Pastoral Helps
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Pastoral Care : Telling The Stories Of Our Lives
$38.99Add to cartThis book affirms the historic link between Christian formation and pastoral care by locating the distinctive nature of pastoral care in the mission of the church to form persons in the Christian life of love. Drawing primarily on the theological concept of sanctification and using insights from narrative psychological theory, this text presents a praxis-oriented model of pastoral care as companionship. Pastoral caregivers, it suggests, are called to be companions growing in love, walking alongside others who are likewise growing in love of God, self, and other. Such pastoral caregivers engage their companions in narrative, relational, and prophetic practices in multiple settings. The book develops a model of companionship. It then explores the process of becoming trustworthy companions; a process of practicing companionship through pastoral assessment and developing plans of care; companioning communities; and accompanying persons and families in the midst of life joys and challenges, such as stress, crisis, violence, the end of life. Case studies throughout the book illustrate these practices of companionship with individuals, families, and congregations. Pastoral caregivers are called to be companions growing in love as we walk with and alongside others on a shared journey of growth in love of God, self, other, and the entirety of God’s creation. Pastoral caregivers both point towards the companionship of God’s Spirit and become companions in the Christian life as we are formed more fully in love through grace. Companionship implies relationship, community, and sharing the embodied realities of this life together, which is symbolized in the Christian community by breaking bread together. Our English word companion derives from the Latin com + panis, which literally means bread mates. Companionship includes the radical hospitality of sharing bread as Christians do in the celebration of communion or Eucharist and as envisioned in the eschatological banquet to which Jesus invites us all.
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Integrity At Stake
$14.99Add to cartIntegrity at Stake: Safeguarding Your Church from Financial Fraud by Rollie Dimos is a financial resource book intended for pastors, church leaders, and church administrators. Dimos’ expertise as a certified fraud examiner and internal auditor provides the church audience with essential tools and know-how to assess their financial processes. Including practical steps for evaluation, Integrity at Stake details internal controls, risk management, and true stories to help church leaders reduce the risk of fraud and increase financial accountability and integrity.
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Sticky Faith Service Guide Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$18.99Add to cartSo you’re on fire, you want to make a difference, you want to change the world…but how? Signing up for a service project or mission trip is a great first step. But you probably have a lot of questions. Are you ready for the different cultures you may encounter? How are you going to really connect with the people you serve? And what about when you come home-how do you make sense of all the things you’ve experienced? Will any of it make a lasting difference for anyone? It turns out that if you really want to change the world, you have to change too. The only way that’s going to happen is if you spend time before, during, and after your trip preparing for and processing your work. This Journal will help you think about: – Why you’re going – The people you’re serving – Your relationship with your teammates – How God factors into your service project – The impact your experience has had on you – How you can keep making a difference back at home If you think you’re fired up to serve now, just wait! This hands-on Journal will equip you to serve in a way that sticks-both for you and those you serve. – How you can keep making a difference back at home If you think you’re fired up to serve now, just wait! This hands-on Journal will equip you to serve in a way that sticks-both for you and those you serve.
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Glocalization : How Followers Of Jesus Engage A Flat World
$24.99Add to cartIf you want to know where and how the church is going to grow, think local and global. Think glocal. Glocal is Bob Roberts’ term for the seamless connectedness between the local and global. That connection is affecting the church in ways that never could have been imagined in the first-century church, or even the twentieth-century church. And it’s creating unprecedented opportunities for individuals and churches-for you and your church-to live out their faith in real time across the world. Glocalization offers a vision of the unprecedented changes of our times and how they are impacting the church. Discover how these changes will transform the way churches define their mission and how Christians relate to one another and to the world. This provocative book turns the traditional mission-agency model upside down and shows how transformed people and churches can make a glocal (global and local) impact. Glocalization offers an exciting vision for churches and individuals who want to reach this changing world for Christ.
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Membership Matters : Insights From Effective Churches On New Member Classes
$22.99Add to cartInsights from Effective Churches on New Member Classes and Assimilation Findings from a national study to improve membership classes and to motivate current members into active ministry How do churches move members-both old and new- into ministry? Many church staff and lay leaders know they need to start new member classes as a point of entry into their churches but don’t know how. This book is based on a national study of effective churches and shows how growing churches implement new member classes and motivate their members into ministry. Membership Matters is designed to be a guide for church leaders wanting to start or improve a membership class. It includes models for classes and examples of resources such as church covenants, class schedules, and lesson outlines. It also gives direction on motivating uninvolved members to participate in ministry. One chapter chronicles an ongoing discussion among pastors of growing churches that are effectively motivating members to do ministry.
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Bible Lessons For Children
$11.95Add to cartChildren’s Church Sermons for Worship Service offers adult leaders and teachers a complete year’s worth of scripts for presenting the truths of the Christian faith to children from four to eight years old. Drawing upon long experience, including more than two decades teaching children in the public schools and nineteen years leading children’s worship, author Sunday Burger offers season-specific messages crafted to encourage children to explore their developing faith.
Building upon the foundation of research into the ways children in this age group learn, this collection offers lessons field-tested in worship with children. Each week’s script highlights a passage from the Scriptures, presents a central Christian truth, suggests a visual aid, outlines a message for an adult to share with children, and ends with an invitation for the children to join the leader in a prayer. Depending upon children’s inquisitiveness, the scripts encourage them to explore the message’s theme by connecting the visual aid with the Bible’s message and by answering questions along the way.
If your ministry involves working with children between the ages of four and eight, then this guide can equip you to share the truths of the Christian faith in the main worship service, Sunday school classes, children’s church, Bible school, or whenever young children gather. Through these lessons, the Holy Spirit can use encounters with God’s Word to prepare children to live by faith, lead the Church, and extend the Kingdom of God.
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Bible Lessons For Children
$28.95Add to cartChildren’s Church Sermons for Worship Service offers adult leaders and teachers a complete year’s worth of scripts for presenting the truths of the Christian faith to children from four to eight years old. Drawing upon long experience, including more than two decades teaching children in the public schools and nineteen years leading children’s worship, author Sunday Burger offers season-specific messages crafted to encourage children to explore their developing faith.
Building upon the foundation of research into the ways children in this age group learn, this collection offers lessons field-tested in worship with children. Each week’s script highlights a passage from the Scriptures, presents a central Christian truth, suggests a visual aid, outlines a message for an adult to share with children, and ends with an invitation for the children to join the leader in a prayer. Depending upon children’s inquisitiveness, the scripts encourage them to explore the message’s theme by connecting the visual aid with the Bible’s message and by answering questions along the way.
If your ministry involves working with children between the ages of four and eight, then this guide can equip you to share the truths of the Christian faith in the main worship service, Sunday school classes, children’s church, Bible school, or whenever young children gather. Through these lessons, the Holy Spirit can use encounters with God’s Word to prepare children to live by faith, lead the Church, and extend the Kingdom of God.
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Pastor : The Theology And Practice Of Ordained Ministry (Revised)
$34.99Add to cartOrdained ministry, says Willimon, is a gift of God to the church–but that doesn’t mean that it is easy. Always a difficult vocation, changes in society and the church in recent years have made the ordained life all the more complex and challenging. Is the pastor primarily a preacher, a professional caregiver, an administrator? Given the call of all Christians to be ministers to the world, what is the distinctive ministry of the ordained? When does one’s ministry take on the character of prophet, and when does it become that of priest? What are the special ethical obligations and disciplines of the ordained? In this book, Willimon explores these and other central questions about the vocation of ordained ministry. He begins with a discussion of who pastors are, asking about the theological underpinnings of ordained ministry, and then moves on to what pastors do, looking at the distinctive roles the pastor must fulfill. The book also draws on great teachers of the Christian tradition to demonstrate that, while much about Christian ministry has changed, its core concerns–preaching the word, the care of souls, the sacramental life of congregations–remains the same. Ordained ministry is a vocation to which we are called, not a profession that we choose. To answer that call is to open oneself to heartache and sometimes hardship; yet, given the one who calls, it is to make oneself available to deep and profound joy as well.
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100 Things Every Child Should Know Before Confirmation
$20.00Add to cartMany youth arrive at confirmation classes without a basic grasp of key Bible stories or Christian traditions. This book helps to fill that gap, offering Sunday school teachers, parents, and adult volunteers a compact guide for equipping their youth with knowledge and understanding of their own faith. It offers an overview of one hundred essential topics that all children growing up in the church should learn about, including key Bible stories, church history, the sacraments and creeds, world religions, and more. Each entry includes a brief summary, a suggestion for how educators and parents can explore this item with their children, and ideas for integrating the topic into the child’s overall Christian education. This practical resource helps children think critically about Christian faith as they begin their confirmation studies, providing the vocabulary and understanding needed to articulate their own theology.
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Holy Currency Exchange
$22.99Add to cartEric Law’s foundational Holy Currencies (2013) demonstrated a new way ministries can think about the resources needed to do their work in their communities. Law’s follow-up book, Holy Currency Exchange, shares a variety of tools for thinking differently about how those resources can mobilize ministries into new life, mission, and vitality. Examples include a restaurant ministry, programs for youth, an emergency rent loan fund for people in the neighborhood, worship service in Mexican restaurants, and many more. What could your ministry do?
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Broken And Whole
$18.99Add to cartIn his nearly four decades of pastoral, parachurch and nonprofit ministry leadership Steve Macchia has come to understand his own brokenness. He writes: “I’ve experienced great success and embarrassing failure. I’ve considered myself effective, and I’ve watched myself implode. I’ve brought others a lot of joy, and I’ve dished out my share of disappointment. In essence, as much as I like to view myself as a good or very good leader, in fact I’m more truthfully a blessed and broken leader?one who is daily in need of being renewed by the Spirit of God who resides in me.” In these pages Steve offers the gifts of love found in 1 Corinthians 13 as the antidote to our brokenness. He writes with personal transparency from his own experience. Each chapter concludes with a powerful spiritual assessment tool to use in reflecting on our own leadership strengths and weaknesses. By embracing and befriending our own brokenness we can find true wholeness in God’s strength. In these pages you will discover a new way to live in freedom and joy.
