Clergy and other professional religious caregivers routinely find that parishioners and clients expect from them a superhuman level of empathy and love?a level that embodies God's love. Many of these caregivers expect no less of themselves. This myth of perfection often leads to burnout in caregivers, who then run the risk of damaging themselves and others. Minister and counselor Edward P. Wimberly crafts a powerful and innovative path to renewal based on his popular workshops and retreats. He guides religious professionals?trained to attend to the stories of others?to reexamine the personal and professional stories that shape their own lives as individuals, family members, and ministers. Recalling Our Own Stories, a spiritual renewal retreat in book form, guides religious professionals in reconnecting with their original calling. Most important, it offers readers ways to reauthor their personal mythologies, giving them renewed vigor in ministry and caregiving. Wimberly shares the varied life stories of caregivers of diverse cultural backgrounds while walking readers through the process of revisiting their lives, recognizing unrealistic expectations, and transforming wounded beliefs into sources of compassion, strength, and renewal.

    Hall is true both to the reality of suffering and to the affirmation that God creates, sustains, and redeems.Creative is his view that certain aspects of what we call suffering -- loneliness, experience of limits, temptation, anxiety -- are necessary parts of God's good creation. These he distinguishes from suffering after the fall, the tragic dimension of life.Unique is his structure:creation-suffering as becomingthe fall--suffering as a burdenredemption--conquest from within.Professor Hall succeeds in moving the reader beyond the customary way of stating the problem: How can undeserved suffering coexist with a just and almighty God? He also evaluates five popular, leading thinkers on suffering: Harold Kushner, C.S. Lewis, Diogenes Allen, George Buttrick, and Leslie Weatherhead.

    Kettl and Fesler understand that the push and pull of political forces make the functions of bureaucracy ever more contentious, but no less crucial to governance.Based on reviewer feedback, and given advances in scholarship and in practice, the authors introduce the crucial topics of ethics, accountability, and leadership early on, utilizing these central ideas as touchstones throughout the book. While this text continues to focus on the core components of public administration--such as budgeting, personnel, and implementation--it's been thoroughly updated to cover recent developments, including administrative issues spotlighted during the 2008 presidential campaigns, the use of technology in government management, and the changing face of the federal workforce. Fully updated tables and figures feature a wealth of current data, and photos add visual context to the book's core concepts.What was an appendix showcasing fourteen case studies in the previous edition is now a set of fully-integrated case studies--one in each chapter--that challenges students to apply ideas and analysis as they go. Each case emphasizes the people on the front lines at the local, state, and federal levels with topics ranging from Taser use in law enforcement to the recent economic bailout. Useful discussion questions at the end of each case help shape student responses and in-class conversation.

    Using her own translations, Gafney offers a midrashic interpretation of the biblical text that is rooted in the African American preaching tradition to tell the stories of a variety of female characters, many of whom are often overlooked and nameless. Gafney employs a solid understanding of womanist and feminist approaches to biblical interpretation and the sociohistorical culture of the ancient Near East. This unique and imaginative work that is grounded in serious scholarship will expand conversations about feminist and womanist biblical interpretation.

    Pastor and provocateur Alice Connor introduces these women and invites us to see them not as players in a man's story—as victims or tempters—nor as morality archetypes, teaching us to be better wives and mothers, but as fierce foremothers of the faith. These women's stories are messy, challenging, and beautiful.Fierce will provoke you, open up possibilities for you, invite you to imagine the inner lives of other women, even offend you at times, like the prophets did. Although separated by centuries and cultures, we aren't so different from these women; we share their desires and abilities. We are all part of the story that God is telling.We all—men and women—can be as fierce as these women of the Bible. Sometimes our ferocity is almost invisible, but it is not extinguished. When we read their stories, we can see not only their particular, fearsome lives but also our own.

