Pastoral Helps
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When Faith Is Tested
$17.99Add to cartWhen a religious caregiver visits a person who is suffering and dying or who is grieving a tragic death, questions arise concerning faith in God’s goodness and power.This book deals with the pastor’s preparation to deal with personal and cosmic issues of suffering and justice. Zurheide includes suggestions for conducting conversations with the dying.
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Martin Luthers Christmas Book
$11.99Add to cartThe pain of childbirth, a defenseless babe lying in a cold manger, the violent slaughter of innocent children—Luther vividly portrayed the human reality surrounding God’s birth on Earth. Featuring 30 excerpts from Luther’s Christmas sermons, along with elegant engravings by Durer, Schongauer, and Altdorfer, this gift edition captures the timeless truths of the Christmas story.
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Discussion And Lesson Starters
$24.99Add to cartContents
159 Pages In 4 Parts
Additional Info
More than 200 proven openers, questions, and activities that get students involved in your lessons!*A Primer On Leading Discussions-starting a discussion, and keeping it going…the importance of confidentiality…asking questions that get responses…and working with different personalities.
*35 creative ways to start a discussion or lesson on any topic—techniques general enough to fit just about any subject, but still quirky enough to attract adolescent attention.
*Discussion & lesson starters, by topic-what subject are you teaching this week? First, look up your subject-apologetics, attitude, dating, disabilities, family, the will of God…and more than 30 topics, all arranged alphabetically. Then choose the opener that fits your purposes and your group.In fact many of these openers are virtually complete lessons in themselves, with questions, activities, parables, object lesson-all designed to draw opinions, thoughts, and feelings from your students.
Whether you’re a youth worker or recreation director in a church, school, club, or camp—Discussion & Lesson Starters is your storehouse of proven, youth group tested ideas.
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Introduction To Pastoral Care
$34.99Add to cartWith 50 years of experience in the field of Christian counseling, Gerkin is eminently qualified to pen this introductory text on the art and science of pastoral care. With his emphasis on striking a balance between faith, culture, community, and individual well-being, Gerkin moves beyond conventional psychotherapeutic models. A memorable work and significant resource.
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Crisis In The Church
$29.95Add to cartDrawing on his wealth of experience as both a seminary professor and minister, John Leith identifies and confronts the contemporary crisis in theological education. He argues that the crisis in the seminaries is interwoven with the crisis in the church, and that the secularization of educational institutions has led seminaries to move away from their primary responsibility – preparing pastors for ministry.
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Sermon : Dancing The Edge Of Mystery
$22.99Add to cartThis introductory-level textbook offers an overview of the sermon. The reader will learn of the revolution in homiletics of the past 25 years, and will be helped to understand the sermon in terms of the movement of time, place, shape, space, conflict, complication, and the “sudden shift” of the text.
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How Long Is Gods Nose
$19.99Add to cartJust how long is God’s nose anyway? And why would that have anything to do with controlling your temper? Why are you better off owning a dog or a cat than a pet walrus? Is the Big Dipper just a constellation — or a story of compassion written in starlight? You’ll find the answers in this delightful collection of children’s sermons by storyteller John Timmer. Bible story and fairy tale, true life and myth — Timmer shares each in turn in ninety jewel-like messages that children ages 5- 9 will take to heart . . . and whose freshness and imagination youth workers, teachers, and parents will love.
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Called Out With
$29.00Add to cartHeterosexuals tell their stories of the struggle for sexual justice in their congregations and their worlds. Inspiring stories of how twenty-seven Presbyterians decided to stand for the inclusion of sexual minorities in the church. Each person’s story is a testament to the struggle to live out personal faith in a public world.
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Student Ministry For The 21 Century
$26.99Add to cartWhy settle for a “youth group” . . . . . . when you can build a dynamic student ministry that keeps more and more students coming — and keeps them growing! From the director of Student Impact, one of the country’s largest and most effective student ministries, here is a clear, step-by-step approach that takes you for a quantum leap beyond merely:
Maintaining a Youth Group . . . to Building a Student Ministry
Activity-driven . . . To purpose-driven
Unclear vision . . . To clear vision Inward focus
Content with the “clique” . . . To outward focus, compassion for lost people
Minimum growth . . . To consistent growth
Songs and games . . . To worship and prayer
Keeps the traditions . . . To evaluates for effectiveness
“Baby-sitting” . . . To impacting the world. -
More Welcome Speeches
$10.99Add to cartSome General Words Of Welcome
Welcome Speeches And Responses For Specific Occasions
Children’s Day
Youth Sunday
Mother’s Day
Father’s Day
Graduate Recognition Day
Deacon Ordination
Pastor Anniversary/Appreciation
Choir Day
Missions
For Christian Unity
Welcome Speeches Given By Children
So Glad
A Secret
Too Little
About To Start
Poetry And PrayersAdditional Info
Sample speeches and responses for a variety of special occasions are included in this book, along with appropriate Scripture verses. These samples reflect the ways we honor God in both celebration and meditation. Use them as a handle when you are asked to give a speech or a response. You will find speeches for Pastor Appreciation Day, Church Anniversary, Choir Anniversary or Appreciation Day, Usher Board Day, Women’s Day, Men’s Day, and more. Another section contains poetry and prayers for use in speeches or short devotionals. -
Living Alone
$28.00Add to cartThis series examines major changes that occur in the life cycle of a family: leaving home, becoming married, raising children, recommitting to a relationship–or committing to a new one–and living alone. Books address the major tasks of the family; rituals that enable effective transitions as those tasks change; beliefs and values from the Christian tradition that shape and are shaped by those family tasks; and pastoral opportunities in response to family life-cycle generations.
