Uses scriptural analysis, prayer, and study questions to explore God's will and His process of refining an ordinary man into an extraordinary agent of God.

    At any given time there are thousands of churches seeking a lead pastor.  While a great resume, a friendly smile and a memorable sermon will convince many, what should local congregations focus on to find a new shepherd?  Chris Brauns believes to find a great preacher the search must focus on God's Word and how the candidate relates to it and preaches from it. This book is a must have resource for search committees and church leaders addressing the needs of churches in the transition of pastoral leadership.  It assists by approaching their responsibilities in a biblical way and providing critical help in key practical matters.  From the initial formation of a search committee to the final terms of agreement with the new pastor, Brauns shows you how to "major on the majors" and away from subjective approaches of evaluating candidates and their sermons.  Great also for pastors or pastoral students to know how to prepare, the book includes such practical tools as interview questions for candidates and the top mistakes search committees make.

    . .The American dream-quickly becoming your worst nightmare!Financial stress, social pressures, and the never-ending anxiety of life . . .Looking like good Christians, but powerless and miserable behind closed doors.In search of authentic Christianity, author Jim Hohnberger and his family found the restorative power of God's love. As a result, the Hohnbergers have helped others remove life's draining distractions, and countless lives have been transformed.Part personal memoir and part handbook for cultivating an intimate relationship with the Creator, Escape to God will challenge and inspire you to put aside the card-punching religion of "Churchianity" and experience the indescribable peace and empowerment God intends for His people.If you are fed up with going through the motions, dive into an intimate fellowship with the Creator. Are you ready to escape to God?

    The foundational truths in this book will show the way. In this book Larry Stockstill challenges readers with principles for turning our nation around to integrity and commitment and precluding the judgment of God. There is a new breed of pastors and laypeople who are asking the tough questions: * Where has the glory of God gone in the American church? * When did the simple, pure gospel of the Savior become about "me," "my," and "mine"? * What happened to the transparency and integrity that marked the church for centuries? To each reader God is saying, "I want to start with you." Allow this book to shake you to the core and reorganize your family, your ministry, and your future.

    I knew my purpose. I just didn't understand how I was going to get there in this small cubical doing data entry work at a dead end job in business casual clothes. " - Heather Lindsey We live in a society that makes it easy to compare your life to everyone else's social media "highlight" reels. If you feel "behind," I have written this book to remind you that you're exactly where you're supposed to be. You have God-given purpose. You have a plan. You don't need to copy or imitate anyone but Jesus Christ! He has assigned you with a specific purpose, and called you to solve a problem on this earth, for this generation! If you've struggled greatly with your purpose, Heather Lindsey can relate to you as she shares her years of living purposeless without Jesus, to becoming a first generation pastor, and best selling author to a worldwide ministry. She candidly shares her peaks, pitfalls, and what she has learned along the way as the Lord has revealed His purpose to her. If you've ever struggled with identifying, being afraid of, or walking in your purpose, this book is for you. The Purpose Room seeks to create a comfortable atmosphere for you to be honest about your talents, gifts, or insecurities, in order to confidently walk the path God has called you to. Regardless of where you are in life, The Purpose Room will help you to discover, accomplish and birth your God-given purpose.

    And, she wants to make sure you and all other Christians are ready for that moment when your faith becomes sight.Anne knows from personal experience that it's in the busyness of our days, as we're drifting in comfortable complacency, that we most need a wake-up call--a jolt that pushes us to seek out a revival of our passion for Jesus that began as a blazing fire but somehow has died down to an ineffective glow.In Expecting to See Jesus, Anne points out the biblical signs she sees in the world all around us and shows how you can experience an authentic, deeper, richer relationship with God in a life-changing, fire-blazing revival.

    However, it's the way you use them that has the real power. When you have an optimistic frame of mind, you're far more likely to recognize opportunities when they arise. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The way you use and choose words defines who you are. Words have power. God created the world with words. The Bible plainly says, we shall decree a thing and it shall be established. Are you ready to harness the real power of spoken words?

    Clif Christopher's nearly forty years in ministry as a pastor and President of Horizons Stewardship Company, he has witnessed the financial stewardship practices of thousands of churches. A few have exceptional records in acquiring and managing the necessary funds for mission and ministry, but the vast majority struggle every year to get by.In this important new work made even more relevant by our economic times, Christopher contrasts the traits of the most productive congregations with those who perennially fail to secure the funds to perform transformational ministry. Some churches practice the necessary financial habits that form the foundation of successful ministry, and others waste valuable resources and undermine ministry opportunities.Through Christopher's insight born out of years of experience and consultation, readers can assess the financial condition of their own churches.

