Statistics indicate that young people -- members of the Millennial Generation -- are leaving the church in staggering numbers and failing to return as they begin their own families. Many Millennials are uninterested in church and religion, yet some still choose to pursue ministry as their vocation. While cultural and generational trends affect the views of their peers, how do young people serving as leaders in church and ministry settings navigate their roles when existing church values and visions collide with those of their generation? In {ITL}Millennials in Ministry{NRM}, the focus is on young adults serving in local churches and those involved in global outreach, regarding their experiences. Their stories provide broader understanding and strategies for educators, ministry leaders, pastors and mentors working with young adults in ministry that can allow for effective engagement and empowerment of the next generation of church leaders.

No matter which generation you speak with, many people express concern that ‘church’ is not meeting their expectations; can the integrity of the gospel be maintained if we embrace some of the changes that are being thrust upon us in the 21st century? Jesus says. “I am the same yesterday, today and for eternity.” Does that mean that ‘church’ should remain the same forever? Our culture is evolving as our demographic mix changes―inevitably, communication styles and expectations are changing too: Traditionalists try to maintain the status-quo. Boomers use ‘proven’ marketing methods to help the ailing church. Generation X’ers prefer the Internet to the Scriptures as their reference source―consequently, a competitive, ‘consumer church’ model is becoming the norm. Generation Y’ers are leaving the institutionalised church, opting rather to express their need for spiritual fulfillment by developing ‘community’ with the help of electronic media. Considering challenges the Church is facing in the 21st century we might ask, “What would bring the Church back to a sense of unity, even in diversity, if diligently applied?” This writer believes that integrity, when understood and applied through the various windows of both local and ‘foreign’ cultures, can help us to understand why the Lord Jesus says, “I am the same yesterday, today and for eternity.”

This is an insider's hard look at personal and spiritual characteristics of Christian leaders who fall short of their master's example and teaching. Scriptures concerning their future accountability at the judgment seat of Christ are emphasized. The author, after 45 years of Christian service in multiple geographical and cultural settings, shares examples (from his own and other ministers' experiences) demonstrating some key inter-personal dynamics and defense mechanisms that mar leaders' relationships with God and man. Professional and lay ministers on all levels are invited for self-examination of their lives today before that day comes when all men will give an account to God for the stewardship of their spiritual lives and their effect on others and on the spread of his kingdom.

As young Christians work with emerging forms of church, older Christians attempt to bring renewal to the various manifestations of church. And all the while, non-Christians continue to fail to see the relevance of the local church. {ITL}Lego Church{NRM} gives ecclesiastical explorers a fresh overview of the book of Acts, providing practical answers and hands-on tools needed to understand biblical principles for the body of Christ. It also provides the launching point to find faithful reinventions of the church.

Church worship leaders are more than just musicians. Worship leaders must plan, budget, organize, develop people and stay abreast of technology changes. This book gives the church worship leader practical tips for mastering the elements of the worship leader role beyond the musicianship. Chapters include: The Purpose of Worship, Planning the Rehearsal, Conducting the Rehearsal, Recruiting and Developing Talent, A/V Team, and Stewardship.

Despite the numerous books written each year on or about the church, most pastors and church leaders are generally clueless about what makes church work. And most church members have no idea how difficult the job of pastor really is. This book details how evangelical churches really work, how and why many pastors struggle and fail in the ministry and offers a realistic guide on how to view the ministry.

Jesus prayed in John 17:21-23, that his disciples would be one, as he is one with the Father, so that the world may believe. In our time exactly the contrary is occurring: disciples are not one, the world does not believe, and religious apathy is spreading. Could Christians reverse this trend? The book focuses on new theological and apologetic ways of evangelizing the skeptical and religiously indifferent postmodern world. Finally, the book answers how to restore the church's biblical credibility in times of its fragmentation into more than 20,000 Christian denominations. This multidisciplinary book is written from a progressive Catholic perspective for Christian intellectuals. It discusses a problem of universal importance, the relationship between the institutional Church and the biblical Church.