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Accountable Leadership : A Resource Guide For Sustaining Legal Financial An (Rev
$29.95Add to cartWith reports of financial impropriety and clergy misconduct making headlines, accountable leadership and sound management practices have become priority concerns in congregations of every faith. Accountable Leadership speaks to congregation leaders, both clergy and laity, and to individuals who love the worshiping community and seek the tools that can enable everyone in it to better care for one another.
This is a practical compAndium of resources for creating and managing a sound, effective, and fair congregation. This new edition has been extensively revised and updated to include contemporary topics such as disturbing trAnds in reduced giving, new church-state issues, clergy misconduct and troublesome members, and legal issues associated with the congregation’s role as employer and provider of pastoral counseling.
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Theology For Preaching
$28.99Add to cartThe heart of the postmodern mind-set is an awareness of the relativity of all human thought and action. In Theology for Preaching, three authors collaborate to discuss the implications for proclamation when the culture behaves as if all human thought and practices are relative. Tips for sermon composition and theme are proposed. Sample sermons are supplied to demonstrate awareness of the cultural shifts that make preaching a worthwhile challenge in a postmodern ethos.
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Clergy Killers : Guidance For Pastors And Congregation Under Attack
$30.00Add to cartIn a startling survey by Leadership, it was discovered that 23 percent of Protestant clergy have been fired at least once, and, even more significantly, 41 percent of congregations have fired at least two pastors. Rediger offers conflict management tactics for these “abusive” congregations.
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Contemporary Worship : A Sourcebook For Spirited Traditional Praise And See
$31.99Add to cartThis handbook contains everything a congregation needs in order to plan, launch, and stabilize contemporary worship services. Three formats for contemporary worship are shown: spirited-traditional, contemporary praise, and contemporary seeker (or outreach-oriented) services. The resources include sample formats, sample messages that are appropriate for the format, sample skits, interviews, or dramas, and a database of worship choruses that are appropriate to each of the three contemporary formats.
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Woman Battering
$18.00Add to cartThis is a comprehensive resource for pastoral care in response to the trauma of woman-battering. Theologically grounded and practically applied, Woman Battering is the perfect combination to equip pastors and pastoral counselors to minister with battered women and battering men.
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Graying Gracefully : Preaching To Older Adults
$26.00Add to cartWhen pastors look out over their congregations, there’s a good chance that they see a lot of gray hair. This book gives practical instruction and examples of biblical and theological sermons to this growing population, enabling the preacher to proclaim the gospel more clearly for older adults. Covering topics from biblical and historical views of age to older adults’ need for social justice, each chapter concentrates on the practical issues for preaching to this group and contains a sermon to illustrate the application of the principles discussed.
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Learning Congregation : A New Vision Of Leadership
$25.00Add to cartCongregations today face an adaptive challenge of immense proportions. Many respond with classic signs of work avoidance: holding to past assumptions and blaming authority. Thomas Hawkins’s new vision of church leadership can provide a way to break through these defensive routines. The Learning Congregation is a must read for all pastors and church leaders.
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Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series 5 Cycle C
$42.95Add to cartBigger, stronger, better! Russell Anderson has taken the most original and successful lectionary resource in history and improved on it. He has kept all of the traditional features that have made it a classic, such as: overviews of each liturgical season, commentaries compatible with the Revised Common, Roman Catholic and Episcopal lectionaries, and introduction to the featured Gospel narrator (Luke, in Cycle C), theological reflections for exploring the relationships between the texts, wide margins for note-taking and a stay-flat binding.
Instead of stopping there, though, he added: a 7″ x 10″ one-size-fits-all format, a suggested sermon title for each week, a Sermon Angle which briefly explicates the theological theme for the day (sometimes providing two or three of them) and two to four illustrative stories per chapter.
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Deep Joy For A Shallow World Cycle C
$15.95Add to cartFor those of you who have come here feeling lost, I have good news for you. For those of you who have come here willing to get lost, I have even better news. The good news is “fear not.” The God we worship specializes in finding lost people. (from Chapter 2)
I would like to invite you to do the most difficult thing that can he asked of our culture, and that is to do nothing. I invite you to approach this night with open hands and hearts and do nothing. (from Chapter 5, Christmas Eve)
I bring you good news of deep joy in a shallow world. No matter how many fears and failures you bring to this place … no matter how difficult it has been to get through an average day … no matter what … God is leading us to deep joy that is eternal in a world that is focused on entertainment. (from Chapter 10)
Dr. Richard Wing captures the listener’s attention from the opening line in each of his sermons. But it doesn’t end there. His gripping messages continue to lift and inspire as he brings new depth of understanding to old texts.
Sermon titles include:
Made New By Interior Design — Luke 21:25-36, Advent 1
Made New By Getting Lost — Luke 3:1-6, Advent 2
Made New By Taking A Different Road Home — Luke 1:39-45, Advent 4
Yours For The Asking — Luke 2:1-20, Christmas Eve/Day
Living By The Calendar Instead Of The Clock — Luke 2:41-52, Christmas 1
Is It Better To Catch Or Be Caught? — Luke 5:1-11, Epiphany 5
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Grief Transition And Loss
$17.99Add to cartIn Grief, Transition, and Loss, author Wayne Oates calls Christian caregivers to the task of attending to people facing moments of emergency and crisis. Throughout the book Oates draws on his own experiences of loss, and his extensive work with grieving people to build a theological and biblical understanding of the ways in which people encounter challenging times. The book covers a variety of losses–illness, death, separation and divorce, and even a range of work related issues–with sensitivity and grace, and equips caregivers with the tools needed to respond in helpful and lifegiving ways.
