Pastoral Helps
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Women Of The Bible
$11.99Add to cartLoaded with charts, graphs, images, and fascinating facts, the Women of the Bible: Old Testament Bible Study is easy enough that the new believer understands, but in-depth enough that the longtime churchgoer still comes away learning something new.
This six-session Bible study explores the impact of incredible women from the Old Testament. With fascinating historical insights and engaging discussion questions, you’ll learn about Old Testament women such as:
*The outspoken matriarch Rebecca
*Five daughters who reshaped the law for women in ancient Israel
*The outstanding judge Deborah and the feisty warrior Jael
*A life-saving wise woman of a city under siege
*The hospitable woman of Shunem
*Lady Wisdom from the book of Proverbs who is the picture of wise living -
Evangelism : How To Share The Gospel Faithfully
$29.99Add to cartPaul’s challenge to Timothy 2,000 years ago remains a clarion call for pastors today: “Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Tim 4:5). Because evangelism is the central work of a Christian’s life, there is a great need for pastors to understand what evangelism is and what makes it effective. Much of modern evangelical culture has become memorized conversations, pre-packaged formulas, and programmatic approaches that serve as poor substitutes for the simple proclamation of the gospel. In Evangelism: How to Share the Gospel Faithfully, John MacArthur along with pastors, missionaries, and church planters from Grace Community Church give the summons to return to the basics.
Evangelism covers four primary topics:
*Theological presuppositions and biblical foundations of evangelism
*Evangelism from a pastoral perspective
*One-on-one witnessing
*How outreach fits into and shapes the activities of the local churchYou’ll learn theological principles of sharing the gospel and practical approaches to incorporating outreach into your life, including specialized areas, like:
*Sharing the gospel with children and youth
*Witnessing to those with special needs
*Working with people suffering from addiction
*Immigrant outreach International missionsThere is an urgent need for the gospel in today’s fallen world. This insightful guide to biblical evangelism will ignite your passion and equip you to spread the gospel faithfully from your pulpit, in your church, and within your community.
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Everyday Connections For Year C
$40.00Add to cartThis beautifully bound volume provides a full fifty-two weeks of devotional prompts based on the Revised Common Lectionary for Year C. Drawing from the insightful Bible commentaries in the Connections series, each week of offerings also includes scriptural and literary readings, lectio divina, spiritual practices, questions for journaling, and a prayer. This resource has been crafted with mainline, lectionary preachers and lay leaders in mind, both to supplement their planning for the week and to feed their souls in the midst of the work of ministry.
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All The Good Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$14.99Add to cartIn All the Good: A Wesleyan Way of Christmas, a group of diverse Wesleyan scholars will take you on an Advent journey guided by the practices in John Wesley’s means of grace. In four sessions of study, prayer, and conversation, readers will look at preparing the way for God, the discipline of prayer, the substance of good works, and the recognition of God’s presence with us in communities that are called to serve the world.
This Advent learn and practice works of mercy and works of piety examining on how God’s love is embodied in communities of faith in the world.
The Leader Guide includes session outline for each group meeting with Scripture, prayer, opening activity, discussion questions, activity, and ending call to action.
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Heart That Grew Three Sizes Childrens Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$18.99Add to cartWe don’t know why the Grinch hated Christmas. We just know he did. If we’re being honest, there’s probably something within the Christmas season celebration that awakens a Grinch within all of us. Maybe the gift we unwrap was all wrong, or memories that were supposed to be joyful never were. When everything seems wrong in the world, even joyful celebrations are much too loud.
In his new Advent study, Matt Rawle explores the faith themes in the Christmas classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas including how did the Grinch’s heart grow three sizes come Christmas morning? How did Christmas save the Grinch? Could it be that the very thing we think we hate, is the one thing that changes our life?
Rediscover and reinvigorate your Christian faith this Advent and Christmas season and look at this familiar classic through the lens of faith.
The Children’s Leader Guide contains session ideas for younger and older children including games, activities, craft ideas, and reproducible handouts.
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Heart That Grew Three Sizes (Student/Study Guide)
$16.99Add to cartWe don’t know why the Grinch hated Christmas. We just know he did. If we’re being honest, there’s probably something within the Christmas season celebration that awakens a Grinch within all of us. Maybe the gift we unwrap was all wrong, or memories that were supposed to be joyful never were. When everything seems wrong in the world, even joyful celebrations are much too loud.
In his new Advent study, Matt Rawle explores the faith themes in the Christmas classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas including how did the Grinch’s heart grow three sizes come Christmas morning? How did Christmas save the Grinch? Could it be that the very thing we think we hate, is the one thing that changes our life?Rediscover and reinvigorate your Christian faith this Advent and Christmas season and look at this familiar classic through the lens of faith.
Additional components for a four-week Advent study include a DVD featuring Matt Rawle, a comprehensive Leader Guide, and resources for children and youth.
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Forming Resilient Children
$24.99Add to cartMany children today are growing up in the midst of adversity, whether family difficulties or larger societal crises.
