Pastoral Helps
Showing 1601–1650 of 4114 results
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Understanding Sexual Identity
$16.99Add to cartToday’s youth struggle with difficult questions of sexual identity. How can a youth worker offer wise care and counsel on such a controversial and confusing subject? Mark Yarhouse, director of the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity, equips youth ministers so they can faithfully navigate the topic of sexual identity in a way that is honest, compassionate, and accessible. Reframing the focus away from the culture wars, Yarhouse introduces readers to the developmental considerations in the formation of sexual identity—all of which occurs in the teen years. He offers practical and helpful ways to think about homosexuality along with suggestions for talking with people who experience same-sex attraction. He also helps parents and youth volunteers learn to graciously respond to children and teens who struggle with questions of sexual identity, and discusses how youth ministry can become more relevant in the lives of youth who are navigating these issues.
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Men And The Church
$17.99Add to cartMen and the Church: Is there a Future? Yes, there is a future for the men in your church! “Men and the Church: Is There a Future?” examines a topic of crucial importance to the state of today’s church- the decreasing interest, impact and involvement of men. Addressing Christian leaders and those emerging to leadership, clergy and laymen alike, Crouse seeks to inform and equip today’s Christian men with the tools to fix the gender gap in the 21st century church and welcome men back to the church they have been so pivotal in building up over the past 2000 years ago. Jay Crouse has been actively involved in ministry to men for over twenty-five years and participating full-time since leaving the private sector in 1999. His ministry to men journey began in the Episcopal Diocese of SW Florida and has expanded nationally and to the church at large. Jay and his wife of thirty-three years, Laura, live in Sarasota, Florida and attend Church of the Redeemer. They have four sons.
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Embracing Spiritual Awakening (Student/Study Guide)
$15.95Add to cartQuick Guide To The Handbook
Beyond The “Quick Guide”
Pointers On Facilitation
Questions Of Awakening
Session 1: Waking Up
Session 2: Believing
Session 3: Behaving
Session 4: Belonging
Session 5: AwakeningAdditional Info
In this newest installment, Diana Butler Bass expands on the ideas she developed in her recent book, Christianity after Religion, exploring what Christianity may look like “beyond religion and beyond the church.” Segments include (1) Arriving, (2) Believing, (3) Behaving, (4) Belonging and (5) Awakening. -
What Do We Tell The Children
$18.99Add to cartOne out of seven children will lose a parent before they are 20. The statistics are sobering, but they are also a call for preparedness. However, pastors and counselors of all types are often at a loss when dealing with a grieving child. Talking to adults about death and grief is difficult; it’s all the more challenging to talk to children and teens. The stakes are high: grieving children are high-risk for substance abuse, promiscuity, depression, isolation, and suicide. Yet, despite this, most of these kids grow-up to be normal or exceptional adults. But their chance to become healthy adults increases with the support of a loving community. Supporting grieving children requires intentionality, open-communication, and patience. Rather than avoid all conversations on death or pretend like it never happened, normalizing grief and offering support requires us to be in-tune with kids through dialogue as they grapple with questions of “how” and “why.” When listening to children in grief, we often have to embrace the mystery, offer love and compassion, and stick with the basics. The author says, “We don’t have to answer the why and how for them, but we can assure our children that God is with us as we suffer. We can do so by doing good for others and pointing out all of those moments when someone has done something good for us. I believe that most of the time that’s as far as we will get, and that is okay.”
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Feasting On The Word Year B 2
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Youth Workers Commentary On James
$26.99Add to cartOne reason for writing these books is that most curriculums that are now available for youth leaders and their students are just skimming the books of the Bible (example: 4-12 lessons on the Gospel of John that do not go beyond the surface of the text). We are talking about writing books that would have the entire Biblical text printed in each book. Books that actually go deeper into the meaning of the text. We are thinking of dozens of word and character studies, with many fascinating historical and personal stories, followed by in depth thought provoking questions. This series of books will include insights and observations not usually covered in typical commentaries.