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Preaching From The Pew
$21.00Add to cartIn this deeply spiritual and prophetic collection of sermons, meditations, and prayers, Pat Brown takes the reader on a personal journey into and out of some of the most critical challenges facing the church in these turbulent and confusing times. She unveils her story of God’s handiwork in shaping her life as a child of the Reformed tradition and as the mother of a special needs son. In a time when the call for justice withers on the vine as the church struggles with itself, this book is required reading for every perplexed servant of Jesus Christ.
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Counseling African American Marriages And Families
$29.95Add to cartCounseling African American Marriages and Families Each volume in this series focuses on practical ways to respond to a serious and difficult pastoral concern within clinical and congregational settings. Offering fresh insights from pastoral theology, each volume integrates the most up to date information in psychology and the human sciences. All the authors write out of firsthand counseling experiences as well as the most recent research on their topics. The result is an invaluable series for counselors and pastors who regularly face tough issues as they offer care to clients and congregants. Others in the Series: 4256678, Counseling Depressed Women 425666X, Counseling People with Cancer 4256546, Counseling Troubled Youth
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Connecting To God
$23.00Add to cartAlthough spiritual growth occurs within an individual, Ware explains that it is the calling of the congregation to be a community of support and encouragement. Indeed, it is amidst the support of a group that an individual learns how to live out personal faith. Ware provides a very practical and accessible model of spiritual formation for self-directing groups that can be led by clergy or laity. Includes thorough guidelines, do’s and don’ts, and ground rules for the successful pursuit of spiritual growth in small groups. See also Ware’s helpful book on spiritual type on next page.
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Good Time To Be The Church
$10.00Add to cart“A good time to be the church is right now,” declares Bishop H. George Anderson. Rather than lamenting the lost influence of the church or dreaming of some golden age, Christians can see the spiritual hunger of our time as a special opportunity to speak and act boldly. Solidly grounded in the Bible and Christian history, and keenly aware of contemporary issues, the Lutheran bishop identifies Christian truths that are especially needed in our time. He recalls his own spiritual journey and encourages readers to tell their faith stories. In an engaging question-and- answer format, Anderson helps readers clarify their own beliefs and discover ways to share the Christian faith with others. With questions for reflection and discussion, along with suggested prayers and hymns, this book is a stimulating study guide for congregations, church councils, evangelism committees, and other Christian groups.
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Models For Christian Higher Education A Print On Demand Title
$43.99Add to cartThis timely look at the state of Christian higher education in America contains descriptive, historical narratives that explore how fourteen Christian colleges and universities are successfully integrating faith and learning on their campuses despite the challenges posed by the increasingly pluralistic nature of modern culture. Written by respected representatives from seven major faith traditions – Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Mennonite, Evangelical, Wesleyan/Holiness, and Baptist/Restorationist – these narratives are also preceded by introductory essays that define the worldview and theological heritage of each given tradition and ask what that tradition can contribute to the task of higher education.
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Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit Series 2 Cycle C
$12.95Add to cartReaders will find 53 gripping stories that will amplify and illustrate the scriptural text for the lectionary for each Sunday. Many are adaptations from literature, while others are original.
Preachers will use this resource to hold their listeners’ attention and help them understand the text. Many others will read it for their own inspiration.
A topical and scriptural index at the back of the book will further aid preachers in using this resource for preaching and public speaking. The index covers subjects from “advice” to “work.”
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In The Carpenters Workshop 1
$13.95Add to cartAs a seminary student Jerry Eckert listened to his seminary professor, Dr. W.J.A. Power, encourage his students to realize how much of scripture is story. “Let that reality enter your preaching,” he instructed them.
Jerry Eckert became a master storyteller and began writing church members’ voices into his story sermons. The result of this involvement on the part of the congregation became a source of joy and fascination to both young and old at “sermon time.”
Have you tried preaching story sermons? If you are interested in learning more ways in which this preaching style can be used, this book will become the most useful resource in your library.
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Its A Matter Of Faith And Life 3
$21.95Add to cartThis book, one of a three-part series, is a narrative reflection on Dr. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. Its uses are many:
A companion guide for catechism classes.
A manual for new adult member classes.
A preaching resource.
Inspirational reading for those who want to know more about the faith-life of a Christian.The book began as a video series broadcast on the Michigan City, Indiana, cable system. The series was also used in the catechetical instruction of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Michigan City, where Dr. Albertin is pastor.
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Its A Matter Of Faith And Life 2
$29.95Add to cartThis book, one of a three-part series, is a narrative reflection on Dr. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. Its uses are many:
A companion guide for catechism classes.
A manual for new adult member classes.
A preaching resource.
Inspirational reading for those who want to know more about the faith-life of a Christian.The book began as a video series broadcast on the Michigan City, Indiana, cable system. The series was also used in the catechetical instruction of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Michigan City, where Dr. Albertin is pastor.
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Its A Matter Of Faith And Life 1
$23.95Add to cartThis book, one of a three-part series, is a narrative reflection on Dr. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. Its uses are many:
A companion guide for catechism classes.
A manual for new adult member classes.
A preaching resource.
Inspirational reading for those who want to know more about the faith-life of a Christian.The book began as a video series broadcast on the Michigan City, Indiana, cable system. The series was also used in the catechetical instruction of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Michigan City, where Dr. Albertin is a pastor.
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12 Keys To An Effective Church (Teacher’s Guide)
$25.00Add to cartIn this indispensable companion volume to Twelve Keys to an Effective Church, Kennon Callahan offers a practical, step-by-step guide for the most productive long-range planning. This guide will help both pastors and church leaders assess the strengths and weaknesses of their churches in 12 areas — ranging from specific mission objectives to solid financial resources — and shows leaders how to determine which methods will work best to advance their church and move their congregations toward action, accomplishment, and success.
