It's time for everyone who cares about the state of our nation to heed the call and join forces to redeem the soul of America. It's time to come together and renounce the politics of rejection, division, and greed. It's time to lift up the common good, move up to higher ground, and revive the heart of democracy. In a single, rousing sermon, the celebrated Reverend William J. Barber II of the Poor People’s Campaign makes an impassioned argument whose message could not be clearer: It's time for change, and the time needs you.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to draw ever closer to our Savior. One path to the Way of Love is through seven key actions: Turn. Learn. Pray. Worship. Bless. Go. Rest. Includes questions, journal prompts, a guide for a personal rule of life.
What Does God Require of Everyone? Two spiritual leaders and friends-one Black, one White-have seen the injustice and racial hatred that has simmered under the surface of culture for decades, escalating in recent years. In Required, Bishop Claude Alexander and Dr. Mac Pier, both theologians and practitioners who have crossed the racial divide for over thirty years, take their readers down the pathway of awareness, ownership, and action regarding how Christians participate in the conversation of race from a faith perspective. Readers will be shown how they can: Engage their world with justice, humility, and mercy. Model behaviors that bridge difficult divides. Follow God's call toward conciliation and unity. Make a practical difference in their own spheres of influence. The vision of this book is to accelerate current and inspire future efforts toward the vision of justice expressed through a Church united across racial, ethnic, and tribal lines. Over forty Christians and Christian organization, institution, and movement leaders strongly endorse Required as a must-read book on overcoming racial division. Endorsements In Required, Claude Alexander and Mac Pier bear witness to the transformative power of cross-cultural exposure, cultural translation, and a passion for Christ-mandated conciliation and unity. With great transparency, they urge us to reflect on how our racial story connects to His Story and mission of reconciling our diverse world to Himself and each other. -Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, Co-Convener, National African American Clergy Network Mac and Claude are two extraordinary men whom I admire deeply. Their work to advance racial justice and advocate for city transformation has been stellar. This book serves as both inspirational and a framework for advancing the gospel and overcoming racial division. -Bryan L. Carter, Senior pastor, Concord Baptist Church, Dallas, TX This book teaches, guides, and propels us toward God's design of racial reconciliation while highlighting the role of relationships and movements such as the Lausanne Movement and Movement.org in bridging the divide. A timely and challenging reminder that racial equality and racial justice are required of those who belong to God's new kingdom. -Las G. Newman, Ph.D., Global Associate Director for Regions, Lausanne Movement My two good friends have collaborated to write this book that, given their respective backgrounds and friendship, speaks powerfully into the call on each of us to practice justice, mercy, and humility to overcome racial tensions. -Bob Doll, Chief investment officer, Crossmark Global Investments In Required, two internationally respected Christian leaders allow us to "overhear" them as they have the kind of conversation many wish they could have: honest, direct, vulnerable, reasonable, and full of love. This book will equip the reader with a path toward seeking justice and mercy, as followers of Jesus are called to do, and to standing with and for one another, as brothers and sisters must. -Russell Moore, Christianity Today About the Authors Bishop Claude Alexander has served as the senior pastor of The Park Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, for more than thirty years and is one of the most respected voices around the globe on the subject of race. He is a past president of the Hampton University Ministers Conference and serves on the boards of various respected organizations. Dr. Mac Pier is the founder of Movement.org and a Lausanne co-catalyst for cities. He has lived in New York City for thirty-five years where he founded the Concerts of Prayer Movement and cofounded Movement Day, which has engaged leaders from six continents and nine hundred cities.
An engaging history of the Shepherding Movement, an influential and controversial expression of the charismatic renewal in the 1970s and 1980s. This neopentecostal movement, led by popular Bible teachers Ern Baxter, Don Basham, Bob Mumford, Derek Prince and Charles Simpson, became a house church movement in the United States. The Shepherding Movement is a case study of an attempt at renewing church structures. Many critics accused the movement of being authoritarian because of its emphasis on submission to a personal pastor or "shepherd" as they termed it.
The Jesus People were an unlikely combination of evangelical Christianity and the hippie counterculture. God's Forever Family is the first major examination of this phenomenon in over thirty years.
You were transformed to transform your world! For too long, Christianity has been defined by a false concept of church. As a result, believers have built walls around their lives, keeping culture at a distance. As Christians have tried to keep culture out of the church, unfortunately, the church has kept itself out of the culture. This was never Jesus’ design for the your life! Before church was established as a place that people “came to,” Jesus instituted it as an army that brought transformation to society, starting with salvation and continuing with seven spheres of influence: Church, family, education, government, media, arts, and commerce. Six revolutionary voices in the modern church deliver Invading Babylon. This essential guide will equip you to: Understand your vital role in shaping society. Release God’s will in your sphere of influence. Become an unstoppable citizen in God’s Kingdom. It’s your time to arise and be a light in a dark world.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the power of Jesus shouting from the cross, "It is finished!" that we forget that Jesus started something too. Uncovering the inner dynamics of Jesus's work with the disciples, veteran church planter Steve Addison reminds us that Christianity is a movement with a unique design for expansion.
JR Woodward and Dan White Jr. have trained church planters all over North America. In this interactive field manual, they help you and your team gain eight key competencies crucial for church planting so that you can create churches that flourish and launch their own sustainable missional and incarnational congregations.
Discover and fulfill your God-given purpose by joining the more than thirty-five million others who have embarked on a spiritual journey that started with this #1 New York Times bestselling book by Pastor Rick Warren. Before you were born, God knew what your life had in store for you. His hope for you is to discover the life he created just for you--both here on earth, and forever in eternity. Let Rick Warren guide you as you learn to live out your true purpose. The Purpose Driven Life is more than a book; it's a road map for your spiritual journey. Combining thoughtful verses from Scripture with timely stories and perspectives from Warren's own life, The Purpose Driven Life will help you discover the answer to one of life's most important questions: What on earth am I here for? Throughout The Purpose Driven Life, Warren will teach you to spend time getting to know yourself and your creator in order to live your life to the fullest. Unlocking your true purpose will also reduce your stress, simplify your decisions, increase your satisfaction, and, most importantly, prepare you for eternity. Designed to be read over the course of forty-two days, The Purpose Driven Life will help you see the big picture, giving you a fresh perspective on the way that the pieces of your life fit together. Every chapter of The Purpose Driven Life provides a daily meditation and practical steps to help you uncover and live out your purpose, starting with exploring three essential questions: The Question of Existence: Why am I alive? The Question of Significance: Does my life matter? The Question of Purpose: What on earth am I here for? Each copy of The Purpose Driven Life also includes thoughtful discussion questions, audio Bible studies that go along with every chapter, and access to a supportive online community, giving you the opportunity to dive even deeper into each life-changing lesson.
We know Jesus the Savior, but have we met Jesus, Prince of Peace? When did we accept vengeance as an acceptable part of the Christian life? How did violence and power seep into our understanding of faith and grace? For those troubled by this trend toward the sword, perhaps there is a better way. What if the message of Jesus differs radically differs from the drumbeats of war we hear all around us? Using his own journey from war crier to peacemaker and his in-depth study of peace in the scriptures, author and pastor Brian Zahnd reintroduces us to the gospel of Peace.