Readers' Choice Award Winner Best Books About the Church from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore Fast food. Fast cars. Fast and furious. Fast forward. Fast . . . church? The church is often idealized (or demonized) as the last bastion of a bygone era, dragging our feet as we're pulled into new moralities and new spiritualities. We guard our doctrine and our piety with great vigilance. But we often fail to notice how quickly we're capitulating, in the structures and practices of our churches, to a culture of unreflective speed, dehumanizing efficiency and dis-integrating isolationism. In the beginning, the church ate together, traveled together and shared in all facets of life. Centered as they were on Jesus, these seemingly mundane activities took on their own significance in the mission of God. In Slow Church, Chris Smith and John Pattison invite us to leave franchise faith behind and enter into the ecology, economy and ethics of the kingdom of God, where people know each other well and love one another as Christ loved the church.

Embrace the spirit of conservation with this beautiful notebook collection. Drawing inspiration from the wisdom of leading conservationist and environmentalist Jane Goodall, this set of three notebooks is a reminder to reconnect with nature and take action on behalf of all living things and the planet we share. This set features one wood covered notebook with blank pages for sketching and free journaling and two eco-friendly kraft paper notebooks with 64 lined pages each. All three notebooks feature responsibly forested FSC paper. - GREAT VALUE: This notebook set includes three notebooks, making it a great buy for hikers, campers, and wanderers of all types. - HIGHLY DURABLE PAPER AND WOOD COVER: One notebook features tough kraft paper that's made to last, while another features a gorgeous wood cover. - PERFECT SIZE, 6" x 8.5" An ideal size for journaling or sketching, these notebooks are great for taking on the go. - 64 PAGES EACH: These notebooks give you plenty of space to draw and write, while staying light and portable. - INSPIRING QUOTE, BEAUTIFUL DESIGN: Featuring a quote from Jane Goodall, these beautiful designs are sure to inspire you.

This bestselling Hollywood novel by the witty author of "Wishful Drinking" and "Shockaholic" that was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.
When we first meet the extraordinary young actress Suzanne Vale, she's feeling like "something on the bottom of someone's shoe, and not even someone interesting." Suzanne is in the harrowing and hilarious throes of drug rehabilitation, trying to understand what happened to her life and how she managed to land in a "drug hospital."
Just as Fisher's first film role--the precocious teenager in "Shampoo"--echoed her own Beverly Hills upbringing, her first book is set within the world she knows better than anyone else: Hollywood. This stunning literary debut chronicles Suzanne's vivid, excruciatingly funny experiences inside the clinic and as she comes to terms with life in the outside world. "Postcards from the Edge" is more than a book about stardom and drugs. It is a revealing look at the dangers--and delights--of all our addictions, from money and success to sex and insecurity.

These popular and proven workbooks help students build confidence before attempting end-of-chapter problems. They provide short exercises that focus on developing a particular skill, mostly requiring students to draw or interpret sketches and graphs. New to the Third Edition are exercises that provide guided practice for the textbook's Problem-Solving Strategies, focusing in particular on working symbolically.

Looking for an ideal toast, quip, or remark for that special occasion--or the perfect pithy comment to enliven an everyday conversation? Ask Shakespeare!

A wedding vow--"To you I give myself, for I am yours" ("As You Like It")

A birthday greeting--to me, fair fried, you can never be old. (Sonnet 104)

Party time!--"Let's mock the midnight bell." ("Antony and Cleopatra")

The plays and poetry of the Immortal Bard make up a vast repository of wit and wisdom, insight and passion. If there's an occasion that needs commemorating, chances are there are some lines from Shakespeare that will do the job right. Whether you want to "speak the speech" with verve and flair or craft an elegant toast, lecture, or missive, world-renowned Shakespearean director and teacher Barry Edelstein will help you find the perfect "Bardism" for any occasion.

From houseplants and succulents to container gardens and vegetable patches, track your gardening progress and plot your growing dreams in this charming, cheeky plant journal. Container gardeners, newly-minted homesteaders and eager plant parents rejoice! Full of informative sidebars, guided growth charts, recommended varietals and adorable illustrations, I Love My Plants is a unique and useful journal for keeping up with your green thumb. This concealed spiral-bound journal is as practical as it is beautiful, with three notched sections for easy reference, fresh tips for keeping plants thriving and a durable, matte-laminated cover. With room to track progress for both indoor and outdoor plants, as well as sections for free-form writing and planning, I Love My Plants is the perfect addition to any indoor, or outdoor, gardener's toolkit.