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Interventionist
$27.99Add to cartThe most effective way to influence both individual and institutional behavior is to ask questions. The Interventionist provides a conceptual framework for asking questions about congregations, and it classifies various syndromes that prevent a church from making the changes that are needed for new life. It will help church leaders find a good match between the needs of the congregations and the gifts, skills, experience, personality, leadership style, and priorities of the candidate. The book is also a productive guide for the trained, career interim minister who comes purposely for six to twenty-four months to sort out the issues and syndromes that plague a congregation.
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Preaching As Local Theology And Folk Art
$27.00Add to cartGood preaching not only requires its practitioners to become skilled biblical exegetes. It also requires them to become adept in “exegeting” local congregations and their contexts, so that they can proclaim the gospel in relevant and transformative ways for particular communities of faith. Unfortunately, however, homiletical texts and courses have not always attended as carefully or thoughtfully to the exegesis of contexts as they have to the exegesis of the texts. While preachers have been provided with detailed methods for biblical interpretation, congregational interpretation has frequently been left to the intuition and hunches of the local pastor. This book seeks to correct that imbalance.
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Preaching As A Theological Task
$37.00Add to cartHow do particular world situations impact preaching? How does a preacher use the gospel and Scripture to speak to those situations? This volume, in honor of homiletician David Buttrick, explores the complex and important relationships between world, gospel, and Scripture and their relevance for preaching theology.This book is for those seeking thoughtful and challenging new ways to approach the preaching task now and into the twenty-first century.
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Preaching Proverbs : Wisdom For The Pulpit
$28.00Add to cartProverbs abound in contemporary culture and in biblical texts. But surprisingly, the use of proverbial wisdom is conspicuously absent in the contemporary pulpit. Alyce McKenzie offers preachers an effective way to reclaim proverbs in preaching, highlights their usefulness in contemporary situations, and demonstrates their ability to confirm (or subvert) the status quo.
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Wrestling With The Patriarchs
$21.99Add to cartThe voices of women in religious history are examined. Practical exercises and strategies, along with a six-session educational program, are offered for women clergy in general, for women preachers in particular, and for congregations as a whole. All of these focus on reclaiming women’s voices in the church and infusing the proclamation of God’s word with their individual, unique styles.
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10 Habits For Effective Ministry
$10.75Add to cartMany pastors are stressed out, discouraged, and tempted to leave the ministry. Erdahl identifies 10 lifetime habits that can improve your effectiveness, including how to be lifelong learners, respect boundaries, encourage spiritual gifts, bond with your people, live by grace, and exercise pastoral/prophetic leadership.
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Healing Homiletic : Preaching And Disability
$23.99Add to cartIn A Healing Homiletic: Preaching and Disability, Kathy Black offers a unique and effective approach for preaching about disabilities. By going to the heart of the gospel and drawing on the healing narratives or miracle stories, Black shows how preaching affects the inclusion or exclusion of forty-three million persons with disabilities from our faith communities. A Healing Homiletic provides a new method of preaching about healing, based on Scripture, for understanding the needs of the disability community.
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Victims And Sinners
$40.00Add to cartMore than one million Americans participate in nearly 50,000 Alcoholics Anonymous groups in America. Addiction recovery groups such as A.A. often rely on religious themes in their work, offering a form of spirituality as a way to deal with life’s problems. Many recovery groups borrow selectively from theology because the full Christian doctrine of sin can be alienating for those in recovery. Linda Mercadante offers a theological critique of addiction recovery programs and proposes an alternate view of addiction that avoids both excessive blame and excessive victimization. This book is for pastoral counselors, clergy, laypersons, and recovery group members wanting to reassess addiction recovery from a theological perspective. It offers a wake-up call to the church to take seriously the need to establish recovery groups and to construct a language for better dialogue.
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Making Of A Leader
$23.99Add to cartHistory shows us: nations rise and fall according to how effective their leaders are. Frank Damazio tells us: so do churches! In The Making of a Leader, Damazio provides a deep discussion of what it means to be responsible for a group of “followers.” He explains the philosophy, history, qualifications, preparation, and practice of Christian leadership—and equips you to rise above the evil forces competing for lost souls.
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Joy Of Living
$18.99Add to cartManufactured On Demand Title
The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Philippi in order to help “make their joy complete.” In this practical exposition of the letter to the Philippians, J. Dwight Pentecost helps the reader discover a joy that transcends any circumstance and a contentment that is greater than any trial.
Dr. Pentecost observes that “knowing Christ, walking in fellowship with Him, and being obedient to Him floods the life and heart and mind of the apostle Paul with an incomparable joy…so that in Christ he has found perfect rest, satisfaction, and contentment.”
This commentary on the English text can be used for personal Bible study of sermon preparation. Helpful study and review questions are included at the end of each chapter. Some of the topics included are the antidote for worry, the secret of contentment, and the way to find joy in the midst of suffering.
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Pitfalls In Preaching A Print On Demand Title
$21.99Add to cartThis is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.
This informal yet substantive guidebook is designed to help clergy and pastors identify and avoid the major pitfalls that plague the preaching task. Richard Eslinger discusses with insight, humor, and concision what he sees as the most critical pitfalls in the various contexts of preaching and offers practical strategies for avoiding them. His book is also studded with highlighted quotations, pertinent references to a wide range of homiletical thinkers and concepts, boxed hints and suggestions, and brief bibliographies.
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Competent To Minister
$13.00Add to cartMartin and Deidre Bobgan’s book Against Biblical Counseling drew some hostile responses from those who perceived it as critical of counseling from the Scriptures. This resource clarifies their position on that issue. From the back cover: Competent to Minister answers such questions as:
What can believers do to help individuals suffering from problems of living?
