- Your elementary-age child's curriculum will discuss LGBT families.- Your company will talk about building a tolerant workplace for LGBT co-workers.- Your college-age child will tell you your view on homosexuality is bigoted.Are you ready?In their role as pastors, Adam Barr and Ron Citlau have seen how this issue can tear apart families, friendships, and even churches. In this book they combine biblical answers with practical, real-world advice on how to think about and discuss this issue with those you care about. They also tell the story of Ron's personal journey from same-sex attraction and sexual brokenness to healing. Truth does not preclude kindness--and a good dose of humility is necessary to love our neighbors. With sensitivity and winsomeness, this book will offer an honest but inviting message to readers: We are all in need of the healing that can only come from the truth of the gospel.

    Suspicious of others and insecure about ourselves, we retreat into the safety of our small, self-made worlds. Now more than ever, it's easy to avoid people with whom we disagree or whose life experiences don't mirror our own. Safe among like-minded peers and digital "friends," we really don't have to engage with those who can challenge and enhance our limited perspectives. Tragically, even the church can become a place that minimizes diversity and reinforces isolation.Jesus models a much richer vision of friendship. Scott Sauls, pastor and teacher, invites you to see the breadth of Christ's love in this book, "BeFriend." Join Scott on this journey through twenty-one meditations to inspire actively pursuing God's love through expanding your circle of friends.Scott has met too many people whose first impulse is to fence off their lives with relational barriers that only end up starving their own souls.Yes, it's true: Real friendship is costly. Love does make us vulnerable. But without risk, our lives will remain impoverished.Join Scott in "BeFriend" as he summons you toward diverse friendship that can enrich your life and, in the process, reveal a better version of yourself.

    These writers assert the need for such an expanded update is due to our everchanging world. For example, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, proliferation of religious sects, and secularization of our culture greatly increase the importance of ensuring the church produces fully developed, biblically informed followers of Jesus. To that end, The Teaching Ministry of the Church presents a full overview of Christian education in four major sections: Theological Foundations, Biblical Foundations, Preparation for Teaching, and Structuring the Teaching Ministry of the Church. Within this framework, a step-by-step plan for establishing and maintaining an effective teaching ministry among preschoolers, children, youth, and adults takes shape.Key chapters: �The Bible as Curriculum,” �The Church’s Role in Teaching,” �Creating an Unforgettable Learning Experience,” and �Equipping Teachers.”

    We are called to do the same. But evangelism can be difficult--even intimidating. With all the evangelism resources available, where should you turn to find advice on how to share the Good News with others? Robert E. Coleman says the answers aren't found in TV evangelism, easy-evangelism guidebooks, or the latest marketing techniques. Rather, he looks to the Bible, to the ultimate example found in Jesus Christ. For more than forty years this classic, biblical look at evangelism has challenged and instructed over three million readers. Now repackaged for a new generation, The Master Plan of Evangelism is as fresh and relevant as ever. Join the movement and discover how you can minister to the people God brings into your life.

    Confident that seminary equipped them with the tools they need for the journey ahead, they find themselves discouraged when the realities of their first call don't line up with what they came to expect from assigned readings and classroom discussions. This book, with contributions from fifteen veteran pastors, including Daniel L. Akin, Juan Sanchez, Phil A. Newton, Scott Sauls, offers real-world advice about the joys and challenges of the first five years of pastoral ministry--bridging the gap between seminary training and life in a local church. Armed with wisdom from those who have gone before them, young pastors will find encouragement to stand firm in the thick of the realities and rigors of pastoral ministry.

    The evergreen wreath symbolizes eternal life and includes four candles—typically three purple and one pink, with a white candle in the middle that symbolizes the purity of Christ. Various traditions assign different topics to each candle, and the candles are usually given names to remind us of the good news of Christ's birthTo celebrate this season, TGC's editorial team put together 25 devotional readings that use the Advent wreath as a guide to focus hearts and minds on Christ during the month of December. Structured around traditional Advent themes—hope, peace, joy, love, and faith—these reflections will encourage your heart in this season of celebrating Christ's first coming, and longing for his second.