The Truth Revealed

Freemasons have been connected to the all-seeing eye on the dollar bill, the French Revolution, the Knights Templar, and the pyramids of Egypt. They have been rumored to be everything from a cabal of elite power brokers ruling the world to a covert network of occultists and pagans intent on creating a new world order, to a millennia-old brotherhood perpetuating ancient wisdom through esoteric teachings. Their secret symbols, rituals, and organization have remained shrouded for centuries and spawned theory after theory. The Masonic Myth sets the record straight about the Freemasons and reveals a truth that is far more compelling than the myths.

Relax and unwind with this stress-relieving colouring book of relaxing patterns. The art of colouring is a form of meditation, focusing the mind and stilling the endless mental chatter that saps our energy and causes stress and negative feelings. As you start to colour in these beautiful designs you will unleash your inner creativity and find yourself gradually moving to a more peaceful and calming state of mind. You can colour in as little or as much as you like, taking your time to develop your picture the way you want it. There are no hard or fast rules, you are truly free to create your own unique designs using pencils, pens or paints. Start colouring today and enjoy the still, quiet voice of calm this simple meditative practice will bring.

Most Christian parents know that the best way to leave a God-honoring legacy to their family is to nurture their children's faith . . . but many don't know where to start! This new resource from Jim Burns, founder of HomeWord, will equip parents to start important conversations with their kids--family time with an eternal impact. Faith Conversations for Families makes it easy to invite God into quality family time. Each section outlines an easy-to-follow dialogue, which is flexible for children of different age groups. In addition, suggested activities and exercises make spiritual formation adaptable for kids with varying learning styles. The six family-friendly topics included in this book are: Who Is Jesus and Why It Matters: Help parents talk with their kids about why His life, death, and resurrection are so important. What Prayer Is All About: Parents can introduce vibrant conversation with God into their family's time together. What It Means to Be Christian: Parents can lead their kids toward a faith commitment and spiritual growth, through open communication and exciting biblical expression. A Strong Family: Parents can teach, guide, and strengthen healthy bonds within the family. Loving and Serving Others: Parents can talk with their children about servant leadership and self-sacrifice and be challenged to serve in and outside of their home. Building Morals and Values: Parents can help their kids discern and navigate cultural influences that run contrary to a biblical worldview. In the heart of every Christian parent is a desire to help their children grow spiritually. Faith Conversations for Families helps parents make that desire a beautiful reality.

John Piper challenges fellow baby boomers to forego the American dream of retirement and live out their golden years with a far greater purpose in mind.

They say it's a person's reward for all those years of labor. "Turn in your time card and trade in your IRAs. Let travel plans and golf-course leisure lead the way." But is retirement really the ideal? Or is it a series of poor options that ignore a greater purpose-and will kill a person more quickly than old age?

John Piper responds: "Lord, spare me this curse " And his resounding message is for anyone who believes there's far more to the golden years than accumulating comforts. It's for readers who long to finish better than they started, persevere for the right reasons (and without fear), experience true security, value what lies beyond their cravings, and live dangerously for the One who gave his life in his prime. With this brief book, Piper is sure to spur fellow baby boomers in their resolve to invest themselves in the sacrifices of love-and to grow old with godly zeal.

Medieval saint, mystic, healer, and visionary-Hildegard von Bingen has made a comeback. She is now popular in natural healing circles, in medieval and women's studies, and among those interested in investing the everyday with the spiritual.
Hildegard's Healing Plants is a gift version and new translation of the 'Plant' section of Physica, Hildegard's classic work on health and healing. Hildegard comments on 230 plants and grains-most of which are still grown in home gardens and sold at local health food stores. In one of many entries on women's health, Hildegard writes, 'Also if a pregnant woman labors much in childbirth, let someone cook pleasant herbs, such as fennel and assurum, in water with fear and great moderation, squeeze out the water, and place them while they are warm around her thighs and back, tied gently with a piece of cloth, so that her pain and her closed womb is opened more pleasantly and easily.'
Whether read for the sheer enjoyment of Hildegard's earthy, intelligent voice ("Let a man who has an overabundance of lust in his loins cook wild lettuce in water and pour it over himself in a sauna") or for her encyclopedic and often still relevant understanding of natural health, "Hildegard's Healing Plants" is a treasure for gardeners, natural healing enthusiasts, and Hildegard fans everywhere.
"Hildegard's Healing Plants" includes 230 plants and grains-most of which are still grown in home gardens and sold at local health food stores.

What's at stake in our worship? Everything. Worship is the dangerous act of waking up to God and God's purposes in the world. But something has gone wrong with our worship. Too often worship has become a place of safety and complacency, a narrowly private experience in which solitary individuals only express their personal adoration. Even when we gather corporately, we often close our eyes to those around us, focusing on God but ignoring our neighbor. But true biblical worship does not merely point us upward--it should turn us outward as well. In this prophetic wake-up call for the contemporary church, pastor Mark Labberton reconnects Christian worship with biblical justice. From beginning to end, worship must pursue justice and seek righteousness, translating into transformed lives that care for the poor and the oppressed. Labberton shows how to move beyond the comfort of safe worship to authentic worship that is awake to the needs of the world.

Have fun, save money, and improve your home with these easy step-by-step projects

Are you looking for a way to make your bathroom a little more beautiful? Or maybe you'd like to give your tired furniture a face-lift, improve your home's air quality, or fix a toilet. No matter your DIY needs and no matter whether you're a DIY novice or expert, home improvement guru Andrea Ridout, host of the nationally syndicated radio show Ask Andrea, has ideas, expertise, and advice to share with you.

If I Had a Hammer offers easy-to-follow instructions and illustrations designed to make home improvement simpler than ever. With a little help from Andrea, you'll be able to tackle repairs, painting and decorating, bathroom and kitchen remodeling, wood care for furniture and floors, and much more with projects that often take as little as an hour. Also, you can try a few of Andrea's energy-conserving projects that can dramatically improve your utility bill--Andrea's projects are friendly on the environment and on your wallet With If I Had a Hammer, you'll have the tools to keep your home functioning and looking as good as--or even better than--new.

This sweet blue gingham baby book for boys is 64 pages of keepsake records of a baby's birth and first year. There are prompted pages to fill in, scrapbooking pages for photos and more, small envelopes for the hospital bracelet and a lock of hair from the first haircut, and 2 full pockets for assorted keepsakes. The pages carry quotes, poems, prayers and verse from Scripture - all conveying the beauty and design of bringing forth this new life.

The padded cover has a die-cut photo frame for you to insert your own favorite picture. A magnetic flap keeps the book closed and tidy. The full-color pages are acid-free.

- 64 Full-Color Pages,Padded Cover

- Magnetic Closure

- Die-Cut Cover Photo Frame

- Acid-Free Paper

- Packaged In Gift Box With Acetate Window

Coloring mandalas--traditional, intricate circular designs--can be a meditative, relaxing, and creative practice for children and adults alike. Begin your journey to calm with this beautifully packaged book, which presents 92 mandalas for your drawing pleasure. Choose the colors you want and treasure, frame, and display the final art.

In this introduction to ecclesiology, respected scholars Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger offer a solidly evangelical yet ecumenical survey of the church in mission and doctrine. Combining biblical, historical, and cultural analysis, this comprehensive text explores the church as a Trinitarian, eschatological, worshiping, sacramental, serving, ordered, cultural, and missional community. It also offers practical application, addressing contemporary church life issues such as women in ministry, evangelism, social action, consumerism in church growth trends, ecumenism, and the church in postmodern culture. The book will appeal to all who are interested in church doctrine, particularly undergraduates and seminarians.

For the first time, Thomas Oden's Systematic Theology classic series (individually titled "The Living God," "The Word of Life," and "Life in the Spirit") is available in one complete volume. A renowned theologian, Oden provides a consensus view of the Christian faith, delving deeply into ancient Christian tradition and bringing to the contemporary church the best wisdom from its past. In this magisterial work, Oden tackles the central questions of Christian belief and the nature of the trinity.

Written for clergy, Christian educators, religious scholars, and lay readers alike, "Classic Christianity" provides the best synthesis of the whole history of Christian thought. Part one explores the most intriguing questions of the study of God--Does God exist? Does Jesus reveal God? Is God personal, compassionate, free?--and presents answers that reflect the broad consensus culled from the breadth of the church's teachers. It is rooted deeply and deliberately in scripture but confronts the contemporary mind with the vitality of the Christian tradition. Part two addresses the perplexing Christological issues of whether God became flesh, whether God became Christ, and whether Christ is the source of salvation. Oden details the core beliefs concerning Jesus Christ that have been handed down for the last two hundred decades, namely, who he was, what he did, and what that means for us today. Part three examines how the work of God in creation and redemption is being brought to consummation by the Holy Spirit in persons, through communities, and in the fullness of human destiny. Oden's magisterial study not only treats the traditional elements of systematical theology but also highlights the foundational exegetes throughout history. Covering the ecumenical councils and early synods; the great teachers of the Eastern church tradition, including Athanasius and John Chrysostom; and the prominent Western figures such as Augustine, Ambrose, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and John Calvin, this book offers the reader the fullest understanding of the Christian faith available.

