Download or read book The Sermon Sucking Black Hole written by David R. Mains and published by Morgan James Publishing. This book was released on 2015-05-12 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Very little communication takes place between most pastors/priests and their congregants regarding the weekly sermon/homily. This lack of constructive dialogue has resulted in Sunday messages that are not only out-of-touch with where parishioners are living, but for the most part what’s said isn’t remembered much beyond the church parking lot. Dr. Mains contends that people in the pew can best judge when a sermon is helpful to them and when it isn’t. So why not include them in the process of both preparing and evaluating sermons? Not preaching the sermons. . . . .but again, preparing and evaluating them. He makes these changes sound so simple and practical that you can’t help but wonder, “Why weren’t these ideas implemented years ago?” Most people in the pew don’t realize how integral they are to finding a solution to this problem. But the pulpit/pew combination can be an incredibly powerful team, so let’s begin to work together to help solve this mystery of what’s happening to sermons. This is not a negative book or one that only points out problems. Instead, it’s a positive, practical and encouraging read that should fill you with hope for not only your local congregation, but churches everywhere.

Download or read book Preaching that Matters written by Lori J. Carrell and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-04-11 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Listeners do love their pastors and they agree with the sermon content they hear,' Lori Carrell once explained to a group of pastors, 'but most sermons don't ask for change, and most listeners don't experience spiritual growth as a result of the sermon.' A participant responded: 'Let's get practical. I want my preaching to make a difference. What changes are worth making, and how do I make them?' In Preaching that Matters, Lori Carrell shares answers to that question, drawing on the experiences of thousands of people—preachers and their listeners—whose effort she has studied over many years. In each chapter of this book, she offers research revelations about high impact preaching that will encourage and challenge readers to continue to grow as preachers. She then links these principles with Reflective Practice Challenges (RPCs), exercises that honor the rich experiences of pastors while opening opportunities for self-analysis, spiritual introspection, conversation with a trusted other, or implementation of research-based preaching recommendations. The activities have been used by hundreds of other pastors, and each RPC has been carefully selected for its demonstrated contribution to the process of transforming sermon communication. A selection of the RPCs are available as a downloadable file. E-mail [email protected] for more information. As a communication expert, Carrell approaches preaching from a 'sermon communication' paradigm. She begins with the task of identifying the spiritually transformative purpose of the sermon and then explores exegeting, organizing, deepening, and delivering the sermon, as well as listening to the listeners and planning for continued transformation. Her own goal is simple: to inspire and equip clergy to make changes that will enhance the transformative power of their preaching. To connect with others reading Preaching That Matters and to find an onlne accountability partner, join the book's Google+ communities.

Download or read book The God Hunt written by Karen Mains and published by Mainstay Ministries. This book was released on 2014-10-12 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Join award-winning author, Karen Mains, as she takes the journey to find the impact of God in the everyday. this eye-opening book offers deep insight into those seemingly ordinary moments when God intervenes in our lives with guidance, care and help. Once you start the adventure you quickly realize that such moments happen more often than you think. You’ll be drawn into deeper communion with God as you tune in to the many ways he answers prayer, shows evidence of His love, helps you do His work in the world and “works all things together for good.”

Download or read book Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes written by Sidney Greidanus and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2010-05-03 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Sidney Greidanus points out, the biblical book of Ecclesiastes is especially relevant for our contemporary culture because it confronts such secular enticements as materialism, hedonism, cut-throat competition, and self-sufficiency. But how can preachers best convey the ancient Teacher's message to congregations today? A respected expert in both hermeneutics and homiletics, Greidanus does preachers a great service here by providing the foundations for a series of expository sermons on Ecclesiastes. He walks students and preachers through the steps from text to sermon for all of the book's fifteen major literary units, explores various ways to move from Ecclesiastes to Jesus Christ in the New Testament, and offers insightful expositions that help the preacher in sermon production but omit the theoretical and often impractical discussions in many commentaries.

Download or read book The Cranky Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint written by Nadia Bolz-Weber and published by Canterbury Press. This book was released on 2022-01-31 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nadia Bolz-Weber weaves personal narrative, hilarious rants and powerful spiritual insight as she relates her unusual journey of faith, offering a fresh and uncompromising look at the transformative power of grace. As one of today's most provocative Christian leaders, she blends sardonic irreverence and brilliant theology to offer a portrait of faith that is edgy, outrageous and, above all, real. Smart-mouthed and heavily tattooed, Nadia Bolz-Weber didn't consider herself ‘religious leader material’ and didn't expect to find her vocation leading a funeral in a smoky, downtown comedy club. But surrounded by recovering alcoholics, depressives, and comedians, she realized these were her people and maybe she was meant to be their pastor. Bringing together the bracing and beautiful, this revised updated edition reminds us that we need the grace of a loving, forgiving God now more than ever. Please note this book is published under the title 'Pastrix' in certain territories.

