January 6, 2026
What Will You Leave Behind?
Someday we will lay down our WOMBATs and our treasured accomplishments. What will matter most then? Clinging to Christ and the cross.
Articles for tag: Success
November 18, 2023
GLCC Banquet Benefits Children of Ministers, Missionaries
Great Lakes Christian College’s recent Legacy Scholarship Banquet exceeded is fund-raising goal, ensuring that the school can continue providing tuition-free scholarships to the children of ministers and missionaries. . . .
A Biographical Study of Barton W. Stone (Part 4)
Here is the conclusion of our four-part series on Barton W. Stone, as excerpted from Frederick D. Kershner’s 1940 series on six of the “most significant advocates” of the Restoration Movement. (Click on any of these to read the earlier installments of the series: Part one — part two — part three.) _ _ _ “Stars: Message of Barton Stone” May 4, 1940; p. 7 The first relations of [Alexander] Campbell and [Barton] Stone appear to have been somewhat strained and not altogether cordial. The Kentucky reformer was a little dubious about too much emphasis being placed on water regeneration;
December 5, 2019
Focusing on Failure
Here’s a Christian Standard editorial from 140 years ago that will apply to most everyone, at least on some level. _ _ _ Concerning Failures. By Isaac ErrettDec. 13, 1879 We are moved to say a few words concerning failures, by a letter received from a friend, over whose pathway thick darkness has gathered, and on whose head fierce tempests have broken in long succession, who says: “My life is a failure, and I know it; I have attempted tasks for which I was not qualified and have wasted my life in attempts to be what God never meant I
May 23, 2017
Failure, Formation, and a Hopeful Future
By Mark A. Taylor It”s a principle of leadership whose impact we may not have grasped for our spiritual lives: failure is often the prelude to success. In fact great success may not happen unless it”s built on a foundation of failure. In a way, this is nothing new. We know about Thomas Edison”s thousands of efforts to find a filament for the electric light bulb. “I have not failed,” he said. “I”ve just found 10,000 ways that won”t work.” History teachers tell us how Abraham Lincoln suffered defeat after defeat only to rise to greatness. Others describe J.C. Penney”s
January 23, 2017
Redefining Success
By Alan Ahlgrim In Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, Kent and Barbara Hughes begin with Kent”s angry lament: “Most people I know in the ministry are unhappy. . . . They are failures in their own eyes. Mine as well. Why should I expect God to bless me when it appears He hasn”t blessed them? Am I so ego-centered to think He loves me more?” Success . . . and Disappointment We live in a success-obsessed culture. No one hopes to one day be a colossal failure; we all dream of achievement. That”s not a bad thing. God created
January 4, 2017
True Grit
By Jim Tune Much has been written about the psychology of success. Is it talent that enables success? The right connections? A positive mental attitude? In the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth argues that most success stories come down to one vital element: endurance. Toughing it out. Grit. Talent, Duckworth claims, is overrated: “We inadvertently send the message that these other factors””including grit””don”t matter as much as they really do.” Duckworth writes: To be gritty is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. To be gritty is to hold fast to an
August 30, 2016
More Writers You Know
Mark A. Taylor Two weeks ago I posted a list of writers from the Christian churches who have publishing success in the larger Evangelical market. It was inevitable that my list wasn”t complete, so today I”m adding three more names. Two of these, Laura Dingman (a writer for Christian Standard) and Diane Stortz (a former colleague) I should have remembered the first time around. One, Steve Carter, was suggested by a reader. I”m guessing this second list won”t be my last one. Please feel free to tell me about others we should include here. This Invitational Life, by Steve Carter,
July 6, 2016
Ministry Success
By Jim Tune “I experienced success in ministry,” the speaker said, “but it wasn”t worth it.” I was attending a church planting conference. The speaker had served as pastor and as a leader of two national church planting networks. He had written books. At one point, he worked 364 days a year. (He took most of Christmas off.) This guy is, and was, a big deal. In hindsight, he said, it wasn”t worth it. He wanted us to learn from his mistakes. In the years I”ve served as pastor and leader, I”ve seen many rise to the top. They are
March 19, 2016
Redefining Success Without Lowering Your Standards
By Karl Vaters Pastors may be the hardest-working, most undervalued members of our society. And that goes double for the small church and bivocational pastors I spend a lot of time with. So why are we so dismissive of our own worth? I”m not talking about humility, which is always appropriate. I”m talking about a toxic mind-set that traps many of us. We tell people in our churches that God is interested in them for who they are, not for what they do. We tell them it doesn”t matter how much money they earn, how big their business is, what
March 17, 2016
How Team Expansion Missionaries Define Success
By Doug Lucas We”ve tried and learned from a variety of approaches, each with a different definition of success. Here”s where we”ve been and how we”re seeing God bless the approach we”re taking now. When we were starting Team Expansion in 1978, we organized several brainstorming conferences that included some of the nation”s top thinkers and leaders in missions and other fields. At these events, we would ask questions like, “What should Team Expansion try to be? What should be its main goal? In fact, what IS Team Expansion?” It took a while to hone the vision (about 37 years,
March 13, 2016
The Peculiar Duty of Pastoring
By Patrick Mitchell When I entered a conversation with a dear friend that morning at Milligan College”s exercise facility, I never would have thought that within a few months I would be pastor of a 125-year-old church in a town that boasts a population of approximately 1,000. While still chugging along on the elliptical machine, Phyllis asked if I would consider helping fill the pulpit of a rural church in our area while it searched for a pastor. You should know that at that point in my life (I was then 30 years old), I was done with church ministry.
