After years of witnessing the sometimes rancorous controversy between the Evangelical and Pentecostal camps, authors Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson suggest it's way past time to recognize that there's really only one camp. It is unnecessary to choose between the biblical emphasis of the great Evangelical tradition and the spiritual vitality of the Pentecostal and Charismatic traditions. A new breed of believers called Empowered Evangelicals has arisen to combine the best elements of both traditions. In this revised and updated edition, Empowered Evangelicals examines the teaching and practice of empowered Evangelical churches and shows both Pentecostals and Evangelicals how to combine the best elements of both congregations.
What hinders your life? What’s keeping you from discovering your Calling? From being totally fulfilled pursuing your Purpose? From living up to Your Potential? Do you struggle with Fear or other emotions? Doubts about what to believe? Confusion about which option is right, or best? Do you know Jesus but still feel like your faith could be stronger and your life could have more direction, more focus, more confidence that you’re doing exactly what God wants you to be doing? These things we’ve looked at: fear, doubts, confusion, lack of knowledge, good fruit or direction – these things are not inevitable. They’re the result of not living according to important biblical truths and letting them guide your steps. This book is like a powerful, jam-packed 400-page how-to guide for everything you need to know, believe, and do for the Christian life. It’s like “Mere Christianity” meets “Purpose-Driven Life” meets deep, biblical theology, Christian apologetics, pastoral discipleship, and actionable life coaching to improve your life, help you grow personally and spiritually, and get on fire for God’s unique mission for you. Get it now and start shifting the direction of your life today! This landmark work marries biblical Christian doctrine with actionable life coaching. Using cars as a metaphor for individuals, and a long journey as a metaphor for life, pastor, Christian apologist, and empowerment life coach Brian Holmes navigates the journey with you. Packed with creative car metaphors and graphics woven throughout, every vital aspect of Christian belief and living are covered, arranged sequentially and holistically in a memorable and applicable way. Equal parts theology, apologetics, discipleship training, personal growth, and life direction, you’ll gain a deeper grasp of the Christian pilgrimage and a closer relationship with God along the way. It covers everything from the nature of God and meaning of life to worksheets to determine what you should do today for success tomorrow. Practical tips for individuals, Bible study groups, and churches ready to accelerate their impact. Demonic lies debunked! Sin will be overpowered! Faith, freedom, healing, presence, and purpose are in view! YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO: detect, diagnose, and solve problems in your life; avoid common obstacles in the future; overcome tough life challenges and setbacks; navigate touchy cultural, social, and political issues; better control your thoughts, how you feel, and what you do; and gain laser-focused direction on your mission and unique calling as a follower of Jesus. After the Bible, this colorful, insightful, and engaging guide will be the next most important book to have! This manual of “Essential Christianity” will assist and empower you for a lifetime! FEATURES: • Bible College-level Theology for Laypeople • Personal Evaluations, Questions, and Assignments • Hundreds of Whole Bible Verses with Index (Paperback and PDF editions) • Hundreds of Topics with Topical Index (Paperback and PDF editions) • Complete Spiritual Warfare Manual • Discover Your Identity & Plan Your Mission • Understand & Discover Actual Spiritual Gifts • Learn How to Utilize Illness/Suffering for God • Unravel False Religions & Bad Christianity • Discern New Age Spirituality & Word of Faith • Examine Different Christian Missions & Roles • Unlock the Highest Potential of the Church • 398 Pages! • Full Color! (Full Color editions) • Lots of Custom Graphics and Tables! • FREE Bible Study curriculum available “Let us RUN with ENDURANCE the RACE set out for us.” -Hebrews 12:1 “SO RUN TO WIN!” -1 Corinthians 9:24 Christianity | Personal Growth | Christian Discipleship | Christian Theology | Spiritual Growth | Mission | Apologetics | Calling | Adult Christian Ministry | Church Growth | Spiritual Journey | Adult Discipleship
Evangelicals, once at the periphery of American life, now wield power in the White House and on Wall Street, at Harvard and in Hollywood. How have they reached the pinnacles of power in such a short time? And what does this mean for evangelicals--and for America? Drawing on personal interviews with an astonishing array of prominent Americans--including two former Presidents, dozens of political and government leaders, more than 100 top business executives, plus Hollywood moguls, intellectuals, athletes, and other powerful figures--D. Michael Lindsay shows first-hand how they are bringing their vision of moral leadership into the public square. This riveting volume tells us who the real evangelical power brokers are, how they rose to prominence, and what they're doing with their clout. Lindsay reveals that evangelicals are now at home in the executive suite and on the studio lot, and from those lofty perches they have used their influence, money, and ideas to build up the evangelical movement and introduce it to wider American society. They are leaders of powerful institutions and their goals are ambitious--to bring Christian principles to bear on virtually every aspect of American life. Along the way, the book is packed with fascinating stories and striking insights. Lindsay shows how evangelicals became a force in American foreign policy, how Fortune 500 companies are becoming faith-friendly, and how the new generation of the faithful is led by "cosmopolitan evangelicals." These are well-educated men and women who read both The New York Times and Christianity Today, and who are wary of the evangelical masses' penchant for polarizing rhetoric, apocalyptic pot-boilers, and bad Christian rock. Perhaps most startling is the importance of personal relationships between leaders--a quiet conversation after Bible study can have more impact than thousands of people marching in the streets. Faith in the Halls of Power takes us inside the rarified world of the evangelical elite--beyond the hysterical panic and chest-thumping pride--to give us the real story behind the evangelical ascendancy in America. "This important work should be required reading for anyone who wants to opine publicly on what American evangelicals are really up to." --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) "For people wanting an understanding of how evangelicals have acquired so much power, money, and influence in the past 30 years, this is the ultimate insider's book." --Sojourners Magazine "Anybody who wants to understand the nexus between God and power in modern America should start here." --The Economist "Fascinating." --John Schmalzbauer, Wall Street Journal
Women have served as pastors in leading Wesleyan-Holiness churches such as the Church of God (Anderson, IN). However, some of these churches are now refusing to consider women for pastoral ministry. Nine leading women ministers of the Church of God examine the cultural reasons for this drift. They highlight the work of several women evangelists and pastors whose ministry proved that God blessed their work.
