The black heart of human exploitation and the brave few seeking change

A child is sold for sex every ten miles on Brazil's BR-116 motorway. This 2,700-mile road is "The Highway to Hell" for the thousands of children, some as young as nine, who are trapped in sophisticated child prostitution rackets organized by businessmen and politicians.

An experienced journalist, Matt Roper has witnessed the extent of the trafficking firsthand. Highway to Hell documents his journey on this road. He meets the girls and hears their stories; he interviews truck drivers, pimps, brothel owners, and traffickers; and talks to the brave souls who are trying to make a difference.

Part documentary, part personal memoir, Matt honestly shares his struggles to understand what his Christian faith has to say about the things he encounters and how God wants him to respond.

Rosemary was born at the end of the Second World War. She grew up in a poor family in Clitheroe, struggling for survival in the era of ration books and austerity. But Rose was destined for something astonishing and inspiring, far beyond even her wildest dreams. John Lancaster, whom she married, left school without qualifications, clearly a loser. But he had an amazing ability to fix machines and invent things. He would go on to corner the market in conservatory roofing systems; his company became a world leader, floating on the stock market for GBP136 million. They were multi-millionaires. The pair, both committed Christians, set about giving away their astonishing fortune, starting with their employees. They set up the Lancaster Foundation, with Rose in charge, purchased an emergency plane for Mission Aviation Fellowship, and started the first village for destitute AIDS victims in South Africa. They did not give and walk away: Rose found herself rescuing children from the rubbish tips of Kenya. They have sponsored arts initiatives and major inner city regeneration projects in Manchester. They are one of Britain's generous philanthropists.

In this rousing book, David Adam celebrates the lives and interweaving stories of Aidan, Bede and Cuthbert. Recalling, in a personal introduction, his ordination to the pastoral ministry in Durham Cathedral (the burial place of Bede and Cuthbert) and his thirteen years as Vicar of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne (where Aidan lived), the author communicates clearly his appreciation of these three great saints. They have much to teach us, he believes, about vision - about expanding our spiritual awareness and deepening our love for God. St Aidan was Irish by birth and was a monk at Iona long before being selected as the first Bishop of Lindisfarne in 635. In time became pastor to all of Northumbria. St Bede the Venerable was born in 673 near Sunderland, and was a monk at Jarrow on the Tyne. He is revered for his scholarly output of commentaries on the Scriptures and his famous Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which is such an important source of our knowledge of the development of Christianity in Britain St Cuthbert, when he was sixteen, received a vision of the soul of St Aidan being carried to heaven by angels. This vision may have convinced him to enter holy orders at Melrose where he became Prior. Later, having lived for some time as a hermit on the island of Farne, he was later reluctantly persuaded to became Bishop of Lindisfarne in 685.

"The life of missionary Elisabeth Elliot, who began working among the Auca Indians in South America after her husband's death. Returning to the United States after many years as a missionary, Elliot became widely known as a Christian author and speaker"--Provided by publisher.

`It is strange that we can spend a lifetime sitting through church services and actually not really pray. I had spent years doing just that.' When Mary Kissell committed to getting up early every morning to spend time in prayer, she began a practice that would revolutionise her life. Daily developing her relationship with God, she grew in intimacy with the Holy Spirit and discovered how He speaks in whispers, glimpses and nudges - simple leadings that can have the profoundest outcomes. This rich and moving memoir tells the incredible story of how simply following the Holy Spirit's leading saw countless people impacted around the world and the most heart-rending situations transformed. Allow Mary's story of walking with the Holy Spirit inspire and encourage you to do the same, whatever season of life you are in.

Cheri DiNovo went from living on the streets as a teenager to performing the first legal same-sex marriage registered in Canada in 2001 as a United Church minister. This story of one queer kid will hopefully inspire other young people (queer and not) to resist the system and change it. In The Queer Evangelist, Rev. Dr. Cheri DiNovo (CM) tells her story, from her roots as a young socialist activist in the 1960s to ordained minister in the '90s to member of provincial parliament. As the New Democratic member representing Parkdale-High Park in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2006 to 2017, DiNovo passed more LGBTQ bills than anyone in Canadian history. She describes the behind-the-scenes details of major changes to the law, including Toby's Law, the first Transgender Rights legislation in North America in a major jurisdiction. She also passed bills banning conversion therapy, proclaiming parent equality for LGBTQ parents, and for enshrining in Ontario law the Trans Day of Remembrance. On this day in the legislature, the provincial government is mandated to observe a minute of silence while Trans murders and suicides are detailed. Interspersed with her political work DiNovo describes her conversion to religious life, her theological work, and her ongoing struggle with the Christian Right. Cheri DiNovo's story shows how queers can be both people of faith and critics of religion, illustrating how one can resist and change the repressive systems from within. Her book is the story of queer justice realized and a story of hope for queer (and other) kids everywhere.