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Feasting On The Word Year A 2
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Feasting On The Word Year A 1
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this new lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Hour On Sunday
$26.99Add to cartToday’s spiritually searching culture is less inclined than ever to attend church. Yet, no time of the week is filled with more life-changing potential than Sunday morning. Imagine . . . experiences that bring people heart-to-heart with God.messages in which God’s truth connects to everyday life.transcendent moments that leave people awestruck—and transformed. That’s what can happen when you unleash the arts in your church through the power of the Holy Spirit. An Hour on Sunday is not about nitty-gritty programming details or cookie-cutter how-to’s. It’s about foundational issues—ten enduring principles that: unite artists and ministry leaders around a common language empower artists and pastors to effectively work together create the potential for moments that matter on Sunday morning. An Hour on Sunday is for worship and arts ministry leaders, pastors and teachers, artists—including musicians, writers, dancers, actors, visual artists, film makers, light and sound engineers and anyone who believes in the limitless potential of the arts in their church. Whimsically illustrated, written with passion and humor, and filled with stories of both success and failure, An Hour on Sunday explores the deep, shaping forces that can make your hour on Sunday a time of transformation and wonder for believers and seekers alike.
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Feasting On The Word Year C 2
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Feasting On The Word Year C 4
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Feasting On The Word Year B 4
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Violence In Scripture
$50.00Add to cartThe Bible frequently depicts God as angry and violent, and also sometimes depicts human violence as positive or even as commanded by God. This forms one of the most vexing problems in approaching Scripture and in interpreting the Bible for preaching and teaching today. In this volume, Creach first examines the theological problems of violence and categorizes the types of violence that appear in scripture. Then, he wrestles with the most important biblical texts on violence to work through specific interpretational issues. This new volume in the Interpretation: Resources for Use of Scripture in the Church series will help preachers and pastors interpret those difficult texts, encouraging them to face violence in the Bible with honesty.
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Feasting On The Word Year B 1
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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How To Be Team Player And Enjoy It
$13.99Add to cartMatt Williams has been an associate pastor, Christian college administrator, and has worked with church ministries around the country for over 40 years. He combines his experiences as a secular business manager, church staff member, and Christian leader with ministries to present practical principles that are invaluable in serving the Lord. How To Be A Team Player and Enjoy It is the result of working with pastors, staff members, and ministries across the country and seeing the problems faced in churches and Christian school ministries. Matt takes principles from God s word and applies them to our relationships and working with others as leaders. Christian leaders have encouraged Matt to relate these principles in printed form. This book reflects Matt s heart for people and the Lords work. How To Be A Team Player and Enjoy It should be required reading for all Christian leaders and workers.
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Feasting On The Word Worship Companion Year A 1
$42.00Add to cartBased on the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year A, Volume 1 is an invaluable aid that provides liturgical pieces needed in preparing for worship each week. Written and compiled by a team of eleven ecumenical and seasoned liturgy writers under the creative leadership of Kimberly Bracken Long, this resource offers a multitude of poetic prayers and responsive readings for all parts of worship and is meant to complement existing denominational resources. In addition, the weekly entries include questions for reflection and household prayers for morning and evening that are drawn from the lectionary, allowing churches to include them in their bulletin for parishioners to use throughout the week.
During times of the year when two different tracks of Old Testament texts are offered by the RCL, this resource offers an entire set of materials for each track. A CD-ROM is also included with each volume that enables planners to easily cut and paste relevant readings, prayers, and questions into worship bulletins.
Liturgy Writers include:
Kimberly L. Clayton, Director of Contextual Education, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
David Gambrell, Associate for Worship in the Office of Theology and Worship, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Louisville, Kentucky; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Daniel M. Geslin, Pastor, Sixth Avenue United Church of Christ, Denver, Colorado; United Church of Christ
Kimberly Bracken Long, Assistant Professor of Worship, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
L. Edward Phillips, Associate Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology, Candler School of Theology, Atlanta, Georgia; United Methodist Church
Melinda Quivik, Liturgical Scholar, Houghton, Michigan; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Carol L. Wade, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Lexington, Kentucky; Episcopal Church -
Ideal Class Book
$3.99Add to cartIt is important to keep accurate records, and this class book for 25-member classes helps with this task. This book enables one to record attendance for a full year with each student’s address, phone number, birthday, church relationship, and additional class sessions. Available individually or in packages of six.
