Entries by Tony Cooke

Faith that Flows from Grace Christopher Alam

Faith that Flows from Grace Christopher Alam Christopher Alam was born a Muslim and received Jesus Christ in 1975. After enduring much persecution including spending almost an entire year in […]

Is Faith No Longer Needed? by Marvin Yoder

Is Faith No Longer Needed? Marvin Yoder Marvin and his wife, Leah, are the founding pastors of LifePointe Church in Mattoon, Illinois. Marvin is a graduate of Rhema Bible Training […]

Effective Nursing Home Ministry by Paul DeNeui

Effective Nursing Home Ministry (Lord, You Want Me to Go Where?) Paul DeNeui Paul DeNeui graduated from Rhema Bible Training College in 1995. Paul and his wife Ann have been […]

Equipped for the Last Days by Rick Renner

Equipped for the Last Days Rick Renner Rick Renner is a highly respected leader, teacher, and author within the Christian community, both in the U.S. and abroad. He works alongside […]

Your Story: Easter & Beyond by Stephen Marshall

Your Story: Easter & Beyond Stephen Marshall Stephen Marshall is the Music & Media Minister at Mount Hope Church in Lansing, MI. He is married to Pam Thum. Stephen is […]

Planning Effective Missionary Crusades and Events Ron Martin

Several years ago an evangelist asked me: “Ron, how do I get 50,000 to 100,0000 people to attend our crusades?” His crusades were already quite successful, but he was interested in seeing the attendance increase in his international meetings in order to win a greater number of people to Jesus. Whether it’s in Latin America, Africa, or Asia we’ve found that people experience similar challenges, needs, desires and goals. Religious beliefs or cultures may differ from place to place, but as a whole, people worldwide are on a life-long quest for answers regarding their eternity. … read more

The Doxology Experience by Jeff and Beth Jones

Easter 2012 at Valley Family Church was one of our most unique services. We had it in our hearts to do a throw-back type of Easter outreach service where we reintroduced many of the traditions people have grown up with in church—in a fresh and anointed way. Southwest Michigan is a very religious region, largely made up of those who grew up in the Roman Catholics, Dutch Reformed and Christian Reformed traditions. … read more

Doing Sundays Right by John R. LaBruzzo CHA

One of the first things they teach you in “Restaurants 101” is not how you serve a table properly….ladies and older people first, serve from the left, pick-up from the right….or how to make a Caesar Salad… what they do teach you is how to prioritize and organize your work! This is done in order to effectively handle the fast-paced world of restaurant food and beverage…where guest come and go…. often all at the same time…all of whom are hungry! … read more

The House of Destiny Orphanage: The Dream that Teamwork Brought to Pass

Like so many pastors, God had given me vision that could impact many lives if only it could be fulfilled and come to pass. The value of a vision fulfilled is to see lives changed. Big plans and dreams in our hearts can easily be delayed due to the daily demands of ministry or the more pressing needs of the people we are currently serving. We as a church wanted to make an impact in the lives of orphans in Guatemala and help impact a nation’s leaders through a minister’s training school. … read more

Dealing With Change By Pastor Bob Yandian

God does not change—man does. Not only is change a part of everyone’s life, it is a necessary part. God never allowed any believer in the Bible to remain in one place for long. He kept each one moving for a great spiritual reason. After Elijah declared there would be no rain, God told him to move from the presence of King Ahab to the brook Cherith where he would be fed by ravens. When the brook dried up, he was told by God to go to Zerephath to be fed by a widow. … read more

An Excerpt from Daily Meditations George Brown

He will not modify His purposes to suit our unbelief. What madness to suppose that He will imitate us, and seeing that we make light of His faithfulness, make light of it Himself. Let God be true and every man a liar. God once declared His purpose of bringing a deluge upon the earth. Men would not believe the terrific word. The whole human race combined to rear up a wall of unbelief under the protection of which they thought themselves safe. … read more

The Cradle of Hope: Helping Women through Crisis Pregnancy by Peggy Knudsen

One of the outreaches for FCOC is a pregnancy resource Center. They were finding teenage pregnancy on the rise in their community with little or no help for the young mothers to make a sound decision for herself and the life of her unborn. Peggy has always had a passion for teenage pregnant moms, the unborn, and has a drive to make “Iowa the safest Place for the Unborn.” … read more