All children need to be able to deal with stress, cope with challenges, and persevere through disappointments. While we cannot protect children from all hardships, we can promote healthy development that fosters resilience. In this interdisciplinary work, Holly Catterton Allen builds a bridge between resilience studies and children’s spiritual formation. Because children are spiritual beings, those who work with them can cultivate spiritual practices that are essential to their thriving in challenging times. This book equips educators, counselors, children’s ministers, and parents with ways of developing children’s spirituality to foster the resilience needed to face the ordinary hardships of childhood and to persevere when facing trauma. It offers particular insight into the spiritual experiences of children who have been hurt by life through chronic illness, disability, abuse, or disasters, with resources for healing and hope.
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Together In Ministry
$22.00Add to cartWomen and men are designed to work together in fulfilling God’s mission on earth.
Yet God’s original intent for equal partnership has been so distorted that churches and organizations continually struggle to foster healthy mixed-gender ministry collaboration. Is it even possible to return to the Genesis ideal of co-laborers in today’s contexts? Longtime ministry leader Rob Dixon knows it’s possible–though it takes intentionality, courage, and wisdom. Based on qualitative field research among ministry practitioners, Together in Ministry offers a prophetic roadmap for individuals and communities as they seek to develop flourishing ministry partnerships for women and men. Organized around the key domains of inner life, community culture, and intentional practices, this model identifies ten key attributes of partnerships that are both personally satisfying and missionally effective. For each attribute Dixon presents research findings and biblical examples, along with benefits, barriers, and practical next steps. With plenty of real-life stories from ministry leaders and reflection questions in each chapter, Together in Ministry casts a compelling–and encouraging–vision for flourishing partnerships and equips teams and individuals with next steps for making that vision a reality.
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Person Of Interest Investigators Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartImagine investigating a murder in which there was no crime scene, no physical evidence, and no victim’s body. How would you identify a person of interest in such a case?
Designed to be used alongside Person of Interest and the Person of Interest Video Study, this study guide will teach you the same investigative strategies used by detective J. Warner Wallace to examine the claims of history.
Dateline featured cold-case detective and bestselling author, J. Warner Wallace, has investigated a number of these “no body missing person” cases and has successfully identified and convicted the killers, even without the victim’s body or evidence from the crime scene.
Can the historicity of Jesus be investigated in the same way? Can the truth about Jesus be uncovered even without a body or a crime scene? In Person of Interest, Wallace describes his own personal investigative journey from atheism to Christianity, as he employs a unique investigative strategy to confirm the historicity and deity of Jesus–without relying on the New Testament manuscripts.
Imagine a scenario in which every New Testament document has been destroyed, Wallace carefully sifts through the evidence from history alone to reconstruct the identity of Jesus as the world’s most important person of interest.
Person of Interest will:
*Invite readers into the life of a cold-case detective as he uncovers the truth about Jesus, using the same approach he also employs to solve a real murder case*Teach readers how to become good detectives, using an innovative and unique “‘fuse’ and ‘fallout'” investigative strategy they can also use to examine other claims of history
*Help readers to explore common objections to Christianity
Concrete, compelling, and unique in its approach, Person of Interest will strengthen the faith of believers, while engaging those who are skeptical and distrusting of the New Testament.
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Stewardship : For The Care Of Souls
$19.99Add to cartStewardship isn’t just managing resources–it’s soul care.
Stewardship of time, talents, and treasure isn’t just about sustaining the material of the church. It’s about guiding those resources in service of the church’s primary mission: proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Stewarding the lambs of Christ that make up your congregation encompasses all aspects of their lives–material and spiritual.
Nathan Meador and Heath R. Curtis present a practical theology of stewardship focused on ministry in service of the gospel. Guiding pastors away from the pitfalls of idolatry around money, they instead call stewards to embrace their identity in Christ and encourage their congregations to do the same. This fresh approach to stewardship reorients both individuals and congregations toward their true purpose as stewards who have been baptized into Christ.
Stewardship will help pastors to teach and preach stewardship as a call to repentance and new life.
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Preaching By Ear
$19.99Add to cartAccording to Kenton Anderson, professor of homiletics at ACTS Seminaries of Trinity Western University, this volume represents “a powerful tool” because it offers a new (actually old) model of preaching. For centuries, preaching has been shaped from a literary standpoint (i.e., reading, writing, outlining, and displaying sermons), but a premodern method of oral preparation and delivery has largely been forgotten. Preaching by Ear hearkens back to an earlier era when sermons were rooted inside the preacher and moved out in a natural and powerful way.
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Gentle And Lowly Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$11.99Add to cartA Study Guide Companion to the Best-Selling Book Gentle and Lowly
In his best-selling book, Gentle and Lowly, Dane Ortlund takes readers into the depths of Christ’s very heart for sinners. Focusing on Jesus’s words that he is “gentle and lowly in heart,” Ortlund dives deep into Bible passages that speak of who he is, encouraging readers with the affections of Christ for his people.
Designed as a supplement to the book, the Gentle and Lowly Study Guide helps readers reflect further on these key biblical truths. This helpful resource written by Dane Ortlund features discussion questions organized into 8 lessons, with each lesson covering 2-3 chapters from the book. Perfect for small groups and individuals alike, the Gentle and Lowly Study Guide can be used together with the book, the Gentle and Lowly Video Study, or both.
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Sermons That Sing
$30.99Add to cartPreaching and music are both regular elements of Christian worship across the theological spectrum.
