Saving Christian Education
In their important book, Mission Drift, authors Peter Greer and Chris Horst describe numerous organizations that have veered from their Christian roots into a secularism that undermines their founding ideals. The stories are sad: non-profits, ministries, foundations, and even businesses that once started with the passion of the gospel have often ended up betraying the...
David Young
Should You Consider Prison Ministry?
She called me on a Thursday afternoon. Her husband had just been sentenced to twenty-three years in prison. To make matters worse she was in the hospital on dialysis and was currently not in good shape. Now she faced a future without her husband. My heart sank when I heard the news. Due to COVID,...
William Butt
Learning a Grace-Filled Approach to Ministry: Gratitude
It’s a time of rants, cynicism, and reactionism. Our world needs to be introduced to grace. At the same time, our churches need to be reminded of grace. Are our ministries characterized by grace? How can we grow in grace in such a way that it leads everything from our staff meetings to Sunday morning...
Corey Scott
Life-Changing Paragraphs: Mere Drift
*Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of articles where I asked leaders to tell me a single paragraph they read which affected the trajectory of their lives. Q: When did you read the paragraph? It was probably in my first year or so of college. In high school, I had some rebellious years....
Rick Cherok
Something You Can Never Be
Have you ever been told an expression by somebody older than you which makes absolutely no sense to your generation? Expressions like, “That’s the cat’s pajamas!” “Take a chill pill!” “Be there or be square!” Ever wonder where such strange expressions come from? Take the word square. Obviously, it means the 4-sided geometric figure. But somewhere along...
Daniel McCoy
Sermon on the Mount: the Pursuit of Happiness
*Editor’s Note: This is the fourth article in a 13-part series on the Beatitudes. Here’s the complete list of articles in the series: Who Does Jesus Think He Is? Crowds or Disciples? The Sermon’s Most Important Word The Pursuit of Happiness Poor in Spirit God’s Answer to the Problem of Evil Meekness Hunger and Thirst...
Jeremy Bacon
Q: How Do I Convince My Kid that the Bible Leads to Happiness?
How do I help my kids to understand that the teachings of the Bible lead to their happiness, not their misery? There are four points it can be helpful to make: First of all, we can help our kids understand that it was God who created fun and that He wants our ultimate happiness. Let’s...
On Gender and the Bible: Practical Advice by Complementarian Women for Local Churches (Part 7)
“Change is at the heart of leadership because a leader’s job is to take people from where they are to where they need to be. You can’t do that without ushering in change.” –Carey Nieuwhof. For those who have followed this series of articles over the past weeks, you know that Renew upholds gender complementarity...
The Inspiration of the New Testament
*Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of a series on the Bible, its formation, and its trustworthiness. For Part 1 (“The Inspiration of the Old Testament”), click HERE. Do we have good reasons to think that the New Testament is divine in origin and intended by God to be an authoritative guide for our lives...
How Can I Reach Out to a Lonely Person in a Year of Loss?
His phone buzzed him awake from his dreaming. Groaning, he slapped his hand over to grab the phone and squinted as the bright screen dominated the darkness of the room. He was glad he had bought the light-canceling curtains, but he blinked several times as he turned off the alarm and grabbed his glasses. His...
Taffeta Chime
Grieving a Lost Life and a Lost Culture
They say that statistically forty percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage. I’ve cognitively known those numbers for a long time, but the funny thing about such statistics is that you never truly think you’ll be a part of them until you are. When my wife found out she was pregnant with our second child, she...
Luke Gray
Q: What If My Kid Thinks the Bible Is Boring?
What if my kid thinks the Bible is just a boring old book without any relevance to his life today? If we unpack that question a little bit, then we have to ask: Is it old-fashioned to love one another? Is it old-fashioned to treat each other the way we want to be treated? Is...
Learning a Grace-Filled Approach to Ministry: Hospitality
I didn’t watch the presidential debate on September 29, 2020 between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. I don’t make it my aim to be uninformed, but truthfully I can only handle so much negativity. I don’t have Facebook on my phone. It’s not that I want to be disconnected from friends and family, but I...
Corey Scott
Pursuing Revival Is Better than Impressing Crowds
*Editor’s Note: Kelvin Teamer is the lead minister at Atlanta’s Bouldercrest Church of Christ. With mission work abroad and prayer and fasting at home, Bouldercrest has become an increasingly outward-focused, disciple making church. Here, he shares why being a disciple-making church is worth it, as well as some steps Bouldercrest is making toward that end. ...
Kelvin Teamer
Life-Changing Paragraphs: A Paragraph That Kept Me in Ministry
*Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of articles where I asked leaders to tell me a single paragraph they read which affected the trajectory of their lives. Q: What’s the backstory on how the paragraph impacted you? Maybe a dozen years ago, I was at a Dunkin’ Donuts having a conversation with a...
Paul Huyghebaert
Sermon on the Mount: The Sermon’s Most Important Word
*Editor’s Note: This is the third article in a 13-part series on the Beatitudes. Here’s the complete list of articles in the series: Who Does Jesus Think He Is? Crowds or Disciples? The Sermon’s Most Important Word The Pursuit of Happiness Poor in Spirit God’s Answer to the Problem of Evil Meekness Hunger and Thirst...
Jeremy Bacon