Subtitled: Diagnosis and Treatment for the Disease of Failed Leadership in the Church. Statistics reveal that 80% of North American churches are stagnant or in decline. Part 1 is a diagnostic manual that lists symptoms pointing to the disease of failed leadership like ill-advised decisions, the guise of uniformity, gossip, sacred cows, fear of change, the bookworm pastor, and lack of vision. In order to help leaders overcome the symptoms, treatments are prescribed, the following of which foster health in leadership and vitality in the congregation. Part 2 offers preventative medicine designed to strengthen the immune system, energizing them to lead boldly and faithfully. Part 3 highlights the ministry of the intentional interim pastor as a doctor who calls upon a hurting congregation to dispense the balm of Gilead and the love of Christ.

Within the African-American church, a pastor's wife, or First Lady, as she is often called, can be highly visible and esteemed, yet misunderstood. Unfairly, she is reduced to a stereotype -- one to which she did not give voice. First Lady seeks to demystify the women who enact this role as they give voice to their own experiences and perspectives. Beyond the role of First Lady are individual women whose experiences are diverse and transcend traditional stereotypes. Through a collection of 24 oral narratives of pastors' wives of different denominations, geographical regions, ages, and approaches to the role, this book will explore how these women define their diverse roles while balancing the expectations of both their husbands and congregations.

The writer says, "As a small church struggling through a bad economy, we asked God, 'What do we need to do at this time to become more like You?' That is when God prompted us to give away all of our tithes and offerings for the next year. That simple question, and God's radical answer, initiated a momentous change within our church as well as our local community. It taught us that at the core of his character, God is radically generous. And in order for our church to thrive as the physical extension of Christ in Clinton, Mississippi, we too had to learn to live as generous servants." Generous Church documents the joys and struggles of radical generosity. It is intended to encourage financial generosity and missional thinking in the Body of Christ. It was written to help churches understand how to approach church finances in faith and how to connect to the unchurched communities around them. It was written to encourage congregations and individuals to become like Christ. . . . to become generous, as he is generous.

The writer summarizes, "The Casual Christian is the product of the struggle of a former missionary to grasp the reasons why the church he so faithfully served for over 40 years would abandon him in his hour of greatest need. It explores the lack of Christian community, the cavalier attitude towards the scriptures, the obsession with size and polished performances, and the lack of commitment and self sacrificing service. He concludes that church practices are patterned after the American business model rather than the principles the Apostle Paul laid down in his epistles. Such recent developments as the breakdown of Christian community, the rise of populist preachers and mega-churches, the employment of super sized church staffs, and the alienation of both believers and non-believers from the institutional church are at least in part the result of the abandonment of apostolic practices. The church as a professional organization has become uprooted from its heritage and lost its relevance to a needy world."

The subject here is the unique challenges and opportunities that Baby Boomer pastors have in impacting the church toward restoration and renewal. Baby Boomer generation pastors comprise the largest percentage of senior pastors in the church today. Using humor and anecdote, the writer reflects on how pastors have been ingrained ("pickeled") in the church culture of the last half century.

The writer summarizes: "This is a book for faithful servants of the gospel who, like me, are running the race and fighting the fight in the age of dying churches, mega-churches, home churches, emerging churches, and dissatisfied Christians leaving churches." The emphasis is on faithfulness over fame.

Following a report by the Barna Group that the majority of American Christians do not believe that the Holy Spirit or Satan exists, the writers, Tenery and Sells, saw this as a debilitating problem in evangelical and mainline churches across America that must be addressed. A nationally known religious leader has said: "I believe that it will be unique in the field of church growth literature. Written by two men who have many years of experience, we need such a book in a day when many seem not to realize, 'All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down.' Read the book with profit." Another religious leader has said this book is "a manual for training church leaders." The five chapters deal with definite steps that a Church and its leaders can take in order to experience the workings of the Holy Spirit in their lives and their church.

Recent surveys of religion in America reveal not only a decline in religious interest but also a significant gap between those who claim faith in God and those who participate in a faith community. The pursuit of individual spirituality is replacing religion, and congregations contribute to this problem due to lack of clarity about their purpose. This book argues for a relational theology and revisions of the purpose of congregations as intentional communities. In a world where increased incivility and superficial media-enhanced connectedness increase the need for genuine experience of community, covenantal communities offer hope for the future. Three contemporary examples of covenantal communities are examined: a residential Christian community, a dispersed monastic community, and a megachurch's networked missional communities.