    What she discovered changed her—and it will change you too.Drawing on the best in recent scholarship and using her well-honed literary expertise, Evans examines some of our favorite Bible stories and possible interpretations, retelling them through memoir, original poetry, short stories, soliloquies, and even a short screenplay. Undaunted by the Bible’s most difficult passages, Evans wrestles through the process of doubting, imagining, and debating Scripture’s mysteries. The Bible, she discovers, is not a static work but is a living, breathing, captivating, and confounding book that is able to equip us to join God’s loving and redemptive work in the world.

    Sometimes, you have to shot block a friend’s prayer because she’s asking God to bless an obviously bad dating relationship. Sometimes, you think, “I wish I had a t-shirt that said ‘I direct deposit my tithe’ so people wouldn’t judge me.” Sometimes, the stuff that comes with faith is funny. This is that stuff. Jonathan Acuff’s Stuff Christians Like is your field guide to all things Christian. In it you’ll learn the culinary magic of the crock-pot. Think you’ve got a Metro worship leader—Use Acuff’s checklist. Want to avoid a prayer handholding faux pas? Acuff has you covered. Like a satirical grenade, Acuff brings us the humor and honesty that galvanized more than a million online readers from more than 200 countries in a new portable version. Welcome to the funny side of faith.

    Internalizing society’s devaluation of the feminine, some women are killing their own natural impulses to pursue a feminist ideal that bears no relation to God’s good design. Other women struggle to conform to a fundamentalist, feminine caricature, which requires denying their full humanity and gifting.Defying both feminists and fundamentalists, Julie Roys reveals God’s true, affirming, and compelling vision for women, showing them how to reclaim what is uniquely feminine, and become healthy, balanced women of God.

    It presents and discusses specific legal cases concerned with the multitude of issues facing the public school system-including teaching diverse student populations, teacher rights, and the role of the Federal government. There are over 1300 citations and excerpts of school law cases.

    Sarah Bessey was in her sweet spot: a popular author, sought-after speaker and preacher, and an active and engaged mother of four, married to the love of her life. Raised within the Word of Faith and prosperity movements, which declared that obedience to God led to untold blessings, her life seemed to prove the preachers of her childhood were right. Then she was in a car accident with life-shattering consequences, and everything she thought she knew about God and faith was upended.Weaving together theology and memoir in her trademark narrative style, Sarah tells us the whole story of the car accident that changed her body and ultimately changed her life. The road of healing leads to Rome where she met the Pope (it’s complicated) and encountered the Holy Spirit in the last place she expected. She writes about her miraculous healing, learning to live with chronic pain, and the ways God unexpectedly makes us whole in the midst of suffering. She invites us to a path of knowing God that is filled with ordinary miracles, hope in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, surprising holiness, and other completely reasonable things.Insightful, profound, and unexpected, Miracles and Other Reasonable Things is a wild spirit-filled story of what it means to live with both grief and faith in our hands as we wrestle with God.

    Through this provocative project, the founder of PreachersNSneakers is helping thousands of Jesus followers wrestle with the inevitable dilemmas created by a culture obsessed with image and entertainment.In PreachersNSneakers: 9 Questions to Help You Live Your Faith in an Age of Capitalism, Consumerism, and (Wannabe) Celebrity, the author boldly confronts many of the difficult questions plaguing countless Christians’ minds, such as:Should pastors grow wealthy off of religion, and why do we get so angry when they do?Is it okay to stoke envy among others with curated “lifestyle” images on social media?Do we really believe that divine blessings are monetary, or is that just religious wallpaper to hide our own greed?Is there space in Christendom for celebrities like Kanye and Bieber to exist without distorting the good news?What about this: Is it wrong for someone like this author to call out faith leaders online and leverage “cancel culture” to affect change?PreachersNSneakers will navigate these challenging questions and many more with humor, wit, candor, and a few never-before-published hijinks. Each chapter will explore the various sides of the debate, holding space for readers to make up their own minds. The book will doubtlessly become a staple for church small groups, college ministries, and book clubs, emboldening struggling believers who want to live a more genuine faith.After all, the Lord works in mysterious colorways.

