Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now


Walter Brueggemann - 2014
    In this volume, popular author Walter Brueggemann writes that the Sabbath is not simply about keeping rules but rather about becoming a whole person and restoring a whole society. Importantly, Brueggemann speaks to a 24/7 society of consumption, a society in which we live to achieve, accomplish, perform, and possess. We want more, own more, use more, eat more, and drink more. Keeping the Sabbath allows us to break this restless cycle and focus on what is truly important: God, other people, all life. Brueggemann offers a transformative vision of the wholeness God intends, giving world-weary Christians a glimpse of a more fulfilling and simpler life through Sabbath observance.

The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door


Jay Pathak - 2012
    They talked to them, had cook-outs with them, and went to church with them. In our time of unprecedented mobility and increasing isolationism, it's hard to make lasting connections with those who live right outside our front door. We have hundreds of "friends" through online social networking, but we often don't even know the full name of the person who lives right next door.This unique and inspiring book asks the question: What is the most loving thing I can do for the people who live on my street or in my apartment building? Through compelling true stories of lives impacted, the authors show readers how to create genuine friendships with the people who live in closest proximity to them. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter make this book perfect for small groups or individual study.

Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life


Marjorie J. Thompson - 1995
    First released in 1995, this spiritual classic continues to be a best-seller, as thousands each year accept her invitation to the Christian spiritual life. Offering a framework for understanding the spiritual disciplines and instruction for developing and nurturing those practices, Soul Feast continues to be a favorite for individual reflection and group study. Now engagingly redesigned to appeal to contemporary spiritual-seekers and repackaged for easier use in study and reflection, Soul Feast is a must-have.

The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction


Justin Whitmel Earley - 2019
    We yearn for the freedom and peace of the gospel, but remain addicted to our technology, shackled by our screens, and exhausted by our routines. But because our habits are the water we swim in, they are almost invisible to us. What can we do about it?The answer to our contemporary chaos is to practice a rule of life that aligns our habits to our beliefs. The Common Rule offers four daily and four weekly habits, designed to help us create new routines and transform frazzled days into lives of love for God and neighbor. Justin Earley provides concrete, doable practices, such as a daily hour of phoneless presence or a weekly conversation with a friend.These habits are “common” not only because they are ordinary, but also because they can be practiced in community. They have been lived out by people across all walks of life—businesspeople, professionals, parents, students, retirees—who have discovered new hope and purpose. As you embark on these life-giving practices, you will find the freedom and rest for your soul that comes from aligning belief in Jesus with the practices of Jesus.

Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?


Gary L. Thomas - 2000
    Holy is better.Your marriage is more than a sacred covenant with another person. It is a spiritual discipline designed to help you know God better, trust him more fully, and love him more deeply. What if God s primary intent for your marriage isn t to make you happy . . . but holy?Sacred Marriage doesn't just offer techniques to make a marriage happier. It does contain practical tools, but what married Christians most need is help in becoming holier husbands and wives. Sacred Marriage offers that help with insights from Scripture, church history, time tested wisdom from Christian classics, and examples from today's marriages.Sacred Marriage reveals how marriage trains us to love God and others well, how it exposes sin and makes us more aware of God's presence, how good marriages foster good prayer, how married sex feeds the spiritual life, and more.The revised edition of Sacred Marriage takes into account the ways men's and women's roles have expanded since the book was first written. It has been streamlined to be a faster read without losing the depth that so many readers have valued.Sacred Marriage uncovers the mystery of God s overarching purpose. This book may very well alter profoundly the contours of your marriage. It will most certainly change you. Because whether it is delightful or difficult, your marriage can become a doorway to a closer walk with God, and to a spiritual integrity that, like salt, seasons the world around you with the savor of Christ."

The Jesus I Know: Honest Conversations and Diverse Opinions about Who He Is


Kathie Lee Gifford - 2021
    What she discovered early on is most people are very willing to talk about Jesus:  atheists, agnostics, Scientologists, Jews, broken-hearted Catholics, confused Baptists, Pentecostals, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Hindus alike.While some of the people Kathie Lee has spoken with do not share her belief that Jesus is the Messiah—as prophesied for centuries by prophets in the Hebrew scriptures—they nonetheless have a universal fascination with Him. This singular man who lived more than two thousand years ago, and never traveled more than one hundred miles from where He was born, managed to change the entire world. Even the way we delineate history (BC/AD) comes from His short thirty-three years of life.In The Jesus I Know, Kathie Lee shares cherished conversations that she’s had with others who find Jesus to be an ancient historical figure who somehow continues to be an undeniably magnetic, relevant presence in the modern world. Those conversations include actors like Kristin Chenoweth and Cynthia Garrett, with stories of Craig Ferguson and Kevin Costner,newsmakers and news personalities like Kris Jenner, Megyn Kelly, Jason Kennedy, and Janice Dean,performers like Chynna Phillips Baldwin, Brian Welch, Jimmie Allen, and Jimmy Wayne,hitmakers like Louis York and David Pomeranzas well as those coming from other faith traditions. Using Kathie Lee’s favorite Scripture passages as scaffolding, these thought-provoking exchanges will bring His teachings to life before your very eyes.

Jesus Is the Question: The 307 Questions Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered


Martin B. Copenhaver - 2014
    In the Gospels Jesus asks many more questions than he answers. To be precise, Jesus asks 307 questions. He is asked 183 of which he only answers 3. Asking questions was central to Jesus' life and teachings. In fact, for every question he answers directly he asks--literally--a hundred. Jesus is the Question considers the questions Jesus asks--what they tell us about Jesus and, more important, what our responses might say about what it means to follow Him. Through Jesus' questions, he modeled the struggle, the wondering, the thinking it through that helps us draw closer to God and better understand, not just the answer, but ourselves, our process and ultimately why questions are among Jesus' most profound gifts for a life of faith. A game-changer of a book.

Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance


Bruce H. Wilkinson - 2001
    Bruce Wilkinson explores John 15 to show readers how to make maximum impact for God. Dr. Wilkinson demonstrates how Jesus is the Vine of life, discusses four levels of "fruit bearing" (doing the good work of God), and reveals three life-changing truths that will lead readers to new joy and effectiveness in His kingdom. Secrets of the Vine opens readers' eyes to the Lord's hand in their lives and uncovers surprising insights that will point them toward a new path of consequence for God's glory.

Through the Eyes of a Lion: Facing Impossible Pain, Finding Incredible Power


Levi Lusko - 2015
    But they never expected that, five days before Christmas, their five-year-old daughter would suddenly go to heaven after an asthma attack. How do you walk out of the ER without your daughter?Through the Eyes of a Lion will help you turn your journey into a “roar story” by guiding you to look past what you can see with the naked eye. Whether you’re currently facing adversity or want to prepare yourself for inevitable hardship, it’s time to look at the adventure of your life through Jesus’ eyes—the eyes of a Lion.

The Imperfect Disciple: Grace for People Who Can't Get Their Act Together


Jared C. Wilson - 2017
    The Imperfect Disciple is for the rest of us--people who screw up, people who are weary, people who are wondering if it's safe to say what they're really thinking.For the believer who is tired of quasi-spiritual lifehacks being passed off as true, down-and-dirty discipleship, here is a discipleship book that isn't afraid to be honest about the mess we call real life. With incisive wit, warm humor, and moving stories, Jared Wilson shows readers how the gospel works in them and in their lives when- they can't get their act together- they think God is giving them the silent treatment- they think church would be better without all the people- they're not happy with the person in the mirror- and much moreWilson frees readers from the self-doubt and even the misplaced self-confidence they may feel as they walk with Jesus down the often difficult road of life. The result is a faith that weathers storms, lifts burdens, and goes forth to make more imperfect disciples.

Nice: Why We Love to Be Liked and How God Calls Us to More


Sharon Hodde Miller - 2019
    Niceness keeps the peace, wins friends, gains influence, and serves our reputations well, but it also takes the teeth out of our witness and the power out of our faith. When we choose to be nice instead of faithful, we bear fruits that are bland, bitter, empty, and rotten to the core. In this life-changing book, Sharon Hodde Miller explores the seemingly innocent idol that has crept into our faith and quietly corrupted it, producing the bad fruits of cowardice, inauthenticity, shallowness, and more. Then she challenges readers to cultivate a better tree, providing practical steps to reclaim our credibility as followers of Christ, and bear better, richer, more life-giving fruits.

Letters to a Young Evangelical


Tony Campolo - 2006
    A tireless crusader for human rights and the eradication of world poverty, Campolo is a "Red Letter" Christian--he reminds us that when Jesus spoke, he spoke of social justice. But the Religious Right and social conservatives have hijacked His message in the name of Republican politics. They have corrupted the faith by ignoring the true message of Christ and focusing instead on narrow "wedge" issues to win political campaigns. In Letters to a Young Evangelical, Campolo calls on evangelicals of all ages to reject the false pieties of the Religious Right. With his trademark candor and wit, he offers sage advice to seekers who are trying to live their faith in a modern world that is politically polarized and predominantly secular. He is unafraid to touch on the hot-button topics that divide believers in America and around the world: abortion, gay rights, war, capital punishment, feminism, and the environment. An activist, a visionary, and a man of deep faith, Tony Campolo offers guidance not only for young evangelicals, but for seekers of all ages and faiths.

Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today


Adam Hamilton - 2014
    The underlying debate isn’t about a particular social issue, but instead it is about how we understand the nature of scripture and how we should interpret it. The world’s bestselling, most-read, and most-loved book is also one of the most confusing. In Making Sense of the Bible, Adam Hamilton, one of the country’s leading pastors and Christian authors, addresses the hot-button issues that plague the church and cultural debate, and answers many of the questions frequently asked by Christians and non-Christians alike.Did God really command Moses to put gay people to death? Did Jesus really teach that everyone who is not a Christian will be assigned to hell? Why would Paul command women to “keep silent in the church?” Were Adam and Eve real people? Is the book of Revelation really about the end times? Who decided which books made it into the scriptures and why? Is the Bible ever wrong? In approachable and inviting language, Hamilton addresses these often misunderstood biblical themes leading readers to a deeper appreciation of the Bible so that we might hear God speak through it and find its words to be life-changing and life-giving.

Why Revival Tarries: A Classic on Revival


Leonard Ravenhill - 1959
    The message is fearless and often radical as he expounds on the disparity between the New Testament church and the church today. Why Revival Tarries contains the heart of his message. A.W. Tozer called Ravenhill "a man sent from God" who "appeared at [a] critical moment in history," just as the Old Testament prophets did. Included are questions for group and individual study. Ravi Zacharias refers to this as "the book that shaped me...more dramatically than any other..."

Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony


Stanley Hauerwas - 1989
    Hauerwas and Willimon call for a radical new understanding of the church. By renouncing the emphasis on personal psychological categories, they offer a vision of the church as a colony, a holy nation, a people, a family standing for sharply focused values in a devalued world.