"My book is a plea for Church unity and a united push for evangelism by all conservative, born again Christians. I believe the Church has gotten off course by denominationalism and creedalism," the writer states. "I have used a historical approach to demonstrate how we got to this point and where we went wrong, and proposed a course of action for correction."

This manuscript is an appeal for church leaders to look for something more in our practice of the Lord's Supper. It builds a case from a variety of angles that our practice of the Lord's Supper is so different from the early church that we need to change our approach. In the course of doing this, the manuscript covers basic questions about the history and theology of the Lord's Supper.

Serious needs abound, both inside and outside of the church. As Christians, we often seek to help meet the needs of the chronically ill, the unemployed, and others in crisis. But often, we don't know how. Unintentionally, we make false assumptions. We say things that sound spiritual to us, but are judgmental and hurtful to those who are already suffering. This practical handbook urges the reader to find out the real needs and then gives specific ideas on how to really help. It relates what is not helpful. Complete with biblical examples and advice, it covers such topics as how to help with food, housework and finances. With 20 years of experience in living with a chronic illness, occasional bouts of unemployment and other difficult experiences, the author relates actual experiences in this practical training manual. Sometimes blunt, but always honest, she gives clear advice on how individuals and the church can really help.

This book presents a dynamic model of a bilingual, multicultural, multigenerational ministry which can be duplicated anywhere. The writer describes it as "The Holy Spirit inspired birth of a new congregation, simply 'Christians in Miami.' Jesus' Gethsemane prayer for unity among all true believers broke hearts, transforming spiritual lives of believers from diverse national, cultural and religious backgrounds. . . .The divided church sins twice. (1) She fails to pursue our Lord's ministry of reconciliation with passion! (2) She contributes to faith's decline in the world." In three years, this ministry developed from a simple “house church” to a congregation with three pastors and scores of dedicated believers who focus their energies on “being the church” and “doing church" rather than just “attending church” or “supporting the church.”

Coming Home calls individuals and congregations to center their individual and corporate lives in Jesus. The difficulties congregations are facing today result from the fact that Jesus Christ is not at the center of congregational life. Once again his own people have not truly turned to him to be present in their lives. Instead, his own people, without realizing it, have turned either to despair and/or worldly values and ways. Coming Home challenges readers to consider the church's meaning and the importance of their own choices in congregational life.

Two house churches in Miami formed one Communidad de Jesus Community Center, multilingual, multicultural, and multigenerational. A small Pentecostal church shared use of their chapel. A former Catholic priest shared his private school for an outreach center. Twelve denominations joined to share Christ where nearly 800 came to the Lord over Easter weekend 2006. The writer sees "an inclusive, reconciling church is the Lord's double blessing, it adds sweet music to the message of salvation "by grace through faith as the gift of God" and models unity of the Spirit . . . Jesus insisted the world would only believe through a loving united fellowship that can share his continuing presence to touch and heal the broken. This dynamic model of a bilingual ministry can be duplicated anywhere."

The work addresses the problem of decline in many mainline congregations and urges churches to go forward as the body of Christ, secure in the roots of Christian community. Mainline churches that struggle often shift their focus from Jesus Christ and his model of Christian community to secular direction. This book inspires congregations to remain centered as the author traces the development of the early Christian communities and other communities that followed. In spite of persecution they survived as communities of unity and love. Also included are practical suggestions for contemporary congregations. It asserts that churches will thrive as they remain true to the roots of love, peace and equality that are found in Christian community.

