Johnson University president Tommy Smith announced today he will retire from his position effective June 30, 2024. “I want what is best for the mission of this university,” Smith said via news release, “and my health situation prevents me from providing the long-term leadership this great work requires.” . . .
January 1, 2023
By Kent E. Fillinger A January 2021 Lifeway Research survey found 49 percent of U.S. Protestant pastors say they frequently hear members of their congregation repeating conspiracy theories about something happening in our country. Around 1 in 8 pastors (13 percent) strongly agree their congregants are sharing conspiracy theories. WHAT THE RESEARCH SHOWS An October 2020 research report found that Facebook users engage with misinformation 70 million times per month on average. Though far fewer than the 2016 peak of 200 million monthly fake news engagements, it still is no small figure. On Twitter, people share false content 4 million
June 14, 2021
Our words have the power to build up or tear down. Yet words can also be the healing agent God uses to bring reconciliation, rebirth, revival, and restoration. We need more of these healing words in every arena of our lives and ministries.
March 1, 2021
I received an email from Jonathan, a person I’d never met, last June. He explained that he’d hit a point in his life where he had questions about life, faith, his purpose, and how to respond to everything that was happening in the world. We were in the midst of a pandemic; people were losing their jobs, and there was political turmoil and racial injustice. Jonathan said he didn’t know how to process all the chaos we all were witnessing. Jonathan had found our church through Google and Instagram. Unbeknownst to me, he had been listening to our sermons and
August 22, 2019
By Rob O’Lynn America is becoming more urbanized, but roughly 60 million people still live in “vast areas” classified as rural. How can Christian churches effectively connect with people who are relatively few and far between? Social media should be a primary method. Unfortunately, it’s a method country and small-town churches have been slow to embrace. Here are five thoughts on how to harness the Internet and use it to make your church an influential voice for God in your rural region. 1. Structure Your Engagement All social media is relational. I’m not speaking just of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or
March 27, 2019
Stadia Church Planting marketing manager Josie Barton had some fun with Google’s announcement that its revolutionary cloud-based gaming system would be called . . . you guessed it: Stadia. “These past few days, we’ve been having fun introducing unsuspecting gamers to our church planting mission,” Barton wrote on Stadia’s website Sunday, noting, “it’s easy to use the wrong handle in the twitterverse.” Cloud-based gaming could mark the end of console-based systems that have ruled since the early 1980s. If gamers are excited for Stadia, Barton opined, “We need to be as excited [because] Stadia Church Planters is even better.” She then listed several
October 12, 2017
By Chuck Dennie Why does Twitter have a 140-character limit? An article titled “Best Practices” at Twitter.com states, “Creativity loves constraints and simplicity is at our core. Tweets are limited to 140 characters so they can be consumed easily anywhere, even via mobile text messages.” Twitter users most likely will tell you that being limited to 140Â characters has forced them to be more focused, creative, and clear about what they”re trying to communicate. The multisite church is a beautiful example of innovating in response to constraint and limitations. We can now reach more people in more areas in our communities
May 25, 2016
By Jim Tune It”s staggering. We can buy Bible software that contains 2,000 Bible resources. We can read and search blogs of today”s top Christian leaders. We can attend conferences and hear the best speakers, or plug in our earbuds and listen to them preach. We can direct-message great leaders on Twitter. The resources at our fingertips are amazing. Not only that, but we can write and publish whatever we want. A few years ago we could read only those fortunate enough to be published. Now anyone can start a blog, post a video on YouTube, or publish a book.
March 24, 2016
By T.R. Robertson I”ve dreamed of being a writer since I was just a kid, back in the 1970s. Being a writer would give me the chance to express myself, to share my thoughts and opinions. Little did I know by the time I became a published writer, anyone with Internet access would be able to instantly publish his or her thoughts. Social media enable everyone to have their say, whether insightful or spiteful, eloquent or ignorant. Twitter recorded 738 million tweets in the 10 days following the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Social media drove the public
February 11, 2016
By Laura Buffington Try as we might, we cannot escape pop culture. I could throw away my smartphone and move to a cabin in the woods, but Taylor Swift would still find me. I could try to ignore her and The Hunger Games and The Walking Dead. I could pretend Netflix never became a way of life and Twitter never became an official language. But it will all still be out there. Whether I open the door or not, pop culture will be around, shaping (or reflecting) the way people think, talk, and move. It is pervasive and powerful, sometimes
February 10, 2016
By Jim Tune I”m not overly patriotic. Most Canadians aren”t. We have no equivalent to country singer Lee Greenwood”s song “God Bless the U.S.A.” with its nationalistic and stirring refrain, “I”m proud to be an American where at least I know I”m free.” All that said, a news flash popped up in my Twitter feed a few months ago that made me extraordinarily proud of my country. Originally tweeted by Neville Park, this message quickened this Canadian”s pulse: “MEANWHILE IN CANADA: Syrian refugees arriving. Airport is worried they will be overwhelmed by well-wishers.” Syrian refugees? Overwhelmed by well-wishers? Yes!