But they often don’t interact or inform each other in meaningful ways. In this Dynamics of Christian Worship volume, theologian, pastor, and musician Noel A. Snyder considers how the church’s preaching might be helpfully informed by musical theory. Just as a good musical composition employs technical elements like synchrony, repetition, and meter, the same should be said for good preaching that seeks to engage hearts and minds with the good news of Jesus Christ. By drawing upon music that lifts the soul, preachers might craft sermons that sing.
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Following : Embodied Discipleship In A Digital Age
$26.00Add to cartThis book offers theological perspectives on the challenges of discipleship in a digital age, showing how new technologies and the rise of social media affect the way we interact with each other, ourselves, and the world. Written by a Gen X digital immigrant and a millennial digital native, the book explores a faithful response to today’s technology as we celebrate our embodied roles as followers of Christ in a disembodied time.
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1 Corinthians For You
$17.99Add to cartThe scope of 1 Corinthians is breathtaking. Paul tackles a huge variety of subjects, and as he does so, he gives us a precious insight into what a local church is (or at least can be).
As Andrew Wilson walks through this compelling, challenging epistle, you’ll see how grace looks in every Christian and how it can shape every church–even a church as flawed as the Corinthian one.
This expository guide is less academic than a traditional commentary and includes lots of application. It can be read from cover to cover, used in personal devotions, used to lead small group studies, or used for sermon preparation.
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Worship Architect : A Blueprint For Designing Culturally Relevant And Bibli
$32.99Add to cartWorship professor and practitioner Constance Cherry shows how to create services that are faithful to Scripture, historically conscious, relevant to God, Christ-centered, and engaging for worshipers of all ages in the twenty-first century. More than 150 colleges and seminaries have used or currently use the first edition as a required text. In this new edition, each chapter has been substantially updated and revised, including illustrations, key terms, examples, technological references, and suggested resources for further reading. A new chapter on global worship and a new appendix on live-streamed worship are included.
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Difficult Words Of Jesus
$17.99Add to cartJesus provided his disciples teachings for how to follow Torah, God’s word; he told them parables to help them discern questions of ethics and of human nature; he offered them beatitudes for comfort and encouragement. But sometimes Jesus spoke words that followers then and now have found difficult. He instructs disciples to hate members of their own families (Luke 14:26), to act as if they were slaves (Matthew 20:27), and to sell their belongings and give to the poor (Luke 18:22). He restricts his mission (Matthew 10:6); he speaks of damnation (Matthew 8:12); he calls Jews the devil’s children (John 8:44).
In The Difficult Words of Jesus, Amy-Jill Levine shows how these difficult teachings would have sounded to the people who first heard them, how have they been understood over time, and how we might interpret them in the context of the Gospel of love and reconciliation.
Additional components for a six-week study include a DVD featuring Dr. Levine and a comprehensive Leader Guide.
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Acts Participant Workbook (Student/Study Guide)
$17.99Add to cartLearn to awaken to God’s Spirit today and every day by studying the Book of Acts with Melissa Spoelstra.
Whether it’s because of distractions, busyness, or a case of the blahs, we can experience a drift toward indifference in our spiritual lives. We have a need for an ongoing spiritual awakening if we want to become more aware of God’s presence and activity in our everyday lives.
In Acts: Awakening to God in Our Everyday Lives, a six-week study of the Book of Acts by Melissa Spoelstra, you will journey with the first followers of Jesus and witness the birth and growth of the early church through spiritual awakening to the power of God’s Spirit, message, freedom, grace, mission, and direction.
From their experiences you will learn postures that will help you attune your own spiritual heart to experience God’s presence, hear God’s voice, and see God at work all around.
This study offers a fresh encounter with God to prepare you to:
– Face daily battles
– Be able to discern the messages of our culture
– Be ready to share God’s love with others alwaysComponents for this six-week Bible study, each available separately, include a Participant Workbook, a Leader Guide, and video sessions with six 20 to 25-minute segments (with closed captioning).
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Integration Of Psychology And Christianity
$30.99Add to cartOver the course of recent decades, scholars and practitioners have been working to integrate contemporary psychology-related fields and Christianity.
This project continues to move forward, evidenced in associations, publications, degree programs, and conferences around the world. While much progress has been made, there are still foundational issues to be worked out and aspects of integration the community is just now venturing into. In this expert overview, psychologists William L. Hathaway and Mark A. Yarhouse take stock of the integration project to date, provide an introduction for those who wish to come on board, highlight work yet to be done, and offer a framework to strategically organize next steps. The authors’ attention encompasses five domains:
*worldview integration
*theoretical integration
*applied integration
*role integration
*personal integrationTheir comprehensive approach yields insights relevant for non-clinical areas of psychological science as well as for counseling, social work, and other related mental health fields. Done properly, integration enriches our understanding of both Christianity and psychology. Through biblical and theological grounding and numerous examples, Hathaway and Yarhouse demonstrate how synthesis can continue to serve the field and make a difference in caring for individual lives.
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Pastoral Leadership : For The Care Of Souls
$17.99Add to cartChrist’s sheep need shepherding. That’s where you come in.
With more than 60 years of ministry between them, Harold Senkbeil and Lucas Woodford have come to understand that everything in ministry–even administration, leadership, and planning–revolves around the ancient tradition of the care of souls. Pastors are entrusted with the care of a flock by the Good Shepherd and are called to be faithful to this task. But pastoring seems to be getting more and more difficult.
