One of the polarities every minister must navigate is between ministry within the congregation and ministry in the surrounding community. Is the minister called to serve the members of the local church exclusively, or is there a larger call to…
OPINION: Seeking God in the quiet places
When I was growing up in the church, there was a song we sang during many of our student-lead worship services that began like this: In the secret In the quiet place, In the stillness You are there, In the…
WINN RECOMMENDS: Books that matter
A Book of Prayers, by Arthur A. R. Nelson (IVP) The Scriptures say that the Spirit will help us pray whenever we don’t know how to pray. Arthur Nelson gives a helping hand as well. This fresh collection of prayers…
WINN RECOMMENDS: Books that matter
Resurrection Year, by Sheridan Voysey (Thomas Nelson) After long, agonizing rounds of IVF and with no pregnancy to show for it, Sheridan and Merryn Voysey recognized that their hope for a child would not be realized. Voysey tells their…
OPINION: Slow-walking the faith-based rules
Remember the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (OFANP)? Well, it’s probably because the White House doesn’t really want you to. On Aug. 2, the press was notified that the director of the Office of Management and Budget…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Should churches make space available to outside groups?
Sooner or later every church has to decide whether it will make its building available for outside groups to use. The following Suggested Facility Use Covenant is a suggestion only, and not intended to be a legal document. For their…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Make your budget presentation something to remember
By mid-September, most churches have completed their 2014 budgets, or are close to doing so. Weeks, or in some cases months, of analysis and planning have produced a financial plan for spending that will guide ministries and missions in the…
OPINION: What is your role in worship?
What is worship? Just type the word “worship” into Google and a number of definitions appear. Many Baptist congregations understand worship to be the place the church gathers and the gospel is proclaimed for the salvation of the lost. This…
REVIEW: John Lewis’s “March” is a great story of a true American hero
Congressman John Lewis is at the center of a new graphic novel, March, the first of three volumes which focus on Lewis’s work in the civil rights movement. Using the occasion of President Obama’s first inauguration, March tells the beginnings…