    Whether it’s a good transition like a job promotion or a bad disruption like a devastating health diagnosis, it’s stressful. Gina Brenna Butz shares her personal stories of struggling with change and encourages you to trust God. She writes with compassion as she urges you to rely on God’s goodness, lean on Him for strength, rejoice that He is constant, and ultimately to find satisfaction in Him rather than in circumstances. Scripture helps you see change from the viewpoint of your heavenly Father. You can rest knowing He works all things together for the good of His children, even in seasons of stress-inducing change.

    After gathering on a Sunday, do we simply go about our business, void of true transformation? Is the gospel simply a self-help tool, the church just a place where our needs can be met? It's time to ask ourselves, "Am I really following Jesus? Or am I just faking it?"With eye-opening personal stories, Scripture, and thought-provoking questions, Andi Andrew lovingly invites readers to examine their hearts to discover whether their faith is a genuine, life-giving marriage of belief and practice in response to Christ's life and sacrifice, or if it is just a lifestyle choice on par with any other. She encourages readers to surrender their whole lives to Jesus daily, grapple with hard questions they may have been avoiding, and discover a life fully alive, following in the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus Christ.

    Dynamic Bible teacher Megan Fate Marshman will help you discover how to stop discounting yourself from a hopeful future, start living in active dependence on God, and find your way to the good plan He has for you. With authenticity and revelatory insights into the character of God, Megan shares an engaging and fresh look at the core themes within the well-loved scripture of Jeremiah 29:11-14. Through winsome and inspiring stories, Meant for Good will show you how to trust God in your daily life and, more importantly, how to trust God's definition of good above your own. You will discover:That your not-enoughness is exactly enough for God, and that in fact, you have everything you need to take that first step into the life God has for you.How to stop counting yourself out, because Jesus never has. God is up to something really good, and He's inviting you to join Him.How to hear and respond to God's voice, and intentionally grow a personal, intimate relationship with Him.How to defeat anxiety, trust God with all you're carrying and worrying about, and experience a life of freedom in relying on God daily.God has a good plan for you--a plan to give you a hope and a future. Are you ready to believe it?

    In this book, she writes honestly about these deeply challenging aspects of motherhood and how God works through them to make us more like his Son.This short, easy-to-read book encourages mothers to depend on Christ when they reach the end of themselves. They will find that God will supply what they need to cope with the daily sacrifices and challenges of motherhood, and that he will use these struggles to make them more like Christ.

    As Ronda shares, Southerners don't just talk about God, they have a 'kitchen-table faith, ' that feels like a comfortable, trusted neighbor who sits down and stays for a good, long visit. It's a faith you live and breathe, day-in, day-out, whether it's praying to the good Lord as you sit on the porch swing or finding joy in a delicious pan of cornbread. As Ronda says, Southern faith 'is a faith that is plain, simple, and sturdy, that is utilitarian in practice and that fits as comfortably in the hands of Southern women as a baby, an iron skillet, a hair brush, a telephone, or a broom.' From stories of moonshine and revivals, Sunday dinners and new Easter outfits, prayers answered and griefs shared, you'll discover a faith that supports you when the trials and heartaches of life cause you to stumble, a faith that grabs you by the elbow and steadies you on the path

    In each case, the words were "infused" into her by her spirit guide Francine, and of course, by God. Granted, these words are a passive mode of prayer, yet the goal is to recharge your spiritual battery so that you'll be able to go out into the world and do God's work. "Over many years of public work, people have often asked me how to pray. My answer is simple, 'Just talk to God, and make your life a living prayer." "These prayers will lift your soul and let you magnify the Lord. They have done so for me and thousands of others. Many miracles have occurred by the power of prayer, and now I want to share these commanding words with you."

    We’ve got plenty of churches without them!” “The church brought another one of their campuses near us. It’s totally unethical what they are doing.” “We can’t reach young families. They all go to the big church that has all the children’s and student stuff.” “We don’t have the money or the people the other churches have.”   Bestselling author Thom S. Rainer (I Am a Church Member, Autopsy of a Deceased Church) has heard comments like these hundreds, if not thousands, of times. They are statements of hopelessness. They are statements of despair. They are statements of defeat.   Church leaders don’t want to feel this way. They desire to break out of the mediocrity of the same, lame, and tame existence of their churches. They want their churches to make a difference.   There is hope. God’s hope. God’s possibilities.  What does a scrappy church look like? Let’s take a look together.