But the good news is, much of the bad news is wrong. Sociologist Bradley R. E. Wright uncovers what's really happening in the church: evangelicals are more respected by secular culture now than they were ten years ago; divorce rates of Christians are lower than those who aren't affiliated with a religion; young evangelicals are active in the faith. Wright reveals to readers why and how statistics are distorted, and shows that God is still effectively working through his people today.

    Now in its third edition, this classic resource offers•a nine-step strategic thinking and acting model •useful ideas for developing a ministry strategy •diagrams to help illustrate concepts •a new section on spiritual formationThe methods in this book are proven to work, having already helped many churches articulate their vision and implement their mission.

    Drawing on new research, the book reveals how the landscape of higher education has shifted in recent decades and exposes the hidden truths of how the system works and whom it works for. And it introduces us to the people who really make higher education go: admissions directors trying to balance the class and balance the budget, College Board officials scrambling to defend the SAT in the face of mounting evidence that it favors the wealthy, researchers working to unlock the mysteries of the college-student brain, and educators trying to transform potential dropouts into successful graduates. With insight, humor, and passion, Paul Tough takes readers on a journey from Ivy League seminar rooms to community college welding shops, from giant public flagship universities to tiny experimental storefront colleges. Whether you are facing your own decision about college or simply care about the American promise of social mobility, The Years That Matter Most will change the way you think—not just about higher education, but about the nation itself.

    New chapters offer guidance on developing self-report scales, conducting systematic reviews, and enhancing the integrity of qualitative studies. The ancillary Resource Manual includes application exercises, models of comprehensive research critiques, a full NINR grant application, and a "must-have" Toolkit on a CD-ROM, containing a treasure-trove of exemplary research tools (e.g., consent forms, a demographic questionnaire, statistical table templates)--all in easily-adapted Word documents to meet individual research needs. A watershed edition!Student Resource Manual with Toolkit, ISBN: 978-0-7817-7052-1.

    It is moving away from its current structure of documents and pages linked together, and towards a new structure that is built around people. This is a profound change that will affect how we create business strategy, design, marketing, and advertising. The reason for this shift is simple. For tens of thousands of years we've been social animals. The web, which is only 20 years old, is simply catching up with offline life.From travel to news to commerce, smart businesses are reorienting their efforts around people-around the social behavior of their customers and potential customers. In order to be successful, businesses will need to understand how people are connected, how their social network influences them, how the people closest to them influence them the most, and how it's more important for marketers to focus on small, connected groups of friends rather than looking for overly influential individuals.This book pulls together the latest research from leading universities and technology companies to describe how people are connected, and how ideas and brand messages spread through social networks. It shows readers how to rebuild their business around social behavior, and create products that people tell their friends about.

    The Old Testament Speaks offers a clear picture of the archaeological, geographical, historical, and linguistic dimensions of God's covenant with his people from the time of Abraham to the coming of the Messiah. The Old Testament Speaks examines the historical and religious life of the Hebrews, integrates the development of non-hebraic cultures with conventional biblical history, and reviews the best modern scholarly research in placing the Scriptures in their Near Eastern setting.Samuel J. Schultz emphasizes the importance of letting the Scriptures tell their own stories. He makes selective use of the best and latest literature in Old Testament studies, and offers a balanced perspective. Schultz sifts the facts and follows them to their inevitable conclusions. However, when the evidence is not definitive, he exercises caution, presenting his own interpretation as only one of several possible views. Schultz also appraises the impact of recent archaeological and historical findings on the understanding of key portions of the Old Testament.The Old Testament Speaks contains all the relevant material -- biblical and nonbiblical -- necessary for classroom use or personal study of the Old Testament. Schultz provides outlines that reflect the historical background and summarize the contents of each biblical book, as well as charts and maps to help visualize the biblical narrative. He has also revised and updated the biblio-graphies at the end of each chapter.

