Feeling disconnected at work and church? Consider your highest priority meeting

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Steve Jobs once said: “There’s a temptation in our networked age to think that ideas can be developed by email and iChat. That’s crazy. Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions. You run into someone, you ask what they’re doing, you say ‘wow,’ and soon you’re cooking up all sorts of ideas.”

His words have validity, but they also point to a dead end in our current work—and church—happenings. 

Between 2005–2012, research indicates that telecommuting rose 79 percent, triggering much discussion surrounding the topic of office productivity and creativity in relation to remote-working conditions. 

The listed benefits

  • decreased traffic
  • greater opportunity for out-of-the-box thinking
  • more flexibility in scheduling
  • an enhanced work-life balance
  • greater ownership of personal time management
  • increased trust and accountability
  • and fewer office interruptions. 

The disadvantages cited were just as vast. 

While greater flexibility in schedule might allow employees the time to exercise and tend to their health, some employees were found to be increasingly sedentary. Communication seemed to suffer from a lack of face-to-face exposure. And digital friendships were found to be harder to craft than when granted in-person opportunities for connection.

Have you struggled with working from home? Churching from home?

What are your greatest challenges?

The one thing you can do to be better at your job

In “Is Working Remotely Sapping Your Creativity?” Jamie Hodari offers: “The research has shown that if you want to increase your engagement and performance at work, there’s one thing to do that trumps almost everything else: make a close friend at the office. People with a best friend in the workplace are seven times as likely to report being engaged in their work. Likewise, people with at least three vital friends at work are 96% more likely to be satisfied with their…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.

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Judge Denies L.A. County’s 4th Attempt to Shut Down John MacArthur’s Church

Judge Denies L.A. County’s 4th Attempt to Shut Down John MacArthur’s Church


A California judge declined on Tuesday to issue an order shutting down Grace Community Church, handing pastor John MacArthur his third recent victory in a much-followed legal battle against Los Angeles County.

The county had hoped Judge Mitchell Beckloff would issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting the congregation from meeting indoors during the pandemic. Instead, the judge pointed to a previous decision by a higher court, the state Court of Appeal, which he said refused to issue a temporary restraining order against the church.

State and local health restrictions prohibit churches from meeting indoors.

“The court has no authority to take the action requested by Plaintiffs,” Beckloff wrote.

Beckloff also noted the county has “elected not to punish Defendants’ alleged violation of the County Health Order ‘by fine, imprisonment or both.’” Although Los Angeles County’s next move isn’t known, at least one other California county – Santa Clara County – fined a church $10,000 for not complying with health orders.

It was the third victory for Grace Community at the trial court level. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept 4. Although a mid-August appeals court decision was viewed at the time as a win for the county, Beckloff said the appeals court declined to grant the county what it requested.

“It is deeply disappointing that the Court…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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More Than 300 Faith Leaders Call on Trump, Republicans to Change Immigration Policies

More Than 300 Faith Leaders Call on Trump, Republicans to Change Immigration Policies


WASHINGTON (RNS) — More than 300 faith leaders have signed a letter addressed to delegates to the Republican National Convention and President Donald Trump demanding the commander in chief end immigration policies they argue are “inhumane.”

“Our sacred texts challenge us, first and foremost, to love our neighbor, and welcome the sojourner among us,” the letter reads. “These values are not reflected in your platform; this sacred calling is not what we see on your agenda. As you enter your convention, you have the power to put forward a new policy approach. We urge you to remember that we, as a nation, have the responsibility to be the City on the Hill, and the policies we create should reflect those values by treating immigrants with the respect and dignity we all deserve.”

The letter specifically decried the detention of migrant children and the separation of migrant families, the latter of which triggered widespread backlash in 2018 when the Trump administration adopted a “zero tolerance” policy that wrenched many migrant families apart. Although that policy encountered numerous legal challenges, some migrant parents have still been separated from their children or ended up in facilities plagued by COVID-19 outbreaks. Meanwhile, migrants who have arrived since the beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic have been subjected to a mass expulsion…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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Biden-Harris Vision of America ‘Leaves No Room for People of Faith,’ Cissie Graham Lynch Says

Biden-Harris Vision of America ‘Leaves No Room for People of Faith,’ Cissie Graham Lynch Says


Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of the late evangelist Billy Graham, warned during Tuesday’s Republican National Convention that a nation led by Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris “leaves no room for people of faith.”

