Jesus focused on a small group of twelve disciples, and the rest is history. By Larry Kreider Jesus took twelve young untrained men (Mark 3:14) and fathered them for three and a half years. His model worked, and is one we can follow today. Jesus focused most of His time on this small group [...]
When Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion by Larry Kreider Kimberly led a women’s Bible study group at Good Shepherd Church which met in the church basement every Thursday evening. An inner-city church, Good Shepherd was intent on reaching out to the many low-income people in their neighborhood. Kimberly was a seasoned church [...]
Revivals are birthed in prayerby Larry KreiderI was born an American. In times past, Christian values were part of the American social and political fabric. Not so anymore. Today’s society is often hostile to Christian values. The percentage of Bible-based believers has significantly decreased in America, according to recent statistics:Builders (born 1927-1945): 65% Bible-based believersBoomers [...]
Of the 100 Bible characters we know significant details about, only one-third finished well. By Keith Yoder We all look forward to hearing the affirmation, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”1 What does it take to finish well? We are hearing more instances of the character failures of leaders, but the dynamic tension between [...]
“Do so much good that the unbelievers will want to meet our King” (1 Peter 2:12) By Steve and Shelly Moore Since 2015, we longed to birth a ministry center in our capital city of Bridgetown, Barbados. When we asked God how to start, the answer was, “Just do ordinary things.” These ordinary things included [...]
The fivefold gifts were given to the church to enable God’s people to do the work of ministry. By Ron Myer “Go for the gold!” One of our church’s fivefold ministers uses this expression when encouraging people to reach out for their potential in God. It is his way of letting them know that [...]
Avoiding a program-based mentality in a church with vision By Steve Prokopchak Vision seems to be an operative term these days. Unfortunately, an important and consuming vision also can become just another program that needs to be propped up and financed. When vision becomes stale, members become disinterested in maintaining the vision. Even the best [...]
What opens the door to new levels of creativity? By Brian Sauder As leaders, we are responsible to coach and guide those in our realm of influence. Throughout history, great leaders have been not only a source of ideas, but also inspiration. When people are both instructed and inspired, they move from being passive spectators [...]
Refocusing your life for a healthy future By Steve Prokopchak After some friends of mine completed a prescribed sabbatical, the wife said, “We needed to get away, to detach. . . . No church leadership, no business, no email, and no evening meetings. We needed counseling for our marriage and ourselves. We needed some [...]
By Larry Kreider The findings on the causes for church growth led to a conclusion for Christian A. Schwarz and a team from the “Institute for Church Development” in Germany. They discovered that just as crops grow all by themselves if the obstacles are taken out of the way, churches grow when obstacles to growth [...]