Morning by Morning is considered a devotional classic for its faithful handling of Scripture and passionate interaction with God's Word. In this stand-alone edition, noted pastor-author Alistair Begg has carefully modernized Charles Spurgeon's language while preserving the original meaning, and used the English Standard Version for the Scripture text.

With its special binding, portable size, and more accessible language, this updated version of Morning by Morning will give a new generation of readers strength for each day. Also sold as a set with Evening by Evening.

Revive the art of storytelling using these nine beautifully illustrated wooden dice to create the most imaginative, funny and bizarre stories. Construct your own intergalactic adventure tale with flying saucers, cyborgs, mad scientists and aliens. Form an army with your space troopers to battle giant insects, dodge black holes and even gain superpowers like time travel and x-ray vision! This is the perfect family game that will stimulate the imaginations of children and adults alike. Ideal for playing by a log fire.

Originally published in 1957, this book provides a concise, yet highly detailed, record of the processes involved in building and maintaining windmills. Written by renowned windmill enthusiast Stanley Freese (1902-72), it is based on an accumulated knowledge gathered by the author during numerous discussions with millers, millwrights and mill repairers. The text is highly informative and, in addition to the main account, contains a wide variety of illustrative examples, including photographs and diagrams. This is a beautifully presented volume that will be of value to anyone with an interest in windmills and agricultural history in general.

For most of us, prayer is a struggle. We know we should pray. It would be good for us--help us be more grounded, more connected to God. But in our hurried lives, slowing down to pray can feel like a cosmic waste of time. Do our prayers even matter? What, if anything, happens when we pray? Are we having words with God or just words with ourselves? In this thoughtful book, Addison Bevere takes you into and through the tension of prayer--the struggles, the doubts, the answers--to the place where God makes himself real to you. Tired of boring, empty, transactional prayer? This is the book for you. "Addison's book takes us through our desires for prayer, our disappointments in prayer, and the profound deeper plan of God for our prayers. This is the book you'll return to again and again."--Mark Batterson, New York Times bestselling author of The Circle Maker, lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. "This beautifully written book is honest, intelligent, mysterious, and hope-filled. It's the kind of book about prayer that makes you want to pray."--Annie F. Downs, New York Times bestselling author of That Sounds Fun "Addison takes us beyond cliches and into the heart of God in a way that is biblical, personal, and deeply satisfying. This will stir fresh hunger for intimate conversations with God."--Jon Tyson, author of Beautiful Resistance, pastor of Church of the City New York www.church.nyc

La apologetica catolica es la parte de la teologia que busca explicar las razones de la fe. Demuestra las razones de la doctrina ante los adversarios y senala los errores para proteger su integridad. A este respecto decia Juan Pablo II: "Es esencial desarrollar en vuestras Iglesias particulares una nueva apologetica para vuestro pueblo, a fin de que comprenda lo que ensena la Iglesia y asi pueda dar razon de su esperanza...En un mundo donde las personas estan sometidas a la continua presion cultural e ideologica de los medios de comunicacion social y a la actitud agresivamente anticatolica de muchas sectas, es esencial que los catolicos conozcan lo que ensena la Iglesia, comprendan esa ensenanza y experimenten su fuerza liberadora. Sin esa comprension faltara la energia espiritual necesaria para la vida cristiana y para la obra de evangelizacion" En este libro recopilo los que considero mis mejores articulos apologeticos publicados a lo largo de 12 anos.

On the Farm pouch puzzle 12 extra thick pieces for little hands. Packaged in reusable plastic pouch. Phthalate free. Puzzle made of 90% recycled paper printed with nontoxic soy-based inks.

Want to say “FUâ€� to all Conservatives and the mess Bush left behind? Now, when Liberals are pissed off about politics and need to blow off steam, they can do just that with this quirky, edgy journal. For the days when they wake up on the wrong side of the bed and every Conservative is making them want to scream, this journal offers more than 75 activities to scribble, rant, and vent. Featuring hilarious exercises, like defacing a Glenn Beck voodoo doll, writing a scathing letter to Sarah Palin, or playing Conservative Jargon Bingo, this book is the perfect way to keep from completely freaking out on Conservative friends and coworkers. Liberals will love this creative way to cope with moronic Conservatives and everything infuriating about politics.