March 16, 2022
When the Standard Publishing line of true-to-the-Bible resources for all ages was acquired by David C Cook in 2015, several people who had faithfully worked on those products for years went with them. One of those workers, Margie Redford, explains that Standard Publishing "is still standing strong!"
September 1, 2021
Ludmilla and June sat in a makeshift examination room in a small Ukrainian Baptist church where a team of medical missionaries had set up a clinic. June helped the elderly woman pull her arm from her sleeve as she listened to her story of the cancer treatment and its effects on her body. Ludmilla also had a broken shoulder and a wound at the base of her neck that the surgeon would not operate on since it might involve cancer. The oncologist did not want to treat her because she had an open wound. Ludmilla was left to manage her
November 11, 2020
By Jim Nieman A first-time political candidate from eastern Illinois who attends a small-town Christian church—where her husband serves as an elder—was elected to Congress with more than 70 percent of the vote, according to unofficial totals. Republican Mary Miller—described as “a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a local farmer, and a business manager,” by her website—is set to represent Illinois’ 15th Congressional District, which includes 33 counties that cover most of the southeastern part of the state. In her spare time, she teaches Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, according to her website. Mary and her husband, Chris, attend
August 3, 2020
Study Questions for Groups 1. How did you show kindness to someone this past week? 2. What struggles have you faced over the last week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Joshua 24:1, 14-28, 31 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. (Option: Read Joshua 24:1-31.) Ask the third person to retell the story in their own words as if telling it to a group of kids at Vacation Bible School. 3. What key terms do you see in this passage? 4. Let’s look more closely at some of the details:
July 20, 2020
By Leigh Mackenzie 1. What are you most grateful for right now? 2. When did you need courage and strength this past week? • What challenges did you face as you sought to obey God and the leaders he has put in place? • Who did you encourage last week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Joshua 3:7-17 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Repeat the process with Joshua 21:43-45 and then Joshua 23:1-5. Ask the third person to retell the story from all three passages as if
By Chris Moon In her 20 years in children’s ministry at Fairview Christian Church in Carthage, Mo., Angie Fewin has never seen anything like COVID-19 and the effects it has had on the local church. “We’ve had to rethink everything,” she said. Just as senior pastors and church elders across the country have been working out how to reestablish in-person worship services as government stay-at-home orders are lifting, so children’s ministers are trying to figure out how to return their ministries to some semblance of normal—or at least to a new normal. And there’s no time to lose. Summer—the highlight
April 7, 2018
By Emily Drayne From time to time, every church needs to refresh programs and activities, including missions ministry. No matter the church size, budget, or the number of missionaries supported, missions can easily be prioritized and incorporated into your church activities. A Minute for Missions An easy way to incorporate missions into your Sunday service is to do a “minutes for missions” each week. This can be as simple as showing a few photos of a missionary you support and talking about them for two or three minutes. Show a map of where they serve and talk about the
September 23, 2017
By Bob Hightchew How do you change an unhealthy church culture without any pain? How do you make necessary biblical changes without upsetting people? You can”t. If we are to serve the kingdom, we will have to fight some battles. The battle is worth it, though, if the process helps move a church to better health. I”ve learned this firsthand over the course of the last 20-plus years. South Fork Christian Church in Verona, Kentucky, has been an easy congregation for me to love. Our pews are filled with kind, generous, and loving individuals. However, when I arrived, the church
September 15, 2017
Students Equip Toys for Kids with Disabilities Engineering students at Milligan College aren”t content with figuring out how to make things work. They also want to do good for their local community. And so this summer these students gave away two adapted Power Wheels Jeeps to children who cannot move independently. The project was part of a program called “Go Baby Go Appalachia,” overseen by AdaptoPlay, a local nonprofit organization in Johnson City, Tenn. The Jeeps are modified to allow children to use them despite disabilities that make it difficult for them to move. Steering wheels were replaced with joysticks,
December 13, 2016
By Mark A. Taylor While opinions differ about what women should or should not do in a Christian church, no one can deny that God is working through women today. And, as Matt Proctor, Jennifer Johnson, and Chad Ragsdale remind us this month, women have always been at the center of God”s work on earth: “¢ Several significant and surprising women are included in the genealogy of Jesus. “¢ Mary, the mother of Jesus, demonstrated strength, character, and obedience to equal that of any male Bible hero . “¢ And in this virgin”s submission, God showed the divinity of her
June 21, 2016
By Mark A. Taylor Americans are less engaged with the Bible than ever, according to research released by the Barna Group last week. The trend is “toward biblical skepticism,” Barna President David Kinnaman reported. The report shows, for example, that only a third of Americans agree strongly with the statement, “The Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches,” down from 48 percent in 2011. Only 45 percent agree with this statement: “The Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life,” down from 53 percent in 2011. “With each passing year, the
