Articles in this category are written on various topics from the perspective of the writer.
I am broken. I lead a community of broken people called a church. And we often say, unapologetically, that we are a community of the broken who have good news for the broken. Don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean that we’re “broken” in the sense that we’re rendered useless by our imperfections. The opposite is actually true. We’re [...]
Brandon Cox
Around this time of year, the mainstream media and Internet meme-machines like to remind us how old we are by telling us all of the things this year’s high school graduates won’t remember because, well, they weren’t even born yet. That list is usually all pop culture, technology and political references. But what about church? […]
Paul Alexander
Josh Beck is the owner of Appalachian Running Company with a background as a professional cyclist, duathlete, and triathlete. Let’s start with “Be a Difference Maker.” What is this about? “Be a Difference Maker!” is our mantra at Appalachian Running Company. We filter everything we do through that lens. It’s taking mundane things like [...]
Ray Chung
Can you identify a certain point in time that launched your career forward? I need to share a little context in order to answer that question well. My father was a first generation Roman Catholic Hungarian immigrant and my mother was the daughter of a Southern Baptist Arkansas farmer. Feeling rejected by their denominations after [...]
Ray Chung
From hearing from you, I can tell that some of you are about to quit. Some of you are wondering whether to quit your jobs. Some of you are wondering whether to quit ministries you have within your local church. Some of you are wondering whether to quit other aspects of your life that I […]
Russell Moore
“Dear Ministry Partners, A little more than 40 days ago I was abandoned by all of my followers, condemned as a criminal, and publicly executed. I really had a tough week. However, the tomb I was once in is now empty, and I have since shown Myself and My glorified body to more than 500 […]
Cole Brown
Was there a significant turning point that kick-started your career and eventually led you to Silicon Valley? It has been exciting co-founding a financial technology startup in Silicon Valley, which, to me, embodies the culmination of many of my passions implemented in a totally foreign context compared to my past. I don’t know if I [...]
Ray Chung
Welcome to the first of our interview article series featuring Christian leaders’ spiritual and practical take on work! We hope that our stories inspire readers (you!) to take meaningful actions in work. Equal parts spiritually enlightening and refreshingly practical, Ryan Keith, President and founder of Forgotten Voices talks to us [...]
Ray Chung
Five years ago most of us had plans to grow our leadership ability and capacity. Are we meeting our expectations? This week’s question: Do you expect more or less of yourself than you did five years ago ‒ longer or shorter hours, greater span of control or less, higher trust in people and processes or […]
Corey Olynik
In the world that we live in and the culture that we breathe and consume, we easily equate two things that need to be kept separate – progress and movement. It’s a simple mistake to make. It often seems like the combination of the two makes sense, but a conflation of progress and movement is […]
David Appelt
I am going out on a limb here, so I have to put some disclaimers up in advance. Disclaimer number one … I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! This blog is pointing out the bad aspects that you will not hear us normally say. It does not mean that I am unhappy or unfulfilled. Disclaimer number two […]
Joe Holman
What is a church planter? A simple definition of a church planter is one who plants (or starts) a new local church. Of course that begs the question, “What is a good definition for church?” The word “church” originally comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which is defined as “an assembly” or “called-out ones.” The […]
Shane Pruitt
The second chapter of my new book and guide, Facing the Demands of Leadership, deals with “seeking regular feedback.” If I had to list one reason why feedback is important, it would be this: Feedback helps us to be more in touch with reality. In April 2017, United Airlines faced a public relations nightmare when a security […]
Adrian Pei
Here is a small list of causes I have heard from in the past few weeks: Homeless families Refugees Abused kids Pro-life advocacy Sex trafficking Youth at risk Christian education Battered women Disabled veterans Cancer research Children’s hospitals Orphans World evangelism Disaster relief Prison ministry Pro-family issues Legal defense [...]
Scott Rodin
The Unreached at Our Doorstep I was recently in Minneapolis helping the local YWAM base on the outskirts of the city to start thinking together with them about how they could multiply ministry sites within the Minneapolis /St. Paul twin city area. Minneapolis is a cold Northern city that logically would not attract immigrants from [...]
Timothy Svoboda
The number of Christians in the United States who participate in short-term mission trips ‒ those lasting a year or less ‒ has risen exponentially over the last 50 years, growing from 540 in 1965 to more than 1.5 million annually, with an estimated $2 billion per year spent on the effort, according to Missiology […]
Shane Pruitt
A number of my friends are going to think this was written just for them. They will be right. They’ve just lost their ministry positions which had been their existence for the last year or many years. They loved that church and delighted in serving Christ there. And now, they’ve been cut loose and told their services […]
Joe McKeever
Worship is simply attributing worth to someone or something. As Christians, we worship God individually and collectively. In my seven years of leading worship, I have wrestled and grown in my learning about creating these spaces for God to move in the moments when we gather. Specifically in worship through music, the following are a [...]
Aly Halbakken
Sometimes as leaders, we are tempted to think that the problems we face in our organizations are due to the fact that people aren’t engaging and moving in God’s Spirit. “After all,” we think, “if people were listening to God, then our children’s ministry would have plenty of workers!” We imagine that the many ministries [...]
Deborah Chupp
There are 500 cities in the world with a population exceeding one million people. YWAM has a ministry presence in about 134 of them. We know that God is calling us to greatly expand our outreach with hundreds of thousands of workers throughout the world. But we have to ask ourselves how we can we […]
Timothy Svoboda