The First 100 Days: A Pastor's Guide


T. Scott Daniels - 2011
    Not only do these pastors have to transition into a new congregation and community, but they also have to think about building strong relationships with other influential people in the area. Almost every day, pastors of new churches face unexpected hardships and challenges. Some of the issues are financial mismanagement from their predecessor, moral or ethical misbehavior, or unresolved conflict that has just been suppressed long enough to find a new pastor. The fact is, pastors of new churches need guidance. The First 100 Days is for these pastors who need some guidance and insight to help them lead with godly wisdom and purpose during the first few months.

The Externally Focused Church


Rick Rusaw - 2004
    Your church can be a firm pillar in your community because of the unwavering truth and love of its members.Use case studies from churches that have mastered community service, and apply the action steps to: Attract new believers and reach hurt and skeptical people through service Use the resources your church already has to impact those in need Learn how churches have made community service a part of their DNA Help your members deepen their spiritual commitment through service Discover practical ways to change your community--starting nowFrom the minister to the mechanic and the teen to the tenured, your church will expand God's kingdom when it extends his love to the people in your community.

Dream and You Will Win the World


Cesar Castellanos - 2006
    Your life will not be the same after reading "Dream and You Will Win the World". You will become a person that dreams, a visionary, challenged by the experiences of Pastor Cesar Castellanos.

BiVO: A Modern-Day Guide For Bi-Vocational Saints


Hugh Halter - 2013
    Every denomination is in decline and church attendance continues to struggle. In line, everything that hangs on the present consumeristic approach to Christendom will and must morph. The Gospel came to us through fully paid, barely paid, and mostly non-paid saints. The future of Kingdom life and ministry depends on God’s people to find creative pathways for leveraging all of life into one calling. BiVO is a story and a framework to help you find this leverage point whether you are a marketplace leader or ministry leader.

The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?


Rick Warren - 2002
    Rick Warren will guide you through a personal forty-day spiritual journey that will transform your answer to life's most important question: What on earth am I here for? Knowing God's purpose for creating you will reduce your stress, focus your energy, simplify your decisions, give meaning to your life, and most important, prepare you for eternity. Movie stars and political leaders aren't the only ones turning to Rick Warren for spiritual guidance. Millions of people from NBA and LPGA players to corporate executives to high school students to prison inmates meet regularly to discuss The Purpose Driven Life.

Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing: How Leaders Can Overcome Costly Mistakes


Geoff Surratt - 2009
    Each chapter spotlights a common mistake, gives real-life examples, uses a generous dose of humor, and provides a practical course of action to recover from the error. The book draws from the experience of Seacoast Church as well as pastors such as Craig Groeschel, Chris Hodges, Perry Nobel, Mark Batterson, Dave Ferguson, Scott Chapman, Dino Rizzo, Ron Hamilton, and Dave Browning, Church leaders will be encouraged to realize that they are not the only ones who struggle, and that turning their situation around may not be as daunting a task as they think. This is a field guide for the common pastor based on actual churches of all sizes.

Quiet Moments with Jesus -180 Days of Devotion


Adam Houge - 2015
    Quietly He shares His heart with you throughout the day. But are you listening? This box set is an invitation to a deeper intimacy with your loving Savior. As a devotional each day is written as if from Jesus to you. So listen to His voice and you will be challenged to increase your faith and change your life. In This Box Set: With Jesus in the Quietness From God with Love In the Secret -a 30 Day Devotional The Voice of Your Beloved At the Feet of Jesus With God in the Secret Place

Lord, Is It Warfare? Teach Me to Stand: A Devotional Study on Spiritual Victory


Kay Arthur - 1991
    The problem is, you may not even realize it.         But that's about to change. Lord, Is It Warfare? will equip you to recognize and understand the spiritual warfare that is inevitable for those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll learn all the battle tactics and devices of your adversary, Satan. And you'll discover scriptural ways to overcome the enemy by turning to Christ, who loves you and offers you all the strength, wisdom, and power you need for victory.        Let Kay Arthur guide you through the Scriptures every day in this comprehensive inductive study. Your time with God in His Word will minister to you and help you stand strong in the face of spiritual conflict. And these are truths you can share easily with others, individually or in small groups.

