When Mark Connolly – call him an “immovable object” – met Linda Smith – call her an “irresistible force” – a new and dynamic ministry emerged. Smith, an advocate in the battle against human trafficking, is a no-nonsense woman: “I’m interested in talking with anybody who’s serious about doing anything…

You have a problem — it’s your senior leader. Not all of us face the problem, but many of us do. The reality of the problem may have taken you by surprise. Perhaps some wise friend forewarned you before you took the job. Either way, you know it now. You…

Church staffs are typically dominated by men, aside from clerical staff, and author Shaunti Feldhahn, writing in The Male Factor (Multnomah, 2009), says that the church is cheated in the depth of its leadership because women are, for the most part, excluded. “The most important problem involves the impact on…

Church conflict is among the worst kinds, wrapped as it usually is in theological certainty about the rectitude of each side’s views. Outsiders consider the conflict hypocritical. Insiders wind-up disillusioned and sometimes wash-out. Entire congregations vanish.…

Mae Cannon was immersed in the social issues of our day in ways she never expected. She grew up in southern Maryland and “experienced a lot of racial tension between the black and white communities.” Going to the University of Chicago and graduate and seminary schools she became aware of…

As a teaching pastor of Yorba Linda Friends Church, a megachurch in Southern California, I have lived a great deal of my life in Hollywood’s shadow. But instead of being threatened by the entertainment industry’s powerful impact on culture, I’ve found it to be a tremendous asset.…