Download or read book The American Poet written by Samuel D. G. Heath, PhD and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2010-02-08 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Awarded an American Legion Scholarship I am also an award winning author and have published numerous articles and books. Having attended several colleges and universities eventually earning my Ph. D. in Human Behavior I hold several life credentials in education earned during many years as an educator together with years spent working in the Aerospace Industry and other occupations. But to call Einsteins famous equation E=MC2 incomplete because it does not account for life and death does seem quite extraordinary, yet these remain the two greatest mysteries they have ever been denying us thus far a theory of everything. Something animates life and departs with death, but what this something is not all our science has yet discovered, though things like the Large Hadron Collider may provide needed insight, and it has been in the pursuit of knowledge about these two greatest mysteries that has compelled me into so many varied academic studies and careers attempting to make sense of the world and our place in it and how people think and deal with the issues of life and death philosophically, religiously, and politically. The things I have discovered along the way compelled me to much research and speculation about these mysteries and how they impact our lives, to communicate my thoughts about them to share with others in a daily journal and posted to my website and provided in book format each year. These writings are of importance in an increasingly dangerous world with a most uncertain future due to so much corruption, ineptitude and lack of accountability in our own government as well as that of others, the abject failure of our schools due to the very same things especially the same lack of accountability we find in government, the religious and political hatreds with protracted wars worldwide and little to give hope for world peace I believed my articles about these important enough to publish in book format. Some years ago I removed from the greater part of society to live in semi-seclusion alone with my books and thoughts in a quiet part of the Sequoia National Forest devoting myself to contemplation, speculating about many things and committing my thoughts in writing fulltime. As a writer and author given to much introspection and fascinated by human behavior, nature, and our universe it was important to me to simplify my life as much as possible as anyone given to philosophical speculation about many things must. That much of my writing covers some metaphysical thoughts about God, angels and demons, an afterlife and Biblical stories of origins, of prophecies of the End Times and so much more have been absorbing studies as well and I freely share my thoughts about these in this volume.

Download or read book Pastrix written by Nadia Bolz-Weber and published by Jericho Books. This book was released on 2013-09-10 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now a New York Times bestselling author, Nadia Bolz-Weber takes no prisoners as she reclaims the term "pastrix"(pronounced "pas-triks," a term used by some Christians who refuse to recognize female pastors) in her messy, beautiful, prayer-and-profanity laden narrative about an unconventional life of faith. ​ Heavily tattooed and loud-mouthed, Nadia, a former stand-up comic, sure as hell didn't consider herself to be religious leader material—until the day she ended up leading a friend's funeral in a smoky downtown comedy club. Surrounded by fellow alcoholics, depressives, and cynics, she realized: These were her people. Maybe she was meant to be their pastor. Using life stories—from living in a hopeful-but-haggard commune of slackers and her unusual but undeniable spiritual calling to her experiences pastoring people from all walks of life—and poignant honesty, Nadia portrays a woman who is both deeply faithful and deeply flawed, giving hope to the rest of us along the way. Wildly entertaining and deeply resonant, this is the book for people who hunger for a bit of hope that doesn't come from vapid consumerism; for women who talk too loud and guys who love chick flicks; and for the gay person who loves Jesus and won't be shunned by the church. In short, this book is for every misfit suspicious of institutionalized religion but who is still seeking transcendence and mystery.

Download or read book Traces of God written by Diogenes Allen and published by Church Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 1981 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Writing for a wide popular audience, philosopher Diogenes Allen examines the problem of human suffering and helps us to discover "traces of God" in the world, even as we suffer from physical pain and loss, natural disaster, and human evil. Written for beginners in the spiritual life, Traces of God describes how we can prepare ourselves for the inevitable sufferings of life. Allen explores the human pilgrimage through adversity and takes a close look at Simone Weil's studies of affliction.

Download or read book Cranky Beautiful Faith written by Nadia Bolz-Weber and published by Canterbury Press. This book was released on 2013-11-12 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Former stand-up comic and unlikely pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber blends sardonic irreverence and brilliant theology as she relates her unusual journey of faith, offering a fresh and uncompromising look at the transformative power of grace. This compassionate book portrays both church and seekers as deeply flawed yet deeply faithful.