Lynch, a communications advisor and ministry spokesperson for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and Samaritan’s Purse, said America’s Founders “did not envision a quiet hidden faith.”

“As Americans, we know the first line of the First Amendment protects our freedom of religion,” said Lynch, who also hosts a BGEA podcast. “But what we often forget – the actual words are ‘free exercise of religion.’ That means living out our faith in our daily lives, in our schools, in our jobs, and yes, even in the public square.”

Although the Founders fought to ensure people of faith were “not bullied,” the Obama-Biden administration did just that, Lynch charged.

“These freedoms were under attack,” she said of the Obama-Biden era. “Democrats tried to make faith organizations pay for abortion-inducing drugs. Democrats tried to force adoption agencies to violate their deeply held beliefs. Democrats pressured schools to allow boys to compete in girls’ sports and use girls’ locker rooms. Those are the facts.”

President Trump,…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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Liberty University Board Accepts Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Resignation

Liberty University Board Accepts Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Resignation


(RNS) — The board of Liberty University has accepted the resignation of its president, Jerry Falwell Jr., after a roller coaster day in which Falwell resigned, then withdrew his resignation, then resigned again late Monday night (Aug. 24).

The board announced it had accepted Falwell’s resignation from his roles as president and chancellor of the university and from its board of directors after meeting Tuesday morning.

“I am so encouraged by the unity of Christ that I saw exemplified by our Board today,” acting board Chairman Allen McFarland said in a written statement.

“Liberty University’s future is very bright and in capable hands of leaders who are committed to being good stewards of what the Lord has entrusted!”

The university and board did not adjust the severance compensation in Falwell’s preexisting employment agreement, according to the statement from the school. Liberty’s latest tax filings show Falwell made just over $1 million in 2018.

Jerry Prevo remains acting president of Liberty.

“Our students are ready to be world changers as Champions for Christ. Their spirit is strong as they look to the future. I intend to do all I can to nurture their spiritual side as they grow academically and enjoy all our campus has to offer,” Prevo said in the statement.

The back-and-forth began Monday, when Falwell resigned from Liberty University, the evangelical school his…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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‘This Activity Is Unlawful’: California Church Fined $10,000 for Singing, Meeting Indoors

‘This Activity Is Unlawful’: California Church Fined $10,000 for Singing, Meeting Indoors


A pair of California churches has been fined several thousand dollars for violating health restrictions and conducting indoor worship services during the pandemic.

North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, Calif., was fined $10,000 by Santa Clara County for conducting two indoor worship services that included singing. It also received a cease-and-desist order. (The county fined the church $5,000 for a Sunday morning service and $5,000 for a Sunday evening service.)

Meanwhile, a California judge fined Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks, Calif., a total of $3,000 for meeting indoors and held the church and its pastor, Rob McCoy, in contempt of court. (The judge’s fine included $500 for each one of six services.)

Jack Trieber, pastor of North Valley Baptist Church, decried the county’s fine.

“I’m in charge of the spiritual health of the people who sit in this area,” he said in a video inside the church building. “… And although [physical] health is very important — of utmost importance – spiritual health is supreme. And because we’ve been locked out … of churches, suicide is up, domestic violence is up, drug addiction is up, homelessness is up, alcoholism is up. We need to get back to worshiping God. I am commanded to worship God.”

Trieber said he is “willing to take a stand.”

“If you arrest me this week – and I know that’s a…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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Judge denies attempts to shutter Grace Community Church; MacArthur condemns ‘misuse of power’

Pastor John MacArthur preaches at Grace Community Church in California, 2019. | Facebook/Grace Community Church

A California court has once again sided with Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church, denying the County of Los Angeles’ renewed application for a temporary restraining order against the church for holding indoor worship services amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In California Superior Court on Tuesday, Judge Mitchell Beckloff concluded that the county’s attempt to obtain a restraining order did not meet statutory requirements and that the Court of Appeals’ order did not justify a new temporary restraining order.  

The next scheduled hearing on the original lawsuit filed by the church against the county and the countersuit filed by the county against the church will take place Sept. 4.

