Dear minister of Christ, I hope you enjoyed the theme of Renewal at our 2016 US Regional Conferences. We heard inspiring accounts of how the Holy Spirit is renewing us—opening minds and hearts to become more missional in thought and action. It’s thrilling to see him transforming us into congregations willing to go “outside the walls” … Continue reading "From Greg: Our renewal continues" Read the article
Dear fellow ministers of Christ, In my many travels with Delta Air Lines I often read Delta’s Sky magazine (typically doing the crossword puzzle first in an attempt to exercise my mind!). On a recent flight, a particular article caught my attention. It highlighted the movie Born to Be Blue, in which actor Ethan Hawke portrays fabled blues … Continue reading "From Greg: Humanizing humanity" Read the article
Dear pastors and ministry leaders: October is Clergy Appreciation Month, and though I appreciate our pastors every month of the year, this month I want to send out a special Thank you! to them all. I love these men and women, and I deeply appreciate their labor of love in the Lord. Let’s prepare for 2017 … Continue reading "From Greg: Invest in the development of your leaders" Read the article
Dear fellow ministers of Christ, For the first 14 years of my life, with my family I attended the Advent Christian Church. It was such a small denomination that I only knew of one sister church, some 40 miles away. I came to realize that many of their teachings originated with the 1900s Baptist preacher … Continue reading "From Greg: It’s not about numbers" Read the article
Dear pastors and ministry leaders, I’m an old athlete! In high school I participated in football, basketball, baseball, wrestling and track. I wish I’d played on the golf team because golf is my chosen sport in the current phase of my life. Throughout the years I’ve been trained and supervised by multiple coaches with quite … Continue reading "From Greg: Coaching matters" Read the article
Dear pastors and ministry leaders: I have significant experience as a church pastor and the director of a non-profit ministry. In those roles, I’ve talked with many people about money and I’ve raised a lot of funds. Yet, perhaps like you, I’ve not thought of myself as a fundraiser. As a principal leader in your … Continue reading "From Greg: Our calling to be fundraisers" Read the article
Dear pastors and ministry leaders: My father was an apple grower. One of his personal pleasures was loading up the pickup truck at the end of the harvest season to take apples to the widows and elderly around the area. He gained great joy from distributing free apples and was reluctant to stop. It’s a … Continue reading "From Greg: Live and preach generosity" Read the article
Dear Pastors and Ministry Leaders, Rebuilding GCI is the theme for this issue of Equipper. That theme came into focus for me during the U.S. regional conference held in February in Ontario, California. Our Intern Program coordinator, Jeff McSwain, stepped out in faith and began his address to the conference by boldly declaring, “To the … Continue reading "From Greg: Our journey of rebuilding" Read the article
Dear Pastors and Ministry Leaders: In 2014, nearly 60 million people were displaced from their homes and native countries by war. The spotlight in 2016 is on the crisis in Syria where almost half the population have become refugees, leading to the largest migration in human history. This global refugee crisis must not be ignored. … Continue reading "From Greg: The refugee crisis—how can we respond?" Read the article
Dear Pastors and Ministry Leaders: I hope you like the new format for Equipper. It’s formatted to be read on a wide array of digital devices including computers, tablets and smart phones. This format allows greater flexibility to link to outside articles, embed videos and in other ways more effectively equip you with disciplemaking ministry resources and … Continue reading "From Greg: Keys for renewal in our churches" Read the article