    Gregory Koukl demonstrates how to get in the driver's seat, keeping any conversation moving with thoughtful, artful diplomacy. You'll learn how to maneuver comfortably and graciously through the minefields, stop challengers in their tracks, turn the tables and—most importantly—get people thinking about Jesus. Soon, your conversations will look more like diplomacy than D-Day. Drawing on extensive experience defending Christianity in the public square, Koukl shows you how to:- Initiate conversations effortlessly- Present the truth clearly, cleverly, and persuasively- Graciously and effectively expose faulty thinking- Skillfully manage the details of dialogue- Maintain an engaging, disarming style even under attackTactics provides the game plan for communicating the compelling truth about Christianity with confidence and grace.

    We lack space between one task and the next, one thought and the next, one email and the next. Social media, TV, work deadlines, and family stress steal our enjoyment and engagement in the moment.Holy Noticing will teach you how to:become more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and environmentrecognize Christ’s presence in the momentreduce your stress by developing the ability to focus on God and people rather than tasksMany today think mindfulness is dangerous, unchristian, or associated with Eastern religions—and often it is! But Dr. Charles Stone reveals that the art of holy noticing—purposefully paying attention to God as he works in us, our relationships, and our world—is a spiritual discipline Christians have practiced for millennia. Holy Noticing explores the historically Christian and biblical roots of this lifestyle, as well as Dr. Stone’s BREATHe model, which teaches you to be more engaged with Christ in the everyday moments that too often slip right by us.Discover the lost spiritual discipline of holy noticing today and learn to engage the world like Christ.

    A much-needed look at sharing Christ with unbelievers, based not on the techniques of guerrilla hard-sell tactics, but on engaging questions and caring interaction. Filled with humor and stories, this book provides a challenging yet encouraging look at evangelism in our world today. This volume argues that asking questions and starting meaningful conversations is a far better method for sharing faith than prepared lectures or statements. It gives advice on what people need to hear in response to the world around them.Author was raised Jewish and has a unique, rabbinical outlook on evangelismEncouraging and usefulEasy-to-read, conversational styleStudy guide at the end to aid in teaching and discussion

    When God puts you in the right place at the right time, you can't help but get blessed!

    Allender and Tremper Longman III have together written this brief, simple and charming introduction to help couples build healthy and happy marriages. Their model follows the "leave, weave and cleave" imagery of the Bible: leave your parents, weave a life together and cleave to each other. This book is part of a kit that includes everything needed to mentor individual married couples or to lead a group discussion. It will be especially helpful for newlyweds or young married couples who are just beginning their new life together.

    Nouwen’s Letters to Marc About Jesus recalls the author’s correspondences with his teenage nephew, a boy struggling with issues of faith and spirituality in an apathetic age. The much-beloved author of The Wounded Healer and With Open Hands—named alongside such notables as C.S. Lewis and Thomas Merton as one of the most important Christian writers of the 20th century—Nouwen writes from the heart in the deeply personal Letters to Marc About Jesus, as he imparts a powerful wisdom born of an unassailable faith.

    His understandings about our regressed, “seatbelt society,” oriented toward safety rather than adventure, help explain the sabotage that leaders constantly face today. Suspicious of the “quick fixes” and instant solutions that sweep through our culture only to give way to the next fad, he argued for strength and selfdifferentiationas the marks of true leadership. His formula for success is more maturity, not more data; stamina, not technique; and personal responsibility, not empathy.A Failure of Nerve was unfinished at the time of Friedman’s death and originally publishedin a limited edition. This new edition cleans up some oversights in the original and bringshis life-changing insights and challenges to a new generation of readers.“Reading this book is like discovering an unpublished Beethoven sonata or a missing play of Shakespeare. Ed Friedman was one of our most brilliant, original, and provocative thinkers across the fields of therapy, ministry, and organizational leadership.”—Professor William J. Doherty, Director, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, University of Minnesota

    Douglas Wilson points to the need for obedient hearts on the part of both husbands and wives. Godly marriages proceed from obedient hearts, and the greatest desire of an obedient heart is the glory of God. "You'll never be able to think of marriage in the same way again." -J.K. Walker, Homelife

    Like Jonah, however, we eventually discover we've made a mess of things; we're rowing against the storms God is using to pull us back on course.In Glorious Mess, Mike Howerton shows how God's relentless grace extends into all the messes we make in our lives, that God clearly reveals his love for imperfect people no matter how far we've strayed. He shows readers how to hear God's voice, how to embrace God's calling on their lives, how to get out of their messes, and how to see God working. The result is not just forgiveness and direction for life, but also encouragement and inspiration to be our best selves before God and others.Includes discussion questions for group or personal use.