Get in the Game! In God's Kingdom, each of us is called to be a player in His plans. We are all equipped by His Spirit to carry out a specific function to see souls saved and lives transformed by His power. Since the Day of Pentecost, believers from all walks of life have had access to the Spirit’s empowerment and the responsibility to get in the game. Rick’s friend and Bible teacher, Tony Cooke, wrote about the believer’s divine purpose to be fully awakened and activated for such a time as this in his book The End of Spectator Church, and Rick sat down with Tony to interview him about it. In this five-part series, they discuss: What it means that it is the end of "spectator Church." What God expects YOU to do in these last days in the Church. How to identify the part you are to play in God’s end-time game. How to activate the gift that God has placed in your life. Join Rick Renner and Tony Cooke as they reveal how the Holy Spirit empowers you to stop being a spectator and to become a participator in God’s plans!
"This book will make a profound difference for the church in this moment in history." — The Most Reverend Michael B. Curry Sometimes it takes disruption and loss to break us open and call us home to God. It’s not surprising that a global pandemic and once-in-a-generation reckoning with white supremacy—on top of decades of systemic decline—have spurred Christians everywhere to ask who we are, why God placed us here and what difference that makes to the world. In this critical yet loving book, the author explores the American story and the Episcopal story in order to find out how communities steeped in racism, establishment, and privilege can at last fall in love with Jesus, walk humbly with the most vulnerable and embody beloved community in our own broken but beautiful way. The Church Cracked Open invites us to surrender privilege and redefine church, not just for the sake of others, but for our own salvation and liberation.
Who was Jesus? Historical sources portray a person who was complex, multi-layered, and often contradictory to the tidy portrait that much of modern Christianity paints him as. Even the gospel accounts render him as both judge and healer, teacher and temple, servant and savior. A Doubter's Guide to Jesus is a persuasive and often challenging investigation into the historical figure found in the earliest sources. These sources, which include references both direct and indirect—from Roman, Jewish, and Christian accounts—offer us more than simple evidence that Jesus existed; they begin to form a picture that is both deeply credible and profoundly counterintuitive. Each chapter explores the evidence for a different aspect of the most influential figure in human history, exploring: His words and their impact. The scandal of his social life. His preference for the poor and lowly. The meaning of his death and influence of his promises. The goal is not to turn Jesus into something neater, more systematic and digestible; but to see him more clearly as someone who stretches our imaginations, confronts our beliefs, and challenges our lifestyles. After two millennia of spiritual devotion and more than two centuries of modern critical research, we still cannot fit Jesus into a box—and this is as challenging as it is deeply compelling.
We are living in a day when countless multitudes have lost their way both morally and spiritually. Like a ship without anchor, this last day's generation is being tossed to and fro by a flood of deception and wrong influences that is tragically causing people to lose their moorings. What should we do to make sure we don't get...
Now a New York Times Bestseller As a college student he spent 16 days in the Pacific Ocean with five guys and a crate of canned meat. As a father he took his kids on a world tour to eat ice cream with heads of state. He made friends in Uganda, and they liked him so much he became the Ugandan consul. He pursued his wife for three years before she agreed to date him. His grades weren't good enough to get into law school, so he sat on a bench outside the Dean's office for seven days until they finally let him enroll. Bob Goff has become something of a legend, and his friends consider him the world's best-kept secret. Those same friends have long insisted he write a book. What follows are paradigm shifts, musings, and stories from one of the world's most delightfully engaging and winsome people. What fuels his impact? Love. But it's not the kind of love that stops at thoughts and feelings. Bob's love takes action. Bob believes Love Does. When Love Does, life gets interesting. Each day turns into a hilarious, whimsical, meaningful chance that makes faith simple and real. Each chapter is a story that forms a book, a life. And this is one life you don't want to miss. Light and fun, unique and profound, the lessons drawn from Bob's life and attitude just might inspire you to be secretly incredible, too. Endorsements: "If this book does not make your heart beat faster, book the next flight to Mayo Clinic " --Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, Chairman, Willow Creek Association "Bob Goff is a one-man tsunami of grace, a hurricane of love. He doesn't just talk about change, he really is change, as Love Does chronicles in such a vivid way. Yet, Love Does doesn't leave you feeling like you want to celebrate its author, it awakens a sense deep within that you, too, have an outrageous role to play in God's unfolding story or rescue and repair." --Louie Giglio, Passion Conferences/Passion City Church "An interesting and compelling story (with Young Life