Download or read book Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor written by D. A. Carson and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2008-02-05 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: D. A. Carson's father was a pioneering church-planter and pastor in Quebec. But still, an ordinary pastor-except that he ministered during the decades that brought French Canada from the brutal challenges of persecution and imprisonment for Baptist ministers to spectacular growth and revival in the 1970s. It is a story, and an era, that few in the English-speaking world know anything about. But through Tom Carson's journals and written prayers, and the narrative and historical background supplied by his son, readers will be given a firsthand account of not only this trying time in North American church history, but of one pastor's life and times, dreams and disappointments. With words that will ring true for every person who has devoted themselves to the Lord's work, this unique book serves to remind readers that though the sacrifices of serving God are great, the sweetness of living a faithful, obedient life is greater still.

Download or read book The Pastor written by Eugene H. Peterson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-02-22 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Pastor, author Eugene Peterson, translator of the multimillion-selling The Message, tells the story of how he started Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland and his gradual discovery of what it really means to be a pastor. Steering away from abstractions, Peterson challenges conventional wisdom regarding church marketing, mega pastors, and the church’s too-cozy relationship to American glitz and consumerism to present a simple, faith-based description of what being a minister means today. In the end, Peterson discovers that being a pastor boils down to “paying attention and calling attention to ‘what is going on now’ between men and women, with each other and with God.”

Download or read book Leaving Church written by Barbara Brown Taylor and published by Canterbury Press. This book was released on 2013-01-25 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells how a renowned preacher left her ministry to rediscover the authentic heart of her faith. A moving reflection on keeping faith amidst the relentless demands of modern life.

Download or read book Memoir of the Life and Ministry of William Bramwell written by James Sigston and published by Kingsley Press. This book was released on 2018-07-09 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Bramwell was without doubt the most significant revivalist during the thirty years following the death of John Wesley. Thousands of ungodly men and women were swept into the kingdom of God through his ministry. He was brought up in a good Anglican home with strong morals but was deeply convicted of sin from a young age. In his late teens he was radically converted and after some misgivings joined the despised Methodists. For some time, he struggled to know whether he was called to preach, and once spent thirty-six hours in a disused sand pit pleading with God to make his will known. When once the call was made clear, he became an itinerant Methodist preacher until the day of his death. Bramwell was known above all for his intense prayer life. He rose at a very early hour to plead with God for souls, organized early morning prayer meetings in every circuit he was appointed to, and regularly held prayer times after his preaching services to help people draw closer to God. His preaching was fiery and very pointed, always aiming at the saving of souls from eternal destruction. "They are the best preachers who bring souls to God," he said, and this he did wherever he went. His Christian character was impeccable, as he was always striving to be more like his Master. He especially disliked slander and gossip, and often chose to leave the company of those who were speaking negatively of an absent person. This memoir of William Bramwell is not what might be called an "easy read," but any extra effort expended in carefully pondering its pages will be richly rewarded, and that's a promise! Pray, O pray, my brother! never, never quit your hold of the fullness of God.... I am astonished that we do not pray more, yea, that we do not live every moment as on the brink of the eternal world, and in the blessed expectation of that glorious country. -William Bramwell

Download or read book The Life and Ministry of Billy and Shirley Cole written by William H. "Billy" Cole and published by AuthorStock Publications. This book was released on 2007-07-23 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More people received the baptism of Holy Ghost under Billy Cole's ministry than any other preacher or minister in the entire history of the Church. In the introduction, he recounts when God gave him faith to raise a woman from the dead, and how it happened. Billy Cole was one of the greatest men of God to live on this earth from the time of the Book of Acts until now. He was a chosen vessel of God, filled with faith, and mightily anointed. God used him to do amazing miracles. You will not be able to put this book down!

Download or read book Ministry with the Forgotten written by Bishop Kenneth L. Carder and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dementia diseases represent a crisis of faith for many family members and congregations. Magnifying this crisis is the way people with dementia tend to be objectified by both medical and religious communities. They are recipients of treatment and projects for mission. Ministry is done to and for them rather than with them. While acknowledging the devastation of dementia diseases, Ken Carder draws on his own experience as a caregiver, hospice chaplain, and pastoral practitioner to portray the gifts as well as the challenges accompanying dementia diseases. He confronts the deep personal and theological questions created by loving people with dementia diseases, demonstrating how living with dementia can be a means of growing in faith, wholeness, and ministry for the entire community of faith. He also reveals that authentic faith transcends intellectual beliefs, verbal affirmations, and prescribed practices. Carder asserts that the Judeo-Christian tradition offers a broader lens, defining personhood in relationship to God’s story and humanity’s participation in God’s mighty acts of creation and new creation; thereby contributing to hope, community, and self-worth. Pastors and congregations will be better equipped to minister with people affected by dementia, receiving their gifts and responding to their unique needs. They will learn how people with dementia contribute to the community and the church’s life and mission, discovering practical ways those contributions can be identified, nurtured, and incorporated into the church’s life and ministry.

