Pastoral Helps
Showing 901–1000 of 2244 results
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Violent Takers 1
$15.99Add to cartThe biblical concept of faith has remained incomprehensible to many Christians, yet the concept and the practice of it is fundamental to a successful Christian life. Faith is the single most important weapon that God has given believers to overcome life challenges. When we know it and use it, we make God happy. In other words, God wants us to overcome life challenges and has provided us with faith as a tool to do that.
The Violent Takers uses real life stories to teach faith, perseverance and taking of bold actions towards obtaining any good thing that one desires. It teaches believing in oneself through believing in God. It encourages one to exploit the abilities, gifts, talents, ideas and opportunities at one’s disposal and use such to break out of the box and change whatever undesirable circumstance there may be in one’s life. This book does not teach or encourage violence or violent behaviors. It is, rather, intended to inspire the readers to emulate the characters in the stories by taking Godly bold actions that can forever change
their circumstances and the world. -
Kingdom Woman Group Video Experience Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartWhen a Kingdom Woman retires for the evening, a frustrated and worn out devil ought to be saying, “We messed with the wrong woman today.” This study guide is a companion resource to the video small-group study based on the book Kingdom Woman, which instructs every Christ-following woman on how to tap into the power of God as she finds and fulfills the purpose for which God has fashioned her.
A Kingdom Woman embraces a simple premise: unless a Kingdom rests firmly under the authority of the ruler, anarchy reigns. That’s why a Kingdom Woman always seeks to align herself and operate under the authority of God-in every area of life. With practical insights and applications from coauthor Chrystal Evans Hurst, Tony Evans explains how that process can unleash new purpose, power, and possibilities-in both the lives of Kingdom Women and those they love. This curriculum can be covered in about six weeks.
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Invasion Of The Dead
$27.00Add to cartOur world and our churches are neither sinful nor lost, they are dead. This dead world is the one that God engages and into which Jesus invaded with a radically different vision of life.
In this groundbreaking work, based on his 211 Yale Beecher lectures, Brian K. Blount helps preachers effectively proclaim resurrection in a world consumed by death. Recognizing that both popular culture and popular Christianity are mesmerized by death and dying, Blount offers an alternative apocalyptic vision for our time–one that starts with a clear vision of life that obliterates death and reveals life’s essence. Blount explores the portrait and meaning of resurrection through the New Testament (the Book of Revelation, the letters of Paul, and the Gospel of Mark) and explores how to biblically and theologically reconfigure apocalyptic preaching for today. With three illustrative sermons, this book is an ideal resource to help preachers proclaim the power of resurrection.
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Leading Worship : Learning And Leading
$10.00Add to cartThis advanced course in Lay Servant Ministries focuses on the ministry of the Lay Servant who either regularly or occasionally leads a group, class, organization, or the congregation in worship. The course is grounded in the classic patterns of Christian worship and the practices of leading worship. Participants will come to understand more about Christian worship in order to lead worship with more confidence. They will practice leading worship in a variety of formats throughout the course.
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Love Does Study Guide
$12.99Add to cartIn “Love Does,” a five-session, video-based small group study, you will discover the whimsy of “New York Times” best-selling author Bob Goff through a sometimes humorous, thought-provoking, meaningful lesson that makes faith in God simple and real.
You will discover the paradigm shifts, musings, and stories from one of the world’s most delightfully engaging and winsome people. What fuels his impact? Love. But it’s not the kind of love that stops at thoughts and feelings. Bob’s love takes action, just like Jesus did. Bob believes “Love Does.”
When “Love Does,” life gets interesting. Light and fun, unique and profound, the lessons drawn from Bob’s life and attitude just might inspire you to be secretly incredible too.
This companion study guide is designed for use with “Love Does” A DVD Study and will lead you and your group deeper into the video content (sold separately) with video notes, group discussion questions, and between session personal reflections and actions to enhance the group experience.
Sessions include:
1.I’m With You
2.Not Defined by Our Failures
3.God’s Audacious Love
4.The Story
5.That’s What Love Does -
Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl Participants Guide (Student/Study Gui
$14.99Add to cartJoin bestselling author Lysa TerKuerst for Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl, a six-session small group Bible study that helps you figure out how to trade in going through the motions for the spiritual healthy and vibrant life for which you long.
‘I really want to know God, personally and intimately.’
Do those words resonate with you? You’re tired of just going through the motions of being a Christian: Go to church. Pray. Be nice. That spiritual to-do list just doesn’t cut it. But what does? How do you step out of the drudger of religious duty to experience a living, moment-by-moment, deeply intimate relationship with God? Join Lysa in six small group sessions that will transform your walk with Go from lackluster theory to vibrant reality!
The most invigorating and rewarding journey of your life awaits you as you discover how to: *Build personal, two-way conversations with God.
*Study the Bible and experience life change for yourself.
*Cultivate great authenticity and depth in your relationships.
*Make disappointments work for you, not against you.
*Find incredible joy as you live out your faith in everyday circumstances.This Participant Guide is filled with helpful discussion starters, video overviews, space for writing thoughts, a helpful Leader’s Guide and much more. It’s designed to be used with the companion Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl DVD (sold separately) which features six 10-15 minute teaching sessions.
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Evidence Based Practices For Christian Counseling And Psychotherapy
$40.00Add to cartAre Christian treatments as effective as secular treatments? What is the evidence to support its success? Christians engaged in the fields of psychology, psychotherapy and counseling are living in a unique moment. Over the last couple decades, these fields have grown more and more open to religious belief and religion-accommodative therapies. At the same time, Christian counselors and psychotherapists encounter pressure (for example, from insurance companies) to demonstrate that their accommodative therapies are as beneficial as secular therapies. This raises the need for evidence to support Christian practices and treatments. The essays gathered in this volume explore evidence-based Christian treatments, practices, factors and principles. The authors mine the relevant research and literature to update practicing psychotherapists, clinical researchers, students, teachers and educated laypersons about the efficacy of certain Christian-accommodative therapies. Topics covered in the book include: devotional meditationcognitive-behavior therapypsychodynamic and process-experiential therapiescouples, marriage and family therapygroup intervention The book concludes with a review of the evidence for the various treatments discussed in the chapters, a guide for conducting clinical trials that is essential reading for current or aspiring researchers, and reflections by the editors about the future of evidence-based Christian practices. As the editors say, “more research is necessary.” To that end, this volume is a major contribution to a field of inquiry that, while still in its infancy, promises to have enormous implications for future work in Christian counseling and psychotherapy.
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Making Disciples In The 21st Century Church
$14.95Add to cartMore than a decade ago, Bill Hull wrote The Disciple Making Pastor. Hull criticized America’s Sunday attendance strategies as being totally inadequate and emphasized the need to make disciples. I resisted Hull’s teaching, thinking he lacked church growth insight. At that time, I primarily judged church growth success by how many were seated in a church in the worship service.
Yet now I applaud the concept of growing a church from the inside out and measuring success by disciples made and sent forth. The only command, in fact, of Christ’s great commission was to make disciples. The rest of the verbs in Matthew 28:18-20 are not in the command form but are actually participles. Jesus literally said, “having gone, make disciples.” (Matt. 28:18).
We know that the goal of the Christian life is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. While this is God’s ultimate plan, does he have a particular purpose for the cell-based church? I’ve been wrestling with this question for the past twenty-two years. This question confronts me every time I coach a pastor or pastors. In preparation for coaching, I ask myself, “What is my principal objective in helping this pastor?” “Where am I guiding this church?” “What am I trying to do?”
This book answers these questions.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the primary goal of cell ministry is to make disciples who make disciples. Christ’s last command to his disciples was for them to repeat the process and to reproduce new disciples. But how were they supposed to do that?
We in North America and the Western world often project our own cultural bias into Christ’s great commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Most discipleship books, in fact, assume that discipleship is an individualistic endeavor–between me and God. And yes, there is an important individual aspect (e.g., personal devotions, etc.). Yet in Matthew 28, Jesus was talking to a group of disciples. He wanted them to follow his example by making disciples in a group. Jesus molded twelve disciples in a group and then sent them house to house.
The early church followed Christ’s pattern by making disciples through the house churches that periodically celebrated together in public worship. In 2 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul tells Timothy to continue the discipleship process by passing on the pure gospel message to faithful men and women. Even though the term “disciple” is later replaced by words such as “brothers/sisters,” “Christians,” and “saints,” the concept remain
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Childrens Ministry In The Way Of Jesus
$24.00Add to cartAttract kids to church, the logic often goes, and you get parents in the pews. All that’s left is to get the kids out of the way. Here children’s ministers David Csinos and Ivy Beckwith draw on research in human development and spiritual formation to show how children become disciples and churches become centers of lifelong discipleship.
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Transforming Congregations Through Community
$28.00Add to cartIn this helpful book, Boyung Lee offers an encouraging vision of the mainline church’s future. Lee grapples with some of the greatest challenges facing the mainline church, offering compelling responses to recurring questions: What does faithfulness to the gospel look like in this changing world? What is our distinctive voice in the larger society? How does theological education have to change if it is to serve the needs of a new century?