One cannot read the Gospel of Matthew without quickly running into the "Kingdom of Heaven." We who live in democratic societies twenty centuries after Jesus' life in Palestine read the words "Kingdom of Heaven" and hear sermons about Jesus' teachings, but we typically theologize them until we de-politicize their meaning. So we think that our "separation of church and state" means religion has little to do with politics. At most it may be something which informs the consciences of people who then might lobby to enact certain forms of legislation that salve our uneasy consciences about our social obligations. But religion as such is or ought to be apolitical. We need to clean out our ears and take the pious cataracts off our eyes in order to hear and see again the very essential political character of the religion of Jesus. Jesus did not assume he could speak to and about the political affairs of his day; he assumed he had a right to declare the true character of politics precisely because he spoke religiously. Any power is religious power. Any kingdom is a reflection of or a challenge to the one real kingdom. Religion is political or it is not religion at all. In this engaging reflection, something of the political religion of Matthew's gospel re-emerges.

The Beggar deals with the ethical and practical issues involved in raising money for charity. Last year Americans gave over $250 billion to charity with the church and church supported missions receiving the largest share. In order to help people understand this work, the author has endeavored to put a human face on the people who spend their lives raising the money to keep the outreach ministries of the church going. This is not a technical book but a window into the world of charitable giving. It is written for both the lifelong donor and the person who wonders why they keep getting solicitations in the mail.

This is an aggressive critique of postconservative, postmodernism (postevangelism). It addresses the issue of whether evangelicals can be certain of what they believe. the writer builds a case against accommodating the Gospel to the culture through capitulation and conciliation, and rejecting certainty. He argues the correlation between truth and certainty, and discusses the source of that certainty.

Called to Awaken the Laity is the main work of Rev. John Oak, Pastor Emeritus of SaRang Community Church in Seoul, South Korea. Originally printed in 2007, the book is about how a discipleship training rooted in reformed theology can transform and bring life into twenty-first-century churches that have been losing their ability to impact their communities and raise up dedicated believers within. These days many people look to parachurch organizations or ‘emerging church’ structures as the answer to this problem, but this book presents discipleship training as a powerful and relevant option for traditional or “conservative” churches that hold a reformed theological view.

The book includes a foreword by Rick Warren.

Today in America, many younger Christians feel disillusioned as they watch the faith they hold dear being used to further a worldly political agenda. It is as if our religion has been taken hostage: forcibly wedded to a particular political ideology or economic system, or stripped down to a couple of hot-button issues, like abortion and same-sex marriage, as though to oppose these were the sum of our faith. Ironically, in our efforts to “take back America,” we have ourselves been taken captive by the prevailing culture and politics of imperialism, greed, racism, and xenophobia that surround us. And so the struggle for the soul of a nation has also become a struggle for the soul of the church. How can we regain a political voice that is neither power-hungry nor passive, neither conservative nor liberal, but simply Christ-like in its concern for justice and the poor? Evangelical pastor and author S. J. Munson explores these issues from the perspective of both the Bible and history. What these have to say will both surprise and challenge us.

Is the Church of the twenty-first century supposed to regain its former glory? Does God want to re-establish Christians as the Church Triumphant? Or is it too late? Are the people of God in exile yet again? Have we lost our cultural footing and now desperately need to find a new way for the present millennium?

Daniel was born into a nation of God-fearers, into a country that largely embraced the Scriptures and biblical values. But with the Babylonian Exile that all changed. Daniel lived out the rest of his life as an exile. His God, his values, and his faith, once pillars to his country, had now become irrelevant and even despised in his society.

Daniel’s story has become our story, and that is why his book holds special relevance for today!

Wayne Baxter offers a clear, concise, and insightful exposition of the book of Daniel, chock full of personal application for Christians in order to empower them to minister more effectively from the social and cultural margins of exile the Church now inhabits.

Why don’t Christian dancers use their artistic gifts in church and ministry settings? There are hundreds of unidentified Christian dancers throughout every city in the United States. Dance studios [and churches] are everywhere. So is the national interest in movement. Artistic dance events permeate television, the internet, and daily life. In the twenty-first century, dance is big because the culture uses visual conversation to communicate. If the strength of dance is visual communication and if we live in a culture that communicates in that language, why aren’t Christian dancers being mobilized as a visual tool for gospel communication?

