­­­­Momentum confronts some of the issues that have hindered personal and corporate Revivals from continuing. The authors share their own perspectives and experiences that they have seen in their own lives on this topic. Every believer has access to live in a momentum that was initiated from the beginning of time. So let’s embrace our inheritance and step into the momentum of the Kingdom!

    . . . My plan for doing this is to recover the doctrine of pneumatology (the study of spiritual beings/phenomena) for our theology of preaching, resulting in a renewed emphasis on the powerful combination of Word and Spirit working together as the catalyst for powerful expository preaching.”Heisler thoroughly examines how the Holy Spirit illuminates and empowers the preacher, opens the hearts of the hearers, and applies the message to their lives. Indeed, to ignore the Holy Spirit’s role in sermon preparation and delivery would be a considerable oversight.

    Like everyone else, preachers long to be understood. Unfortunately, the rules first learned in seminary, if misapplied, can quickly turn homiletic precision into listener boredom. To capture heart and mind, Mark Galli and Craig Larsen suggest preachers turn to the lessons of journalism. In Preaching That Connects, they show how the same keys used to create effective, captivating communication in the media can transform a sermon. Amply illustrated from some of today’s best preachers, Preaching That Connects walks through the entire sermon, from the critical introduction to the bridge to illustrations and final application. Key points include the five techniques for generating creative ideas, your six options for illustrations, and the ten rules for great storytelling—and why the transition sentence is the hardest sentence you’ll write. Preaching That Connects is for all who seek to hone their craft to communicate the truth of the gospel effectively.

    In Transforming Church in Rural America, Pastor Shannon O'Dell shares a powerful vision of relevance, possibility, and excellence for these small churches, or for any ministry that is stuck in a "rural state of mind." The book reveals:how to generate growth through transformed livesways to create active evangelism in your communityno-cost solutions for staffing challenges, enhancing the worship experience, and inspiring volunteersFocusing on vision, attitude, leadership, and innovation, you can learn the practical strategies and biblical guidance that helped to grow a church of 31 into a multi-campus church of several thousand, with a national and global outreach. Discover effective structure and ways to cast God-given vision so others can follow and make an impact. Experience the blueprint for transforming into effective, dynamic, and thriving churches no matter where the location or how small it may be.

    Never offline, always within reach, we now wield in our hands a magic wand of technological power we have only begun to grasp. But it raises new enigmas, too. Never more connected, we seem to be growing more distant. Never more efficient, we have never been more distracted. Drawing from the insights of numerous thinkers, published studies, and his own research, writer Tony Reinke identifies twelve potent ways our smartphones have changed us—for good and bad. Reinke calls us to cultivate wise thinking and healthy habits in the digital age, encouraging us to maximize the many blessings, to avoid the various pitfalls, and to wisely wield the most powerful gadget of human connection ever unleashed.

    But many churches tend to be extroverted places where introverts are marginalized. Some Christians end up feeling like it's not as faithful to be an introvert. Adam McHugh shows how introverts can live and minister in ways consistent with their personalities. He explains how introverts and extroverts process information and approach relationships differently and how introverts can practice Christian spirituality in ways that fit who they are. With practical illustrations from church and parachurch contexts, McHugh offers ways for introverts to serve, lead, worship and even evangelize effectively. Introverts in the Church is essential reading for any introvert who has ever felt out of place, as well as for church leaders who want to make their churches more welcoming to introverts. Discover God's call and empowering to thrive as an introvert, for the sake of the church and kingdom.

    In fact, if you struggle to pray in the first place, that's not unusual either. Tim Chester tells us how we can be great pray-ers. And he admits that that's a really bold claim.'The secret of great praying has nothing to do with human effort or skill,' he explains. 'Lots of people would like to think that it does because they want to make prayer an achievement.' But the secret of great praying is ... Knowing three things about God:+That God the Father loves to hear us pray +That God the Son makes every prayer pleasing to God +That God the Holy Spirit helps us as we prayTim looks at: why prayer is easy (how we pray), why prayer is difficult (why we pray) and the arguments and priorities of prayer (what we pray). Prayer is a child asking her father for help. And that's not beyond any one of us.

    The authors examine five questions that will help couples decide whether or not to commit themselves to each other for life.

    The Pastor’s Kid Dad may be following God’s call, but the Pastor’s kids (PKs) are just following mom and dad. Often to devastating results. Barnabas Piper – son of Pastor and bestselling author John Piper – has experienced the challenges of being a PK first-hand. With empathy, humor, and personal stories, he addresses the pervasive assumptions, identity issues and accelerated scrutiny PKs face.  But more than just stating the problems – he shares the one thing a PK needs above all else (as do their pastor/father and church) is to live in true freedom and wholeness.