    This ukulele primer book is the simplest, easiest, and most efficient way for absolute beginners to master a whole set-list worth of songs. Here's why: Step-by-step instruction AND videos are provided free with your purchase of this music book. You get 45 separate lessons: over 100 minutes of powerful video instruction! No matter your learning style, you can read, listen, or watch as you play along with your ukulele. Learn and master one easy skill at a time. With this innovative way to learn ukulele you'll steadily improve without getting frustrated or developing bad habits. You're learning from a Grammy Award nominated educator and former Harvard Master Class piano teacher. All songs are well-known, easy-to-learn folk songs so you can build your confidence and learn to play with ease. AND all songs (from Row Row Row Your Boat to Jingle Bells to This Land is Your Land) include: strum patterns, chord diagrams, sheet music, and lyrics — everything you need to make your 1st—and 21st—song sound perfect. So whether you read music already or are just searching for your personal Ukulele For Dummies, look no further! The 21 Songs in 6 Days ukulele songbook allows you to sing along, go back to review, and learn at your own pace with the FREE bonus online video instruction! It has all the essential elements you need to learn ukulele now. Make it easy to master the ukulele...grab your copy of this Amazon #1 Best Seller today! Complete Songlist: Are You Sleeping?Row, Row, Row Your BoatThree Blind MiceHave You Seen the Ghost of John?Hey, Ho, Nobody HomeAh, Poor BirdFrere JacquesChatter With the AngelsA Ram Sam SamShoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me (in F)Hush, Little Baby (in F)Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow (in F)C, then G7 EtudeShoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me (in C)Hush, Little Baby (in C)Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow (in C)He’s Got the Whole World in His HandsPolly Wolly DoodleJingle BellsThis Land Is Your LandFor He's a Jolly Good FellowOh, When the SaintsI've Been Working on the RailroadRed River Valley

    You’ve heard of “organic writing,” but that seems a bit squishy to you. Take a look at the wildly popular Snowflake Method—a battle-tested series of ten steps that jump-start your creativity and help you quickly map out your story. All around the world, novelists are using the Snowflake Method right now to ignite their imaginations and get their first drafts down on paper. In this book, you’ll follow the story of a fictitious novelist as she learns to tap into the amazing power of the Snowflake Method. Almost magically, she finds her story growing from a simple idea into a deep and powerful novel. And she finds her novel changing her—turning her into a stronger, more courageous person.Zany, Over the Top, and Just Plain FunHow to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method is a “business parable”—a how-to guide written in story form. It’s zany. It’s over the top. It’s just plain fun. Most important, it’s effective, because it shows you, rather than telling you.You’ll learn by example how to grow your story idea into a sizzling first draft. You’ll discover:* How to define your “target audience” the right way, so you know exactly how your ideal readers think and feel. Forget what the experts tell you about “demographics.”* How to create a dynamite selling tool that will instantly tell people whether they’ll love your story or hate it. And you want them to either love it or hate it.* How to get inside the skin of every one of your characters—even your villain. Especially your villain.* How to find a deep, emotively powerful theme for your story. Do you know the one best point in your novel to unveil your theme—when your reader is most eager to hear it?* How to know when to backtrack, and why backtracking is essential to writing great fiction.* How to fire-test each scene to guarantee it’ll be high-impact—before you write it.Excerpt from Chapter 1:Goldilocks had always wanted to write a novel. She learned to read before she went to kindergarten. In grade school, she always had her nose in a book. In junior high, the other kids thought she was weird, because she actually liked reading those dusty old novels in literature class. All through high school, Goldilocks dreamed of writing a book of her own someday.But when she went to college, her parents persuaded her to study something practical. Goldilocks hated practical, and secretly she kept reading novels. But she was a very obedient girl, so she did what her parents told her. She got a very practical degree in marketing. After college, she got a job that bored her to tears—but at least it was practical.Then she got married, and within a few years, she had two children, a girl and then a boy. She quit her job to devote full time to them. As the children grew, Goldilocks took great joy in introducing them to the stories she had loved as a child. When her son went off to kindergarten, Goldilocks thought about looking for a job. But her resume now had a seven-year hole in it, and her practical skills were long out of date. The only jobs Goldilocks could qualify for were minimum wage.She suddenly realized that being practical had made her horribly unhappy. On a whim, Goldilocks decided to do the one thing she had always wanted more than anything else—she was finally going to write a novel.She didn’t care if it was impractical.She didn’t care if nobody would ever read her novel.She was going to do it just because she wanted to.For the first time in years, she was going to do something just for herself.And nobody was going to stop her.

    But you will also see a high degree of variability among classrooms—much higher than in most other industrialized countries. Today we are asking schools to do something they have never done before—educate all students to high levels—yet we don’t know how to do that in every classroom for every child.Inspired by the medical-rounds model used by physicians, the authors have pioneered a new form of professional learning known as instructional rounds networks. Through this process, educators develop a shared practice of observing, discussing, and analyzing learning and teaching.

    Inside, you'll find hundreds of jokes that are guaranteed to stir up a room full of smiles, including knock-knocks, witty puns, and one-liners. Complete with hilarious quotes from celebrities like Jon Stewart, Lewis Black, and Jerry Seinfeld, everyone will revel in each gut-busting moment.So whether you're looking to add a few jokes to your repertoire, impress your buds, or improve your banter, this sidesplitting book arms you with the perfect joke for any occasion!