Based on a sound theological framework, Senkbeil and Woodford present a set of practical tools for church leadership and strategy. Calling on their vast experience, they encourage pastors to protect, guide, and feed their flock as Jesus would, bridging the eternal wisdom of the word of God with the everyday practicality of hands-on leadership. Originally published as Church Leadership & Strategy, this revision includes a new chapter and litany.
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Funerals : For The Care Of Souls
$17.99Add to cartDeath will strike your congregation. Are you ready? Are they?
Death has become a four-letter word. Whereas in previous generations, the practice of memento mori (“remember death”) was embedded in family life, people today have found ways to distance themselves from death. As Western culture becomes increasingly more secular, the Christian understanding of death and the funeral appear more and more strange.
Fear of death affects us all, and so pastors have significant hurdles to overcome. What Christians need today is a renewed vision of the traditional Christian funeral liturgy. In Funerals, Tim Perry recovers the rich theology inherent to the Christian funeral: communion with the saints in death, peace in forgiveness, hope in the resurrection, and joy in life eternal. Perry guides pastors through the practice of funerals, from planning the service to preaching the eulogy, and offers wisdom for the hard cases.
Perry’s Funerals will help pastors disciple their people to see through the valley of the shadow of death and into the hope beyond.
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Ephesians Study Guide Plus Streaming Video (Student/Study Guide)
$22.99Add to cartThe book of Ephesians is about identity. It’s about learning who we are, living who are, and then leveraging who we are. When we do that, we stop walking in defeat, and instead, walk with our heads held high.
Too often, our shoulders slump under the weight of family struggles, financial stress, and feelings of insecurity. We are pushed down by insignificance, insecurity, and an overwhelming sense of powerlessness, disappointment and discouragement.
You are not meant to be under that burden any longer. You are a chosen child of God, saved by His grace, forgiven and free. It’s time to walk with your head held high.
In this six-session video Bible study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately), Lori Wilhite draws on her experience as the pastor’s wife of the fifth largest congregation in the country located in the town otherwise named ‘Sin City’ to share the truth of what Paul tells the Ephesians about unity and its direct reflection of our hearts, our focus, and our love for God.
The Beautiful WordTM Bible Study Series helps you connect God’s Word to your daily life through vibrant video teaching, group discussion, and deep personal study that includes verse-by-verse reading, Scripture memory, coloring pages, and encouragement to receive your own beautiful Word from God. In each study, a central theme-a beautiful word-threads throughout the book, helping you connect and apply each book of the Bible to your daily life today, and forever.
Designed for use with Ephesians Video Study (sold separately).
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Worlds Greatest Sermons And Preachers
$16.99Add to cartRay Comfort and Kirk Cameron have compiled some of the signature sermons of the greatest Christian preachers in history. Join these “fathers of the faith” as they discuss a wide range of subjects, including the key to evangelism and how to reach souls.
Thanks to this treasured collection of classic Christian wisdom, you can experience…
*The eloquence of Charles Spurgeon
*The zeal of John Wesley
*The effectiveness of Jonathan Edwards
*The passion of Martin Luther
*The power of George Whitfield
*The brilliance of R. A. Torrey
*The influence of Gawin KirkhamThese men laid the foundation of evangelical Christianity that we carry on today. Discover the secret of their success and the truth that you, too, can win the lost!
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For The Common Good
$14.00Add to cartFor the Common Good reminds us that the Holy Spirit gives each Christian one or more spiritual gifts to be used for the common good. It guides readers to discover their own particular gifts and learn to use their gifts to serve others.
Examining key passages in Paul’s writings, author Christine Harman leads readers through a personal spiritual gift assessment. She names 25 distinct spiritual gifts-such as discernment, hospitality, compassion, evangelism, or music-and helps people explore scripture references on each one. After identifying their particular gifts, clergy and laypeople will learn how to apply them for the good of their church, community, and the world. This book is ideal for both group study and self-discovery. The book also includes suggestions for how to build a ministry team based on the gifts of each individual.
This book is the text for a Lay Servant Ministries advanced course on spiritual gifts. It also can be used for a small-group study.
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Transforming Worship : Planning And Leading Sunday Services As If Spiritual
$20.99Add to cartSpiritual formation is the key to the survival of our faith.
Stigmatized by scandal, the church in North America and throughout Europe has been branded as useless and irrelevant. To stem the tide of nominal Christianity, we need to get serious about making disciples who can make other disciples. There is an urgent need today for church services that are substantive and purposeful. Rory Noland is a worship leader who has led in contexts ranging from megachurches to small retreat settings such as the Transforming Center. Combining discipleship and worship–what Noland calls “Transforming Worship”–he offers a vision for worship as spiritual formation. We need to reclaim our worship services as a formative space, and through that we will become the light of Christ in a dark world.
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Taking An Honest And Spiritual Inventory Participants Guide 2 (Student/Study Gui
$7.99Add to cartThe Celebrate Recovery Participant’s Guides are essential tools for the personal recovery journey. In the five lessons in Guide 2: Taking an Honest and Spiritual Inventory, you will experience an in-depth look at the 4th principle in the recovery process:
4 Openly examine and confess my faults to God, to myself, and to someone I trust. “Happy are the pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8).
