Book picks similar to
The Tension of Transition: 30 Days to Help You Navigate from 'Here' to Your 'Promised Land' by Craig Cooney
book-club
charismatic
christian-living
church
Realer Than Real
Ryan D. Wilkins - 2013
. . a real work from the heart” are just a few words readers have used to describe Realer than Real, a true story of a Nebraska family’s journey to find grace, hope, and healing amidst tragedy, regret, and disappointment. The tale is told by Ryan, the Wilkins family’s only son, who chronicles a life-changing loss the family suffered in 2004, the tragedy’s impact on the family, and the unique, winding, complex spiritual paths each family member walked before intersecting in the wake of new misfortune. With candor and perceptiveness, Ryan develops characters the reader feels he or she knows. He displays a remarkable willingness to be transparent and vulnerable in all aspects of the personal struggle, grief, and suffering that his family endured, individually and collectively. He seamlessly weaves humor and insight around heavy subjects—including death, disability, divorce, and abuse, among others—and breathes life into the family’s high and lows, incredible miracles and devastating tragedies, in a way that is both honest and instructive.Cumulatively, the Wilkins family’s struggles and setbacks over the past decade seemingly defy all probability that one group could endure so many traumatic events over a relatively short period of time and come through it stronger, not weaker. But through reliance on their Christian faith and an outpouring of community support, the family withstood and grew through these trials, learning much about God and themselves in the process. With insight and vulnerability, Realer than Real captures the struggle, pursuit, perseverance, and restoration that accompany faith. The book will captivate readers across walks of life, inspiring them to behold their blessings and to trust God through their trials. “Once you begin reading, it is almost impossible to stop.”
The Life God Blesses: The Secret of Enjoying God's Favor
Jim Cymbala - 2001
Have these people learned a formula or a simple technique that will guarantee his blessing? Or is there something more profound at work in their lives? In The Life God Blesses, Jim Cymbala points out that God is constantly searching for people to bless. He’s not looking for men and women with special talents or unusual intelligence or great strength but for those who possess a certain kind of heart. Find out how to have a heart that God cannot resist and you will become a channel of his blessing for your family, your church, and your world.
The Crayon Messages: A Visiting Teaching Adventure
Christine Thackeray - 2008
With a husband alway traveling, a daughter on the brink and still adjusting to her new ward, she hopes her new visiting teaching route will bring some much needed companionship. Then she finds out she has been given the hardest visiting teaching route ever with the surly inactive Bishop's wife at the top of the list. At least her companion Gwen seemed nice, an older woman in a nursing home who said no one had visited her in years. Using this to her advantage, Cath calls her new sisters and convinces them to cheer Gwen up. Surprisingly most agree but when Cath arrives at the Pleasant Valley Home for the Elderly she is disappointed to find Gwen fast asleep. Apparently Gwen has a sleeping disorder called KSL and no one knows when she will wake up- it could be weeks. Armed with a bucket of crayons and a handful of paper, Cath convinces the sisters to write Gwen notes so when she does wake up, she'll know some cares. What no one guessed is that Gwen would write back and change all of these women's lives forever.
The Forgotten Ways Handbook: A Practical Guide for Developing Missional Churches
Alan Hirsch - 2009
Now The Forgotten Ways Handbook moves beyond theory to practice, offering ways for any missionally minded person to apply the ideas contained in The Forgotten Ways to their life and ministry.This intensely practical handbook includes many helpful tools: summary sections encapsulating the ideas contained in each chapter in a popular way; suggested practices to help readers embed missional paradigms concretely; and adult learning-based techniques and examples from other churches and organizations that enable readers to process and assimilate the ideas in a group context. EXCERPTMake no mistake about it; the scope of the change that is required to shift to the kind of movement described in The Forgotten Ways is nothing less than paradigmatic. Every element of mDNA poses a direct challenge to the prevailing ways of doing church and mission. When taken together, all six elements of Apostolic Genius make the task seem enormous. But we don't think it is actually as difficult as it seems. And it is certainly not impossible. The Chinese church proves that a highly institutionalized form of Christianity can become a remarkable movement given the right circumstances. And we don't believe that we have to have persecution to activate Apostolic Genius. Less intense forms of adaptive challenges can, and do, force the church to respond. What we are witnessing in our own day indicates that. Because the church carries the gospel as well as the full coding of Apostolic Genius in her, the potential for world transformation is always present in us. We can always draw upon latent resources and instincts. God is able and very willing to stir his church up. In fact we see this as one of the very special works of the Holy Spirit--to awaken God's people to their calling and destiny as a movement that can and will change the world.
Sugar & Skeletons (Wicked Witches of Brookdale Book 3)
Sara Bourgeois - 2021
No great loss, but Jenny Mae might just be a suspect. Can Fern clear her name and find the real culprit?
More importantly, will Gumbo get his carrot cake?