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Ideal Sunday School Secretarys Record Book
$8.99Add to cartProviding space for keeping accurate records of up to 25 classes for one year, this Sunday School Secretary’s Record Book features an arrangement of weekly, quarterly, and annual report pages; includes space for recording by age group. In addition, the book provides a place to keep a roll of officers and teachers, and a full calendar of events.
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Without Apology : Sermons For Christs Church
$26.95Add to cartSermons from one of the country’s best-known theologians – 17 sermons, from “Saints” and “Letting Go,” to “Recognizing Jesus/Seeing Salvation” and “Clothe Your Ministers in Righteousness” – Two bonus presentations on “Leadership” and “A
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Ideal Class Book
$4.99Add to cartIt is important to keep accurate records, and this class book for 75-member classes helps with this task. This book enables one to record attendance for a full year with each student’s address, phone number, birthday, church relationship, and additional class sessions. Available individually or in packages of six.
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Sermons Of John Wesley
$57.99Add to cartWith an eye on serious Christian development, Kenneth Collins and Jason Vickers have arranged this collection of the sermons of John Wesley in terms of the way of salvation in general and the “ordo salutis” in particular. This book contains the sermons that John Wesley approved, in addition to the standard 52 of the North American tradition, organized to correspond to the logic of Christian discipleship and formation. The editors include an outline and short introduction to each sermon detailing its importance and context. Sermons include “Sermon on the Mount,” which is key to understanding Wesley’s ethics, “Free Grace,” “On Working Out Our Own Salvation,” and “The Danger of Riches.” The book is designed to enhance the reader’s understanding of Wesleyan practical theology and written in an accessible style that will be appealing to the wider Wesleyan family of churches. Also included are all of the 44 standard sermons of the British tradition.
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Feasting On The Word Year A 4
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Pastors Family : Shepherding Your Family Through The Challenges Of Pastoral
$16.99Add to cartFeaturing insights from the perspective of both a pastor and his wife—The Pastor’s Family identifies the complicated burdens and expectations ministry brings to the life of a family. Brian and Cara Croft identify the unique challenges that pastors face as husbands and fathers. They also discuss the difficulties and joys of being a pastor’s wife and offer practical advice on raising children in a ministry family. In addition to addressing the challenges of marriage and raising children, they also highlight the joys of serving together as a family and the unique opportunities pastors have to train their children and lead their families.
With discussion questions for use by couples and pastoral reading groups, this book is ideal for pastors and their spouses, pastoral ministry students and their wives, as well as elders, deacons, and others who wish to remain faithful to the care of their families while diligently fulfilling their calling in ministry. The Pastor’s Family equips pastors with time-tested wisdom to address the tension of family and congregational dynamics while persevering in their calling.
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Feasting On The Word Year C 1
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Story Of Jesus Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThe Story of Jesus small group video Bible study is a seven-week exploration into the life and ministry of Jesus that is adapted from the original The Story Adult Curriculum. Pulled straight from the pages of the Bible, this study provides individuals and groups of all sizes the opportunity to learn, discuss, and apply Jesus’ life, work, and teaching to their everyday lives. Pastor and author Randy Frazee presents seven ten-minute teachings on how the story of Jesus intersects with the story of our modern day lives. To understand the Bible, says author and pastor Randy Frazee, you need bifocal lenses, because two perspectives are involved. The Lower Story, our story, is actually many stories of men and women interacting with God in the daily course of life. The Upper Story is God’s story, the tale of his great, overarching purpose that fits all the individual stories together like panels in one unified mural. Bestselling author Max Lucado also adds some introductory insights. The Story of Jesus DVD (sold separately) and Participant’s Guide are designed for use by individuals as well as groups of all sizes, including small groups and Sunday school and adult education classes. The Story of Jesus Participant’s Guide includes DVD teaching notes, discussion questions, between session personal experiences, and also includes seven chapters of the full text of The Story hardcover book as it relates to Jesus, from his birth to the beginning of the church.
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Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series 9 Cycle A
$49.95Add to cartMark Ellingsen’s Lectionary Preaching Workbook (Series IX Cycle A) is a rich and stimulating resource for preachers, especially those who manage the adamant deadline (really, lifeline) imposed on preachers by weekly worship. Each section is filled with theological reflection, liturgical sensibility, exegetical sketches, along with sermon prompts, outlines, and “gimmicks.” This last is his own word for what amount to suggestions for why a sermon on a particular text can be made to matter to both preacher and audience…
Ellingsen’s stated intent is to be an unbiased conversation partner with the preacher and in this goal he is careful to provide a range of options for topic and approach for each occasion… The closer a preacher is to wanting to continue in the Protestant tradition if theologically informed, exegetically nuanced, liturgically sensitive, and rhetorically focused preacher, the more that preacher will find Lectionary Preaching Workbook a sturdy companion.
