Todd Wagner invites readers to experience the adventure, goodness, and fullness of life that God has intended for humankind from the beginning of time and especially today through His provision through His people. Weekly meetings of mostly bored adults who regularly attend services have nothing to do with God’s vision for His people. Wagner paints the picture of a perfect Father’s intention to bring His people into an adventurous life full of authentic relationships, powerful transformation, and seemingly impossible significance and meaning.

    The pastor of a dying church doesn't need to be told it is dying; he needs to find the way forward--and he needs hope.Author and pastor Andrew Davis offers readers the lessons he's learned in his own journey of leading church transformation, including- keeping Christ's ownership of the church central- being humble- choosing your battles wisely- empowering godly men to join in leadership- making prayer a priority- focusing on the Word- and moreChurch decline is not inevitable. Revitalize gives pastors the spiritual support they long for and the practical advice they need to turn their churches around and position them for greater health in the future.

    the way Jesus did. Discover the God-given evangelistic tools that will enable you t

    This book focuses readers on the essentials of God-honoring worship, combining biblical foundations with practical application in a way that works in the real world. The author, a pastor and noted songwriter, skillfully instructs pastors, musicians, and church leaders so that they can root their congregational worship in unchanging scriptural principles, not divisive cultural trends. Bob Kauflin covers a variety of topics such as the devastating effects of worshiping the wrong things, how to base our worship on God's self-revelation rather than our assumptions, the fuel of worship, the community of worship, and the ways that eternity's worship should affect our earthly worship.Appropriate for Christians from varied backgrounds and for various denominations, this book will bring a vital perspective to what readers think they understand about praising God.

    Can we get behind the question of what style of worship we should engage in to understand the bedrock foundation for God's people--honoring him as he desires? Is the dissatisfaction with worship voiced by so many perhaps a result of our having wandered from biblical teaching on the subject? Through careful exegesis in both Old and New Testaments, David Peterson unveils the total life-orientation of worship that is found in Scripture. Rather than determining for ourselves how we should worship, we, his people, are called to engage with God on the terms he proposes and in the way he alone makes possible. This book calls for a radical rethinking of the meaning and practice of worship, especially by those responsible for leading congregations. Here is the starting place for recovering the richness of biblical worship.

    Some of the topics you will find in this book are: Renew your bonds of love with other believers. Participate in the partnership of the gospel. Contribute your spiritual gifts to help others. Share your possessions according to God's plan.

    Gregg Allison explores and synthesizes all that Scripture affirms about the new covenant people of God, capturing a full picture of the biblical church. He covers the topics of the church's identity and characteristics; its growth through purity, unity, and discipline; its offices and leadership structures; its ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper; and its ministries. Here is a rich approach to ecclesiology consisting of sustained doctrinal reflection and wise, practical application.Part of the Foundations of Evangelical Theology series.

    Greear shows how moralism and legalism have often eclipsed the gospel, even in conservative churches. Gospel cuts through the superficiality of religion and reacquaints you with the revolutionary truth of God's gracious acceptance of us in Christ. The gospel is the power of God, and the only true source of joy, freedom, radical generosity, and audacious faith. The gospel produces in us what religion never could: a heart that desires God. The book’s core is a “gospel prayer” by which you can saturate yourself in the gospel daily. Dwelling on the gospel will release in you new depths of passion for God and take you to new heights of obedience to Him. Gospel gives you an applicable, exciting vision of how God will use you to bring His healing to the world.

    Those roots are lodged in the Universal Church's and local church's Christ-imaging roles as a prophetic witness, a priestly witness, and a kingly witness. The authors, both PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) ordained pastors and long-time campus ministers, Brian Habig and Les Newsom, assert that when the Church, and local churches, again major on its primary roles, health will be restored and a shine will go froth that is impossible to ignore. Nothing is more important to Christ than his Bride, pure and spotless! This book is devoted to that end.The Authors:Brian Habig, Vanderbilt University. A graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity) and Mississippi State University, Brian Habig has served as an ordained minister of the PCA and a campus minister for Reformed University Fellowship for six year. He is a regular conference speaker in addition to this primary pastoral role as campus minister at Vanderbilt University. Habig is currently completing a Master of Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.Les Newsom, University of Mississippi. A native of Memphis, Les Newsom received his Master of Divinity degree from Reformed Theological Seminary. He has served as an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America for seven years. The first five years were spent as the campus minister for RUF at The University of Memphis. He now serves at The University of Mississippi. A regular conference speaker, Les has taught philosophy of ministry classes at Reformed Theological Seminary."The Enduring Community succinctly shows that Christians with a church-optional mindset are as vulerable as a chorister without a choir."Marvin OlaskyEditor, World magazineSenior Fellow, Acton Institute

