What stories will historians tell about COVID-19? They’ll include the death count and rate of contagion. But to get a full picture of life in the time of Corona, we also need the stories of regular people navigating an upended world. Christ in the Time of Corona explores what a life of faith, hope, and love looks like for some of the people living in a global pandemic. Written by Christians under social distancing orders, the essays offer a snapshot of how work, relationships, and worship were altered overnight and what broken, trying-to-be-faithful, often-failing, Jesus-following people did and thought during this time. Author proceeds from this book go to World Central Kitchen to help cook meals for people all over the world.
Insufficient: Pursuing Grace-Based Pastoral Competence by Randy Nabors
Insufficient challenges pastors to look at their work in its varied complexity while recognizing the need and demand to increase competency in skills and admit their “insufficiency.” Nabors does not shy away from calling pastors to realize there is more than meets the eye in pursuing ministry. A right pursuit of orthodoxy has sometimes blinded pastors to what has been left out, namely the articulation of orthopraxis. Pastors also need Christian good works, especially justice and mercy. This book calls pastors to a dependence on the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, who alone is able to make competent pastors of the Gospel. It provides insights, advice, and pragmatic wisdom from more than 40 years of ministry.
To You I Lift Up My Soul: Confessions & Prayers by Michael W. Philliber
It is a strange phenomenon. When someone leads public prayer, some begin to have a truckload of ideas flood their minds and pour out of their mouths, while others freeze and can barely utter an intelligible request. One remedy for roaming and rambling or stammering and stumbling is to share public prayers. Whether leading a congregation in a corporate confession of sin or a communal series of prayers, it helps to know there is a thought-out beginning, middle, and end. To You I Lift Up My Soul gathers a number of prayers for such occasions.
Doing God’s Work: With Brothers and Sisters in Christ Serving in Milwaukee By Arnold "Arn" Quakkelaar
We often pray for God’s will to be done, but what is our role and responsibility in doing it? Arn Quakkelaar has experience in searching God’s will as a professional engineer and corporate executive in the global marketplace. Doing God’s Will may help you find how to fulfill God’s purposes, discern his plan, and do his work his way. These real-life stories and testimonies of faith from the disenfranchised in Milwaukee have much to teach those in any culture.
EmbRACE: A Biblical Study on Justice and Race by Dennis Kang
An explosion of racial conflict and division ensues across the country. Viral videos show scenes of police brutality, protesters insisting Black Lives Matter, while many others consider the problem isolated. What is the call of faithful believers in midst of these tensions? Is the goal of racial reconciliation part of a non-Christian agenda or is it God’s dream for his church? EmbRACE is a tool to help guide individuals and churches in a conversation of learning and growing in our understanding of the intersection of race, faith, and society.
Rooted: The Apostles' Creed - Second Edition by Ray Cannata and Josh Reitano
In a day when many things divide us, what unites us? Christians have, for centuries, found unity and solidarity through the confession of faith found in the Apostles' Creed. Many learned it as children, while others only became familiar with it later in life; some can recite it by memory, some in song, but all using the same essential words. Yet, familiar though it is, do we understand its meaning? When we profess, Sunday by Sunday, these historic words, do we have a full grasp of what it is we are professing? In Rooted: the Apostles' Creed, Dr. Raymond Cannata and Rev. Joshua Reitano teach us and refresh us in our understanding of what these important truths mean. Taking a little bit at a time, this book will guide you through a comprehensive understanding of the principles contained in the beloved Creed.
The Almost Dancer by Jessica Ribera
Climbing canyon walls in Texas, young Jessica dreams of becoming a real ballerina. Hours, auditions, and bloody toes later, she finds herself dancing professionally as a trainee of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Then one moment on stage sends her spinning. A memoir rich with vulnerability, humor, and an insider view of the ballet world, The Almost Dancer unpacks the effects of ambition, faith, education, and trauma on artistic life. Through spiritual insight and deep theological questions, Jessica recovers an identity that was never truly lost. This book is for anyone who needs to know that dreams don’t always come true but are always worth having.
Firstfruits of a New Creation: Essays in Honor of Jerram Barrs
Jerram Barrs serves as Professor of Christian Studies and Contemporary Culture at Covenant Theological Seminary. A student of the late Francis Schaeffer, Jerram joined the seminary faculty after 18 years with L’Abri Fellowship in England, where he also served as a pastor in the International Presbyterian Church. As Founder and Senior Scholar-in-Residence of the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute, Jerram is widely respected for the breadth of his teaching interests, and he is especially known for the sensitivity he brings toward those outside the Christian faith. Firstfruits of a New Creation is an expression of thanks for his life and ministry and his founding of the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute 30 years ago.
Co-Laborers, Co-Heirs: A Family Conversation
While our church doctrine teaches that men and women are co-laborers and co-heirs in Christ, does our practice reflect that truth? And what do we lose in our failures? To serve effectively together as brothers and sisters, we must be able to speak about good and hard things. The essays in Co-Laborers, Co-Heirs, by our sisters and mothers in the church can help us know, grow and do better. Here are redemptive celebrations, gentle corrections, and winsome invitations from the diversity of women God has given as gifts to the church body. Read and listen well so that may we better serve each other and God's kingdom.
