March 2012 - Church Executive

This issue includes an interview with Jenni Catron, executive pastor of Cross Point Church, Nashville, TN. Also included are features on financial accountability, copyright and church apps, and a special section on architecture.

Back to the basics

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adminstrator, LEADERSHIP

March 2, 2012 at 3:34 pm.

But whose basics should be followed?

Apps have come to church

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app, Communication, congregation, social media, social networking, TECHNOLOGY

March 1, 2012 at 9:00 am.

Apps are seen as an “innovative way for churches and ministries

Who is Jenni Catron?

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community, discipleship, evangelism, growth, LEADERSHIP, merger, MULTI-SITE, pastor, social media

March 1, 2012 at 9:00 am.

Since Jenni Catron moved from being an artist development director in the music

Youth center brings the ‘wow’ factor

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community, culture, FACILITIES, social networking, stewardship

March 1, 2012 at 9:00 am.

A former injection molding plant is turned into a unique gathering place for young people.

Back to the future: Kids learning in community

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campus, community, congregation, FACILITIES, LEADERSHIP

March 1, 2012 at 9:00 am.

Standing in the middle of a movie theater lobby is usually no big deal (and certainly not a spiritual moment), unless it is the first Sunday morning of Promiseland, a new ministry to children in the early days of Willow Creek Community Church. Launching a ministry to kids in an out-of-the-box, rapidly-growing, already-influential congregation was a big deal; even bigger than I realized at the time, Willow Creek church in South Barrington, IL, about to surpass the 2,000 milestone in its third year, presented a brand new approach to “church” with fresh thinking from top to bottom – except when it came to children.

Picking a fight with the IRS: The politics issue

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First Amendment, freedom of speech, IRS, political activity

March 1, 2012 at 9:00 am.

From the founding of our country until 1953, churches and their ministers enjoyed complete freedom to address social, moral, Biblical and political issues. Churches have enjoyed exemptions from federal income tax in every income tax law enacted since 1861 without any restrictions on the political activities of the church. But in 1954 all that changed. As part of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson added a new condition to the tax exemption for all nonprofit organizations: no political activity. This amendment to the Code prohibited all nonprofits from doing anything that would support or hinder a candidate for elective office. (For purposes of this article, I will use the prior sentence as the definition of “political activity.”) This amendment was added at the last minute without any discussion or hearings.