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Easter Programs Dramas And Skits For Youth
$8.99Add to cartA compilation of programs written for youth 10-16. A new author collection writing in contemporary and tradition formats and style for churches of all sizes and selected small groups. This program book also contains poems, quotes and reading to add to the enjoyment and inspiration during this special time in the church.
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Leading Healthy Growing Multiplying Small Groups
$17.99Add to cartLiberty University Press
In “Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups,” Rod Dempsey and Dave Earley make the process of forming your own small group attainable. They demonstrate the necessity of small groups, and then teach their readers how to structure a new group. Dempsey and Earley share their passion for discipleship and Christ-centered community, and show others how they can further the Great Commission in their own lives. From local churches to neighbors and extended families, Dempsey and Earley encourage their readers to reach out to those around them. “Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying Small Groups” provides the wisdom and tools to transform your community. -
Along The Way
$19.99Add to cartConversations about children and faith draw us close to the heart of God, and the authors of Along the Way lead everyone in the church–parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, ministers, and leaders–into a careful, honest dialogue about nurturing children spiritually. Along the way, readers will rediscover how each child’s walk with God is a unique journey of discovery. Readers will also realize that sharing these paths with children can change and bless not simply the children, but their own lives as well.
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Inclusive Marriage Services
$28.00Add to cartAs the country moves toward marriage equality for gays and lesbians, couples and pastors are in need of updated language for marriage services. This sourcebook not only provides inclusive marriage services, taking into account a variety of situations, but also provides guidance for couples and pastors to take into account for all couples. In addition, it includes prayers for a number of situations that happen around many weddings, such as rehearsal dinners, the wedding participants before worship, and the reception.
Inclusive Marriage Services includes updated but traditional language carefully chosen, resembling historical marriages we are all familiar with, but improving some of the language.
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Brief Survey Of The Bible Study Guide
$14.99Add to cartThe Bible is the inspired Word of God, and over the centuries it has changed people’s lives and led them to God. Yet sometimes it can be a difficult book to understand. The culture in which the Bible was written is so different from our own that at times we struggle to understand what it means or how it is relevant to our modern lives. In A Brief Survey of the Bible, Bible professors John Walton and Mark Strauss give you the background you need to successfully understand even the difficult parts of the Word of God. They provide an overview of the Bible’s key themes, show what the teachings meant to the people at the time, and explain how those teachings apply to your life today. By the end, you will have a greater understanding of Scripture, know how all the books work together, and understand what God has done to make a way for you to come to him. This participant’s guide includes: Group discussion questions and notes to help you get the most out of the fourteen video sessions in A Brief Study of the Bible: A DVD Study An overview of each book of the Bible and a daily reading plan Between-sessions Scripture passages, reading tips, and key stories to help you dig into the content Additional facts to help you understand the situations behind the story
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Groove The Basics Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$10.99Add to cartToday’s faith and biblical illiteracy in general and among those who attend church and claim to be Christian is staggering. Some alarmists are claiming that the Christian faith is in danger of becoming extinct. We can no longer rely on culture to support the passing on of faith in Jesus Christ to the coming generations. The Basics study is not a quick fix to this situation. It is a handcrafted tool that when used by compassionate, caring, and committed adults, will ignite their imagination for God, the Scripture, the faith community, and living a transformed life. The Basics will likely raise more questions than it answers, and that’s intentional. Don’t feel the need to make sure all the loose ends are tied up at the conclusion of your youth gathering. Allow your teens the opportunity to leave with ideas and truths on which to reflect and wrestle as they use the daily devotionals provided in the Groove: The Basics Student Journal. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats.The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Groove The Life Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$10.99Add to cartThe life of the Christian is marked by disciplines, practices, and commitments that help shape the foundation of our faith. So how do we help youth encounter and choose to embrace some of these practices as they move into a faith that they claim as their own? The Life is a four-week study designed to help youth consider spiritual practices and what those practices can mean in their lives. Each week, they will consider the practices of being committed to a church family, of prayer, of giving, and of sharing their faith with others. The ideas and lessons are reinforced with exercises and daily devotions, found in the Groove: The Life Student Journal, designed to help them reflect and apply these disciplines in their own lives. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats.The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Groove Character Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartWhen beliefs, attitudes, and values line up with actions there is character. Helping teenagers grow in Christlike character is no easy task. How do we help teenagers follow Jesus and take on his character? It takes practice and the commitment of their church family to support, encourage, and celebrate the “wins” with them along this exciting journey of growth. Character is a four-week Bible study designed to help teens develop Christ-like behavior in their daily lives. Teenagers will consider the ideas of truth, how they use their words, how they view their possessions, and what it is to be a person of integrity. The study is reinforced with daily devotions and exercises found in the Groove: Character Student Journal. Helping youth embrace character and the practice of growing their spiritual lives independent from group study can be a powerful combination. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats.The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Groove Jesus Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartWhat do Christian teenagers believe today about Jesus Christ? And what difference does that belief make in their life? Research shows that most teenagers do not understand the basic core beliefs of Christianity and often express misgivings of their own faith. How do we help teens connect with the significance and importance of Jesus Christ? Jesus is a four-week study designed to help teens encounter the basic truths about who Jesus is and why that matters in their lives. Through group study and daily devotions, found in the Groove: Jesus Student Journal, teenagers will begin to understand the significance of Christ and how that relates to their daily walk. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats.The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Groove Temptation Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartTemptations are all around us; and facing those temptations is never easy, especially for teenagers. While simply avoiding temptation would make life a lot easier, it can be very hard for teens, who are still developing socially, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, and physically. Temptation is a four-week study designed to help teens navigate and overcome the daily temptations they battle. Greed, pride, envy, and lust are challenges we all face; so understanding the spiritual implications of those temptations can help our youth thrive in their spiritual lives as they move into adulthood. The Groove: Temptation Student Journal provides exercises and daily devotions that help teens deal with the temptations they face as they learn to develop a maturing faith in Christ. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats. The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Groove The Walk Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartWhat does it look like to “walk with Jesus”? Like a great deal of church jargon we toss around, it can become a confusing concept for teens to embrace and understand. The Walk is designed to teach youth what it means to walk with Jesus. As their faith grows, they will learn to exercise the grace, love, patience, humility, and meekness found only in Christ. As a result, they will begin to own their faith, as it moves from something that they hear about to something that they are living in their own lives. The daily devotions of the Groove: The Walk Student Journal will encourage youth to embrace these concepts and experience a rich and fulfilled life as they learn to imitate Christ in their daily lives. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats. The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Groove School Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$10.99Add to cartNearly all youth are involved in school and educational pursuits for a majority of their day. Even if they are not attending a traditional school, there are ways to encourage them to live out their faith as they follow Jesus and at the same time grow in their academic knowledge. School is designed to help teenagers consider how their faith affects their lives at school. From the lessons studied each week, combined with the daily devotions found in the Groove: School Student Journal, teens will be encouraged to pause and reflectively engage as their academic and spiritual lives collide. Over the course of the series, youth will be encouraged to make a place of belonging for everyone in their school, to set and keep priorities that reflect their faith in Jesus, to find joy even at school, and to know that our worth ultimately lies in who Jesus is and what he has done for us. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats. The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Groove Grace Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartGrace is a church word that sometimes gets lost in the world of teenagers. Research shows that most teenagers have embraced a system of belief in which being a follower of Jesus is defined by behavior, instead of the grace of God offered through Christ. Grace is designed to show youth that grace is a real, practical force in their lives even in the midst of brokenness, fear, doubt, and stress. These key factors can often become major stumbling blocks for youth if they are not equipped with the tools to understand how God’s grace operates in each of these areas. Each lesson in the Groove: Grace Student Journal includes daily devotions and reflections to help young people work through the issues raised. Sometimes the lessons leave youth with more reflection and processing to do; such challenges help youth develop a maturing, deepening faith that will last into adulthood. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats. The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Groove Relationships Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartIf you have been in youth ministry for any length of time, you will quickly learn the one thing that teenagers value most: their relationships. As they move into a world of independence, these relationships help shape their identity and affect their lives for the future. Relationships looks at the key relationships that youth have with their families, friends, and members of the opposite sex. All youth have relationship stories; and the reality is that we can help them navigate those relationships, whether they come from great circumstances or challenging ones. The daily devotions and exercises in the Groove: Relationships Student Journal are designed to help youth dig deeper into the ideas presented in the weekly lessons and move them toward more thoughtful relationships. T The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats.The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Groove Dilemmas Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$10.99Add to cartEvery day, youth are called to navigate a world full of challenging decisions-from the simple choices about everyday life to the much more serious ethical dilemmas that can make being a teenager a complicated experience. Some of those dilemmas include: What does it mean to be a person with established morals and ethics? How does the commandment to love others affect our lives in a tangible way? What happens when we make choices that have consequences that greatly affect our lives and the lives of those around us? Dilemmas isn’t designed to provide simple answers to complicated questions, but rather help teens understand how to make inspired, smart choices that reflect both who they are and who they are striving to be. The Groove: Dilemmas Student Journal will challenge youth to be deliberate, thoughtful, and faithful as they attempt to make choices that are consistent with their character and their faith. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats.The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Groove I Am Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$10.99Add to cartDiscovering and embracing one’s identity has proven to be a long, lonely, rough, and at times, dangerous road for today’s teenagers. It’s likely you’ve chosen this study to use with your youth group because you care deeply and want the teenagers within your sphere of influence to find the answers to their identity questions in Jesus Christ. The I Am study is not a quick fix for your teenagers’ needs. It is a handcrafted tool that, when used by compassionate, caring, and committed adults, will ignite their imagination and excitement for whom their Creator says they are and the purpose for which they were designed. I Am will likely raise more questions than it answers, and that’s intentional. Don’t feel the need to make sure all the loose ends are tied up at the conclusion of your youth gathering. Allow your teens the opportunity to leave with ideas and truths on which to reflect and wrestle as they use the daily devotionals provided in the Groove: I Am Student Journal. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats. The student journal contains session-specific questions, background information, and daily devotions for each session.