By working through the lessons and exercises found in each of the four Participant’s Guides you will begin to experience the true peace and serenity you have been seeking, restore and develop stronger relationships with others and with God, and find freedom from life’s hurts, hang-ups, and habits. All the scriptures have been updated to the new NIV 2011 version.
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Stepping Out Of Denial Into Gods Grace Participants Guide 1 (Student/Study Guide
$7.99Add to cartThe Celebrate Recovery Participant’s Guides are essential tools for the personal recovery journey. In the six lessons in Guide 1: Stepping Out of Denial Into God’s Grace, you will experience the first 3 of the 8 recovery principles:
1 Realize I’m not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable. “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor” (Matthew 5:3).
2 Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to him, and that he has the power to help me recover. “Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).
3 Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control. “Happy are the meek” (Matthew 5:5).
By working through the lessons and exercises found in each of the four Participant’s Guides you will begin to experience the true peace and serenity you have been seeking, restore and develop stronger relationships with others and with God, and find freedom from life’s hurts, hang-ups, and habits. All the scriptures have been updated to the new NIV 2011 version.
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Celebrate Recovery Updated Participants Guide Set Volumes 1-4 (Student/Study Gui
$30.99Add to cartAlcoholism–Divorce–Sexual Abuse–Codependency–Domestic Violence–Drug Addiction–Sexual Addiction–Food Addiction–Gambling Addiction.
Move beyond your hurts, habits, and hang-ups to experience the forgiveness of Christ. The Journey Begins Participant Guides are essential tools in the Celebrate Recovery program for your personal recovery journey. These four guides by Pastor John Baker walk you through the eight recovery principles, drawn from the Beatitudes, upon which the 12-step Celebrate Recovery program is built.
This shrinkwrapped pack includes one each of all four participant’s guides for the Celebrate Recovery Program:
Guide 1: Stepping Out of Denial
Guide 2: Taking an Honest and Spiritual Inventory
Guide 3: Getting Right with God
Guide 4: Growing in ChristBy working through the lessons and exercises found in each of the four Participant’s Guides, you will begin to experience the true peace and serenity you have been seeking, restore and develop stronger relationships with others and with God, and find freedom from life’s hurts, habits, and hang-ups.
Note: This shrinkwrapped pack is identical to the participant’s guides included in the Celebrate Recovery Updated Curriculum Kit (9780310131601). Designed for use with the Celebrate Recovery Journal (9780310090342), sold separately.
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Celebrate Recovery Updated Leaders Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$21.99Add to cartThere is a way the church can help the wounded move beyond their hurts, habits, and hang-ups to experience the forgiveness of Christ. Celebrate Recovery helps the church fulfill its role as Christ’s healing agent. You don’t have to lead alone. To lead people forward in spiritual, physical, and emotional restoration is to walk in the footsteps of Christ. And that’s why the Celebrate Recovery Leader’s Guide is so important.
With everything you need to encourage lasting life-change, the leader’s guide is the best way to facilitate Celebrate Recovery in your church and help people look forward to a whole new future.
The Celebrate Recovery Leader’s Guide includes:
*Fresh testimonies
*A 90-day start-up strategy
*A clear, easy-to-follow format
*Step-by-step instructions for each meeting
*Guide for conducting leader training
*Teaching notes for the 25 lessons of The Journey Begins (Participant Guides 1-4)
*Overview of the 25 lessons of The Journey Continues (Participant Guides 5-8)Along with a willing heart, this leader’s guide is invaluable for leading men and women forward in complete restoration and transformation through Christ.
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Love Your Church
$15.99Add to cartGod calls us to be devoted to one another in love (Romans 12:10). What does this look like for us today? How can we be the kind of church member who makes a real difference?
This engaging book by Tony Merida explores what church is, why being part of it is exciting, and why it’s worthy of our love and commitment. He sets out eight privileges and responsibilities of a church member: to belong, to welcome, to gather, to care, to serve, to honor, to witness and to send.
As we see how wonderful it is to belong to God’s family and be a part of his amazing witness to both the earthly and the heavenly realms, we’ll grow in our love for and commitment to our local church.
This is a great book for every churchgoer to read, whether they’re new or have been attending for some time but need re-energizing with God’s vision for the local church.
With a discussion guide at the end of the book, Love Your Church is also a great resource for small groups.
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Whats So Amazing About Grace Participants Guide Updated Edition (Student/Study G
$13.99Add to cartIn this six-session revised and updated video Bible study, bestselling author Philip Yancey explores the concept of grace-the one thing the world cannot duplicate and the one thing it craves above all else-and explores what it looks like in action. He also examines how Christians, as the sole dispensers, are doing at lavishing the grace on a world that knows far more of cruelty and unforgiveness than it does of mercy.
As Yancey explains, true grace is shocking and scandalous, for God does not excuse sin but always treasures the sinner. God always extends his grace to individuals regardless of what they have done-for no one is unforgiveable in his eyes. Grace thus shakes our conventions with its insistence on getting close to sinners and touching them with mercy and hope. It forgives the unfaithful spouse, the racist, the child abuser. It loves today’s AIDS-ridden addict as much as the tax collector of Jesus’ day.
Yancey offers compelling and true portraits of grace’s life-changing power. He searches for its presence in his own life and in the church. He asks how Christians today can contend graciously with moral issues that threaten all they hold dear. And he challenges each of us to become living answers to a world that desperately wants to know, “what’s so amazing about grace.”