Download or read book Circle in the Darkness written by Diana Johnstone and published by SCB Distributors. This book was released on 2020-01-15 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Circle in the Darkness recounts veteran journalist Diana Johnstone's lifelong effort to understand what is going on in the world, seeking the truth about our troubled times beyond the veils of government propaganda and media deception. For Johnstone, the political is personal. From her experience of Cold War hostilities as a student in Yugoslavia, in the movement against the U.S. war against Vietnam, in May ’68, in professional and alternative journalism, in the historic peace movement of the 1980s that led to the reunification of Germany, in the transformation of the German Greens from peace to war party and the European Union’s sacrifice of democracy to “globalization”, her critical viewpoint dissects events and identifies trends. She recounts in detail how the Western left betrayed its historical principles of social justice and peace and let itself be lured into approval of aggressive U.S.-NATO wars on the fallacious grounds of “human rights”. Subjects range from caustic analysis of the pretentious confusion of French philosophers to the stories of many courageous individuals whose struggle for peace and justice ended in deep personal tragedy, with a great deal in between. Circle in the Darkness is a lucid, uncompromising tour through half a century of contemporary history intended especially for those who may aspire against all obstacles to change its course for the better. “Diana Johnstone’s just published book, Circle in the Darkness: Memoir of a World Watcher, is the best book I have ever read, the most revealing, the most accurate, the most truthful, the most moral and humane, the most sincere and heartfelt, and the best written. Her book is far more than a memoir. It is a history that has not previously been written.” —PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS "Readers will learn a great deal from this fascinating, first-hand look at our world from the Second War through the Cold War and, ultimately, to our “forever wars” of the 21st century." -RON PAUL, MD. Former Member of US Congress "Diana Johnstone is a superb reporter of a kind and calibre that barely exists today. Her principled, eloquent memoirs are often touching, and wise, and bracing in their truth in an age of deceit. I salute her." JOHN PILGER, award-winning Australian journalist, author and broadcaster/documentary maker

Download or read book Inventing Christic Jesuses Rules and Warrants for Theology written by Charles A. Wilson and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-11-01 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first comprehensive proposal for revisionist theology's deployment of historical Jesus research, Inventing Christic Jesuses rejects positions that insulate theology from Jesus research. By setting out theological methods, warrants, and rules, in dialogue with an analysis of the Jesus historians of the Third Quest (c. 1980-2010), the study charts a path toward a quested christology positioned between categorical rejection and uncritical acceptance of historical results on Jesus. Volume 1, Method, analyzes the methods and values of historical research on Jesus and identifies the retrojective activity of value production when historians, in conversation with historical sources, invent images of Jesus. Volume 2, Christological Recommendations, gathers potential contributions of Jesus research for revisionist theology according to the cataphatic, apophatic, and eminent pattern of classical theology. By attending to the limits and opportunities afforded by historical research, both negative and positive, the argument retrieves for theology the complex way that historians shape same and different, association and dissociation in the production of their Jesuses. Then it analyzes how values shape Jesuses in a pervasive Narcissus project to invent a self (and a community) through imaging Jesus. Proposing that the disciplined invention of Jesuses is highly useful for theology, the book ends with recommendations for a quested christology.

Download or read book Our Indifferent Universe written by Surazeus Astarius and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-01-25 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Our Indifferent Universe" presents 903 poems written 2015-2017 by Surazeus that explore what it means to be a human in our indifferent universe.