Download or read book Life Together written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1978-10-25 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After his martyrdom at the hands of the Gestapo in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer continued his witness in the hearts of Christians around the world. His Letters and Papers from Prison became a prized testimony to Christian faith and courage, read by thousands. Now in Life Together we have Pastor Bonhoeffer's experience of Christian community. This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.

Download or read book The Preaching Life written by Barbara Brown Taylor and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1993 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, Taylor emphasizes the holy dimensions of ordinary life and describes the essentials of faith with insight and humor, touching on the vocations, imagination, worship, sacraments, ministry and the Bible as they relate to the life of faith.

Download or read book Coming to Jesus My Gay Church Days Memoir of a Closeted Evangelical Pastor who Eventually Had Enough written by George Azar and published by . This book was released on 2021-07-13 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George was your average American kid born to traditional Middle Eastern immigrants. Curious about life but tortured by vicious bullying in middle school, he found what seemed like a solution: evangelical Christianity. It appeared to have the cure for his most "shameful sin." Believing his homosexual feelings were an abomination before God, he committed his life to a church community who accepted him ... conditionally. While hiding the scariest truths about him for fear of losing their love, he went from Bible study to Bible college, committing every aspect of his life to his faith - even forsaking important relationships "for the sake of the Gospel." Little did he know that the steady trickle of relinquished identity would create a psychological dysmorphia that allowed his oppressors to keep him in a dangerous isolation. Coming to Jesus: My Gay Church Days is the true story of a deeply insecure evangelical pastor who eventually decided enough was enough. After failed relationships, crippling anxiety, and cult-like codependency, George broke away from rigid Christianity to pursue the thing he once found most dreadful and fearful about himself. This book is a crusade of revealing, an exploration of conformity, oppression, awakening, and self-discovery unlike any other. Ultimately, it is also a quest to save other "lost souls" by example, calling others to rise above the expectations of others and accept themselves as they are.

Download or read book My Body Is Not a Prayer Request written by Amy Kenny and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2022-05-17 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With humorous prose and wry wit, Kenny makes a convincing case for all Christians to do more to meet access needs and embrace disabilities as part of God's kingdom. . . . Inclusivity-minded Christians will cheer the lessons laid out here."--Publishers Weekly Much of the church has forgotten that we worship a disabled God whose wounds survived resurrection, says Amy Kenny. It is time for the church to start treating disabled people as full members of the body of Christ who have much more to offer than a miraculous cure narrative and to learn from their embodied experiences. Written by a disabled Christian, this book shows that the church is missing out on the prophetic witness and blessing of disability. Kenny reflects on her experiences inside the church to expose unintentional ableism and cast a new vision for Christian communities to engage disability justice. She shows that until we cultivate church spaces where people with disabilities can fully belong, flourish, and lead, we are not valuing the diverse members of the body of Christ. Offering a unique blend of personal storytelling, fresh and compelling writing, biblical exegesis, and practical application, this book invites readers to participate in disability justice and create a more inclusive community in church and parachurch spaces. Engaging content such as reflection questions and top-ten lists are included.