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I Love Jesus But I Want To Die
$17.00Add to cartWhat happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you.
You just want a way out.
But there’s hope.
In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better.
Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.
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Reawakened : How Your Congregation Can Spark Lasting Change
$16.99Add to cartDoes your church have gummed-up gears? Or are you activated for ministry?
Are you relevant in the community in which you serve? More and more people are moving away from the church–not because they lack faith in God, but because the church is no longer relevant to their lives. The church, not God, is the problem. There are eight keys to unlocking the power of relevance in your ministry. In the pages of [title], Glen Guyton, executive director of a Mennonite denomination, explores those keys and gives practical suggestions to churches for reaching out. Offering a biblical scaffold for the idea of the activated church and sharing stories from successful ministries that are actively engaging their communities, Reawakened helps Christians ask the big questions about God’s work in the world.
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Reawakened : Activate Your Congregation To Spark Lasting Change
$29.99Add to cartEvery church wants to make a lasting difference. Unlock the keys to how.
More and more people are moving away from the church-not because they lack faith in God but because the church is no longer relevant to their lives. The church, not God, is the problem. In Reawakened, Glen Guyton explores eight keys to developing the abilities of congregations to bring healing and hope to their communities. These eight keys give voice to the most urgent needs of a community and offer practical suggestions for how churches can spark holistic and lasting differences in their communities.
Built on a solid biblical framework, Rewakened positions churches as catalysts for transformative mission and change. Filled with stories from successful ministries that are actively engaging their communities, Reawakened helps Christians ask the big questions about God’s ongoing work in the world.
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Ministers Of Reconciliation
$21.99Add to cartRace is one of the most pressing issues of our time; How should pastors tackle it from the pulpit?
In this collection of essays, issues of race and ethnicity are explored from a variety of perspectives, offering guidance to pastors on how to address those topics in their own contexts. Each builds on a foundational passage of Scripture. With contributions from Bryan Loritts, Ray Ortlund, J. D. Greear, and more, Ministers of Reconciliation offers practical and biblically faithful approaches to the subject of race.
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Table For Two
$16.99Add to cartBreaking free from an eating disorder is difficult and complex. Those who are suffering often feel misunderstood. They struggle with feeling alone and afraid, ashamed to tell those closest to them. Their loved ones also feel helpless and ill-equipped to care for them. Within this dynamic, hurt, disappointment, and neglect often thrive. From the unique perspective of a husband and wife team, Table for Two shares Krista Dunham’s journey to freedom from her eating disorder while David shares insights as the loved one coming beside her.
Krista suffered from an eating disorder for over ten years and, by God’s grace and through biblical counseling, overcame it. She openly and honestly shares her experience, describing what she did, what she needed, and what proved helpful in the process of change. In conjunction with her insights, David shares what he did, how he failed, and what he learned along the way as a biblical counselor that was helpful to Krista.
Without minimizing complicated issues, the Dunhams provide practical, gospel hope and biblical encouragement to those suffering and help for loved ones walking with them. They share personal narratives, interactive exercises, and biblical direction for those navigating recovery. Individuals suffering from an eating disorder – and loved ones – will find practical help, hope, and encouragement in this couple’s story. Applying the truth of Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, they know two are better than one and understand the need to connect and jointly navigate the process together.
This powerful, redemptive book reveals an intimacy beyond personal stories of struggle told through a biblical counseling lens; it highlights the close-knit relationship of husband and wife and a home life where one person struggles with an eating disorder.
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Kingdom Men Rising Bible Study Book (Student/Study Guide)
$21.00Add to cartKingdom Men Rising Bible Study Book includes printed content for eight sessions, personal study between group sessions, applicable Scripture, “How to Use This Study,” a leader guide, tips for leading a group, and a D-group guide.
Our culture is seeing confusion about what it means to be a man. Even notions of masculinity have, in many corners, become toxic. Kingdom Men Rising has been created to speak truth into a poorly defined and disoriented culture about the purpose and future of masculinity from a biblical perspective. In this Bible study, men will wrestle honestly with the unique questions and circumstances they face today. It invites men deep into their own stories to reveal the true expression of masculinity-God’s intent.
This study is designed to exhort men to exercise the God-given place in the home, community, and culture they were created for through an examination of landmark texts from the Bible and historical biblical figures. This experience will bring greater clarity to a Kingdom understanding, vision, and perspective in crucial areas such as identity and responsibilities. Along the way, Evans shares practical steps on how to become a man who leads his world well.
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From Research To Teaching
$20.99Add to cartIt’s a long way from the research carrel to the classroom.
No matter your personality, your prior experience, or the specifics of your situation, the transition from graduate studies to teaching involves a set of challenges for which no one is ever fully prepared. In this practical guide Michael Kibbe, author of From Topic to Thesis, provides a helpful companion for the journey. With plenty of personal examples and tested advice, Kibbe covers preparation for teaching, best practices in the classroom, self-evaluation, and the discovery of your mission and method. He also reflects on the spiritual lives of professors, including social media practices, Sabbath, and relationships. From Research to Teaching is the concise, accessible resource every new and aspiring professor needs.
