We’re just through the Christmas season (and our fellow Anglican and Orthodox Christians celebrate a bit longer than the rest of us do). Winter break is over for schools. Most of us are trying to get back to normal and deal with holiday debt. Congregations begin to look ahead to Easter, which comes a bit later on the calendar this year.
Read MoreI have recently transitioned to a new ministry. In so doing, I have taken some time for reflection. After spending about four years in church ministry and eight years in the United States Army, I’d like to share with you some reflections on what I believe to be transferable leadership principles that guided me while serving in the world’s premiere fighting force. I could have made the list twice as long, there are things that are important that have been left out. However, these ten could help you as a leader of God’s people (I hope). Some you will see echo biblical principles, others are simply anecdotal and come purely from my experiences.
As I’ve concluded nine years in pastoral ministry and transitioned to a new season of ministry at the Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies I’ve taken some time to reflect on my experience as a shepherd of God’s flock – the ups, the downs, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I’m not at all claiming to have enlightened reflections, superior wisdom, or the keys to ministry success – and it didn’t take me nine years to figure that out. Nevertheless, by God’s grace and mostly through error, I have learned a lot. So I humbly offer these reflections as an expression of my gratitude for God’s sustaining grace and for the seemingly limitless patience of my Faith Church family.
Read MoreOne of the challenges at Community Church of Westfield is developing leadership within the church. When Jean and I came to Westfield, there was one person that was holding things together. She is a dear lady and was doing everything in the church. But I knew that was not enough; to build a church, it would take developing leaders.
Read MoreLeading up to the 2018 Eastern Regional Annual Convention, Advent Christian Voices will be featuring a series of articles highlighting the central topic for this year’s convention, which invites us to consider what means to establish believers, leaders, and churches. This feature has been submitted by the Eastern Regional office and is intended to encourage conversation heading into the convention. The following is a set of helpful resources from BILD meant to inform and give context to the Region’s discourse at the convention. Articles from Advent Christian authors on pertinent topics will be forthcoming.
Read MoreCan you think of a good reason NOT to plant a church? There are a plethora of good answers: a declining community, a bad location, no church planter or core group and no vision for reaching the lost. I am sure you could add finances to the list. While the cost of planting a church can be significant, it largely depends on the context in which one is planting. In 2002, we planted Northside Community Church in Knightdale, North Carolina, a suburban community just outside of Raleigh.
Read MoreThom Rainer recently published a new episode on his weekly podcast Revitalize & Replant that caught my attention. For those unfamiliar, Dr. Rainer is the President of LifeWay Resources, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. Rainer is well respected across…
Read More“Oh, you’re a Christian? Why do you hate gays? Why do you want to stop people from love?”
“Oh, you’re a Christian? Why do you hate science and reason?”
“Oh, you’re a Christian? How did Noah fit all those Dinosaurs on the Ark?”
Read MoreA recent Advent Christian Voices exchange captured my attention. It began with a four-part series by Corey McLaughlin covering four aspects of “theological fragmentation” in the Advent Christian Church.
Read MoreThere has been a great deal of confusion surrounding BILD and its philosophy and it is my prayer this clarifies the matter helpfully regardless of whether one remains a proponent or opponent of their unique system.
Read MoreCorey McLaughlin has put forth a monumental effort in his four-part series...After reading these articles, I found myself agreeing with most of them, so much so that it has ironically led me to disagree with the basic contention of the series, that we are in fact fragmented along the lines Corey describes.
Read MoreOver the past few weeks, Advent Christian Voices has featured articles highlighting the ACGC Strategic Plan. We feature those articles once again in the space below, but in addition we are now providing the complete ACGC Strategic Plan for 2018-2020. You can view the plan on your web browser or download it in PDF format by clicking the link below:
Read MoreAs we look at the figures on churches in America across denominational lines, we see most groups are losing ground. We are currently averaging more than three churches per year closing in the Advent Christian denomination. However, numbers are not the most important thing to consider. The real heart of ministry is sharing the message of Jesus Christ with those who desperately need to hear it.
Read MoreAs we come to the end with this last post we have covered the problem of fragmentation by…well, fragmenting the problem into four parts and offering suggestions for how to put humpty dumpty together again in each section (see previous posts Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and the end of the article for a link to the full pdf). This final contribution will not rehash or summarize the previous posts, but will instead add a more practical tool to tie the major concepts together.
Read More“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity,”[1] but what are the essentials? While both R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur can share a pulpit to give their differing positions on baptism (infant vs. believers baptism respectively), and speak at the same conferences, the fact remains that if R.C. Sproul were faithfully attending MacArthur’s church he still would not meet the requirements for membership and therefore could not join. While the general concept of baptism is necessary in order to be unified with the essentials o
Read Morein part 2 we zoom in to examine one major culprit in ministry fragmentation and how to solve it
Read MoreEighty-five to ninety percent of churches in North America are either declining, plateaued or growing at a rate slower than the community in which they are located. Ten percent of the churches in North America are at imminent risk of closing.
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1987. This was the year campus operations ceased at Berkshire Christian College. At that time, Berkshire was the primary means through which pastors were trained and developed within the Advent Christian Church. It had been more than a decade since pastoral studies programs had ceased at the Advent Christian Church’s other college, Aurora College, so with Berkshire’s closure, the Advent Christian Church was left without a clear avenue through which pastors and key denominational leaders could emerge.
Corey McLaughlin and Tom Loghry have levied some heavy charges over the last couple of weeks. They have indicated that it is our responsibility as Advent Christians to hasten the Second Coming of Christ. I want these good and well meaning servants of Christ to know this…I’m not ready for that. I certainly want Christ to return, but can’t he wait until I’ve gone on vacation first?
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