Experienced pastor and seminary teacher R. Robert Creech helps pastoral leaders increase their effectiveness by applying family systems theory to congregational life and ministry. Creech introduces readers to the basic concepts of Bowen Family Systems Theory, applies family theory to the work of ministry in church settings, and connects systems thinking to the everyday aspects of congregational ministry, such as preaching, pastoral care, leadership, spiritual formation, and interpreting biblical texts. Each chapter contains discussion questions, and there are five helpful appendixes with supplemental information about Bowen theory.

Make foreclosure investing work for you with this practical and easy-to-understand guide Looking to kick start your own property management career? Check out Foreclosure Investing For Dummies, which will get you started buying foreclosed properties to turn into your own income property! In this book, you'll learn to navigate the complexities of home auctions, deal with emotional former homeowners, and how to handle renovations. You'll also get a heads-up on the foreclosure laws in all 50 states so you don't accidentally run afoul of any complicated regulations. Foreclosure Investing For Dummies shows you how to: Locate properties for sale and identify associated opportunities and risks Buy properties below market value at auction, from lending institutions, and from government agencies Fix up, renovate, and sell or lease your new property for a profit This hands-on guide can help anyone make foreclosure investing work. So, grab a copy of Foreclosure Investing For Dummies, roll up your sleeves, and get going!

A veteran Baptist pastor and ministry professor offers a distinctive free church vision for pastoral leadership, attending to voices from the past four centuries as they speak about the practice of ministry. The book contains theological reflection on current ministry issues among Baptists based on biblical and historical foundations and reflects a diversity of Baptist life across time and around the world, including many different voices. Each chapter contains reflection questions to help readers consider the implications of Baptist thinking.

The articles in this book, first published in 1986, cover the developments of the first three decades of the Securities Acts, and examines appraisals of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. With the rise in interest in the evolution of regulatory policy, these principal papers are key sources in the study of the history of accounting. Written by accountants close to the Commission, these papers will be of interest to accountants in public and private practice, and all students of accounting and its government regulation.

This new authoritative two-volume set contains a selection of the most important articles and papers spanning over 30 years on the sociology of development. It is divided under 14 succinct headings covering the main areas of the field, including: Antecedents, Modernization Theory, Dependency, the Global Economy, the Urban and the Rural, Gender and Ethnicity, Environment and Sustainable Development.The first volume features a comprehensive collection by authors whose work has shaped academic thought and public policy on the economic development of third world nations. Contemporary scholarship on economic development is explored in the second volume which addresses today's major research issues: class, gender, ethnic and race inequality, the informal economy, population growth, migration, worker remittances, politics and the state, planning and development, and the state and sustainable development. The editors do not limit their selection of articles on the sociology of development to just one country - papers are included on Africa, Latin America, China, Mexico as well as more general articles on the developing world. The editors have also written an introduction to accompany the piece, explaining their selection of articles chosen.

The articles in this book, first published in 1986, cover the developments of the first three decades of the Securities Acts, and examines appraisals of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. With the rise in interest in the evolution of regulatory policy, these principal papers are key sources in the study of the history of accounting. Written by accountants close to the Commission, these papers will be of interest to accountants in public and private practice, and all students of accounting and its government regulation.

Learning to read and the teaching of reading have long been surrounded with controversy. Originally published in 1969, this book takes the view that the subject is best approached via linguistic theory. The relationship between reading and spoken language is clearly brought out in the author's attempt to define more closely the area in which the teacher has to operate when teaching children to read. His analysis of reading problems in children up to the age of 11 will encourage experienced teachers to question constructively their own beliefs and practices, while the book as a whole provides a valuable introduction to the psychology of reading for the student of education.

Learning to read and the teaching of reading have long been surrounded with controversy. Originally published in 1969, this book takes the view that the subject is best approached via linguistic theory. The relationship between reading and spoken language is clearly brought out in the author's attempt to define more closely the area in which the teacher has to operate when teaching children to read. His analysis of reading problems in children up to the age of 11 will encourage experienced teachers to question constructively their own beliefs and practices, while the book as a whole provides a valuable introduction to the psychology of reading for the student of education.