Download or read book Memoirs of the life ministry and writings of the Rev Adam Clarke LL D written by William JONES (M.A., Baptist Minister.) and published by . This book was released on 1834 with total page 728 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Where the Light Fell written by Philip Yancey and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this searing meditation on the bonds of family and the allure of extremist faith, one of today’s most celebrated Christian writers recounts his unexpected journey from a strict fundamentalist upbringing to a life of compassion and grace—a revelatory memoir that “invites comparison to Hillbilly Elegy” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “Searing, heartrending . . . This stunning tale reminds us that the only way to keep living is to ask God for the impossible: love, forgiveness, and hope.”—Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason Raised by an impoverished widow who earned room and board as a Bible teacher in 1950s Atlanta, Philip Yancey and his brother, Marshall, found ways to venture out beyond the confines of their eight-foot-wide trailer. But when Yancey was in college, he uncovered a shocking secret about his father’s death—a secret that began to illuminate the motivations that drove his mother to extreme, often hostile religious convictions and a belief that her sons had been ordained for a divine cause. Searching for answers, Yancey dives into his family origins, taking us on an evocative journey from the backwoods of the Bible Belt to the bustling streets of Philadelphia; from trailer parks to church sanctuaries; from family oddballs to fire-and-brimstone preachers and childhood awakenings through nature, music, and literature. In time, the weight of religious and family pressure sent both sons on opposite paths—one toward healing from the impact of what he calls a “toxic faith,” the other into a self-destructive spiral. Where the Light Fell is a gripping family narrative set against a turbulent time in post–World War II America, shaped by the collision of Southern fundamentalism with the mounting pressures of the civil rights movement and Sixties-era forces of social change. In piecing together his fragmented personal history and his search for redemption, Yancey gives testament to the enduring power of our hunger for truth and the possibility of faith rooted in grace instead of fear. “I truly believe this is the one book I was put on earth to write,” says Yancey. “So many of the strands from my childhood—racial hostility, political division, culture wars—have resurfaced in modern form. Looking back points me forward.”

Download or read book Your Life Is a Book And It s Time to Write It written by Kevin Quirk and published by Hillcrest Publishing Group. This book was released on 2011-04 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you have a story that you just have to tell? Do you seek to preserve your life history as a gift for loved ones, or to pay tribute to those who have meant the most to you? Do you yearn to write about one major life experience to inspire others? You're not alone. The desire to write our life story is a timeless, universal urge. Somewhere inside us we know that writing a book about our life will touch those we love, while enriching our lives in today's cell phone-laptop lifestyle. Life is a book, and women and men from 19 to 99 are hearing the call to write it. Someone is waiting to hear you tell your life story: who you are, how you've lived, what you've learned. They want to hear all the stories that have shaped your life. Your Life Is a Book - And It's Time to Write It! An A-to-Z Guide to Help Anyone Write Their Life Story will take you on the journey of creating your memoir, autobiography, or life story. It doesn't matter how old or how young you are, or whether you've written a lot, a little, or not at all. Through practical tools, lively writing exercises, engaging questions, and helpful illustrations, you'll receive the guidance and encouragement you need from an expert life-writing teacher. Start writing your life story today! Kevin Quirk, M.A., has been helping ordinary people of all ages and backgrounds write their life stories as ghostwriter, personal historian, and Writing Your Life Story teacher since 1998. A former journalist and founder of Life Is a Book, he is coauthor of Brace for Impact: Miracle on the Hudson Survivors Share Their Stories of Near Death and Hope for New Life.

Download or read book Memoirs of the Life Ministry and Writings of the Rev Rowland Hill written by William Jones and published by . This book was released on 1834 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Book of Longings written by Sue Monk Kidd and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An extraordinary novel . . . a triumph of insight and storytelling.” —Associated Press “A true masterpiece.” —Glennon Doyle, author of Untamed An extraordinary story set in the first century about a woman who finds her voice and her destiny, from the celebrated number one New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention of Wings In her mesmerizing fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history and brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything. Their marriage evolves with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, and their mother, Mary. Ana's pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome's occupation of Israel, partially led by her brother, Judas. She is sustained by her fearless aunt Yaltha, who harbors a compelling secret. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in peril, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds refuge in unexpected surroundings. Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history. Grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus's life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman's bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her. It is a triumph of storytelling both timely and timeless, from a masterful writer at the height of her powers.

Download or read book Ministry written by Al Jourgensen and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ministry is a memoir both ugly and captivating, revealing Al Jourgensen as a man who lived a hard life his own way without making compromises. He survived prolonged drug addiction -- twenty-two years of chronic heroin, cocaine, and alcohol abuse, to be more precise -- before cleaning up, straightening out, and finding new reasons to live. During his career, Jourgensen has engaged in all of the rock 'n' roll clich's regarding decadence and debauchery and invented new forms of previously unachieved nihilism. Despite this and his addictions, he created seven seminal albums, including the bonafide, hugely influential classic The Land of Rape and Honey, 1989's The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste, and 1992's blockbuster Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed. Ministry imparts the epic life of Al Jourgensen, a survivor who tempted fate, beat the odds, persevered, and put the pieces back together after unraveling completely.

Download or read book Memoirs of the life ministry and character of the rev William Jones with sketches of his sermons by the rev R Rymer written by William Jones and published by . This book was released on 1842 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: