April 27, 2012 12:00 AM
Earlier this month evangelical leaders from every sector of the culture gathered in Washington DC for the Q conference. One of the panels focused on the staggering number of abortions among single women within the church. Panelists discussed the problem...
February 21, 2012 12:00 AM
Read Part 1. This market-driven cycle of megachurches, conferences, and publishers results in an echo chamber where the same voices, espousing the same values, create an atmosphere where ministry success becomes equated with audience aggregation. (Thankfully there are outliers like...
February 20, 2012 12:00 AM
Last week Bob Hyatt wrote about the temptations created by the celebrity pastor culture we live in and the harm it causes to our souls. He's not the only one talking about the issue. Both Relevant Magazine and the Together...
February 13, 2012 12:00 AM
As my chiropractor was working me over yesterday, she was asking about the reading I’m doing for a degree I’m working on. After I rattled off the titles and subjects of a number of leadership books, she said, “Wow, what...
February 7, 2012 12:00 AM
Last year former leaders within Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) came forward with accusations against the group's president, C.J. Mahaney. As reported on this blog, Mahaney was accused of "various expressions of pride, unentreatability, deceit, sinful judgment and hypocrisy." In order...
July 26, 2011 12:00 AM
This video featuring C.J. Mahaney and James MacDonald was produced by The Gospel Coalition last summer. Given the current accusations against Mahaney and the mess unfolding at Sovereign Grace Ministries, the comments in this video take on new meaning....
July 22, 2011 12:00 AM
The hurricane of news and accusations swirling around Sovereign Grace Ministries is moving too fast for many of us to keep up with. The story has become so big and complicated that some blogs have actually dubbed it "SGM-gate." Earlier...
June 7, 2011 12:00 AM
James MacDonald asks Mark Driscoll for a definitive answer on porn. When does viewing it disqualify a person from leadership--once a year, once a quarter, once a month, once a week? Driscoll avoids giving a one-size-fits-all answer. What do you...
June 6, 2011 12:00 AM
Addictions come in various forms: alcohol, gambling, drugs, pornography, overeating, and binge shopping, just to name a few. Whatever the particular vice, addictions thrive on secrecy and shame. And while addictions can be difficult for anyone to divulge, pastors face...
April 14, 2011 12:00 AM
Read Part 1 of “Redefining Radical.” Consider who is celebrated in most churches. Typically it is the person who is engaged in “full time Christian work”--the pastor or missionary, or people who pursue social causes that result in a big...
April 11, 2011 12:00 AM
“How radical do I have to be?” the suburban mom asked. She had recently read a number of Christian books decrying the self-centered nature of much of the American church. The authors had apparently had enough of the consumer orientation...
February 9, 2011 12:00 AM
Reverend Cedric Miller of Living Word Christian Fellowship Church in New Jersey has banned Facebook. He's ordered about 50 married church officials to delete their accounts or resign and has called on married people in his 1,100-member congregation to delete...
February 3, 2011 12:00 AM
Leadership Journal is now in its 31st year of publication, and it seems that church leaders struggling with pornography has been a constant theme we've covered through all of those years--even well before the age of the internet. Does the...
December 14, 2010 12:00 AM
In yesterday's post Mark Regnerus reveals the failure of faith-based abstinence programs. I thought this cartoon from Roger Judd was an appropriate follow-up. You can find more cartoon by Roger Judd in every issue of our free digital magazine, Catalyst...
December 13, 2010 12:00 AM
"Our collective efforts to deter premarital sex are not that successful: 41 percent of churchgoing, conservative Protestant men's relationships become sexual within one month, barely lower than the national average of 48 percent. We expend so much energy to generate...
October 7, 2010 3:00 PM
Daniel Pink is the author of "Drive," a new book about motivation. He brought his core message to the Catalyst crowd. Money is a motivator, he admits, but it is limited. (You can’t pay someone unfairly. But once you pay...
October 7, 2010 2:36 PM
“The tension is good.” That’s the theme of this year’s Catalyst Conference, and Andy Stanley’s opening session talk described the tensions caused by our appetites: “Food and sex, and food and sex, and the guys in the room are saying...
October 6, 2010 10:17 PM
Perhaps my favorite lab of the day was led by Pete Wilson, pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville. He titled the session: “Temptations in the Dip,” and by that he means seasons of life when things aren’t going well....
October 6, 2010 10:14 PM
Tomorrow is the first day of Catalyst, and today Nate Johnson and I from Leadership went to Atlanta for the pre-day of “labs,” Catalyst’s term for their workshops. This year’s theme: “The Tension Is Good.” Several of the labs I...
September 15, 2010 12:00 AM
What did Jesus mean when he said, “Judge not, and you will not be judged.” It’s one of the most commonly quoted verses from the bible (Luke 6:37). Many of us, and not merely politicians, invoke the verse as a...
April 7, 2010 12:00 AM
As nearly everyone has now heard, John Piper is taking an 8-month leave of absence from public ministry starting in May. The announcement was made to his congregation during his sermon on March 28. He plans to examine his life...