This one-of-a-kind resource in professional ethics helps today's Christian leaders maintain a high moral character and lifestyle and sharpen their personal and professional decision-making skills. Two experienced teachers and pastors address both current and perennial ethical issues and offer guidance for developing a personal code of ethics to maintain integrity in the work of ministry. The authors address the nature of ethical decision making as well as practical areas where integrity can be compromised, including issues raised by the use of smartphones and social media. Appendixes include codes of ethics from various denominations.

This book helps pastors and church leaders understand the role their personal transformation as Jesus's disciples plays in effective congregational leadership. It shifts the focus of leadership from techniques and charisma to spiritual transformation and developing emotional maturity so leaders can effectively lead congregations to embrace change. End-of-chapter discussion questions are included. The first edition sold more than 20,000 copies and has been regularly used as a textbook over the past fifteen years. The second edition has been revised throughout and includes a greater emphasis on Bowen Family Systems Theory.

Maurice Peloubet's autobiography lends an insight into the thinking of an influential practitioner of the early 20th Century American CPA Profession. Peloubet was Vice President and Treasurer of the American Institute of Accountants [now the AICPA], as well as a National Director of the National Association of Cost Accountants, now the Institute of Management Accountants. He was a driving force in the firm Pogson, Peloubet & Co, whose prestigious New York Stock Exchange mining company clients included Anaconda, Phelps Dodge, Newmont and others. In l963 his firm was merged into Price Waterhouse & Co., now PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
In 1975, Professor Alfred R. Roberts, of Georgia State University discovered the unpublished memoirs of Maurice Peloubet [d. 1976]. Professor Roberts and his colleagues have completed the process of preparing the manuscript for publication. Skillfully edited, this volume details the key role which Peloubet played in many events affecting modern day professionals, including the federal legislation involving inventory techniques. A prolific writer, thoughtful professional, and, on occasion poet, the volume identifies the many works authored by Peloubet during his lengthy and important career.

Professor Sten Malmquist constructed the Malmquist quantity index and in doing so developed a distance function defined on a consumption space. This function is the consumer analog to the Shephard input distance function of producers and is used in ratio form to define the quantity index. This volume contains new contributions based on Malmquist's work nearly 50 years ago and provides modern perspectives on the value of this research.

Democratic politics is a collective enterprise, not simply because individual votes are counted to determine winners, but more fundamentally because the individual exercise of citizenship is an interdependent undertaking. Citizens argue with one another and they generally arrive at political decisions through processes of social interaction and deliberation. This book is dedicated to investigating the political implications of interdependent citizens within the context of the 1984 presidential campaign as it was experienced in the metropolitan area of South Bend, Indiana. Hence this is a community study in the fullest sense of the term. National politics is experienced locally through a series of filters unique to a particular setting and its consequences for the exercise of democratic citizenship.

Democratic politics is a collective enterprise, not simply because individual votes are counted to determine winners, but more fundamentally because the individual exercise of citizenship is an interdependent undertaking. Citizens argue with and inform one another, arriving at political decisions through processes of social interaction and deliberation. This book is dedicated to investigating the political implications of interdependent citizens within the context of the 1984 presidential election campaign as it was experienced in the metropolitan area of South Bend, Indiana. National politics is experienced locally through a series of filters unique to a particular setting. Several different themes are explored: the dynamic implications of social communication among citizens, the importance of communication networks for citizen decision-making, the exercise of citizen purpose in locating sources of information, the constraints on individual choice, and institutional and organisational effects .

Marking the 30th anniversary of the formation of Orion Bank in 1970, financial historian Richard Roberts has written a history of Orion and the rise and decline of the consortium banking movement. Consortium banks were formed as joint ventures to enable banks to operate in the booming Euromarkets, with virtually every major international bank participating in a consortium bank during their heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. Orion Bank was one of the leading players in the Euromarkets in those decades: its shareholders were six of the biggest banks in the world from the three major trading blocks: Chase Manhattan, Royal Bank of Canada, NatWest, Westdeutsche Landesbank, Credito Italiano and Mitsubishi Bank. Like other consortiums banks, Orion Bank was prominent in Eurocurrency syndicated lending, but more unusually, it was also a top Eurobond lead manager. The story of Orion exemplifies the tensions inherent in the joint venture approach to business development and the strategic dilemmas facing consortium bank managements and shareholders. Richard Roberts uses primary archival papers and interviews with former Orion executives and other bankers prominent in consortium and investment banking to present an authoritative case study with great topical relevance as today's European banking industry continues to integrate across borders. Take Your Partners is also an invaluable source of reference for anyone with an interest in the Euromarkets and the development of international banking.

