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Have you ever felt like life was finally going well, when suddenly life decides to throw you a curve ball? Life will knock you down when you least expect it. The important thing is not how or why we got knocked down, the important thing is how will we respond? In her early 40's, Nadine found herself to be a newly successful entrepreneur...and simultaneously...the mother of a heroin addict. She used this situation to create an out-of- the-box therapeutic travel recovery project which later evolved into establishing a nonprofit serving those choosing to live a lifestyle of recovery.

Thomas H. York explores Christian deconstruction in its intellectual, ethical, political and interpersonal dimensions, to help pastors and leaders understand the mindset of those reexamining faith in the 21st century context. Reflections on U.S. history connect these issues to major 19th and 20th century movements of moral reform including the abolitionist movement and the civil rights movement.

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR AND PASTE MAGAZINE An intimate account of life in a West African fishing village, tugged by currents ancient and modern, and dependent on an ocean that is being radically transformed. The sea is broken, fishermen say. The sea is...

Fighting, disagreements, hatred, dissension, and silence. These things seem common in the wider Christian community today. Politics, theology, and even personal preference create seemingly insurmountable rifts. It’s hard not to see ourselves as “at war” with each other. We’re not doomed to be stuck here, though. There is a twofold path out of this destructive war, out of seeing our brothers and sisters as enemies―and into a spacious place of loving each other even as we disagree.

In the Bible, God set Ezekiel down in the middle of a valley full of bones. If reviewed on a travel website, that valley wouldn’t get more than a single star. But many of us don’t stop at a visit. We pitch a tent and buy a tract of that desolate land for ourselves—before passing it on to our children and grandchildren. Generations become mired in the valley of dry bones.

Ask most anyone and they would say they desire honest, authentic, "real" relationships. Yet few of us experience the soul-level connection we long for with other human beings, let alone God. Fear and pride drive us to mask our truest selves, leaving us perpetually disconnected, hidden, and lonely. God made us for something profoundly better: an open-hearted, courageous honesty that liberates us from a life of guardedness and self-protection and has the power to radically transform our approach to Christian community.

A Christianity Today survey identified the most common self-described leadership weaknesses to be in strategizing, visioning, and entrepreneurial skills. But there is a tension that exists between dreaming, vision-casting, and being able to actually pull it off. What is from God, what is from our own imaginations, how do we recognize the difference, and then what do we do with it? In Pastorpreneur, pastor and speaker John Jackson equips pastors to employ businesslike strategic planning and innovation skills to enhance their congregational leadership.

When Lynda MacGibbon moved from a small city in eastern Canada to a high-rise apartment in Toronto, she decided to follow Jesus' famous commandment to "love your neighbor" a bit more literally. In the past, she would have looked first for friends at her new job or her new church. This time, though, she decided to look for friends among the strangers who shared her apartment building - her actual neighbors in her new "vertical neighborhood".

If you have had an abortion, know someone who has, or desire to make a pro-life impact in your community, Created to Live features resources, hard truths, and practical steps to help end the abortion epidemic.

Jesus cared the most for people - especially vulnerable people - and he calls us to do the same. Because relationships change lives, You Can Mentor will help you build positive, lasting, and life-changing relationships with the kids who need it the most. With stories of how his life was turned around by mentors, executive director of Forerunner Mentoring and podcast host Zach Garza shares practical tips for cultivating a godly mentoring mindset, engaging and sustaining a healthy mentoring relationship, and the tools to overcome difficult mentoring obstacles.

We are ready to rise up. But how, exactly, do we do this? How does one reconcile? What we need is a clear sense of direction. Based on her extensive consulting experience with churches, colleges and organizations, Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil has created a roadmap to show us the way. She guides us through the common topics of discussion and past the bumpy social terrain and political boundaries that will arise. In this revised and expanded edition, McNeil has updated her signature roadmap to incorporate insights from her more recent work.

An exploration into the lives of people who embrace two or more religious traditions, and what this growing community tells us about change in our society Named a best book of 2018 by Library Journal In the United States, we often assume religious and spiritual identity are pure, static, and...

You may be a new believer and wonder what it means to belong to a church; you may be reluctant to commit to your church because of past experiences; you may have recently relocated and want to find a church where you feel at home; or you may love your church and desire to commit to it more deeply and serve it more fully. Whatever the case, this book will help you to see that belonging to a church is a good gift from God, the outworking of our identity as brothers and sisters in Christ, and worth your time, love, and commitment.

In Sermons on the Couch, Cindy Gentry offers weekly sermons that meet people where they are-whether religious or spiritual, agnostic or atheist. Instead of references to deities, her lessons are placed in the context of a force in the Universe. Instead of Biblical quotes, she uses the wise words...

When was the last time you were willing to let go of something you normally hold onto with a white-knuckle grip? How often does someone ask you about your life or work, and you don't know how to respond? How you answer those questions is important, because they hint at your passions. At some point in our lives, we're given an opportunity for our passions to fuel our purpose.

Estamos viviendo una epidemia de soledad. Sin embargo, estamos predestinados a ser vistos y amados. En un mundo cada vez más conectado y, paradójicamente, a la vez más aislado, a menudo sentimos la necesidad de estar solos, ya sea porque estamos muy ocupados o porque las relaciones pueden llegar a sentirse complicadas y difíciles. Pero la ciencia confirma que tener una conexión constante y significativa con los demás brinda un impacto poderoso a nuestro bienestar.

The Evidence of Things Unseen: Faith Revealed in a Family, a Community and a Nation describes the evidence of faith first initiated in the family experience, then developed in the faith communities. The text illustrates how faith developed in evangelical communities will result in a certain view of our nation and its governance. This leads to the paradox that these views often conflict with biblical principles taught by those communities. The concluding section of this book suggests a reason for this conflict and a proposed remedy.

Pastor Mike Mather arrived in Indianapolis thinking that he was going to serve the poor. But after his church’s community lost nine young men to violence in a few short months, Mather came to see that the poor didn’t need his help - he needed theirs. This is the story of how one church found abundance in a community of material poverty. Viewing people - not programs, finances, or service models - as their most valuable resource moved church members beyond their own walls and out into the streets, where they discovered folks rich in strength, talents, determination, and love.

The rules of Benedict and Basil show us how to live in community with one another. Though written for monasteries over 1500 years ago, these rules contain timeless wisdom about Christian community. Greg Peters has combined and reorganized the rule of Benedict and the rule of Basil for modern listeners so that we too can meditate on, enjoy, and apply the insights of two of the most influential Christians ever to have lived.

In this sequel to How to Be Free from Bitterness, Jim Wilson returns to talk about how to deal with (and get rid of) depression, feelings of guilt, and problems with self-esteem. Many Christians feel like they are enslaved these sins, like there is no way out. But this is not true. The truth is that Christ has freed us from the penalty of sin and the power of sin. If you are a Christian, you are already free. Depression, guilt, low self-esteem—whatever your problem is, it can be put to death. “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).