Download or read book Who Stole My Church written by Gordon MacDonald and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2010-01-11 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A challenging, innovative approach to a delicate subject. It’s sure to benefit church leaders and members of all ages who dream of a “reinvented” church. —Publishers Weekly Has your church been stolen out from under you? A storm hits a small New England town late one evening, but the pelting rain can’t keep a small group of church members from gathering to discuss issues that lately have been brewing beneath the surface of their congregation. They could see their church was changing. The choir had been replaced by a fl ashy “praise band.” The youth no longer dressed in their “Sunday best.” The beautiful pipe organ sat unused. How will this group overcome a deepening rift in their fellowship and nourish the relationship between the young and old? Can their church survive or even thrive? Who Stole My Church? is a fictional story that tells the all too real tale of many church communities today. In this book you can walk alongside an imaginary community, led by real life pastor Gordon MacDonald and his wife, Gail, and discover how to meet the needs of all believers without abandoning the dreams and desires of any.

Download or read book Who Moved My Church written by Mike Nappa and published by David C Cook. This book was released on 2001 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four unforgettable characters set out to find their church building after it has been physically moved. But how they go about locating it and what they do once they find it is so different, humorous, entertaining, and thought provoking. Ideal for discussion in homes, small groups, Sunday School classes and churches.

Download or read book Going Deep written by Gordon MacDonald and published by Thomas Nelson Inc. This book was released on 2011-10-18 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The future of the Christian faith will not be determined by the number of people who fill the pews but by the spiritual depth of those people. Pastor Gordon MacDonald revisits the fictional New England congregation of his critically acclaimed book Who Stole My Church to deal with a new dilemma: What's his church's story? What is it doing that justifies its existence? The importance of these questions is anything but fiction. Through a series of e-mails and discussions with friends and parishioners, Pastor Gordon's search for their story leads him to realize that the future of the Christian faith, and thus the church, is at risk. As MacDonald says, "We seem to know how to get unchurched people to visit our buildings. We even seem to know how to draw them across the line into a declaration of personal faith in Jesus. But what we do not seem to know is how to cultivate spiritually deep people. Tomorrow's church could be headed for trouble." Deep people. People who possess spiritual awareness and maturity, people with solid, grounded, life-altering faith. MacDonald shows that the church needs people with a passion for God's presence and a desperate hunger to seek him above all things. Join Pastor MacDonald and his congregation on their quest to cultivate spiritual depth and grow into a community of believers whose hearts and minds are truly focused on God.

Download or read book Ordering Your Private World written by Gordon MacDonald and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does your life feel cluttered? Maybe an overcrowded calendar isn't your only problem! In this updated classic, learn how our technology-focused generation can deal with stress and find balance in life by submitting to God in five areas: motivation, priorities, intellect, spiritual growth, and rest. We have schedule planners, computerized calendars, smart phones, and sticky notes to help us organize our business and social lives every day. But what about organizing the other side of our lives? The spiritual side? In Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald equips you to live life from the inside out, cultivating the inner victory necessary for effectiveness. Simplifying your external life begins with seeking internal order. In addition to focusing on spiritual and mental disciplines, you’ll discover: The difference between being driven and being called The lifelong pursuit of the growth of the mind The importance of being a listener and reader How to exercise your soul to keep it in good shape Our culture encourages us to believe that the busy, publicly active person is also the most spiritual. Our massive responsibilities at home, work, and church have resulted in many of us on the verge of collapse. Learn to take a step back from the outer world and deal with the stress of life by developing your inner world: your soul.

Download or read book Who Stole My Bible written by Jennifer Butler and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book What the Church Forgot to Remember written by Peter Triolo Jr. and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2012-09-13 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity has gone from orthodoxy to evangelical crusades, from great demonstrations of miracles to signs and wonders, and to the promoting of prosperity in the body of Christ. The ideals of honesty and fundamental truths have been replaced by what we think and feel. The truth has been reduced to whether or not it is relevant in our society. The mindset is if it feels right, do it, even if it is wrong. Moral stability has been replaced by anything goes. We have misplaced things important to Christ. In What the Church Forgot to Remember, author Peter Triolo Jr. presents the truth about the how and why of Christianity and provides a reminder to what should be close to our hearts regarding Jesus and His church. Through scriptural examples, Triolo shows how the truth can be found in the Bible through Gods own words. What the Church Forgot to Remember reminds us that before there was time, God loved us and that love is everlasting. Theres still time to change the fast-food mentality of what we want and get back to what God wants.

Download or read book The Church That Never Sleeps written by Matthew Barnett and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2000-01-13 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It began when a small group of believers stepped out in faith-against all odds-and claimed the Queen of Angels Hospital in downtown Los Angeles for the cause of Christ. Now 200 different ministries in the Los Angeles International Church reach out to thousands of residents. Innovative programs minister to AIDS victims, the homeless, battered women, drug and alcohol addicts, and abused children-offering hope and a chance for a better life. The Church That Never Sleeps shows how God can use this incredible ministry as a model to make dreams come true in neighborhoods across the nation.

Download or read book Who Moved My Pulpit written by Thom S. Rainer and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2016-06-01 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who Moved My Pulpit? may not be the exact question you’re asking. But you’re certainly asking questions about change in the church—where it’s coming from, why it’s happening, and how you’re supposed to hang on and follow God through it—even get out ahead of it so your church is faithfully meeting its timeless calling and serving the new opportunities of this age. Based on conversations with thousands of pastors, combined with on-the-ground research from more than 50,000 churches, best-selling author Thom S. Rainer shares an eight-stage roadmap to leading change in your church. Not by changing doctrine. Not by changing biblical foundations. But by changing methodologies and approaches for reaching a rapidly changing culture. You are the pastor. You are the church staff person. You are an elder. You are a deacon. You are a key lay leader in the church. This is the book that will equip you to celebrate and lead change no matter the cost. The time is now.

