over Blizzards and swapped some great stories. On the drive home, students began to sing. One of them asked if I had a request. “Sure,” I said, “How about something from The Sound
July 24, 2016
By Phyllis Fox “It”s like the Rascal Flatts song, “˜Life Is a Highway,”” said Daniel. The “highway” led Daniel Ball from Chatham, England, to Milligan College in Tennessee to play soccer (and for an education). “I had never heard of Milligan College until I received a call from Adam Laney, Milligan”s men”s soccer coach. After arriving at the airport in Tennessee, my first impression was there literally is a church on every corner. I knew East Tennessee was in the South and that the area is called the Bible Belt, but I didn”t know I would be living on the
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Rick Cherok
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David Empson
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David Faust