Book of Mormon Seminary Home-Study Guide


The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - 2008
    For your study this school year, you will first complete reading assignments from the scripture text for this course—the Book of Mormon—and then you will complete the individual lessons. Once a week you will meet with a seminary teacher to submit your work and participate in a weekly lesson.Seminary is a daily religious education program. Prayerfully studying your scriptures should be a daily practice. You will need to work on your seminary assignments each school day, even though you will not attend a seminary class each day. There are 32 units to be completed during the course. The reading chart on page viii shows what you should study for each unit. Your teacher will help you understand when each unit is due. The lessons in this study guide should each take about 30 minutes to complete, in addition to your daily scripture study.You should have two scripture study journals (or two notebooks), separate from your personal journal, in which you will write the assignments from the study guide activities. Each week that you meet with your teacher, you should turn in the scripture study journal containing the completed assignments from the study guide activities you completed for that week. Your teacher will read and respond to the assignments and return that scripture study journal to you the following week. You could also write your responses on paper in a loose-leaf binder and turn in the pages you did that week. Then, when your teacher returns the pages, you could put them back into the notebook."

Living Our Beliefs: The United Methodist Way


Kenneth L. Carder - 2003
     Such a misperception has deep historical and cultural roots. Explore a basic explanation of the beliefs and practices of the United Methodist Church as defined in Part II of The Book of Discipline. Uncover a deeper understanding and experience of Christian faith as you embrace the United Methodist way. “Beliefs are to be lived; doctrine is to be practiced,” writes Carder in this updated edition of his 1996 bestseller. “The authenticity of beliefs lie in their ability to shape people and communities into the image of Christ and to promote holiness and happiness. …The important test of the validity of doctrines and beliefs for United Methodists is the kind of character they produce in individuals and communities and the actions they inspire in the world.” Living Our Beliefs is essential reading for new members, confirmation classes and small group studies. As one reviewer says, “Bishop Carder invites us to both understand and live our beliefs. With deep understanding of Wesley’s teaching, he inspires us to practice what we preach. That is the United Methodist way.”

Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner


Frederick Buechner - 1992
    Daily meditations taken from the works of an acclaimed novelist, essayist, and preacher who has articulated what he sees with a freshness and clarity and energy that hails our stultified imaginations.

Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community


Pádraig Ó Tuama - 2017
    Founded 50 years ago in the belief that people and communities can learn to live together well, it is a dispersed Christian community with 200 members and 4000 friends worldwide, hosting 11,000 guests each year. Its leader is the writer and poet, Padraig O Tuama. At the heart of its life is a simple pattern of daily worship that is structured around meditation on the Gospels. This prayer book captures the essence of the Corrymeela prayer experience for everyone who wishes to incorporate its spirituality into their regular prayer practice. Structured over 31 days, it offers for each day a Bible reading, a reflection and a specially written prayer by Padraig O Tuama. In addition, it includes an introduction to the spirituality of welcome that sustains Corrymeela's remarkable work.

Great Lent: Journey to Pascha


Alexander Schmemann - 1969
    Schmemann draws on the Church's sacramental and liturgical tradition to suggest the meaning of Lent in our life. The Lenten season is meant to kindle a 'bright sadness' within our hearts. Its aim is precisely the remembrance of Christ, a longing for a relationship with God that has been lost. Lent offers the time and place for recovery of this relationship. The darkness of Lent allows the flame of the Holy Spirit to burn within our hearts until we are led to the brilliance of the Resurrection.

The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life


Os Guinness - 1998
    Best-selling author Os Guinness goes beyond our surface understanding of God's call and addresses the fact that God has a specific calling for our individual lives.Why am I here? What is God's call in my life? How do I fit God's call with my own individuality? How should God's calling affect my career, my plans for the future, my concepts of success? Guinness now helps the reader discover answers to these questions, and more, through a corresponding workbook - perfect for individual or group study.According to Guinness, "No idea short of God's call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose and fulfillment." With tens of thousands of readers to date, The Call is for all who desire a purposeful, intentional life of faith.Also availbale in audio format, narrated by Os Guinness.

S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life


Erik Rees - 2006
    Now Erik Rees helps you discover God's unique purpose for your life based on the way God has shaped you. He made you marvelously unique for a reason. Tap into that reason and into the secrets of your own deeply personal makeup-the remarkable ensemble of passions, talents, experiences, temperament, and other components that work together to make you who you are-and you'll discover the path to a life of unimagined purpose, impact, and fulfillment. In this eye-opening, empowering, and liberating book, Rees shows you how to uncover God's most powerful and effective means of advancing his kingdom on earth: your own irreplaceable, richly detailed personal design. Based on the purpose of ministry outlined in The Purpose Driven Life, this inspiring guidebook gives you the tools to: unlock your God-given potential; uncover your specific kingdom purpose; unfold a kingdom plan for your life. Filled with Scripture and real-life stories, S.H.A.P.E. presents a series of challenges that will guide you through the process of discovering your S.H.A.P.E.-your personal blend of S freedom, clarity, and significance that can only come from your Creator. Also available is: unabridged audio CD.