Should preachers ask for a public response in evangelistic meetings?

    Some of the topics you will find in this book are: Renew your bonds of love with other believers. Participate in the partnership of the gospel. Contribute your spiritual gifts to help others. Share your possessions according to God's plan.

    It is different in a number of ways, all of which commend this volume to wide use by pastors whose task it is to introduce the members of their inquirers classes to an Orthodox way of life which will touch their lives in a full and complete way (Fr. Stanley Harakas). Chapters include: What We Believe About the One Apostolic Church, the Nicene Creed, Jesus, the Holy Trinity, the Divine Liturgy, Salvation, the Church Fathers, the Church Year, Symbols, the Sacraments, the Saints and the Theotokos, Life After Death, the Bible, Icons, Prayers for the Dead, and Prayer. Recently translated in Korean and Romanian.

    In his classic Prayer, Praise & Promises, beloved teacher Warren Wiersbe offers readers a daily dose of the Psalms and all of the instruction, motivation, inspiration, and blessings they provide.Unavailable for the past decade, this Wiersbe favorite is now repackaged for a new generation hungry for God's Word.

     Do you want more from your church experience?Does the pure gospel put you in a place of awe?Are you ready to rethink church as you know it?  Sit with Pastor Francis Chan and be reminded that you are a part of something much bigger than yourself, something sacred.   In his most powerful book yet, Chan digs deep into biblical truth, reflects on his own failures and dreams, and shares stories of ordinary people God is using to change the world.   Chan says, “We’ve strayed so far from what God calls Church. We all know it. We know that what we’re experiencing is radically different from the Church in Scripture. For decades, church leaders like myself have lost sight of the inherent mystery of the Church. We have trained people sitting in the pews to become addicted to lesser things. It’s time for that to change.”   When Jesus returns, will He find us caring for His Bride—even more than for our own lives? Letters to the Church reminds us of how powerful, how glorious the Church once was … and calls us to once again be the Church God intended us to be.

    For this very end, God has established elders and deacons, members, and congregational authority. This primer on church structure connects the different offices of the church to one another and to the glory of God. In the Church Basics Series, trusted church experts write practical, trustworthy resources on issues like Church Discipline, Church Leadership, the Lord's Supper, and Baptism that every pastor can hand every church member.

    In this grounded, practical book, author Derek Olsen uses The Book of Common Prayer for a template to a deeper spiritual life. Olsen explains the purpose and intention of the prayer book with fresh insight, offering practical applications for daily living.

    Chiefly intended to serve as a primer for students beginning college careers but valuable to thoughtful Christians at every stage of life, this volume spells out the central themes of the Christian faith from a Reformed perspective. More important, however, the book shows how Christian higher education fits inside a view of the world and of human life that is formed by these ideas. "Learning," Cornelius Plantinga writes, "is a spiritual calling; properly done, it attaches us to God." Approaching the topic of education from a variety of angles, Plantinga shows that Christ-centered learning teaches people to correctly see the world as God's creation, to see providence in history, to handle secular knowledge critically, to develop good judgment and, ultimately, to use faith-filled learning in the service of God's kingdom.

    Simple, powerful and applicable insights show you how to be on mission and recognize where Jesus is already at work in your neighborhoods, workplaces and schools. You will feel both relief and hope. You may even hear yourself say, "I can do this!" as you start responding to the everyday opportunities Jesus is placing in your path.

    Craig Barnes contends that the true calling of a pastor is to help others become fully alive in Christ, to be what he calls a "minor poet," or a poet of the soul. As such, pastors are to read the major poets of Scripture and history in light of the dust and grit of daily parish life." The Pastor as Minor Poet eloquently calls pastors to search for a deeper understanding of what they see -- both in the text of Scripture and in the text of their parishioners' lives. A critical part of this poetic vision involves discerning key subtext beneath these texts, which allows pastors to preach the heart of the Word and to understand the hearts of their people.

    He understands issues such as secularism and Christian culture from the perspective of the unbroken experience of the Church, as revealed and communicated in her worship, in her liturgy-the sacrament of the world, the sacrament of the Kingdom.For over half a century For the Life of the World has challenged, illumined, and inspired readers from many backgrounds. For some it is an introduction to the Orthodox Church, while for others it is a call to plunge more deeply into the life of the Kingdom, both manifested and anticipated here and now in the liturgy of the Church. This updated edition of Schmemann's classic text includes a new foreword by Dr Edith M. Humphrey, along with new explanatory notes and an index.

    Now, in her stunning follow-up, An Altar in the World, she shares how she learned to encounter God beyond the walls of any church. From simple practices such as walking, working, and getting lost to deep meditations on topics like prayer and pronouncing blessings, Taylor reveals concrete ways to discover the sacred in the small things we do and see. Something as ordinary as hanging clothes on a clothesline becomes an act of devotion if we pay attention to what we are doing and take time to attend to the sights, smells, and sounds around us. Making eye contact with the cashier at the grocery store becomes a moment of true human connection. Allowing yourself to get lost leads to new discoveries. Under Taylor's expert guidance, we come to question conventional distinctions between the sacred and the secular, learning that no physical act is too earthbound or too humble to become a path to the divine. As we incorporate these practices into our daily lives, we begin to discover altars everywhere we go, in nearly everything we do.

    In those moments, we are utterly dependent on God for well-timed help. If he doesn't come through, we're finished. For forty years, two million Israelites were in the wilderness, and God fed them supernaturally every morning with manna, teaching people who doubted him he can be trusted with everything they needed to survive. This is a lesson we need to learn too. In personal stories and applications of biblical lessons, Manna reveals how God specializes in making a way where there is no way. He proved it every day to the nation of Israel, never missing a day of being faithful. He was never late, and he was never early. He was always just in time. And he will be for you.

    Fast cars. Fast and furious. Fast forward. Fast . . . church? The church is often idealized (or demonized) as the last bastion of a bygone era, dragging our feet as we're pulled into new moralities and new spiritualities. We guard our doctrine and our piety with great vigilance. But we often fail to notice how quickly we're capitulating, in the structures and practices of our churches, to a culture of unreflective speed, dehumanizing efficiency and dis-integrating isolationism. In the beginning, the church ate together, traveled together and shared in all facets of life. Centered as they were on Jesus, these seemingly mundane activities took on their own significance in the mission of God. In Slow Church, Chris Smith and John Pattison invite us out of franchise faith and back into the ecology, economy and ethics of the kingdom of God, where people know each other well and love one another as Christ loved the church.

    Too often the results can be burnout, being run out or just feeling worn out. To find out how pastors can thrive as well as survive, the authors undertook a five-year in-depth research project among working pastors. Here in this ground-breaking book is the distilled wisdom of dozens of pastors who have been on the front lines of ministry. We hear from them what works, what doesn't and what distinctive issues people in ministry face. The authors uncover five key themes that promote healthy, sustainable ministry that lasts--spiritual formation, self-care, emotional and cultural intelligence, marriage and family, leadership and management. These themes are unpacked from the vantage point of ministry on the ground. Questions for personal evaluation and reflection are included throughout the book to bring home the significance of each section. This is the perfect companion for a peer cohort of pastors to read together. It can also be of value to church boards and others who want to better understand how to help sustain their pastors in ministry. In short, this is a book pastors can't live without.