Articles for tag: Stephen Bond

July 8, 2018

Christian Standard

Mountain House

This architectural plan reflects the personality and mission of Summit Christian Church in Sparks, Nevada.   By Mel McGowan Just north of Reno, between the flash of casinos and the vast Nevada wilderness, you’ll find a community where economic booms and busts come with the territory, and people are desperate for a higher view and solid ground. Summit Christian Church of Sparks, Nevada, endeavors to provide these things. Desert Roots Nineteen years ago, a determined group of people in love with Jesus put down roots in the Truckee Meadows. They weathered the region’s economic growth and collapse in the same

June 19, 2017

Christian Standard

Our Mountaintop Mission

By Stephen Bond Here”s what I learned from our group climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the roof of Africa.  January 4, 2017, is a day I will never forget. At 8:00 that morning, I stood on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Looming 19,341 feet above sea level, Kilimanjaro is called “the roof of Africa.” The views are breathtaking. Reaching the summit was an over-the-top, bucket-list experience, made even sweeter because I was part of a trekking team that raised more than $140,000 to build classrooms for impoverished children in Kenya. The vision to climb Kilimanjaro exploded into my

July 1, 2016

Christian Standard

Climbing Half Dome

By Stephen B. Bond It all began as an innocent conversation. I was turning 60 years old and someone asked what was on my bucket list. I thought for a moment and offhandedly said, “I”d like to climb Mount Whitney! I”ve never done it before and it would be a challenging adventure!” (Mount Whitney rises 14,505 feet above California, making it the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States.) As soon as the words left my mouth, they seemed to take on a life of their own. It wasn”t long before the elder team at my church jumped on board

January 31, 2015

Christian Standard

Escape from Alcatraz

By Stephen Bond A long swim was made better because we were a team. Five years ago when I first heard about the Alcatraz swim, I put it on my bucket list. It sounded like a thrilling challenge . . . swimming 1.5 miles from the former penitentiary across the San Francisco Bay to the mainland. From the movies I had seen, no one had ever “escaped from Alcatraz,” and this would be my chance! However, when I heard the water was a brisk 55 degrees, I decided to wait until the year I turned 60 years old. I wanted to show

February 9, 2012

Christian Standard

Our Elders May Function Differently Than Yours

By Stephen Bond The Bible is surprisingly vague with regard to organization in the local church. It”s clear that God intends each local congregation to have a plurality of elders in leadership. We see this, for example, in Acts 14:23 as “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church” (note that elders is plural). It”s also clear that mature Christian character is what matters most for elders. The qualifications for elders mentioned in 1 Timothy and Titus deal almost exclusively with character. Beyond those two broad characteristics””more than one elder, all of mature/good character”” the Scriptures are essentially

May 30, 2011

Christian Standard

Lesson for June 5, 2011: God Keeps His Promise (Joshua 1:1-6; 11:16-23)

This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for June 5) is written by Stephen Bond, senior pastor with Summit Christian Church in Sparks, Nevada. ____________ God Keeps His Promise (Joshua 1:1-6; 11:16-23) By Stephen Bond In Waiting: Finding Hope When God Seems Silent, author Ben Patterson tells a story from his personal life. In the summer of 1988, three friends and I climbed Mount Lyell, the highest peak in Yosemite National Park. Two of us were experienced mountaineers; two of us were not. I was not one of the experienced two. . . . The climb to the

November 8, 2010

Christian Standard

Teams Function Like Teams

By Stephen Bond I played water polo in high school. Water polo is a team sport. Each player in the pool has a distinct role, and each one depends on the other if the team is to be successful. On my high school team we had Mike Moore, a scoring machine, “in the hole” on the offensive end of the pool and Guy Antley on the defensive end as our goalie. Both men received All-American awards but both played very different roles on our team. We needed both Mike and Guy (and several more of us non-All-American players) to win. The

July 11, 2010

Christian Standard

Risky Faith

By Stephen Bond Thirty-four years have passed in the blink of an eye. That”s how long ago I became a Christ follower. I was 21 when I began the grand faith adventure of living for Christ. Along the way I”ve had my share of bumps and bruises. But, except for the foibles I brought on myself, I wouldn”t change much. It has been exhilarating to barrel through the years living, for the most part, by faith. The journey has taken me and my family to the Midwest twice (once for seminary and once for ministry), to South America for 10

March 28, 2010

Christian Standard

The Blessings of Scarcity

By Stephen Bond I meet for lunch every month with four other senior pastors who serve in my community. I”m surprised by the openness of each pastor in sharing the unique hurdles and challenges his church faces. But one challenge we”ve all wrestled with in the past two years is finances. The economic downturn has affected our churches in different degrees””but we”ve all felt the crunch. In our state, Nevada, unemployment hovers near 13 percent. When people don”t have jobs, it often means they don”t have money to support their local church. This inevitably affects the financial resources churches have

March 7, 2010

Christian Standard

God Intends Church Growth

By Stephen Bond “I will build my church . . .” (Jesus Christ in Matthew 16:18) God intends church growth. We know this because there are still people who have not yet embraced God”s grace through faith in Christ. Those people face the specter of eternal separation from the Heavenly Father. Jesus came to seek and to save these lost people. This is not the only message Jesus brings, but it is one of the most important. At the age of 21, I opened the Bible for the first time and discovered a world of truth I had never known.

November 9, 2008

Christian Standard

Keys to Teamwork (Part 4): Wise Decision Making

By Stephen Bond   Steve Bond and his wife, Pam, launched Summit Christian Church in March 1998. The church met in the Sparks YMCA for 3½ years before moving to a new permanent facility on a 36-acre site. Summit”s vision is to “Love God, Love People, and Serve Others.” Over the past 10 years the church has grown to more than 2,000 people in weekend worship attendance. Approximately 1,000 adults are also involved in life groups. One of the keys to this growth has been a high level of teamwork among Summit”s staff and elders. This is the fourth of

November 2, 2008

Christian Standard

Keys to Teamwork (Part 3): Conflict Resolution

By Stephen Bond Steve Bond and his wife, Pam, launched Summit Christian Church in March 1998. The church met in the Sparks YMCA for 3½ years before moving to a new permanent facility on a 36-acre site. Summit”s vision is to “Love God, Love People, and Serve Others.” Over the past 10 years the church has grown to more than 2,000 people in weekend worship attendance. Approximately 1,000 adults are also involved in life groups. One of the keys to this growth has been a high level of teamwork among Summit”s staff and elders. This is the third of four

June 3, 2007

Christian Standard

Are You Physically at Your Peak?

By Stephen Bond After a yearlong season of conflict, in March 1998 I resigned from my ministry in Wisconsin. I spent the next three months seeking God”s direction before accepting a call to move to Nevada to begin Summit Christian Church. Our family moved in July 1998. Then we took another three months to decompress. We”d been through a tumultuous year and we desperately needed rest. After we caught our breath, I began to process what life lessons God was trying to teach me through that difficult time. I”ve often said the only thing worse than going through a difficult

February 4, 2007

Christian Standard

MULTISITE CHURCHES: It DIDN’T Work for Us

By Stephen Bond Multisite ministry is sweeping the nation. More and more churches are experimenting with this creative method of church extension. In church leadership gatherings, pastors increasingly speak about being “one church in two locations” (or three or four locations). It is always thrilling when the church is on the march! Multisite ministry is proving to be an effective way to advance the kingdom of God in many areas. The church I serve jumped on the multisite bandwagon two years ago. Summit Christian Church had previously helped plant two independent congregations, but we wanted to pursue church extension through

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