This book features dance leadership and biblical foundation, a six-step choreography process that communicates biblical truth, a practical tool called “genesis,” a rehearsal structure, and the specific criteria needed for ministerial accountability. The last chapter is written specifically for pastors and ministry leaders without dance understanding. It includes the four main essentials to start a dance ministry and includes perspectives from a worship pastor who has worked with Mary in church dance ministry for more than ten years. Each practical chapter presents the art form of dance as the powerful, visual communication tool that God designed it to be.

What are the interfaith issues of Pope Francis Reign?  Details to be supplied 

I am an evangelical. This book is a lover’s quarrel with much of what happens in corporate worship among evangelicals. It is a plea for us to “do” worship better. Much of what happens in many evangelical churches on Sunday morning has become deeply secularized. The focus has shifted, often unwittingly, from God to ourselves: our needs, desires, and problems. God is mentioned frequently, but is often not really the centre of attention. A good deal of weekly evangelical worship represents our being shaped and molded by our culture, rather than our being the deeply countercultural vanguard of the Kingdom of God. That this is happening in the midst of an increasingly secular western society where God is marginalized, in the public square and the day-to-day lives of most citizens, is deeply troubling. We are in danger of becoming chaplains to the culture – and something must and can be done.

From the "nones" to the "dones" it is clear that the American evagelical church is dying, and our recovery is not to be found in more church growth strategies or more relevant music but instead by embracing our revolutionary voice for Jubilee justice, human flourishing and an evangelical understanding of liberation in order to be the “Beloved Community of Jubilee.” Two of the most prominent themes in the Bible are “land” and “Jubilee,” yet we hear so little about the significance of these upon the church’s mission or our individual lives in today's Christian culture. Through deep thelogical reflection and pastoral inspiration this book lays out the importance of Jubilee for our future mininstry and missiology to inform and inspire leaders, students and lay people who are yearning for their faith to impact the world and transform lives of the poor and marganalized. This book is a call to the church to embrace our prophetic call and recover the soul of the American evangelical church--the call to human flourishing.

Should a church have an armed team prepared to respond to an active shooter? Is there biblical justification for such a team? Where does one start? Who should be on the team? What training is needed? What are the liabilities?

As a pastor I looked for a book that would answer the question: How does a church respond to an active shooter? I didn’t find the book. The church safety and security books I found deal with how to protect children from abuse, the church from lawsuits, and the building from burglary. The resource book I was looking for didn’t exist—Pistol in the Pulpit is that book.

As a retired police officer and one who taught police firearms and tactics, I was looking for a book that would give church leaders and parishioners a better understanding of the dynamics and tactics of facing an active shooter—Pistol in the Pulpit is that book. Pistol in the Pulpit is a one-book resource for those considering an armed security response team (referred to as an armed Safety Response Team) in their house of worship.

