Reynolds suggests transformational concepts and resources for Sunday School classes in this handbook of 20 creative methods for bringing Bible stories to life. (Ministry & Pastoral Resources)
Reviewing game film is a discipline that sports teams often incorporate after each game. Teams watch game videos to identify mistakes, make adjustments, consider radical changes, and highlight successes. The goal of this analysis is to facilitate individual and team improvements that will positively affect subsequent games. The fundamental reason why a team needs adjustments is not always evident in the middle of the game. But evaluating important elements after a game gives coaches and players the opportunity to review individual plays and players in a more relaxed setting away from the time constraints and pressures of the game. So why aren’t pastors and worship teams incorporating similar evaluative practices? Implementing a collaborative process of analyzing worship services or planning for upcoming services requires a deep level of humility, trust, and shared accountability. It also requires selfless leaders who are willing to sacrifice their own ideas and interests for the greater worshiping good of the congregation. Better Sundays Begin on Mondays offers foundational worship considerations to help leadership teams ask questions evaluatively rather than defensively. These weekly reflections encourage worship leaders and their teams to think beyond style to biblical and theological worship content.
The theory of white fragility is one of the most influential ideas to emerge in recent years on the topics of race, racism, and racial inequality. White fragility is defined as an unwillingness on the part of white people to engage in the difficult conversations necessary to address racial inequality. This “fragility” allegedly undermines the fight against racial inequality. Despite its wide acclaim and rapid acceptance, the theory of white fragility has received no serious and sustained scrutiny. This book argues that the theory is flawed on numerous fronts. The theory functions as a divisive rhetorical device to shut down debate. It relies on the flawed premise of implicit bias. It posits a faulty way of understanding racism. It has serious methodological problems. It conflates objectivity and neutrality. It exploits narrative at the expense of facts. It distorts many of the ideas upon which the theory relies. This book also offers a more constructive way to think about Whiteness, white privilege, and “white fragility,” pointing us to a more promising vision for addressing racial inequality.
Johann Sebastian Bach – celebrated pipe organist, court composer and master of sacred music – was also a technical pioneer. Working in Germany in the early eighteenth century, he invented new instruments and carried out experiments in tuning, the effects of which are still with us today. Two hundred years later, a number of extraordinary musicians have utilised the music of Bach to thrilling effect through the art of recording, furthering their own virtuosity and reinventing the composer for our time. In Reinventing Bach, Paul Elie brilliantly blends the stories of modern musicians with a polyphonic account of our most celebrated composer’ s life to create a spellbinding narrative of the changing place of music in our lives. We see the sainted organist Albert Schweitzer playing to a mobile recording unit set up at London’ s Church of All Hallows in order to spread Bach’ s organ works to the world beyond the churches, and Pablo Casals’ s Abbey Road recordings of Bach’ s cello suites transform the middle-class sitting room into a hotbed of existentialism; we watch Leopold Stokowski persuade Walt Disney to feature his own grand orchestrations of Bach in the animated classical-music movie Fantasia – which made Bach the sound of children’ s playtime and Hollywood grandeur alike – and we witness how Glenn Gould’ s Goldberg Variations made Bach the byword for postwar cool. Through the Beatles and Switched-on Bach and Gö del, Escher, Bach – through film, rock music, the Walkman, the CD and up to Yo-Yo Ma and the iPod – Elie shows us how dozens of gifted musicians searched, experimented and collaborated with one another in the service of a composer who emerged as the prototype of the spiritualised, technically savvy artist.
Reflecting on four-decade-long a career marked by wild social turbulence and remarkably creative and innovative ministry--including game-changing initiatives such as Youth Specialties and the Wittenburg Door--Wayne Rice turns his eye toward those who are to come. What does the future of youth require of the future of youth ministry? For three-dimensional people at the greatest cusp of change in their lives, set against a backdrop of a constantly changing world, it requires youth, parents, congregations and youth workers alike to undergird the activities of their ministry with a commitment to reality--to remember that the gospel is always, ultimately, a matter of a flesh-and-blood God pouring his life into his flesh-and-blood children.
Dave Tomlinson's book How to Be a Bad Christian was written for all those who want God without the guff - revealing that being a 'bad' Christian is perfectly good enough, and that it's possible to ditch religion without losing the faith. The Bad Christian's Manifesto continues the conversation, unpacking what spiritual intelligence - from an unapologetically Christian viewpoint - might look like for all the self-confessed bad Christians of the world. Join Dave as he explores how to befriend your inner sceptic, make a virtue of pleasure and find heaven in the ordinary things of life.
If you knew you couldn't fail, what is the greatest thing you would dare to dream? Is the job you now have the one you've always wanted? Do you work with the kind of people you'd like to work with? As personal success expert Brian Tracy can attest, it's not until you deal with the dissatisfactions of the present that you can move onward and upward to create the wonderful future that is possible for you. And it is possible. In Reinvention, Brian Tracy reveals how every one of us is engineered for success, and with the right focus, can remake ourselves and put an end to the chronic stress, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction we might feel in our careers and lives. This unique, life-altering book gives readers an interactive series of exercises they can use to focus on what they really want for themselves, and: take control of their careers • turn unexpected shakeups and turbulence into positive occasions for growth • dramatically improve their earning ability • develop the self-confidence to take the kind of risks that lead to rapid advancement • decide on and get the job they really want • set clear goals for their lives • write resumes that get results • determine their own salary range We live in a time of rapid change...but also of unprecedented opportunity. This book supplies readers with a proven system they can use to turn their greatest dreams into reality!
Since forever altering the course of the youth ministry world with his best-selling, groundbreaking book, Purpose-Driven® Youth Ministry, Doug Fields’ mind—but especially his heart—has been focused on the many unique needs of new youth workers.Doug translated his passion, insight, and vision for his beloved “rookies” into what you’re now reading, Your Fist Two Years in Youth Ministry—hands-down the most comprehensive companion to not only surviving, but also thriving, during the most crucial phase of youth ministry. Employing his renowned wisdom and humor—as if you and Doug were chatting over a long, relaxing meal—the author disarmingly relates stories and principles from his own successes and failures over 20-plus years in youth ministry. In the end, he offers treasure troves of practical advice, all in the hope that new youth workers can travel a smoother path and achieve real longevity in a church culture that all too often chews them and spits them out.Doug covers all-important issues such as:· Dealing with discouragement· Establishing a solid spiritual foundation· Building effective relationships with students· Resolving conflict· Ministering to parents and families· Trailblazing change· Working with volunteers· Defining a realistic job description· And many others!In addition, a chorus of insightful sidebar voices joins your conversation with Doug, among them ministry veterans Jim Burns, Steve Gerali, Mike Yaconelli, Helen Musick, Chap Clark, Marv Penner, Rick Warren, Jana L. Sundene, Bo Boshers, Duffy Robbins, Tony Campolo, and Richard Ross, all who’ve composed extensive, topical essays for each of the dozen chapters.Your First Two Years of Youth Ministry is a must-have tool for new youth workers, volunteers, seminary professors and students, senior pastors, elders, church boards—even veteran youth workers who’ve been ministering in unstructured environments and are now asking, “What did I miss? What can I still learn?”The first two years of youth ministry are never easy. But never fear. Doug fervently assures us: “Hang on. Hope’s coming!”
Readers can follow step-by-step through the process of setting up and conducting the Rotation Model of church school. Classes focus on a single biblical story for several weeks, with children rotating to different workshops each week.