In this four-session small group Bible study, Staying in Love, pastor Andy Stanley discusses how to stay in love once you fall in love. We all know what s required to fall in love a pulse. Falling in love is easy. But staying there---that s something else entirely. With more than a thousand matchmaking services available today and new ones springing up all the time, finding a romantic match can be easier than ever. But staying together with the one you ve found seems to be the real challenge. So, is it possible for two people to fall in love and actually stay there? Absolutely Let Andy Stanley show you how through the four sessions of Staying in Love. This Participant Guide includes discussion questions, video overview, space for taking notes, and a helpful Leader s Guide. When used with the companion Staying in Love DVD (sold separately) it works as a powerful catalyst for spiritual growth. Sessions include: 1. Love is a Verb2. Re-Modeling3. Feelin It4. Multiple Choice Marriage"

Every blockbuster movie with an epic story that you've seen has come back with a sequel. Think of "Star Wars" or "Lord of the Rings." Why should a TalkSheets book be any different? With the epic stories found in the New Testament, we couldn't cover it all in one edition of TalkSheets...so we're back with more! More High School TalkSheets on the New Testament, Epic Bible Stories brings another year's worth of compelling and thought provoking weekly discussion starters to your high school youth group, leading to meaningful conversations among the teenagers in your group. Not only that, they're easy for you to use: You'll find helpful hints and optional activities that help facilitate great conversations. With the reproducible TalkSheets in this book, you'll help your high school students look closer at some of the epic stories of the New Testament, like: * Jesus eats dinner with a bunch of sinners * Peter demonstrates evangelism * Jesus preaches for six hours * Peter makes a jail break * Jesus tells a story of the rich man and Lazarus * And many more!

There's hope for childhood. Despite a perfect storm of hostile forces that are robbing children of a healthy childhood, courageous parents and teachers who know what's best for children are turning the tide. Johann Christoph Arnold, whose books on education, parenting, and relationships have helped more than a million readers through life's challenges, draws on the stories and voices of parents and educators on the ground, and a wealth of personal experience. He surveys the drastic changes in the lives of children, but also the groundswell of grassroots advocacy and action that he believes will lead to the triumph of common sense and time-tested wisdom. Arnold takes on technology, standardized testing, overstimulation, academic pressure, marketing to children, over-diagnosis and much more, calling on everyone who loves children to combat these threats to childhood and find creative ways to help children flourish. Every parent, teacher, and childcare provider has the power to make a difference, by giving children time to play, access to nature, and personal attention, and most of all, by defending their right to remain children.

This Facilitator Guide offers a framework for using Living in an Icon as a series of exercises and community building practices for small groups in various settings, from weekend retreats or study series, to a 21-week extended practice.

Shawn J. Wilhite's commentary on the Didache complements the study of early Christianity through historical, literary, and theological readings of the Apostolic Fathers, seeking to be mindful of critical scholarship while commenting on a final-form text. The Didache includes a brief introduction to this relevant text, the use of Scripture by the Didachist, and the theology of the Didache. The commentary proceeds section by section with a close ear to the text of the Didache, relevant early Christian literature, and current scholarship.

What is the greatest return on a leader's time? After leaders have invested in their own leadership growth, what is the best way to accomplish their vision and grow their organizations and teams? Develop leaders! The more leaders an organization has and the better equipped they are to lead, the more successful the organization and all of its leaders. In this new workbook, based on the title of the same name, number one New York Times bestselling author John C. Maxwell takes the process of developing leaders to the next level by relating some of the key principles he has learned over the last quarter century as his organizations have developed millions of business, government, and non-profit leaders from every country around the world. He instructs leaders how to . . . Recognize potential leaders Attract leaders by creating a leadership "table" Work themselves out of a job by equipping and empowering leaders Position leaders to build a winning team Coach leaders to higher levels and make them leadership developers themselves This is where leaders really experience the compounding value of developing leaders and go to the highest levels of leadership themselves. The Leader's Greatest Return Workbook walks you through the process and helps you create a roadmap for success. Anyone who wants to take the next step in their leadership, build their organization or team today, and create their legacy for tomorrow needs to read The Leader's Greatest Return. Also available as a trade book.

Primary school children are required to learn about Christianity and local churches are often keen to help, but don't know where to start. This book provides a four-year cycle of resources that churches can offer to children at Key Stage Two (years 3 to 6, ages 7 to 11). The tried-and-tested workshop material covers Christmas, Easter and stories about Jesus and includes all you need to know to run sessions in your local church.

In these firsthand accounts of the early church, the spirit of Pentecost burns with prophetic force through the fog enveloping the modern church. A clear and vibrant faith lives on in these writings, providing a guide for Christians today. Its stark simplicity and revolutionary fervor will stun those lulled by conventional Christianity. The Early Christians is a topically arranged collection of primary sources. It includes extra-biblical sayings of Jesus and excerpts from Origen, Tertullian, Polycarp, Clement of Alexandria, Justin, Irenaeus, Hermas, Ignatius, and others. Equally revealing material from pagan contemporaries - critics, detractors, and persecutors - is included as well.