What should churches so for suffering souls?
What did the church do for almost 2000 years without psychological counseling?
What did the church do without the biblical counseling movement, which began about 25 years ago?This book calls Christians back to the Bible and to the biblically ordained ministries and mutual care in the Body of Christ that have effectively cared for souls for almost 2000 years.
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Wild Truth Bible Lesson
$19.99Add to cartReady to introduce your junior highers to wild examples of spiritual maturity? Check out biblical adventures of these people and the character qualities they exemplify — real people who, in wild Bible stories, did really wild things for God: – Kid King . . . Josiah (influencing others) – Wise Guy, the King of Good Decisions . . . Solomon (wise decisions) – Little Timmy, the Teenage Teacher . . . Timothy (living for God while still a young teen) – Dave’s posse . . . David’s mighty men (doing outrageous things for God) – Whiney Bro, the Fair-Share Demander . . . the Prodigal Son’s brother (demanding your rights) – Moe’s Mom, the Cruise Director . . . Moses’ mother (trusting God in difficult situations) – Pete, the Second-Chance Wonder . . . Peter (God’s forgiveness) – Samantha, the Water Woman . . . the woman at the well (racism). You won’t believe all the off-the-wall discussion starters, video ideas, scripts, games with a point — and, of course, Bible passages you can use to springboard junior highers into topics that don’t just mean the world to them, but are the world. Friendship. Embarrassment. Rights. Racism. Each lesson reaches back into history to underline for junior highers the reality of Old and New Testament people and principles — and then reaches forward, challenging your students to make better decisions, better friends, better lives. Each lesson thoroughly preps you to teach it, including convenient reminders of what materials you need and when you need them. And in each lesson students dig into Wild Pages that bring scriptural principles right into the kids’ own experience.
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Threat Of Life
$24.00Add to cartThese twenty-two sermons from a master interpreter demonstrate how ancient texts can speak to the whole gamut of human experience even now. Included in Walter Brueggemann’s purview are keen observations about the timeless issues of human life, both personal and social: the pain we face, often inflicted on each other; the use and abuse of power; the weakness and fragility of life; the redemptive power of faith; and much more.
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African American Special Days
$16.99Add to cart15 Chapters
Additional Info
By blending the traditional elements of the worship service with African American culture, Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan provides a practical resource for planning those special Sundays that congregations celebrate throughout the year. African American Special Days contain fifteen services for special occasions, including:Children and Youth Days
Sunday School, Graduation, and Promotion Days
Homecoming and Family Reunions
Mother’s and Father’s Days
Women’s and Men’s Days
Pastor’s Appreciation Day
Officers’ Rededication Day
Board and Auxiliary Days
Choir Anniversary
Black History Celebration -
How To Speak To Youth And Keep Them Awake At The Same Time
$19.99Add to cartSpeaking to youth is challenging. Here’s the help you’ve been looking for. . . . How to Speak to Youth is packed with tons of tips to make you a better speaker with any size group large or small.
You’ll enhance your communication skills with – A proven system for preparing dynamic talks – Exercises to improve your voice, gestures, and eye contact – Techniques to use the humor you find in everyday life – Ideas to make Scriptures come alive. And you’ll discover ways to- Prepare with focus – Speak with clarity – Communicate with power. Plus, you’ll enjoy the many humorous illustrations peppered throughout the book. You’ll discover your potential to speak to kids and keep them awake at the same time. -
Preparing For Christian Ministry (Limited)
$32.00Add to cartStudents preparing for vocational ministry in seminaries and colleges encounter unique challenges and opportunities. Preparing for Christian Ministry assists students by providing seasoned advice from professors on a variety of themes: the call and transition into ministry training, personal and professional developmental issues, the tasks of ministry, and contemporary social and ethical issues.
This text was written by former and current professors at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary who were commissioned to write articles in their area of expertise that would be appropriate for use in the seminary’s first-year “Formation for Christian Ministry” classes.
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Fundamentals Of Preaching (Reprinted)
$39.00Add to cartCompletely rewritten! “Absolutely superb, it is comprehensive, balanced, and substantive and will be helpful both to neophytes and veterans who wish to increase their effectiveness,”—Theology Today. Covers visualizing the listener, brainstorming, keeping the catnapper awake, and lots more.
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Gods Paintbrush Teachers Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$8.95Add to cartMulticultural, Nondenominational, Nonsectarian
Includes steps for exploring the book’s theological foundations with students from kindergarten through Grade 4 and above. Lesson plans, classroom activities, and more.Contributors: Renee Frank Holtz, Elizabeth McMahon Jeep, Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Rabbi Jeffrey L. Schein, Alice Weinstein.
About God’s Paintbrush
Through fantasy, involvement and the imagination, God’s Paintbrush invites children of all faiths and backgrounds to encounter God openly through moments in their own lives-and helps the adults who love them to be a part of that interactive encounter. This book provides a gift of images that nurture and encourage children in making meaning of their world. -
Being Church Becoming Community
$24.00Add to cartJohn Buchanan, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, challenges the church to have an impact on the community at large. Drawing from his experience at Fourth Presbyterian, he explores the specific ways the church intersects the life of the community. He vigorously affirms the Reformed tradition’s unique strengths and heritage, as well as its ongoing relevance in today’s world. To Buchanan, mainline churches have an obligation to be in the world, and their effectiveness requires that they not abandon their traditions. Churches need to steer a course that allows them both the ability to maintain a singular way in the world and a creative response to questions of meaning, hope, vocation, and values.
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Partners In Prayer
$14.99Add to cartForeword By Max Lucado.
