By Brian Kaylor It’s not easy being a small, rural church in America today. Denominations sometimes focus more resources on bigger, urban congregations. And luring a pastor to the boondocks is a major challenge. “Many seminary graduates will not even…
Using urban church planting to engage unreached groups
By Brian Kaylor When East St. Louis is mentioned on the news, the focus usually remains on the crime rate and its status as one of the deadliest cities in the nation. However, when Kempton Turner walks around the Illinois…
Churches integral to healing communities marred by violence, commission says
By Brian Kaylor On Aug. 9, 2014, the city of Ferguson, Mo., moved from being a little-known St. Louis suburb to an international headline. Media outlets, politicians and activists from around the nation descended on the community following police officer…
Some Baptists helping heal the racial divide, pastors say. Others, not so much
By Brian Kaylor The Aug. 9, 2014, death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the killing of others elsewhere at the hands of white police officers and the recent massacre of nine African-American churchgoers by a white supremacist have grabbed…
Millennials not OK with conventional science vs. religion debates, experts say
By Brian Kaylor Ninety years ago, the “Scopes Monkey Trial” in Dayton, Tenn., pitted reason against faith and defined the Bible as an opposing perspective to science. A national media circus erupted as substitute high school teacher John Scopes faced…
Finding an antidote to toxic churches and toxic leadership
By Brian Kaylor In Greek mythology, the mighty warrior Hercules created poisonous arrows after slaying the many-headed Hydra. The word for these deadly arrows — toxikon — eventually gave life to the modern English word “toxic.” Author and leadership coach Bob Dale…
Churches urged to consider millennials’ views on the environment
By Brian Kaylor A lot of planning, praying and, yes, worrying, goes into what millennials — those born in the 1980s and 1990s — think about church and worship. Some experts on the generation, including some of its own members, say an…
Volunteerism, vital for missions, transforms individuals and churches
By Brian Kaylor The leaders of faith-based disaster relief agencies know it as they respond to catastrophic weather in Texas. And so does Greg Morrow, pastor of First Baptist Church of California, Mo. What they and others know is that…
Churches unhappy with pastors should look in the mirror, consultants say
By Brian Kaylor Church health consultants share common stories about churches that have burned through several pastors in just a few years. During the consulting process, a deacon or other lay leader says something like “we just can’t find a…