March 11, 2016
The Church, the Heart of My Calling
By Guthrie Veech Olin Hay preached at South Louisville Christian Church near the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He loved football. Periodically, he would leave the office early to watch the Cardinals” football practice. One day a freshman quarterback rushed the ball down the muddy field only to be tackled by a huge linebacker. The quarterback stood up, covered in mud from head to toe, and said to Hay, “You gotta love the game, gotta love the game.” The freshman quarterback”s name was Johnny Unitas, who became perhaps the greatest quarterback in NFL history. That story reminds me of my
March 11, 2016
My Opus
By David Smith “Just stay around long enough to get a little experience and then move on to “˜greener pastures.”” That statement, among others, was what I heard when I moved to Moreland, Kentucky, in 1993 to start a ministry with Moreland Christian Church. What that actually means is, put in a little time, and then move to a more “reputable” church in our brotherhood with a higher salary. Well, 23 years later, God is still blessing our little church in the cornfield. In fact, after building a multipurpose building in 1999 and a new sanctuary in 2014, we bought
March 10, 2016
Our Challenges, My Peace
By Dan Lang Since my youth, the burning conviction to be a preacher moved me in the direction God wanted me to go. There was no escaping it. I was compelled. During training at Lincoln Christian University, Jesus” commission to make disciples of all people jelled for me as the simple but profound strategic mission that would shape the way I carried out my personal call to leadership ministry. A picture materialized of what my ministry in a local church might look like. I never dreamed I would be in my 28th year leading an increasingly diverse urban church with
March 10, 2016
Lessons from Limestone
By LeAnne Blackmore For the past 16 years my husband, Ron, and I have led, taught, cast vision, and ministered to many in our city megachurch, First Christian Church, Johnson City, Tennessee. From college ministry to missions, greeter to elder, we have stepped into roles as variegated as the fall foliage on the Blue Ridge Parkway. By man”s standards, we experienced great successes and toyed with the temptation to take the credit. But God, in his grace, also allowed us to face colossal failures. In merging the two extremes, and through immersing ourselves in the Word, a mutual mind-set surfaced.
March 5, 2016
Bigger Than “˜Bigger and Better”
By Chris Travis On the one hand, I get it. If you want a picture of what a church is like, then the number of people who come on Sundays fills in a lot of information quickly. But does it tell the whole story? I think we all know it doesn”t, and yet, we”re really not sure how else to define success. “What are you running on Sundays now?” Three different people asked me that question within five minutes. This was not at a church planting conference. This was at my home church! People didn”t ask how my wife was
July 8, 2014
My Only Hope
By Jim Tune When I read the Gospels, I encounter a Jesus who proclaims peace for the fringe dwellers. Indistinct and frequently offensive, they reached for his cloak, cried out in desperation, or fell forward to make contact with real love. Convention would treat them as nonpersons, insisting they be kept barely visible and hidden behind a veil of shame. But Jesus was unconventional. Life”s losers sense this. They crash the party and find themselves not only accepted, but favored and blessed as well. With Jesus, they get the seats of honor. For someone with as many opportunities as I”ve
June 27, 2014
The Upside of Failing
By Danny R. Von Kanel Devastated or disappointed by your recent failure? Maybe you should see it as the first step toward your success. Christian businessman James Cash Penney Jr., who founded the J.C. Penney retail chain in the early 1900s, failed in his first foray into business in 1898, after he refused to give liquor to the cook of the hotel that was buying a good percentage of the meat from his butcher shop. Though Penney was devastated by the blow, in the end, it proved to be a blessing. Penney had a unique view of failing that resulted
