As a child, my neighborhood friends and I loved to play on a train track near our house. Foolish, I know, but quite fun and exhilarating. We learned to tell when a train was coming long before it actually appeared….
Your church after COVID: Restart, refresh or relaunch?
Our current virus pandemic has forced all of us to face some harsh realities. One of the benefits of experiencing a seismic shift in our world is the ensuing time of introspection and the questioning of our assumptions. Most churches…
Why live streaming, electronic giving may not save some churches | #intimeslikethese
“My fear is that while we’re worried about broadcasting services, the real issue is the number of churches who cannot survive an eight-week or three-month hiatus from gathering together.”
Matt Cook leaving North Carolina church to join Center for Healthy Churches
Matt Cook, a former moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a long-time pastor, will join the Center for Healthy Churches as full-time assistant director on Sept. 1, the organization announced today.
BTSR moves up closing to Jan. 31
Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond trustees announced Dec. 13 the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-aligned school will be shutting down sooner than previously announced.
Church leaders seek closure over trauma in pastor-departure process
Churches and ministers must put as much thought into saying goodbye to pastors as they do to finding and greeting new ones, congregational consultants say. “Closure is a major issue,” said Bill Wilson, director of the North Carolina-based Center for…
Billy Graham’s influence on Christian unity still felt, say many who remember his preaching
The death of Billy Graham has evoked, once again, amazement at the evangelist’s unparalleled spiritual impact on American faith and culture. But it’s also stirred speculation about how long, and in what ways, Graham’s influence may endure.
How do congregations cultivate a culture of call to vocational ministry?
What is it about the culture of those churches that encourages a call to ministry among their members? How do they create a “culture of call” that invites parishioners to consider deeply the possibility that God may be leading them into vocational ministry?
Remembering a staff colleague prompts questions about healthy church staffs
I’m conducting a memorial service this week for a former staff colleague, and it has caused me to give thought to what makes for a healthy relationship between ministerial staff members. Ken Denton was, for 24 years, the gifted minister…