Heather Zempel oversees the community life at a multisite church in Washington, D.C., a challenging population with one of the highest relocation rates in the United States. And yet under her leadership, National Community Church has become a model for creative, dynamic, deep small group ministry. Drawing from her background as an environmental engineer (including such bizarre experiences as monitoring a pig lagoon and the unintended slaughter of a hundred innocent fish), Heather Zempel assesses the perils and possibilities inherent in small groups and other environments for Christian community. The book helps leaders begin to see the inherent "mess" of such gatherings as raw material for arriving at something beautiful. Read this book and discover fresh insights into how we can support one another's unique paths to maturity in Christ while maintaining cohesion as a community and blessing the world around us.

"a gift to any busy minister" - Dr Tim Ling

Beyond Busyness is a practical and effective step towards connecting up the limitations of time with the demands and realities of ministry. It helps ministers to take positive steps in developing a time wisdom which will help them navigate the very considerable pressures that many currently face.

"Beyond Busyness abounds with practical wisdom for those engaged in Christian Ministry. At a time when busyness, anxiety and stress characterise the lives of many of the Church's ministers, Stephen Cherry has written a much-needed book. It very effectively challenges ministers to reflect on how they approach and use the gift of time. Each of the short 28 sessions offers considerable insight into the nature of time and encourages ministers to confront their current habits and develop new life-giving practices through which their ministry can thrive and they can flourish. Every minister should spend time not only reading Beyond Busyness but integrating its wisdom into their lives." - DR JOCELYN BRYAN, Director of Postgraduate Studies, St John's College, Durham University

Stephen Cherry is a Residentiary Canon of Durham Cathedral, Director of Ministerial Development and Parish Support in the Diocese of Durham, and author of Healing Agony and the Archbishop of Canterbury's 2011 Lent Book, Barefoot Disciple.

Previously, Stephen was Chaplain of King's College Cambridge for five years and Rector of All Saints with Holy Trinity in Loughborough for twelve. His current post combines cathedral ministry with the leadership of the Diocesan Resource Team in Durham and he is also responsible for Continuing Ministerial Development.

Find the freedom from regret, hurt, and fear that God wants for you while discovering joy, relief, and hope as you become the beautiful human he created you to be. We all carry regret, hurt, and fear. These are burdens that weigh us down and make us feel trapped. In twenty-five years of pastoral ministry, Scott Sauls has come alongside countless individuals and communities through weary seasons and circumstances. From his own seasons of regret, hurt, and fear--including battles with anxiety and depression--he knows what it's like to be unfinished and on the mend under Jesus' merciful, mighty healing hand. Beautiful People Don't Just Happen reads like a field guide that can help you: Find hope in how God is drawn toward you, not appalled by you, in your sin and sorrow. Practice emotional health with joy, gratitude, and lament. Quiet shaming, wearying thoughts with God's divine counter-voice. Discover how the defining feeling of faith is not strength but dependent weakness. Learn what the Bible calls "the secret of being content" in every circumstance. Dare to embrace the contentment, hope, and fullness God wants for you--offered to all who will receive it.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Gerald Roe was interrupted while lecturing in his church-planting class by a student who asked, "What if Jesus came back right now to live on earth like He did in Bible days? Wouldn't He go to church the same way He went to the synagogue back then? Which church would He choose? If the true church is all about Jesus, wouldn't it be a good idea to consider what Jesus would look for in a church and make that part of our church planting methodology?" Where Would Jesus Go to Church? answers those questions. As Dr. Roe makes clear, for the blessings of God to rest upon any congregation, the church must answer two important questions: What is the true church? and What is the church to do? In far too many instances, these questions are being asked in the reverse order, leading to a compromising disconnect between the church's essential biblical character and its earthly effectiveness. Where Would Jesus Go to Church? sheds needed light and offers practical, biblical answers. **** ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gerald Roe is currently department chair and associate professor of intercultural studies/missions at North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina. Prior to moving to South Carolina, Gerald spent over thirty years in ministry serving churches as senior pastor in Texas, Hawaii, and Kentucky and as the Director of Missions for the Massachusetts Baptist Association under missionary appointment of the North American Mission Board, SBC. Additionally, Gerald continues his pastoral ministry by assisting churches in various forms of transition and as interim pastor. Dr. Roe earned his undergraduate degree from Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas, and two graduate degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. His passion is for pastors and local churches, both current and future. He is married to Cheryl Dianne and has four grown children and four grandchildren.

There are some things we just don't talk about. Things like sex, particularly when our sexuality is a matter of personal struggle. Things like the vulnerabilities of our pastors, who must maintain a fa?ade not merely of respectability but of moral and psychological superiority. We don't talk about things that make us feel insecure, that make us feel unsettled. But the nature of spiritual growth, even the story of Christian faith, is a matter of being unsettled from the comfortable compromises we've made and set on a course together toward wholeness and mutually supportive community. Pastor T. C. Ryan takes us on an unsettling journey through his lifelong struggle with sexual addiction, one that predated and pervaded his pastoral ministry--one which for far too long he faced in secrecy and isolation, separated from the brothers and sisters in Christ who were called to bear one another's burdens. Ashamed No More doesn't cast blame or argue for looser moral standards. It does, however, call us to the unsettling ministry that a God who is love calls us to--the unsettling grace that is the audacious gospel of Christ.

At the end of the twentieth century the forces of race, gender, ethnicity, culture, social status, lifestyle and sexual orientation threaten to disassemble any universal notion of "human nature" or "human condition". In light of this historical moment and its challenges, the Christian doctrine of humanity is ripe for clarification and restatement. This theological task, argues Sherlock, demands a "double focus." Both the human image of God and the particular realities of human existence must be brought into sharper, more detailed focus. Only then will we begin to understand human nature in the light of divine revelation. Sherlock notably engages the communal dimension of humanity in its creational, social and cultural aspects before examining the human person as individual, as male and female, and as whole being. The Doctrine of Humanity is a timely and engaging look at what it means to be human on the continuum between our creation in the divine image and our hope of re-creation in the image of Christ.