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Missional Quest : Becoming A Church Of The Long Run
$17.00Add to cartIntroduction: Before The First Step
Part I: Fostering A Missional Mindset
1. The Starting LinePart II: Fostering A Missional Posture
2. Stop And Go
3. AD 30 All Over Again
4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor
5. Home, Work And God’s Mission
6. Where Everybody Knows Your Name
7. Launching Pads
8. Follow The Follower
9. Have A Great Trip
Appendix
EndnotesAdditional Info
When Christ calls people, he invites them on a journey-a journey taken together in community. We have reached a point in history, however, when we think of the church as a fixed place where isolated individuals show up, consume a Christian message, drink some coffee, and get on with their lives. The times demand, and the gospel proclaims, that we recover our identity as a church that is a people on a quest for the kingdom of heaven, formed intimately by a loving God and called onto a long journey for the sake of our neighbors and our world. In The Missional Quest you’ll learn how to take your church on a long run, and how to sustain yourselves and one another along the way, through the power of God for the sake of the world. -
God Story Daily Readings
$9.99Add to cartDeveloped by Jacob Armstrong, founding pastor of Providence UMC in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, The God Story is a seven-week sermon series seeking to help congregants see the threads that run throughout the story of God’s people culminating in Jesus and the resurrection. The series uses classic components of story to help people see their place and role in God’s story. The devotional participant books allow individual church members to bring the sermon message home and provide additional insights and inspiration until the next Sunday sermon.
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Loving Large Daily Readings
$8.99Add to cartLoving Large is a four week series that seeks to move people to action in their Christian faith. In a world that seems to run on money, greed, oil, power, etc., what would our world look like if it ran on the love of God? How can we infuse this world-changing love into our community and world? The series gives real opportunities for people to serve God and love their neighbor. It could possibly culminate with a church-wide day of service to the community. The devotional participant books allow individual church members to bring the sermon message home and provide additional insights and inspiration until the next Sunday sermon.
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Volunteer Youth Workers Guide To Leading A Small Group
$7.99Add to cart1. Why Small Groups?
2. What’s The Point?
3. What Does Change Look Like?
4. Thinking Structure
5. Leading Great Discussions
6. Asking Great Questions
7.Things That Might Help
8.Stop Reading!Additional Info
A lot of churches and youth ministries have given up on the idea of small groups, writing them off as too tedious, too difficult to manage, too hard to find volunteers for, too expensive to provide materials or curriculum for, or any other number of reasons. In A Volunteer Youth Worker’s Guide to Leading a Small Group, Mark Oestreicher argues a different perspec- tive, however. Marko insists that small groups pro- mote safe spaces to grow, consistency in teenagers’ emotionally tumultuous lives, and repetition that instills in them the importance of trust and tradi- tion. The Guide to Leading a Small Group is perfect for anyone feeling disenchanted with the concept of small groups, and after Marko succeeds in changing your mind in the first few pages, he’ll use the rest of the book to help you restructure and rethink your small-group programming so you don’t get burned out again. Marko is leading the charge in reviving small groups, and you can join him today. -
Volunteer Youth Workers Guide To Resourcing Parents
$7.99Add to cartEvery youth leader, volunteer, or pastor has failed at some point in their communication or interaction with their teenagers’ parents. Most youth workers are still pretty young themselves, and most parents are guarded and pro- tective of their kids. These factors combine to create a minefield, of sorts, for parents and youth workers to navigate. In fact, youth ministry mogul Mark Oestreicher starts off A Volunteer Youth Worker’s Guide to Resourcing Parents by admitting some of his own failures in his interactions with students’ parents. But then Marko uses the rest of the book to explore the importance and deep significance of being intentional with parent contact and interaction, and not letting family ministry slip through the cracks in favor of teenager-only ministry. If you’ve had some discouraging interactions with parents lately, this book might help provide a new perspective, allowing you to show some grace, both to yourself and the parents you’re trying to minister to.
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Volunteer Youth Workers Guide To Understanding Todays Teenagers
$7.99Add to cartMany parents have taken a defeatist approach toward understanding their teens. But that’s where you, the volunteer youth worker, come in. Mark Oestreicher shows that Understand- ing Today’s Teenager is both possible and rewarding, if one has the right tools. Marko explores the dimensions of nature vs. nurture, brain activity, culture, biology, and emotional development, all of which lead teenagers to do the wacky things they do that adults don’t understand and often can’t remember having done themselves. Marko also reminds us that adolescent development doesn’t end at the age of 18 just because United States law says it does. A Volunteer Youth Worker’s Guide to Understanding To- day’s Teenager uses a combination of science, logic, and compassion to help bring us back from the cliff edge and remember why we started working with teens in the first place. Use this book is a jumping- off point to re-ignite your passion for teens.
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Art And Practice Of Bivocational Ministry
$14.99Add to cart“It’s a balancing act.
If you are a bivocational pastor, you are familiar with the stresses, complications, and unique hurdles that come with bivocational ministry. You have a special calling.
In The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry, Dennis Bickers provides solid advice to help you succeed in your ministry while juggling a full-time job and a family at home. Along with his seasoned insights, you will find true-to-life case studies of challenges bivocational ministers face daily. More than just a guide, this book is a mentor in print and an invaluable resource for anyone balancing part-time ministry with a full-time job.”
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77 Fairly Safe Science Activities For Illustrating Bible Lessons (Reprinted)
$16.99Add to cartNothing captures the attention of young people (and adults) like a creative object lesson. This hands-on book gives pastors, teachers, speakers, and homeschoolers 77 exciting science activities that reveal the order and grandeur of creation and encourage an appreciation of all God has made. These easy experiments illustrate the laws of nature, teach Bible principles, and affirm God’s power as Creator. With catchy or unexpected results, the demonstrations make Bible truth unforgettable. The clearly explained experiments use common household objects, require little setup, and are illustrated with pictures and diagrams.
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Fight Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartIn Fight, a five-session, video-based small group Bible study, pastor and bestselling author Craig Groeschel explores the life of Samson, helping you uncover who you really are—a man created with a warrior’s heart in the image of God—and how to stand up and fight for what’s right. Find the strength to fight the battles you know you need to fight—the ones that determine the state of your heart, the quality of your marriage, and the spiritual health of your family. The battles that make you dependent on God as the source of your strength. The battles that make you come alive. Craig looks at the life of Samson, showing how much we have in common with this guy. Things didn’t work out so well for him in the end. But by looking at his life, you’ll learn how to defeat the demons that make strong men weak. You’ll become who God made you to be—a man who knows how to fight for what’s right. Learn how to fight with faith, with prayer, and with the Word of God. Then, when your enemy begins to attack, fight for the righteous cause that God gave you. Draw a line in the sand. Make your enemy pay. Make sure he gets the message. Don’t cross a warrior. Don’t mess with this man of God. Come out fighting. And don’t show up for this fight unarmed. Use the weapons God gave you, and you’ll win. Can you feel it? It’s inside you. It’s time to fight like a man. Designed for use with the Fight Study Guide (sold separately).
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Understanding Sexual Identity
$16.99Add to cartToday’s youth struggle with difficult questions of sexual identity. How can a youth worker offer wise care and counsel on such a controversial and confusing subject? Mark Yarhouse, director of the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity, equips youth ministers so they can faithfully navigate the topic of sexual identity in a way that is honest, compassionate, and accessible. Reframing the focus away from the culture wars, Yarhouse introduces readers to the developmental considerations in the formation of sexual identity—all of which occurs in the teen years. He offers practical and helpful ways to think about homosexuality along with suggestions for talking with people who experience same-sex attraction. He also helps parents and youth volunteers learn to graciously respond to children and teens who struggle with questions of sexual identity, and discusses how youth ministry can become more relevant in the lives of youth who are navigating these issues.
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Youth Workers Commentary On James
$26.99Add to cartOne reason for writing these books is that most curriculums that are now available for youth leaders and their students are just skimming the books of the Bible (example: 4-12 lessons on the Gospel of John that do not go beyond the surface of the text). We are talking about writing books that would have the entire Biblical text printed in each book. Books that actually go deeper into the meaning of the text. We are thinking of dozens of word and character studies, with many fascinating historical and personal stories, followed by in depth thought provoking questions. This series of books will include insights and observations not usually covered in typical commentaries.
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Feasting On The Word Year A 2
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Feasting On The Word Year A 1
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this new lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Hour On Sunday
$26.99Add to cartToday’s spiritually searching culture is less inclined than ever to attend church. Yet, no time of the week is filled with more life-changing potential than Sunday morning. Imagine . . . experiences that bring people heart-to-heart with God.messages in which God’s truth connects to everyday life.transcendent moments that leave people awestruck—and transformed. That’s what can happen when you unleash the arts in your church through the power of the Holy Spirit. An Hour on Sunday is not about nitty-gritty programming details or cookie-cutter how-to’s. It’s about foundational issues—ten enduring principles that: unite artists and ministry leaders around a common language empower artists and pastors to effectively work together create the potential for moments that matter on Sunday morning. An Hour on Sunday is for worship and arts ministry leaders, pastors and teachers, artists—including musicians, writers, dancers, actors, visual artists, film makers, light and sound engineers and anyone who believes in the limitless potential of the arts in their church. Whimsically illustrated, written with passion and humor, and filled with stories of both success and failure, An Hour on Sunday explores the deep, shaping forces that can make your hour on Sunday a time of transformation and wonder for believers and seekers alike.