    Though many people today like Jesus, they are growing tired of traditional religious institutions. Even those who follow Jesus aren't so sure they always like what Christianity and the church represent.For many years, Dan Kimball would have agreed, until an encounter with a small group of Jesus followers started him on a journey that challenged him to rethink everything he had ever assumed about the church.andamp;nbsp; In Adventures in Churchland, Dan invites you to join him as he uncovers what the Bible really says about the church and reminds us that it's more than just buildings and institutions, it's a beautiful mess of broken people learning to follow Jesus together. As you journey with Dan, you'll begin to see the church as Jesus intended it to be: a community of forgiven misfits coming together to serve the world around them with passion, creativity, innovation, and grace. 'If you don't like the church, or if you're thinking about leaving, please read this book first. Dan's stories will make you laugh, make you think, and make you appreciate the church like never before.' -- Mark Batterson, author of The Circle Maker 'As a non-Christian, I was inspired and moved, and have been enthusiastically recommending it to my friends. This is a book for everybody.' -- Mark Frauenfelder, editor-in-chief of MAKE, founder of boingboing.net 'Dan encourages us to break through the tension and messiness that church communities inevitably encounter to experience the beauty of being in community and sharing God's infinite love with others.' -- Zach Lind, drummer, Jimmy Eat World'I am so glad that my friend Dan has written this book, because there is a lot of confusion out there about Jesus and the church.' -- Wanda Jackson, Queen of Rockabilly and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

    In this book Pastor Chuck teaches the call to the ministry, church government, the rapture of the church and the priority of studying the Word of God.

    Changes in this edition include a new section to "Prayers of the People"; updates to resources drawn from the NIV, the Reformed confessions, and other contemporary texts; a new appendix featuring "Worshiping the Triune God" adopted by the World Communion of Reformed Churches; and hundreds of new and replacement prayers and other readings for worship. This valuable resource for worship planners and pastors includes texts that can be read aloud as well as outlines that can be adapted for your situation. Teaching notes offer guidance for planning each element of the service. Thought-provoking perspectives on the meaning and purpose of worship are great for discussion and reflection. The companion CD contains the entire text of the book for easy cutting and pasting.

    Add a testimony, some pancakes, a prayer, and—poof!—a men’s ministry. Right? Making disciples of men—getting them to walk with Christ, live like Christ, and work for Christ—is hard.If you’ve been struggling to get traction with men, this revised and updated edition of No Man Left Behind can revolutionize your efforts. Drawing upon thirty years of research and work with more than 2,500 churches, the authors offer a proven strategy that will help you disciple every man in your church.No Man Left Behind is the blueprint for growing a thriving men's ministry that has the power to rebuild the church as we know it, pulling men off the couch and into active involvement as part of the body of Christ.Find out how to:Shift your paradigm from a men’s ministry to a ministry to all your menIdentify the unwritten “man code” that your church conveys to every guy who walks in the doorDevelop a concrete, seamless process to help men who don’t know Christ become passionate disciplesYou can reach men.You can help them grow closer to Christ.This book will show you how.

    It doesn’t matter whether a church is alive and growing or barely surviving on life support. God has a plan for it. It doesn’t matter whether a church is facing financial challenges, internal divisions, or strife among its leaders. God has a plan for it. God is able to deal with any problem a church will ever face--as long as his people earnestly seek him. As the pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle, Cymbala knows that God’s blessing and grace is available to us today just as much as it was in the early church, when thousands of people became believers despite the fact that the church lacked everything we consider vital: church buildings, seminaries, printed materials, sound systems, choirs, and money. None of these things mattered. What mattered was that God’s hand was on the church, working through his people to build the kingdom. Then, as now, God chose the church to manifest his presence to the world. In this companion book to The Life God Blesses, Cymbala describes the kind of church God wants to bless and use. Based on the Word of God and personal experience, The Church God Blesses describes the key elements found in a vitally alive church and offers church leaders and individual Christians a fresh and invigorating look at what God intends the church to be. The church God blesses is not necessarily the largest, newest, or loudest church in town. Instead, it’s a place where believers: * Receive solid spiritual nourishment *Can trust in God’s protection *Engage in vital praise and worship *Become effective in ministry *Learn that confession of sin is the channel to God’s power

    As long-held beliefs on love, faith, and God are challenged by the aggregate of changes that have overhauled our world, many of us are left feeling confused and uncertain while old norms are challenged and redefined at breakneck speed.In Wrestling with God, Ronald Rolheiser offers a steady and inspiring voice to help us avow and understand our faith in a world where nothing seems solid or permanent. Drawing from his own life experience, as well as a storehouse of literary, psychological, and theological insights, the beloved author of Sacred Fire examines the fears and doubts that challenge us. It is in these struggles to find meaning, that Rolheiser lays out a path for faith in a world struggling to find faith, but perhaps more important, he helps us find our own rhythm within which to walk that path.