Elaine Heath urges the church to boldly follow the Holy Spirit's leadership beyond buildings and programs to join what Jesus is doing in the world.KEY FEATURES--Each chapter has reflection questions for small-group discussion.--The book could be used for leadership development over several weeks or months.

    Guenther also discusses basic matters of Christian practice, such as making a confession, intercession, going on retreat, simplifying our lives, using a journal to pray, finding a spiritual director, and praying through times of desolation when God does not seem to be listening.

    A beautiful and fascinating book that not only describes the history of icons, but provides a practical guide explaining how to "pray with icons", and a series of meditative reflections on some of the most well-known icons.

    Dr. Jeannie Constantinou brings her more than forty years' experience as a professor, Bible teacher, and speaker to bear in explaining what the Orthodox phronema is, how it can be acquired, and how that phronema is expressed in true Orthodox theology -- as practiced by those who are properly qualified by both training and a deep relationship with Christ.

    Ridges brings the books of Exodus through Ruth to life with his well-known teaching skills. In addition, he provides some direction and helps for understanding 1 Samuel through Proverbs. In-the-verse notes provide a highly effective, unique teaching tool. Notes between the verses provide additional insights and teach principles and doctrines. Join the tens of thousands of readers who have experienced spiritual growth from reading and pondering the books in this series.

    But often there is so much focus in our churches on the first part of Christ's command--evangelism--that the second part--teaching new believers to obey all that Christ commanded--is forgotten. New believers find themselves on their own, trying to figure out what their new life is supposed to look like. In this well-loved book, Bill Hull explains why disciple-making must be the focus of every believer's life and shows how each of us can do it. With practical examples drawn from vast ministry experience, Hull helps the church deepen and enrich the lives of believers as they learn to truly follow Christ.

    It connects us to each other. "I think Jesus wanted his disciples and everyone who came after him to remember what they had together. What they made together. What it meant to be together. How the things he wanted them to do could not be done alone. How the things he did could not have been done without them."In her inimitable style of memoir and personal reflection, Nora Gallagher explores the beauty and mystery of this most fascinating of topics. Whether exploring the history of Christian Communion, taking us inside the workings of a soup kitchen or sharing times of joy and sadness with friends, the author reminds us what it means to partake of and be part of the body of Christ."The Ancient Practices" is an eight-book series with staggered releases through February 2010. Though various books have covered some of these spiritual disciplines, there has never been an attempt at a definitive series until now. Immensely compelling and readable, each classic book features a foreword by Phyllis Tickle, the general editor."

    It’s as if they are trying to navigate with mere fragments of a map?different parts of the good news?and so they fail to see the whole picture. Daniel Montgomery, lead pastor of the fast-growing Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, and Mike Cosper, founder of Sojourn Music, argue that we need to put the collective fragments together, recovering the whole gospel for the whole church, and taking it into the whole world.

    Martin Laird shows that the Christian tradition of contemplation has its own refined teachings on using a prayer word to focus the mind, working with the breath to cultivate stillness, and the practice of inner vigilance or awareness. But this book is not a mere historical survey of these teachings. In Into the Silent Land, we see the ancient wisdom of both the Christian East and West brought sharply to bear on the modern-day longing for radical openness to God in the depths of the heart.Laird's book is not like the many presentations for beginners. While useful for those just starting out, this book serves especially as a guide for those who desire to journey yet deeper into the silence of God. The heart of the book focuses on negotiating key moments of struggle on the contemplative path, when the whirlwind of distractions or the brick wall of boredom makes it difficult to continue. Laird shows that these inner struggles, even wounds, that any person of prayer must face, are like riddles, trying to draw out of us our own inner silence. Ultimately Laird shows how the wounds we loathe become vehicles of the healing silence we seek, beyond technique and achievement. Throughout the language is fresh, direct, and focused on real-life examples of people whose lives are incomparably enriched by the practice of contemplation.

    And in her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow, she has coalesced everything she knows about prayer to these fundamentals.It is these three prayers – asking for assistance from a higher power, appreciating what we have that is good, and feeling awe at the world around us – that can get us through the day and can show us the way forward. In Help, Thanks, Wow, Lamott recounts how she came to these insights, explains what they mean to her and how they have helped, and explores how others have embraced these same ideas.

    He describes seven culture-shaping areas of influence over each society—media, government, education, economy, family, religion, and celebration (arts and entertainment)—that are the keys to taking a nation for the kingdom of God. The purpose of this book is to draw the church’s attention to these areas; help each individual determine his or her specific assignment in this mission; and then to offer insight into the nature of the battles involved in this “spiritual tsunami,” as the author calls it.Many Christians do not grasp that God’s favor for us to succeed is already upon us and is part of His end-time strategy to establish Jesus as Ruler of the Nations before His return. Readers will come to understand that this favor is divinely strategic and corresponds to the place of each person’s ministry assignment. Many have a spiritual poverty vision and poor eschatology, two factors that have robbed us of our blessing and caused us to fail to reclaim cultural influences for Christ.The book is laid out to address these two misunderstandings, with the first several chapters specifically aimed at correcting lack of vision and misguided understanding of the end times. Each chapter that follows provides intensive, detailed study of each “mountain” of influence, how it will be taken and by whom, and what resistance will be encountered by individuals assigned to claim this mountain.

    First published in 1988, it is here expanded with an all new Afterword.

    Dr. Stephen De Young, creator of the popular The Whole Counsel of God blog and podcast, traces the lineage of Orthodox Christianity back to the faith and witness of the apostles, which was rooted in a first-century Jewish worldview. The Religion of the Apostles presents the Orthodox Christian Church of today as a continuation of the religious life of the apostles, which in turn was a continuation of the life of the people of God since the beginning of creation.

    S. Eliot, and Jrgen Moltmann's new book is a powerful testament to personal hope in chaotic, even catastrophic times.As Moltmann's award-winning volume The Coming of God laid out the systematic framework of eschatology (the doctrine of the ''last things''), so here he explores the personal meaning of that fundamental affirmation for Christians. Debunking the classic images of Christian apocalyptic scenarios, the final struggle between God and Satan, Christ and the AntichristArmageddonMoltmann instead shows that Christian expectation of the future has nothing to do with these but everything to do with new beginnings and a horizon of hope. Three parts explore three particular beginnings: birth (childhood and youth), rebirth (failures and defeats), and resurrection (death, judgment, afterlife).This brief volume promises to be one of Moltmann's most personal and compelling books.

    Sharing inspiring stories from his own experiences as a prayer circle maker, Batterson will help readers uncover their heart's deepest desires and God-given dreams and unleash them through the kind of audacious prayer that God delights to answer.