December 15, 2015
By Mark A. Taylor “Do you still have a job?” The text came to my phone Friday evening from a friend cross-country who had just read the news about David C. Cook”s purchase of Standard Publishing assets. I assured him I”m still working at CHRISTIAN STANDARD, even though most of Standard”s product lines went with the sale. David C. Cook, an evangelical publisher with almost as many years of service as Standard Publishing, has acquired Standard”s complete line of Standard Lesson Commentary products as well as our Heartshaper Sunday school curriculum and related teaching resources for children. The purchase effectively
December 9, 2015
Christian Standard Media LLC Will Continue to Produce and Market Christian Ministry Resources Such as Magazines, VBS, and Missions Kits Cincinnati, OH ““ December 9, 2015 ““ Standard Publishing Group LLC, following the recent sale of its Standard Lesson Commentary® series, Sunday school curriculum, and several other church resources to David C. Cook, is pleased to announce its corporate name change to Christian Standard Media LLC. The company”s highly esteemed Christian Standard® monthly magazine and The Lookout® weekly magazine, as well as the popular Vacation Bible School program and other ministry resources such as the Kids Serving Kidsâ„¢ missions kits
September 18, 2015
By Emerson Kennedy Have you ever wondered how much preachers actually do? Some people think ministers preach on Sunday mornings””and that”s all. Had my father not been a preacher, I might have been inclined to agree. However, as a preacher”s kid my entire life, I can say without any hesitation there is a lot more to a preacher”s service than what happens on Sunday mornings. I grew up in a small church of about 100 in western Maryland. And, like all churches, our congregation came with its own set of problems. I want to take you behind the scenes of
August 17, 2013
Three young adults show why traditional, typical approaches to reaching them may not always work.  By David Embree Ben Metzger grew up in a small town where his family was active in a tight-knit, Bible-believing church. Before he even moved into his college dorm room, his congregation”s youth leaders connected him with a campus ministry where he developed close friendships and studied the Word of God intently. As a part of the campus ministry, he went on mission trips and led small groups that helped younger students face the spiritual and intellectual battles of the university experience. Ben enjoyed the “college-age”
January 15, 2013
By Teresa Welch Discipleship””following after Christ””is an expectation for every believer. But sometimes we forget that discipleship can””and often should””begin during childhood. I recently enjoyed spending time with “my kids,” who were part of the children”s ministry I led prior to joining the faculty at Emmanuel Christian Seminary. As with all of my former kids, I was curious to find out about their lives, as I felt responsibility for their continued spiritual formation. During my visit with them, it became apparent what I see in their lives now is directly connected to the time I was with them and their
January 1, 2013
By Mark A. Taylor Take a glance at Standard Publishing Vacation Bible School materials this year, and you may think you”ve seen them before. But look a second time, and you”ll realize Standard has created something all-new for this vital summer ministry. We talked to the creative team that produced God”s Backyard Bible Camp to discover what this material is all about. Frankly, we couldn”t have been more pleased with the answers we received! To tell you the truth, this looks an awful lot like a VBS course Standard already offered before. Is this just old stuff with a
January 1, 2013
“God”s Backyard Bible Camp,” Standard Publishing”s Vacation Bible School program for 2013, features Beth Guckenberger, cofounder of Back2Back Ministries. The “Backyard Bible Camp” includes separate VBS programs for day (“Under the Sun”) or evening (“Under the Stars”), and will carry a mission emphasis, which is where Back2Back Ministries comes in. We asked Beth to share some thoughts about Back2Back Ministries. It was 15 years ago that we started to share with a few friends and family our “whisper calling” to move to Mexico. This was met with mixed reactions. Some thought we were shortsighted or ill-equipped (they were right). Some
December 15, 2012
By Paul Boatman For 46 years Ron Payne has served as minister with the 173-year-old Ingraham (Illinois) Christian Church. How did nearly a half century of ministry with one church begin? When I was a Bible college freshman, I was asked to fill in [at Ingraham] until they found a preacher. They never found one, so I”m still here. Was there anything about the church to predict such a long ministry? Since 1839, only the founding minister, Mr. Ingraham, stayed longer than four years. The 16 preachers who served before me stayed an average of just 11
September 13, 2012
By Mark A. Taylor Last week I found an e-mail in my inbox from a fellow who didn”t like the verbiage on the cover of CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s May 20 issue. “Learning to Change” was the headline. It led to the lead article about medium-size churches: “Facing the Challenge of Change.” Throughout my ministry I”ve been advocating for change. After all, isn”t that what spiritual growth is? But this dear gentleman was upset by our praise of change. After a long rehearsal of his conversion and decision to go to Bible college in the late 1940s and a litany of his
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