Blog Articles and Resources for Pastors and Church Leaders
Blog Articles and Resources for Pastors and Church Leaders
Shining God’s Light on the Darkness of Depression | by Chris Hodges
Some headlines grab your attention, but this one cut right through me: Pastor’s Suicide Leaves Many Heartbroken . While we had never met, I knew this pastor’s name and was aware of the friends and acquaintances we had in common. I’m sad whenever I...
In the Company of Christ | Pastor Jeff Manion
Throughout the centuries people have reckoned with two questions: Who is Jesus and what does it mean to follow him? The focus of Mark’s gospel is setting up those questions and answering them. What we find is that he is our servant king who wants...
Helping Your People Connect with God in a Unique and Transforming Way | Gary Thomas
Everyone of your parishioners needs to exercise. Everyone of your parishioners needs to eat. But not everyone will exercise in the same way. Some will take walks, some will run marathons, some will play basketball, others may prefer to bike. When...
3 Barriers that Prevent Churches From Being Multiethnic | Dr. Derwin L. Gray
Pastor, I have a question for you. Why is it that the church in America is so segregated? Recent metrics have shown that 13 percent of churches are considered multiethnic in our ever-growing multicolored country. Unfortunately, the insight of the...
How to Partner with Disciples of Christ in the Marketplace | Hannah Stolze
We all read the bible through the lens of our own context. What if we read the bible through the lens of marketplace ministry? This would not be a tent-making perspective or a worldview that reduces business practice to wealth generation. What if...
Rescue Eve | Sarah Jakes Roberts
The unspoken tension of ministry is that we’ve been called to lead while still needing to be led. We’ve been called to feed, but often we serve others when our souls are hungry. When Eve eats from the forbidden tree in Genesis there is no...
Is Church a Place for People Who Have Everything Together? | Philip Yancey
Jesus reserved some of his harshest words for the Pharisees, and that used to puzzle me. They were, after all, the most “spiritual” people of his time. They studied the Bible, and strove to keep every one of the 613 laws in the Old Testament. They...
No Time to Waste | Tim Timberlake
We often find ourselves wondering where time has gone. “How is it already 5:00pm?” “How is my kid already in high school?” “When did my hair turn grey?” Among these questions—and the countless other ways we question the passage of time—emerges a...
How to Reach a Generation on the Road to Emmaus | Tyler Stanton
A Quiet Crisis in the Western Church It’s no secret that today’s church is shrinking. Sociologists are beginning to make predictions about a looming death awaiting the American church. The statistics are compelling, if not depressing. This decline...
Everything You Actually Need to Know About Real Life | Nora Bradbury-Haehl
A few decades of ministry with teens and twentysomethings has taught me that faith communities have a lot to offer young people. We can provide stability, support, mentorship, leadership opportunities, and a gateway to belief. This work has also...
Do I Have a Volunteer? | Randy Frazee
Charles Blondin is arguably the greatest tightrope walker in history. In 1859, with large crowds looking on, he stretched out an 1,100-foot rope across the raging waters of Niagara Falls and walked across it from the American side to the Canadian...
Rising Above our Mental Health Struggles | Randy Frazee
I was thrilled when Thomas Nelson gave me the thumbs up to write His Mighty Strength . The book is built around Ephesians 1:19-20 which essentially tells us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us. The promise of the book? –...
Why Don't We Get What We Ask For in Prayer? | Father James Martin
One of the most important questions in the spiritual life is: What happens when we don’t get what we pray for? It is also one of the most neglected topics in books on prayer. And it is also a reason people are sometimes opposed to petitionary...
Why did Jesus Die on a Cross? Rabbi Jason Sobel
Jesus’ death on the cross is central to the faith of all believers. But did you ever wonder why Jesus had to die on a cross? The cross is the universal symbol of Christianity. The customary answer given to explain why Jesus had to die on a cross is...
Dream | Dr. David Jeremiah
Every worthwhile goal in life, whether great or small, begins with a dream . Consider this in your own life. When you look back at changes you’ve made, what compelled you to break out of familiar routines? What motivated you to think you could do...
Honor God, and Humility Follows | David Bowden
People often struggle to be humble. Listen to how C. S. Lewis described a humble person: Do not imagine that if you meet a truly humble man he will be what most people call “humble”: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always...
Free Resources
Using How (not) to Save the World with your church or small group?
Here are some tools to help:
The Small Group Tool Kit includes two mobile-friendly invitation cards, reflection cards to enhance your small group experience, and a worship song playlist curated by Hosanna Wong that can beplayed during small group meetings or personal Bible study time.
The Church Tool Kit includes a downloadable poster, bulletininsert, invitation card, and Power Point slide.
Is your church talking about anxiety, depression and mental health issues? You should be.
Shawn Johnson, lead pastor of Red Rocks Church, gives a
searingly honest portrait of anxiety and depression and shows readers how to fight back and live free. He also has put together three free tools pastors can use to help their congregation have a productive conversation around mental health, including a discussion guide, sermon notes and key Scripture verses.