The Church’s Duty To Guard the Flock The church is a place where people often come to learn about God and the Scriptures. People come on Sunday morning to hear a speaker, they go to small groups to grow in their faith and they go to Sunday school to corporately work through biblical topics or […]
New Director of Leadership Development We are pleased to announce that Rev. Mike Alix has agreed to serve as our next director of leadership development. He will be replacing Dr. Matt Larkin who stepped away from the role in February of this year. Mike is husband to Erica and father to Joseph (11), Gideon (9) […]
Leadership Development: Where Do I Begin? by Dr. Matthew Larkin The hardest part of any project, whether big or small, is knowing where to start. Whether starting a new ministry, planning a sermon series, or even … writing an article for the Advent Christian Witness, the hardest part is starting with that white piece of […]
Is Your Church Producing Pastors? Feature by Erik Reynolds A few weeks ago, I spent some time with the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting playing in the background as I worked because, at one time, I was part of the SBC, and it is the largest/most influential Protestant group in North America. As one of […]
Hold Firm: Knowing and Defending the Truth Feature by Rev. Jack Mumford The changes our culture is undergoing are multifaceted and coming fast, from rising secularism to smartphone addiction to issues of gender identity. How do we help our churches respond to and navigate the various behaviors, beliefs and worldviews that challenge the truth of […]
Your Leadership Style Can (and should) Change Feature by Adrian Dixon How much have you changed in the last two years? How much of your livelihood have you had to reimagine over the last two years? Whether it was learning to cook more meals, learning Zoom and the nuances of working from home, preaching to […]
Will Your Church Be Around in 5 Years? 10? Feature by Jesse Stevens As you think about your local church and the leadership in it, do you think about what it might look like five or 10 years from now? As time goes on, a church goes through a leadership shift. The question is, “How […]
Re-shaping our Organizational Culture Feature by Matt Larkin “Observed behavior,” “group norms,” “espoused values,” “habits of thinking.” These and more combine to form an organization’s culture. Organizational culture, according to Edgar H. Schein, is the “accumulated shared learning of a given group, covering behavioral, emotional, and cognitive elements of the group members’ total psychological functioning.” […]
Executive Council Wrap-Up The Executive Council Meetings went well last week and we appreciate the prayers for God ’s leadership through these meetings. Zoom meetings with close to 20 participants are never easy, but we are learning to work together to make it happen. During these meetings, we began preparing for the rescheduled Triennial Convention, […]
Executive Council Meets This Week The Executive Council Meetings are being held through Zoom on September 1 and 3. This will be the second time we have had to hold our meetings through Zoom due to the pandemic. It is not ideal, but we feel for the safety of our council members, it is necessary. […]