roots) that ends with a practical challenge and punch: 'love does' and God can use you to do it " --Denny Rydberg, President, Young Life "Every once in a while someone like Bob Goff shows up to remind us that some things matter a lot more than others. Love Does has a kind of 'north star' effect that will push you to refocus your life and energy on what is most significant. It doesn't just invite you to respond with your God-given potential, it invites you to become a part of what God can do beyond your potential." --Reggie Joiner, Founder and CEO of Orange "We liked the book a lot. Mostly, the balloons on the cover. The rest was pretty good too. Lots of stories about how God helps us." --Aedan, Asher and Skye Peterson ages 13, 12 and 9 "This may look like a book. It's not. It is an invitation to enter into the greatest adventure you have ever known--your life as it was meant to be lived. Hang on " --Michael Hyatt, Author, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, MichaelHyatt.com "Bob's ability to love people brings contagious hope and inspiration wherever he goes. The power of love showcased in this book will surely touch the hearts and souls of many people. Read Love Does and find a friend in one the world's best hidden secrets, a person who shows how love can create connection and make a difference--even across oceans." --George Tsereteli, Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia (former Russian Republic)
After his martyrdom at the hands of the Gestapo in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer continued his witness in the hearts of Christians around the world. His Letters and Papers from Prison became a prized testimony to Christian faith and courage, read by thousands. Now in Life Together we have Pastor Bonhoeffer's experience of Christian community. This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.
Worship in local churches has changed dramatically over the past fifty years, not only in North America but in many places on every continent. Have these widespread and varying shifts left us with vague or even false impressions of what the weekly worship event is all about? Do followers of Jesus Christ grasp the importance of their role in worship? Do they know how to become fully engaged participants? Do they realize Jesus himself is our best guide and model for worship? Worship Like Jesus guides Christ-followers through the essential features of Christian worship, transforming the reader’s understanding and experience of worship. This leads people—even entire congregations—to experience worship in exciting and profound ways as never before. This type of worship also leads people into deeper and more committed discipleship. Imagine a community of fully engaged, deeply committed disciples! Revered author and scholar Constance Cherry offers this practical and foundational resource for ministry leaders and their worship communities. Each chapter follows the same helpful structure: Introduction Description of the chapter topic and its importance Discovery of Jesus’s own practice Deliberation or reflection on how Jesus’s model makes a difference Determination—readers consider how their worship will be shaped as a result of this chapter; includes questions for reflection Prayer At the end of each chapter, an exercise is suggested to help people take a practical step toward greater participation and engagement. A Leader Guide is included as an Appendix. This equips pastors, worship leaders and others to facilitate group study of the book. It is a powerful tool for transforming leadership teams and entire congregations.
Something New Is Coming — Watch for the SignsSigns. They are important in almost everything we do. Nearly everywhere we go, there are signs in our lives that serve to guide us. We look for them wherever we travel, whether to the next city, state, or country — or to the next phase of our journey through life.Jesus thinks signs are...
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! • Finalist for the WOMEN'S PRIZE Yaa Gyasi's stunning follow-up to her acclaimed national best seller Homegoing is a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered novel about a Ghanaian family in Alabama. Gifty is a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience at the Stanford University School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after an ankle injury left him hooked on OxyContin. Her suicidal mother is living in her bed. Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her. But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family's loss, she finds herself hungering for her childhood faith and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive. Transcendent Kingdom is a deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief—a novel about faith, science, religion, love. Exquisitely written, emotionally searing, this is an exceptionally powerful follow-up to Gyasi's phenomenal debut.
Sometimes, churches need a little help. These days, some don't know who they are and don't know what they're supposed to be doing. Churches today are trying anything and everything to be effective, but are bewildered by worship styles, spectator syndrome, and consumerism. In the meantime, people are hungry for a relationship with a God who has substance--a God with character and integrity, and a God of grace. And they're having trouble finding such a God in churches today. Seven Letters to Seven Churches is written to challenge the church to be what God created us to be and then do what God created us to do: join Him in His mission to save the world.
