Second Guessing God: Hanging on When You Can’t See His Plan


Brian C. Jones - 2006
    Like a good friend, Brian comes alongside those seeking help in trials of life to help them find meaning and strength.

Wild at Heart Revised and Updated: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul


John Eldredge - 2001
    Simply look at the dreams and desires written in the heart of every boy: To be a hero, to be a warrior, to live a life of adventure and risk. Sadly, most men abandon those dreams and desires-aided by a Christianity that feels like nothing more than pressure to be a "nice guy." It is no wonder that many men avoid church, and those who go are often passive and bored to death. In this provocative book, Eldredge gives women a look inside the true heart of a man and gives men permission to be what God designed them to be-dangerous, passionate, alive, and free!

The Power of Vision


George Barna - 1992
    He reveals how vision differs from mission and dispels common myths and practices.

To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World


James Davison Hunter - 2010
    But why have efforts to change the world by Christians so often failed or gone tragically awry? And how might Christians in the 21st century live in ways that have integrity with their traditions and are more truly transformative? In To Change the World, James Davison Hunter offers persuasive—and provocative—answers to these questions.Hunter begins with a penetrating appraisal of the most popular models of world-changing among Christians today, highlighting the ways they are inherently flawed and therefore incapable of generating the change to which they aspire. Because change implies power, all Christian eventually embrace strategies of political engagement. Hunter offers a trenchant critique of the political theologies of the Christian Right and Left and the Neo-Anabaptists, taking on many respected leaders, from Charles Colson to Jim Wallis and Stanley Hauerwas. Hunter argues that all too often these political theologies worsen the very problems they are designed to solve. What is really needed is a different paradigm of Christian engagement with the world, one that Hunter calls "faithful presence"—an ideal of Christian practice that is not only individual but institutional; a model that plays out not only in all relationships but in our work and all spheres of social life. He offers real-life examples, large and small, of what can be accomplished through the practice of "faithful presence." Such practices will be more fruitful, Hunter argues, more exemplary, and more deeply transfiguring than any more overtly ambitious attempts can ever be.Written with keen insight, deep faith, and profound historical grasp, To Change the World will forever change the way Christians view and talk about their role in the modern world.

Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life


Tish Harrison Warren - 2016
    But God can become present to us in surprising ways through our everyday routines. Framed around one ordinary day, this book explores daily life through the lens of liturgy, small practices and habits that form us. Each chapter looks at something making the bed, brushing her teeth, losing her keys that the author does in the day. Drawing from the diversity of her life as a campus minister, Anglican priest, friend, wife, and mother, Tish Harrison Warren opens up a practical theology of the everyday. Each activity is related to a spiritual practice as well as an aspect of our Sunday worship. Come and discover the holiness of your every day."

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.

Rest in the Storm: Self-Care Strategies for Clergy and Other Caregivers


Kirk Byron Jones - 2001
    Too many remain in denial about the severity of pastoral stress, even as they are deteriorating emotionally and physically.Drawing from biblical, theological, and sociological sources as well as personal experience, author Kirk Jones discusses the fundamental importance of self-care for clergy and other professionals engaged in helping people. Filled with creative and practical strategies for integrating self-care into vocational life, this compelling resource identifies the factors that influence overload and outlines plausible strategies for escaping such bondage. Rest in the Storm is a lifeline for caregivers who feel overwhelmed by the demands of their calling or profession.

Life is Messy


Matthew Kelly - 2021
    Life is messy.It isn't a color-within-the-lines exercise.It's a wild and outrageous invitationfull of uncertain outcomes.The mess of life is both inevitable and unexpected.It is filled with delightful mysteriesand frustrating predicaments.In our disposable culture,we throw broken things away.So, what will we do with broken people,broken relationships, broken institutions, broken families,and of course, our very own broken selves?We are all broken and wounded.This book is about putting our lives back together,and allowing ourselves to be put back together,when life doesn't turn out as we expected it to.Based on his own heart-wrenching personal journals,Matthew Kelly shares how the worst three years of his lifeaffected him, by exploring this question:Can someone who has been broken be healedand become more beautiful and more lovablethan ever before?The answer will fill you with hope.There has never been a more urgent needfor us to attend to what is happening within us.This is quite simplythe right book at the right time.

Building a Contagious Church: Revolutionizing the Way We View and Do Evangelism


Mark Mittelberg - 2000
    This is a vision for turning every church -- new or old - -into a contagious church that is a powerful magnet for attracting and influencing unchurched people.

Intercessory Prayer: How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven & Earth


Dutch Sheets - 1996
    Prayer and fasting are changing the lives of Christians everywhere! Have these books prominently displayed and ready for your customers when they come searching for insight and inspiration about these hot new movements in the Church!

The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity


Soong-Chan Rah - 2009
    Philip Jenkins has chronicled how the next Christendom has shifted away from the Western church toward the global South and East. Likewise, changing demographics mean that North American society will accelerate its diversity in terms of race, ethnicity and culture. But evangelicalism has long been held captive by its predominantly white cultural identity and history. In this book professor and pastor Soong-Chan Rah calls the North American church to escape its captivity to Western cultural trappings and to embrace a new evangelicalism that is diverse and multiethnic. Rah brings keen analysis to the limitations of American Christianity and shows how captivity to Western individualism and materialism has played itself out in megachurches and emergent churches alike. Many white churches are in crisis and ill-equipped to minister to new cultural realities, but immigrant, ethnic and multiethnic churches are succeeding and flourishing. This prophetic report casts a vision for a dynamic evangelicalism that fully embodies the cultural realities of the twenty-first century. Spiritual renewal is happening within the North American church, from corners and margins not always noticed by those in the center. Come, discover the vitality of the next evangelicalism.

The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel


Mark Dever - 2005
    Great resource for pastors, elders, and others interested in the vitality of their church.

Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples


Francis Chan - 2012
    Each of the twenty-four sessions in the book corresponds with an online video at www.multiplymovement.com, where New York Times bestselling author David Platt joins Francis in guiding you through each part of Multiply. One plus one plus one. Every copy of Multiply is designed to do what Jesus did: make disciples who make disciples who make disciples…. Until the world knows the truth of Jesus Christ.

Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory


Tod Bolsinger - 2015
    While they had prepared to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, instead they found themselves in the Rocky Mountains. You too may feel that you are leading in a cultural context you were not expecting. You may even feel that your training holds you back more often than it carries you along. Drawing from his extensive experience as a pastor and consultant, Tod Bolsinger brings decades of expertise in guiding churches and organizations through uncharted territory. He offers a combination of illuminating insights and practical tools to help you reimagine what effective leadership looks like in our rapidly changing world. If you're going to scale the mountains of ministry, you need to leave behind canoes and find new navigational tools. Reading this book will set you on the right course to lead with confidence and courage.

The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church


Gregory A. Boyd - 2006
    It is called to look like a corporate Jesus, dying on the cross for those who crucified him, not a religious version of Caesar. It is called to manifest the kingdom of the cross in contrast to the kingdom of the sword. Whenever the church has succeeded in gaining what most American evangelicals are now trying to get – political power – it has been disastrous both for the church and the culture. Whenever the church picks up the sword, it lays down the cross. The present activity of the religious right is destroying the heart and soul of the evangelical church and destroying its unique witness to the world. The church is to have a political voice, but we are to have it the way Jesus had it: by manifesting an alternative to the political, “power over,” way of doing life. We are to transform the world by being willing to suffer for others – exercising “power under,” not by getting our way in society – exercising “power over.”