Have you found fulfillment in life? When you look at a plate, cup, or fork, you realize each has been designed and created for a different purpose. What if you could look into the mind and heart of God and see just how you have been designed and created? If you truly knew you were a "plate, cup, or fork," you would be freed from trying to be someone you are not, and free to live your life with greater faithfulness, fruitfulness, and fulfillment...making God famous! God created you to be fruitful by discovering your God-given design and the role he created for you. What You Do Best equips you to identify and express your unique contribution to this world as an integral part of your relationships, life, and ministry. The biblical principles in these pages can free you to pursue your life's calling with enthusiasm and confidence as you gain a better understanding of who God made you to be. Bruce Bugbee provides proven tools and a conversational approach that will guide you with confidence and competence toward a greater fulfillment of God's will for your life. What You Do Best provides reflection questions for each chapter that help you journal or discuss what you are learning with others, as well as Scripture passages for further study. You'll learn about the importance and use of spiritual gifts and how to identify the gifts God has given to you. You'll discover your unique relational style and uncover your life passion. What You Do Best helps you to closely examine yourself, assess your relationship with God, and reflect on what you need in order to thrive as the person you were created to be. You'll emerge from the process with a greater understanding of God, his purposes, your calling, and your role in this world. Each copy of the book includes access to three online self-assessments that help you to identify your unique spiritual gifts, relational style, and life passion.

What signals are you sending when you share the gospel? The importance of signs for communicating truth has been recognized throughout the ages. Crystal L. Downing traces this awareness from biblical texts, through figures from church history like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale, to more recent writers Samuel Taylor Coleridge and C. S. Lewis. In the nineteenth century, this legacy of interest in the activity of signs brought about a new field of academic study. In this book, Downing puts the discipline of semiotics within reach for beginners through analysis of the movement's key theorists, Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles Sanders Peirce, Mikhail Bakhtin and others. She then draws out the implications for effective communication of the gospel of Jesus Christ within our shifting cultural landscape. Her fundamental thesis is that "Failure to understand how signs work--as effects of the cultures we seek to affect--inevitably undermines not just our political and moral agendas but, worse, the gospel of Jesus Christ." Writing with humor, clarity and flare, Downing lucidly explains the sophisticated thinking of leaders in semiotics for nonexperts. Of value to all those interested in communication in any context, this work will be of special interest to students majoring in communications or English or to students in evangelism and preaching courses at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Winner of the 2013 Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize presented by the American Society of Church History Mississippi Praying examines the faith communities at ground-zero of the racial revolution that rocked America. This religious history of white Mississippians in the civil rights era shows how Mississippians' intense religious commitments played critical, rather than incidental, roles in their response to the movement for black equality. During the civil rights movement and since, it has perplexed many Americans that unabashedly Christian Mississippi could also unapologetically oppress its black population. Yet, as Carolyn Renee Dupont richly details, white southerners' evangelical religion gave them no conceptual tools for understanding segregation as a moral evil, and many believed that God had ordained the racial hierarchy. Challenging previous scholarship that depicts southern religious support for segregation as weak, Dupont shows how people of faith in Mississippi rejected the religious argument for black equality and actively supported the effort to thwart the civil rights movement. At the same time, faith motivated a small number of white Mississippians to challenge the methods and tactics of do-or-die segregationists. Racial turmoil profoundly destabilized Mississippi's religious communities and turned them into battlegrounds over the issue of black equality. Though Mississippi's evangelicals lost the battle to preserve segregation, they won important struggles to preserve the theology that had sustained the racial hierarchy. Ultimately, this history sheds light on the eventual rise of the religious right by elaborating the connections between the pre- and post-civil rights South.

Dr. Charles Stanley cuts through the mystique of wisdom and presents God's simple plan to bless those who walk in His ways.

In this workbook, best-selling author Dr. Charles Stanley reveals a simple fact: There are only two ways to journey through life―wisely or unwisely. Those who walk wisely can expect to live a life pleasing to God and graced by the blessing of His love and pesence. Those who walk unwisely can anticipate a life that falls tragically short of God's best.

The world offers endless philosophies about what it means to live abundantly. With so many options, how can we be wise in setting priorities, establishing relationships, and making decisions? Dr. Stanley offers scriptural wisdom for daily living.

Product features include:

• Insightful Questions for In-Depth Study
• Guided Prayers
• Quotes from "Walking Wisely"

This important study guide, which is perfect for individual or group settings, will help you discern God's will more effectively.

Have you ever wondered about the correctness of the messages and teachings of preachers behind the pulpits and on TV today? Who holds them accountable for explanations and outlines of the truth? Who questions them or anything they say? With sound biblical exegesis, this book challenges you to keep an open mind and determine for yourself what is true or false. As an ordained Word of Faith preacher, Joe Bachota has firsthand knowledge of the doctrines being preached.

"Word of Faith Preachers" isn't meant to be an exhaustive discussion of every doctrinal position taken by the movement. Instead, it explores a few of the major heresies the Word of Faith churches are teaching, with the goal of preventing you from being led astray if you are exposed to them. Even though Bachota once believed, preached, and taught most of these doctrines, the Lord has led him in another direction, opening his eyes to the heresies contained in some of the Word of Faith doctrine. Hopefully, this book will lead you in the same way and enable you to come to the same conclusion he did: the teachings of many churches today, particularly Word of Faith churches, are completely out of touch with sound biblical doctrine.