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World
Paul E. Miller - 2009
Miller’s down-to-earth approach and practical nature will help you see that your relationship with God can grow and your communication with Him can get better. Parents will find Miller’s family-life experiences especially helpful.
Living Prayer
Anthony Bloom - 1974
Before becoming a monk he was a physician who worked with the French Resistance during World War Two. His writings have attracted an ever-growing audience in this country and in England, where he is also noted for his radio and television appearances. During the years since its initial appearance, LIVING PRAYER has become a spiritual classic. Among the many topics covered here are the problem of praying honestly, meditation and worship, and how to discard false images of ourselves and of God. In LIVING PRAYER Metropolitan Anthony tells us, as few writers can, how to begin and sustain the life of prayer.
How to Know God Exists: Scientific Proof of God
Ray Comfort - 2008
Ray Comfort is a well know TV and Radio personality. The style of writing is easy for everyone to follow.
Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World
Andy Stanley - 2018
Men and women pursued it at the risk of persecution, job loss, and eviction from their homes, temples, and society.What if we actually followed their lead? Perhaps it would change how we read the Bible. Maybes it would help us understand our own faith and what we believe. Perhaps we would change the world again.In Irresistible, pastor and author Andy Stanley shows how distortions of the gospel have left us with an anemic version of Christianity that undermines our credibility and our evangelistic effectiveness. He takes readers on a fascinating journey back in time to recover a faith so rich, so dynamic, so disruptive, that it could not be ignored, marginalized, or eradicated.Rather than working harder to make Christianity more interesting, we need to recover what once made faith in Jesus irresistible to the world.
Book of Mormon Seminary Home-Study Guide
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - 2008
For your study this school year, you will first complete reading assignments from the scripture text for this course—the Book of Mormon—and then you will complete the individual lessons. Once a week you will meet with a seminary teacher to submit your work and participate in a weekly lesson.Seminary is a daily religious education program. Prayerfully studying your scriptures should be a daily practice. You will need to work on your seminary assignments each school day, even though you will not attend a seminary class each day. There are 32 units to be completed during the course. The reading chart on page viii shows what you should study for each unit. Your teacher will help you understand when each unit is due. The lessons in this study guide should each take about 30 minutes to complete, in addition to your daily scripture study.You should have two scripture study journals (or two notebooks), separate from your personal journal, in which you will write the assignments from the study guide activities. Each week that you meet with your teacher, you should turn in the scripture study journal containing the completed assignments from the study guide activities you completed for that week. Your teacher will read and respond to the assignments and return that scripture study journal to you the following week. You could also write your responses on paper in a loose-leaf binder and turn in the pages you did that week. Then, when your teacher returns the pages, you could put them back into the notebook."
Mee Speaks: But Does She Have Anything to Say?
Mary Ellen Edmunds - 2008
This sequel to her bestselling book MEE Thinks shares more of her whimsical thoughts about a host of topics such as noisy neighbors, unexpected gifts, early retirement, and putting first things first. This thoughtful, creative, poignant, funny book will lift your spirits and encourage you to think more deeply than ever before about the things that really matter in life (as well as some that don't matter so much)!
Remaining Faithful in Ministry: 9 Essential Convictions for Every Pastor
John F. MacArthur Jr. - 2019
And yet, through it all, Paul stood firm in Christ and remained faithful--to the very end.The power of Paul's example has captivated veteran pastor John MacArthur for years, and here he outlines nine unwavering convictions that contributed to this remarkable perseverance. In an age when pastoral failure and burnout are increasingly common, this book is a call to endurance in ministry, encouraging pastors to stand strong in their role and not lose heart, regardless of what God sends their way.
Jesus Is the Question: The 307 Questions Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered
Martin B. Copenhaver - 2014
In the Gospels Jesus asks many more questions than he answers. To be precise, Jesus asks 307 questions. He is asked 183 of which he only answers 3. Asking questions was central to Jesus' life and teachings. In fact, for every question he answers directly he asks--literally--a hundred. Jesus is the Question considers the questions Jesus asks--what they tell us about Jesus and, more important, what our responses might say about what it means to follow Him. Through Jesus' questions, he modeled the struggle, the wondering, the thinking it through that helps us draw closer to God and better understand, not just the answer, but ourselves, our process and ultimately why questions are among Jesus' most profound gifts for a life of faith. A game-changer of a book.
Living Jesus: Doing What Jesus Says in the Sermon on the Mount
Randy Harris - 2012
It is a way of life. Randy Harris invites you not just to understand these great teachings but to live them in ways you never before imagined.
Ganesha's Secret: Different People See God Differently
Devdutt Pattanaik - 2018
He is worshipped before one starts any project. He is supposed to remove all obstacles, all unforeseen hurdles. His elephant head, viewed symbolically, makes a lot of sense. The elephant head indicates power.’ For a peaceful and prosperous 2018, this chapter titled, Ganesha’s Secret: Different people see God differently, is mandatory.