Sermon Starters
Jesus was a famously good storyteller. On hillsides and shorelines, Jesus held audiences spellbound with his way of sharing in images and narratives that expressed core human needs.
ECD Feature
He Sapa New Life Ministry
He Sapa New Life has established a large community-based youth outreach program this past year to reach these youth by providing alternative positive activities and mentoring
Trusted Worldwide
Chaplain Amber Kunkel becomes first female chaplain in Hurlburt’s 79-year history.
Perfect Time for Hispanic Leadership Development
Our greatest challenge as a society is the lack of leaders; the lack of people being ready and desiring to help others. How do we find new leaders? Leaders are not found: they are encountered, equipped, and empowered.
Knowledge, Skills, and Character
“The program itself feels like a much more realistic evaluation of somebody’s ability to be a pastor or a leader in ministry,” Prutsman offered.
Thrive Financial Spotlight: Frankie Rodriguez
For Pastor Frankie Rodriguez–senior Pastor of Iglesia Wesleyana El Camino in Greenville, South Carolina, the Thrive Financial Initiative (TFI) offered a chance for vulnerability that enriched his relationship to his congregation.
Testimonio de IFE : Frankie Rodriguez
Para el pastor Frankie Rodríguez, pastor principal de la Iglesia Wesleyana La Camino en Greenville, Carolina del Sur, la Iniciativa hacia Finanzas Exitosas (IFE) ofreció una oportunidad de vulnerabilidad que enriqueció su relación con su congregación
Thrive Financial Spotlight : Mark Leist
During the first year of TFI, Leist and his leadership team turned the TFI materials into a teaching series for their congregation.
Targeted Growth: The Wesleyan Church Shifts to a Competency-Based Credentialing Model
The ministry competencies focus on developing ministers who are fit for sustainable ministry–both academically and holistically.
Thriving Clergy: Pastorwell
“Sometimes pastors don’t avail themselves of things until there is a crisis; we’re trying to encourage pastors to be thinking ahead about what kinds of habits of mind and heart they can begin to make part of their life before there’s a crisis,”
Thrive Financial Spotlight: Florida District
This role is important, because—according to Styers—the problem with executing clergy care is not a lack of concern, but a lack of time on the part of district leaders. “We try our very best to not let people fall through the cracks…
Thrive Financial Spotlight: Luella Belliveau
“We’re a church who believes in fully supporting our pastor, so when I realized the benefit he could achieve through Thrive, I was on board in helping him achieve that in his own personal life,” reflected Belliveau.
Thrive Financial Spotlight: Daniel Mottayaw
When asked what he’d say to those considering TFI, Daniel says, “The TFI money is pretty much dependable; but what I’ve really learned in this process beyond that is how God can provide in so many ways you can’t even count on or be sure of… so there
Southern Wesleyan Faculty Spotlight: Mark Wilson
“A pastor cleverly disguised as a professor.” That’s how Rev. Mark Wilson refers to himself.
Pastors’ Spotlight- Jorge Escalante
The hyphen: integrating the immigrant into ministry
Thrive Financial Spotlight: Amon Chidongwe
As Pastor Amon works through TFI’s first year, he will receive (from the grant) a match of up to $1,000 of what Horizons church has invested in him. In addition, TFI will match another $1,000 from another source that elected to invest in…
Thrive Financial Spotlight: Jason Parker
Now, nearing the end of the TFI process, the Parker family have worked toward the Thrive team’s collective goals, paying down all $20,000 in debt, and are completely debt-free as they now work on the next step (building their savings fund).
Indiana Wesleyan: Fusion Youth Conference
While this year’s conference was the first hosted completely online, its online attendance–5,600 people from 38 states and 3 countries–surpassed the original sold-out attendance of 3,800.
Houghton College Alumni Spotlight: John Rhett
“This is one of the greatest challenges for a teacher at a Christian college – for a teacher that is a believer – how to educate, expose and equip young minds to make their way through a visual culture…”
Houghton College Alumni Spotlight: Taylor Wilding
“Everything you do or don’t do; everything you say or don’t say sends a message–so make sure all you do or say reorients people toward Christ and not toward the world.”
Neighborhood Faith: Urban Ministry in Portland
“In the church planting world, a lot of the language we use is colonialist. We say, ‘We have God and we will bring him to these people.’ But one of my discoveries has been that God was always in Portland and at work in Portland,” Doiron said.
Finding the middle way
“It was a rich experience for me to understand that God is bigger than any one denominational box… All of the different perspectives find alignment and agreement in God,” Jones reflected.
Simplifying Church
“The church of the future is going to have to simplify. We’re not going to be able to rely on giving as much to support a staff of 15 pastors. We’re going to have to know what we are about – preaching and teaching the word of God, inviting everyone..
Sharing Inspiration
If there’s one overarching aim Crisp has developed in 19 years as a pastor’s spouse, it’s authenticity – for her family life and her own spiritual development.