Recovering from Crushing Disappointment by Ray Almaguer

One of the ways the enemy tries to stop a church is through crushing disappointment. A few years ago our church experienced one. Our church is in Southern California. Our goal was to move into a new building. We launched a three year stewardship campaign, signed a lease on a vacant building with plans to buy it in the future, and spent over a year obtaining a zoning variance and conditional use permit from our city. We paid for an environmental impact study, and paid for two traffic impact studies. Engineers had to be paid to determine if we had the proper drainage off of the parking lot. … read more

Are We There Yet? Musings from a Corporate Marketer by Don Burns

You’ve probably experienced it many times. You spend weeks or months praying, thinking, and strategizing about the next great idea. Then you communicate the plan to your staff, core volunteers, and congregation. Then all the work goes into bringing the idea into a reality. However, when it’s over the results are not what you expected. I can feel your pain. You ask yourself questions like, “Where are the laborers?” and “What were they thinking?” … read more

A Cosmic Concert by Rev. Tony Cooke

Do you recall reading the verse in the book of Job about a time “when the morning stars sang together” and wondered what that might mean?  It may be that science is now helping to provide some insight on that verse.  This was spoken when God was confronting, challenging, and revealing Himself to Job (38:4-7). …read more

Consistency by David Beebe

Recent church history gives us an abundance of examples of men and women of God, anointed for ministry, who may or may not have been the greatest paradigm of Christian living. Some of the most anointed ministers lost their ministries, reputation, family, and influence because of a lack of personal, or ministerial, ethics. While many who stumbled were able to recover themselves and finish their course with joy, others simply ship-wrecked their purpose and calling. … read more

Connecting with your Staff by Pastor Dean Hawk

Whether you are a senior pastor, youth pastor, or ministry leader it is essential for you to connect with those who serve with you. At Rock Family Church we are intentional about building and developing quality relationships on our leadership teams. I have found the closer knit we are as a staff the more productive we are. Acts 2:42 gives us some practical insight. … read more

My Consecration as a Christian by John G. Lake

I, this day, consecrate my entire life to glorify my Heavenly Father by my obedience to the principles of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. All my effort from now on will be directed in an effort to demonstrate the righteousness of God in whatsoever I may be engaged. All the things earthly that I possess shall not be considered my own, but belonging to my Heavenly Father, and shall be held in trust by me to be used and directed by the wisdom of the Spirit of God, as the law of love of men as Christ loved them may dictate. … read more

Watch Out for “Christian Con Men” by James E. Guinn, CPA

Over the past few years, ministers and church members have become the targets of misguided and even unscrupulous investment promoters. Never have so many ministers and church members been involved in bad investments: savings accounts wiped out, children’s college funds dissipated, and retirement funds wasted. Ministers have even sold their homes to invest the equity in questionable investments. … read more

Computer Use Guidelines Your Staff Must Know by Attorney Dan Beirute

The Internet can be both a useful tool and a destructive force for a church. On one hand, the Internet allows churches to market inexpensively to potential churchgoers and to quickly and efficiently relay news and information to members and supporters. On the other hand, the Internet can bring lewd and inappropriate content into the church with a push of a button; allow for the immediate circulation of rumors and outright lies about the organization and its leadership … read more

Church Benevolence Policy by Richard D. Locke

One of the frequent questions we are asked from pastors and church administrators is how the church should record a love gift to an individual. It is not unusual for a church bookkeeper to call our office and relay a scenario similar to the following: “A guest speaker came to our church, and after the service, the pastor took him out and bought him a new suit. Can we record this as a benevolent gift?” … read more

Churches, Banks and Loans by Mark Helland

In the course of my work as a CPA, I perform financial statement audits and reviews for dozens of churches and ministries on an annual basis. Some of the churches that I work with are debt free, but most require some sort of outside financing for building programs, improvements and other equipment purchases. One thing that all of these churches with outside financing have in common is an ever-more difficult environment with their lenders. … read more

Church Security: The Costs of Security Negligence By Jeff Hawkins

Few things will motivate an organization to take action more than having a court order it to pay someone $1.6 million for lack of security and emergency plans. An interesting lawsuit was just settled in Maryland and it would be wise for all churches to view this very closely because, even though it wasn’t a church named in the lawsuit, it very well could have been. … read more

Strategic Church Planting by Pastor Douglas Crumbley

There has never been a time where the forces against the church are so strong or so well organized as now. We live in a world that is rapidly moving away from the knowledge of God. In America for example, the generation growing up now has less basic understanding of spiritual matters than any prior generation. With statistics showing that more people are being born again and discipled … read more