There will be an abundance of qualified pastors for interim and bi-vocational positions. These Boomer pastors will not be idle. They will be seeking other ministry opportunities, particularly positions with part-time pay to supplement their incomes. Some Boomer pastors will stay at their current positions into their late 60s and 70s.    In an earlier article... Continue Reading

“The discipline was announced in a video last year that was shown on all seven of Harvest’s campuses and left online for two weeks. MacDonald said on Sunday, “It was seen by many thousands of people and damaged the reputations of these brothers. For this we are truly sorry.”   On Sunday, prominent pastor James... Continue Reading

When asked about potential “restoration” of the pastor and church, Setzler responded, “It is our hope that under the pastor’s leadership, the church would be led back to compatibility with the articles of faith we follow as a convention. Should the pastor and congregation arrive at that conviction and reverse their current stance on homosexual... Continue Reading

I call on churches and Christian institutions to stop thinking their organizational mission are actually missional.  If you simply maintain what you have, seek to insure its programs and property, and don’t realize a sense of dramatic urgency to our present cultural crisis then you will be swallowed up.  We must march, we must preach,... Continue Reading

The decision to leave the Church necessarily entails leaving a particular congregation, which could include leaving long-term relationships. Additionally, if the Christian Right were the cause of a decline in church membership, it would not explain the decline of Mainline Protestant churches, which have little connection to the Christian Right.   WASHINGTON — Contrary to... Continue Reading

Christ, the second Adam, “finished” (John 19:30) the work that the first Adam failed to do (Rom. 5:12-19). Because of that pivotal event, the church determined that for Christians under the new covenant, the day of worship and celebration of the Lord’s grace in Jesus Christ was to be the first day of the week,... Continue Reading

For years the edgy, blue-jeaned, hipster preacher used charisma and combativeness to barrel through turmoil, once bragging that he’d mow down all who questioned his vision: “There is a pile of dead bodies behind the Mars Hill bus, and by God’s grace, it’ll be a mountain by the time we’re done,” he once said in... Continue Reading

A safe church does not tolerate the abuse of women or anyone else for that matter. A safe church empowers and equips all victims to walk away from those who hurt them. A safe church is where the abused can leave the abuser being assured that is what God wants them to do. It is... Continue Reading

Part of the key is to remember that we should not see the death of a church as a failure. Even the churches in the New Testament died and were restarted (or, were not, in some places). Why not make the death of your church a strategic decision rather than an unfortunate accident?   It... Continue Reading

“The future is uncertain on how the legal system will single out Christians for their beliefs or force them into situations that violate their conscience, but recent precedent doesn’t provide much encouragement. And it’s not just the legal climate that ought to concern Christians. Cultural forces are at work to remove even reasonable and orthodox... Continue Reading