1. Unleashing The Potential Of Prayer.
2. Getting To Know Your Father
3. Developing Practical Prayer Skiffs
4. Avoiding Personal Prayer Killers
5. Expanding Your Prayer Focus
6. Protecting And Partnering With Your Pastors
7. Praying Your Church To Its Potential
8. Organizing A Prayer Partner Team:
Afterword: Anticipating RevivalSpecial Section: Releasing God’s Power Through Fasting By Bill Bright
Appendices: How To Start A Prayer Partner Ministry In Your Home Church
A: Planning Your Prayer Partner Retreat
B: Preparing Prayer Partner Breakfasts
C: Creating Prayer Partner Guides And LettersAbout The Author P. 179
Additional Info
“John, I believe God has called me–a layrnan–to disciple, encourage, and pray for pastors. And the reason I came here today is so that I could pray for you.”With those words, respected leader, speaker, and author John Maxwell saw his agenda replaced by God’s agenda. The stranger who felt God’s calling to pray for this pastor fulfilled a need in Maxwell that he didn’t even know he had–and fourteen years later, the results are evident at the 3,500 member Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, California.
Partners in Prayer, the first book in the John Maxwell Church Resources series, shows church leaders and lay people how to unleash the potential of prayer on behalf of themselves, one another, and the church. If your church–or private devotional life–is starving in the area of prayer and you want to tap into the power and protection prayer provides, Maxwell gives practical insight into
–the fundamentals of prayer
–improving personal prayer life
–praying for others, including church leaders
–building a prayer partners ministry in the local church
–encouraging prayer revival nationwide
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* Are you missing out on God’s gift and blessing of prayer? Is there someone you know who would benefit from your committed prayers on their behalf. Despite God’s promise of the power of prayer to change our world, many of us never experience it. John Maxwell shows you how to strengthen your prayer life and reap the benefits awaiting those who become Partners in Prayer. -
Effective Pastor : A Guide To Successful Ministry
$19.00Add to cartThis is a comprehensive introduction into the life and role of the parish pastor. It is a very helpful guide for the newly ordained clergy as well as for experienced pastors looking for guidance, practical wisodm, and renewal. He offers advise and examples on honing personal skills administration, pastoral care, Christian education, continuing education, and many more.
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Handbook For Counseling Youth
$29.99Add to cart50 Chapters
Additional Info
A Comprehensive, Up-to-Date Resource for the 50 Major Issues Facing Today’s YouthIn the work of a lifetime, Josh McDowell and his collaborator Bob Hostetler have developed this easy-to-use handbook to help parents, teachers, pastors and youth workers guide today’s young people through the minefields on the path to adulthood. Drawn from over 6,000 pages of research, this book will equip you to help youth cope with the major issues they face, from simple challenges of growing up to the major traumas of extreme crisis.
The book is designed for easy use. Each issue is organized to lead you through the helping process in five easy steps for effective analysis and results:
1. identify the problem, 2. discover its causes, 3. determine its effects, 4. view it from a biblical perspective, and 5. prescribe the right response.
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Creative Bible Lessons In Romans
$16.99Add to cartThink of it as a lean, mean Bible doctrine course–without the lecture. But with lots of options, videos, music, and drama. And small group work. And reproducible, interactive worksheets with eye-catching designs and soul-searching content. (Like, what else do you expect from St. Paul when he sits down to write the meatiest book of doctrine in the Bible?) in the 12 clear, complete sessions of Creative Bible Lessons in Romans. Author Chap Clark guides kids (and you) through the Big Ideas in this first-century letter to Christians trying their darndest to live godly lives in an ungodly culture. (Sound familiar?) From the not-so-savory picture the apostle paints of humankind in the opening chapters. . .through his celebration of grace and acceptance in midbook. . .to his tightly reasoned argument that love should fuel a Christian’s decisions and relationships–here are topics made to order for teenagers living at the turn of the 21st century. Teach your way through Romans with these read-to-go sessions. Or scavenge whatever you want of the creative scripts, handouts, and other options to customize lessons of your own. Any way you use it, Creative Bible Lessons in Romans is your no-doze ticket to solid Bible doctrine.
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Through The Eyes Of Women
$39.00Add to cartThis insightful sourcebook covers a range of pastoral care topics including the role of women in pastoral theology and pastoral care, care of African American women and women entering ministry, as well as issues from a range of women’s experiences such as anger, aggression, loss of mothers, eating disorders, hysterectomy, mastectomy, rape, and older women’s issues. Transformative essays on women’s spiritual care, community, self-sacrifice, and self-denial conclude this collaborative work.
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In Search Of The Unchurched
$23.00Add to cartWhat’s working and not working in your congregation? You’ll explore the factors that inspired and motivated changes to reverse decline as other congregations wrestled with the same issues you’re facing: ministry to current members, ministry to the unchurched, worship, changing neighborhoods, and more.
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Spontaneous Melodramas : 24 Impromptu Skits That Bring Bible Stories To Lif
$24.99Add to cartYou know them as hilarious, boisterous skits that get kids involved, whether they’re hamming up front, or in the audience cheering for the good guys, hissing the bad guys, and getting nearly as animated as the onstage actors.
Better yet, these no-rehearsal skits are comic takes on 24 of the classic Bible stories, from Babel to Zacchaeus. Use these skits to take your students into or out of your Bible lesson-for the humor never buries the central message of the Bible passage.
Inside you’ll find 12 Old Testament and 12 New Testament stories-like these:
*The First Tongue Twister (The Tower Of Babel)
*Josephine’s Dream (Joseph And His Brothers)
*The Young And The Hairless (Samson And Delilah)
*Dave, The Wave, And The Giant Kahuna (David And Goliath)
*Dances With Lions (Daniel)
*World Serious: The Empire Strikes Out (The Temptation Of Jesus)
*Good Same, The Levis, And Judas Priest (Parable Of The Good Samaritan)
*Showdown At Tombstone (Jesus And The Demon-Possessed Man)unchurched teenagers who can’t tell Samson from Solomon, or long-time youth group kids-everyone will love not merely hearing or reading Bible stories, but doing them.
