Ministry Time

There is a big difference between being set free and living free. How do I know what to do with my life? How do I hear God's voice? Maybe the answer is easier than we think. When God led the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land, He gave them a cloud to follow. He led them in an intimately personal, ever-present way one next step at a time. He led them without revealing the whole picture because he wanted them to follow by faith.

What happens when we take Jesus at his word when he says, "I have come that you might have life and have it to the full?" New York Times best-selling author Mark Batterson and his mentor, Richard Foth, have done just that with their lives - and in A Trip Around the Sun, they show listeners how they too can experience their life and faith as the ultimate adventure.

I suffered a massive cardiac arrest. My heart stopped beating, my breathing ceased, and the medics couldn’t revive me. I was clinically dead for more than 30 minutes. And then, miraculously, the paramedics detected a heartbeat. As I lay in my bed in the ICU, I wrestled with a big question that went around and around in my mind: “Why am I still alive?” The answer, I believe, was divinely inspired. God wanted me to share with you the treasures He had given me in the darkness, during a period of unbelievable catastrophic suffering.

When the Universe Cracks is a sweeping, multifaceted look at the role of crisis in the life of faith from an esteemed gathering of pastors, faith leaders, and experts. You’ll find honest and realistic reflections to help you navigate a present trouble or anticipate changes. Inspired by a global pandemic, these writers examine the whole history of God’s people and offer a fresh perspective for every time the universe cracks.

Chaplain and spiritual counselor Andrea Raynor knows that when the funeral service is over, the friends leave, and the house grows quiet, grief can be overwhelming. In The Alphabet of Grief, she uses the letters of the alphabet as starting points for simple reflections on loss and hope. Each chapter concludes with a meditation and an affirmation - something to do and something to believe. You are not alone. Find spiritual companionship in these brief but powerful thoughts on the sacred journey of grief.

Five hundred years after the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, many people - Christians and non-Christians alike - view it as a conflict about issues that are no longer relevant to the church. But what if the Reformation still has something to teach us? What if the doctrines so vigorously debated and defended by the Reformers still matter today? In this accessible primer on the Reformation, Michael Reeves and Tim Chester introduce listeners to 11 key questions raised by the Reformers.

You can change the world - one life at a time. Most of us enjoy a quality of life that much of the world could not even imagine. It's easy to live unaffected by the injustices and impossible realities on the other side of the world. The truth is, we know we should help those less fortunate than us, but when the faces of those who suffer are distant and the need feels so overwhelming, where do we start? Where can we make the most impact?

Though suffering often leaves us feeling isolated, God invites us into the community of the Trinity and offers us many companions in scripture. We experience loneliness alongside the exiled Israelites. We journey with David as he pleads to God for rescue. With Asaph we confess our unbelief. With Job we learn to lament. With Mary and Martha we learn to wait. In God's community, there is sweet fellowship, even in the hardest of circumstances. Journey in this book with Wendy Alsup through her story of suffering, and more importantly, with the God who walks with us in the wilderness.

Matt Perman has spent his career helping people learn how to do work in a gospel-centered and effective way, combining theological substance with practical self-management. In How to Get Unstuck, he will walk you step-by-step through the core principles that free you to be more effective in everything you do. Drawing on the wisdom of the Bible and on the best of today's research, How to Get Unstuck shows believers and non-believers alike how to live productive, integrated lives and develops a poignant portrayal of true effectiveness.

Amid a rising tide of despair comes a trusted voice of hope and reason. Not since the 1970s have Americans faced such a perfect storm of economic, moral and cultural crises. In the face of that intensifying gale, many Christians have succumbed to a paralyzing blend of dismay and resignation. Enter Charles Colson, one of the faith’s most respected statesmen and formidable defenders. In The Sky Is Not Falling, this New York Times best-selling author delivers much more than a tour of our nation’s cultural landscape. He offers a road map for living confidently in these turbulent times....

Hard times make us look for God. Everyone has problems. But if we could solve all our difficulties ourselves, would we ever search for God? Psychologist John Townsend says "It is actually the very unfixability of our problems and our powerlessness to bring right results that keep us asking, 'Where is God?'" With a compelling narrative, Townsend offers new insights into the pursuit for God's help and presence.

Sustainable Church is a thorough Bible-based exposition of how the ministry of every church should be organically built around all of the Spirit-gifted followers of Jesus within that local body. It critiques the shallow pragmatism and unsustainability of nonorganic churches and biblically showcases the sustainability of the organic church.

Stumbling on Open Ground steps away from the pattern of other cancer books, Christian or secular, and attempts to tackle the question of how you can doubt a God that you do not doubt. It's about having trouble believing what is going on when you believe God knows what he is doing at all times. It is about questioning what is happening when you know where all the questions are answered.

What if you could get all your work done by 6:00 p.m.? Eat dinner with your family every night? Form deep, satisfying relationships? Naturally blend the world of church with your everyday life? Spend hours a week on your hobbies? You can! Making Room for Life reveals how to make all of these things a reality. Not by working faster or having more gadgets, but by simply choosing a lifestyle of conversation, and community over accumulation.

The light shines in the darkness, and the greatest light will shine in the greatest darkness in the end times. In the world multitudes are about to be lost, but multitudes are also about to be saved. In this last battle for souls ever, God will raise up the greatest soldiers for this greatest battle. How much of the book of Revelation applies to us? The rapture is pre or/and post tribulation, or when? If you get ready for the events of the end times, you will be ready for anything!

What would you give to sit down with some of the most influential youth workers in the country? Not just the big names but those individuals who have proven time after time that they have a passion for reaching teens today that is pushing the limits of traditional youth ministry? In Pushing the Limits, veteran youth workers Mike Calhoun and Mel Walker have collected some of the best writing from youth pastors and leaders in churches big and small around the country who are doing what it takes to tap into the true potential of youth ministry.

Every generation reaches a point of rude awakening where what is demanded of us is more than what is given us. What we’ve been prepared for isn’t what we’re facing. What we’ve been taught is the good life really isn’t. Jerome Daley points us to ancient wisdom that long ago exposed the limits of celebrity and achievement cults: the monastic tradition. It offers not only meaning and a critique of values antithetical to a good life, but also ways of living and leading that will fill you up and dramatically increase your impact. Your leadership is meant for more; Gravitas will help you find the path.

Time Management, Jesus' Way takes a closer look at how Jesus managed to accomplish all the Father designed for him to do, without the chaos we often feel today. Thirty lessons with discussion questions allow you to consider Jesus' example as a part of a personal devotional plan or small group study. Originally published in 2005, it has been added as an audiobook for listeners to enjoy now.

The audiobook chronicles the Great Awakening that gave people the means to develop an individual sense of spiritual conviction. Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield were two of the most prominent leaders of the Great Awakening. Together, they forged a new form of evangelical Christianity that made sense to ordinary people and came to epitomize religion in America.

Bruce Miller debunks the idea of balance - basically trying to have it all, all the time. Most churches and their pastors try to do everything at once and feel guilty if any one aspect (worship, ministries, outreach, etc.) is neglected. He replaces the exhausting concept of balance with the idea of rhythm: churches, like people, need to give attention to different programs and ministries at different times, basically by attending to their seasons and cycles.