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Spiritual Formation In Emerging Adulthood (Reprinted)
$30.00Add to cartThe shift from adolescence to adulthood, a recently identified stage of life called “emerging adulthood,” covers an increasing span of years in today’s culture (roughly ages 18-30) due to later marriages and extended education. During this prolonged stage of exploration and self-definition, many young adults drift away from the church.
Here two authors–both veteran teachers who are experienced in young adult and campus ministry–address this new and urgent field of study, offering a Christian perspective on what it means to be spiritually formed into adulthood. They provide a “practical theology” for emerging adult ministry and offer insight into the key developmental issues of this stage of life, including identity, intimacy and sexuality, morality, church involvement, spiritual formation, vocation, and mentoring. The book bridges the gap between academic and popular literature on emerging adulthood and offers concrete ways to facilitate spiritual formation among emerging adults.
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Judges For You (Student/Study Guide)
$17.99Add to cartThis uniquely flexibel resource can be read as a book; used as a daily devotional, complete with reflection questions; or utilized by anyone who has a teaching ministry, to help small-group leaders understand and apply the text, and to give preachers helpful ways of connecting timeless Bible truths to today’s world.
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Finally Free : Fighting For Purity With The Power Of Grace
$19.99Add to cartIf you have struggled personally against the powerful draw of pornography, or if you have ever tried to help someone fighting this battle, you know how hard it is to break free. But real freedom isn’t found by trying harder to change. Nor is it found in a particular method or program. Only Jesus Christ has the power to free people from the enslaving power of pornography.
In Finally Free, Dr. Heath Lambert, a leader in the biblical counseling movement, lays out eight gospel-centered strategies for overcoming the deceitful lure of pornography. Each chapter clearly demonstrates how the gospel applies to this particular battle and how Jesus can move readers from a life of struggle to a life of purity.
If you or someone you care about is fighting this battle, there is good news: No matter how intense or long-standing the struggle, Jesus Christ can, will, and does set people free from the power of pornography.
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Pastoral Practices : A Wesleyan Paradigm
$19.99Add to cartPastoring is tough. The challenges are many, expectations are high, and tasks are wide ranging.
Pastoral Practices is a guide to help pastors draw on the insights of Wesleyan theology and incorporate them into their ministries. Whatever the task may be–preaching, discipling, evangelizing, or administrating–this book will shed light on the way Wesleyan theology refines, informs, and enhances the theories and methods of each pastoral practice.
Not only will pastors and their associates find this book a worthwhile asset, but lay leaders, small-group facilitators, and others doing ministry in the church will also benefit from its invaluable insight and well-reasoned advice. -
Special Service Worship Architect
$34.00Add to cartThis book takes the principles found in Constance Cherry’s successful The Worship Architect–in which she provided dynamic blueprints for designing worship services–and applies them to special services in the life of the church. Cherry, a worship professor and practitioner, offers theological reflection, practical guidance, and suggested resources to help worship leaders and ministry students in training to create meaningful special services related to the sacraments, life passages, and other occasions.
Cherry sets forth a process concerning worship design for special services and demonstrates how this process is conducive to virtually any style of worship practiced today in a myriad of Christian communities. She includes a model order for each service type, including weddings, funerals, baptisms, child dedications, Holy Communion, and more. The book not only explains what leaders do in order to preside at special services and how to do it, but also why they make certain choices. Each chapter includes discussion questions, practical exercises, and a basic glossary.
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Wide Welcome : How The Unsettling Presence Of Newcomers Can Save The Church
$22.00Add to cartWhile most churches offer ‘new member classes’ and genuinely seek to welcome visitors, too often the end result is a rush to assimilate the newcomer into formal membership and all of the invitations to participation in committees, choirs, or fellowship groups that go along with it.
