More Church Folk
More Church Folk

Author: Michele Andrea Bowen

Publisher: Hachette+ORM

Published: 2009-11-11

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 0446569577

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From bestselling author Michele Andrea Bowen, the uproarious sequel to her hit novel Church Folk. It is now 1986, and the preachers of the Gospel United Church are preparing for their much-anticipated Triennial General Conference. The last time readers encountered the good Rev. Theophilus Simmons, he was a newlywed and the pastor of a modest-sized congregation in Memphis. Now he's the father of three and running a congregation in St. Louis. His best friend, Rev. Eddie Tate, is now with a fast growing church in Chicago, but he is getting real frustrated with the way things are run in the Gospel United Church. Marcel Brown and his father, Ernest, along with Sonny Washington and Bishop Larsen Giles have had two decades to perfect their slimy methods of "tapping" church funds and other misdeeds. Now they've found a secret weapon that will allow them to make fast money and accomplish what they failed to do 20 years ago--buy off enough power to dominate the entire denomination, put their cronies in key spots, and ransack the church like it is the spoils of war. It won't be long before the two opposing sides face off..."church-folk" style.

When the Church was a Family
When the Church was a Family

Author: Joseph H. Hellerman

Publisher: B&H Publishing Group

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0805447792

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A study of the early Christian church in the Mediterranean region and its emphasis on collective good over individual desire clarifies much about what is wrong with the American church today.

At Your Best
At Your Best

Author: Carey Nieuwhof

Publisher: WaterBrook

Published: 2021-09-14

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0735291365

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“A perceptive and practical book about why our calendars so rarely reflect our priorities and what we can do to regain control.”—ADAM GRANT “Carey’s book will help you reorganize your life. And then you can share a copy with someone you care about.”—SETH GODIN You deserve to stop living at an unsustainable pace. An influential podcaster and thought leader shows you how. Overwhelmed. Overcommitted. Overworked. That’s the false script an inordinate number of people adopt to be successful. Does this sound familiar: ● Slammed is normal. ● Distractions are everywhere. ● Life gets reduced to going through the motions. Tired of living that way? At Your Best gives you the strategies you need to win at work and at home by living in a way today that will help you thrive tomorrow. Influential podcast host and thought leader Carey Nieuwhof understands the challenges of constant pressure. After a season of burnout almost took him out, he discovered how to get time, energy, and priorities working in his favor. This approach freed up more than one thousand productive hours a year for him and can do the same for you. At Your Best will help you ● replace chronic exhaustion with deep productivity ● break the pattern of overpromising and never accomplishing enough ● clarify what matters most by restructuring your day ● master the art of saying no, without losing friends or influence ● discover why vacations and sabbaticals don’t really solve your problems ● develop a personalized plan to recapture each day so you can break free from the trap of endless to-dos Start thriving at work and at home as you discover how to be at your best.

Church Folk
Church Folk

Author: Michele Andrea Bowen

Publisher: Walk Worthy Press

Published: 2001-06-21

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 0759524645

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Theophilus Henry Simmons is young, single, sexy, and just about the finest black man any wishful mother and daughter have ever seen in Charleston, Mississippi. He's also a pastor. And when he starts courting the quiet, homespun Essie Lee Lane-and she accepts his marriage proposal-a few of the church folk decide to teach Essie what it really means to be a pastor's wife, and show her how little she knows about them. But as Theophilus gains prominence in his denomination, Essie evolves from a mousy parishioner into an independent and Godly woman. Now sporting an afro and driving her new purple Cadillac, Essie teaches the church folk what it really means to stand by your man-and your beliefs.

Boundaries
Boundaries

Author: Henry Cloud

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2002-03-18

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 0310247454

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When to say yes, when to say no to take control of your life.