Professor Sten Malmquist constructed the Malmquist quantity index and in doing so developed a distance function defined on a consumption space. This function is the consumer analog to the Shephard input distance function of producers and is used in ratio form to define the quantity index. This volume contains new contributions based on Malmquist's work nearly 50 years ago and provides modern perspectives on the value of this research.

Based on a comparative analysis of two case studies, this book presents a comprehensive and systematic examination of urban water management in the light of environmental theory. A complex model structure of the subject matter portrays it as a system of interlocking subsystems covering the management structure, the inventory and the urban hydrological conditions. The system itself is also viewed within its wider urban ecological context of interaction between urban and industrial development, land use and the physical environment. This analytical grid also provides the framework for the evaluation of water management reforms, remedial strategies, programs and plans. By seizing upon a crucial problem setting for arid land research, the author most poignantly reveals the complex role of water management within the context of environmental crisis. The choice of urban regions - ]r}mqi, Xinjiang, and Phoenix, Arizona - within systems as culturally and politically different as the United States and the PR of China is apt to give an up-to-date display of the main issues of the topic within a global perspective. The evident socioeconomic contrast between the two systems projects a differentiated notion of the Third World's predicament in this respect, and leads the reader on to explore the opportunities - but also the definite limitations -involved in the transfer of high-standardWestern know-how.

Do you want to increase your sales? Why not tap the fastest-growing consumer market in the country?

According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, the combined purchasing power of the multicultural market grew to over $2 trillion in 2007 - exceeding the annual GNP of all but the nine largest economies of the world. Yes, the marketplace has gone global, but many business owners, CEOs, and salespeople haven't yet made the transition. As a result, they're handing their share of this potentially lucrative market to anyone who's smart and ambitious enough to accommodate customers from other cultures.

Don't let your competitors chip away at your multicultural market share without a fight. By being the first in your industry to pursue the multicultural market, you have an excellent opportunity to boost your sales and your bottom line. And "Cross-Cultural Selling For Dummies" shows you how.

In "Cross-Cultural Selling For Dummies," diversity and sales expert Michael Soon Lee of EthnoConnect (www.EthnoConnect.com) and sales coach and speaker Ralph R. Roberts (AboutRalph.com) team up to show you how to adjust your strategies to the needs of buyers from other cultures, so you can instantly grow your market by at least a third!

"Cross-Cultural Selling For Dummies" provides practical tips and strategies showing you exactly what you need to do to appeal to clientele from different cultures: Assess your multicultural readiness (a self-test) Meet and greet prospective clients without turning them off Adapt your sales presentation and techniques for optimum effect Recognize multicultural buying signals Acquire closing techniques that are more effective with clients from othercultures Negotiate with clients who may have more experience and expertise with haggling than you do Build your referral base in the ethnic community Hone your multicultural customer service skills Adjust your marketing campaign to make it more appealing to clients from other cultures Go beyond marketing to make your entire business multicultural friendly Redesign your store or office to make it appeal to a broader clientele Adapt your product line for multicultural sales Assemble and manage your own multicultural sales team Discover commonly held myths about your own culture and others that may be holding you back Uncover a host of multicultural resources that can help you transition your business for other markets

Michael Soon Lee is a nationally-recognized speaker on sales, culture, and diversity; an award-winning salesperson; and a sales manager for both large franchised corporations and independent companies.

Ralph R. Roberts is a leading expert in sales and real estate, a nationally known sales coach and consultant, and an accomplished author and co-author of numerous books, including "Advanced Selling For Dummies,"

Joe Kraynak is an experienced freelance writer who has authored and co-authored over 50 books on a wide variety of topics, including sales, real estate investing, food allergies, bipolar disorder, and slam poetry.

