Leon McBeth's 'The Baptist heritage' is a definitive, fresh interpretation of Baptist history. Based on primary source research, the book combines the best features of chronological and topical history to bring alive the story of Baptists around the world.

    The time has come for us to honestly name the ways we are different and similar so that we can serve together in unity, grace and trust.Women in ministry experience unique challenges in their church settings which continue to hinder their vocational, professional, and personal success. Women in ministry need a trusted and comprehensive resource not only to be able to survive but to thrive in their places of call. She provides theoretical, theological, and practical frameworks and strategies for flourishing as a woman in ministry and engages critical reflection on the practice of ministry in light of current feminist theory, biblical interpretation, and experience.Covering everything from biblical arguments for and against women in the church to what not to wear, this book offers background information and tools for negotiating the many and varied issues that woman in ministry face, including leadership, the authority and office of the clergy, and structures and power in the church. A trusted and comprehensive resource for women in ministry, equipping them to thrive in their places of call, and for the men who serve alongside them. "For women in ministry, one 'a-ha' moment after another spills from the pages of this book. Decades after ordination opened for women in mainline churches, the struggle for acceptance and equality goes on. This is an important book which narrates the deep costs of sexism and imagines a new form of women's leadership rooted and grounded in authentic love and genuine hospitality. In telling the truth about persistent sexism in the church, Karoline Lewis, paradoxically, blesses her readers with hope. This hope emerges in naming the challenges for women leaders and then pointing the way forward." - Leanne Van Dyk, President and Professor of Theology, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA

    The track is treacherous. There are so many ways to mangle the exchange zones, to overshoot, to be knocked off the track, to drop the baton, to stop running. The church needs champion runners who never give up, who persevere no matter what they encounter, who run to win, unstoppable, no matter the cost.If we pass the baton of faith fluidly in the exchange zone from person to person, from generation to generation, we speed unstoppable toward the finish line. But if we fumble the exchange, the whole team, the whole church, suffers. Some runners even stop running and walk right out of the race.Discover just how important it is to get the “exchange zone” right, to ensure that no runners stop running and walk off the field, but that every runner becomes unstoppable in their dedication to carry their baton of faith to the next runner.

    Now, for the first time, he puts his life's work into a response to the question everybody ultimately asks: how do I pray?This down-to-earth introduction to life's greatest adventure will guide you deeper in your relationship with God, helping you to become more centred and still, clearer in discerning God's voice, more able to make sense of your disappointments and more expectant for miraculous breakthroughs too. It's full of honest, hard-won wisdom interspersed with real-life stories - some humorous, others moving - to equip and inspire your prayer life. Journeying through the Lord's Prayer, and accompanied by online videos from The Prayer Course, which has been used by more than a million people, it unpacks nine essential aspects of prayer: stillness, adoration, petition, intercession, perseverance, contemplation, listening, confession and spiritual authority.From one of today's most visionary communicators, for those who've been praying for years as well as those who want to pray but don't know where to begin, How to Pray is the simple, life-changing guide you've been waiting for.

    It's about the explosive, inside-out transformation that occurs in the innermost sanctum of the human heart when a person meets Jesus personally. To help the reader live out this new perspective, the author gives five practical and powerful keys that, if understood and internalized, will become highly effective principles of success and living a victorious life.

    The result is a dry, two dimensional person doing strange, undecipherable things. In BEAUTIFUL OUTLAW, John Eldredge removes the religious varnish to help readers discover stunning new insights into the humanity of Jesus. He was accused of breaking the law, keeping bad company, heavy drinking. Of being the devil himself. He was so compelling and dangerous they had to kill him. But others loved him passionately. He had a sense of humor. His generosity was scandalous. His anger made enemies tremble. He'd say the most outrageous things. He was definitely not the Jesus of the stained glass. In the author's winsome, narrative approach, he breaks Jesus out of the typical stereotypes, just as he set masculinity free in his book, Wild at Heart. By uncovering the real Jesus, readers are welcomed into the rich emotional life of Christ. All of the remarkable qualities of Jesus burst like fireworks with color and brilliance because of his humanity. Eldredge goes on to show readers how they can experience this Jesus in their lives every day. This book will quicken readers' worship, and deepen their intimacy with Jesus.

    Somehow we have allowed the frenetic pace of life to rob us of the quiet, restful moments with God we so desperately need. Keep a Quiet Heart features the rich devotional musings of one of America's favorite authors and points the way to a deep experience with God, away from the unsettling distractions of day-to-day living.

    Extreme Prayer taps into that longing for connection with God when we need it most by teaching us to pray the kinds of prayers Jesus promised to answer with unlimited power. It's not about how to pray more . . . it's about praying differently, and intentionally tapping into all of Jesus's open-ended promises in a way that achieves maximum Kingdom impact. In Extreme Prayer, Greg Pruett searches the Scriptures to discover the kinds of prayers that God has promised to answer, challenging you to access their power and see His immeasurable glory unleashed in your prayer life.

    Provides a detailed examination and encouraging explanation of faith, hope, humility, love and chastity, human formation, patience, penance, joy, and obedience.

      It’s exhausting, this guarding of our stories and struggles. Fear of being found out had caused me to hide—but I wasn’t just covering my flaws, I was unintentionally blocking the beauty of God’s grace. My journey to real freedom began when I quit running from my mess and started trusting Jesus to make something beautiful of it.    This book is that story. It’s stepping out of shame and insecurity into gospel freedom. It’s letting God turn our failures and frailties into testimonies of His faithfulness. I’ve discovered that when we quit hiding, God gets the glory and we are able to fully embrace not only our relationship with Him, but also with one another.  Transparency brings freedom, and in every moment, we'll find that God can absolutely be trusted.

    Anchored in the life of Christ as presented in the Gospels, it explores the entirety of Jesus life who he is, what he is really like, what he taught, what he did for our salvation, and what this means for us as Catholics today.This study shows, in a simple way, how Jesus, the Incarnate God, is both fully divine and fully human his intimacy with the Father, his revelation of the heart of the Father, and his extraordinary influence on his disciples, his followers, and even his enemies.Most importantly, this encounter with Christ will inspire and empower you to center your entire life in him as you come to know and love him in an ever-deeper and more intimate way.

    Where the world stresses the importance of success, Bird invites readers to embrace nine specific failures in the areas of our personal lives, our relationships, and the church. Why? Because what human wisdom deems indispensable is so often an impediment to our spiritual growth, and what it deems insignificant is so often essential to it.With compelling examples from the Bible and today, Bird paints an enticing picture of the counterintuitive, countercultural life that God wants for us. He helps readers delight in all of the ways that Jesus turned the world upside-down, allowing us to experience true freedom, not from our weaknesses but in the midst of them.

    Especially when we are going through difficult times, it may seem as though other people have been richly blessed-while our own lives are completely empty. But Ron Mehl assures readers that despite the way things sometimes appear, God is continually at work in their lives, reminding them that God often does his best works in the darkness. As men and women take a closer look at the God who works the night shift, they will learn about the unceasing acts of love he performs for them, every moment of their lives...even while they sleep.

    While he's not a contemplative and hardly a mystic, Chris has found, in the Bible and in his work with impoverished people, evidence of a simple spirituality. This way of humility, community, simplicity, submission and brokenness will help you see--no matter how dark things get.

    Now, in King