In Wide Welcome, Jessicah Krey Duckworth presents the stark differences between the established congregation, which cares for current members and congregational identity, and the disestablished one, intentionally equipped to facilitate the encounter between new and established members. By intentionally extending the time of newcomer inquiry and allowing their questions, insights, and experiences to reverberate through the entire congregation both they and the church are changed. Wide Welcome does far more than point out the faults and weaknesses in current practice. Duckworth intentionally lays out possible designs for newcomer welcome that are local and particular.
At a time when only nine percent of North American Mainline congregations actively and intentionally facilitate newcomer faith formation, Wide Welcome is an essential and timely book.
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Feasting On The Word Year B 3
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Starting Right : Thinking Theologically About Youth Ministry
$39.99Add to cartStarting Right: Thinking Theologically About Youth Ministry is the first academic textbook that introduces youth ministry students (whether undergraduate or graduate level) to a marriage of solid research, real life, and accessible design. Whereas most college-level texts may reflect a thorough (though impenetrable) mastery of the field, they tend to expect readers to plow through unnecessarily thick prose and bland design because ‘it’s good for them.’ Youth Specialties doesn’t agree. In this debut title to a continuing academic book line, college and seminary students will be introduced to real-life research, real-life youth ministry dilemmas, and real-life solutions. Contributing writers represent a spectrum of Christian Education thought and practice, as well as widespread recognition in their field…transdenominational, yet the perfect background to ministry in any denomination or ministry organization This text includes thorough indexes, design, and graphics that compel readers from page to page (now that’s a first for a college text!); organization that permits professors to use any part of the text, in any order, rather than plod through the entire book from beginning to end; a perfect primary text that gives students a rich, academic, and readable (though not ‘popular’) grasp of every aspect of youth ministry a typical Intro course touches, while also serving as an ideal secondary text.
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Power Of Multisensory Preaching And Teaching
$24.99Add to cartMost preaching and teaching in the church engages only one of the senses—hearing. In The Power of Multisensory Preaching and Teaching, Rick Blackwood shows how recognizing and engaging the multiple senses of the congregation can lead to greater impact. Blackwood presents both biblical evidence and scientific research showing that the more senses we stimulate in teaching and preaching, the greater the levels of learner attention, comprehension, and retention. Blackwood addresses both the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of multisensory communication. Regardless of one’s current skill level, this practical book can help anyone add multi-sensory elements to messages in order to take communication to the next level—more compelling, clear, and memorable. As a result of reading this book readers can be more effective as a communicator and teacher. The book includes tools, examples, and worksheets.
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Feasting On The Word Year C 3
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Feasting On The Word Year A 3
$50.00Add to cartNow Available in Paperback!With this lectionary commentary series, Westminster John Knox offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. Now complete, the twelve volumes of the series cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with movable occasions, such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints’ Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays-one each on the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical challenges of the text. This gives preachers sixteen different approaches to the proclamation of the Word on any given occasion.
The editors and contributors to this series are world-class scholars, pastors, and writers representing a variety of denominations and traditions. And while the twelve volumes of the series follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume contains an index of biblical passages so that nonlectionary preachers, as well as teachers and students, may make use of its contents.
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Advanced Strategic Planning (Reprinted)
$28.00Add to cartFirst published in 1990, Advanced Strategic Planning explains why planning is so important to carrying out the church’s mission. Now in its third edition, this classic resource offiers
*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.
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Table Manners : Liturgical Leadership For The Mission Of The Church
$35.99Add to cartThere is a growing (if not urgent) need for those being trained for ordained (and lay) ministry to be provided with a more solid grounding in liturgical principles, and Simon Reynolds seeks to address this by demonstrating how good liturgical leadership can be the foundation from which all other theological, historical, pastoral and missiological issues arise.
Table Manners attempts to avoid being a ‘party’ book and will consciously avoid issues of churchmanship (except in pointing to what is positive in the various Christian traditions). Rather, it is written from the conviction that (i) a proper understanding of the Eucharist, and a theologically-informed approach to celebrating it (even if this manifests itself in many different styles), should mean that worshippers can go to churches of an unfamiliar tradition and yet still be caught up in the action, because what is essential and enlarging about good liturgical celebration would be recognisable; and (ii) that the success of presidency also demands the liturgical education of the whole people of God, because until they know what to ask for, their expectations will remain constrained.