On December 10, 2009, Crystal McVea, a thirty-two-year-old mother of four, stopped breathing. Her face turned a dark shade of blue, then black. Her mother screamed for help, and a nurse tried to revive her . . . to no avail. Today, Crystal does not remember what happened in that hospital room during the nine minutes she was unconscious and unable to breathe on her own. She has no memory of the panic and the rushing nurses and the loud cries of "Code Blue." She simply remembers drifting off.
And she remembers waking up in heaven. For most of Crystal's broken life, she felt utterly beyond the reach of God-- if God was even real. Then came December 10--and the nine minutes that changed everything. Waking Up in Heaven invites readers along on a journey to witness the relentless pursuit of God in a life that was shattered and seemingly beyond hope, an awe-inspiring account of love, forgiveness, and redemption, and the healing power of God's presence.
And that is why I want to share my story with the world. Because I was a skeptic and a sinner, and I didn't believe in God or in heaven. But God is real. Heaven is real. And God's love for us is the realest thing of all.

He loves the tango, was trained as a Chemist, and in his youth he had a regular girlfriend whom he planned to marry. For a pope, Francis has an unusual life story. Drawing on conversations, interviews, inside information and the Pope's own writings and talks, A Call to Serve offers first-hand information, moving reflections, and profound insights into the life and character of Jorge Bergoglio, his ministry in Buenos Aires, the challenges he faces in Rome, and his vision for renewing the church and serving the world. Over one hundred and fifty full-colour photographs accompany the Pope's remarkable story, capturing key moments and people in his upbringing and former life in Argentina. They also chronicle the historic events surrounding the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the extraordinary series of surprises that followed the election of the first pope from the Americas.

"It is impossible to remain unmoved by Gregory's emotional, open memoir of surviving the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. . . . This is a truly feel-good book that doesn't stint on the challenges that life throws at us."--Publishers Weekly, starred review ***** On April 15, 2013, Rebekah Gregory and her five-year-old son waited at the finish line of the Boston Marathon to support a friend who was running. When the blasts of terrorists' homemade bombs packed with nails and screws went off three feet away, Rebekah's legs took the brunt of the blast, protecting her son from certain death. Eighteen surgeries and sixty-five procedures later, her left leg was amputated. Despite the extraordinary trauma she underwent and the nightmares she continues to have, Rebekah sees it as just another part of her personal journey, a journey that has led her through abuse, mistakes, and pain and into the arms of Jesus. This stirring memoir tells the story of her recovery, including her triumphant return to Boston two years later to run part of the race, and explores the peace we experience when we learn to trust God with every part of our lives--the good, the bad, and even the terrifying. Readers will be moved by the joyous way Rebekah is determined to live her life, seeing every obstacle as part of how God forms us into the people we are meant to be. Readers will also find comfort in the message that it's not what they can or can't do that makes the difference, but rather what God, in his mercy, does through them despite it all. Life is hard, but with God all things are possible.

Christian Encounters, a series of biographies from Thomas Nelson Publishers, highlights important lives from all ages and areas of the Church. Some are familiar faces. Others are unexpected guests. But all, through their relationships, struggles, prayers, and desires, uniquely illuminate our shared experience.

A generation of 20th-century Americans knew him as a gentle, stoop-shouldered old black man who loved plants and discovered more than a hundred uses for the humble peanut. "George Washington Carver" goes beyond the public image to chronicle the adventures of one of history's most inspiring and remarkable men.

George Washington Carver was born a slave. After his mother was kidnapped during the Civil War, his former owners raised him as their own child. He was the first black graduate of Iowa State, and turned down a salary from Thomas Edison higher than the U.S. President to stay at the struggling Tuskegee Institute, where he taught and encouraged poor black students for nearly half a century.

Carver was an award-winning painter and acclaimed botanist who saw God the Creator in all of nature. The more he learned about the world, the more convinced he was that everything in it was a gift from the Almighty, that all people were equal in His sight, and that the way to gain respect from his fellow man was not to demand it, but to earn it.

Smith and Wace's magisterial A Dictionary of Christian Biography provides an account of the figures and personalities of the early Christian Church. Its four volumes and more than 4,000 pages provide authoritative accounts of every person connected with the early Christian Church, the literature connected with them, and the controversies relating to doctrine or discipline in which they were engaged. Articles range from extended entries on major figures such as Constantine I, Isidore of Seville, Justinian and Tertullianus, to entries on the Doctrine of Faith, the Apochryphal Gospels, Predestination, the Coptic Church, and the Doctrine of the Holy Ghost. Lesser known figures such as Esimphaeus, King of the Homeritae in the Yemen, and Alfredus, the seventh century Bishop of Narbonne are included. The result is a comprehensive Who was Who of the early Church and a major contribution to our understanding of what was done, believed and thought in the early ages of Christianity. With a new introduction by Michael Ledger-Lomas, a leading authority on the history of Christianity, this handsome large format edition forms a unique and valuable resource.

