Book picks similar to
A Spirit-Empowered Church: An Acts 2 Ministry Model by Alton Garrison
christian
church
spirituality-christian-living
christian-living
Let the World See You: How to Be Real in a World Full of Fakes
Sam Acho - 2020
No one else can share what you share. Let the World See You is a blueprint for learning how to be yourself and living a life of genuine authenticity from NFL linebacker, speaker, podcaster, and humanitarian Sam Acho. In Let the World See You, Sam Acho helps you break free from society’s perceived limits and embrace the freedom of living as the genuine you. By sharing lessons and interactions with others throughout his life, Acho reveals how you can overcome your fears and discover the freedom of living as the genuine you.Many of us hide in our everyday lives. We put on masks, we play small—and we don't live up to our full potential. Sam Acho was one of those people. After years of hiding behind the “tough-guy” footballer persona, the Sam he had become to the world had no connection to the true Sam he knew himself to be. It was only when he lost a friend and mentor that he realized he was doing it all wrong. Like many of us do when we try to be someone we’re not, Acho was ignoring the unique gifts, talents, and personality he truly possessed while trying to be what the world wanted him to be. While sharing personal stories, entertaining anecdotes, and hard-learned lessons, Let the World See You will encourage you to:• Identify the nature of your fears • Discover how to take off the masks that hide who you are• Learn to lean on the God who knows you, names you, and loves youYou don’t have to hide. There is another way of living. Let the world see you. Your quirks, your passions, and your inner desires were not given to you by accident. The world needs your gifts.
Church Zero: Raising 1st Century Churches out of the Ashes of the 21st Century Church
Peyton Jones - 2013
What happened to the Western church? Why are we losing the generation under thirty and reaching so few nonbelievers? In Church Zero, Peyton Jones examines one of our biggest problems: squeezing our leaders into a mold that cuts their hair and drains away their commando strength. Scripture lays out a leadership model that worked explosively in the first century. When properly understood, Christ’s model can help your church live the way it was meant to live, truly making a difference in your community. Church Zero gives the blueprints for how the Western church might start rebuilding from the ground up. What would tomorrow look like if we had to restart from a biblical ground zero? Church Zero will help us once again become a radical, dangerous people who cannot be ignored.
The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ
Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. - 2014
But this message also creates human beauty--beautiful relationships in our churches, making the glory of Christ visible in the world today.In this timely book, Pastor Ray Ortlund makes the case that gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. In too many of our churches, it is the beauty of a gospel culture that is the missing piece of the puzzle. But when the gospel is allowed to exert its full power, a church becomes radiant with the glory of Christ.
Vertical Church: What Every Heart Longs For. What Every Church Can Be.
James MacDonald - 2012
Arriving in minutes, I find the family imploding with grief having just discovered their son hanging in the garage. In a moment of unshakable pain, he jumped off the ladder and into eternity. And I will never shake the look in their eyes when I asked why he hadn't called a church. "Why would he do that?" Across town, a pool of tears on my kitchen table as an out of town guest feels the weight of his infidelity, despairing that his famished soul finds no refuge and that he has to board a plane to feel fellowship. "Has your church tried to help you?" And the Christian leader confesses he hasn't been to church in years." Infighting, backbiting, heartbreaking, frustrating ... church. Though exceptions do exist, the reality is that church in America is failing one life at a time. Somewhere between pathetically predictable and shamefully entertaining, sadly sentimental and rarely authentic, church has become worst of all ... godless. "Vertical Church "points to a new day where God is the seeker, and we are the ones found. In "Vertical Church "God shows up, and that changes everything. If you want to experience God as you never have before and witness His hand at work, if you want to wake up to the first thought, "Thank God it's Sunday," if you're ready to feel your heart beat faster as you drive to your place of worship ... then devour and digest the lessons of "Vertical Church.
The Quest for the Radical Middle
Bill Jackson - 1999
An in-depth look at the history of one of the Vineyard, one of the fastest growing church movements in the last twenty years.
Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic
Anne Jackson - 2009
She vowed her life in ministry would be different.Yet, years later, as a church leader, she was hospitalized because stress began wreaking havoc on her body. After being released from the hospital, an associate pastor asked her, 'Does working at this church interfere with your communion with Christ?' The question was paramount in turning her life around.Thinking she wasn't alone, Anne developed a website that allowed church leaders to share their struggles. Within a few days, she was flooded with over a thousand responses from people pouring out their stories of burnout. Using anecdotal parallels between Mad Cow Disease and leadership trends in the church, she writes not only to help us realize what church leaders are facing, but also to provide practical and positive treatment plans.Mad Church Disease is a lively, informative, and potentially life-saving resource for anyone in ministry---vocational or volunteer---who would like to understand, prevent, or treat the epidemic of burnout in church culture.
The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influencea Leadership Network Publication
Bill Thrall - 1999
Leadership is about character, the authors assert, and character weaves values like integrity, honesty, and selflessservice into the fabric of our lives, organizations, andcultures.The Ascent of a Leader is written for ordinary people-mothers, husbands, bosses, secretaries, pastors, teachers, and students-whowant to develop extraordinary character, find and follow God's planfor their lives, and lead others where they need to go. We all haveinnate leadership potential. To maximize it, we must do much morethan develop performance-based skills, the authors assert. We mustconsciously choose who and what we allow to influence us, find anddevelop our humility, and build Anduring relationships withcolleagues, family, friAnds, and God. They offer engaging real-lifeexamples to show how we can grow into our true potential as leadersand inspire us to "make a difference in the 21st century-in ourfamilies, our communities, our companies, our government, and evenour world."With a foreword by Ken Blanchard.
