By Jeff Brumley Charles Higgs is all too familiar with the smirks and jokes generated when talk turns to cowboy churches. Images of worship in rodeo arenas, preachers on horseback and baptisms in cattle troughs also elicit criticism – especially…
What do you do when your budget becomes a straitjacket?
How has the budget development process gone in your congregation this year? Was there plenty of money to go around? Or, once again did you lower soft or flexible costs like program support and missions because hard or fixed costs…
Youth recuperating from church van crash
By Bob Allen One girl remained hospitalized two weeks after a church van crash killed two, injured 10 others and left a Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation reeling. “Things are going pretty well,” Bob Lynch, pastor of Cedar Grove Baptist…
Don’t believe in church growth? Get over it
Too many moderate to progressive congregations have decided that believing in church growth is a negative thing. Believing in evangelism may be even worse. They do this to the detriment of their long-term future, and the vitality and vibrancy of…
Churches can help grandparents
By Vicki Brown “The church building is not a monument. It’s an instrument for God,” Timothy Williams, pastor of Bethsaida Missionary Baptist Church in Mexia, Texas, believes. His wife, Cheryl, director of apartment ministries for Buckner International, is praying her church…
Houston Baptists transform lives in Peru
By Jeff Brumley There’s what people can imagine, Houston cardiologist Luis Campos says, and then there’s what God can imagine. The 67-year-old South Main Baptist Church member said he has witnessed that repeatedly in almost a decade of ministry with…
Churches spin off ministry nonprofits
By Jeff Brumley Travis Collins doesn’t need church health experts to know ego and fear can kill creativity and risk-taking in ministry. Collins, senior pastor at Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., said he had a “big time” gut…
What really sinks organizational staff
I once worked on a church staff with a person who was very educated and talented, but the staff member was undermining the entire organization. This staff member would never say anything publicly that would criticize anyone. The staff member…
Boundaries 101
By Bill Wilson The headlines are relentless. I wince every time I hear of a minister violating sexual or moral boundaries. I listen sadly as clergy describe unrealistic demands placed upon them by their congregation. Over the years I have…