Religious Growth

We are creatures of time. It affects every moment of our lives. Yet when we study the bible, our focus tends to be on principles and personalities rather than on how the events of redemptive history were perfectly timed by God. Since my own study of the bible's timeline opened my eyes to some of God's biggest truths, my goal is to introduce as many people as possible to the rich experience of studying scripture with a focus on God's timing.

"I don't want to live anymore!" my sister admitted to my parents when she was 14 years old. This cry for help increased with time, and I would not fully grasp her inner demons until years after she died. Was it suicide, was it an accident, was it pre-planned or in the moment? At 24 years of age, my sister's life suddenly ended, and all I have left are my broken memories.

When we are in painful circumstances, we tend to want to escape at any cost. Yet in doing so, we can miss the greatest opportunities of our lives. Writing about her own valleys - including loving a struggling son and reeling from the untimely death of her husband - Yolanda Cohen Stith shares hard-won insights. In the midst of her most painful experiences, Stith discovered that God shows up in the valleys in ways he doesn’t on the mountaintops. She came to believe that we need valleys to recognize our desperate need for God.

Christians Are Revolting: An Infidel's Progress is the story of an unremarkable young man and his thirst for truth. Charming, witty, and bright, you will wonder where these characteristics appear as the author recounts his unique experiences in the drudgery of radical faith.

Acompañe a la autora de éxitos de mayor venta Beth Moore en su aventura transformadora de perseguir vides, y descubra cómo todo cambia cuando comprendemos el verdadero significado de una vida fructífera, significativa, abundante y agradable a Dios. En Persiguiendo la vid, Beth Moore nos brinda una esperanza nueva, revelando abundantes secretos de una vida fructífera, agradable a Dios y constructiva para el reino.

Andy Schoening is a Christian race-car driver from Southern California. He and his brother, Jim, have built and raced stock cars for over 20 years. Please join them on a journey that includes racing train cars (three cars tied together), boat trailer racing, roll-over contests, skid-plate racing, enduros, and of course…The Outlaw Figure-Eight. In this book, Andy will also give you a behind-the-scenes look at Saturday night racing. On top of all that car stuff, Andy will also share with you his views on life.

What They Meant for Evil is the account of that unimaginable journey. With the candor and purity of a child, Rebecca recalls how she endured fleeing from gunfire, suffering through hunger and strength-sapping illnesses, dodging life-threatening predators - lions, snakes, crocodiles, and soldiers alike - that dogged her footsteps, and grappling with a war that stole her childhood. Her story is a lyrical, captivating portrait of a child hurled into wartime, and how through divine intervention, she came to America and found a new life full of joy, hope, and redemption.

Many bemoan the decline of the church. We hear a steady stream of reports about how droves of people, especially younger generations, are abandoning Christianity. But new research shows that unchurched Americans are surprisingly more receptive and open to the Christian faith than is commonly assumed. Researcher and practitioner Rick Richardson unveils the findings of the Billy Graham Center Institute's groundbreaking studies on the unchurched.

One of the world's most influential religious leaders shares his legacy message and spiritual memoir for the first time. Tracing his faith journey from humble beginnings on the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to sharing the good news with millions and counseling world leaders, Luis' life is filled with adventure, risk, and faith. A very personal audiobook with never-before-told stories and a 16-page photo insert, Luis recounts losing his father at an early age and caring for his five siblings and his mother.

Rob Schenck’s extraordinary life has been at the center of the intersection between evangelical Christianity and modern politics. Attacked by partisans on both sides of the aisle, he has been called a "right-wing hate monger", the "ultimate D.C. power-broker", a "traitor", and "turncoat." Now, this influential spiritual adviser to America’s political class chronicles his controversial, sometimes troubling career in this revelatory and often shocking memoir. He reflects on his path to God, his unconscious abandonment of his principles, and his return to the convictions that guide him.

In How the Nations Rage, political theology scholar and pastor Jonathan Leeman challenges Christians from across the spectrum to hit the restart button by shifting our focus from redeeming the nation to living as a nation already redeemed, rejecting the false allure of building heaven on earth while living faithfully as citizens of a heavenly kingdom, letting Jesus’ teaching shape our public engagement as we love our neighbors and seek justice.

Kim Fields has lived most of her life with people thinking they know her, which is understandable. From her first job on a Mrs. Butterworth syrup commercial at age seven, she has spent 40 years in the public eye. There were nine years as Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey on the classic sitcom The Facts of Life, five more in her 20s starring as Regine Hunter on the seminal coming-of-age show Living Single, and most recently appearing as herself on Real Housewives of Atlanta and Dancing with the Stars.

Benjamin L. Corey thought he was suffering a crisis of faith, but it turned out to be a spiritual awakening. Corey became aware that the constant fear of hell and judgment that defined his Christian faith was out of sync with the idea that God acts from love and promises to deliver us from fear. In the wake of this realization came newfound insights - from reading the Bible to reexamining American life and the church's role in the wider world.

To many who have discovered his books, C. S. Lewis is more than simply a writer; he has been a spiritual mentor. Here, over 50 Christians share how meeting the mind and imagination of Lewis in his books sparked the beginning or changed the course of their spiritual journey. These inspiring reflections have been shared by ordinary laypeople as well as many well-known leaders and writers.

"Red beef and strong beer" was how C. S. Lewis described his education under one of his early tutors. It was, in other words, a substantial education that engaged deeply with the intellectual tradition and challenged him to grow. Gary Selby sees Lewis' expression as an indication of the kind of transformation that is both possible and necessary for the Christian faith, and he contends that spiritual formation comes about not by retreating from the physical world, but through deeper engagement with it.

The United States is in the middle of an unprecedented spiritual, technological, demographic, political and social transformation—moving from an older, mostly white, mostly Protestant, religion-friendly society to a younger diverse, multiethnic, pluralistic culture, where no one faith group will have the advantage. At the same time, millions of Americans are abandoning organized religion altogether in favor of disorganized disbelief. Reorganized Religion is an in-depth and critical look at why people are leaving American churches and what we lose as a society as it continues.

Did you know that the original biblical languages use several words for heaven and hell that mean different things? Did you know that there are different beliefs about how many heavens and hells there are? Get ready for some surprises! This book will help you set aside your preconceptions and pierce through the myths and misinformation to gain an accurate, truly biblical perspective on heaven and hell.

Aware both of the excitement and uncertainty generated by The Shack, theologian Randal Rauser takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the pages of the story. In successive chapters he explores many of the books complex and controversial issues. Through these chapters Rauser offers an honest and illuminating discussion which opens up a new depth to the conversation while providing the reader with new opportunities for Finding God in The Shack.

What if all the bad news you've been hearing about Christians isn't true? Here are some facts that may surprise you: Evangelicals are more respected by society today than they were 20 years ago. Divorce rates of Christian couples are lower than those of nonbelievers. The percentage of young people who attend church has held steady over the past 20 years. All these statements are true, yet we’ve been told the opposite time and time again. Why is the church being misled?

The suspenseful and emotion-filled second book in the Rayne series begins where the first book ended… with a dying man whispering four stunning words into Shaley O’Connor’s ear. Should she believe him? After two murders on the Rayne concert tour, Shaley is reeling. But she has no time to rest. If the dying man’s claim is right, the danger is far from over. Shaley’s quest for the truth leads to the mysterious and wrenching past of her mother and father. Could what happened to them so many years ago threaten Shaley’s life now?