Download or read book Artificial Intelligence Automation and the Future of Competence at Work written by Jon-Arild Johannessen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-12-07 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Artificial intelligence and the autonomous robots of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will render certain jobs and competences obsolete but will also create new roles, which in turn require new sets of skills. They will also transform how we produce, distribute and consume, as well as how we think. Rather than a linear understanding of evolutionary processes, we will develop a more interactive and circular interpretation. This book offers a unique and holistic perspective on the future of work in the context of industry 4.0. It discusses the globalization of capital markets, how artificial intelligence can help organizations to be more competitive and the new role of leadership in this technological landscape. The author argues that there are four categories of competences, which will be required in order to maintain the relevance of human skills and expertise in the innovation economy. The new jobs that come into being will lend themselves to a particular set of skills. General competences will be necessary for roles involving the 4Cs of communication, creativity, collaboration and change. Specific or STEM competences will be called for across the science, technology, engineering and mathematics sectors. Human competences will lend themselves to positions comprising the SELC framework of social, emotional, leadership and cultural skills. Critical or REVE competences will be in demand for roles embracing reflection, ethics, values and the environment. The book provides a human-centric view of the current technological advancements of artificial intelligence and robotics and offers a positive outlook for human actors seeking continued relevance. It will appeal to scholars and students of the innovation economy, the knowledge society and the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Download or read book Altarpieces written by Michael D. O'Kelly and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2011-05-18 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fire?ies at dawn. . . Winged essences, charred bodies still on ?re. This evocative poetry-essay collection issues a call for a renewed embracement of the readers own expressive self. Weve each a persona to hear --- a voice to resonate through silences of night and the noises of everyday. Life is a mystery hard to crack. We bang it like a door and strum it like a lyre until it opens some new portal through which the voice can authentically sound-out the truths of being human. Thats the happening of this book. Altarpieces have always been artistic creations to conceive lifes sacred space. This book follows that tradition, if rather untraditionally. These pieces speak to hear life on ones own terms; from ones own altar and cathedral. This gathering created a poet-self identity --- called Apokstrophes. The essays join with the poems to conceive poetry and the spiritual quest with a renewed existential-eco-romantic perspective; sounding that quest with both feet grounded on worldly other Planet Earth. The challenge to grasp life at the core is a wrenching-wrestling match with the Other, that ever-present dimension of poetry on lifes path. --- Joining philosophical play with the authenticity of word-pieces as true orients, OKellys book, with many poets helping along the way, has taken up that challenge with unflinching creativity. Want a spiritual adventure? Fly! Take the ride! Oh, the ride! Fins spurred in shivers of hide. Lifes dearness reined in the roll of the tide.

Download or read book Believing Bullshit written by Stephen Law and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book identifies eight key mechanisms that can transform a set of ideas into a psychological flytrap. The author suggests that, like the black holes of outer space, from which nothing, not even light, can escape, our contemporary cultural landscape contains numerous intellectual black-holes—belief systems constructed in such a way that unwary passers-by can similarly find themselves drawn in. While such self-sealing bubbles of belief will most easily trap the gullible or poorly educated, even the most intelligent and educated of us are potentially vulnerable. Some of the world’s greatest thinkers have fallen in, never to escape. This witty, insightful critique will help immunize readers against the wiles of cultists, religious and political zealots, conspiracy theorists, promoters of flaky alternative medicines, and others by clearly setting out the tricks of the trade by which such insidious belief systems are created and maintained.

Download or read book Practical Mysticism in Islam and Christianity written by Saeed Zarrabi-Zadeh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-29 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Practical Mysticism in Islam and Christianity offers a comparative study of the works of the Sufi-poet Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) and the practical teachings of the German Dominican, Meister Eckhart (c1260-1327/8). Rumi has remained an influential figure in Islamic mystical discourse since the thirteenth century, while also extending his impact to the Western spiritual arena. However, his ideas have frequently been interpreted within the framework of other mystical, philosophical, or religious systems. Through its novel approach, this book aims to reformulate Rumi’s practical mysticism by employing four methodological principles: a) mysticism is a coherent structure with mutual interconnection between its parts; b) the imposition of alien structures to interpret any particular mysticism damages its inward coherency; c) practical mysticism consists of two main parts, namely practices and stages; and d) the proper use of comparative methodology enables a deeper understanding of each juxtaposed system. Eckhart’s speculative mysticism, which differs from and enjoys similarities with the love-based mysticism of Rumi, provides a "mirror" that highlights the special features of Rumi’s practical mysticism. Such comparison also allows a deeper comprehension of Eckhart’s practical thought. Offering a critical examination of practical mysticism, this book is a valuable resource for students and scholars of Islamic studies, comparative mysticism, and the intellectual history of Islam.

Download or read book Handbook of Gender Studies in the Dutch Caribbean written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2024-04-25 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edited by Rose Mary Allen and Sruti Bala, this comprehensive handbook of gender studies scholarship on the Dutch Caribbean islands thematically covers the history of movements for gender equality; the relation of gender to race, colonialism, sexuality; and the arts and popular culture. The handbook offers unparalleled insights into a century of debates around gender from the six islands of the Dutch Caribbean (Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba). This handbook makes gender studies in the Dutch Caribbean accessible to an international readership. Besides key academic writings, it includes primary historical sources, translations from Papiamento and Dutch, as well as personal memoirs and poetry.