February 8, 2010 12:00 AM
At the same time that many evangelical leaders lament the sin in our midst, talk of transforming the world for Christ rallies big crowds to action. We bemoan the present world as we long for Christ to return and...
October 14, 2009 12:00 AM
There is nothing like a recession to put Americans in a reflective mood. Unemployment and a devalued stock market have led many to consider whether money is the pre-eminent form of American idolatry. New York Times columnist David Brooks...
October 7, 2009 3:37 PM
Nancy Ortberg, founding partner of Teamworx2 and editorial advisor and contributor to Gifted for Leadership and Kyria.com, spoke on powerful themes inspired by her books, "Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands" and "Looking for God."...
October 7, 2009 1:30 PM
For one of the first Catalyst lab sessions, three of the top Christian bloggers took the stage to talk shop: Ann Jackson (www.FlowerDust.net), Carlos Whittaker (www.RagamuffinSoul.com), and Jon Acuff (www.StuffChristiansLike.net) So what wisdom did these titans of the blogosphere...
May 14, 2009 12:00 AM
The conversation based on Eric Reed's report, "Trouble Brewing," in the latest issue of Leadership has been...stimulating. What should church leaders be modeling for their flocks? Everyone agrees that sobriety is essential, but is enjoying an alcoholic beverage ever okay?...
May 6, 2009 8:09 AM
I spent a semester abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, during college and attended a great church there. On my first visit to the head deacon's house for dinner, he asked me what I'd like to drink. I asked him what my...
April 22, 2009 8:00 AM
Last week, blogger and author Anne Jackson stopped by the Out of Ur offices. Anne runs the popular blog FlowerDust.net and recently published Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic with Zondervan. Anne began struggling with an Internet porn addiction...
April 14, 2009 9:18 AM
The Spring '09 issue of Leadership journal should be arriving in mailboxes this week. The issue is called "UNHOOKED: Finding Release from Vices and Addictions." We editors searched for ministers who were tackling addiction head on, whether in their churches...
March 19, 2009 12:00 AM
Earlier this week Brandon O'Brien wrote about the new debate among clergy over alcohol. Even if we believe the Bible permits consumption, what does wisdom tell us? Should pastors drink as an expression of Christian liberty, or should we refrain...
March 17, 2009 2:05 PM
In the upcoming issue of Leadership (in print mid April), we'll hear from a number of pastors - including Craig Gross, John Burke, and Matt Russell - who are committed to taking the gospel to people with addictions. We're also...
January 5, 2009 12:00 AM
The winter issue of Leadership is still a few weeks away from your mailbox, but the editors have already started working on the spring issue. They're still refining the topic, but it will be something about ministry in a culture...
October 17, 2008 9:14 AM
Election time again and, once more, we face a big decision. No, not the decision about our vote. That one is big, but this one is even bigger. It's the decision about our integrity. I watch in amazement as...
May 2, 2008 12:00 AM
I have a confession to make: I'm a thief and a murderer. I haven't actually killed a living, breathing human being (I have stolen a thing or two, though; mostly pens and pencils). But one summer in college, a...
October 30, 2007 12:00 AM
There is no need to reiterate the statistics on sexual immorality among clergy. We all know them. And we also know that addiction to pornography is at epidemic levels even within the church. But do we know how many gifted...
February 23, 2007 12:00 AM
David Fitch's church, Life on the Vine, is a missional community that has abandoned the leadership model that most churches employ. Life on the Vine has no senior pastor, and they don't want one. In the first part of his...
November 16, 2006 12:00 AM
In a recent issue of Leadership, Sally Morgenthaler shared the story of her husband’s sexual addiction that resulted in a felony conviction and years in prison. Through that painful experience, Morgenthaler came to see how pastoral ministry can actually contribute...
November 14, 2006 12:00 AM
The phenomenon of celebrity pastors in the American church cuts two ways. When a mega-pastor succeeds everyone buys their book, attends their seminar, and emulates their strategy. And when a mega-pastor falls we all look into our own souls for...
November 5, 2006 9:24 AM
What are Christian leaders to make of the spectacularly painful experience of watching Ted Haggard this past week? The president of the National Association of Evangelicals and pastor of giga-church New Life Community in Colorado Springs, Colorado, gradually admitted to...
August 1, 2006 12:00 AM
The New York Times ran the story last week of a high-profile pastor busted for plagiarizing sermons, and his congregation's willingness to forgive him. Trying to explain what led to his behavior, Rev. Jackson says: "It's a pattern you get...
July 10, 2006 12:00 AM
Christian critiques of consumerism usually focus on the dangers of idolatry - the temptation to make material goods the center of life rather than God. This, however, misses the real threat consumerism poses. My concern is not materialism, strictly speaking,...
February 13, 2006 12:00 AM
We've gotten an interesting response to the current issue of Leadership, which deals with ministry amid a sexually charged culture, and which we titled "The Drive." Those who claim to get the journal for its articles have been overwhelmingly positive....