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Core Study 2 All In Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$9.99Add to cartCORE (Connect, Own, Reveal, Empower) is a resource designed to help teenagers discover their true identity, value and worth as God’s children and empower them to reach their potential in faithfully following Christ with others. All In is a four session study for groups of all sizes. When used alongside Dig In, All In is a powerful tool to help you help your group take the next step of living their newfound commitment to their God-given identity with confidence. Responsibility Reveal Empower True Identity The CORE All In Leader Guide contains helps for using the study with your teens along with plans that include engaging material for both large-group and small group discussions. Featured in each session is a short and powerful video introducing the topic.
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Core Study 1 Dig In Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$9.99Add to cartCORE (Connect, Own, Reveal, Empower) is a resource designed to help teenagers discover their true identity, value and worth as God’s children and empower them to reach their potential in faithfully following Christ with others. Dig In is a four session study for groups of all sizes that takes teens on the journey of addressing the obstacles they’ve experienced in understanding who they are in Christ toward connecting with God and others in new and healthy ways. Who I’m Not:Identity Theft Delete the Spam Connect with the Holy Spirit Connect with Others The CORE Dig In Leader Guide contains helps for using the study with your teens along with plans that include engaging material for both large-group and small group discussions. Featured in each session is a short and powerful video introducing the topic.
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Core Study 2 All In Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartCORE (Connect, Own, Reveal, Empower) is a resource designed to help teenagers discover their true identity, value and worth as God’s children and empower them to reach their potential in faithfully following Christ with others. All In is a four session study for groups of all sizes. When used alongside Dig In, All In is a powerful tool to help you help your group take the next step of living their newfound commitment to their God-given identity with confidence. Responsibility Reveal Empower True Identity The student journal is a resource for the journey providing the opportunity for teens to explore what they are learning on a personal level.
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Core Study 1 Dig In Student Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartCORE (Connect, Own, Reveal, Empower) is a resource designed to help teenagers discover their true identity, value and worth as God’s children and empower them to reach their potential in faithfully following Christ with others. Dig In is a four session study for groups of all sizes that takes teens on the journey of addressing the obstacles they’ve experienced in understanding who they are in Christ toward connecting with God and others in new and healthy ways. Who I’m Not:Identity Theft Delete the Spam Connect with the Holy Spirit Connect with Others The student journal is a resource for the journey providing the opportunity for teens to explore what they are learning on a personal level.
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Groove Character Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$14.99Add to cartWhen beliefs, attitudes, and values line up with actions there is character. Helping teenagers grow in Christ-like character is no easy task. How do we help teenagers follow Jesus and take on his character? It takes practice and the commitment of their church family to support, encourage, and celebrate the “wins” with them along this exciting journey of growth. Character is a four-week Bible study designed to help teens develop Christ-like behavior in their daily lives. Teenagers will consider the ideas of truth, how they use their words, how they view their possessions, and what it is to be a person of integrity. The study is reinforced with daily devotions and exercises found in the Groove: Character Student Journal. Helping youth embrace character and the practice of growing their spiritual lives independent from group study can be a powerful combination. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats. The leader guide contains everything needed to lead teens through a Groove study, including teaching outlines, leader notes, Bible background, reflections, and parent communication.
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Groove School Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$14.99Add to cartNearly all youth are involved in school and educational pursuits for a majority of their day. Even if they are not attending a traditional school, there are ways to encourage them to live out their faith as they follow Jesus and at the same time grow in their academic knowledge. School is designed to help teenagers consider how their faith affects their lives at school. From the lessons studied each week, combined with the daily devotions found in the Groove: School Student Journal, teens will be encouraged to pause and reflectively engage as their academic and spiritual lives collide. Over the course of the series, youth will be encouraged to make a place of belonging for everyone in their school, to set and keep priorities that reflect their faith in Jesus, to find joy even at school, and to know that our worth ultimately lies in who Jesus is and what he has done for us. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats. The leader guide contains everything needed to lead teens through a Groove study, including teaching outlines, leader notes, Bible background, reflections, and parent communication.
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Groove The Basics Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$14.99Add to cartToday’s faith and biblical illiteracy in general and among those who attend church and claim to be Christian is staggering. Some alarmists are claiming that the Christian faith is in danger of becoming extinct. We can no longer rely on culture to support the passing on of faith in Jesus Christ to the coming generations. The Basics study is not a quick fix to this situation. It is a handcrafted tool that when used by compassionate, caring, and committed adults, will ignite their imagination for God, the Scripture, the faith community, and living a transformed life. The Basics will likely raise more questions than it answers, and that’s intentional. Don’t feel the need to make sure all the loose ends are tied up at the conclusion of your youth gathering. Allow your teens the opportunity to leave with ideas and truths on which to reflect and wrestle as they use the daily devotionals provided in the Groove: The Basics Student Journal. The Groove Bible study series invites teens to learn the essentials of their faith, own their story, and engage the world in serving Jesus. Each topical study consists of four weekly sessions that are easy to lead and relate to life issues teens face. With up to 48 weeks available, Groove is great for Sunday and mid-week gatherings for both large and small groups as well as retreats. The leader guide contains everything needed to lead teens through a Groove study, including teaching outlines, leader notes, Bible background, reflections, and parent communication.
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Pioneering Movements : Leadership That Multiplies Disciples And Churches
$20.99Add to cartGod’s mission needs movement leaders. Jesus pioneered something completely new in human history?a dynamic missionary movement intent on reaching the world. His mission is as clear and as relevant today as in the days of the early church: to make disciples everywhere, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded. But the potential of the church remains untapped. What does it take to lead movements that successfully carry out this mission? In Pioneering Movements, Steve Addison identifies what it takes to follow Jesus’ example. Building on his previous books Movements That Changed the World and What Jesus Started, he reveals the apostolic qualities and behaviors of biblical, historical, and contemporary pioneers who can guide church and ministry leaders today. This is a book for those who are called to embrace the mission-driven work that Jesus and his disciples began?making disciples of all nations, in all places.
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Christian Mission In The Modern World
$24.99Add to cartJesus sends us into the world just as the Father sent him. And yet thousands of years later Christians continue to disagree on what this involves. Some believe that the focus of Christian mission is evangelizing and “saving souls.” Others emphasize global justice issues or relief and development work. Is either view correct on its own? John Stott’s classic book presents an enduring and holistic view of Christian mission that is just as needed today. Newly updated and expanded by Christopher J. H. Wright, Christian Mission in the Modern World provides a biblically based approach to mission that addresses both spiritual and physical needs. With his trademark and unparalleled clarity and conviction, Stott illuminates how the Great Commission itself not only assumes the proclamation that makes disciples, but also teaches obedience to the Great Commandment of love and service. Wright has expertly updated the original book and demonstrates the continuing relevance of Stott’s prescient thinking. This balanced approach to mission offers timeless guidance for current and future Christians to embrace Jesus’ unconflicted and holistic model of ministry.
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Microaggressions In Ministry
$26.00Add to cartCarlos-a third-generation U.S. citizen from New Jersey whose family emigrated from Colombia many years before Carlos was born-is often complimented on how articulate he is and asked how long he has been in the United States.
Deborah, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who is up for election as church treasurer, has her qualifications questioned, debated, and scrutinized by the congregation far more than any of her male predecessors who were elected with a simple vote.
Lisa, a male-to-female transgender person, attends a Sunday school where her classmates continue to refer to her with masculine pronouns (he, him, his).
The three examples above portray microaggressions: subtle slights, insults, and indignities expressed to persons of varied minority statuses. Although microaggressions are usually unintentional, they occur on a regular basis in education, the workplace, and daily life.
This is the first book that addresses the concept of microaggressions in ministry and church life. Drawing from their background as ordained clergy, Sanders and Yarber introduce ministry leaders to the concept of microaggressions and look specifically at microaggressions directed at race, gender, and sexuality in the church. Sanders and Yarber help readers become more aware of these subtle and often unconscious communications, offering realistic examples and guidance for grappling with this issue in preaching, religious education, worship, spirituality, and pastoral care and counseling. Microaggressions in Ministry equips congregations with methods for assessment and tools for action that will ultimately help create stronger, more welcoming faith communities.
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Stewardship In African American Churches
$14.00Add to cartStewardship in African American Churches: A New Paradigm offers practical ideas to help church leaders lead in stewardship effectively. Based on both scripture and tradition, Melvin Amerson draws upon his experience as a stewardship consultant to help churches accomplish the following: Develop a theology of generosity Define stewardship leadership roles Celebrate the offering each week Establish endowment giving
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Biblical Counseling And The Church
$32.99Add to cartAs people face addictions, deal with loss and grief, and seek help in restoring broken relationships, where can they turn for counsel and assistance? The local church has been uniquely blessed with the gift of the gospel and is able to offer hope and counsel that no other institution on earth can. In Biblical Counseling and the Church, Bob Kellemen and Kevin Carson have assembled over twenty respected ministry leaders who examine the relationship between counseling and the church. This comprehensive resource, part of the Biblical Counseling Coalition series, helps leaders and counselors develop a vision that goes beyond being a church with a biblical counseling ministry to becoming a church of biblical counseling-a church culture that is saturated by “one-another” ministry. Divided into five parts, Biblical Counseling and the Church will help church leaders: Unite the pulpit ministry of preaching the Word with the personal ministry of the Word in counseling Offer practical and theological training to equip counselors Launch and lead a counseling ministry, regardless of the size of your church Bring together the relational focus of small group ministry with the ministry of care and counseling Better understand the relationship between biblical counseling, church discipline, and conflict resolution Learn how to use counseling in outreach through “missional” biblical counseling-moving biblical counseling beyond the doors of the church and into the world
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Reaching People Under 30 While Keep People Over 60
$24.99Add to cartSeasoned church consultant Edward H. Hammett shares his latest insights and suggestions for churches seeking to serve all generations. This is an updated version of Hammett’s 2007 book Reaching People Under 40 while Keeping People Over 60 that expands the reach another decade and emphasizes diversity with insight from new contributors Paul L. Anderson and Cornell Thomas.
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Preaching The Whole Counsel Of God
$24.99Add to cartPreaching the Whole Counsel of God is a primary textbook on the art and science of preaching for pastors and pastors-in-training that teaches you how to practice expository, Christ-focused hermeneutics, combined with Gospel-centered, audience-transforming homiletics. It will guide you to:
*Discover the truth of the text according to the human author.
