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Author: Phil Zuckerman
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 2015-10-27
Total Pages: 290
ISBN-13: 0143127934
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA sociology professor examines the demographic shift that has led more Americans than ever before to embrace a nonreligious life and highlights the inspirational stories and beliefs that empower modern-day secular culture.
Author: Sarah J. Robinson
Publisher: WaterBrook
Published: 2021-05-11
Total Pages: 257
ISBN-13: 0593193539
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What 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.
Author: Phillip Luke Sinitiere
Publisher: NYU Press
Published: 2015-11-13
Total Pages: 319
ISBN-13: 0814723888
DOWNLOAD EBOOKJoel Osteen, the smiling preacher, has quickly emerged as one of the most recognizable Protestant leaders in the country. His megachurch, the Houston based Lakewood Church, hosts an average of over 40,000 worshipers each week. Osteen is the best-selling author of numerous books, and his sermons and inspirational talks appear regularly on mainstream cable and satellite radio. How did Joel Osteen become Joel Osteen? How did Lakewood become the largest megachurch in the U. S.? Salvation with a Smile, the first book devoted to Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen, offers a critical history of the congregation by linking its origins to post-World War II neopentecostalism, and connecting it to the exceptionally popular prosperity gospel movement and the enduring attraction of televangelism. In this richly documented book, historian Phillip Luke Sinitiere carefully excavates the life and times of Lakewood’s founder, John Osteen, to explain how his son Joel expanded his legacy and fashioned the congregation into America’s largest megachurch. As a popular preacher, Joel Osteen’s ministry has been a source of existential strength for many, but also the routine target of religious critics who vociferously contend that his teachings are theologically suspect and spiritually shallow. Sinitiere’s keen analysis shows how Osteen’s rebuttals have expressed a piety of resistance that demonstrates evangelicalism’s fractured, but persistent presence. Salvation with a Smile situates Lakewood Church in the context of American religious history and illuminates how Osteen has parlayed an understanding of American religious and political culture into vast popularity and success.
Author: Rajkumar Dixit
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2010-06-07
Total Pages: 181
ISBN-13: 1608995593
DOWNLOAD EBOOKChristianity may be the greatest story ever told, but in Western culture it is losing ground against the powerful forces of secularization. In examining the root causes of this cultural shift, does the church have anything to learn from secular society and the business sector? For decades the church has resisted the idea of using business methodologies in the religious sphere. Yet a closer look reveals that most church hierarchies have borrowed much of their organizational structure from the business sector. But the church is not alone in its borrowing. Today the lines between the church and the business sector are blurred, as both entities influence each other interchangeably. In Branded Faith, Rajkumar Dixit enters an engaging and intellectually stimulating analysis of what the church can learn from the business practices of marketing, branding, and contextualization. Using examples drawn from widely recognized companies such as Nike, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and Subway, Dixit systematically builds a case for the power of a story, and emphasizes the importance of seeking culturally relevant ways to spread it. Those who care deeply about sharing Christianity powerfully and effectively will find in Branded Faith a thoughtful presentation of ideas on how to maintain the integrity of the gospel, while exploring fresh methods of communicating the good news to a postmodern society.
Author: Phil Cooke
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 210
ISBN-13: 159555484X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOne Big Thing is about finding out what you were born to do with your life and how to use it to revolutionize your business or ministry---and change the world.