Fresh Expressions of the Rural Church
Fresh Expressions of the Rural Church

Author: Michael Adam Beck

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Published: 2022-09-20

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 1791025803

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Learn to cultivate the extraordinary gifts of Christian community in the countryside with Fresh Expressions of the Rural Church by Tyler Kleeberger and Michael Beck. The rural church was a community’s centerpiece. The place where people gathered to worship and hear a sermon, break bread together, and support each other through the joys and struggles of life with the land. In many ways, the rural church captured a central aspect of the church’s mission: to be the guiding hand for the life of a place. Can rural congregations flourish again? Can new Christian communities succeed in rural areas? Could healthy rural churches catalyze a better future for their declining communities? This book collects stories from the diversity of rural contexts across the US. It lays out a fresh theology for rural life and offers principles for harnessing the potential of what some consider the forgotten spaces. Each chapter includes a helpful Field Exercise—questions for discussion and suggested actions for leadership teams to work through together. Chapters conclude with a Field Story illustrating how the chapter’s main ideas can work in a real church setting. Praise for Fresh Expressions of the Rural Church Fresh Expressions of the Rural Church offers hope for the renewal that can take place in “out of the way” places. In these sacred rural places folks can experience the love of God and neighbor, undergo true healing, participate in the renewal of community, and discover a place to belong. - Daniel G. Beaudoin, Bishop, Northwestern Ohio Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Fresh Expressions of the Rural Church helps us to reconsider our Wesleyan roots and the gifts of our rural contexts, a seedbed packed with possibility for new communities of faith to form and flourish. - Heather M. Jallad, Fresh Expressions specialist, North Georgia Conference, UMC Beck and Kleeberger have taken a sample of the good soil that is faithful rural mission, identified the challenges, celebrated the riches, and offered us a powerful way to learn and be in partnership and connection with the gifts of God. - Ken Carter, Bishop, Florida and Western North Carolina Conferences of the United Methodist Church; co-author, Fresh Expressions: A New Kind of Methodist Church from Abingdon Press

So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore
So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore

Author: Wayne Jacobsen

Publisher: Windblown Media

Published: 2008-09-02

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 1935170015

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Jake Colsen, an overworked and disillusioned pastor, happens into a stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance (in manner) to the apostle John. A number of encounters with John as well as a family crisis lead Jake to a new understanding of what his life should be like: one filled with faith bolstered by a steady, close relationship with the God of the universe. Facing his own disappointment with Christianity, Jake must forsake the habits that have made his faith rote and rediscover the love that captured his heart when he first believed. Compelling and intensely personal, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anything relates a man's rebirth from performance-based Christianity to a loving friendship with Christ that affects all he does, thinks, and says. As John tells Jake, "There is nothing the Father desires for you more than that you fall squarely in the lap of his love and never move from that place for the rest of your life."

Rediscover Church
Rediscover Church

Author: Collin Hansen

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2021-07-28

Total Pages: 149

ISBN-13: 1433579596

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"A Christian without a church is a Christian in trouble." Since a global pandemic abruptly closed places of worship, many Christians have skipped church life, even neglecting virtual services. But this was a trend even before COVID-19. Polarizing issues, including political and racial strife, convinced some people to pull away from the church and one another. Now it's time to recommit to gathering as brothers and sisters in Christ. In Rediscover Church, Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman discuss why church is essential for believers and God's mission. Through biblical references and personal stories, they show readers God's true intention for corporate gathering: to spiritually strengthen members as individuals and the body of Christ. In an age of church-shopping and livestreamed services, rediscover why the future of the church relies on believers gathering regularly as the family of God. Published in partnership with the Gospel Coalition and 9Marks.

Deep and Wide
Deep and Wide

Author: Andy Stanley

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2016-02-09

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 031052749X

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Create a church unchurched people absolutely love to attend. Deep and Wide provides church leaders with an in-depth look into North Point Community Church and its strategy for creating churches unchurched people absolutely love to attend. Now available in an expanded edition, this trusted resource has sold over 250,000 copies. In it, Andy Stanley explains: His strategy for preaching and programming to both mature believers and cynical unbelievers North Point's spiritual formation model: The Five Faith Catalysts Three essential ingredients for creating irresistible environments How to tackle the challenge of transitioning a local congregation If your team is more concerned with who you are reaching than who you are keeping, the expanded edition of Deep and Wide will be more than a book you read; it will be a resource you come back to over and over! New bonus content includes a study guide, church staff helps, and an interview with Andy on the most frequently asked questions about Deep and Wide.