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Worship The Lord With Gladness
$19.99Add to cartLessons:
1. Come, Let’s Worship God! What Is Worship?
2. Come To The Water: Baptism
3. Come To The Table: Holy Communion
4. Worship Leaders Help Us Praise God
5. Church Symbols Help Me Worship God
6. Music Helps Me Offer Praise To God
7. One Service, Many Parts
8. One God, Many Ways To Worship
9. We Worship And We Welcome
10. I Have A Part In Worship
11. Special Times Of Worship
12. We Gather To Worship, We Leave To Serve
13. Children Lead In WorshipAdditional Info
Worship the Lord with Gladness: God’s Children in Worship is designed to teach children about worship. Each lesson is based upon a scripture verse or passage that the children would examine in detail. Activities, games, drama, role-play, reproducibles, and music are incorporated into the lessons. Each lesson provides an opportunity for the children to put into practice what they have learned. In addition, there are take-home sheet explaining the lesson and providing parents ideas for reinforcing the lesson at home.Each lesson contains the following:
WORSHIP WIDSOM: Background material for the teacher.
ENTER WITH GLADNESS: Gathering activities for children as they arrive for the worship study.
BIBLE PRAISE NOTES: Children will examine the scripture for the day.
LET’S LEARN TO WORSHIP: Activities, games, drama, role play, reproducibles and music help the children learn about the particular worship theme.
WE WORSHIP GOD: A time to put into practice what the children have learned.
MY FAMILY HELPS ME WORSHIP: Take-home ideas for worship in the home and reinforcing the lesson
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Get Their Name Workbook
$15.99Add to cartPower-boost your team’s capacity to share faith without anxiety!
Most churches and Christians target the wrong people with “evangelism” efforts. The model we use no longer works because it is passive, too polite, and focused in the wrong direction. We are not making new disciples, not adding significantly to Christ’s transformation of the world. But there is hope and practical help for churches who are ready to take a new approach. Get Their Name by Bob Farr, Kay Kotan, and Doug Anderson outlines that hope and help.The Get Their Name Workbook provides the critical next step. Church leaders can use this resource with their teams, small groups, and staff to power-boost the book’s ideas in their own church context. The workbook is formatted to function as an individual study, too.
The Get Their Name Workbook:
-Creates conversation starters for group discussion or personal reflection
-Poses powerful questions, which can lead to honest and authentic reflection and evaluation
-Encourages group participants to process the information together, increasing understanding and commitment
-Stimulates calls to action, increasing the likelihood of real and sustainable change in the congregation -
Elephant In The Church
$19.99Add to cartA church can be a dangerous place. The perils may be so obvious, they become “elephants” standing in the fellowship hall, lurking in the sanctuary, ready to spring into the pastor’s study, and tromp out of the choir room. The word “elephant” stands for an obvious truth or issue that is ignored or unnamed-a blind spot. Yet we allow elephants to occupy a large amount of space in the minds and hearts of those that tiptoe around them. Discussing common blind-spots of congregations and church leaders, the authors provide examples and illustrations for how to stop these “elephants” from ruining a ministry.
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Jiffy For Eternity Cycle A
$17.95Add to cartDr. Leslie Holmes is one of America’s finest scholar preachers, an impelling communicator in both the spoken and, as you will witness, the written word. He writes as he speaks — with conviction, warmth, and insight.
Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie
Former Chaplain, United States SenateDr. Leslie Holmes has a keen mind coupled with a heart that burns with passion for evangelism.
Dr. R.C. Sproul
Author and TheologianDr. Holmes’s belief in the eternal verities of the Christian faith is exciting. His ability to take those truths and apply them in a practical, life-changing way is refreshing.
Dr. Steve Brown
Author, Professor of Preaching, and Founder of Key Life MinistriesRobert Leslie Holmes provides a refreshing look at the message of the cross in his sermons for Cycle A Lent and Easter seasons, A Jiffy for Eternity. Written for preachers by a preacher, A Jiffy for Eternity provides deep, exegetical analysis to each sermon and delivers truths in a way that are stunningly relevant to today’s reader.