Author: Phil Cooke
Publisher:
Published: 2009-02
Total Pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9780981951508
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn Insider's Look At the World of Religious Media...and What's Coming Next! Religious radio and TV has built massive networks, launched global organizations, and generated billions of dollars in donations. It has allowed Christianity to reach more people in this century alone than the rest of history combined. But that impact has come with a price. Sex and money scandals, political controversies, and the prosperity gospel have taken their toll on the perception of Christians in the culture. Religious Media has Alienated a Generation TV evangelists with fake hair and gold furniture, tasteless programming, and hard core fundraising pitches have reached embarrassing levels, and young people today want nothing to do with it. But a New Revolution is Happening in Religious Media. With more than three decades of experience in both faith-based and secular media, Phil Cooke explores what it will take to reach the next generation, before the entire industry experiences total collapse
Author: L. Benjamin Rolsky
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2019-11-12
Total Pages: 316
ISBN-13: 0231550421
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFor decades now, Americans have believed that their country is deeply divided by “culture wars” waged between religious conservatives and secular liberals. In most instances, Protestant conservatives have been cast as the instigators of such warfare, while religious liberals have been largely ignored. In this book, L. Benjamin Rolsky examines the ways in which American liberalism has helped shape cultural conflict since the 1970s through the story of how television writer and producer Norman Lear galvanized the religious left into action. The creator of comedies such as All in the Family and Maude, Lear was spurred to found the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way in response to the rise of the religious right. Rolsky offers engaged readings of Lear’s iconic sitcoms and published writings, considering them as an expression of what he calls the spiritual politics of the religious left. He shows how prime-time television became a focus of political dispute and demonstrates how Lear’s emergence as an interfaith activist catalyzed ecumenical Protestants, Catholics, and Jews who were determined to push back against conservatism’s ascent. Rolsky concludes that Lear’s political involvement exemplified religious liberals’ commitment to engaging politics on explicitly moral grounds in defense of what they saw as the public interest. An interdisciplinary analysis of the definitive cultural clashes of our fractious times, The Rise and Fall of the Religious Left foregrounds the foundational roles played by popular culture, television, and media in America’s religious history.
Author: Bo Lane
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2014-03-25
Total Pages: 110
ISBN-13: 9781497410893
DOWNLOAD EBOOKMy journey as a pastor had quite a few ups and downs. Although there were many aspects of serving in full-time ministry that I loved, there were more things that happened along the way that made a negative impact on both myself and my family. After I resigned from the pastorate, it took several years of forgiving and getting plugged in to a healthy church before I really began to heal from the hurt. Whether you've spent your entire career as a pastor or if you have recently thrown in the towel, Why Pastors Quit is an easy-to-read book that will encourage you and make you ask the question: What can I do to help change the statistics?
Author: Collin Hansen
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2008-03-17
Total Pages: 162
ISBN-13: 1433521008
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom places like John Piper's den, Al Mohler's office, and Jonathan Edwards's college, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen investigates what makes today's young Calvinists tick. Church-growth strategies and charismatic worship have fueled the bulk of evangelical growth in America for decades. While baby boomers have flocked to churches that did not look or sound like church, it seems these churches do not so broadly capture the passions of today's twenty-something evangelicals. In fact, a desire for transcendence and tradition among young evangelicals has contributed to a Reformed resurgence. For nearly two years, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen visited the chief schools, churches, and conferences of this growing movement. He sought to describe its members and ask its leading pastors and theologians about the causes and implications of the Calvinist resurgence. The result, Young, Restless, Reformed, shows common threads in their diverse testimonies and suggests what tomorrow's church might look like when these young evangelicals become pastors or professors.
Author: Shea Tuttle
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Published: 2019-10-22
Total Pages: 197
ISBN-13: 1467457272
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWelcome to the spiritual neighborhood of Fred Rogers “I like you as you are Exactly and precisely I think you turned out nicely And I like you as you are.” Fred Rogers fiercely believed that all people deserve love. This conviction wasn’t simply sentimental: it came directly from his Christian faith. God, he insisted, loves us just the way we are. In Exactly as You Are, Shea Tuttle looks at Fred Rogers’s life, the people and places that made him who he was, and his work through Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. She pays particular attention to his faith—because Fred Rogers was a deeply spiritual person, ordained by his church with a one-of-a-kind charge: to minister to children and families through television. Tuttle explores this kind, influential, sometimes surprising man: the neighborhood he came from, the neighborhood he built, and the kind of neighbor he, by his example, calls all of us to be. Throughout, Tuttle shows how he was guided by his core belief: that God loves children, and everyone else, exactly as they are.