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Feasting On The Word Year C 2
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Feasting On The Word Year C 4
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Feasting On The Word Year B 4
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Violence In Scripture
$50.00Add to cartThe Bible frequently depicts God as angry and violent, and also sometimes depicts human violence as positive or even as commanded by God. This forms one of the most vexing problems in approaching Scripture and in interpreting the Bible for preaching and teaching today. In this volume, Creach first examines the theological problems of violence and categorizes the types of violence that appear in scripture. Then, he wrestles with the most important biblical texts on violence to work through specific interpretational issues. This new volume in the Interpretation: Resources for Use of Scripture in the Church series will help preachers and pastors interpret those difficult texts, encouraging them to face violence in the Bible with honesty.
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Feasting On The Word Year B 1
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Feasting On The Word Worship Companion Year A 1
$42.00Add to cartBased on the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year A, Volume 1 is an invaluable aid that provides liturgical pieces needed in preparing for worship each week. Written and compiled by a team of eleven ecumenical and seasoned liturgy writers under the creative leadership of Kimberly Bracken Long, this resource offers a multitude of poetic prayers and responsive readings for all parts of worship and is meant to complement existing denominational resources. In addition, the weekly entries include questions for reflection and household prayers for morning and evening that are drawn from the lectionary, allowing churches to include them in their bulletin for parishioners to use throughout the week.
During times of the year when two different tracks of Old Testament texts are offered by the RCL, this resource offers an entire set of materials for each track. A CD-ROM is also included with each volume that enables planners to easily cut and paste relevant readings, prayers, and questions into worship bulletins.
Liturgy Writers include:
Kimberly L. Clayton, Director of Contextual Education, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
David Gambrell, Associate for Worship in the Office of Theology and Worship, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Louisville, Kentucky; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Daniel M. Geslin, Pastor, Sixth Avenue United Church of Christ, Denver, Colorado; United Church of Christ
Kimberly Bracken Long, Assistant Professor of Worship, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
L. Edward Phillips, Associate Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology, Candler School of Theology, Atlanta, Georgia; United Methodist Church
Melinda Quivik, Liturgical Scholar, Houghton, Michigan; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Carol L. Wade, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Lexington, Kentucky; Episcopal Church -
How To Be Team Player And Enjoy It
$13.99Add to cartMatt Williams has been an associate pastor, Christian college administrator, and has worked with church ministries around the country for over 40 years. He combines his experiences as a secular business manager, church staff member, and Christian leader with ministries to present practical principles that are invaluable in serving the Lord. How To Be A Team Player and Enjoy It is the result of working with pastors, staff members, and ministries across the country and seeing the problems faced in churches and Christian school ministries. Matt takes principles from God s word and applies them to our relationships and working with others as leaders. Christian leaders have encouraged Matt to relate these principles in printed form. This book reflects Matt s heart for people and the Lords work. How To Be A Team Player and Enjoy It should be required reading for all Christian leaders and workers.
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Feasting On The Word Year C 1
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Story Of Jesus Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThe Story of Jesus small group video Bible study is a seven-week exploration into the life and ministry of Jesus that is adapted from the original The Story Adult Curriculum. Pulled straight from the pages of the Bible, this study provides individuals and groups of all sizes the opportunity to learn, discuss, and apply Jesus’ life, work, and teaching to their everyday lives. Pastor and author Randy Frazee presents seven ten-minute teachings on how the story of Jesus intersects with the story of our modern day lives. To understand the Bible, says author and pastor Randy Frazee, you need bifocal lenses, because two perspectives are involved. The Lower Story, our story, is actually many stories of men and women interacting with God in the daily course of life. The Upper Story is God’s story, the tale of his great, overarching purpose that fits all the individual stories together like panels in one unified mural. Bestselling author Max Lucado also adds some introductory insights. The Story of Jesus DVD (sold separately) and Participant’s Guide are designed for use by individuals as well as groups of all sizes, including small groups and Sunday school and adult education classes. The Story of Jesus Participant’s Guide includes DVD teaching notes, discussion questions, between session personal experiences, and also includes seven chapters of the full text of The Story hardcover book as it relates to Jesus, from his birth to the beginning of the church.
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Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series 9 Cycle A
$49.95Add to cartMark Ellingsen’s Lectionary Preaching Workbook (Series IX Cycle A) is a rich and stimulating resource for preachers, especially those who manage the adamant deadline (really, lifeline) imposed on preachers by weekly worship. Each section is filled with theological reflection, liturgical sensibility, exegetical sketches, along with sermon prompts, outlines, and “gimmicks.” This last is his own word for what amount to suggestions for why a sermon on a particular text can be made to matter to both preacher and audience…
Ellingsen’s stated intent is to be an unbiased conversation partner with the preacher and in this goal he is careful to provide a range of options for topic and approach for each occasion… The closer a preacher is to wanting to continue in the Protestant tradition if theologically informed, exegetically nuanced, liturgically sensitive, and rhetorically focused preacher, the more that preacher will find Lectionary Preaching Workbook a sturdy companion.
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Spiritual Formation In Emerging Adulthood (Reprinted)
$28.00Add to cartThe shift from adolescence to adulthood, a recently identified stage of life called “emerging adulthood,” covers an increasing span of years in today’s culture (roughly ages 18-30) due to later marriages and extended education. During this prolonged stage of exploration and self-definition, many young adults drift away from the church.
Here two authors–both veteran teachers who are experienced in young adult and campus ministry–address this new and urgent field of study, offering a Christian perspective on what it means to be spiritually formed into adulthood. They provide a “practical theology” for emerging adult ministry and offer insight into the key developmental issues of this stage of life, including identity, intimacy and sexuality, morality, church involvement, spiritual formation, vocation, and mentoring. The book bridges the gap between academic and popular literature on emerging adulthood and offers concrete ways to facilitate spiritual formation among emerging adults.
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Finally Free : Fighting For Purity With The Power Of Grace
$19.99Add to cartIf you have struggled personally against the powerful draw of pornography, or if you have ever tried to help someone fighting this battle, you know how hard it is to break free. But real freedom isn’t found by trying harder to change. Nor is it found in a particular method or program. Only Jesus Christ has the power to free people from the enslaving power of pornography.
In Finally Free, Dr. Heath Lambert, a leader in the biblical counseling movement, lays out eight gospel-centered strategies for overcoming the deceitful lure of pornography. Each chapter clearly demonstrates how the gospel applies to this particular battle and how Jesus can move readers from a life of struggle to a life of purity.
If you or someone you care about is fighting this battle, there is good news: No matter how intense or long-standing the struggle, Jesus Christ can, will, and does set people free from the power of pornography.
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Special Service Worship Architect
$30.00Add to cartThis book takes the principles found in Constance Cherry’s successful The Worship Architect–in which she provided dynamic blueprints for designing worship services–and applies them to special services in the life of the church. Cherry, a worship professor and practitioner, offers theological reflection, practical guidance, and suggested resources to help worship leaders and ministry students in training to create meaningful special services related to the sacraments, life passages, and other occasions.
Cherry sets forth a process concerning worship design for special services and demonstrates how this process is conducive to virtually any style of worship practiced today in a myriad of Christian communities. She includes a model order for each service type, including weddings, funerals, baptisms, child dedications, Holy Communion, and more. The book not only explains what leaders do in order to preside at special services and how to do it, but also why they make certain choices. Each chapter includes discussion questions, practical exercises, and a basic glossary.
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Feasting On The Word Year C 3
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Feasting On The Word Year A 3
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Advanced Strategic Planning (Reprinted)
$28.00Add to cartFirst published in 1990, Advanced Strategic Planning explains why planning is so important to carrying out the church’s mission. Now in its third edition, this classic resource offiers
*a nine-step strategic thinking and acting model
*useful ideas for developing a ministry strategy
*diagrams to help illustrate concepts
*a new section on spiritual formationThe methods in this book are proven to work, having already helped many churches articulate their vision and implement their mission.
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Table Manners : Liturgical Leadership For The Mission Of The Church
$35.99Add to cartThere is a growing (if not urgent) need for those being trained for ordained (and lay) ministry to be provided with a more solid grounding in liturgical principles, and Simon Reynolds seeks to address this by demonstrating how good liturgical leadership can be the foundation from which all other theological, historical, pastoral and missiological issues arise.
Table Manners attempts to avoid being a ‘party’ book and will consciously avoid issues of churchmanship (except in pointing to what is positive in the various Christian traditions). Rather, it is written from the conviction that (i) a proper understanding of the Eucharist, and a theologically-informed approach to celebrating it (even if this manifests itself in many different styles), should mean that worshippers can go to churches of an unfamiliar tradition and yet still be caught up in the action, because what is essential and enlarging about good liturgical celebration would be recognisable; and (ii) that the success of presidency also demands the liturgical education of the whole people of God, because until they know what to ask for, their expectations will remain constrained.
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Worship The Lord With Gladness
$19.99Add to cartLessons:
1. Come, Let’s Worship God! What Is Worship?
2. Come To The Water: Baptism
3. Come To The Table: Holy Communion
4. Worship Leaders Help Us Praise God
5. Church Symbols Help Me Worship God
6. Music Helps Me Offer Praise To God
7. One Service, Many Parts
8. One God, Many Ways To Worship
9. We Worship And We Welcome
10. I Have A Part In Worship
11. Special Times Of Worship
12. We Gather To Worship, We Leave To Serve
13. Children Lead In WorshipAdditional Info
Worship the Lord with Gladness: God’s Children in Worship is designed to teach children about worship. Each lesson is based upon a scripture verse or passage that the children would examine in detail. Activities, games, drama, role-play, reproducibles, and music are incorporated into the lessons. Each lesson provides an opportunity for the children to put into practice what they have learned. In addition, there are take-home sheet explaining the lesson and providing parents ideas for reinforcing the lesson at home.Each lesson contains the following:
WORSHIP WIDSOM: Background material for the teacher.