Rich with both authority and passion for exploring the word of God, A Jiffy for Eternity carefully balances scriptural and historical investigations to consistently lead the reader toward compelling insights and biblically anchored understandings. Holmes’ love for the word of God is starkly evident throughout each sermon, and his deep knowledge of biblical history and interpretation remind the reader of the timeless truths of God’s word.
“In his name, God has entrusted us with an ‘obligation’ about the message that supersedes every other message in the world. In his name, God gives us the Holy Spirit who makes the message we preach new for every generation.” Holmes does not declare this pastoral obligation easily, for he has experienced firsthand the difficult task of delivering fresh life into ancient words. But the word of God is an “immoveable rock of trust,” and in that conviction, Robert Leslie Holmes presents a series of sermons that seek to transform the hearts and lives of the church with well-worn truths that remain ever-fresh and ever-new.
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To Drown Hell And Burn Heaven Cycle A
$12.95Add to cartTo Drown Hell and Burn Heaven beautifully illustrates the ability of holy language to change lives. With a lyrical voice and deeply personal reflections, Kristin Borsgard Wee challenges the reader to look beyond the text in order to allow the ancient idea of a transforming “white fire” to move us and to equip us in our faith.
For over 25 years, Kristin Borsgard Wee has taught the scriptures, and she believes that the images and ideas within language often “question our domesticated version of God.” When we permit ourselves to navigate through those questions and process their truths, our hearts, minds, and spirits can then begin to mimic Jesus — simply because we can answer his piercing question: “Who do you say I am?”
Throughout To Drown Hell and Burn Heaven, Wee offers personal and historical insights to expand scriptural understandings of God’s sovereignty, grace, and love. Wee combines a lifetime of discipleship, experience, and wisdom into the nine sermons for the middle third of the Season after Pentecost (Propers 15-23). These meditations can be used in corporate and private worship alike. Wee lets the familiar, ancient stories of Jesus call the believer into a life truly transformed by the power of the kingdom.
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Tall Poppy : How To Lead Without Losing Your Head
$19.99Add to cartIn New Zealand, they have a saying: “Keep a low profile or, like the tall poppy, stand tall and get your head cut off.” While there are risks to standing out, there are also benefits: tall poppies have the best view and are positioned to have the clearest vision of the horizon. Leadership has an up-side but also a down-side, and leaders must attend to both. Tall poppy leadership attracts attention, but it is a mixed blessing. These leaders leave their mark, shape the environment, and prepare the ground for others. Like tall poppies, they have a clear view of the lay of the land, not just for themselves but for their followers. To reap the benefits of being the first to harvest, they risk becoming easy targets for those who are jealous, petty, or have a hunger for power.
This practical book helps you weigh the costs and benefits of your leadership as you assess your own situation. It shows you how to move forward through inevitable conflict, while attending to the landmines and hazards of congregational life. After reading this book you will lead with more confidence, better able to keep the vision and avoid distraction of immediate crises.
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Preaching With F I R E S E T A
$15.49Add to cartPreaching with F.I.R.E.’s E.T.A. will rivet novice and experienced preachers alike to their seats, and the hearers of your preaching will be glued to their pews when the principles of this work are applied. The traditional ways to study a text of Scripture through cold and clinical analysis will be replaced with a four-step process (F.I.R.E.) that reveres the Bible as a living Word that speaks of a personal relationship with its Author. Moreover, once the F.I.R.E. is kindled, the author will guide you to developing points including the vital and often-missed theological step. (E.T.A. is the acronym used to show this necessary phase of sermon assembly.) Next you will be escorted through the sermon delivery process. The author then demonstrates how the Holy Spirit is the exegete’s tour guide through the preparation process and subsequently speaks in confluence through the biblical text during delivery. There is an intriguing section titled An Extreme Takeover from a Friendly Force that addresses the Holy Spirit’s ability to supernaturally use well-prepared messages. Further, how can the messenger of God’s Word be assured he’s representing God’s Bible accurately? Two chapters are devoted to give a history of preaching, examining both authoritative and nonauthoritative preaching samples. The writer then gives a paradigm how to preach with God’s authority. The work culminates with a sermon based upon 1 Samuel 17 with the classic text featuring David versus Goliath that the author preached displaying the skills shared in this work. Ken J. Burge, Sr. (A.A., B.A., Washington Bible Church; M.A., M.Div., Capital Bible Seminary; D.Min., Dallas Theological Seminary) has been the Senior Pastor of Colmar Manor Bible Church for twenty-two years. His preaching articles can be found in Preaching and at preaching.com. He is a member of the Evangelical Homiletics Society and the IFCA International.