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Paul Jonna applauded the court for “correctly” concluding that Los Angeles County’s “renewed application for a temporary restraining order was both procedurally and substantively defective.”

“This was their fourth unsuccessful attempt to obtain a court order prohibiting indoor worship services at Grace Community Church,” Jonna said. “We look…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

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Sean Connery turns ninety: What the popularity of James Bond can teach us about promoting biblical truth

Sean Connery as James Bond in the 1971 “Diamonds are Forever” film. (AP Images)

James Bond turned ninety years old this week. Actually, that’s not quite right. Sean Connery, the Scottish actor who will forever be linked with the iconic British secret agent, had his ninetieth birthday. Tributes came in from other Bond actors and the general public around the world.

I found this article especially interesting: Columnist Mark O’Connell notes that until the first Bond film, “cinema was the commonplace realm of jingoistic war movies, ailing backlot westerns, biblical excess, and tired thrillers.” Then came 1962’s Dr. No, which “transformed cinema itself.” 

O’Connell describes Connery’s James Bond as combining “a jet-set sense of physicality and sexuality.” By the third Bond film, “the prototype was now a golden template of movement, style, physicality, sex, and design.” 

An article on James Bond trivia estimates that Bond has slept with fifty-five women in his various movies (so far). The secret agent has clearly resonated with audiences: adjusted for inflation, the 007 movies are the top-grossing film franchise of all time. 

A decade that changed the world 

If I were to ask you to name the most pressing issues facing us today, I doubt James Bond’s influence on our culture would be on your list. 

You might point to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin and the violent protests that have followed; according to authorities, three people were shot early this morning and one of them died. 

Or Hurricane Laura, which is expected to slam into the Louisiana and Texas coasts tonight as a Category 3 storm. Or the spike in coronavirus cases as universities begin the fall semester. 

These are crises worthy of great concern, to be sure. However, while we focus on the headlines each day, there’s another story in the background that affects each of us in ways few of us seem to notice. 

In 1960, two years…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.

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10 Reasons Churches Stop Growing at the 200 Barrier

It’s common for churches to hover around 200 in attendance, bouncing slightly below and slightly above that number recurrently, but not moving beyond that level. Here are some reasons that plateau happens:

  1. Pastoral leadership style – Pastors who must be involved in every member’s life and who don’t delegate ministry usually cannot shepherd a congregation larger than 200. Many pastors simply don’t know how to change this leadership style.
  2. Building space – Many churches build first or second buildings that will hold about 200 worshippers. If space is unavailable for future growth, that growth won’t happen.
  3. Church expectations – Some congregations simply don’t want to be larger than about 200. They don’t want so many members they can’t know everybody, so outreach slows as the church approaches the 200 barrier.
  4. Church history – In many cases, a church has a history of hitting 200, bouncing backward for a while, and then growing again up to 200. That’s been their history, so 200 has become the height of “the good old days.” 
  5. Man-sized vision – That is, the church leaders have no vision beyond the 200 barrier. They know they can get to this point, and that becomes their target. Nobody’s thinking about God’s doing something larger than that point.
  6. Poor preparation – Some leaders don’t think about addressing the 200 barrier until the church is at that level – which means they’ve made no preparation to push through the barrier. Their reactive…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.

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Pastor John Gray accused of another inappropriate relationship; lawyers say he’s being blackmailed

Relentless Church Pastor John Gray | Instagram/John Gray

Lawyers for megachurch pastor John Gray said Monday that he is being blackmailed and extorted after the leader of Relentless Church in South Carolina was accused of engaging in another inappropriate relationship. 

“There are allegations that there were phone conversations between the two parties, and that’s essentially the extent of the allegations,” attorney Devon Puriefoy of the law firm Truluck Thomason told Greenville News. “When you take her own words, she says there was no affair, no physical contact, they never met each other, they never saw each other.”

Puriefoy was not immediately available to discuss the situation when contacted for comment by The Christian Post Tuesday.

The latest allegation against Gray came last Friday from a 48-year-old Houston woman who identified herself as “Mary” during an interview with online personality Tasha K, which was broadcast on YouTube. The Houston woman said during her interactions with Gray, she sent him partially nude photos at his requests and he video-chatted with her while revealing his underwear. She claimed that he also met with her in Houston and invited her to visit his…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

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