    Bobby Jamieson describes how baptism and the Lord’s Supper transform a scattered group of Christians into a gathered local church. It traces the trajectory of a church’s birth, how gospel people form a gospel polity.   Baptism is where faith goes public. It is the initiating oath-sign of the new covenant. It is the passport of Christ’s kingdom and a kingdom citizen’s swearing-in. The Lord’s Supper is the renewing oath-sign of the new covenant, a corporate act of fellowship with Christ that binds the church into one body. Baptism confers church membership and the Lord’s Supper confirms it. Baptism confers membership; the Lord’s Supper renews it. So baptism is required for church membership like vows are required for marriage.     After building and summarizing this positive theological case for why baptism is required for church membership, the book answers objections, poses challenges to the open membership view, and applies this theological vision to the local church’s practice of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and church membership.   Why is baptism required for church membership? Because church membership is a public affirmation of someone’s public profession of faith in Christ, and Jesus has appointed baptism as the means by which his followers publicly profess their faith in him. Why does this question matter? Because removing baptism from membership erases the line Jesus himself has drawn between the church and the world.

    But does it? In this greatly revised and expanded version of his controversial book, (formerly titled)The Christian and Alcoholic Beverages, Kenneth L. Gentry Jr. takes a thorough look at the issue, concluding that Scripture allows wine to be consumed both for health and pleasure-but in moderation. By careful lexical, exegetical and theological examination, God Gave Wine demonstrates from the Bible the error of those who demand either prohibition or abstention. With the backdrop of Psalm 104:14-15, Gentry shows that wine is God's blessing to man. Written in a pleasing and irenic style, Gentry's approach avoids the common pitfalls of emotionalism, cultural conditioning and ecclesiastical tradition, while remaining distinctively biblical.

    It is the reinvocation of two great heresies, one rooted in an attempt to reach for godlikeness, the other bowing before the sea monster of the chaotic deep.Today’s leader must answer many challenging questions including:What does it mean to lead in a cultural storm?How do I battle the darkness in my own heart?Is there such a thing as a perfect leader?Weaving a history of leadership through the Enlightenment, Romanticism, tumultuous 19th-century Paris, and eventually World War II, cultural commentator Mark Sayers brings history and theology together to warn of the dangers yet to come, calling us to choose a better way.

    If the world is to "know that we are Christians by our love," the church needs to discover better ways to live out the deep unity we share in Christ as we engage with politics and our world. In Oriented to Faith, Tim Otto tells the story of his struggle with being gay and what that taught him about the gospel. With an authentic and compelling personal voice, Tim invites us to explore how God is at work in the world, even amidst the most difficult circumstances, redeeming and transforming the church through this difficult debate. With gentle wisdom and compassionate insight, Tim invites all followers of Jesus to consider how we might work with God through these tensions so that all can be transformed by God's good news in and through Christ. "Tim Otto is the rare voice in the church's conversation about human sexuality who gives me hope that despite all the pain and confusion, we who bear with one another may learn what it means to be Christian." --Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, author of Strangers at My Door "Tim Otto brings a unique, wise, and honest perspective to the church's polarized debate on homosexuality. His strong love for the church and concern for its unity underlie this challenge to stay connected with Christians holding varying convictions on how best to love LGBTQ sisters and brothers. Tim has been a valued consultant in our fellowship's journey to hear one another well as we work from different perspectives on this divisive issue." --Sally Schreiner Youngquist, community leader of Reba Place Fellowship, Evanston, IL "Current debates about sexuality and religion are tearing communities of faith apart. Tim Otto has wrestled with the issues at stake, both theologically and personally, over many decades. He has something surprising, hopeful, and challenging to say to folks on all sides. Oriented to Faith invites us into a fuller imagination of what it might mean to be the beloved community. Throughout this book, Tim is a gentle and masterful host for the honest and tender conversations that families and churches must have today." --Mark Scandrette, author of Practicing the Way of Jesus Tim Otto is a pastor at the Church of the Sojourners, a live-together Christian community in San Francisco. He holds a Masters of Theological Studies from Duke Divinity School and a BS in Nursing from the University of San Francisco. Tim worked on the first AIDS ward in the United States as a registered nurse for fourteen years. He is coauthor of Inhabiting the Church: Biblical Wisdom for a New Monasticism.

    But one of the worst is when an innocent gets violated. Why does God allow such things to happen? What Joy Tan-Chi Mendoza went through when she was 15 has been a very public and strong statement of pain, healing, and grace. She has now put her story into a book that she hopes will show people that there is hope, healing, and wholeness for those who have experienced abuse and this kind of pain. What Satan meant for harm, God meant for good.

    At the same time, she encourages women to teach and lead in the church in ways that may startle some complementarians. Readers on both sides of this hot-button topic will be challenged by her ministry-tested and thoroughly Scriptural perspective.