    Panda was designed to remove low quality content from the search engine results pages. The surprise to many were some of the big name casualties that were taken out by the update. On 24th April 2012, Google went in for the kill when they released the Penguin update. Few SEOs that had been in the business for any length of time could believe the carnage that this update caused. If Google's Panda was a 1 on the Richter scale of updates, Penguin was surely a 10. It completely changed the way we need to think about SEO. On September 28th 2012, Google released a new algorithm update targeting exact match domains (EMDs). I have updated this book to let you know the consequences of owning EMDs and added my own advice on choosing domain names. While I have never been a huge fan of exact match domains anyway, many other SEO books and courses teach you to use them. I'll tell you why I think those other courses and books are wrong.The EMD update was sandwiched in between another Panda update (on the 27th September) and another Penguin update (5th October).Whereas Panda seems to penalize low quality content, Penguin is more concerned about overly aggressive SEO tactics. Stuff that SEOs had been doing for years, not only didn't work any more, but now can actually cause your site to be penalized and drop out of the rankings. That’s right, just about everything you have been taught about Search Engine Optimization in the last 10 years can be thrown out the Window. Google have moved the goal posts. I have been working in SEO for around 10 years and have always tried to stay within the guidelines laid down by Google. This has not always been easy because to compete with other sites, it often meant using techniques that Google frowned upon. Now, if you use those techniques, Google is likely to catch up with you and demote your rankings. In this book, I want to share with you the new SEO. The SEO for 2013 and Beyond.

    The Anthropology of Childhood provides the first comprehensive review of the literature on children from a distinctly anthropological perspective. Bringing together key evidence from cultural anthropology, history, and primate studies, it argues that our common understandings about children are narrowly culture-bound. Whereas dominant society views children as precious, innocent and preternaturally cute 'cherubs', Lancy introduces the reader to societies where children are viewed as unwanted, inconvenient 'changelings', or as desired but pragmatically commoditized 'chattels'. Looking in particular at family structure and reproduction, profiles of children's caretakers, their treatment at different ages, their play, work, schooling, and transition to adulthood, this volume provides a rich, interesting, and original portrait of children in past and contemporary cultures. A must-read for anyone interested in childhood.

    What does it take to develop that kind of heart and influence? How can you become a leader like Jesus?Join Boyd Bailey as he shows you how to mirror Jesus's heart and make a positive difference in those around you. Explore 11 common traits that mark successful leaders, and learn the keys to growth in wisdom and humility. Through practical teaching, you will find that great leadership begins when you turn your focus to God and model Him in your attitude, conversations, and actions.A faithful life and humble spirit make you a leader worth following. When you lean into the Lord and learn from His example of perfect leadership, you will see lives transformed—beginning with your own!

    In it you will learn: What is a memory palace? How to build your first couple of memory palace. Learn the one secret to why some information stick to your mind, and other types don't How to easily build up to 15 memory palaces, based on the first two. Building memory palaces based on walks/journeys. How to build virtual memory palaces. How to memorize any fact or information using memory palaces. Unlike other popular books on the subject, like "Moonwalking with Einstein", the book "How to Build a Mnemonic Memory Palace" focuses on practical, hands on advice. Information that will get you started making your own memory palaces from day one.  This short, but informative book is virtually packed with information. Tips that simply work. Memory palaces are an ancient, yet somehow forgotten method of memorizing all kinds of information. Before the printing press was invented, content was passed on verbally from person to person. And using the Greek tradition of memory palaces, scholars could store vast amounts of information.  These techniques have seen an increased interest lately, and many people who have been inspired by memory palaces from TV-series like "Sherlock" or books like "Hannibal", want to find a way to easily get started making memory palaces. "How to Build a Mnemonic Memory Palace" literally takes you by the hand and walks you through the process, step by step. And thanks to the many examples, these ancient methods become very clear. In many ways, this book starts where others, like "Moonwalking With Einstein" stop.  Download a sample, or get the set of two books today. Learn how you can use the powerful techniques of memory palaces in order to memorize vitually anything.  A full, practical guide to getting started memorizing all types of information using memory palaces Equally useful for students, as adults Find out the perfect method for memorizing speeches Never forget another keyword

    But sometimes it's not practical to embark on a full-scale training initiative. Now, supervisors, managers, and team leaders have 50 team-building activities to choose from, all of which can be implemented with no special facilities, big expense, or previous training experience. Readers will find engaging exercises for:* Building new teams and helping teams with new members* Dealing with change and its effects: anger, fear, frustration, and more* Recognizing individual efforts and team accomplishments* Finding creative ways to work together and solve problems* Increasing and improving communication* Leveraging diversity and individual differences to meet team goals* Keeping competition healthy and productive within the teamInstructions and tips for follow-up and variations are included for each activity, and an additional chapter provides valuable advice for working through unexpected difficulties in team-building.