This book uniquely explores American cultural values as a factor in maternal health. It looks beyond the social determinants of health as primarily contributing to the escalating maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States.    The United States is an outlier with poor maternal health outcomes and high morbidity/mortality in comparison to other high-resource and many mid-level resource nations. While the social determinants of health identify social and environmental conditions affecting maternal health, they do not answer the broader underlying question of why many American women, in a high-resource environment, experience poor maternal health outcomes. Frequent near-misses, high levels of severe childbearing-related morbidity, and high maternal mortality are comparable to those of lower-resource nations.  This book includes contributions from recognized medical and cultural anthropologists, and diverse clinical and public health professionals. The authors examine American patterns of decision-making from the perspectives of intersecting social, cultural, and medical values influencing maternal health outcomes. Using an interdisciplinary critical analysis approach, the work draws upon decision-making theory and life course theory. Topics explored include: Cultural values as a basis for decision-making Social regard for motherhood Immigrants, refugees and undocumented mothers Cultural conflicts and maternal autonomy Health outcomes among justice-involved mothers Maternal Health and American Cultural Values: Beyond the Social Determinants is an essential resource for clinical and public health practitioners and their students, providing a framework for graduate-level courses in public health, the health sciences, women’s studies, and the social sciences. The book also targets anthropologists, sociologists, and women studies scholars seeking to explain the links between American cultural decision-making and health outcomes. Policy-makers, ethicists, journalists, and advocates for reproductive health justice also would find the text a useful resource.

Life in the 1950s Midlands town still reflects the austerity of the immediate post-war period. But amid the greyness there's the promise of better things to come. Change is waiting round the corner. As the decade draws to a close, our eleven-year-old is finding it hard to adjust to the brutality of his new school. Yet as he negotiates the transition from short trousers to long, his interests are also changing from football and music to music, football and girls ("but not necessarily in that order"). He's starting his journey through that culturally explosive decade of the Sixties, the very best time to live your teenage years. Told with humour and candour, these quirky anecdotal snapshots of the author's earlier life take us through the highs, the lows and the mundane of his first twenty years. The miseries, fears and misconceptions of a young life are countered with moments of wonder, sheer joy and just plain silliness. At times wistful, even poignant, they are never self-indulgent. They provide glimpses into the spirit and conditions of those rapidly changing times of more than half a century ago.

The first account of one of the world's most pressing humanitarian catastrophes. This eye-opening book reveals how China has used the US-led Global War on Terror as cover for its increasingly brutal suppression of the Uyghur people. China's actions, it argues, have emboldened states around the globe to persecute ethnic minorities and severely repress domestic opposition in the name of combatting terrorism. Within weeks of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the Chinese government announced that it faced a serious terrorist threat from its largely Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority. Nearly two decades later, of the 11 million Uyghurs living in China today, more than 1 million have been detained in so-called re-education camps, victims of what has become the largest program of mass incarceration and surveillance in the world. Drawing on extensive interviews with Uyghurs in Xinjiang, as well as refugee communities and exiles, Sean Roberts tells a story that is not just about state policies, but about Uyghur responses to these devastating government programs. Providing a lucid and far-reaching analysis of China's cultural genocide, The War on the Uyghurs allows the voices of those caught up in the human tragedy to be heard for the first time. -- .

Charles Lindbergh was the biggest celebrity of the first half of the twentieth century, and the first to be exposed to the full and unrelenting glare of the modern mass media. His name and face were everywhere - on movie screens, on the radio, in books, in magazines, in newspapers - after his transatlantic flight suddenly transformed the quiet and shy young Minnesotan into a national icon. In 1927, Americans hailed their new hero as both an apostle of modernity and a bastion of traditional values.

When his baby was kidnapped and killed during the lowest days of the Great Depression, the nation wondered whether it was a sign of its moral shortcomings. As World War II broke out in Europe, Lindbergh became one of the first to use his celebrity to promote a cause. His impassioned speeches against American involvement in the war illuminate the intense debate over intervention in the late 1930s.

Using documents culled from a variety of sources, Roberts and Welky explore the significance observers found in Charles Lindbergh at the height of his fame and examine the power and peril of modern celebrity. In doing so, they add depth to our understanding of American interwar culture.