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He succeeds Harold Smith, who retires May 1. Christianity Today is announcing the election of Timothy Dalrymple as its president and chief executive officer, effective May 1. The press release announcing the move includes the following: The Christianity Today Board of Directors has unanimously elected Dr. Timothy Dalrymple as its next president and CEO. He will begin his new role May 1, 2019.Commenting on the enthusiasm of the board for their president-elect, board chair Eugene Habecker... Read More

Author of ‘Now That I’m Called’ on how churches can better engage and deploy women in vocational ministry. Ed: Tell me about your book Now That I’m Called: A Guide for Women Discerning a Call to Vocational Ministry. Kristen: Now That I’m Called is a book written out of two beliefs. First, God calls women to gospel ministry. Second, the church of Jesus Christ needs God-called, theologically-trained women engaged in gospel ministry. Thus, the book is primarily written as a... Read More

President J. D. Greear announces a batch of new proposals, reiterating that congregations that cover up incidents have “no place” in the SBC. After a Houston Chronicle investigation uncovered hundreds of instances of criminal sexual abuse within its churches, Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) president J. D. Greear said the denomination needs to “repent of a culture that has made abuse, cover-ups, and evading accountability far too easy.” Already, Southern Baptists are... Read More

It’s been far too long, back their back! It’s been way too long since we ran some good church signs. They never cease to end, though, and I think we all enjoy seeing them. So tweet me some good ones and we will get this feature started again. In the meantime, enjoy the ones below. Thanks to @sethwaldrop and Oakland church for the reminder that we are both body and spirit! Neglecting either is a fool’s task. Thanks to @ufmikeg (aka Michael Graham) for the reminder that... Read More

A call to spiritual care among our twenty-somethings. According to research, many emerging adults (those between the ages of 18 and 29) experience a spiritual slump in the years after high school. When comparing 18 to 23-year-olds with the teenagers below them, the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) reported significant declines in the number of emerging adults viewing their faith as “very or extremely important” in shaping daily life. In addition, only 35 percent of... Read More

In the face of illness, death, and disability, Lamentations gives me a script for how to suffer. In 2015, my husband and I opened the doors to our church plant, Renewal Church. We celebrated the tremendous movement of God in our lives and our neighborhood. But the very same week, I woke up inexplicably unable to walk. I couldn’t put any pressure on my legs whatsoever. I didn’t know at the time that this surprising illness-visitor would become a long-term tenant. I now experience... Read More

Fallen flesh doesn’t like simply being sent. We’d rather build our own tower for our own glory. Last week, the Send Institute ran a poignant piece by John Davidson that argued for the decoupling of church planting and entrepreneurship. Davidson writes, “Rather than framing planting as ecclesial entrepreneurship, the church would be better served if we framed it biblically. The way to do that is by calling it what it is, apostolic ecclesiology.” He argues that the business... Read More

Science seeks to fix aging and death. But a Christian vision of the good life might actually embrace them. A preacher’s kid growing up in the Bible Belt, Micah Redding had a particular view of the physical world and God’s work in it. Singing popular hymns like “This World is Not My Home” and “I’ll Fly Away,” he took away this message: It’s all going to burn anyway, so why bother with the environment or curing diseases? That’s a... Read More

We American Christians have a biblical call to reduce firearm deaths in our land. Violence enters the human story from nearly the beginning: “While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (Gen. 4:8). The Genesis narrative notes that violence soon becomes endemic. In a mere two chapters, we read, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence” (Gen. 6:11). And “God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an... Read More