ENTER WITH GLADNESS: Gathering activities for children as they arrive for the worship study.
BIBLE PRAISE NOTES: Children will examine the scripture for the day.
LET’S LEARN TO WORSHIP: Activities, games, drama, role play, reproducibles and music help the children learn about the particular worship theme.
WE WORSHIP GOD: A time to put into practice what the children have learned.
MY FAMILY HELPS ME WORSHIP: Take-home ideas for worship in the home and reinforcing the lesson
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Get Their Name Workbook
$15.99Add to cartPower-boost your team’s capacity to share faith without anxiety!
Most churches and Christians target the wrong people with “evangelism” efforts. The model we use no longer works because it is passive, too polite, and focused in the wrong direction. We are not making new disciples, not adding significantly to Christ’s transformation of the world. But there is hope and practical help for churches who are ready to take a new approach. Get Their Name by Bob Farr, Kay Kotan, and Doug Anderson outlines that hope and help.The Get Their Name Workbook provides the critical next step. Church leaders can use this resource with their teams, small groups, and staff to power-boost the book’s ideas in their own church context. The workbook is formatted to function as an individual study, too.
The Get Their Name Workbook:
-Creates conversation starters for group discussion or personal reflection
-Poses powerful questions, which can lead to honest and authentic reflection and evaluation
-Encourages group participants to process the information together, increasing understanding and commitment
-Stimulates calls to action, increasing the likelihood of real and sustainable change in the congregation -
Elephant In The Church
$19.99Add to cartA church can be a dangerous place. The perils may be so obvious, they become “elephants” standing in the fellowship hall, lurking in the sanctuary, ready to spring into the pastor’s study, and tromp out of the choir room. The word “elephant” stands for an obvious truth or issue that is ignored or unnamed-a blind spot. Yet we allow elephants to occupy a large amount of space in the minds and hearts of those that tiptoe around them. Discussing common blind-spots of congregations and church leaders, the authors provide examples and illustrations for how to stop these “elephants” from ruining a ministry.
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Jiffy For Eternity Cycle A
$17.95Add to cartDr. Leslie Holmes is one of America’s finest scholar preachers, an impelling communicator in both the spoken and, as you will witness, the written word. He writes as he speaks — with conviction, warmth, and insight.
Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie
Former Chaplain, United States SenateDr. Leslie Holmes has a keen mind coupled with a heart that burns with passion for evangelism.
Dr. R.C. Sproul
Author and TheologianDr. Holmes’s belief in the eternal verities of the Christian faith is exciting. His ability to take those truths and apply them in a practical, life-changing way is refreshing.
Dr. Steve Brown
Author, Professor of Preaching, and Founder of Key Life MinistriesRobert Leslie Holmes provides a refreshing look at the message of the cross in his sermons for Cycle A Lent and Easter seasons, A Jiffy for Eternity. Written for preachers by a preacher, A Jiffy for Eternity provides deep, exegetical analysis to each sermon and delivers truths in a way that are stunningly relevant to today’s reader.
Rich with both authority and passion for exploring the word of God, A Jiffy for Eternity carefully balances scriptural and historical investigations to consistently lead the reader toward compelling insights and biblically anchored understandings. Holmes’ love for the word of God is starkly evident throughout each sermon, and his deep knowledge of biblical history and interpretation remind the reader of the timeless truths of God’s word.
“In his name, God has entrusted us with an ‘obligation’ about the message that supersedes every other message in the world. In his name, God gives us the Holy Spirit who makes the message we preach new for every generation.” Holmes does not declare this pastoral obligation easily, for he has experienced firsthand the difficult task of delivering fresh life into ancient words. But the word of God is an “immoveable rock of trust,” and in that conviction, Robert Leslie Holmes presents a series of sermons that seek to transform the hearts and lives of the church with well-worn truths that remain ever-fresh and ever-new.
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To Drown Hell And Burn Heaven Cycle A
$12.95Add to cartTo Drown Hell and Burn Heaven beautifully illustrates the ability of holy language to change lives. With a lyrical voice and deeply personal reflections, Kristin Borsgard Wee challenges the reader to look beyond the text in order to allow the ancient idea of a transforming “white fire” to move us and to equip us in our faith.
For over 25 years, Kristin Borsgard Wee has taught the scriptures, and she believes that the images and ideas within language often “question our domesticated version of God.” When we permit ourselves to navigate through those questions and process their truths, our hearts, minds, and spirits can then begin to mimic Jesus — simply because we can answer his piercing question: “Who do you say I am?”
Throughout To Drown Hell and Burn Heaven, Wee offers personal and historical insights to expand scriptural understandings of God’s sovereignty, grace, and love. Wee combines a lifetime of discipleship, experience, and wisdom into the nine sermons for the middle third of the Season after Pentecost (Propers 15-23). These meditations can be used in corporate and private worship alike. Wee lets the familiar, ancient stories of Jesus call the believer into a life truly transformed by the power of the kingdom.
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Spiritual Guidance Of Children
$37.95Add to cartA seminal work by the founder of Godly Play
* A magisterial survey of a significant movement in religious education
* A black-and-white photo at the beginning of each chapter brings the key figures to
life for the readerThis new book is an important “history-of-traditions” work in which Godly Play founder
Jerome Berryman re-visions religious education as spiritual guidance and traces the
history of Montessori religious education through four generations. Berryman then
highlights the development of the Godly Play approach to spiritual guidance within
this context and concludes with thoughts about the fifth generation and the future of
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1st Childrens Study Edition (Teacher’s Guide)
$19.99Add to cartIn First: Putting God First in Living and Giving, pastor and author Mike Slaughter conducts a four-week all-church stewardship program to help participants reassess priorities and create a culture and a lifestyle of giving with a special emphasis on missions. Sessions include: Naming Our Idols; Money, Work, and Debt; Earn-Save-Give; and Heart Giving.
To help teachers and parents educate and model generosity for their kids, the Children’s Leader Guide contains session ideas for younger and older children, including reproducible handouts.
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1st Devotional : Putting God First In Living And Giving
$10.99Add to cartWhat happens when we truly put God first in all aspects of our lives?
In First: Putting God First in Living and Giving,pastor and author Mike Slaughter conducts a four-week all-church stewardship program to help participants reassess priorities and create a culture and a lifestyle of giving with a special emphasis on missions. To help parents educate and model generosity for their kids, First includes components for children and youth that help families explore financial decisions together. This book of devotional readings is a companion resource for program participants and is designed to draw families into closer fellowship with God as they explore financial decisions together. Includes short readings, Scripture, prayer, and stories.
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Effective Practice Of Ministry
$25.00Add to cartFew people have made a larger contribution to the ongoing life and health of Churches of Christ around the world than Charles Siburt. During his twenty-four years at Abilene Christian University, Siburt oversaw some fifty DMin theses- a capstone experience designed to recount best practices in congregational life.
Rooted in Dr. Siburt’s conviction that good theology makes a difference in the lives of people, The Effective Practice of Ministry is a collection of thirteen of those research projects, covering the most critical topics facing churches today: spiritual formation, leadership development, catechesis, preaching, and missional initiatives in the larger community.
In honor of Dr. Siburt, this anthology is meant to inspire and encourage effective, embodied praxis in the ministry of the church.
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Lectionary Worship Aids Series 9 Cycle A
$27.95Add to cartThe Revised Common Lectionary is not just to provide a guide to scripture reading during the church year. It can help shape the entirety of our worship. The themes for each Sunday service, as created by the lectionary, can be further explored and appreciated through Reed’s poetic prayers and responsories, as well as through musical selection suggestions. By involving all of the senses in worship, congregations can gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the various themes highlighted in the lectionary, themes such as grace, mercy, justice, and others.
Lectionary Worship Aids for Cycle A allows ministers and worship leaders to tie the entire worship experience together for their congregations. Reed’s insights will prove invaluable in leading congregations into the presence of God not only on Sunday but also on holidays and other special occasions.
Topics covered in this resource include:
* Calls to Worship
* Suggested Hymns
* Collects for the Day
* Prayers of Confession -
Dear Children : A Letter From God To The Church Through The Scriptures
$24.95Add to cartWhat is the “best” church? And which contemporary church leader is the most correct? If God’s Word does not change, does this mean that our faith should also remain unchanged from generation to generation? How should Christians feel about non-believers and-more importantly-how should we respond to the world’s direction when it appears to be against Scripture? Does God even talk to the church anymore? This book is a letter from God. It is addressed to His people-God’s Church-and it is not founded on “traditional” Christianity. It is founded upon God’s Word, the Scriptures. We know that judgment begins at the house of God, and this letter is written for the purpose of allowing God’s people to begin preparing for the judgment that is coming, and for the new age, an age that has already begun.
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Creating A Scene In Corinth
$17.99Add to cartCreating a Scene imaginatively draws readers into Chloe’s house church, which has just received a letter from their church planter, the apostle Paul. Using group simulation, the book brings to life scholarly research on how the gospel penetrated the Roman Empire. As participants role-play early believers and debate with each other, they gain new insights and will never read 1 Corinthians the same way again.
First-century Corinthians were just as human as church people today. They did not consider Paul’s letters authoritative Scripture when he wrote them, so lively group discussion and debate are encouraged. This method of Bible study works for many levels, from youth groups to Sunday school classes, or in college and seminary courses. “Besides, it s just plain fun!” writes coauthor Finger.
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Troubled Minds : Mental Illness And The Churchs Mission
$22.00Add to cart1. My Family’s Story
2. Mental Illness Is Mainstream
3. Suffering People
4. Coping
5. Church Life
6. Ministry Life
7. Persistent Stigma
8. What Churches Can Do
9. What God Does
Resources For Ministry To The Mentally IllAdditional Info
Mental illness is the sort of thing we dont like to talk about. It doesnt reduce nicely to simple solutions and happy outcomes. So instead, too often we reduce people who are mentally ill to caricatures and ghosts, and simply pretend they dont exist. They do exist, howeverstatistics suggest that one in four people suffer from some kind of mental illness. And then theres their friends and family members, who bear their own scars and anxious thoughts, and who see no safe place to talk about the impact of mental illness on their lives and their loved ones. Many of these people are sitting in churches week after week, suffering in stigmatized silence. In Troubled Minds Amy Simpson, whose family knows the trauma and bewilderment of mental abuse, reminds us that people with mental illness are our neighbors and our brothers and sisters in Christ, and she shows us the path to loving them well and becoming a church that loves God with whole hearts and whole souls, with the strength we have and with minds that are whole as well as minds that are troubled. -
Navigating The Sermon Cycle A
$39.95Add to cartFor each Sunday in Cycle A, the writers and editors of “Charting the Course,” an integral part of Emphasis: A Lectionary Preaching Journal from CSS Publishing Company, delve into the heart of the lectionary readings, providing you, the pastor with in-depth lectionary-based commentary; relating several fresh, solid ideas — based squarely on the lectionary texts — for creating sermons that speak powerfully to your audience. The team of Navigating the Sermon looks for overall topics for the entire Cycle A church year that hold the readings together. Then, they zero in on the theme and the specific scripture links, suggesting directions for the sermon and worship service. Since a single application for each week may not provide what you are looking for at that particular time, Navigating the Sermon in most cases suggests several ideas, giving you the opportunity to select the one that matches your specific needs.
This book is like having a dedicated, thoroughly versed sermon research and sermon resource team right in your own study to help you create riveting sermons that are truly yours and that speak powerfully to your audience.
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Lectionary Stories For Preaching And Teaching Cycle A
$24.95Add to cartEveryone loves a good story. Storytellers who excel at their craft have the ability to draw readers or listeners into the worlds they create, using characters and situations to entertain and enlighten us. Jesus, the Master Storyteller, often spoke using parables — short stories that conveyed a spiritual truth. By drawing his listeners into his story, he unlocked their minds and hearts to hear the truth he was trying to relate to them.
This compilation of stories for the entire church year taken from StoryShare follows in that same tradition. StoryShare, a part of SermonSuite.com, is written by various authors brought together to meditate on scriptures in the Revised Common Lectionary for Cycle A and create stories that flesh out these passages, allowing readers to see these words in a new way. These stories can be whimsical and light-hearted or poignant and reflective, even tragic. But they all strive to bring us to a deeper understanding of the scriptures and the God who inspired them. Some of the stories are even based on actual events experienced by the authors, events that influenced their perspective on Christianity.
Useful as sermon illustrations, stand alone sermons, teaching aides, personal devotions, or even just for entertaining reading, Stories for Preaching and Teaching will draw you into new worlds with vibrant and engaging images, deepening your relationship with God in the process.
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They Like To Never Quit Praisin God (Revised)
$16.95Add to cartForeword
Preface
A Word Of Gratitude And Thanks
Introduction
A Call To The Ministry Of The Scribe: Chronicling The African American Preaching Tradition
1. The Performative Tradition Of African American Preaching
2. Celebrative Design And Emotional Process
3. A Theology Of Celebrative Preaching
4. The Dynamics Of Celebration
5. Designing For Celebration
6. Guidelines For Celebration
7. Five Sermons Illlustrating Method
Notes
Selected BibliographyAdditional Info
Celebration is an important component of preaching. Fifteen years, after its release, They Like to Never Quit Praising God continues to illustrate the steps that are essential to understand and experience the Gospel through celebration and praise.Through the unique lens of African American preaching, Thomas explores the theology, dynamics and guidelines for celebrative preaching.
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Story Of Heaven Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThe Story of Heaven small group video Bible study is a three-week exploration into the hope and promise of Heaven, adapted from God’s Story, Your Story and The Story Adult Curriculum. Pulled straight from the pages of the Bible, this study provides individuals and groups of all sizes the opportunity to learn, discuss, and apply biblical teaching about heaven to their everyday lives. These three video sessions will open your eyes to the glorious finale of God’s masterfully-told story. Discover the heart of God’s Story and the joy that comes as you align your story with God’s. This Participant’s Guide is designed for use with The Story of God DVD (sold separately) which can be utilized by individuals as well as groups of all sizes, including small groups and Sunday school and adult education classes.
SESSIONS
Session 1: Your Final Chapter Becomes a Preface (Lucado)
Session 2: You Will Finally Graduate (Lucado)
Session 3: The End of Time (Frazee)Max Lucado and Randy Frazee offer a hope-filled perspective of heaven, showing groups: The power of the words ‘Christ has risen’ and the hope that they provide How Jesus promises this same type of resurrection to those who follow Him The promise of new bodies without sickness and without the struggles of the flesh A picture of what the kingdom of God will be like from the book of Revelation How we can participate in God’s ultimate story How Jesus will return to earth and live with us in a new earth forever
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Church Worth Getting Up For
$18.99Add to cartA growing number of people seem to be answering this question with, “No, your church isn’t worthy my time or effort!” While research identifies a disturbing exodus from church life by all age groups and young people in particular, many churches continue to maintain the status quo. Can we do no better? Are we too afraid to confront the realities of living in today’s world? Have we failed? This book will help you create a church worth getting up for.
In the book Chuck Gutenson helps us hear from eight church leaders including: Deb Hirsch, Al Hirsch, Mike Slaughter, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Chris Seay, Greg Boyd, Olu Brown, and Doug Pagitt. Each has a “successful” church. Learn what characteristics they have in common.
We all want to be a part of something meaningful-something or someone who will change our lives for the better. The Church has to find new ways to encourage, nurture, guide, inspire, and motivate people to find their true source in Jesus Christ. Jesus is worth getting up for. Help people find in your church a means to experience the source of their deepest desires.
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Quirky Leadership
$22.99Add to cartPastors and ministry leaders too often play the comparison game, looking to church leadership rockstars and curtailing idiosyncrasies to be like them. But it’s a losing game. Leaders end up trying vainly to lead their churches from a lack of gifts and a place of emptiness.
What is the solution? Quirkiness. Leaders need permission to lead not like someone else, but as the best possible version of themselves-embracing idiosyncrasies, personalities, and personal tastes. When church leaders name their quirks, they are free to discover a unique leadership philosophy and find unique missional opportunities.
Quirky Leadership raises the bar for ministry-not by jumping through more hoops or focusing on gift deficits but rather by identifying, communicating, and celebrating the individual truths about identities and for ministry environments. John Voelz is quickly becoming a source for practical leadership perspective as a voice that questions the status quo, calls out mediocrity, and gives permission to view things differently and watch crazy ideas come to fruition for the sake of God’s kingdom.
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Psychology For Pastoral Contexts
$35.99Add to cartCare for other human beings is at the heart of ministry and brings ministers in contact with wholeof human life.The focus of this handbook of psychology for pastoral contexts is on psychological insight into human relationships and mental health. It can be read as a whole, or used as a handbook for reference to particular problems. At the same time it attempts to put psychological concepts into everyday language. Jessica Osborne, an experienced psychologist and teacher, discusses areas such as attachment, dependency and anxiety, betrayal and reconciliation, mental health issues, such as depression, eating disorders and addiction, stress, violence and abuse and suffering.The book will be useful on pastoral care courses at all levels and suitable for practitioners and people in training for pastoral ministry – lay or ordained.
