This 12-week study leads readers through the book of Daniel, highlighting God's reign over all the earth as the sovereign Lord of history.

Every person has been designed by God for one-of-a-kind Masterpiece Mission, what most people refer to as personal calling or personal purpose. Everyone needs to be able to name what God has put them on the earth to do. Most people never do. That is a tragedy of epic proportions. We need a simple way to discover that calling, and Find Your Place is that way. GPS technology is widely known as a way to know where you are on the earth, as well as a way to guide you to get where you want to go. The Find Your Place book will help followers of Jesus locate three signals that will help people discern their personal calling: their Gifts, their Passions, and their Story, and help them take meaningful next steps to engage that calling. Furthermore, the American Church has a Co-Dependency Disorder. Church members have become dependent upon church leaders, and church leaders need their members to remain that way. This co-dependence is doing more than throttling the vitality of the church...it is strangling it. In order for the people of God to truly thrive and be salt and light in the world, church leaders must move from simply "gathering and teaching" their members to "empowering and releasing them." This book, the accompanying online assessment, and the disciple-making tools that both will be integrated into, will all be a part of a turn-key solution for church leaders to accomplish that goal.

The roles of pastor and theologian have gone their separate ways. Throughout much of the church's history, these two roles have been deeply intertwined, but in our contemporary setting, a troubling bifurcation between them has developed. The result has been a theologically weakened church and an ecclesially weakened theology. The Center for Pastor Theologians (CPT) seeks to overcome this divide by assisting pastors in the study and production of biblical and theological scholarship for the theological renewal of the church and the ecclesial renewal of theology. Based on the first CPT conference in 2015, this volume brings together the reflections of church leaders and academic theologians to consider how pastoral ministry and theological scholarship might be reconnected once again. The contributors consider several facets of the complex identity of the pastor theologian, including the biblical, public, and political dimensions of this calling. In addition, the essays explore the insights that can be gained from historical examples of pastor theologians-including John Calvin, John Henry Newman and Dietrich Bonhoeffer-as well as the essential role of Scripture within the ministry of the pastor theologian.

Humans are sexual creatures. Our sexuality can be a beautiful and mysterious expression of what it means to be human. But it can also become distorted and sinful. Perhaps no issue is as urgent for the church today, or confronts it with as many questions, as human sexuality: What does it mean to fulfill God's will through our sexuality? To what extent should our sexuality define who we are? How can we navigate cultural trends around sexuality while being faithful to Scripture? The Center for Pastor Theologians (CPT) seeks to assist pastors in the study and production of biblical and theological scholarship for the theological renewal of the church and the ecclesial renewal of theology. Based on the 2016 annual CPT conference, this volume brings together the reflections of church leaders and academic theologians who seek to answer the urgent questions concerning human sexuality. Contributors engage with Scripture, draw on examples from church history, and delve into current issues in contemporary culture, including embodiment, marriage, homosexuality, pornography, transgenderism, and gender dysphoria. Beauty, Order, and Mystery tackles difficult questions with discernment in order to offer a theological vision of faithful human sexuality for the church. Based on annual CPT conferences, the volumes in the Center for Pastor Theologians series bring together the reflections of pastors and theologians who desire to make ongoing contributions to the wider scholarly community for the renewal of both theology and the church.

Great ministers don't just happen. Great falls from ministry don't just happen either. A complex mix of factors both internal and external test the limits of your ability to minister wholeheartedly over the long haul. Senior pastor Brad Hoffmann and licensed professional counselor Michael Todd Wilson work with pastors removed from their place of service. The common experiences of these pastors revealed patterns that consistently contributed to burnout, ineffectiveness and moral failure. If such patterns can be predicted, the authors reasoned, can they be prevented? Preventing Ministry Failure is a personal guidebook for pastors and other caregivers to prepare them to withstand common pressures and to flourish in the ministry God has called them to. Work through the exercises and reflections individually or in conversation with your peers, and you'll find yourself better equipped for the challenges of vocational ministry, and more conscious of the presence of God leading you on and restoring your soul.

More meets Christians where they're at, acknowledging the roots of their discontent and demonstrating how to move from inspiration and desire into action. Church strategist and ministry activator Todd Wilson shows how all believers can live more abundant lives around the uniqueness of how they were made and what they are called to do. Introducing a memorable vocabulary and an easy-to-use practical framework, More equips readers to embark on a journey of discovering their unique personal calling. It enables readers to answer three of the most important and profound questions we all naturally ask. (1) Who am I created to be? (2) What am I created to do? (3) Where am I to be best positioned to do it? The integrated answers to these key questions-the BE-DO-GO of a person's life-represent the core dimensions of personal calling. Inspiring and challenging, More gives readers permission and encouragement to engage in the journey God has solely for them.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus consistently demonstrated his concern and love for the whole person: soul, mind, and body. That task is carried forward today by pastors and church leaders, who are called to care for people in the midst of individual circumstances as well as seismic cultural shifts. How might that calling be informed by recent developments in psychology? How should the church attend to matters of mental health? How might psychology and counseling aid us in our spiritual formation? Based on the 2018 Center for Pastor Theologians conference, this volume brings together reflections by pastors, theologians, and psychologists who explore the relationships among three fields of study-theological anthropology, spiritual formation, and modern psychology. The result is a vibrant whole-person theology that can aid the church today in its centuries-old call to care for the soul, mind, and body. Based on annual CPT conferences, the volumes in the Center for Pastor Theologians series bring together the reflections of pastors and theologians who desire to make ongoing contributions to the wider scholarly community for the renewal of both theology and the church.