*Discern Christ in the text according to the divine author.
*Design your sermon with truth, goodness, and beauty.
*Deliver your sermon in a way that keeps attention, retention, and leads to transformation. -
Crossover Preaching : Intercultural Improvisational Homiletics In Conversat
$45.99Add to cartAcknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: “Time Is Filled With Swift Transition”
1. Gardner C. Taylor: Case Study In Crossover Preaching
2. Turning Ink To Blood: Performative Improvisation
3. Rooted, But Not Restricted: Metaphorical Improvisation
4. Transgressing The Divides: Intercultural Competence
5. Putting Flesh To Bones: Homiletical Strategies
Conclusion: Crossing La Frontera (the Border)
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject IndexAdditional Info
As society becomes more culturally diverse and globally connected, churches and seminaries are rapidly changing. And as the church changes, preaching must change too.Crossover Preaching proposes a way forward through conversation with the “dean of the nation’s black preachers,” Gardner C. Taylor, senior pastor emeritus of Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York. In this richly interdisciplinary study, Jared E. Alcantara argues that an analysis of Taylor’s preaching reveals an improvisational-intercultural approach that recovers his contemporary significance and equips U. S. churches and seminary classrooms for the future.
Alcantara argues that preachers and homileticians need to develop intercultural and improvisational proficiencies to reach an increasingly intercultural church. Crossover Preaching equips them with concrete practices designed to help them cultivate these competencies and thus communicate effectively in a changing world.
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Saving Your Second Marriage Before It Starts Workbook For Men Updated (Workbook)
$12.99Add to cartComplete with twenty-eight self-tests-two of them brand-new-and a new group discussion guide, the expanded and updated Saving Your Second Marriage Before It Starts workbooks for men and women will help couples uncover and understand the unique shaping factors they bring into their second marriage both as men and women and as individuals.
Exercises and assignments will help couples identify and meld their love styles, face the myths of remarriage honestly, become soul mates, identify each person’s “hot topics,” and much more.
The discussion guide in each workbook integrates with the Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts DVD (sold separately and includes seven pre-marriage sessions plus one additional session specifically designed to help prepare couples for remarriage) to facilitate lively and eye-opening interaction. Each session links with the workbook exercises and concludes with exercises each couple can do together between each lesson.
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Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts Workbook For Women Updated (Workbook)
$12.99Add to cartThe Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts Workbook for Women will help you uncover and understand the unique shaping factors you bring into your marriage both as a woman/man and as an individual. Prepare for some surprising and helpful insights, for honest, intimate, and enjoyable relationship-strengthening conversations with you and your fiance, and for engaging discussions with a small group.
EXERCISES AND ASSESSMENTS
Twenty-four exercises will shed amazing new light on the way you are put together, how that affects specific aspects of how you and your loved one relate, and how you can improve those areas to build a better relationship. You will gain unprecedented insights into – your personal “Ten Commandments” – making your roles conscious – getting your sex life off to a great start – identifying your “hot topics” – your spiritual journey … and much, much more
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Les and Leslie will help both of you enjoy lively and eye-opening interaction through seven sessions and bonus sessions on the DVD. For small groups, individual couples, and pastors and marriage counselors, each session links with the workbook exercises and concludes with an exercise each couple can do together over the next week. -
Beyond The Local Church
$18.99Add to cartForeword
Introduction
1. The Power Of A Balanced Anatomy
The Biblical Genius And Design For Apostolic Structures And Movements
2. Limping Or Leaping Through Time
The Encouragement Of Apostolic Missionality In History
3. Mother Teresa Wasn’t A “Para-Catholic”!
Why “parachurch” Is A Dirty Word
4. So What Is “Apostolic”?
The Oft-neglected Essential To Authentic Missionality
5. Holy Discontent And Sanctified Ambition
The Apostolic Imperative Of Ephesians
6. Setting Visionaries Free
Pioneering As A Second Decision Entrepreneur
7. Finding Second Decision People
How To Engage And Release Apostolic Leaders
8. Running Together!
The Exponential Leverage Of Interdependence
9. Movements Of God
The Extraordinary Results Of Apostolic Gifting Lived Out In Apostolic Structures
10. The Momentum Of Movements
To Kill Or To Multiply, That Is The Question
Conclusion: Be A History Shaper
AcknowledgmentsAdditional Info
Many people have given up on the church. But that doesn’t mean that they’ve given up on God or Christianity. In many cases, it was merely that local church congregations were not the best context for missional people to live out their sense of God’s call.The good news is that God is raising up vibrant movements of Christians in a vast array of vocations around the world: disciple-making ministries, missions, relief and development, social activism, advocacy and much more. These are all strategic ways to live for the kingdom-in venues beyond the local church.
Wherever movements of the gospel have occurred, visionary people and apostolic structures have been essential. Mission leader Sam Metcalf shows how God has always worked through entrepreneurial individuals and organizations that launched out in fresh ways. He gives biblical and missiological foundations for missional movements, showing that what has often been called “parachurch” is an equally valid manifestation of the church. Affirming the strengths of apostolic personalities, Metcalf shows how they can be deployed to cross cultural barriers, renew secular societies and transform the nations with the power of the gospel.
God may be inviting you to join what he is doing around the world. Answer the call and discover how God can use you beyond your imagination.
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Apostolic Church Planting
$18.99Add to cartPreface
Introduction
1. What Is Church Planting?
2. How’s Your Ecclesiology?
3. Practices Of Team Members
4. Pathway To Planting
5. Stages Of Planting
6. Planned Role Changes
7. Church Multiplication Cycle
8. Methods
9. Where To Begin?
10. Pastoral Development
11. Strategy Development
12. Ethical Guidelines
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
About The AuthorAdditional Info
Church planting is not just about gathering new communities of people who are already Christians. In the book of Acts, church plants begin with sharing the gospel. Planting churches flows naturally out of making disciples.Missionary church planter J. D. Payne explains the process and stages of church planting, with biblical foundations and practical steps for planting teams. He provides a pathway for the multiplication of disciples, leaders and churches. Here are church planting strategies and activities that are simple, highly reproducible and can be implemented by ordinary team members, not just by charismatic leaders.
This guide can be used for planting in contexts among any given people group, domestically or internationally. It is an ideal resource for teams to work through together as they follow God’s call in their community.
Read more: http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=4124#ixzz3ZOJH0pFd
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Vulnerable Pastor : How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry
$22.99Add to cartForeword
Introduction: God Is An Odd LeaderPart I: Getting Over Ourselves: Vulnerability With God
1. Filled With Emptiness
2. What Makes Us Feel Weak. And What Doesn’t: A Confession
3. Save Me! Vulnerability And Salvation
4. Feeling Exposed: How Vulnerable Pastors Handle Emotions
5. I Need You! How Vulnerable Pastors Pray
6. Letting The Bible Read Us: How Vulnerable Pastors Read The BiblePart II: Being True To Ourselves: Vulnerability Behind The Scenes
7. Learning To Like The Mess: How Vulnerable Pastors Create Culture
8. Changing The Mold: How Vulnerable Pastors Recognize And Develop Leaders
9. Taking Our Own Sweet Time: How Vulnerable Pastors Use Their Time And Energy
10. Thriving For Others: How Vulnerable Pastors Measure SuccessPart III: Practicing In Public: Vulnerability With An Audience
11. Welcome To The Process: How Vulnerable Pastors Teach And Preach
12. The Right Kind Of Desperate: How Vulnerable Pastors Engage With The WorldEpilogue: Unfading Treasure In Jars Of Clay
Discussion Guide
Acknowledgments
NotesAdditional Info
Often pastors feel like we need to project strength and competency in order to minister effectively. That’s why we go to conferences and emulate the latest superstars. But we know we can never live up to those images. Deep down, we know our own limitations, our weaknesses, our faults. We fear that if people knew who we really are, we’d be disqualified from ministry. Not so. Mandy Smith unpacks the biblical paradox that God’s strength is revealed through our human weakness. Transparently describing her pastoral journey, Smith shows how vulnerability shapes ministry, through our spiritual practices and relationships, influencing our preaching, teaching and even the nuts and bolts of the daily schedule. Understanding our human constraints makes our ministry more sustainable and guards us against disillusionment and burnout. We don’t have to have it all together. Recognizing our weakness makes us rely on God, so our weakness can become a ministry resource. God has called you to lead not as a demigod, but as a human, so the world can see that the church is a place for humans like them. -
Saving Your Second Marriage Before It Starts Workbook For Women Updated (Workboo
$12.99Add to cartComplete with twenty-eight self-tests-two of them brand-new-and a new group discussion guide, the expanded and updated Saving Your Second Marriage Before It Starts workbooks for men and women will help couples uncover and understand the unique shaping factors they bring into their second marriage both as men and women and as individuals.
Exercises and assignments will help couples identify and meld their love styles, face the myths of remarriage honestly, become soul mates, identify each person’s “hot topics,” and much more.The discussion guide in each workbook integrates with the Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts DVD (sold separately and includes seven pre-marriage sessions plus two additional sessions specifically designed to help prepare couples for remarriage) to facilitate lively and eye-opening interaction. Each session links with the workbook exercises and concludes with exercises each couple can do together between each lesson.
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Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts Workbook For Men Updated (Student/Study Gu
$14.99Add to cartThe Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts Workbook for Men will help you uncover and understand the unique shaping factors you bring into your marriage both as a woman/man and as an individual. Prepare for some surprising and helpful insights, for honest, intimate, and enjoyable relationship-strengthening conversations with you and your fiance, and for engaging discussions with a small group.