Welcome to more than a year’s worth of slapstick, pratfalls, and melodrama. These Bible-story skits are anything but solemn, but they’ll make Bible stories memorable for your students.
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21 Century Pastor
$24.99Add to cartThe third millennium. It’s a time of tremendous opportunity for the church–and tremendous challenge. More than ever, pastors need a model for ministry that can equip them for the rigors of a restless, increasingly secularized culture. In the 21st Century Pastor, David Fisher explores the apostle Paul’s concept of ministry to offer a paradigm that is both biblical and relevant. Paul’s view is fleshed out with examples from Fisher’s own twenty-five years of pastoral experience, presenting a roadmap for today’s pastor that is scholarly, practical, dynamic, and inspiring. The 21st Century Pastor first addressees crucial issues of pastoral identity, the significance of geography, time, and ecclesiology. It then explores Paul’s metaphors for ministry (jars of clay, farmers and builders, servants and stewards, and others) to reveal an accurate portrait of an effective, biblical pastor–the kind who will speak to the heart of modern culture rather than languish on its fringes. Filling the rare role of a pastor to pastors, Fisher’s sage insights help pastors answer their own identity questions, empowering them to minister to a deeply needy society. Says Fisher, “Pastors who know what time it is will, in the name and power of God, create communities of faith where the values of the Gospel are embraced, taught, and lived out.”
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Managing The Congregation
$38.99Add to cartIn this third volume of their trilogy, Shawchuck and Heuser focus on the relationships and processes common to the religious congregation. Their emphasis is on the identification and maximization of effective processes within church structures.
Key Features: Detailed analysis of the congregation as a network of systems and relationships; Explores four areas of potential transformation for the congregation: mission, spiritual formation, relationship with people, and structures of ministry; Comprehensive format ideal for pastors and seminary students.
Key Benefits: Identifying systems and relationships within the congregation enables church leaders to be intentional and structured in their approach to change; Emphasizes the concept of the “Continuous Improvement Project,” which helps leaders to understand the on-going nature of organizational transformation; Contributes to our understanding of how to design, implement, or change systems within the congregation in order to enhance the effectiveness of ministry.
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10 Strategies For Preaching In A Multi Media Culture
$21.99Add to cartIn Ten Strategies for Preaching, the author, Thomas H. Troeger, surveys how evolving forms of communications over the centuries have shaped presentation of the gospel. He then provides an in-depth analysis of ten strategies for creating sermons that effectively deliver the Word in an age of mass media and computerization. 125 page softcover from Abingdon Press
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What If : 450 Thought Provoking Questions To Get Teenagers Talking Laughing
$22.99Add to cartHow will your kids answer these provocative questions? What if. . .you could talk to you family about anything? . . .you could have one superhuman power? . . .you could grade your teacher? . . .You found out your best friend had AIDS? . . .you could exchange bodies with anyone? . . .you could ask God three questions? Their answer will spark lively discussion, debate, and real thinking. You can use the 450 stimulating questions you’ll find in What If. . .? to break the ice, get a discussion rolling, build community, get kids to wrestle with spiritual issues, or just have fun. The follow-up questions–What could you do? What would you do? What should you do?–provide an added twist to the process. And the convenient size makes it easy to stick in your pocket or the glove compartment of your car. You’ll find What If. . .? an indispensable part of your youth ministry.
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Help Im A Sunday School Teacher
$19.99Add to cart1. Fifty Ways To Make Sunday School Come Alive
2. Extra Credit
3. Resources
138 PagesAdditional Info
Yes, Help Is On The Way! – in this fun, funny, yet extremely practical volume. Flannelgraph-tested Sunday school veteran Ray Johnson offers empathy and understanding as he serves up 50 creative thoughts, tips and ideas you can use to make your Sunday school come alive.As an added bonus, Ray has included resources that you can use to improve your effectiveness, including a “Pick Your Topics” survey, a learning styles inventory, an active learning planning sheet, and much more.
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Counseling Adolescent Girls
$17.00Add to cartDetailed sociological, psychological, and spiritual data about the conflicts and heartaches common among today’s teenagers, including depression, eating disorders, premarital sex, and date rape, with sound advice on how concerned caregivers should respond. Especially helpful to parents, youth leaders, and pastors.
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Cross Cultural Counseling
$19.00Add to cartBoth informative and reflective, Gary Simpson’s book traces the genesis of critical social theory in Germany’s Frankfurt School of Social Research. But he also explains the reconception of critical theory in the work of Jurgen Haberma, especially in ideas about interpretation, praxis, communicative action, and civil society. Finally, Simpson shows how Christian theology and Christian congregations can employ critical theory to retrieve their prophetic vocation in the life of our society.
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Scripture And Discernment
$24.99Add to cartThis work is a revision and expansion of Luke Timothy Johnson’s earlier work, Decision Making in the Early Church: A Biblical Model. Here he expands his earlier thoughts on the biblical text and decision making in the church. Often, churches simply attempt to turn to the Scripture for support of their decisions. Johnson argues, however, that there are so many complex issues that are not directly addressed in the Scriptures that a closer look at how decisions were made in the early church is needed for a complete picture of the decision making process. Looking, then, at the early events of Acts, Johnson shows how discernment is critical to correctly interpret Scripture for church decisions. Luke Timothy Johnson is Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
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Stewards Of Life
$20.99Add to cartSondra Wheeler has written an extordinary introducation to bioethics. She defines with clarity the central bioethical principles of autonomy, non maleficence, beneficence and justie, while at the same time maintaining intergrity with the christian story. The book includes difficult clinical cases, drawn from real life, which give it depth; it portrays bioethical problems in technicolor. This book is recommended for pastors, hosptials and chaplains.
