How to create a no-fear work environment
What would it look like for your team members to live fearlessly?
How do you handle resistance?
Aaron Brockett, Lead Pastor at Traders Point Christian Church in Indianapolis, shares how our response to resistance reveals a key component of our leadership.
Leader whose work-based Bible study became multi-faceted ministry stepping down
The man who launched a work-based Bible study that turned into a full-time ministry is retiring nearly 39 years after starting the outreach. Garry Kinder is the founder of Roaring Lambs, which originated in Dallas. It gradually expanded into an annual banquet, testimony workshops, a writers conference, and books aimed at equipping people to share their faith. “What began as a nine-week trial Bible study blossomed into a full-time, multi-faceted ministry and passion of mine,” Kinder said in a release about his decision. “I have enjoyed teaching the Bible study for almost four decades and have made lifelong friends through [...]
Christian publisher’s new book explores Trump’s impact on society
On the eve of a recent White House meeting between President Donald Trump and evangelical leaders, the founder of a Christian publishing company announced his second book on Trump. Stephen Strang of Charisma Media is the author of Trump Aftershock: The President’s Seismic Impact on Faith and Culture in America. It will release Nov. 6, the day of the mid-term elections. Among topics the book explores are how Trump’s agenda aims to free the economy, reduce illegal immigration, rebuild the military, and strengthen ties with Israel. Strang said the aftershocks that followed Trump’s surprising election have affected numerous areas of [...]
Professors argue religious exemption can apply to immigration cases
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) bolstered Hobby Lobby’s successful challenge to the Obamacare contraceptive mandate. Now, two college professors argue RFRA can provide a shield for businesses supporting undocumented immigrants. Inara Scott, an assistant professor in Oregon State University’s business college, and Elizabeth Brown, an assistant law professor at Bentley University in Massachusetts, studied the 1980s sanctuary movement. Back then, various congregations pledged to offer housing, support, and assistance to Central American refugees fleeing civil conflicts. Bringing the issue to current day, Scott and Brown also looked at the sanctuary movement spurred by the Trump Administration’s deportation policies. While [...]
Does your everyday work matter?
Your Monday through Friday work matters more than you may think.
Home to major corporate names, Seattle not friendly to churches
While Seattle is known as the home of such iconic brands as Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon and Costco, churches don’t fare as well there. Ten percent of residents identify as atheists, according to a 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center, and the city has the second-highest rate of residents who once attended church but don’t any longer. In mid-August, historic University Christian Church announced it was selling its final remaining property in the city’s university district because of declining memberships and maintenance costs. Part of the United Church of Christ, the century-old church opened its high-ceiling, stained-glass sanctuary 90 years [...]
Are you willing to admit failure?
Sin is not a popular subject, but something we deal with every day.
3 realities of leadership
Every Christian leader is faced with three realities on a regular basis.
Faith at work proving good for business
Faith at work is proving profitable, according to a pair of recent stories in major media outlets. In mid-August the Philadelphia Inquirer featured Productive Plastics, Inc., of Mount Laurel, New Jersey. The report opened with a description of the company’s “prayer wall,” where employees can leave requests anonymously. A welcome sign above it appears in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The family-owned company works with two corporate ministers who regularly counsel employees, but sales vice president John Zerillo says it doesn’t force religion on anyone. “We’re not there to proselytize,” Zerillo told the Inquirer. “We’re there to care for the needs [...]
Italian lawmakers’ move to hang crucifix stirs protest from church leaders
After a similar move in Bavaria, Italian lawmakers want to hang a crucifix in all government buildings as a “permanent reminder” of the nation’s Christian identity, The Wall Street Journal reports. The newspaper said in a recent story that nationalists and politicians across Europe are promoting the use of Christian imagery in an attempt to change established politics and define the continent as Christian as a reaction to Muslim immigration. As in Bavaria, in Italy the move is sparking disagreement among Christian leaders. It has drawn criticism from allies of Pope Francis, who insists Christians should be generous towards immigrants. [...]
U.S. Labor Department facilitating exemptions from nondiscrimination laws
The U.S. Labor Department has taken steps to insure businesses and organizations that contract with the federal government can claim a religious exemptions when following nondiscrimination laws would conflict with their beliefs. The department issued a directive in mid-August that instructs the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) to consider recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions in applying nondiscrimination rules. The directive names the Masterpiece Cakeshop, Trinity Lutheran Church, and Hobby Lobby cases, all decided in favor of the Christian groups. “Recent court decisions have addressed the broad freedoms and anti-discrimination protections that must be afforded religion-exercising organizations and individuals [...]
Here is the oldest trick in the book
This one question changed everything.
What Apple’s trillion-dollar capitalization means to Christians
Tech giant Apple made international headlines recently when it became the first company with a $1 trillion market capitalization, something one executive says has significant implications for Christians. UMI (Urban Ministries Inc.) CEO Jeffrey Wright, who has an MBA in finance and international business from Columbia University, says Christians inside global business corporations can change lives and express Christ’s love far beyond the church. “Imagine if Apple CEO Tim Cook were to decide that pursuing Kingdom outcomes was of equal or greater importance than shareholder value creation,” Wright wrote for UrbanFaith.com. “More people would be employed and fed, healthcare would [...]
Christian filmmaker attracting national attention
Pure Flix, whose God’s Not Dead catapulted it from a relatively-unknown producer of low-budget biblical films to a nationally-known entity, is attracting more attention of late. The red-carpet premiere last week of its newest film, Death of a Nation, was hosted by presidential son Donald Trump Jr. Ben Carson, the U.S. secretary of housing and urban development, also attended. Carson told NBC News: “It’s hard to find high-quality movies that are Christian and faith-based.” Paul Asay, author of the “Watching God” blog on the religious issues website, Patheos.com, says—rightly or wrongly—many evangelical Christians feel persecuted. “There’s a desire to push [...]
Envisioning your workplace with grace
Do you long to work in an environment where empathy flows freely and insults are repaid with blessings?
7 practices for becoming an inspirational leader
The quality that separates a leader is the ability to inspire a shared sense of vision.
Ohio café no longer offering church discount on Sunday
After a discount for church-goers sparked controversy, a Cincinnati-area restaurant has scuttled the plan. Starters Café owner Justin Watson had been offering a 10 percent discount on Sunday brunch to anyone who brought in a church bulletin. Opened in June, Starters is located in Cheviot, a town of 8,300 just northwest of the Queen City. With seven churches within a one-mile radius, Watson told TV station WWMT that he had a great response to the promotion. Still, someone wrote a message on Yelp proclaiming they wouldn’t check out the restaurant because of it. Then the Freedom From Religion Foundation [...]
Southern Baptists hail ruling on church-state issue
Although its only involvement was filing a friend-of the-court brief, the Southern Baptist Convention’s church-state entity has hailed a ruling by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling reversed a lower court order requiring the Catholic Church to turn over records of private deliberations on what the church describes as doctrinal and moral issues. The case arose after a challenge to a 2016 Texas law by the Whole Women’s Health abortion clinic network, doctors, and other abortion providers. The law requires fetal remains from abortions or miscarriages to be buried or cremated rather than discarded in a landfill or [...]
3 C’s for living your faith at work
How can I effectively and appropriately share my faith at work?