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Christian Counseling Ethics (Revised)
$50.00Add to cart1. Embracing Our Ethical Mandate
2. Psychotherapy & Christian EthicsPart 1: The Christian Practitioner
3. Essential Elements For Ethical Counsel
4. Qualifications Of The Christian Mental Health Professional
5. Pastors Who Counsel
6. Sexual Misconduct & The Abuse Of PowerPart 2: Issues In Counseling Ethics
7. Christian Responses To The Unethical Healer
8. Ethics In Marital Therapy & Premarital Counseling
9. The Homosexual Client
10. The Child Client
11. Clients With Chronic Conditions
12. DeprogrammingPart 3: Counseling Contexts
13. Business Ethics In Mental Health Service
14. Lay Counselor Training
15. Ethical Issues In Special Settings
16. Forensic PsychologyPart 4: Current Trends In Ethics Education
17. Training Programs
18. A Model For Ethical Decision-Making
19. Christian Codes: Are They Better?Appendix A: The Ethical Behavior Of Christian Therapists
Appendix B: Ethical Codes & Guidelines
Appendix C: Sample Consent Forms
Contributors
IndexAdditional Info
A client raises spiritual questions. Can a Christian therapist working in a government agency talk with a client about faith? A young couple with two children asks a Christian counselor to help them negotiate an end to their marriage. What responsibility does the counselor have to try to repair the relationship? A youth group member confidentially reveals to the pastor that he is taking drugs. Should the pastor tell the boy’s parents? A counselor who teaches a college course has a client show up for class. What should she do? These are just a few of the complex dilemmas that therapists, counselors and pastors face nearly every day. Handling these situations appropriately is critical for both the client’s progress and the professional’s personal credibility and protection from liability. State and federal codes, professional association statements and denominational guidelines have been drawn up to address ethical issues like competence, confidentiality, multiple relationships, public statements, third parties and documentation. In this book you’ll find them all compiled and interpreted in light of Christian faith and practice. Written by qualified professional counselors and respected academic instructors, this book is an indispensable resource for understanding and applying ethics in Christian counseling today. -
Prayer And Prayer Activities
$40.00Add to cartROOTS is a joint initiative by all the mainstream churches in the UK and Ireland. For ten years it has provided lectionary-based resources for worship and learning for the whole church. Over 10,000 local churches use its regular magazine and online programmes.
This versatile and adaptable participative prayer resource for all-age worship is taken from the extensive material the ROOTS authors have created. Based on the lectionary readings for each Sunday of Years A, B & C it includes:
* gathering prayers* seasonal prayers of thanksgiving* a creative response to the day’s readings* responsive prayers of intercession* a children’s prayer activity* an all-age prayer activity* responsive prayers for sending out
All the texts can be downloaded or projected from the accompanying CD Rom.
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Job 41 : The Leviathan Spirit Of Pride
$14.49Add to cartHave you ever wondered why your ministry is not flourishing the way God promised you? Have you ever wondered why you are working in the ministry, but not operating in your calling? Has there been an inference that you were just a servant and your job was to support “the ministry inside the four walls,” while undermining the calling to extend beyond the four walls? God compels us to go and make disciples of men and women, and there should be no debate or pushback to advance the Kingdom of God. There is a spirit that has masked itself in the church of today as a spiritual mentor or covering, or one who provides spiritual guidance to you. This spirit that is exposed in the Book of Job is real and has stifled many parishioners, especially leaders, from walking in the ordained gifts of God. I have heard sermon after sermon on the story of Job, but never anything relating to Chapter 41. God allows certain messages to be released at a time when they will be heard and fully understood. This is a universal message for the church of today.
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Where Would Jesus Go To Church
$32.95Add to cartGerald Roe was interrupted while lecturing in his church-planting class by a student who asked, “What if Jesus came back right now to live on earth like He did in Bible days? Wouldn’t He go to church the same way He went to the synagogue back then? Which church would He choose? If the true church is all about Jesus, wouldn’t it be a good idea to consider what Jesus would look for in a church and make that part of our church planting methodology?” Where Would Jesus Go to Church? answers those questions. As Dr. Roe makes clear, for the blessings of God to rest upon any congregation, the church must answer two important questions: What is the true church? and What is the church to do? In far too many instances, these questions are being asked in the reverse order, leading to a compromising disconnect between the church’s essential biblical character and its earthly effectiveness. Where Would Jesus Go to Church? sheds needed light and offers practical, biblical answers.
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Leader Coach : Developing Effective Ministry Teams
$13.99Add to cart1. Build Ministry Action Teams
2. Develop Yourself As A Leader
3. Develop Coaching Skills
4. Establish Ministry Action Teams In The Local Church
5. Fine-Tune Ministry Action Teams
6. A Model Of Ministry Action TeamsAdditional Info
Effective pastoring takes planning, preparation and people–just as effective coaching does. The strength of any winning team depends on the practice and participation of its members, whether the team takes a field for physical competition or a ministry team seeks success inside the church or in the community.Leader-Coach presents the fundamentals of the game plan for pastors hoping to involve the whole congregation in various church ministries.
This book shares information you need to get your congregation energized for active ministry. Learn the ministry-action-team philosophy that will revolutionize your local church.
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DiscipleShift : Five Steps That Help Your Church To Make Disciples Who Make
$18.99Add to cartOver the last thirty years, many influential church leaders and church planters in America have adopted various models for reaching unchurched people. An ‘attractional’ model will seek to attract people to a local church. Younger leaders may advocate a more ‘missional’ approach, in which believers live and work among unchurched people and intentionally seek to serve like Christ. While each of these approaches have merit, something is still missing, something even more fundamental to the mission of the church: discipleship. Making disciples—helping people to trust and follow Jesus—is the church’s God-given mandate. Devoted disciples attract people outside the church because of the change others see in their Christ-like lives. And discipleship empowers Christians to be more like Christ as they intentionally develop relationship with non-believers.
DiscipleShift walks you through five key ‘shifts’ that churches must make to refocus on the biblical mission of discipleship. These intentional changes will attract the world and empower your church members to be salt and light in their communities.
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Embracing Interfaith Cooperation Workbook (Student/Study Guide)
$15.95Add to cartQuick Guide To The Handbook
Beyond The “Quick Guide”
Pointers On Facilitation
Session 1: Interfaith Cooperation In American History
Session 2: Interfaith Literacy
Session 3: The Science Of Interfaith Cooperation
Session 4: The Art Of Interfaith Leadership
Session 5: The Role Of Colleges, Seminaries, And Houses Of WorshipAdditional Info
Embracing Series A 5- to 10-week study for adults, young adults and high school teens. Join interfaith commentator Eboo Patel as he explores what it means to be “literate” about other faiths, how interfaith cooperation “works” and why, the skills needed for interfaith cooperation and the significant role that our institutions, including colleges and faith communities, can play in this process. -
Feasting On The Word Worship Companion Year C 2
$42.00Add to cartBased on the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Volume 2 is an invaluable aid that provides liturgical pieces needed in preparing for worship each week. Written and compiled by a team of eleven ecumenical and seasoned liturgy writers under the creative leadership of Kimberly Bracken Long, this resource offers a multitude of poetic prayers and responsive readings for all parts of worship and is meant to complement existing denominational resources. In addition, the weekly entries include questions for reflection and household prayers for morning and evening that are drawn from the lectionary, allowing churches to include them in their bulletin for parishioners to use throughout the week.
During times of the year when two different tracks of Old Testament texts are offered by the RCL, this resource offers an entire set of materials for each track. Also, a CD-ROM is included with each volume that enables planners to easily cut and paste relevant readings, prayers, and questions into worship bulletins.
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Insourcing : Bringing Discipleship Back To The Local Church
$22.99Add to cartToo many of today’s pastors and leaders mistakenly think that thriving programs, lively worship services, and relevant preaching are adequate for developing people into the spiritual dynamos God desires. In many churches, the primary objective of the church—discipleship of people into mature followers of Jesus—has been ‘outsourced’ to programs and large-scale efforts to train and teach. But is that happening? Are people growing in spiritual depth and missional determination?
Twenty-five years ago, the leaders of Randy Pope’s rapidly growing church took serious stock of their own spiritual development and realized all of them had benefitted from a personal discipleship relationship that had helped them grow in their faith and discover where God was calling them to service. As a church, they decided to make personal discipleship their do-or-die aim: applying one person’s real life to another’s to accomplish something far bigger than that single life. Perimeter calls their approach ‘life-on-life missional discipleship’ and Insourcing tells their story.
Randy Pope writes for church leaders who recognize the value of discipleship and need practical ideas for reorienting church ministries around personal discipleship. Readers will be encouraged that a wide scale personal discipleship program is attainable for any church.
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Pastoral Theology Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$30.00Add to cartThe SCM Studyguide Pastoral Theology designed to support undergraduate courses for the training of clergy and lay pastoral workers at an accessible introductory level. The book aims to develop pastoral wisdom and integrity through a critical integration of theology and the human sciences. Introducing key themes in theological anthropology and pastoral practice, it shapes a creative pastoral vision which is deeply rooted in a Christian vision of what it means to be human and what it takes to care. Working with case studies, the book will introduce broad frameworks of understanding of issues such as growth, loss, and sexuality, together with critical perspectives on important aspects of practice such as language, power and boundaries.The book provides an accessible overview of key concepts in pastoral theology, offering key entry points for further discussion and study. Each chapter includes discussion questions and/or reflective exercises at the end of each chapter together with a short bibliography. Throughout the text, key summaries of learning will be indicated by boxed Practice Points.
