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These days, everybody wants the latest killer app for successful ministry. But ministry is not plug-and-play technology. It is an art cultivated over a long-term journey of faithfulness and perseverance. In his most intimate book yet, Eddie Gibbs articulates a personal philosophy of ministry born from his storied career in teaching and pastoral ministry. Through images from his own life and family, ...
When asked by his son why some churches have smoke machines, worship pastor Manuel Luz found himself responding, "Well, technically, you need smoke machines to see the lasers." But when you take down the smokescreen, what do you have left? Where do we encounter the Holy in the midst of all this? Where can we worship with our full selves—heart, soul, mind, and body—in Spirit and truth? Drawing from ...
What does a dream sound like? "The first time the sound of a dream slammed, hard, in the center of my spirit, was almost a decade ago. It's the sound that has led me on the journey whose threads are pulled through this book, an intimate pilgrimage, often ironically nomadic, that I've struggled to comprehend; it's been unlike anything else I've ever known. It happened in a coffee shop during my ...
We don't care about what we don't see. Countless people are invisible to us. We overlook the poor and homeless, partly because we don't share much space with them. More seriously, we often choose not to see the realities around us. We hold misconceptions about who is deserving or not, or make false ...
Can the good news of Jesus reach people today--people who are deafened by media overload, who are blinded by trendy philosophies, who are starved by shallow experiences, and who are wounded by broken relationships? Rick Richardson says yes. And he shows how. In clear, simple terms, he describes in this booklet (meant to be given to and read by non-Christians) how the gospel taps into one of our ...
The constraints of the spiritual life, practiced in community, are what set us free. Practicing spiritual disciplines can seem difficult, especially when we undertake them as isolated individuals. But we were never meant to practice them alone.
Jared Patrick Boyd reveals how the constraints practiced in Christian community shape us into the way of Christ. He re-anchors the ...
The book of Joshua tells the action-packed story of Israel's entry into and conquest of Canaan, the promised land. Yet it is often troubling for contemporary Christian readers, perhaps more than any other part of the Old Testament: isn't there too much violence, and isn't this violence inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus? In The Message of Joshua, David G. Firth explores ...
At the beginning of 1 Kings, Solomon's reign brought peace, prosperity, dynamic international trade, and a magnificent center of worship. By the end of 2 Kings, the people faced a complete reversal: they and their king were in exile, and Jerusalem and the temple lay in ruins. How can this story, told by the very people who suffered the defeat, be of value today?
In this Bible ...
Michael Wilcock sees Chronicles first and foremost as a sermon. Its object: to foster a right relationship between God and his people. The Chronicler finds in the records of Israel the great overall pattern of God's hand in history. The Lord's constant mercy, love, and faithfulness shine through. With great perception, the Chronicler first selects and then proclaims this vibrant ...
Genesis sets the scene for the whole of the Bible, and indeed the entire human drama. It is a book both of beginnings and of a new beginning—the dawn of the gospel. In this Bible Speaks Today commentary, Joyce G. Baldwin shows how the vivid narratives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph still speak to us today, highlighting God's ways of dealing with ordinary, imperfect people ...