In this book Chuck DeGroat addresses the flawed nature of people and offers wisdom for leaders of all types in dealing with just about anyone who is difficult to lead and to love.Toughest People to Love explores the basics of how people "tick," encouraging leaders to examine and take care of themselves so that they can better understand and care for others. Based on DeGroat's wealth of experience as a pastor, professor, and therapist, this book -- both wise and practical -- is one that countless leaders will go back to time and again for valuable insights and renewed vision.

    It seems simple, but we are experts at complicating simple things. Instead of living lives characterized by love we find ourselves trapped in cycles of shame, violence, and addiction that steal our joy and keep us from loving others--so much so that, by all indications, Christians are living no differently than anyone else when it comes to abuse rates, use of pornography, alcohol and drug addiction, and more. Christian psychiatrist Dr. Timothy Jennings wants to release us from this prison. With powerful illustrations from case studies and from Scripture, Jennings shows believers who are stuck in addiction, violence, fear, and broken relationships how to experience true freedom through God's transforming love to experience greater health, fulfillment, and well-being.

    Today, more than ever before, we live in a culture that is at war against our parenting. Between the internet, the media, the sense of entitlement that kids are living with, the disrespect . . . it is almost too much. We often wish we could move back to Mayberry, where our biggest concern was who had set off the firecrackers in the neighbor's garage. While those aren't the issues most parents are facing today, Melissa and Sissy believe we can still raise children who value, well, values. They provide a clear and possible path back to cultivating children who have a sense of character and groundedness, who may not be as rampant across playgrounds and parks as they once were. They paint the picture of how to raise children with manners and kindness and with a healthy sense of fear and respect both for their world and the adults around them--and to do so without totally disengaging from the realities of today's world. In short, they believe it is still possible to instill vintage values in modern kids.Modern Parents, Vintage Values talks about the specific issues facing kids today, helping parents to more fully understand the challenges being faced. Yet Melissa and Sissy don't stop there. They focus in on nine values that are foundational for the character development of children: kindness, integrity, manners, compassion, forgiveness, responsibility, gratitude, patience and confidence. Each chapter is broken down into a section for children and adolescents, and specific ways to foster the specific value for the particular age. Modern Parents, Vintage Values offers parents timeless truths that can break through the chaos of today's culture and instill these truly vintage and important values in kids.

    Then, three effective practitioners show clearly how your church can make the transition to family ministry. Paul Renfro (pastor of discipleship at Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas) writes in favor of Family-Integrated Ministry, where the emphasis is on intergenerational discipleship. Brandon Shields (minister to high school students at Highview Baptist Church, a multi-site megachurch in Kentucky and Indiana) supports Family-Based Ministry—ministry that organizes programs according to ages and interests but also develops intentional activities and training events to bring families together. Jay Strother (minister to emerging generations at Brentwood Baptist Church in Tennessee) prefers Family-Equipping Ministry, maintaining age-organized ministry while reorganizing the congregation to call parents to become active partners in the discipleship of their children.

    And if your son or daughter is sugar sensitive, misbehavior and moodiness can be aggravated by missed or late meals and junk foods.Now, bestselling author Kathleen DesMaisons offers you a workable solution for getting back your child by changing his diet—without creating a sense of deprivation, without setting unrealistic goals, and without turning sugar into “forbidden fruit.” This book offers:• A step-by-step program, backed by years of research, for gradually improving the food your child eats—you and your whole family will benefit!• Tips for navigating the sugar-laden world of birthday parties, holidays, and school cafeterias• Ways to incorporate healthy snacking and regular mealtimes into your child’s day, including suggestions for meals and snacks, plus recipesLittle Sugar Addicts isn’t about strange foods, dramatic lifestyle changes, or complicated menus—just support, guidance, and real-life suggestions from other parents that work. It will help you make the connection between the addictive qualities of sugar and negative behavior and offer a healthy solution you and your whole family can live with.

    Revised and expanded.