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Resilient Ministry : What Pastors Told Us About Surviving And Thriving
$27.00Add to cartIntroduction
1 Life In Pastoral Ministry
2 The Five Themes Of Resilient Ministry
3 Evaluating Spiritual Formation
4 Pursuing Spiritual Formation
5 Self-Care: Burning On, Not Burning Out
6 Self-Care: Pacing Our Lifestyles
7 Understanding Emotional Intelligence
8 Developing Emotional Intelligence
9 Exploring Cultural Differences
10 Improving Cultural Intelligence
11 Marriage And Family: Stressed By Ministry
12 More Marriage And Family Stressors
13 Leadership Poetry
14 Leadership Plumbing
15 Concluding Insights And Next Steps
Appendix A: Research Methods Of The Pastors Summit
Appendix B: Questions For Personal Evaluation And Annual Reviews
Appendix C: Emotions Checklist
Appendix D: Constructing And Interviewing A Family Diagram
Appendix E: Best Practices For Forming Peer Cohorts
NotesAdditional Info
What does it take to have fruitful ministry over the long haul? The stresses of pastoring are well known and can be a match for even the best-prepared, most experienced in ministry–multiple tasks, long hours, taxing responsibilities and, yes, some challenging personalities. Too often the results can be burnout, being run out or just feeling worn out. To find out how pastors can thrive as well as survive, the authors undertook a five-year in-depth research project among working pastors. Here in this ground-breaking book is the distilled wisdom of dozens of pastors who have been on the front lines of ministry. We hear from them what works, what doesn’t and what distinctive issues people in ministry face. The authors uncover five key themes that promote healthy, sustainable ministry that lasts–spiritual formation, self-care, emotional and cultural intelligence, marriage and family, leadership and management. These themes are unpacked from the vantage point of ministry on the ground. Questions for personal evaluation and reflection are included throughout the book to bring home the significance of each section. This is the perfect companion for a peer cohort of pastors to read together. It can also be of value to church boards and others who want to better understand how to help sustain their pastors in ministry. In short, this is a book pastors can’t live without. -
Seeing In The Dark
$26.99Add to cartLife is joyful, beautiful and a rich blessing, but also difficult, painful and mysterious. This profound and practical book looks at how the Christian spiritual tradition has tried to understand the part suffering plays within human growth and our experience of God. Suffering can ask questions of us and impel us to live for what is really important – it can also diminish us and stunt our growth. What makes the difference? This book helps all engaged in pastoral care or spiritual direction explore that question for themselves and with others. From Julian of Norwich gazing at Christ entering the depths of our difficulty, to the terrors of the `dark night of the soul’ experienced by St John of the Cross, to the poets George Herbert and Gerard Manley Hopkins who, like Jacob, wrestled with God, this rich book helps us see that even in a desolate and trackless wasteland, we are in the company of pilgrims across time and can glimpse a hidden Promised Land. Through these different windows we are encouraged not to cling to suffering, nor to flee from its threat, but to discover within it the work of a resourceful, creative and compassionate God.
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Sow What : Discipleship Made Real
$30.95Add to cartIf God’s seed is purposeful and powerful, what prevents it transforming your life? What is it that contaminates, clutters, and captivates your heart, stifling spiritual development? Why, when you have heard so much Bible teaching, has your heart been changed so little? It’s time to get some friends together and find out! Experience the transformation of heart for which you have longed.
Sow What? is a shared discipleship experience based on the Parable of the Sower. During personal and group study you will discover gritty issues which either hold back or enhance spiritual growth. What does hard, rocky, and thorny soil look like in a believer’s heart? What are the spiritual benefits of nurturing good soil, guaranteeing fruitfulness?
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Connecting Church 2.0
$24.99Add to cartThe development of meaningful relationships, where every member carries a significant sense of belonging, is central to what it means to be the church. So why do many Christians feel disappointed and disillusioned with their efforts to experience authentic community? Despite the best efforts of pastors, small group leaders and faithful lay persons, church is too often a place of loneliness rather than connection. In this revised and updated version of his bestselling book, Randy Frazee shows us how church can be so much…better-more intimate and alive.
The answer may seem radical today, but it was a central component of life in the early church. First-century Christians knew what it meant to live in vital community with one another, relating with a depth and commitment that made “the body of Christ” a perfect metaphor for the church. What would it take to reclaim that kind of love, joy, support, and dynamic spiritual growth? Read this book and find out.
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Spiritual Kaizen : How To Become A Better Church Leader
$22.99Add to cartKaizen is a Japanese word that translates roughly, “to change or correct for the better.” What are the traits, qualities and characteristics of effective clergy? Is it possible to transform an average local church pastor into a highly effective and growth-oriented pastor? Leadership is not defined at birth. All of us can grow and develop into more effective leaders and we can do this at any time during our careers. In Spiritual Kaizen, Grant Hagiya works from the best secular and ecclesial models of leadership, comparing and contrasting the two, in order to draw out the best leadership practices available for current and future leaders of the church.
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Look Before You Lead (Reprinted)
$25.00Add to cartPastoral ministry is challenging work, especially when a pastor ignores the church’s “congregational culture” when seeking to minister to church members or implement changes. Just as a pastor studies to interpret the Scriptures in order to understand and preach the Bible, he or she must interpret the local church culture to better understand and move it toward accomplishing its mission and vision.
In Look Before You Lead, trusted church leadership expert Aubrey Malphurs shows pastors how to read their church’s unique local culture, how to change or revitalize it, and even how to combine two cultures when one church adopts another. This unique resource approaches leadership and discernment from a solid, biblical perspective and includes a number of helpful appendixes, such as a behavior, belief, and a values audit, that are key to reading and understanding the culture.
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Empowering Couples : A Narrative Approach To Spiritual Care
$22.00Add to cartEditor’s Foreword: Howard W. Stone
Introduction: Getting Started: A Frame For What Follows
1. Mutuality And Partnership: Theological Norms
2. Destructive Passions
3. A “SMART” Approach To Couples Care
4. Separating People From Problems And Passions
5. Mapping Mutual Influence
6. Attending To Teamwork
7. Reclaiming Partnership
8. Telling A New Story
Epilogue
Notes
ReferencesAdditional Info
Couples can make significant progress toward resolving their own problems when they receive appropriate guidance from a caring person. This book outlines five tasks focused on identity, agency, and meaning that spiritual caregivers can use to empower couples for significant change in just three to five conversations. Critically integrating desert spiritual theology with empirical data about successful marriages, Bidwell advocates for mutuality and partnership within covenanted relationships, which allows partners to create an alliance strong enough to resist the forces that threaten relationships-especially the negative influences of criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and withdrawal.Pastors who adopt the approach outlined in the text will “travel lightly” in terms of pastoral power, decentering themselves so that couples can identify and build on their unique strengths and relationship with the divine.
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Comprehensive Approach Yet One Message
$16.99Add to cartDr. Berhanu Arsse presents thorough research and careful consideration on proven methods of effective Christian evangelism to Muslims in the United States. This is a rich resource for any Christian who has not been able to find the right techniques for reaching those that come from or are in a religion and culture so distinct from their own. This book feels as though it is the forerunner of a new class of thought that will reshape the current of the Gospel from how it is currently spread. Interesting and unique subject matter – the researched topic is far from ubiquitous in bookstores, which well set it apart from other religious non-fiction. It is also intriguing to consider that so much thought and purposefulness has been dedicated to evangelizing amongst Muslims when many probably (and some perhaps without realizing it) feel that the religion and culture are so strong it cannot be penetrated. Due to its genesis from research, the book is extremely well organized and meticulously documented. The value of paying for this book will be completely obvious to any person who would be interested to learn the information contained within. It is of a very high caliber and will be regarded as such due to the author’s diligence and hard work in presenting this book. It is excellent that the author explains how evangelism and social transformation became separated and why they belong together. This is central to Christians fully emulating the Christ they claim and is not nearly discussed as much as should be. Dr. Berhanu Arsse is a founder and Executive Director of Caris International. A certified teacher, he holds undergraduate degree from Ethiopia, M.A. in cross cultural Ministry from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, TX, and earned Ph.D. in Missiology from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN. Dr. Arsse speaks in Universities, mission seminars and conferences. He is now a pastor, and coordinates multi-nation evangelistic outreach. Dr. Arsse, his wife Ayantu, and their son Kayo live in Columbus, OH.
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Jesus Is Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$10.99Add to cartJudah Smith digs deep to answer the most common and the most difficult questions about Jesus, a man so few understand and so many desperately need. In Jesus Is, Judah Smith explores a number of topics that reveal Jesus’ purpose for coming, what He accomplished while He was here, and what that means for us.
Jesus is greatly revered, harshly criticized, and sorely misunderstood. Judah breaks down who Jesus is and explains to readers how understanding Jesus more fully will not only enrich their lives, but also give them meaning, as well as save them.
The 8-week Jesus Is Participant’s Guide, intended for use with the DVD-based study of the same title, will help participants discover how to have a deeper, lasting relationship with Jesus, and to commune with and grow in Him. Judah will show you that Jesus is more than a good teacher, more than an inspiring leader. He is the point of all life.
Perfect for evangelism, the video sessions will help new Christians understand the person of Jesus, as well as help small group participants connect with one another.
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Richer Descriptions
$15.95Add to cartHealthy Life Press
A unique and handy manual, covering all NINE human senses in seven chapters, for Christian speakers and writers. Exercises and a speaker’s checklist equip speakers to engage their audiences in a richer experience. Writing examples and a writer’s guide help writers bring more life to the characters and scenes of their stories. Bible references encourage a deeper appreciation of being created by God for a sensory existence.
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Cycle Of Grace
$15.99Add to cartThis groundbreaking resource speaks to a familiar condition of our times: spiritual burnout. A 10-minute video featuring well-known pastor Trevor Hudson opens each chapter, while the text by Jerry Haas unpacks the video content and guides readers through journaling questions. This workbook-vido combo sheds light on how Christians often get stuck in a cycle of works – staying busy doing things for God – rather than living in God’s grace.