Download or read book Launch written by Nelson Searcy and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Starting a church from scratch? Start here! Launch offers specific strategies for beginning a church with no members, no money, and no staff. Readers get clear, practical how-to strategies for quickly raising funds, creating a team, planning services, effective evangelism, and rapidly developing a growing membership. Specific advice is included for reaching that often difficult-to-target demographic, the 20- to 40-year-old. Now thoroughly revised and expanded to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of church planting.

Download or read book The Church of All Ages written by Howard A. Vanderwell and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2007-12-17 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many congregations today experience collisions between parents who ant to spend time with their children and age-segregated church programming, as well as between the children worshiping in their pews and the increasing number of seniors in the same pew. Among the questions these congregations struggle to address are these: Should we try to hold the generations together when we worship/ Is it even possible? Led by pastor and resource developer Howard Vanderwell, nine writers--pastors, teachers, worship planners, and others serving in specialized ministries--offer their reflections on issues congregational leaders need to address as they design their worship ministry. In addition, numerous sidebars illustrate the diversity of practices in the church today. Contributors do not propose easy answers or instant solutions. Rather, they guide readers as they craft ministries and practices that fit their own community, heritage, and history. Each chapter includes questions for reflection and group discussion, and an appendix provides guidelines for small group use. The thread that connects these varied contributions is the belief that there is no greater privilege for Christians than worshiping God, and there is no better way to do that than as an intergenerational community in which all are important and all encourage and nurture the faith of the others.

Download or read book Dear Church written by Lenny Duncan and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2019-07-02 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lenny Duncan is the unlikeliest of pastors. Formerly incarcerated, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make all the headlines, but Duncan sees something else at work--drawing a direct line between the church's lack of diversity and the church's lack of vitality. The problems the ELCA faces are theological, not sociological. But so are the answers. Part manifesto, part confession, and all love letter, Dear Church offers a bold new vision for the future of Duncan's denomination and the broader mainline Christian community of faith. Dear Church rejects the narrative of church decline and calls everyone--leaders and laity alike--to the front lines of the church's renewal through racial equality and justice. It is time for the church to rise up, dust itself off, and take on forces of this world that act against God: whiteness, misogyny, nationalism, homophobia, and economic injustice. Duncan gives a blueprint for the way forward and urges us to follow in the revolutionary path of Jesus. Dear Church also features a discussion guide at the back--perfect for church groups, book clubs, and other group discussion.

Download or read book The Judge Who Stole Christmas written by Randy Singer and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2010-09-10 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It starts innocently enough in the town square of Possum, Virginia. But it becomes a spectacular national scandal: Can a federal judge outlaw Christmas? Thomas Hammond and his wife play Joseph and Mary in the annual live nativity in their hometown. But a federal judge rules the display unconstitutional. Thomas refuses to abide by the court order—and ends up in jail. From the courtrooms of Virginia to the talk shows of New York City, the battle escalates into a national media spectacle. Caught in the middle is law student Jasmine Woodfaulk, assigned to represent Thomas as part of her school’s legal aid clinic. Only a surprising series of events can reconcile a stubborn father, a crusading law student, and a recalcitrant judge. The Judge Who Stole Christmas is a charming, warm, and thought-provoking Christmas tale that explores in a fresh way the real reason for the season.

Download or read book Stolen Innocence written by Elissa Wall and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Both creepy…and quite moving.” —New York Times Book Review “Wall’s story couldn’t be more timely.” —People Stolen Innocence is the gripping New York Times bestselling memoir of Elissa Wall, the courageous former member of Utah’s infamous FLDS polygamist sect whose powerful courtroom testimony helped convict controversial sect leader Warren Jeffs in September 2007. At once shocking, heartbreaking, and inspiring, Wall’s story of subjugation and survival exposes the darkness at the root of this rebel offshoot of the Mormon faith.

Download or read book The Purpose Driven Church written by Rick Warren and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2007-09-04 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The issue is church health, not church growth—if your church is healthy, growth will occur naturally. So how do we make healthy churches, driven by purpose? In order for any church to thrive, it must be built around the five New Testament purposes given to the church by Jesus Christ. In this classic of Christian church stability, pastor and bestselling author of The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren unpacks this proven five-part strategy that will enable your church to grow: Warmer through fellowship. Deeper through discipleship. Stronger through worship. Broader through ministry. Larger through evangelism. Every church is driven by something. Tradition, finances, programs, personalities, events, seekers, and even buildings can each be the controlling force in a church. But Warren will show you how to concentrate on building people and let God build the church. In other words, healthy, consistent growth is the result of balancing the five biblical purposes of the church. And The Purpose Driven Church will show you how to do that. “The Purpose Driven Church has brought focus and direction to more pastors and church leaders than you can count. What a gift!”—John Ortberg, bestselling author.

Download or read book Your Dad Stole My Rake written by Tom Papa and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stand-up comedian and family man Tom Papa explores how we deal with our inescapable relatives and their bizarre behavior. A warm, hilarious book that saws deep into every branch of the family tree and uncovers the most hysterical and surprisingly meaningful aspects of our lives.

Download or read book When Men Think Private Thoughts written by Gordon MacDonald and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 1996 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In When Men Think Private Thoughts, you'll travel the inner recesses of a man's mind to unravel the complex, centuries-old questions that shape a man's identity and self-concept. You'll learn how a man's sense of self begins to form even before birth and how the terrain between childhood and manhood affects his adult relationships, spiritual life, and more.

Download or read book Vertical Church written by James MacDonald and published by . This book was released on 2012-09-07 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: