The youth coming out of our churches are in spiritual trouble. More than half of all students raised in Christian homes and participating in local churches forsake their faith sometime during their college years. What changes do we need to make in the local church to change this alarming trend?

Join Campus Pastor, Jim Musser, and CPN Executive Director, Kevin Huff, as they discuss this growing trend and how churches and parents can make a difference.

Jim Musser was raised in a church-going home, but came to understand what it meant to follow Jesus early in his freshman year at Ball State University. He was a student leader in his campus ministry and graduated with a degree in Social Work. He went on to complete a Master of Divinity degree at Emmanuel Seminary at Milligan University in Tennessee. After graduating, he served as Director of Campus Christians at the University of Kansas for 21 years, where he also earned a Master of Education degree in Counseling Psychology. He then was called in 2004 to the same position with Campus Christian Fellowship at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina where he lives with his wife, Marianna. He is serving as Campus Minister Emeritus with CCF until July 2022. He also leads UpStream Ministries and is the author of the book, Letters from Downstream: Why Teaching Young People HOW TO Follow Jesus Is So Important—Insights for Parents and Churches.

In this second part to the discussion with Jon Ritner and Warren Schuh, Jon discusses more of the "how to's" to renewing the focus of discipling like Jesus and how that can look in the modern world.  Jon points out the challenges non-christians have with the church and the subtle items like language that creates confusion and apprehension to walking into a traditional church program.

This discussion's purpose is to give perspective to how to grow followers in Christ and not just church numbers with practical ideas.

Jon Ritner shares, with Warren Schuh, his experiences with discipleship in Europe and how bringing this paradigm back to the States has increased believers in Christ and grown the church.

He talks about the differences in measuring church growth and challenges if we are really growing at all.  His ideas are authentic and inspiring, check out this next podcast by Cornerstone Pastors Network.

https://www.cpnonline.net

Jon Ritner shares, with Warren Schuh, his experiences with discipling in Europe and how he is using the same structure to renew discipling in his community in the United States and how true discipling increases believers and not just church members.

Lance Witt and Warren Schuh discuss the difficulites for pastors and church leaders with taking time for themselves.  Lance shares his experiences and supportive information to help pastors.  Cornerstone Pastors Network strives to give pastors resources to help with all the different challenges they face.

Brad Leeper and Warren Schuh discuss the generosity present in your church, end-of-year-giving, and the ongoing recovery of the pandemic.  

 

Listening the the podcast feels like you are just one of the members of the discussion as these two comfortably chat about the issues many pastors and churches are facing.

We have left Egypt and going back is not an option.Our world is in a moment of both profound change and Kingdom opportunity, literally at the intersection of chronos and kairos in human and divine history. For pastors and church leaders , this is a time to learn and lean into the moment rather than hope that it will pass and we return to "normal."This "season of COVID" has forced many churches to begin to do things that they had never thought about doing previously or if they had thought about them, they resisted the change and now they are being forced to make changes. And forced change is always more difficult to successfully implement.Carol Childress is known for her ability to help leaders “connect the dots” and enable churches and organizations to create a healthy internal culture, craft strategic direction, navigate change, and process transition in our twenty-first century world. "My greatest concern is that I hear everyone talking about changes, but few are talking about transition. Change and transition are not the same and without paying attention to the process of transition, most efforts at managing change fail." This is a time for pastors and churches to be hopeful rather than fearful.Carol Childress is the founder of the CarolChildress Group, a consulting practice that helps leaders and faith-based organizations understand today and more importantly lead for tomorrow. With four decades of leadership experience in city management, community development, non-profit and faith-based organizations, including thirteen years as a Knowledge Broker at Leadership Network and work with the Cornerstone Pastors Network team, Carol is a trusted advisor and experienced consultant to churches and nonprofit organizations across the country.A resident of the Dallas area, Carol is graduate of Texas Tech University, The Institute of Urban Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Conway Edwards & Jeff Jones: Working Together To Address Racial InjusticeJeff Jones and Conway Edwards will challenge us to engage with others who don’t look like us.  They will share the lessons they’ve been learning during their journey and help us understand the personal growth that has resulted from stepping outside of comfort zones.You won’t want to miss this insightful conversation.  We hope to see you there!About Our Speakers:Dr. Conway Edwards is the founding and Lead Pastor of One Community Church, a fast growing church in Plano, Texas ministering to the communities of Collin County and hosting 7000 weekly in attendance. Dr. Edward’s unique ability to communicate the truths of the Bible in a relevant and uncompromising manner has helped to reach a generation of men, women, singles, couples and families embedded in a culture defined by individualism, materialism and humanism.Dr. Edwards holds a Master of Theology, with an emphasis in Pastoral Ministry, from Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS). While at DTS, he was a Leadership Fellow with the Center for Christian Leadership, under the guidance of Dr. Howard Hendricks. Dr. Edwards also holds a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Regent University.Dr. Edwards is passionate about leadership and the local church.  He is the author of Leading a Turnaround Ministry: A Process for Exponential Growth and is co-author of When Love’s In View and The Undercover Woman, with his wife, Jada.Dr. Edwards and Jada have a son named Joah and daughter named Chloe.Since 2004, Jeff Jones has served as Senior Pastor of Chase Oaks Church. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and helped launch the Center for Church-Based Training, an organization that helps churches around the world disciple and develop new ministry leaders. He is co-author of the book, The Leadership Baton.

Do you feel like you are leading in a context that you were not expecting? You may even feel that your training holds you back more often than it carries you along. Tod Bolsinger brings decades of expertise in guiding churches and organizations through uncharted territory to help you reimagine what effective leadership looks like in our rapidly changing world. This Pastors Resource Call will give you the tools you need to live and lead in a COVID19 culture.Tod Bolsinger is the vice president for vocation and formation and teaches practical theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has also served as senior pastor of San Clemente Presbyterian Church and associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood.

At such a volatile time in our history, many pastors are struggling with the right way to lead their congregation in giving a biblical response to racism. Renowned scholar Craig Blomberg will be discussing the New Testament theology on racism and what we can learn from a deeper look into the Biblical text. Dr. Blomberg's teaching will be incredibly helpful in allowing you to clearly communicate the Biblical framework of race and justice to your congregation.Dr. Craig Blomberg is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado. He holds the B.A. from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, the M.A. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and the Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Craig is the author of sixteen books and has co-authored or co-edited ten more, along with more than 150 journal articles or chapters in multi-author works. His books include four on the historical reliability and interpretation of parts or all of the Bible (esp. the Gospels), two on interpreting and preaching the parables, three commentaries (on Matthew, 1 Corinthians and James), a textbook on Jesus and the Gospels and another on Acts through Revelation, a handbook on exegetical method, a New Testament Theology, and three books on material possessions in the Bible. He is a member of the Committee on Bible Translation for the New International Version and served on the subcommittee tasked with producing the 35th anniversary edition of the NIV Study Bible.