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How To Fight Racism Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThe How to Fight Racism Study Guide, used together with the How to Fight Racism Video Study, provides groups and individuals with practical tools and suggestions, along with real-world examples of change, to enable them to become proactive initiators of racial justice.
Tisby offers an array of actionable items to confront racism in our relationships and in everyday life through a simple framework–the A.R.C. Of Racial Justice–that helps readers consistently interrogate their own actions and maintain a consistent posture of anti-racist action. This book is for anyone who believes it is time to stop compromising with racism and courageously confront it.
The study guide, along with the video study, offers readers the opportunity to be part of the solution to racial problems and suggests that the application of these principles can offer us hope that will transform our nation and the world. Tisby encourages us to reject passivity and become active participants in the struggle for human dignity across racial and ethnic lines. Readers of the book will come away with a clear model for how to think about race in productive ways and a compelling call to dismantle a social hierarchy long stratified by skin color.
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Pursued Womens Bible Study Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$15.99Add to cartDiscover how God is pursuing you as you explore His relentless love from Genesis to Revelation in Pursued by Jennifer Cowart.
We all want to be loved. We long to be desired, pursued-whether by a special someone, our friends, or others in our lives. This longing for love and acceptance is the underlying story of many of our lives, and it’s the overarching story we see throughout the Scriptures. Although the Bible tells many stories, the main theme is God’s relentless love for us.
In Pursued, a six-week Bible study by Jennifer Cowart, we will explore God’s great love for us from Genesis to Revelation. We will see that God passionately pursues people who do not deserve His love, and we are those people!
Like Cain, Abraham, Sarah, Rebekah, David, the woman caught in adultery, Peter, and so many others, we are the ones who have broken relationship with God. But He runs after us anyway to bring us home.
In this study, we will explore God’s love as evidenced in the stories of creation, the patriarchs, the judges and prophets, Jesus, and the early church. Together we will dive into a great love story and discover that it is our story!
Through this study women will:
*See the big picture of God’s love for them throughout the Scriptures
*Discover that God wants a personal relationship with them
*Experience God’s relentless love for them individually
*Realize that God never stops pursuing themComponents for this six-week Bible study, each available separately, include a Participant Workbook, a Leader Guide, and video sessions with six 20 to 25-minute segments (with closed captioning).
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Sensible Shoes Leaders Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$16.99Add to cartSensible Shoes is an unusual novel, blending a fictional story with nonfiction teaching elements.
Some readers view it only as a story of four characters on a journey. Others say yes to a deeper level of reading, embracing the opportunity to take a “sacred journey” along with the characters, by opening themselves to the Spirit’s work and attending to God’s invitations. The Sensible Shoes Leader’s Guide offers two ways to invite readers into a deeper journey: first, there are resources here for a twelve-week small group experience through the Sensible Shoes Study Guide. Each week you’ll be provided with a few prayer prompts for your work as a leader, tips for facilitating the group, and behind-the-scenes information about the characters and their journeys that can be used as opening materials for your sessions. The second set of resources in this guide relates to leading a retreat based on Sensible Shoes. After years of creating and speaking at “Sensible Shoes Retreats,” spiritual director Sharon Brown offers here additional content to help you design the ideal space for your context as you gather people in longer sessions to experience this material. In addition to one-day, weekend, and online schedules, there are many creative ideas from leaders of groups who have used Sensible Shoes for retreats over the years. Sensible Shoes was written for the purpose of bringing God’s healing and spiritual transformation into the lives of readers traveling in community. Is there an invitation here for you to bring this message to your community? Also available: Sensible Shoes Leader Kit and Sensible Shoes Participant Kit, with everything you need for a small group or retreat experience.
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Sensible Shoes Participant Kit (Student/Study Guide)
$57.99Add to cartSensible Shoes is an unusual novel, blending a fictional story with nonfiction teaching elements.
Some readers view it only as a story of four characters on a journey. Others say yes to a deeper level of reading, embracing the opportunity to take a “sacred journey” along with the characters, by opening themselves to the Spirit’s work and attending to God’s invitations. The Sensible Shoes Participant Kit offers everything you need for two different types of experiences: a twelve-week small group or a one-day, weekend, or online retreat. There’s also a copy of the book and a beautiful journal with a ribbon and quotes from the characters. Sensible Shoes was written for the purpose of bringing God’s healing and spiritual transformation into the lives of readers traveling in community. Is there an invitation here for you to bring this message to your community?
The Sensible Shoes Participant Kit includes:
*Sensible Shoes
*Sensible Shoes Prayer Cards (sold as part of this kit only)
*Sensible Shoes Journal
*Sensible Shoes Study Guide -
Sensible Shoes Leader Kit
$74.98Add to cartSensible Shoes is an unusual novel, blending a fictional story with nonfiction teaching elements.
Some readers view it only as a story of four characters on a journey. Others say yes to a deeper level of reading, embracing the opportunity to take a “sacred journey” along with the characters, by opening themselves to the Spirit’s work and attending to God’s invitations. The Sensible Shoes Leader’s Kit offers everything you need to invite participants into two different types of experiences: a twelve-week small group or a one-day, weekend, or online retreat. Included in the kit is both a participant and a leader guide. The leader guide provides prayer prompts, tips for facilitating the group, and behind-the-scenes information about the characters and their journeys that can be used as opening materials for your sessions. Also provided are schedules for differing retreat formats and creative ideas gathered from the many groups that have used Sensible Shoes in retreats over the years. There’s also a copy of the book and a beautiful journal with a ribbon and quotes from the characters. Sensible Shoes was written for the purpose of bringing God’s healing and spiritual transformation into the lives of readers traveling in community. Is there an invitation here for you to bring this message to your community?