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Empowering Ministry : Ways To Grow In Effectiveness
$36.00Add to cartOver a period of years, Donald Smith probed, analyzed, interpreted, and reinterpreted data pertaining to what makes for effective ministry. Through all his research, one fact kept emerging: pastors who focus on empowering others are recognized as the most effective. This book distills the best information about cultivating an effective ministry from the voices of several hundred highly effective congregational leaders.
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Body Building : Creating A Ministry Team Through Spiritual Gifts
$20.99Add to cartGod gave Moses the vision to build a tabernacle, but Moses did not build it by himself. Church leaders engage in a similar endeavor. They a) see what is inside other potential leaders, b) use leadership, discernment, and management skills to bring the potential out, and c) avoid standing in front of the future leaders once that skill becomes obvious.
Body Building is about creating a networked ministry team from within a congregation by identifying and matching spiritual gifts with the core purposes of the church. Brian Kelley Bauknight describes the processes for accomplishing this, processes which he has tested in his own congregation. In an era when our institutions and businesses are finding new ways to be in partnership with one another, Body Building shows how a church can accomplish its mission without adding to the financial overhead with full-time, salaried ministers who are hired “to do the ministry”.
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Why God Why
$13.99Add to cartThis book explores the age-old question of why a loving God allows suffering to visit God’s children. The author encourages us to examine God’s eternal presence in times of blessed joy as well as during sorrow and care, and offers scripture and anecdotes to illustrate God’s comfort and grace during all situations in our lives.
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Crayon Creations K-4
$10.99Add to cartSo much can be done with a crayon and this book takes simple coloring one step further. Fifty crayon crafts use a variety of techniques to help young people celebrate God’s creation.
Finished projects include
crayon etchings
string rubbings
crayon stencilings
Bookmarks
Collages
stationery
so much more.For easy reference, crafts are arranged in Bible book order and each includes
A Bible story reference (23 Old Testament, 27 New Testament)
A material list
Step-by-step instructions
Reproducible patterns where appropriate.
Useful for Christian day school, Sunday school and Vacation Bible School. -
10 Sermons On The Second Advent
$16.99Add to cart1. The Importance Of Prophetic Study
2. The Interpretation Of Prophecy
3. The Second Advent Premillennial
4. No Millennium Without Christ
5. The Calling And Hope Of The Church Of God
6. The Church’s Motive For Serice
7. The Second Advent In Relation To The Jew
8. The Second Advent In Relation To The Gentile
9. The Resurrection Of The Just And Unjust
10. The Judgement Of The Quick And The DeadAdditional Info
Manufactured On Demand TitleNoted biblical scholar and dispensational author E. W. Bullinger explores the Bible’s teaching concerning the second coming of Jesus Christ in these ten sermons originally published in 1892.
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New Complete Server
$12.95Add to cartThis classic guide helps servers to perform with confidence and reverence, allowing the liturgy to unfold in a smooth and prayerful manner. A glossary of words and objects accompanies illustrations of vessels, linens, altar preparation, vestments, posture symbols, and examples of processions. Also contains easy-to-draw symbols that servers can use to make a diagram of their sanctuary’s layout for study and practice.
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Bush Was Blazing But Not Consumed
$19.99Add to cart13 Chapters
Additional Info
Best-selling author Eric Law shows how to work with the dynamics of diverse cultures to create a truly inclusive community.
In his widely acclaimed The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb, Eric H. F. Law explores the dynamics of multicultural misunderstandings and how different cultures perceive and use power. Here he shows how to work with those dynamics to create a truly inclusive community.Using Exodus 3 as a theological starting point, Law explains in detail how leaders can:
– understand and resolve difference in communication styles
– recognize and avoid the “Golden Calf Syndrome”
– reconcile high-context and low-content elements in the group
– use mutual invitation
– build dialogue through liturgyFollowing Law’s practical guidelines, we can, in the end, build multicultural structures everyone can live and thrive in
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Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit Cycle B
$22.95Add to cartStories to help the preacher touch the hearts of adults … children … to evoke laughter and tears with an ironic twist or a surprise ending …
John Sumwalt’s stories are a treat-the Gospel comes alive in common life and in regular people, and suddenly we are enchanted by grace.
Donald F. Chatfield
Professor of Preaching
Garret-Evangelical Theological Seminary -
Preschool Church
$12.95Add to cart“A necessary resource for church school teachers of 3 to 5 year olds.”
The Preschool Church provides teachers with practical lesson ideas for preschoolers, recognizing that 3-5 year olds are curious about God and want to learn. Lesson seeds include discussion topics, suggestions for telling Bible stories, songs, activities, supply lists, and craft ideas that are easy for little hands, inexpensive to make, and result in a finished product kids can be proud of. The book also contains suggestions for including preschoolers in the larger church community and involving adults in the church school activities.
This book will be helpful to:
Sunday school teachers
Vacation Bible School teachers
Parents for use in home instruction
Weekday Church School classes -
Which Way To Jesus Cycle B
$13.95Add to cartThese 15 sermons are written for the season of Lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending with the Ascension of the Lord. Most of them are based on scriptural texts from the Gospel of John.
Harry Huxhold preaches sermons that are punctuated with fascinating illustrations. He holds a congregation’s attention to the end.
Within this collection of sermons for Cycle B are such titles as:
Beware Of Your Piety
Clean House
Easter Jogging
You Are My Witnesses
