Articles for tag: Time

September 20, 2017

Christian Standard

Come to the Table

By Mandy Smith The phrase “come to the table” can mean gathering to find understanding, as in meeting to discuss how to solve a problem or end a disagreement. Lawyers “come to the table” to reconcile quarreling spouses. Warring nations “come to the table” to discuss how to end the fighting. We often think of reconciliation in these legal and political ways. But what if the table were not in an office or a war room? What if, instead of a conference or strategy table, it was a dinner table, groaning under the weight of a sumptuous feast? We often

August 21, 2017

Christian Standard

The Urgency of Sledgehammering Strongholds

(This is a sidebar to “LOVEtheLOU: Demonstrating and Declaring the Gospel in North St. Louis.”) By Walt Wilcoxson It”s not a tree you would pick to help beautify your yard. The bark on much of the trunk is gone, carved away, no doubt, by knives of North St. Louis neighborhood kids as a way to mourn the loss of a friend shot down in the street. On the bare wood are carved the initials of the victim of violence on Enright Avenue. After the shooting, the tree became a makeshift memorial, a place to remember. But over time, the gathering

June 20, 2017

Christian Standard

3 Things that Make a Worship Leader Great

By Chuck Dennie It was a beautiful spring day when I pulled into the long driveway of a church that had a large property. The pastor had asked me to spend time with the church”s worship leader. As I approached the building, I saw beautiful landscaping, a well-manicured pond, and someone mowing the grass. I was about an hour early, and the pastor greeted me at the offices. I asked if we could get started early and if he would introduce me to his worship leader. He pointed outside to the guy mowing the grass and said, “There is my worship

June 18, 2017

Christian Standard

The July Issue Is Now Available Via Our App

The July issue of Christian Standard“”completely redesigned, updated, and refocused””should be arriving in our print subscribers’ mailboxes very soon and is available for download right now via our app. There is a new leadership team, featuring Publisher Jerry Harris and Editor Michael C. Mack, a new designer, and a firm commitment to (as Jerry writes this month) “capture the power that comes from our unity.” Christian Standard”s ownership has also changed in recent months. A new not-for-profit, Restoration Movement Media, now owns both Christian Standard and her sister publication, The Lookout. It is the first time in 62 years that

May 20, 2017

Christian Standard

Don’t Designate . . . Release Leaders!

By Chuck Dennie Leadership in worship is not about you. It”s about the leaders around you. I spent many of my early years as a worship leader learning this lesson the hard way. I was the front man for a Christian band called By the Tree for about 10 years. In 2005, I felt God calling me to the local church. It”s a calling I have loved! I started leading worship at a church in Oklahoma City called LifeChurch.tv (now Life.Church) about 12 years ago. At that time, about 8,000 people attended every Sunday. I went in as a 27-year-old

May 16, 2017

Mark A. Taylor

First Family

By Mark A. Taylor Ministry can be hard on a minister”s family life. The demands of the congregation don”t stop when the church office closes. Needs and opportunities to serve abound in the evenings, threatening to take the minister away from conversations with a spouse or attendance at children”s ballgames and concerts. Phone calls can come night and day. And the minister may feel he has no one to talk to about disappointments and difficulties except a spouse, who then becomes overwhelmed with information and worries that cannot be shared with anyone else. We can be encouraged that 70 percent

May 5, 2017

Christian Standard

The Unexpected Place Setting

By Randy Gariss It must have seemed an odd table. David was king of Israel, and when he sat down to eat he had his family and his sons. As king, he naturally would have included some friends and perhaps a favorite servant or two. And also a crippled man by the name of Mephibosheth. The backstory has all the human interest we can handle. Years before, Saul had been the king and he had made the young David”s life miserable””repeatedly attempting to cut it short! Saul”s despotic life and desperate panic were all an ill-fated attempt to keep David,

April 27, 2017

Michael C. Mack

No Repeat Group Prayer

By Michael C. Mack Do your group or class members get so caught up in “saying a prayer” and putting it into the right format with the right words that they miss having a conversation with one another and Jesus? Do people refuse to pray aloud because they think they”ll get it wrong? Does your group take prayer requests and then pray them back to God as if he isn”t present? Do people give answers to people”s problems or try to “fix” them during prayer requests? These activities make it clear on whose power the group members are most reliant.