The Sensible Shoes Leader’s Kit includes:
*Sensible Shoes Leader’s Guide
*Sensible Shoes
*Sensible Shoes Prayer Cards (sold as part of this kit only)
*Sensible Shoes Journal
*Sensible Shoes Study Guide -
Treatment Of Childhood Disorders
$55.00Add to cartCaring for the mental health of children and their families is complex and challenging-and meaningful.
For Christian clinicians who work with childhood disorders, however, few resources exist to address such treatment from a research-based Christian integration perspective. Treatment of Childhood Disorders fills this gap by combining biblical and theological understanding with current psychological literature on empirically supported treatments for children. Sarah E. Hall and Kelly S. Flanagan present an integrated approach based in developmental psychopathology, which offers a dynamic, multifaceted framework from which to understand the processes that affect children’s development. In this unique textbook, Hall and Flanagan consider a variety of disorders commonly diagnosed in children and adolescents, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder. After discussing prevalence, risk and causal factors, patterns throughout development, and assessment, they focus on evidence-based practices that have been found to be effective in treating the disorders. Each chapter also features ideas for Christian integration in treatment and an extended case study that brings the content to life.
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Connections Year B Volume 3 Season After Pentecost
$55.00Add to cartDesigned to empower preachers as they lead their congregations to connect their lives to Scripture, Connections features a broad set of interpretive tools that provide commentary and worship aids on the Revised Common Lectionary. This nine-volume series offers creative commentary on each reading through the lens of its connections to the rest of Scripture and then seeing the reading through the lenses of culture, film, fiction, ethics, and other aspects of contemporary life. Commentaries on the Psalms make connections to other readings and to the congregation’s experience of worship.
Connections is published in partnership with Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
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Preaching : How To Preach Biblically
$29.99Add to cartMany sermons preached today lack the divine knowledge and spiritual understanding available only through dynamic expository preaching. In Preaching: How to Preach Biblically, John MacArthur” well-known passion for the Bible combines with the expertise of faculty members at The Master’s Seminary to inspire and equip preachers in effective biblical preaching.
Preaching: How to Preach Biblically flows from biblical foundations for expository preaching through a detailed process of developing expositions and creating sermons to the actual delivery of expository messages, connecting what pastors learn in seminary with the sermons preached in a local church. This volume shows how to progress purposefully from one phase to the next in preparing to minister to God’s people through preaching.
This book answers these questions and more:
*What is expository, biblical preaching?
*What are the theological and historical foundations for insisting on expository preaching?*What are the steps involved in preparation for and participation in biblical preaching?
*What models exist for expository preaching today?The Master’s Seminary faculty, with over thirty years’ experience in preaching and seminary training of preachers, contributes a treasury of expertise alongside insights from expositor John MacArthur. While united on their commitment to exposition, the variety of individual expressions and methodological preferences discussed offers beneficial assistance for any preacher seeking a higher level of expository excellence.
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Small Preaching : 25 Little Things You Can Do Now To Make You A Better Prea
$18.99Add to cartIs bigger always better?
It’s not often that we hear the virtues of the small. Our culture teaches that bigger is better–and that includes church ministry and preaching, too. But what if rather than swinging for the fences, preachers focused on improving their sermons through small habits, practices, and exercises? What if smaller is better?In a world where “small” isn’t always celebrated, Jonathan T. Pennington provides Small Preaching, a short book of simple tips that can have revolutionary effects over time. Pennington offers preachers 25 words of wisdom that will help shape their preaching for the better.
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Indispensable Church : Powerful Ways To Flood Your Community With Love
$19.00Add to cartYou have a passionate desire to take the church outside its four walls and make the love of Jesus practical, visible, and lived out in daily life. But how? How do you put into action what is stirring in your heart?
Indispensable Church provides you and your church real-world, hands-on steps to create a revolution of service to your local community in the name of Christ. By exploring the life of Jesus and the strategic ways he modeled serving the people around him, pastor Chris Sonksen shows you how to put love into action in your neighborhood and your city. The step-by-step instructions, biblical challenges, and teaching resources will help you take love to the streets and make an impact right where you live.
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Leaves From The Notebook Of A Tamed Cynic
$31.00Add to cartLeaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic is Niebuhr’s account of the frustrations and joys he experienced during his years at Bethel. Addressed to young ministers, this book provides reflections and insights for those engaged in the challenging yet infinitely rewarding occupation of pastoral ministry.
Renowned theologian Reinhold Niebuhr began his career as pastor of Bethel Evangelical Church in Detroit, Michigan, where he served from 1915-1928. Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic is Niebuhr’s account of the frustrations and joys he experienced during his years at Bethel. Addressed to young ministers, this book provides reflections and insights for those engaged in the challenging yet infinitely rewarding occupation of pastoral ministry.
With a foreword from Jonathan Walton on Niebuhr’s enduring insights into the challenges and relevance of pastoral ministry, this powerful book remains as useful today as it was last century.
