Cutting edge for pastors and ministry leaders.
By Kent Woodyard “If your church isn’t strapped for cash, your vision isn’t big enough.” I heard this quote at a church planters conference in California last fall, and I’ve been repeating it ever since. Budget shortfalls and tightened purse strings are the source of much consternation and hand wringing in church offices around the […]
By: Raul Rivera March 17, 2016 The sound of Pastor Fred’s voice over the phone was heartbreaking as he reported the embezzlement crime to the local police. Only days before, the church had announced that the fundraising for its building campaign had successfully raised $500,000 to construct the church’s new sanctuary and children’s wing. They […]
By: David Koyzis What happens when the demands of government contradict our faith in a fundamental way? What if, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we are called to bow the knee to a false god and, in so doing, deny the one true God (Dan. 3)? Or, more likely, what if we are made to […]
By Frank G. Tunstall The ancient Greeks boasted about being able to say much in a word. Yes, Hellenists considered it the perfection of oratory to put an ocean of meaning in a drop of language. Jesus did it to perfection and surpassed them all. Jesus was the Servant both of His Father and of […]
Released by Barna Research 11:30AM EDT 3/16/2016, © 2016 by Barna Group. The United States is in a cultural crisis. There are gaping fissures between the rich and poor, growing tensions between races, disunity among faith groups, increasing resentment between genders, and a vast and expanding gap between liberals and conservatives. Generation, gender, socioeconomics, ethnicity, faith, […]
By: Karl Vaters I want my church to grow. I want your church to grow. But more than anything, I want The Church to grow. I want as many people as possible, all over the world, to know Jesus. The good news of the gospel can’t be confined within the walls of my church, the […]
BY: Amanda Casanova / Religion Today Contributing Writer Watchdog groups are reporting that as many as one million Muslim converts are risking prison or death in Iran by worshiping as part of a house church movement. Open Doors USA estimates there are about 450,000 practicing Christians in Iran. Others estimate more than 1 million. According to Fox News, […]
BY: Amanda Casanova | Religion Today Contributing Writer A Missouri court has ruled in favor of a Catholic diocese’s decision to fire employees that violate the diocese’s religious beliefs. According to ChristianToday.com, the Missouri court ruled that the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph had the right to fire Colleen Simon from her role as director for social ministries at […]
By: Thom Rainer I was serving a church in St. Petersburg, Florida, when it hit me hard. One of my young children had playfully fallen on the floor in the foyer after a worship service. A deacon in the church came up to me and spoke forcefully: “You need to tell your kid to get […]
Texas case is the pro-life movement’s first return to the high court in a decade. By Kate Shellnut The first abortion case to reach the US Supreme Court in nearly a decade stands to impact the fate of most clinics in Texas—and possibly clinics in states with similar restrictions that have led to years of record closures. […]