September 19, 2015
By Joe Boyd The world has changed. We have the entire canon of human knowledge at our fingertips inside the tiny computers we carry. We call them phones, but rarely use them for such an antiquated concept as talking to someone. They are our portal to anyone and anything at anytime. We use them to be “social,” but rarely civil. I”m not a social media hater. I like it. I”ve been blogging for more than 12 years. I was an early adopter of both Facebook and Twitter. But I must admit I am weary of how hateful the general tone
September 1, 2015
By Michael C. Mack In July, we asked you why you initially got involved in ministry. We defined ministry as any type of service (paid or volunteer) you engage in through your church, a parachurch organization, a civic organization, or individually. We also posted the question on our Facebook page, BestMinistryPractices, and on Twitter, @CSBestPractices. Here are the results: 35% “” Someone asked or influenced me 32.5% “” A direct calling from God (like Moses in Exodus 3) 20% “” I sensed a need to use my particular spiritual gifts and/or talents 10% “” I responded to a specific need (the need was the call)
June 22, 2012
By Jennifer Johnson The North American Christian Convention will live-stream each of its main sessions during this summer”s event scheduled for July 10-13 in Orlando, FL. The broadcasts will be free and will include music and worship as well as the sermon from each service. Viewers logging in for the broadcasts will also be able to take notes online and live chat with other viewers via Facebook and Twitter. All broadcasts will be in English, but a multilanguage electronic Bible will be available on-screen for easy reference. The complete schedule of speakers and broadcast times is below. Advertising space
May 29, 2012
By Kent E. Fillinger Eric Keller grew up in Enid, Oklahoma, and attended Oakwood Christian Church. He returned to his home church for two summer internships during Bible college, and in 2003 he became the church”s student minister. Then, in 2008, Keller became senior minister at Oakwood. Some would say you can”t go back home to serve a church you attended as a child. They would point to the experience of Jesus. When he returned to his hometown to teach, some of the locals took offense, and Jesus responded, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town
May 19, 2012
By Kent E. Fillinger A recent Family Circus cartoon showed Dolly telling her mother, “Billy says he doesn”t hafta” go to church anymore “˜cause his phone has an app for that!” The reality is, Billy may be right! The top-ranked online search topic in 2011 was “iPhone,” beating out Casey Anthony, Kim Kardashian, and Katy Perry. Technologies like Facebook, Twitter, mobile websites, and smartphones are changing the way individuals live and organizations operate. Church growth consultant Barry Whitlow wrote, 70% of the people living in most American communities now choose not to get up and go to a church service
September 8, 2011
This past weekend, Todd Clark, lead pastor at Discovery Church in Simi Valley, CA, launched Eat Art, a nonprofit organization that “artfully ends hunger” by selling photographs, paintings, postcards, and apparel and using the proceeds to feed hungry children in 10 countries. Sixty percent of every Eat Art purchase sends rice meal packets overseas and 40 percent goes to print and ship the art to buyers. Eat Art will send 100,000 meals to 100,000 children for the first 100,000 people who follow them on Twitter or “like” them on Facebook. Click the links to make a difference for hungry kids!
March 10, 2011
By LeRoy Lawson When Pat Magness was a Milligan College student in the late 1960s, she was Patty Phillips and I was her professor. Now Dr. Magness is the head of the area of humane learning. She is my boss. Which goes to show you that it pays to be nice, even to freshmen. You never know . . . My rank indicates my place on the academic totem pole. One step lower and I”d be in the dirt. I”m a visiting substitute adjunct professor of freshman humanities. This just may be my all-time favorite title. Dr. Magness extended the invitation to
February 18, 2011
By Dudley Rutherford From tweets to texts, blogs to apps, we are living in a technologically progressive world, and the 2011 North American Christian Convention is no exception! The NACC is taking advantage of today”s exciting technology and social networking options to promote this year”s convention. During the convention week, we”ll offer digital and Web support to attendees, along with a few surprises! Afterward, we”ll stay in touch with highlights and testimonials via e-news and other media. Check out all the ways we”re bringing technology to you before, during, and after the 2011 NACC: “¢ Twitter: Sign up today at
November 16, 2010
By Jennifer Taylor In 2001, Northwest Haiti Christian Mission created its first “Miriam Center,” a home and therapy center for dozens of Haitian children with disabilities and special needs. In recent years, NWHCM partnered with other organizations, including AHomeInHaiti.org, to plan a second center to serve 100 more children. Two months ago the organizations raised $700,000 for the cause in 10 days. “We had been moving forward with plans for a second center when Shaun King, lead pastor at Courageous Church in Atlanta, visited us and just fell in love with the special needs ministry,” says Cameron Mayhill, director of
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