EXERCISES AND ASSESSMENTS
Twenty-four exercises will shed amazing new light on the way you are put together, how that affects specific aspects of how you and your loved one relate, and how you can improve those areas to build a better relationship. You will gain unprecedented insights into – your personal “Ten Commandments” – making your roles conscious – getting your sex life off to a great start – identifying your “hot topics” – your spiritual journey … and much, much more
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Les and Leslie will help both of you enjoy lively and eye-opening interaction through seven sessions and bonus sessions on the DVD. For small groups, individual couples, and pastors and marriage counselors, each session links with the workbook exercises and concludes with an exercise each couple can do together over the next week. -
Spiritual Companioning : A Guide To Protestant Theology And Practice
$27.00Add to cartAmong the smiling faces in church on Sunday mornings are those who long for deeper, more genuine relationships within their local congregations–active, intentional relationships that nurture the soul and encourage personal encounters with God. Drawing on decades of experience in spiritual direction, congregational ministry, and seminary teaching, this book offers a clear and rich introduction to the theology and practice of spiritual companioning in the Protestant tradition. The authors explore the topic in a biblically based and historically informed manner and give practical help for cultivating spiritual relationships in congregations and beyond, using stories throughout to illustrate key ideas. Discussion questions are included.
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Servants And Fools
$22.99Add to cartLeadership is much discussed these days in politics, media, films, and church. Yet many are unclear about what leadership actually means, and there is too little careful reflection on whether Christian leadership has its own distinctive shape and character. Arthur Boers reveals the peculiar reversals of Christian leadership and ministry, and shows how in our tendency to focus on big bold heroes we often miss the point. Leadership modeled after Jesus practices service and sacrifice, is cautious about power and hierarchies, and prioritizes the vulnerable. In other words, it reverses what many expect of leadership. Servants and Fools explores leadership as we see it lived out in the biblical narrative, and gives the reader a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christian leader. This book will redefine leadership for many Christians, in a most helpful way.
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Developing A Vision For Ministry
$23.00Add to cartStrong leaders have vision that is both far-reaching and focused on the details. Having that vision is what separates the church with a hodge-podge of ineffective programs and activities from churches that reach people effectively, efficiently, and consistently with the Good News. Now in its third edition, this groundbreaking book continues to offer church planters, pastors, and ministry leaders concrete help with crafting vision statements, encouraging buy-in from the influencers in the church, turning up the energy level, and ultimately growing the church.
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Not A Silent Night Youth Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$14.99Add to cartImagine Jesus from Mary’s point of view-proud of her son, in awe of his gifts and mission, guided by love for him as a person and so much more. In this book, Adam Hamilton begins at the end, with Mary at the crucifixion and resurrection; travels back in time as she witnesses his life and ministry; and ends at the beginning, with the Christ child born in a stable, Mary’s beautiful baby. This year, experience Advent and Christmas with Mary. Contains everything needed to conduct a five-session study geared to youth, including current examples that have meaning to young people ages 13-18. Can be used with the adult-level DVD.
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Not A Silent Night Youth Study Book (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartImagine Jesus from Mary’s point of view-proud of her son, in awe of his gifts and mission, guided by love for him as a person and so much more. In this book, Adam Hamilton begins at the end, with Mary at the crucifixion and resurrection; travels back in time as she witnesses his life and ministry; and ends at the beginning, with the Christ child born in a stable, Mary’s beautiful baby. This year, experience Advent and Christmas with Mary. This five-week Youth Study Edition helps teens experience Advent and Christmas through the eyes of Mary. You will need one copy for each participant.
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Generous Community : Being The Church In A New Missionary Age
$20.95Add to cartBishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and author of Unabashedly Episcopalian; has the authority to call for change to hierarchical structures
* Practical ideas for connecting and building communities of serviceBishop Andy Doyle understands that the church must change. Every day, he presides over parishes that are no longer vital, that have not adapted to the “VUCA” (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world of today – the world in which the church exists. The church still looks to hierarchies when it needs to build networks, and stays mired in arguments when it needs to find unity. With the experience of a bishop and the insight of a deep learner, Doyle points the way to the future with a vision for how we can learn, serve, and communicate with each other.
For clergy, vestries, seminaries, commissions, and, ultimately, parishioners.
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New Pastors Handbook (Reprinted)
$18.00Add to cartMost seminary graduates will begin their ministries with plenty of important head knowledge to share–but with a deficit of some of the most practical aspects of doing ministry, such as:
*which ministry role most suits them
*how to start out strong at a new church
*persevering during difficult seasons of ministry
*leading meetings and delegating tasks
*safeguarding their family
*fighting discouragement, pastor envy, and a lack of contentment
*navigating special ministry needs, such as hospitals, weddings, and funerals
*and much moreThrough his hard-won wisdom, Jason Helopoulos comes alongside new pastors as a trusted friend and mentor, ready to guide them through their first years of ministry with intelligence and compassion.
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Faithful Presence : Working Together For The Common Good
$20.99Add to cartTogether for the Common Good is a network of scholars, church leaders and activists engaged in matters of social justice. Its first major event was a conference in Liverpool in 2013. Since then the network has developed and grown and its website and e-newsletters have a wide reach. Research undertaken prior to the conference showed that the importance of churches, clergy and lay people being involved in working for social justice on the ground and for this activism to be rooted in the Christian tradition. Therefore it is time for a popular, accessible short book aimed at practitioners.
It is written in non- technical, accessible language and designed to be of interest to clerical and lay audiences across denominations, including those who create, manage and implement social justice initiatives.
It contains lots of illustrative examples of the ways that churches work together and of the range of social action undertaken by churches locally and nationally – pastoral, advocacy, campaigning.
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Arts Camp : A Creative Customizable Alternative To Vacation Bible School An
$34.95Add to cartLess packaged, more theologically and pedagogically appropriate, thoughtful, and community-based alternative toVacation Bible School
* A way for churches to conduct an artful exploration of faithArts Camp provides practical, concrete instruction that a church needs to plan, organize, staff, and conduct an annual five-day Arts Camp, including guidance on logistics, funding, finding art instructors (within both the local church and the broader community), ideas for structuring and scheduling the five days of camp, and a celebration on the Sunday following camp. Each chapter includes details on art projects, programming, music, drama, games, and resources.
For Episcopal and other mainline churches looking for alternatives to pre-packaged VBS programs, directors of Christian education and children’s ministry, camps and retreat centers
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Radical Sending : Go To Love And Serve
$24.95Add to cartForeword by Stephanie Spellers
* Core resource for discernment in living out baptismal promises
* Empowers the laity for their ministries beyond the church doors
* Study questions for small group discussion or individual reflectionAs congregations explore their emerging visions, they need support in “equipping the saints” for their day-to-day lives and ministries beyond the doors of the building. The Dismissal – “go in peace, to love and serve the Lord” – becomes as important as the Eucharist in feeding the people for the journey. But churches often fail to focus on this baptismal calling to “go” into the worlds of work, family, and community. This book fills that void, focusing on how the baptized become “go-ers,” providing practical and tested ways of fulfilling that calling.
Go to Love and Serve builds on and complements the work of Stephanie Spellers’ Radical Welcome, which called congregations to move beyond diversity and inclusion to be places where the transforming gifts, voices, and power of marginalized cultures and groups bring new life to the mainline church. Each chapter is followed by discussion questions for use with small groups or for personal reflection.
For lay and ordained church leaders, adult formation groups.
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Character Formation In Online Education
$16.99Add to cartThe unfortunate reputation of online education today is one of little or no effort on the professor’s part and little or no learning on the student’s part. A missing element in much online education is the kind of mutual engagement between student and instructor that provides not only a higher level of learning but also lasting character formation within the student. Character Formation in Online Education stems from author Joanne Jung’s years of experience teaching online courses with the aim of improving the teaching environment for professors and the learning environment for students. By replicating, customizing, and incorporating the best and most effective practices of what a great professor does in on-campus classes, reimagined for an online delivery system, Jung shows how a higher level of learning and transformation can be achieved through online learning communities. Handy and practical, this user-friendly book provides guidance, helpful tools, and effective suggestions for growing learning communities in online courses that are marked by character growth in students-the kind of growth that is central to the mission of Christian higher education.
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Prophetic Lament : A Call For Justice In Troubled Times
$22.99Add to cartWhen Soong-Chan Rah planted an urban church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his first full sermon series was a six-week exposition of the book of Lamentations. Preaching on an obscure, depressing Old Testament book was probably not the most seeker-sensitive way to launch a church. But it shaped their community with a radically countercultural perspective. The American church avoids lament. But lament is a missing, essential component of Christian faith. Lament recognizes struggles and suffering, that the world is not as it ought to be. Lament challenges the status quo and cries out for justice against existing injustices. Soong-Chan Rah’s prophetic exposition of the book of Lamentations provides a biblical and theological lens for examining the church’s relationship with a suffering world. It critiques our success-centered triumphalism and calls us to repent of our hubris. And it opens up new ways to encounter the other. Hear the prophet’s lament as the necessary corrective for Christianity’s future. The Resonate series recovers the ancient wisdom of Scripture and helps us understand how it resonates with our complex world. The stories and insights of a book of the Bible are brought into conversation with contemporary voices of hope and lament–the cultural messages we interact with on a daily basis. The Scriptures become a meeting ground where God speaks to the pressing concerns of our day, and we are confronted in turn with a fresh experience of God’s truth.
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Pastoral Theology For Public Ministry
$22.95Add to cartFor seminaries, those involved in lay and ordained ministries
* Part of a growing conversation about the roles of ordained ministry
* Taps into an increasing interest in the Church’s public presence in ministries like Ashes to GoWhat does it mean to be engaged in Christian ministry in a shifting spiritual and religious landscape? Stephen Burns invites readers to think anew about the distinctiveness of public practices of pastoral presence. Rather than narrowly defining pastoral care and pastoral theology (pastoral counseling, preaching, youth groups, visits to elders, etc.) and theological academic categories (history, pastoral theology, liturgy, ethics, and contemporary sociology), he argues for a new imagination and practice of pastoral presence – a presence that is representative, public, integrated, and expansive.
For seminary introductory pastoral care and pastoral theology courses; those practicing Christian ministry; those seeking to understand more about what clergy and lay ministers do
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If Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartIf is a powerful little word. Some people are stuck in “if only,” trudging through lives marked with regret. But God wants us to live lives marked with possibilities, with the “what if” attitude that looks forward to the future with confidence. Why? Because the answer to “If God is for us, who can be against us?” is “No one.” God is always on our side. Every day, in every way.