Practices Of Love For the Life Of The World: A Lenten Devotional by Justin Edgar
A Lenten Devotional from City Pres Albequerque that may be used by anyone. This book guides you through a liturgical season that forms church, Lent, and all of life.
The Best Game: A Simple and Memorable Model for Successfully Running Any Organization By Michael S Smith
Leaders often don’t understand how to motivate their team and get the best results. They’re frustrated by low-performance or fuzzy results. Michael Smith’s The Best Game will help any leader win. It’s for organizational, business, and philanthropic leaders. The Best Game guides you through the process Smith has worked on so you can win the best game and enlist others to know the rules so they can succeed.
Jesus Redeems: Lenten Devotional by Doug Serven, Catie Forester
The season of Lent helps prepare us to celebrate Easter, the greatest Christian holiday. This devotional booklet will help guide you, with daily readings in Luke 19–24 through the last week of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
Ever Light and Dark: Telling Secrets, Telling the Truth by Elizabeth Miller Hayes
As we look into the stories of our lives, particularly the most difficult ones, we connect more deeply with ourselves, with others, and even with God. Elizabeth believes that when people tell their stories, things change. We are found through the telling, and so is hope. She also has found faith. It's mysterious, and at times infuriating, as she experiences a God who refuses to be controlled. God doesn't promise the elimination of suffering, only that he will be with us in it. It's not the religion she grew up with. It's more nuanced than that. But most important, it’s real. Explore this real faith with her in Ever Light and Dark.
All Are Welcome: Toward a Multi-Everything Church
As conversations abound on social media platforms and in the news media, more people are beginning to wonder why ethnic and cultural diversity is increasing in our cities, yet it is not reflected in our churches. All Are Welcome is an attempt to have (and continue) the conversation that looms in our communities. Each contributor in this edited volume is an ethnic minority. These are the voices that are often overlooked, yet they provide ideas and answers for how to create a much more welcoming environment for all people in our local congregations.
A Sometimes Stumbling Life: Making Sense of Our Struggles and God's Grace in the Journey of Faith by Mike Khandjian
"God didn’t send Jesus to make us perfect but to make us his." This line from Mike Khandjian's A Sometimes Stumbling Life encapsulates the unfolding drama of a faith that is rooted in the delight of a Father who relentlessly pursues his children in spite of themselves. Offering no self-help secrets or empty platitudes, it is an invitation to experience God's welcoming grace in the midst of our brokenness. With fresh glimpses of the biblical story, Mike employs his own experiences and those of others to invite us into a story where we are both fully known and fully loved.
Choosing A Church: A Biblical and Practical Guide by Jonathan Stoddard
How do I find the right church? Choosing a Church is written for anyone who is interested in Christianity but is unfamiliar with the Christian church. Perhaps you want to learn more about Jesus, but you don't know where to turn. This book is your guide to finding a church you can call home.You'll learn:If there is one God, why are there so many different churches? Does it matter if a church has rock music or hymns? Is there one true church? How do I know what beliefs are essential? Does church membership matter? And much more!
The Birth of Joy: Philippians by Doug Serven and Bobby Griffith
The ancient letter of Philippians invites us to joy—today. The Apostle Paul calls the Christian community to rejoice in all things and to endure all things joyfully. However, it is not out of a naïve focus on dying and going to heaven, but rather out of a willingness to embrace the reality of what it means to take hold of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection—to follow him in loving God and others. Philippians invites us to joy and to find something in which to rejoice in the midst of our hectic, never-satisfied world.
Fantastic Voyage: A Story of School Turnaround and Achievement by Overcoming Poverty and Addressing Race by Lee Roland
How can we help our inner city children when schools continue to fail them? Who offers practical helps that have been tested and proven effective? Fantastic Voyage offers a helpful and hopeful tool for educators at every level. It also serves as a guide for communities to know how to better love and serve their neighbors and advocate for sustained improvement in their local school systems. Lee Roland believes every child deserves the best. He shares his experience at Tulakes Elementary to inspire educators to passionately work to ensure that EVERY child succeeds—regardless of color or class—and to encourage communities to fight for a quality public education for ALL children.
Urban Hinterlands: Planting the Gospel in Uncool Places by Sean Benesh
As city centers become more revitalized, desirable, hip, and trendy, there is a wave of new church planters moving in. A direct correlation can be seen between the “livability” of a place and the number of new churches planted there. But should the driving goal of church planters be to move and plant the Gospel in cities and neighborhoods that are deemed desirable? What about uncool paces? What about the Urban Hinterlands? Benesh includes frank confession and discussion about motives in church planting, the value of place, ministry calling, and personal identity. He also challenges prevailing perceptions of what makes a city livable.
The Organized Pastor: Systems to Care for People Well by Doug Serven
In The Organized Pastor, Rev. Doug Serven gives hope and practical tips to pastors who want to get a handle on their time and priorities so they can be more productive. As someone who is not naturally organized but has learned to be more so, Serven provides specific, actionable suggestions for how pastors can make the most of the time they have. As a pastor, he provides encouragement because he wants pastors to succeed in their calling to love Christ and his church. As someone in ministry, he kept the book short because he knows pastors are busy people!