February 22, 2017

Christian Standard

Gateway Planning

By Michael C. Mack Spending time with God is your priority as a leader. But it doesn”t just happen. Use the following strategy questions to help you plan a time of solitude with God: How often will I get away alone with God? (Weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually?) How long will I spend alone with God? When will I get away to be alone with God? (Be specific!) Where will I go? What provisions do I need to make for getting away? (Asking for permission, lining up childcare, making financial arrangements, lining up a place to stay, etc.) On my getaways

February 3, 2017

Doug Redford

To the Earth and Back

By Doug Redford Maybe you”ve heard an expression often shared between two people who love each other: “I love you to the moon and back.” I”m not sure how the expression originated. The meaning is pretty clear; it”s another way of saying, “I love you more than you can even begin to measure.” Every February, love takes center stage with the celebration of Valentine”s Day. But love takes center stage every Lord”s Day for the followers of Jesus during the observance of Communion. Jesus, literally, loved us to the earth and back. To the moon and back to earth is

January 18, 2017

Christian Standard

Habits””Better Than Resolutions

By Jim Tune We”re not far into the new year, but our resolutions have already started to fade into the background. “I”m opening a gym called Resolutions,” someone quipped. “It will have exercise equipment for the first two weeks and then it will turn into a bar for the rest of the year.” We start out well, but our best intentions don”t survive the realities of life. Resolutions aren”t bad; they”re just not enough. According to James Clear, a writer on behavioral change, we should forget goals and embrace systems. “Goals are good for planning your progress and systems are

January 11, 2017

Christian Standard

Principled Pluralism

By Jim Tune When we all assumed Christianity held a special place in our society, the solution to differing views was simpler: work harder at bringing the Christian faith into the public square. We all assumed the Christian worldview was right, and that it should shape every part of culture. Things have changed. As acceptance of Christianity has diminished, we find ourselves living in a pluralistic culture. As I”ve said before, we”re no longer the home team. It”s now assumed the Christian worldview has nothing to offer culture. People value tolerance. Tolerance sounds good. The Oxford English Dictionary defines tolerance

January 9, 2017

Christian Standard

I Love the Church . . . Because of What I See the Church Doing

By Scott Ancarrow “This is why we planted a church here.” That phrase ran through my head as I tried to rest in the midst of the unrest in our city in April 2015. As peaceful protests following Freddie Gray”s death turned into a night of violence captured and shared on video all over the world, our family knew that moments like this are why we were where we were. A hundred times I had repeated the refrain “the local church is Plan A for bringing hope to bear in the world.” I said it every time I talked to

January 4, 2017

Christian Standard

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

December 23, 2016

Christian Standard

Better Than Christmas

By Daniel Schantz “A good name is better than precious ointment, And the day of death than the day of one”s birth” (Ecclesiastes 7:1, New King James Version). There is nothing so magical as the birth of a child, whether it”s a routine birth or a baby that comes in the taxi on the way to the hospital. There is always that frisson of fear””is the baby normal? Does he have all his fingers and toes? Were there complications? Is mother OK? And there is curiosity. “Is it a girl? Is it a boy? Is she pretty? Is he cute?”

December 6, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

We Have This Moment

By Mark A. Taylor Because we are trapped in time, always we are challenged to keep in balance the reality of the past, the present, and the future. But throughout life, one of these tends to dominate the other two. For example, both toddlers and young teens are consumed by the present. The 14-year-old verbalizes what the 2-year-old can only demonstrate: “The world is about me. Everyone”s looking at me, and every need I have is supremely important.” By age 22 or 24, many of these difficult people have become ambitious and concerned about establishing themselves in a world full

November 30, 2016

Christian Standard

New Every Morning

By Jim Tune “Morning has broken, like the first morning . . .” “”words by Eleanor Farjeon, popularized in song by Cat Stevens. Whatever time of day you may be reading this, a new morning is on its way. There is magic in this daily re-creation of ourselves. Hope, opportunity, light, a blank page. I love mornings. That doesn”t mean I am a morning person. Winter mornings in Canada do not begin with light. It”s still dark when I get up. Still, there”s something about a new day dawning. In the monastic era, the hours of the morning carried the

November 9, 2016

Christian Standard

Do It Again

By Jim Tune The hardest part of life, one preacher said, is that it”s so daily. Every day the bed needs to be made. Breakfast needs to be cooked. Dishes, dusting, work, and sleep demand our attention every single day. The same with ministry. Many of our churches need hundreds of volunteers to operate every week. The numbers vary depending on the size of the church, but every church needs people to show up and do their job. There”s not much glory in showing up faithfully, but without it we”re sunk. We get tired, though. The thousandth time a husband

August 30, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

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,

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