The Titus 2 Woman
Susan Godfrey - 2011
This type of woman is truly becoming an endangered species! It’s a sad fact, but modern churches are just not teaching the “aged women” to become Titus 2 mentors and women just are not stepping up to mentor the younger women in the church. This is part of the reason I think so many of the young women in today’s church are floundering and turning away from Godly womanhood. They are just not being taught how to be Godly women. Too many churches today are pushing a twisted form of womanhood that has more in common with feminism and worldly standards than Godly standards. It is truly a sad state!Just what traits does the Bible say a Godly woman should posses? Titus 2: 3-5 lays these traits out to us in a simple and plain way. The aged women likewise, that [they be] in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, [To be] discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. — Titus 2:3-5(KJV)When you look at these verses, you can plainly see that what God requires from a Godly woman. “The Titus 2 Woman” by Susan Godfrey, dissect these eleven qualities to help us understand exactly what is expected of us as we grow and mature as Christians.
The Reflective Life: Becoming More Spiritually Sensitive to the Everday Moments of Life (Reflective Living Series)
Ken Gire - 1998
How do we, like Mary, create "pauses" in our days to hear what the Savior has to say to us? How do we make time for the things that ultimately matter? Ken Gire unlocks the door to change by introducing us to a centuries-old tradition--reflective living.
24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life
Matthew Sleeth - 2012
Our technological tools allow 24-hour productivity and connectivity, give us more control, and subtlety enslave us to busyness itself. Sabbath is about restraint, about intentionally not doing everything all the time just because we can. Setting aside a day of rest helps us reconnect with our Creator and find the peace of God that passes all understanding. The Sabbath is about letting go of the controls one day a week and letting God be God. So how do we do it?In "24/6, " Dr. Matthew Sleeth describes our symptoms, clarifies the signs, diagnoses the illness, and lays out a simple plan for living a healthier, more God-centered life in a digitally-dazed, always-on world. Sleeth shares how his own family was dramatically transformed when it adopted Sabbath practices and helps readers better understand how their own lives can be transformed - physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually - by adopting the 24/6 lifestyle.
Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus
Kyle Idleman - 2011
In fact, you may want to read this book before you answer at all. Consider it a 'Define the Relationship' conversation to determine exactly where you stand. You may indeed be a passionate, fully devoted follower of Jesus. Or, you may be just a fan who admires Jesus but isn't ready to let him cramp your style. Then again, maybe you're not into Jesus, period.In any case, don't take the question---Are you a follower of Jesus?---lightly.Some people don't know what they've said yes to and other people don't realize what they've said no to, says Pastor Kyle Idleman. But Jesus is ready to clearly define the relationship he wants with his followers.Not a Fan calls you to consider the demands and rewards of being a true disciple. With frankness sprinkled with humor, Idleman invites you to live the way Jesus lived, love the way he loved, pray the way he prayed, and never give up living for the One who gave his all for you.
Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better
Brant Hansen - 2015
The idea of our own “righteous anger” is a myth. It is the number one problem in our societies today and, as Dallas Willard says, Christians have not been taught out of it. But what if Christians were the most unoffendable people on the planet?In Unoffendable you will find concrete, practical ways to live life with less stress, including: Adjusting your expectations to fit human natureReplacing perpetual anger with refreshing humility and gratitudeEmbracing forgiveness and beginning to love others in unexpected waysIn a humorous and conversational style, Unoffendable seeks to lift religious burdens from our backs and allow us to experience the joy of gratitude, perhaps for the first time, every single day of our lives—flourishing the way God intended.
Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot
Max Lucado - 2006
You spend 50+ hours at a job you hate andcome home too exhausted to pursue anything other than reality TV. You are not alone: 87 percent of workers don't find meaning at work and 80 percent believe their talents are unused. The resulting attitude impacts health, relationships, and a fundamental sense of happiness, but best-selling author Max Lucado has a cure. In his winsome, encouraging voice, Max gives practical tools to explore your uniqueness, find motivation to put it to work, and get perspective to redefine your concept of work. It's never too late to uncover strengths, discover God's will, and cure the otherwise hopeless prognosis of a common life.
Calling & Character: Virtues Of The Ordained Life
William H. Willimon - 2000
He lays out specific habits such as study, collegiality, and humor as the day-by-day means of following the difficult and dangerous, yet deeply rewarding, calling of a pastor.
The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict
Ken Sande - 1990
Serious, divisive conflict is everywhere-within families, in the church, and out in the world. And it can seem impossible to overcome its negative force in our lives. In The Peacemaker, Ken Sande presents a comprehensive and practical theology for conflict resolution designed to bring about not only a cease-fire but also unity and harmony. Sande takes readers beyond resolving conflicts to true, life-changing reconciliation with family members, coworkers, and fellow believers.Biblically based, The Peacemaker is full of godly wisdom and useful suggestions that are easily applied to any relationship needing reconciliation. Sande's years of experience as an attorney and as president of Peacemaker Ministries will strengthen readers' confidence as they stand in the gap as peacemakers.