Your favourite occupation? Pondering and musing. Your idea of happiness? Pondering and musing. Your most extreme aversion? Pedantry and a sense of order. Of what are you afraid? Punctuality. The above quotations are extracted from a questionnaire filled in by a young man in his late twenties. That person, Rudolf Steiner, was later to found the spiritual science of anthroposophy and the many practical disciplines that arose from it. Eventually, he would write his Autobiography, although its composition would be interrupted by his unexpected death. This little volume is an essential complement to Steiner's unfinished autobiography. It gathers a wealth of personal testimonies - including lectures, resumes, notebook entries, a questionnaire, as well as biographical notes written for Edouard Schure - much of which has not been previously published in English. The various materials, together with rare photographs, have been expertly collated and introduced by Walter Kugler.

Little known in America but venerated as a martyr in Iran, Howard Baskerville was a twenty-two-year-old Christian missionary from South Dakota who traveled to Persia (modern-day Iran) in 1907 for a two-year stint teaching English and preaching the gospel. He arrived in the midst of a democratic revolution-the first of its kind in the Middle East-led by a group of brilliant young firebrands committed to transforming their country into a fully self-determining, constitutional monarchy, one with free elections and an independent parliament. The Persian students Baskerville educated in English in turn educated him about their struggle for democracy, ultimately inspiring him to leave his teaching post and join them in their fight against a tyrannical shah and his British and Russian backers. "The only difference between me and these people is the place of my birth," Baskerville declared, "and that is not a big difference." In 1909, Baskerville was killed in battle alongside his students, but his martyrdom spurred on the revolutionaries who succeeded in removing the shah from power, signing a new constitution, and rebuilding parliament in Tehran. To this day, Baskerville's tomb in the city of Tabriz remains a place of pilgrimage. Every year, thousands of Iranians visit his grave to honor the American who gave his life for Iran. In this rip-roaring tale of his life and death, Aslan gives us a powerful parable about the universal ideals of democracy-and to what degree Americans are willing to support those ideals in a foreign land. Woven throughout is an essential history of the nation we now know as Iran-frequently demonized and misunderstood in the West. Indeed, Baskerville's life and death represent a "road not taken" in Iran. Baskerville's story, like his life, is at the center of a whirlwind in which Americans must ask themselves: How seriously do we take our ideals of constitutional democracy and whose freedom do we support?

George Mueller's life is a powerful answer to modern scepticism. His name has become a by-word for faith throughout the world. In the early 1830's he embarked upon an extraordinary adventure. Disturbed by the faithlessness of the Church in general, he longed to have something to point to as 'visible proof that our God and Father is the same faithful creator as he ever was'. Praying in every penny of the costs, he supervised the building of three large orphanages housing thousands of children. Under no circumstances would any individual ever be asked for money or materials. He was more successful than anyone could have believed possible and is as much an example to our generation, as he was to his.

Complete edition of the Story of a Soul by Saint Therese of Lisieux, translated by Thomas Taylor.

This edition includes over 288 footnotes, and many additional letters, counsels, and prayers, creating a study edition for readers to better understand St. Therese’s ‘little way’ to deepening a relationship with God. Read with an open heart, this book is helpful to read again and again at various stages of life.

No student of thought should be without this historic book.

As a lifelong student of Scripture, Kathie Lee Gifford has always desired a deeper understanding of God's Word and a deeper knowledge of God Himself. But it wasn't until she began studying the biblical texts in their original Hebrew and Greek-along with actually hiking the ancient paths of Israel-that she found the fulfillment of those desires. Now you can walk with Kathie on a journey through the spiritual foundations of her faith: The Rock (Jesus Christ): Hear directly from Kathie about her life-changing and ever-deepening connection with Jesus, the Lover of her soul. The Road (Israel): Explore dozens of ancient landmarks and historical sites from Israel, the promised land of God's covenant. The Rabbi (God's Word): Go beyond a Sunday-school approach to the Bible by digging into the original languages and deeper meanings of the Holy Scriptures. As you journey through The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi, you'll also find additional content from Messianic Rabbi Jason Sobel throughout the book. Jason's insight into the Hebrew language, culture, and heritage will open your eyes to the Bible like never before. Come! Begin your journey toward a deeper faith through The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi.

This unique narrative retelling of the story of Saint Paul is both an engaging day-to-day account of life in the first century as well as a remarkable chronicle of the key events that ultimately laid the foundations for Christianity. It covers his childhood, when he was known as Saul, in his father's tent-making workshop, his momentous encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus and his transformation into Paul the apostle, one of Christianity's most significant figures. Siegwart Knijpenga draws on extensive experience of sharing religious lessons with young people to retell the story of Saint Paul in a lively and accessible way, ideal for readers aged 10 and up.