They need a no-nonsense strategy rooted in actual ecclesial life, illuminated in this fine book by a trustworthy guide, Will Willimon, who uses the true story of pastor Hawley Lynn's March of 1947 sermon, "Who Lynched Willie Earle?" as an opportunity to respond to the last lynching in Greenville, South Carolina and its implications for a more faithful proclamation of the Gospel today.By hearing black pain, naming white complicity, critiquing American exceptionalism/civil religion, inviting/challenging the church to respond, and attending to the voices of African American pastors and leaders, this book helps pastors of white, mainline Protestant churches preach effectively in situations of racial violence and dis-ease.

    Even among megachurches with their modern technology and huge number of members, whole generations are now missing. In order to reach the 18-35 year olds, churches need to incorporate alternative worship services into their ministries that meet the unique needs of the emerging generations. In a conversational, narrative style, author Dan Kimball guides church leaders on how to create alternative services from start to finish. Using anecdotes from his own experience at Graceland, Kimball presents six creative models, providing real-life examples of each type. Emerging Worship covers key topics including • Developing a prayer team • Evaluating the local mission field and context • Determining leaders and a vision-based team • Understanding why youth pastors are usually the ideal staff to start a new service • Recognizing the difference in values between emerging worship and the rest of the church • Asking critical questions beforehand

    

    He has a particularly powerful message for those who lead God's people and especially those who preach.

    You catch your child posting something inappropriate on the Internet. Someone in your small group is depressed. A relative was just diagnosed with an incurable disease. When those you know and love experience trouble, you don't want to hand out pat answers or religious platitudes. Instead, you want to offer real hope and help from God's Word. You know it's true, but how does an ancient book, written thousands of years ago, connect with our twenty-first century problems? In CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet, Michael R. Emlet gives you the tools to connect the Bible to your life and to the lives of your family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. You will learn to understand people and God's Word in ways that promote gospel-centered, rich conversations that help you and those you know grow in love for God and others. This book will make the whole Bible come alive to you. Instead of platitudes, you can offer a cup of living water to those who are struggling in this broken world.

    God expects preachers to prepare sermons as much as possible and allow Him to prepare the preachers. Join Dr. Jerry Vines and Dr. Jim Shaddix as they achieve a balanced approach to sermon preparation in Power in the Pulpit. This book combines the essential perspectives of a pastor of forty years with another who devotes daily time to training pastors in the context of theological education. Power in the Pulpit is practical preaching instruction in line with a tradition that sees expository preaching as a paramount and frequent event in the life of the local church. Power in the Pulpit is the combined work of Dr. Vines's two earlier publications on preaching: A Practical Guide to Sermon Preparation (Moody Publishers, 1985) and A Guide to Effective Sermon Delivery (Moody Publishers, 1986). Dr. Shaddix carefully organizes and supplements the material to offer this useful resource, which closes the gap between classroom theory and what a pastor actually experiences in his weekly sermon preparation.

    Rather than preparing a steady diet of spiritual meat, pastors are mistakenly serving up a self-focused snack--ultimately leaving congregations malnourished and ill prepared to stand firm when their faith is challenged.Recognizing the need for a return to biblical preaching, Begg has written this practical book, outlining the nature of power-filled, expository preaching and demonstrating its importance in the life of the church.

    Whether you attend a small group or lead one, this book will raise your vision and inspire you to excel in the areas of service to which God has called you. And if you don't attend a small group? All the more reason you may want to read Why Small Groups? and let it change your life. The authors are all pastors from various Sovereign Grace Ministries churches.

    But how do we know which ones? When should doctrine divide, and when should unity prevail? Pastor Gavin Ortlund makes the case that while all doctrines matter, some are more essential than others. He considers how and what to prioritize in doctrine and ministry, encouraging humility and grace along the way. Using four basic categories of doctrine in order of importance, this book helps new and seasoned church leaders alike wisely labor both to uphold doctrine and to preserve unity.

    A fresh, creative look at the underlying meaning of the Gospels that stresses the many dimensions of God's relationship to humanity.

    In SAYING IT WELL: Touching Others With Your Words he shares his secrets on how to talk so people will listen.Filled with techniques, stories, and models that clearly explain the formulas for successful speaking, Swindoll teaches readers the foundational principles for how to communicate, from preparing for a speech, organizing thoughts, and filtering out the superfluous to overcoming fears, grabbing the listener's attention, and knowing how and when to stop. With humorous stories and inventive, practical tips, one of America's premier communicators shares decades of experience on how to speak with authority in every situation, persuade others to consider the reader's perspective, overcome the reader's fears of public speaking, and love others more effectively with the reader's words. He also shares his personal story and the journey to becoming a world-famous speaker.

    The author has explored and analyzed and come up with crucial insights and needed terminology with which to further the scholarly discussion and increase the understandings needed in the classroom.... Frank Thomas has contributed much to the meeting of this need, probing celebration to new depths.... This book adds to the corpus of serious scholarship available to instructors for the purposes of a more powerful pulpit, in an era of desperate need in the field". -- Henry H. Mitchell, from the ForewordHere is a book that will change the course of preaching in the twenty-first century. Through the lens of African American preaching, Frank Thomas sheds light on what is "good" preaching -- and on what methods can be employed to achieve it.Celebration in preaching is an important component of any preaching that can be considered "good". Thomas explores the theology, dynamics, design, and guidelines for celebrative preaching and provides sample sermon illustrations as well.

    Unfortunately, those in the academy tend to have the opposite problem, failing to connect theological study to the pressing issues facing the church today. Contemporary evangelicalism has lost sight of the inherent connection between pastoral leadership and theology. This results in theologically anemic churches, and ecclesial anemic theologies.Todd Wilson and Gerald Hiestand contend that among a younger generation of evangelical pastors and theologians, there is a growing appreciation for the native connection between theology and pastoral ministry. At the heart of this recovery of a theological vision for ministry is the re-emergence of the role of the "pastor theologian."The Pastor Theologian presents a taxonomy of the pastor-theologian and shows how individual pastors—given their unique calling and gift-set—can best embody this age-old vocation in the 21st century. They present three models that combine theological study and practical ministry to the church:The Local Theologian—a pastor theologian who ably services the theological needs of a local congregation.The Popular Theologian—a pastor theologian who writes theology to a wider lay audience.The Ecclesial Theologian—a pastor theologian who writes theology to other theologians and scholars.Raising the banner for the pastor as theologian, this book invites the emerging generation of theologians and pastors to reimagine the pastoral vocation along theological lines, and to identify with one of the above models of the pastor theologian.

    This approach to pastoral counseling focuses on solutions rather than problems and is typically short-term, requiring only one to four or five sessions.

    The pendulum has swung to the longing for transcendence, substance, challenge, and biblically driven worship. Michael Horton shows us the way." --Robert Webber, president, Institute for Worship Studies; author of Ancient-Future Faith"Horton's enlivening wisdom is surely a godsend to all evangelicals." --J. I. Packer, Regent College