In this inaugural Prophetic Christianity volume, fifteen contributors share their visions for a biblically centered, culturally engaged, and historically infused evangelicalism. Interacting with a wide variety of influential thinkers, they articulate several approaches to creating a socially responsible, gospel-centric, and ecumenical evangelical identity. Contributors: Raymond C. Aldred Vincent Bacote Bruce Ellis Benson Malinda Elizabeth Berry Chris Boesel John R. Franke David Gushee Peter Goodwin Heltzel Pamela Lightsey Cherith Fee Nordling Ruth Padilla-DeBorst Gabriel Salguero Helene Slessarev-Jamir Christian T. Collins Winn Telford Work
In A Spirit-Empowered Church, Alton Garrison points us to the heart of dynamic church growth: creating Spirit-empowered disciples who are involved in five activities--connect, grow, serve, go, and worship--to change individuals, families, and communities with the love and power of God's mighty Spirit.
Rich Nathan and Insoo Kim have got some good news for an either-or world. Walking you through seven impasses in the journey of faith—progress or orthodoxy? unity or diversity? justice or mercy?—the authors show why the life centered in Christ (the God-man) is life in the liberating reality of the both-and.
Originally published in 1947, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism has since served as the manifesto of evangelical Christians serious about bringing the fundamentals of the Christian faith to bear in contemporary culture. In this classic book Carl F. H. Henry, the father of modern fundamentalism, pioneered a path for active Christian engagement with the world -- a path as relevant today as when it was first staked out. Now available again and featuring a new foreword by Richard J. Mouw, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism offers a bracing world-and-life view that calls for boldness on the part of the evangelical community. Henry argues that a reformation is imperative within the ranks of conservative Christianity, one that will result in an ecumenical passion for souls and in the power to meaningfully address the social and intellectual needs of the world.
It’s tempting to believe that the Christian faith is alive and well in our country today. Our politicians talk about God. Our mega-churches are filled. Christian schools dot our landscape. Brace yourself. It’s an illusion. Believe it or not, only 8 percent of Americans profess and practice true evangelical Christian faith. There are more left-handed people than evangelical Christians in America. In this book, Mark Driscoll delivers a wake-up call for every believer: We are living in a post-Christian culture—a culture fundamentally at odds with faith in Jesus. This is good and bad news. The good news is that God is still working, redeeming people from this spiritual wasteland and inspiring a resurgence of faithful believers. The bad news is that many believers just don’t get it. They continue to gather exclusively into insular tribes, lobbing e-bombs at each other in cyberspace. Mark’s book is a clarion call for Christians. It’s time to get to work. We can only do this if we unite around Jesus and the essentials found in his Word, while at the same time, appreciating the distinctives within each Christian tribe. Mark shows us how to do just that. This isn’t the time to wait or debate. Join the resurgence.
Have you ever considered the ultimate purposes and consequences of good work performed by non-Christians? Have you ever theologically considered the work of non-Christians at all? Is it possible that God would ever give credence to, let alone honor the work of, non-Christians in an ultimate sense? Are you frustrated by theologies of work that are entirely protological in orientation? How do we make sense of biblical excerpts that talk of work being judged towards a particular outcome? The Good Work of Non-Christians, Empowerment, and the New Creation attempts to answer these questions in a manner that also challenges evangelical assumptions about the ultimate outcomes of working life. Drawing strength from eschatologically minded theologies by Miroslav Volf and Darrell Cosden, Weir seeks to replace protology with eschatology in a theology of work about non-Christians. The British evangelical tradition is specifically taken up here so as to make critical assessments of certain airtight theologies regarding human action with reference to the new creation. This book attempts to create a heuristic against unhelpful hermeneutical tendencies that inform evangelical theologies. This is a work that is not only theological, it is biblically, historically, and ethically rigorous.
