Cutting edge for pastors and ministry leaders.
startchurch.com/blog/view/name/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-donor-giving-receipts By: Raul Rivera Lindsey, the church administrator, was exhausted. She had spent the past month sifting through envelopes, check ledgers, and scraps of papers from the offering basket trying to make sense of the church donations. The church never developed detailed receipts for every donation that it received. Instead, the church thought that it […]
http://christiannews.net/2016/12/23/proposed-south-carolina-bill-would-allow-teachers-to-participate-in-student-led-prayer/ By Heather Clark For more than thirty years, Americans have been told that the government cannot express favor for one religion over another. This has been taken to mean that there is no place for those in governmental positions to express their beliefs. That means teachers and therefore prayer led by teachers has been […]
sermoncentral.com/pastors-preaching-articles/lance-witt-courageous-conversations–part-2 By: Lance Witt Courageous conversations is a battle of prepositions. Half of the battle is making a commitment to talk “to” not talk “about” people. Here is my track record. Hundreds of times I have talked myself out of having a courageous conversation. EVERY time I have finally had the courageous conversation, I walked […]
http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2016/november/funeral-for-cliff-barrows.html Billy Graham’s long-time song leader and choir director remembered in North Carolina By: Ed Stetzer I was at Cliff Barrows’ funeral. In ways I did not expect, the service moved me. Surprisingly, it was not because of the music (although it was amazing), but because of the life that was celebrated. I posted a […]
classic.sermoncentral.com/pastors-preaching-articles/joe-mckeever-one-question-you-must-never-ask-in-ministry-2697.asp? “Sow your seed in the morning, and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good” (Ecclesiastes 11:6). By: Bob McKeever Disciples of Jesus Christ must never try to calculate the cost/benefit of some act […]
charismamag.com/spirit/supernatural/28155-revivalist-i-went-to-hell-in-a-dream During this night of terror more than 25 years ago, I fell asleep in the old, empty church building and found myself dreaming. By: John Burton 11/25/2016 In my dream, I was lying on my stomach in a one-room building. It was very comfortable inside, although the room was empty. I rested on […]
sermoncentral.com/pastors-preaching-articles/carey-nieuwhof-10-reasons-even-committed-church-attenders-are-attending-church-less-often By Carey Nieuwhof // CareyNieuwhof.com It comes up in a surprising number of conversations these days. And no one’s quite sure how to respond to it. The issue? Even committed church attenders are attending church less often. It comes up in a surprising number of conversations these days. And no one’s quite sure how to […]
http://bottomlineinc.com/8-things-adult-children-make-bad-choices/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=2016-11-08 Good advice for parents and pastors: Don’t Bite Your Tongue BY: Ruth Nemzoff Your grown child is spending money that he/she should be saving…making questionable career choices…or marrying the wrong person. What do you do? Many parents think their best option is to say nothing when they disagree with their adult children’s choices. Adult […]
http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2016/august/developing-missional-response-to-seismic-shifts-in-church.html It’s time to stop holding on to yesteryear and start looking for ways to introduce Jesus to our dark world. By: Daniel Im There have been two seismic shifts in the church and culture in the English-speaking Western world over the past few decades. The first shift is predominantly a good one, while the […]
God at Work in the Midst of Crisis By: Eric Metaxas We’ve seen the video clips of Muslim refugees—many of them from war-torn Syria—flooding into an unprepared and overwhelmed Europe. We’ve heard accounts of some of these refugees committing ugly crimes and others demanding that the post-Christian societies that welcome them conform to the harsh […]