This hunger and homesickness is the beginning of spiritual formation, according to James C. Wilhoit. In Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered, Wilhoit takes a unique approach to the topic. Whereas most books focus on the individual's spiritual transformation, this one intentionally concentrates on how the local church itself is the seedbed of spiritual growth and how the process is a community effort. This book's short chapters, sidebar material, and concluding prayers fit well with readers' busy lives without sacrificing quality and depth of content.

    And, like all of his work, this one illustrates the very simplicity he commends to others. Here indeed is a work whose value and usefulness is out of all proportion to its length.

    While "On Guard" does provide practical help for building a child protection policy, it provides much more. Full of pastoral wisdom, "On Guard" recognizes that the church's response to abuse must be more comprehensive in line with her calling than a simple legal policy or clinical analysis. "On Guard" moves church staff and leaders beyond fearful awareness to prayerful preparedness with an actionable plan.

    

    The Brooklyn Tabernacle pastor discusses how he built up a broken-down church to a membership of six thousand.

    But are those answers reliable? In this systematic text, Douglas Groothuis makes a comprehensive apologetic case for Christian theism--proceeding from a defense of objective truth to a presentation of the key arguments for God from natural theology to a case for the credibility of Jesus, the incarnation and the resurrection. Throughout, Groothuis considers alternative views and how they fare intellectually.