    These excerpts from sermons and letters contain his personal and faithful words about the crucifixion and the power of the cross for all Christians. Meditations on the Cross is ideal for devotional reading and personal reference.

    Pastor. Executive director. Parent. Professor. Spouse. We have many roles and relationships. And in the midst of all we do, we're tempted to frantically take control of situations in hopes of making good things happen. Alan Fadling, author of An Unhurried Life, writes: That kind of unholy hurry may make me look busy, but too often it keeps me from actually being fruitful in the ways Jesus wants me to be. Jesus modeled grace-paced leadership. To learn that we begin not with leading, but with following. In these pages Alan Fadling unfolds what it means for leaders to let Jesus set the pace. Through biblical illustrations, personal examples, and on-the-ground leadership wisdom, this book will guide you into a new view of kingdom leadership. Along the way you just might find that the whole of your life has been transformed into a more livable and more fruitful pace.

    Even as we do things as simple as light the candles, set the table, break the bread and pour the wine, we invite people into a holy moment.... The women [in this book] not only have a wellspring of deep wisdom, but they also have the ability to dish out their knowledge with side-aching humor.... I am thrilled that their great wisdom and intelligence will be bound into the pages that I can turn to, lend and appreciate for years to come."--from the Foreword by Rev. Carol Howard MerrittLearn--and laugh--with these women of the church, bound together by a deep commitment to ministry, as they reveal what it really means to be a woman in the pulpit. Over fifty clergywomen representing fourteen denominations share the details of their intimidating balancing act--juggling the isolating expectations of perfection from their congregations and the shared human realities of everyday life.Intended for laypeople, women hearing a call to ministry and clergy of all denominations, these stories and prayers will resonate with, challenge, encourage and amuse anyone who has a passion for their work and faith.Contributors: Rev. Jemma Allen - Rev. Denise Anderson - Rev. Stephanie Anthony - Rev. Amber Belldene - Rev. Beth Birkholz - Rev. Laurie Brock - Rev. Jennifer Garrison Brownell - Rev. Hilary Campbell - Rev. Erin Counihan - Rev. Julie Craig - Rev. Robin Craig - Rev. Liz Crumlish - Rev. Martha Daniels - Rev. Stacey Simpson Duke - Rev. Jan Edmiston - Rev. Ruth Everhart - Rev. Amy Fetterman - Rev. Marci Auld Glass - Rev. Rachel G. Hackenberg - Rev. Elizabeth Evans Hagan - Rev. Cheryl Harader - Rev. Joanna Harader - Gillian Hoyer - Rev. Rosalind C. Hughes - Rev. Sara Irwin - Rev. Kathryn Z. Johnston - Rev. Deborah Lewis - Rev. Jennifer Burns Lewis - Rev. Catherine MacDonald - Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan - Suzy Garrison Meyer - Rev. Karla Miller - Rev. Sarah E. Howe Miller, PhD - Rev. Holly S. Morrison - Rev. Katie Mulligan - Rev. Dr. Teri McDowell Ott - Rev. Katya Ouchakof - Rev. Kerri Parker - Rev. Katherine Willis Pershey - Rev. Teri Peterson - Rev. Patricia J. Raube - Rev. Diane M. Roth - Rev. Anna Scherer - Rev. Julia Seymour - Rev. Monica Thompson Smith - Rev. Martha Spong - Rev. Sally-Lodge Teel - Rev. Sharon M. Temple - Rev. Michelle L. Torigian - Rev. Deb Vaughn - Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell - Rev. Julie Woods

    God can save your church.Thom Rainer reveals seven findings of revived churches. Through new research, he figuratively dissects hundreds of churches that were on the path toward death. But they turned around. They revived. They did so in the face of facts and naysayers who told them it could not be done.Get ready to walk with us through the anatomy of churches that were revived because they chose to live. The choice is as simple as it is profound. Change or die. And now, in God's power, the choice is yours.