    . . but you're quickly finding out that you never stop being a parent! Jim Newheiser and Elyse Fitzpatrick ground you in the guidance of God's Word, reminding you that your relationship with your adult children can only be as deep and meaningful as your relationship with him.

    Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart presents a bold plan for escaping the swift currents of contemporary patterns of hooking up, shacking up, and breaking up. It draws a compelling vision of complementarity between the sexes. It instructs men on what to do and informs women on what to look for in their mutual pursuit of a healthy, tender, long-term relationship.

    The starting place is generosity, he says, and there are seven gifts that are sure to improve the lives of both giver and receiver: encouragement, energy, enthusiasm, good humor, graciousness, gratitude, and patience. Anyone can give these gifts, but Hewitt shows that some people are particularly well placed to offer them: parents, spouses, family members, friends, teachers, coworkers, and fellow church members.Channeling his skills as a broadcaster, journalist, lawyer, and teacher, Hewitt weaves stories about these seven gifts and seven givers with inspiring and motivating observations to help readers become generous in the ways that matter most. "The Happiest Life is not simply a delight to read, and not merely a glimpse under the hood of a remarkable man. It’s a map to what Robert Frost once described as the road less traveled—the road that leads to a life of meaning and gratitude and joy.”—Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia"Reading this book is the next best thing to sitting down for a long conversation with my friend Hugh Hewitt.”—Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary“Wanna be a happier person? Know anyone else who does? What if this book could actually help with that? Cutting to the chase—it can. And it will."—Eric Metaxas, New York Times best-selling author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and 7 Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness

    Grace. Christian Counseling. How do these fit together? In Christian theology sin and grace are intrinsically interconnected. Teacher and counselor Mark McMinn believes that Christian counseling, then, must also take account of both human sin and God's grace. For both sin and grace are distorted whenever one is emphasized without the other. McMinn, noting his own tendencies and the temptation to stereotype different Christian approaches to counseling along this theological divide, aims to help all those preparing for or currently serving in the helping professions. Expounding the proper relationship of sin and grace, McMinn shows how the full truth of the Christian gospel works itself out in the functional, structural and relational domains of an integrative model of psychotherapy.

    With their young daughters, the group met regularly to speak frankly about such issues as girls’ friendships (and aggression), puberty, the media’s influence on their self-image and esteem, drugs, and sexuality. As their daughters matured, the mothers marveled at the strength and confidence with which the girls thrived through adolescence. The Project had succeeded in creating a haven from the many perils of teen culture. Equally important, it helped the mothers navigate their own fears and concerns about adolescence with integrity and grace. At once simple and revolutionary, this book details the success of the Mother-Daughter Project’s groundbreaking model, providing the reader with a road map for strengthening her bond with her own daughter, and providing strategies for staying close through adolescence and beyond.

    And many of us -perhaps unknowingly- spend a lifetime striving for this acceptance.

    J.C. Ryle--the last of the great Puritans--tackles each of these subjects with a tenderness and tact which is unsurpassed. If it was difficult to be a young man in the days of the nineteeth century when Ryle first penned Thoughts for Young Men, it is all the more difficult to be a young man in the twenty-first century world of image-overload, radical individualism, and rampant sensuality. Thoughts for Young Men remains to this day the most relevent and helpful book on the subject in print.

    Ending the Homework Hassle

      His grandfather’s lynching in the deep South, the murders of his two older brothers, and his verbally harsh and absent father all worked together to form Jason Wilson’s childhood. But it was his decision to acknowledge his emotions and yield to God’s call on his life that made Wilson the man and leader he is today.    As the founder of one of the country’s most esteemed youth organizations, Wilson has decades of experience in strengthening the physical, mental, and emotional spirit of boys and men. In Cry Like a Man, Wilson explains the dangers men face in our culture’s definition of “masculinity” and gives readers hope that healing is possible.   As Wilson writes, “My passion is to help boys and men find strength to become courageously transparent about their own brokenness as I shed light on the symptoms and causes of childhood trauma and ‘father wounds.’ I long to see men free themselves from emotional incarceration—to see their minds renewed, souls weaned, and relationships restored.”