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Ministry In The Digital Age
$25.99Add to cartIntroduction
1. What Hath God Wrought?
2. Getting In The Stream
3. Creating Change
4. The Digital Ministry Framework
5. Planning Your Digital Strategy
6. Implementing And Running Your Digital Ministry
7. Privacy And Security Considerations For Digital Ministry
Conclusion
Appendix: Digital Tool Categories
Appendix: Genesys11
Research Report: Best Practices In Internet Ministry
Appendix: Church Web Usage SurveyAdditional Info
Christianity is fundamentally a communication event. It is God revealing God’s self to the world. And God uses a large variety of media to accomplish that revelation. -Shane Hipps, author of Flickering Pixels Viral videos and retweeted posts fill the air around us. In the midst of constant news feeds and mobile alerts, ministries have unprecedented opportunities to connect with people yearning for community with others and God. But how? In this post-website world, its no longer enough to have a static website and hope that people find it. If you want to get your online content in front of your audience, you need to have a digital presence in the streams where theyre already active. David Bourgeois offers a practical step-by-step guide for discerning and implementing a digital strategy for your ministry. He provides an overview of how Christians can use technology and communication media wisely, with concrete ideas for churches and nonprofit organizations. Discover how you can make the most of every opportunity to extend your ministrys electronic reach and impact. -
Discovering The Other
$32.00Add to cartWhat is God’s mission? Simply put, says theologian and field educator Cameron Harder, God’s mission is to form communities that reflect and embody the life of the Trinity.
Discovering the Other is an introduction to two tools that community builders have found helpful: appreciative inquiry and asset mapping. These tools help congregations see that all of life is saturated by the sacred and give them energy to begin living as if it were so. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong?” appreciative inquiry asks, “What’s right?” Asset mapping asks, “What resources do you have personally that we could bring to our future together?” Out of these questions can arise a sense that every congregation is rich in history, people, and resources. Ideas emerge as people, inspired by the Spirit, listen and talk to each other. The leader’s task is to facilitate, coalesce, and connect ideas, to catalyze and stimulate the development of vision. The creative connections lead to programs and projects that will enrich your congregation’s mission. But most importantly, in the process they will engage you with others, with their stories, their hopes, their gifts-to build community.
This book looks for God, not only through the lens of such tools, but in the tools themselves. It is an effort to understand how processes like appreciative inquiry and asset mapping reflect the character and community-building style of the God whom Christians worship as Divine community. -
Who Is The Church
$26.00Add to cartMany congregations today are beset by fears, whether over loss of members and money, or of irrelevancy in an increasingly pluralistic society. To counter this, many congregations focus on strategy and purpose-what churches “do”-but Cheryl Peterson submits that mainline churches need to focus instead on “what” or “who” they are-to reclaim a theological, rather than sociological, understanding of themselves.
To do this, she places the questions of the church’s identity and mission into a conversation with the primary ecclesiological paradigms of the past century: the neo-Reformation concept of the church as a “word event” and the ecumenical paradigms of the church as “communion.” She argues that these two paradigms assume a context of cultural Christendom that no longer exists-focused on the church that is gathered-rather than the missional church that is sent out.
Peterson suggests instead that we understand the church as a people created by the Spirit to be a community, and that we must claim a narrative method to explore the church’s identity-specifically, the story of the church’s origin in the Acts of the Apostles. Finally, here is a way of thinking of church that reconciles the best of competing models of church for the future of mainline Protestant theology.
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Spiritual Guidance Of Children
$37.95Add to cartA seminal work by the founder of Godly Play
* A magisterial survey of a significant movement in religious education
* A black-and-white photo at the beginning of each chapter brings the key figures to
life for the readerThis new book is an important “history-of-traditions” work in which Godly Play founder
Jerome Berryman re-visions religious education as spiritual guidance and traces the
history of Montessori religious education through four generations. Berryman then
highlights the development of the Godly Play approach to spiritual guidance within
this context and concludes with thoughts about the fifth generation and the future of
the tradition.