Publishers Weekly starred review One of the Top 100 Books and One of the 5 Best Books in Religion for 2019, Publishers Weekly Christianity Today 2020 Book Award Winner (Spiritual Formation) Outreach 2020 Resource of the Year (Spiritual Growth) Foreword INDIES 2019 Honorable Mention for Religion This is not a book about Saint Augustine. In a way, it's a book Augustine has written about each of us. Popular speaker and award-winning author James K. A. Smith has spent time on the road with Augustine, and he invites us to take this journey too, for this ancient African thinker knows far more about us than we might expect. Following Smith's successful You Are What You Love, this book shows how Augustine can be a pilgrim guide to a spirituality that meets the complicated world we live in. Augustine, says Smith, is the patron saint of restless hearts--a guide who has been there, asked our questions, and knows our frustrations and failed pursuits. Augustine spent a lifetime searching for his heart's true home and he can help us find our way. "What makes Augustine a guide worth considering," says Smith, "is that he knows where home is, where rest can be found, what peace feels like, even if it is sometimes ephemeral and elusive along the way." Addressing believers and skeptics alike, this book shows how Augustine's timeless wisdom speaks to the worries and struggles of contemporary life, covering topics such as ambition, sex, friendship, freedom, parenthood, and death. As Smith vividly and colorfully brings Augustine to life for 21st-century readers, he also offers a fresh articulation of Christianity that speaks to our deepest hungers, fears, and hopes.

Templeton Foundation Character Project's Character Essay and Book Prize Competition award winner What does it mean to love God with all of our minds? Our culture today is in a state of crisis where intellectual virtue is concerned. Dishonesty, cheating, arrogance, laziness, cowardice--such vices are rampant in society, even among the world's most prominent leaders. We find ourselves in an ethical vacuum, as the daily headlines of our newspapers confirm again and again. Central to the problem is the state of education. We live in a technological world that has ever greater access to new information and yet no idea what to do with it all. In this wise and winsome book, Philip Dow presents a case for the recovery of intellectual character. He explores seven key virtues--courage, carefulness, tenacity, fair-mindedness, curiosity, honesty and humility--and discusses their many benefits. The recovery of virtue, Dow argues, is not about doing the right things, but about becoming the right kind of person. The formation of intellectual character produces a way of life that demonstrates love for both God and neighbor. Dow has written an eminently practical guide to a life of intellectual virtue designed especially for parents and educators. The book concludes with seven principles for a true education, a discussion guide for university and church groups, and nine appendices that provide examples from Dow's experience as a teacher and administrator. Virtuous Minds is a timely and thoughtful work for parents and pastors, teachers and students--anyone who thinks education is more about the quality of character than about the quantity of facts.

Knowledge that Transforms Without truth, we will be subject to every wind of distraction. Without grace, our lives will ring hollow. The Grace and Truth Study Bible is designed to help you understand and be formed by Scripture. Rich passage-by-passage study notes are theologically sound, guiding you to a deep understanding of each text, while always keeping in view the transformative affirmation and goodness of God's nature and redemptive plan. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and one of the foremost voices for evangelicals worldwide, heads up the editorial team for the NASB Grace and Truth Study Bible. This group of scholars and pastors is committed to delivering a trustworthy and approachable guide to Scripture to Bible readers. The warmhearted and faithful notes will provide first-time Bible readers reliable guidance while simultaneously nourishing veteran students of the Word with fresh insights. Unwavering in its commitment to evangelical steadfastness, this study Bible paints a stunning canvas of the goodness of God's redemptive plan revealed in the gospel of Jesus. Universally recognized as the gold standard among word-for-word translations, the beloved New American Standard Bible, 1995 Text, is now easier to read with Zondervan's exclusive NASB Comfort Print (R) typeface. Available in a variety of sophisticated designs, the NASB Grace and Truth Study Bible gives you the translation celebrated for faithfulness to the original biblical languages in a portable, easy-to-read format. Features: The full text of the New American Standard Bible, 1995 Text Insightful and practical bottom-of-the-page study notes faithfully illuminate Scripture passage by passage Bible Book Introductions invite you into the Scripture text without overwhelming technical terms or outlines Center-column cross reference system for deeper study NASB concordance Words of Jesus in red Elegant two-color page design 16 pages of full-color Bible maps Two satin ribbon markers Project leadership by general editor Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Exclusive Zondervan NASB Comfort Print typeface Print Size: 9 (Study Notes: 8)

Three leading Christian educators offer a survey of faith formation from various perspectives: biblical, theological, pastoral, practical, and global. They present a biblical theology of faith formation for individual and congregational life and show how faith can be formed through the life and mission of the local church through practices such as communal worship, Bible study, and mission. They also explore the faces of faith formation in multicultural and global contexts. The book includes practical exercises for those beginning in ministry and reflection questions.