With his trademark enthusiasm and contagious joy, Mark Batterson helps readers overcome feelings of guilt, fear, and doubt because in Christ there is no condemnation. Unpacking the promises of Romans 8, he shows readers that they are more than conquerors–right now and forever. And because of that, the possibilities for their lives are limitless.
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Gospel Conversations : How To Care Like Christ
$26.99Add to cartHow does a person learn to counsel others with the truth of God’s Word? Bob Kellemen believes that the best way to learn counseling is by doing it-by giving and receiving biblical counseling in the context of real, raw Christian community.
Gospel Conversations explores the four compass-points of biblical counseling:
*Sustaining: “It’s Normal to Hurt.”
*Healing: “It’s Possible to Hope.”
*Reconciling: “It’s Horrible to Sin, but Wonderful to Be Forgiven.”
*Guiding: “It’s Supernatural to Mature.”These four compass points combine to equip readers to develop twenty-two ministry relational competencies-the “how to” of caring like Christ. This book serves as a practical training manual that can be used for lab and small group interaction.
Gospel Conversations is the second volume in The Equipping Biblical Counselors Series, a comprehensive relational training curriculum for the local church that provides a model for equipping God’s people to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth. This two-volume series weaves together comprehensive biblical insight with compassionate Christian engagement.
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Why In The World Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$10.99Add to cartIn this four-session video Bible study, bestselling author and pastor Andy Stanley takes a closer look at one of the unique things Christians believe: God became one of us. Why in the world would God do that?
Why would God leave the comfort and recognition of heaven to live on this ball of dirt in a time before morphine and indoor plumbing when the best of conditions barely paralleled the worst of modern-day conditions? Why?
We think we know why He died. But what compelled him to live as one of us?
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Faith Of A Mockingbird (Student/Study Guide)
$16.99Add to cartIn The Faith of a Mockingbird, based on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, pastor and author Matt Rawle uses Lee’s beloved characters to explore Christian faith, theology, and ethics. Join Scout, Atticus Finch, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson in this four-week study considering God’s world and what it all means. A DVD featuring four sessions with the author, a full Leader Guide, and Worship Resource Flash Drive also are available for group study.
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Discovering And Developing Your Deacons
$13.95Add to cartWhether you are in a new church or a more established one, if you have a congregation, you have a growing need for more servants. You need others to help you. Yet you may not know where to start or how to proceed with identifying, enlisting, equipping, and engaging servant-leaders for your church. In Discovering and Developing Your Deacons, you will find the help you need.
If you are wondering whether or not you even need the ministry of Deacons, or if you’d like to know more about the process of discovering the right way to find them, this book is for you. You may have questions about the characteristics of men who can serve and how you can identify those qualities. This book answers clearly and concisely ten of the most often asked questions related to starting or restarting an effective Deacon ministry.
It is not God’s intention that a Pastor and one or two other leaders perform all needed ministry. This is akin to what God intended for the Apostles in Acts 6, when they had become overwhelmed with the ministry needs of a multiplying church. This book details how to find the kind of men described in Acts 6-not only find them but identify them by their reputation, character qualities, and servant hearts. This is a process that can be undertaken by any church that sees the need and has a desire to follow clear, scripturally-based guidelines.
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You Lost Me (Reprinted)
$17.99Add to cartClose to 60 percent of young people who went to church as teens drop out after high school. Now the bestselling author of unChristian trains his researcher’s eye on these young believers. Where Kinnaman’s first book unChristian showed the world what outsiders aged 16-29 think of Christianity, You Lost Me shows why younger Christians aged 16-29 are leaving the church and rethinking their faith.Based on new research, You Lost Me shows pastors, church leaders, and parents how we have failed to equip young people to live “in but not of” the world and how this has serious long-term consequences. More importantly, Kinnaman offers ideas on how to help young people develop and maintain a vibrant faith that they embrace over a lifetime.
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Prophets And Kings Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$18.99Add to cartThis six-session small group Bible study, Prophets & Kings, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume two of the 12-part Faith Lessons series. In this volume, Vander Laan explores the turbulent history of Israel’s prophets and kings, and draws lessons from their stories that can help build our devotion to and trust in God today.
Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
The Prophets & Kings Discovery Guide (200 pages) includes six sessions. Each lesson: *Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Includes 30 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.
This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the Faith Lessons Prophets & Kings DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*Innocent Blood Part 1 – Filmed in Megiddo
*Innocent Blood Part 2 – Filmed in Megiddo
*Who Is God? – Filmed in Mount Carmel
*The Wages of Sin – Filmed in Lachish
*The Lord Is My Shepherd – Filmed in Negev
*God with Us – Filmed in Arad -
Feasting On The Word Childrens Sermons For Year C
$24.00Add to cartMany pastors are confused about what to say during children’s time in churches. Feasting on the Word Children’s Sermons for Year C offers practical suggestions for preparing and delivering the children’s sermon. After explaining the purpose of the children’s sermon, noted Christian educator Carol Wehrheim provides a story for each Sunday of the church year based on the Revised Common Lectionary. In addition, a few stories are provided for special moments in the church’s life, such as when a mission group is commissioned, church leaders ordained, a death occurs. This resource provides pastors and other church leaders with fresh, engaging stories that children will understand and enjoy.
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Walking With God In The Desert Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$18.99Add to cartThis seven-session small group Bible study, Walking with God in the Desert, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume twelve of the 12-part Faith Lessons series. Are you going through a difficult period of life? The loss of a loved one? Unemployment? A crisis of faith? During these desert times, it’s easy to think God has disappeared. In Walking with God in the Desert you’ll discover that it’s only when we are totally dependent on him that we find God is closer than ever and can experience his amazing grace and provision. Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
Each lesson:
*Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Includes 25 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.The companion DVD for Walking with God in the Desert was filmed on location in the Sinai Desert, Wadi Nasb, Judea Wilderness, Mount Sinai, Negev and En Gedi. These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study. This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the Walking with God in the Desert DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*Join the Journey – Filmed in the Sinai Desert
*It’s Hot Here and There’s No Way Out – Filmed in Wabi Nasb
*Help is Here – Filmed in Wadi Nasb
*When Your Heart Cries Out – Filmed in the Judea Wilderness
*They Were Not Wandering – Filmed on Mount Sinai
*Ears to Hear – Filmed in Negev
*There’s Hope in the Desert – Filmed in En Gedi -
Fire On The Mountain Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$18.99Add to cartThis six-session small group Bible study, Fire On The Mountain, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume nine of the 12-part Faith Lessons series. When the Israelites left Egypt, they were finally free. Free from persecution, free from oppression, and free to worship their God. But with that freedom comes a new challenge – learning how to live together the way God intends. In this ninth volume of Faith Lessons, discover how God teaches the Israelites what it means to be part of a community that loves him and what that means for us today. Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
Each lesson:
*Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Includes 25 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.The companion DVD for Fire On The Mountain was filmed on location at the Red Sea, Sinai, Serabit al Khadim, and Jebel Katarina. These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.
This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the Fire On The Mountain DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*The Lord Who Heals You – Filmed at the Red Sea and Sinai
*Not By Bread Alone – Filmed in Sinai
*Their Blood Cried Out – Filmed at Serabit al Khadim
*The Mountain of God – Filmed at Jebel Katarina
*I Led You Like a Bride – Filmed at Jebel Katarina
*The Whisper of God – Filmed at Jebel Katarina -
Death And Resurrection Of The Messiah Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$18.99Add to cartThis ten-session small group Bible study, Death and Resurrection of the Messiah, from noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume four of the 12-part Faith Lessons series. In it, Vander Laan illustrates how Jesus’ call to follow him turned the world upside down, and learn how confronting evil can be loudly proclaiming the name of Jesus or quietly caring for someone in need.
Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
The Death and Resurrection of the Messiah (336 pages) includes ten sessions. Each lesson:
*Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Includes 30 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.
This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the Death and Resurrection of the Messiah DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*When Storms Come – Sea of Galilee
*Piercing the Darkness – Kursi
*Gates of Hell- Caesarea Philippi
*City of the Great King Part 1 – The Temple
*City of the Great King Part 1 – Jerusalem
*The Lamb of God – Mount of Olives
*The Weight of the World – Capernaum/Gethsemane
*Roll Away the Stone – Garden Tomb
*Power to the People – Southern Stairs
*Total Commitment – Caesarea -
Life And Ministry Of The Messiah Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThis eight-session small group Bible study, Life & Ministry of the Messiah, from noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume three of the 12-part Faith Lessons series. In it, Vander Laan illustrates how Jesus’ call to follow him turned the world upside down.
Journey back to the time of Jesus. Marvel at the magnificence of Herod’s palace. Scramble among the ruins of Qumran. And wonder at the simplicity and wisdom of Jesus’ parables. In the Life & Ministry of the Messiah, you and your group will discover how the events of Jesus’ day impacted his life, ministry and communication…and then you’ll learn how it affects yours.
Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
The Life & Ministry of the Messiah Discovery Guide (296 pages) includes eight sessions. Each lesson:
*Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Includes 30 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.
This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the Life & Ministry of the Messiah DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*In the Shadow of Herod – Herodion
*My Rock and My Fortress – Masada
*The Time Had Fully Come – Filmed in Qumran
*No Greater Love – Filmed in Korazin/Mount of Beatitudes
*The Rabbi – Filmed in Gamla
*Language of Culture – Filmed in Sepphoris
*Misguided Faith – Filmed in Belvoir
*Living Water – Filmed in En Gedi -
Promised Land Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThis five-session small group Bible study, Promised Land, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume one of the 12-part Faith Lessons series.
In Promised Land, Vander Laan illustrates how God guided his people to a specific place – the Promised Land – to impact the world both in ancient times and today. Just like the time and place of our birth shapes our journey, so the land and culture of the Hebrew people shaped their story. Promised Land provides wonderful context to the stories of that time.
Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.This Discovery Guide includes five sessions. Each lesson:
*Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Include 30 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.
This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the Faith Lessons Promised Land DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*Standing at the Crossroads -Tel Gezer
*Wet Feet – Jordan River
*First Fruits – Tel Jericho Confronting Evil – Tel Beth Shemesh
*Iron of Culture – Tel Azekah -
Early Church Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThis five-session small group Bible study, Early Church, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume five of the 12-part Faith Lessons series. In this volume, Vander Laan uncovers the passion and commitment early believers displayed as they claimed Jesus in the face of fierce consequences and powerful adversaries.
Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
The sessions on this DVD were filmed on location in Caesarea Philippi, Sardis, Pergamum, Ephesus, and Laodicea.
These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.
This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the Early Church DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*Everything to Lose, Nothing to Gain – Filmed in Caesarea Philippi
*The Salt of the Earth – Filmed in Sardis
*Where Satan Lives – Filmed in Pergamum
*The Mark of the Beast – Filmed in Ephesus
*Hot or Cold – Filmed in Laodicea -
High Definition Leader
$19.99Add to cartThe United States is know as the “Great Melting Pot,” yet a survey of our churches on Sunday Morning would reveal a noticeably different portrait of our ethnic make-up. Every facet of American culture is multi-ethnic. Yet, the Church is not. The church is segregated. Drawing from scripture, Derwin shows how the modern church is suffering from being homogenous and how we are not fulfilling our calling as effectively as we should be.
The High-Definition Leader is a call for churches and their leaders to grow out of ignorance, class-ism, racism, and greed into a flourishing and vibrant community of believers united in their devotion to serving God and sharing His love with the world.
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Prayer Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartPrayer is more than just telling God what we think, feel, and want. It is also about hearing what God has to say to us. Prayer: Sharing Intimate Space with God explores the many dimensions of prayer and how we can incorporate those into our everyday lives.
In this study small groups will gain hope and inspiration for communing with our Heavenly Father in prayer.
Topics in this 7-week study include:
Session 1: Prayer Expresses Relationship
Session 2: Prayer Expresses God’s Character and Mission
Session 3: Prayer Expresses All of Our Life
Session 4: A Model Prayer
Session 5: Prayer Involves Listening
Session 6: Prayer Involves Speaking
Session 7: Prayer Involves DifficultiesThe Dialog Series offers topical and biblical small group studies that generate meaningful conversations. Each 7-week study explores a subject significant to the Church and to the story of God. Dialog creates community. So let’s talk.
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Path To The Cross Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThis five-session small group Bible study, The Path to the Cross, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume eleven of the 12-part Faith Lessons filmed-on-location DVD and Discovery Guide series. In The Path to the Cross, God’s story continues with the intense devotion of his people. Discover how their passionate faith prepares the way for Jesus and his ultimate act of obedience and sacrifice at the cross. Then, be challenged in your life to live as they did – by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
Each lesson:
*Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Includes 25 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.The companion DVD was filmed on location in Qumran, Machaerus, En Gedi, Jerusalem and Gethsemane. These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.
This Discovery Guide is designed for use with The Path to the Cross DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*The Way of the Essenes – Filmed in Quamran
*The Way of John the Baptist – Filmed in Machaerus
*Into the Desert to Be Tested – Filmed in En Gedi
*The Last Passover – Filmed in Jerusalem
*The Fifth Cup: Our Way of Hope – Filmed at Gethsemane -
With All Your Heart Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThis six-session small group Bible study, With All Your Heart, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume ten of the 12-part Faith Lessons series. Do you remember where your blessing comes from? In Exodus, God warned Israel to remember him when they left the dry desert and reached the fertile fields of the Promised Land. But in this tenth volume of Faith Lessons, you’ll discover how quickly they forgot God and began to rely on themselves. Find out what it means to remember the Lord in your own life on this one-of-a-kind spiritual pilgrimage. Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
Each lesson:
*Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Includes 25 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.The companion DVD for With All Your Heart was filmed on location in Timnah, Negev, and Jerusalem. These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study. This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the With All Your Heart DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*Build Me a Sanctuary – Filmed in Timnah
*Making Space for God – Filmed in Timnah
*He Led Them Like a Shepherd – Filmed in Negev
*By Every Word – Striking the Rock – Filmed in Negev
*With All Your Might: The Final Test – Filmed in Jerusalem
*A Well-Watered Garden – Filmed in Jerusalem -
God Heard Their Cry Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$18.99Add to cartThis five-session small group Bible study, God Heard Their Cry, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume eight of the 12-part Faith Lessons filmed-on-location DVD and Discovery Guide series. Vander Laan illustrates how, in ancient times, nothing was bigger than Egypt… powerful pharaohs, strong armies, and a multitude of gods. God’s people were no match against the Egyptians. In this volume of Faith Lessons, discover how God answers the cry of his persecuted people and proclaims himself Lord to them and their oppressors. Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
Each lesson:
*Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Includes 25 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.The companion DVD for God Heard Their Cry was filmed on location in Luxor, Egypt; Deir al Medina, Ramesseum, and the Red Sea. These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study. This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the God Heard Their Cry DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*How Big Is our God? – Filmed in Luxor, Egypt
*Israel in Bondage: God Heard Their Cry – Filmed at Dier al Medina
*Finger of God: The Plagues – Filmed at Ramesseum
*Watch with Me: Israel Leaves Egypt – Filmed at the Red Sea
*The Lord Reigns: The Red Sea – Filmed at the Red Sea -
Walk As Jesus Walked Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThis five-session, video-based small group bible study, Walked As Jesus Walked, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume seven of the 12-part Faith Lessons series. In this volume, Vander Laan helps you experience how the disciples translated Jesus’ call to passionate discipleship into language and imagery the Roman culture already understood. Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
Each lesson:
*Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Includes 25 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.The companion DVD for Walked As Jesus Walked was filmed on location in Aphrodisias, Antioch Pisidia, Lystra, and Cappadocia. These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study. This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the Walk As Jesus Walked DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*Run! The Passion of Elijah – Filmed in Aphrodisias
*Learning to Walk Like Jesus – Filmed in Antioch Pisidia
*An Unlikely Disciple – Filmed in Lystra
*Why Christians Suffer: The Weight of Gesthemane – filmed in Cappadocia
*Don’t Forget Us – filmed on location in Cappadocia -
In The Dust Of The Rabbi Discovery Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThis five-session small group Bible study, In the Dust of the Rabbi, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume six of the 12-part Faith Lessons series. In this volume, Vander Laan helps you experience Jesus’ life up close and personal.
Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God’s Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures’ significance for modern believers.
The In the Dust of the Rabbi Discovery Guide includes five sessions.
Each lesson:
*Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
*Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
*Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
*Includes 25 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.The companion DVD for In the Dust of the Rabbi was filmed on location in Galilee, Priene, and Didyma.
These illuminating “faith lessons” afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.
This Discovery Guide is designed for use with the In the Dust of the Rabbi DVD (sold separately).
Lessons include:
*When the Rabbi Says, “Come” – Filmed in Galilee
*When the Rabbi Says, “Go” – Filmed in Galilee
*The Presence of God: A Countercultural Community – Filmed in Priene
*Living Stones – Filmed in Priene
*The Very Words of God – Filmed in Didyma -
Meaning Of Marriage Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartModern culture would have you believe that everyone has a soul mate; that romance is the most important part of a successful marriage; that marriage does not mean ’til death do us part, but merely for as long as my needs are being met; and that when serious differences arise, divorce is the best solution.
According to the Bible, all of these modern-day assumptions miss what marriage is all about. In The Meaning of Marriage-a six-session video-based Bible study-Timothy Keller, along with Kathy, his wife of forty years, draws a profound portrait of marriage from the pages of Scripture that neither idealizes nor rejects the institution but points us back to the relationship between God and man. The result is a vision for marriage that is refreshingly frank and unsentimental, yet hopeful and beautiful. This six-session video Bible study is for anyone from singles to couples considering marriage to those who have been married recently or for a long time.
The six sessions are:
*The Secret of Marriage
*The Essence of Marriage
*The Mission of Marriage
*Embracing the Other
*Singleness and Marriage
*Sex and Marriage -
Pray For The Flock
$12.99Add to cartBrothers, pray for us. (1 Thessalonians 5:25). The Apostle Paul s letters are filled with references to prayer requests for prayer from the churches, prayers for them, and teaching and encouragement that God was working through these prayers. Pastors and church leaders know that prayer is powerful and it must be a priority in any ministry, yet many pastors struggle to maintain an active prayer life. Ever more difficult is the challenge of praying for the flock, lifting up the needs of the people God has placed in your care.
The Practical Shepherding series of guides provides pastors and ministry leaders with practical help to do the work of pastoral ministry in a local church. In Pray for the Flock, pastors Brian Croft and Ryan Fullerton provide biblical encouragement, practical advice, and helpful suggestions that will help busy pastors effectively pray for their people and care for their church through the ministry of intercession.”
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Counterfeit Christianity : The Persistence Of Errors In The Church
$21.99Add to cartHistoric heresies didn’t die or fade away. Each generation boasts its own. Even while these counterfeit teachings remain outside the accepted bounds of Christianity, modern-day versions plague churches.So how does a church leader or pastor understand and deal with these age-old controversies when they pop up in the congregation? In this book, Roger Olson describes the curses but also gifts that heresies bring the Church. While heresies can occasionally correct a version of orthodoxy, they are not simple confusions or misunderstandings about impenetrable mysteries of divine revelation. Instead they undermine the faith and are dangerous distortions. The author describes major heresies and how the church dealt with them, the players, and what pastors can do to address these faith issues in order to educate congregations about Jesus, God, and salvation. Also included are questions for individual or group study.
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Gratitude Path : Leadng Your Church To Generosity
$17.99Add to cartFinancial giving is down in local Protestant churches across the nation, and small to medium size churches especially feel the impact of this decline. The Gratitude Path provides practical, no-nonsense help for pastors and church leaders, equipping them to teach about finance and stewardship from a Biblical perspective. This book demonstrates a proven, step-by-step, achievable approach. It helps churches move away from complex stewardship models that can overwhelm church leadership, and outdated, budget-centric stewardship models, which no longer resonate with people, and offers a fresh alternative: A simpler, Christ-centered model that promotes spiritual health for the congregant and for the local church.
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Oversee Gods People
$12.99Add to cartThe Bible gives instruction to those called to church leadership, challenging them to shepherd God s people by exercising oversight. But what does that mean? And how is it done in a way that is faithful to God and effective in enabling growth, individually and corporately?