Video available free at www.UpperRoom.org/bookstore or in DVD format: $10.00 -
Lectionary Worship Aids Series 9 Cycle C
$16.95Add to cartThe Revised Common Lectionary is not just to provide a guide to scripture reading during the church year. It can help shape the entirety of our worship. The themes for each Sunday service, as created by the lectionary, can be further explored and appreciated through Reed’s poetic prayers and responsories, as well as through musical selection suggestions. By involving all of the senses in worship, congregations can gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the various themes highlighted in the lectionary, themes such as grace, mercy, justice, and others.
This special edition for Pentecost, Cycle C of the popular” Lectionary Worship Aids” allows ministers and worship leaders to tie the entire worship experience together for their congregations. Reed’s insights will prove invaluable in leading congregations into the presence of God not only on Sunday but also on holidays and other special occasions.
Topics covered in this resource include:
– Calls to Worship
– Suggested Hymns
– Collects for the Day
– Prayers of Confession -
Pauls Missionary Methods
$35.00Add to cartVeteran scholar-missionaries Robert L. Plummer and John Mark Terry edit this collection of entry points into the missionary methods of the Apostle Paul. With contributions from Michael Bird, Eckhard Schnabel and Craig Keener, this volume examines Paul’s missionary methods from the perspective of Paul’s activities in the first century and the perspective of his ongoing impact on missions today. The first part of the book examines Paul’s environment, activity and teaching. The second portion investigates the application of Pauls methods and principles to modern missionary work. The occasion for this book is the centennial of Roland Allen’s Missionary Methods: Saint Paul’s or Ours?, a classic in the field which Paul’s Missionary Methods enthusiastically engages with.
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Art Of Pastoring (Revised)
$22.00Add to cartAcknowledgments
An Ebenezer Story: Introduction
1. Beginning
2. Call
3. The Holy Spirit
4. Temptation
5. Eschatology
6. Preaching
7. Prayer
8. Friendship
9. Sacrament
10. Leadership
11. Leaving
12. Reward
Postlude
NotesAdditional Info
Named one of the Top Ten Books of 1994 by the Academy of Parish Clergy! Hundreds of books, tapes, workshops and seminars promise to answer these impossible questions. Some offer a set of practical guidelines; others suggest a system or pattern to follow. Some stress various ministry functions; others feature case studies as models of success or failure. Some are helpful. Others are not. But in The Art of Pastoring, David Hansen turns pastoral self-help programs on their heads. He tackles the perennial questions from within his own experience. From the Inside Out Hansen’s fresh, bold narrative grows from nearly a decade of ministry. He draws you into his life and into the lives of Florence-Victor Parish in the mountains of Montana, including unforgettable encounters with unforgettable people–a stubborn pioneer woman who still chops her own firewood though she’s blind and 90 years old, a championship rodeo cowboy who was baptized in his boots, and many more. Hansen’s goal is to help you discover “that pastoral ministry is a life, not a technology . . . [that] life as a pastor is far more than the sum of the tasks I carry out. It is a call from God that involves my whole life.” From Calling to Living Parable Every pastor has encountered those who struggle to hear God’s voice in a hospital room, who reach for Jesus in the sacraments. No systematic answers can meet their deep, eternal needs. What can touch them, Hansen contends, is a life itself, a life lived as a parable of Jesus. “As a parable of Jesus Christ,” Hansen writes, “I deliver something to the parishioner that I am not, and in the process I deliver the parishioner into the hands of God.” It is this knack for getting to the heart of things that makes The Art of Pastoring valuable for pastors in any setting–rural, suburban or urban. Parachurch workers, missionaries, church leaders and ministry volunteers will also find inspiration here. In this significantly revised new edition, Hansen includes new insights into his view of pastorate as parable and adds a new postlude in which he comes clean on his “constant attempts to leave the ministry.” -
Lectionary Stories For Preaching And Teaching Cycle C
$12.95Add to cartEveryone loves a good story. Storytellers who excel at their craft have the ability to draw readers or listeners into the worlds they create, using characters and situations to entertain and enlighten us. Jesus, the Master Storyteller, often spoke using parables — short stories that conveyed a spiritual truth. By drawing his listeners into his story, he unlocked their minds and hearts to hear the truth he was trying to relate to them.
This compilation of stories for the season of Pentecost taken from StoryShare follows in that same tradition. StoryShare, a part of SermonSuite.com, is written by various authors brought together to meditate on scriptures in the Revised Common Lectionary for Cycle C and create stories that flesh out these passages, allowing readers to see these words in a new way. These stories can be whimsical and light-hearted or poignant and reflective, even tragic. But they all strive to bring us to a deeper understanding of the scriptures and the God who inspired them. Some of the stories are even based on actual events experienced by the authors, events that influenced their perspective on Christianity.
Useful as sermon illustrations, stand alone sermons, teaching aides, personal devotions, or even just for entertaining reading, “Stories for Teaching and Preaching “will draw you into new worlds with vibrant and engaging images, deepening your relationship with God in the process. -
Christian Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartWhat does it mean to be a Christian?
Ask 100 people that question and you are likely to get 100 different answers. One reason people have such difficulty defining what a Christian should be is that the Bible never gives a definition. The followers of Jesus did not defer to themselves as Christians, it was a label placed on them from the outside. The early believers called themselves disciples, and the Bible is very clear in defining what a disciple looks like.
Jesus gave his disciples one word that should define them. What if we as his followers embodied this one word? What if our behavior was so consistent with this word that folks around us were drawn to us—and to God?
In Christian, you will learn:
What one word should be descriptive of every disciple
How Jesus followers should treat those who are outside the faith
Why people love Jesus but can’t stand his followersThis study guide with help you dig deeper into the teachings from Andy Stanley on the corresponding DVD (sold separately) and includes discussion questions for individuals and/or small groups, between-session devotions, DVD teaching overviews, and a leader’s guide.
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Way For Children
$16.99Add to cartA churchwide experience where children, youth, and adults explore the profound, life-changing impact of Jesus’ life and ministry
The most amazing figure in history comes alive for children, youth, and their families.
Stories include:
Baptism in the Jordan River
Mount of Temptations
Nazareth – First preaching in the temple
Sea of Galilee
Sermon on the Mount/Beatitudes
Healing
Samaria – Jacob’s Well
Mount of Olives- cleansing the temple in JerusalemThe Children’s Study contains everything a leader needs to conduct a seven-week study, complete with reproducible handouts. For ages 3-12
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Way For Youth
$14.99Add to cartA churchwide experience where children, youth, and adults explore the profound, life-changing impact of Jesus’ life and ministry
The most amazing figure in history comes alive for children, youth, and their families.
Stories include:
Baptism in the Jordan River
Mount of Temptations
Nazareth – First preaching in the temple
Sea of Galilee
Sermon on the Mount/Beatitudes
Healing
Samaria – Jacob’s Well
Mount of Olives- cleansing the temple in JerusalemThe Youth Study provides everything needed for a seven-week study for ages 13-18. Designed to be used by both leaders and students along with the adult-level DVD.
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Nelsons Annual Preachers Sourcebook Volume 2
$24.99Add to cartPreach great sermons and plan innovative worship services with the newest edition of Nelson’s Annual Preacher’s Sourcebook. This volume is the same sermon planner you have come to depend on for more than ten years. Outstanding pastors provide an entire year’s worth of preaching and worship resources for every week. Look for a new volume every fall.
Features include:
Sermons, creative outlines, illustrations, and quotes for every week of the year
Worship helps, including hymns, prayers, and Scripture texts
Inspirational thoughts and preaching techniques
Sermons for special occasions and holidays -
Let It Go Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartFor many women, life can start to look like a chain of one responsibility after another. andnbsp; In Let It Go, popular author and speaker Karen Ehman has created a powerful tool to help them take a breath and avoid becoming ‘control freaks.’ With a combination of biblical insight, humor, and stories taken from her own experience, Ehman provides a better way—a way to navigate and more fully enjoy the relationships and responsibilities of your life—from total control to implicit trust in God. andnbsp; The accompanying Participant’s Guide complements the DVD sessions, focusing on specific issues and situations to help women take away the most important lessons Ehman has to teach. She offers additional support for the journey away from over-control and into a stronger, trusting relationship with God.
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Communion Meditations 2
$9.95Add to cartThis is Volume II of the popular preparation guide to Communion that grabs interest and focuses attention on the Lord’s Supper. The twenty six additional meditations in this book are meant to inspire, provoke, and bring personal meaning to Communion for all who participate. Each meditation is designed for a 90 second presentation and can be read verbatim or easily personalized for your needs or congregation.
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Start This Stop That
$18.99Add to cartWe need less conventional wisdom and more creative leadership.
Not all of the advice church leaders have heard on church growth works. Judging by declining membership in many mainstream denominations, most doesn’t. It’s time to reevaluate the standard thinking on how to grow a church, especially considering the number of new voices questioning the worth of church growth.
The Cowarts have an amazing story to tell. Harvest Church has grown from a church plant of four – Jim and Jennifer and their two children – to a thriving community of more than 2,200 disciples of Jesus. Harvest Church is changing the world and having an awesome time doing it.
Learn why conventional church thinking such as pastoral care, long-term planning, stewardship campaigns, committees, and even staff appointments can actually inhibit church growth.