The doctrine of creation is crucial to the Christian faith, but it has often been maligned, misinterpreted, or ignored. Some, such as pagan philosophers and Gnostics, have tended to denigrate the goodness of the material world. More recently, new questions have emerged regarding human origins in light of the Darwinian account of evolution. What does it mean today to both affirm the goodness of God's creation and anticipate the new creation? The Center for Pastor Theologians (CPT) seeks to assist pastors in the study and production of biblical and theological scholarship for the theological renewal of the church and the ecclesial renewal of theology. Based on the third annual CPT conference, this volume brings together the reflections of church leaders, academic theologians, and scientists on the importance-and the many dimensions-of the doctrine of creation. Contributors engage with Scripture and scientific theory, draw on examples from church history, and delve into current issues in contemporary culture in order to help Christians understand the beginning and ending of God's good creation. Based on annual CPT conferences, the volumes in the Center for Pastor Theologians series bring together the reflections of pastors and theologians who desire to make ongoing contributions to the wider scholarly community for the renewal of both theology and the church.

Sex and sexuality are hot topics these days. But many single adults are tired of the "how far is too far?" approach because it doesn't go far enough. Why does the discussion stop at the physical? What about the deeper spiritual and relational aspects of sexuality? Pioneering Christian sex therapists Doug Rosenau and Michael Todd Wilson team up in this helpful and hopeful book about understanding sexuality and intimacy beyond what our "do it if it feels good" culture says it is. Providing a much-needed spiritual perspective to the sexuality debate, the authors tackle difficult topics from a biblical foundation to help single adults establish practical models for maintaining purity and creating a healthy sexuality. With real-life personal stories, Soul Virgins helps singles accept their sexuality as a godly discipline. Rosenau and Wilson provide a 3-D discussion of body, soul, and spirit that proves sexuality is ultimately more about relational intimacy than just the physical act of sex. Originally published in Paperback by Baker Books.

Now available in paperback, this volume celebrates veteran pastor Kent Hughes's legacy of preaching God's Word by examining what it means to be an expository preacher.

Throughout the history of English literature, church ministers have figured prominently in novels, plays, morality tales, and even poetry. "Pastors in the Classics" is a unique, unprecedented collection of relevant literary masterpieces in which the pastor's experience is a major part of the story.
Part 1 is a reader's guide to twelve important classics written over four centuries and covering seven different nationalities. Each chapter not only describes and interprets the work in question, it also highlights a specific feature of pastoral ministry explored in the work. Part 2 is a handbook that defines the canon of literary masterpieces that deal with the pastor's experience, offering reading suggestions for both ministers and lovers of literature.
From the familiar ("The Canterbury Tales"; "Cry, the Beloved Country"; and "The Scarlet Letter") to the lesser-known ("Silence," "Witch Wood") to the surprising ("A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"), this collection uncovers the good, the bad, and the ugly ways in which pastors have been presented to the reading public for the past half millennium.

If I had known the Enneagram earlier in my ministry, I would have been a much better pastor. When this thought came to Todd Wilson, he had already served as a pastor in several churches for the better part of fifteen years and was successfully leading a large, historic, and diverse congregation. He'd started out in ministry with a strong education in everything from biblical exegesis and homiletics to organizational development and Christian education. However, at its root, pastoral ministry is about shepherding, serving, leading, and loving people, and Todd realized that what he lacked was wisdom about how people work. He says, "When it came to empathetically shepherding people and sensitively engaging their manifold personalities and diverse ways of seeing the world, I was an amateur." Whether you are on a church staff or leading a small group, you will find that the insights from the Enneagram that have helped many grow in self-awareness can be applied to life in our faith communities. The Enneagram can help us to become better teachers. It can influence how we develop worship and Christian education. And it can guide us in building and leading teams. It's time to take the Enneagram to church-and to allow it to shape our life together.

What do you do when you've made a mess of things? Where do you go when you've blown it badly? How does the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ empower us to combat things like hypocrisy, pride, people-pleasing, and apostasy? Paul's letter to the Galatians tells us what we need to know in these situations as he teaches us how to rely upon costly grace.

In this fresh and engaging commentary, pastor Todd Wilson invites us to look beneath the surface of controversy in Galatia to the even more fundamental issue at stake: gospel-rooted living. Combining scholarly depth with practical wisdom, he offers us a soulful commentary based on years of ministry experience and biblical reflection. Read Galatians anew with this exegetically engaged, theologically informed, and pastorally minded resource