The Practical Shepherding series of guides provides pastors and ministry leaders with practical help to do the work of pastoral ministry in a local church. In Oversee God s People, pastors Brian Croft and Bryce Butler unpack what the Bible teaches about administration and the necessity of delegation in congregational leadership, offering practical suggestions to improve the structures, process, and relationships among leaders in your church.”
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Voices From The Hospice
$27.00Add to cartHospice chaplain Bob Whorton takes us deep into the human experience of suffering and waiting. Framed as a train journey, we are invited to travel through various stations and stop for a while in many different station waiting rooms. The counter-cultural message is that there are difficult situations in our lives which we cannot escape from and must be lived; there are no short-cuts, and the stations must be travelled through one by one. However, in following this path we will find a new orientation to life, and we will find ourselves mirroring the way of Christ. In these pages we listen to the voices of patients and family members in a hospice; they become our teachers. And we listen also to the ancient voice of the psalmist who was well versed in the ways of suffering love.
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Pauls Theology Of Preaching
$44.99Add to cartList Of Excurses
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part One: Greco-Roman Rhetoric
1 The Beginnings
2 The Goal Of Rhetoric
3 The Power Of Rhetoric
4 The Reach Of Rhetoric
5 The Genius Of Rhetoric
6 The Appraisal Of Rhetoric
7 The Hazards Of Rhetoric
8 The Rewards Of Rhetoric
9 The Grand Equation Of RhetoricPart Two: 1 Corinthians 1-4
10 Paul And Rhetoric In Corinth
11 The Setting Of 1 Corinthians 1-4
12 Paul’s Argument Introduced: 1 Corinthians 1:1-17
13 Paul’s Argument Begun: 1 Corinthians 1:17-20
14 Paul’s Argument Encapsulated: 1 Corinthians 1:21
15 Paul’s Argument Continued: 1 Corinthians 1:22-2:5
16 Paul’s Argument Completed: 1 Corinthians 2:6-4:21Part Three: Summary And Analysis
17 Paul’s Ministry Model
18 Final Questions
19 Appropriate StrategiesConclusion: The Pauline Model
Appendix One: Paul, Apollos And Philo
Appendix Two: The Book Of Acts
Appendix Three: Paul’s Epistemology
Appendix Four: Implications For Preaching
Appendix Five: Broader Implications
Works Cited
Author Index
Scripture IndexAdditional Info
Duane Litfin, former president of Wheaton College, explores how Paul’s theology of preaching can inform the church’s preaching today. Through a detailed study of 1 Corinthians 1-4, Litfin shows how Paul’s method of proclamation differed from Greco-Roman rhetoric and how Pauline preaching can be a model for the contemporary preaching task. -
Volunteer Church : Mobilizing Your Congregation For Growth And Effectivenes
$24.99Add to cartWorking with volunteers can be a rewarding and exciting experience-for them as well as for those who recruit, train, and maintain their services. However, if church leaders are honest, they know there are times that it can be frustrating. They know that volunteers are essential, vital to creating growth and new ministries, and are the key to introducing youth and children to Jesus Christ. They have the welcoming smiles at the door, they serve the food, pray for needs, stuff bulletins, organize missions trips, and on and on. If they want to see their church grow, it must be a volunteering church, a church that runs on volunteers. The Volunteer Church was developed out of the ministry of Leith Anderson at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, where a vital and vibrant volunteer program boasting 4,000 participants grew under the leadership of Jill Fox. The principles and training have been applied in churches of all sizes and denominations in seminar settings across the country as well as at Wooddale Church. In The Volunteer Church, leaders will Learn how to effectively recruit and train volunteers Discover how to build sustainable, long-lasting ministries led by volunteers Find methods for encouraging and maintaining your volunteers for success Know how to build teams of volunteers Understand how to find the right service that fits a willing volunteer If you lead a church and are exhausted by the lack of volunteer help, or if you are a volunteer and dream of adding numbers to your team, this book is for you. If you are on a church staff and know that a new ministry is needed but volunteers and training are required to make it happen, here you will find the resources to recruit, inspire, train, and maintain the church’s most vital workforce.
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Ferguson And Faith
$19.99Add to cart1. Just Protest This By Prayer!
2. Praying With Their Feet
3. Not Looking Away
4. Jesus Is In The Streets!
5. Where Have All The Leaders Gone?
6. This Is What Theology Looks Like
7. Why Are Your Doors Open To Us?
8. There Is A Ferguson Near You
9. Standing On The Side Of Love
10. #staywokeAdditional Info
The shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, reignited a long-smoldering movement for justice, with many St. Louis-area clergy stepping up to support the emerging young leaders of today’s Civil Rights Movement. Seminary professor Leah Gunning Francis was among the activists, and her interviews with more than two dozen faith leaders and with the new movement’s organizers take us behind the scenes of the continuing protests. Ferguson and Faith demonstrates that being called to lead a faithful life can take us to places we never expected to go, with people who never expected us to join hands with them. Ferguson and Faith: Sparking Leadership and Awakening Community is the first book from the partnership of the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) and Chalice Press. -
Focusing Your Church Board
$11.99Add to cartChurch boards are often the scene of confusion, conflict, and chaos. What’s the job of a board? What’s the role of the pastor in relation to the board? Should there be an elder board and an administrative board? Ted Hull’s use of illustrations and analogies bring these questions-and answers-into focus.
Ted first looks at the foundation of governance, both from a biblical and historic perspective. Then he introduces Policy Governance(R), often referred to as the Carver model, and confronts questions regarding whether this secular model can work in the church, or if it should even be allowed. He even argues for why a church board may not want to use Policy Governance.
When you’re done reading, you’ll never look at the role of a church board in the same way again. In fact, whether you’re a member of your church board or the board of any charity, you’ll find yourself reaching for this book more than once.
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Youth Ministry In The 21st Century (Reprinted)
$25.00Add to cartThere are many philosophies and strategies that drive today’s youth ministry. To most people, they are variations on a single goal: to make faithful disciples of young people. However, digging deeper into various programs, books, and concepts reveals substantive differences among approaches.
Bestselling author Chap Clark is one of the leading voices in youth ministry today. In this multiview work, he brings together a diverse group of leaders to present major views on youth ministry. Chapters are written in essay/response fashion by Fernando Arzola Jr., Greg Stier, Ron Hunter Jr., Brian Cosby, and Chap Clark. As the contributors present their views and respond to each of the other views, they discuss their task and calling, giving readers the resources they need to develop their own approach to youth ministry. Offering a model of critical thinking and respectful dialogue, this volume provides a balanced, irenic approach to a topic with which every church wrestles.
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God Of Justice
$20.99Add to cartThe level of injustice in the world is staggering. The church needs to respond. International Justice Mission (IJM) has worked with thousands of churches to help them live out the mandate of Isaiah 1:17: to seek justice, rescue the oppressed and care for orphans and widows. Christians need to be equipped and mobilized to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who are vulnerable and oppressed. The God of Justice is a twelve-sesson, discussion-based curriculum that explores the biblical narrative of justice throughout the whole of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. Through the participatory study of Scripture, Christians can explore God’s call to engage in bringing about justice on earth. Throughout the course of study, participants will come to a deeper knowledge and understanding of biblical justice and will draw personal application for the pursuit of justice ministry in their individual lives and the wider church. Prepare to have your heart and mind engaged, to be instructed by Scripture and challenged by real-life stories of people freed by the God of justice. This curriculum can help you and your church bring freedom, restoration and reconciliation to those in need. Discover how God reveals himself to those who join him on his justice journey!
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Psalm 2 KJV Preacher Edition
$39.99Add to cartThis eagerly anticipated volume of The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible(R) covers chapters 42-106 of the Psalms and is part two of a three-part series.
The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible(R) is much more than a commentary – it’s a comprehensive resource for expository and topical preaching.
Each volume organizes key points of Scripture passages in a systematic outline form, along with content synthesized from 200+ Bible commentaries, language sources, and reference works.
The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible(R) includes inspirational sermon points, practical life applications and dozens of supporting scriptures in every section.
This volume includes Psalms chapters 42-106 and contains Scripture printed in King James Version (KJV).
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Sacred Marriage Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$16.99Add to cartIn this six-session small group Bible study, Sacred Marriage, writer and speaker Gary Thomas invites you to see how God can use marriage as a discipline and a motivation to reflect more of the character of Jesus.
Your marriage is much more than a union between you and your spouse. It is a spiritual discipline ideally suited to help you know God more fully and intimately. Sacred Marriage shifts the focus from marital enrichment to spiritual enrichment in ways that can help you love your mate more. Whether it is delightful or difficult, your marriage can become a doorway to a closer walk with God.
Everything about your marriage-from the history you and your spouse create, to the love you share, to the forgiveness you both offer and seek by turn-is filled with the capacity to help you grow in Christ’s character.
In addition to life-changing insights, you’ll find a wealth of discussion questions in this Participant’s Guide that will spark meaningful conversation in your group, between you and your spouse, or to simply ponder by yourself. You’ll also find self-assessments, activities, and highlights all created to help you engage deeply and prayerfully with the content of this study. Designed for use with the Sacred Marriage DVD (sold separately).
Sessions include:
*God’s Purpose for Marriage
*The Refining Power of Marriage
*The God-Centered Spouse
*Sacred History
*Sexual Saints
*Marriage: The Love Laboratory -
Spent Matches : Igniting The Signal Fire For The Spiritually Dissatisfied
$22.99Add to cartSpent Matches explores the possibility that a few small paradigm shifts within the church might make the difference between extinction and effectiveness. In fact, taking a clue from the automobile industry, the church might be able to not only halt the rapid decay in attendance but also become an effective tool in achieving Jesus’ final command. For instance, the Hybrid car has become the answer to Detroit’s environmental and oil crisis issues. Finding the synergy between two technologies, gas and electric has created a new day for the auto industry. Likewise, Spent Matchesexplores how the church can find synergy between two seemingly competing thoughts: an invitation to come and a command to go. The Hybrid metaphor brings energy to the church’s mission and an explanation to the age-old argument of Missional versus Attractional methods.
Features include:
*Innovative ideas for growing the church
*Methods to reach those who may never have attended church
*Scripture passages that touch on the subject of church growth