In this book, I intend to present and argue for a particular model of Christian demonology that is accessible to and useable by both laypersons and professionals in theology and philosophy.  Unlike most works on demonology currently on the market, this will not be strictly based on biblical theology.  Rather, I shall incorporate the tools of philosophy (my area of expertise) in order to explicate a complete model that addresses not only the theology of Christian demonology but also its metaphysics.  Accordingly, I will develop and defend what it means for demons to be “spirits” and their ability to exercise powers of “lying signs and wonders.”  The Church has historically assumed that demons can directly interact with the physical world.  I shall argue against this idea and defend a model that sees demonic activity as something that obtains in this world exclusively through the minds of human beings.  I am convinced that this model is more consistent with the biblical narrative and is the simplest explanation of the data that thoughtful evangelical Christians can embrace.  Along the way, I shall address successful and unsuccessful philosophical reasons to believe in the existence of Satan and the demons.
         I will also go beyond addressing the metaphysics of demons in order to address some auxiliary points often raised in current demonologies – an approach that will be philosophically informed.  Some of these auxiliaries include demon possession, hauntings, Ufology, and general paranormal activity.  All too often when Christians inquire about the nature and powers of the demons, they also wonder how such a perspective applies to these other areas without recourse to popular misconceptions.  I would venture to say that this book will de-mythologize much of the unnecessary baggage that is often attached to popular demonologies.  I argue that there are some things we can conclude about demonic activity and some things we are not entitled to conclude about it.  Accordingly, I attempt to engage these matters for further reflection that do not haphazardly appeal to sensationalism, common tradition, and/or misinformation.
         To round out this book’s discussion, I will offer up some perspectives on the practice of the Christian life as it pertains to our appropriate behavior and reaction to the demonic.  The practice of appropriate Christian behavior vis-à-vis the demonic is often classified as “spiritual warfare” in more popular circles.  Thanks to Christian story-telling, Christian believers imagine our struggles in the faith to be by and large precipitated by calculated assaults on us by malevolent spirits.  Not surprisingly, then, talk of spiritual warfare conjures up the images associated with human warfare, particularly that of ancient Rome (the oppressive regime that warred against Jesus and the early church and was thought to be ground zero for demonic activity).  Such imagery is no doubt due to Paul’s linking of demonology to the fortification of the Christian conscience in Ephesians 6.11-20.  Christians are explicitly instructed to be aware of the devil’s schemes (6.11) and to resist the devil himself (James 4.7) as if formulating a way to parry the attacks of an enemy hell-bent on our destruction (John 10.10) and deception (I Timothy 4.1).  Given the import of spiritual warfare, along with understanding what that means, I will provide some thoughts on this subject that Christians can implement in their day-to-day lives – both to the glory of God and to the protection of our souls in Christ.
          I intend for this work to begin, not end, a conversation amongst thoughtful Christians.  I have no unrealistic ambitions that this book will finalize the issue nor resolve every intellectual problem one might have in pondering the demonic.  But I do mean to expand it beyond what has been written.  My hope is that readers – thoughtful Christian readers – will begin to systematize an intelligible portrait of the nature and powers of the demons by using this book as one way to think about such issues.  Perhaps by developing an intelligent (philosophical) demonology the Christian will be emboldened to respond to the antipathies of anti-Christian cynics over such matters; that a Christian demonology does have a rational place not only for the Christian academic but also for the rank and file.

Pastors and congregational officers frequently struggle to lead midsize churches, which compose almost one-fourth of all congregations in the United States.  These leaders flounder because they are not familiar with the sociological dynamics unique to this size category.  Leading a medium church (which averages 150 to 400 worshippers per week) is different from leading a small or large one, requiring a distinctive approach.  This book equips leaders to guide midsize churches so that they achieve the highest level of effectiveness possible.  It is a comprehensive resource to maximize the fruitful mission and ministry of such congregations.  Pastors, priests, professional staff workers, congregational officers, church council and board members will gain insights and best practices for more fruitful leadership of medium-sized churches.

Samantha wants to follow Jesus, but instead of joy, depression is her constant companion. Eric is eager to grow in faith, but the loss of his dad to cancer continues to gnaw at his soul, stealing his love for prayer. Rasha recently immigrated from a war-torn country. She’s a follower of Jesus, but now fear controls her life. Jimar has been a youth worker for three years. He felt God leading him to minister to some of the kids in his neighbourhood, but the stories of violence and pain have left him exhausted and questioning his faith.   

This is a book for youth workers about discipleship in the hard places of life. It will remind you that your purpose in youth ministry--even when there’s pain--is to help teenagers follow Jesus. It will help you understand that there is a personal cost to disciple-making: Fatigue. Anger. Sorrow. The greater your ability to connect, the greater the risk to your soul. Discipleship in the Hard Places of Life will help you learn to make disciples, even when life gets messy.    

Us or them? Maybe your church spends energy inwardly, seeking to build people up in maturity. Others labor to make Christ known to the outside world. What if these two passion didn't have to be divided? What if God meant for one to serve and help accomplish the other?

Jesus called his disciples to love one another so that the world would know they're his. When we faithfully live as the body of Christ, we neither undermine nor neglect our evangelistic task. Instead, we empower it. The world will always watch the church. And, by God's grace, they'll see an extraordinary love. But as they see it, they'll also hear of God's profound love in the gospel of the crucified, risen Lord. 

When the gospel permeates the life of a local church, it awakens a kind of love which serves as a light to the watching world. The light of Christ in the life of his church. That's a city on a hill. 

Churches have been using social media as marketing and ministry tools for a number of years now, and some have even gotten good at it. The problem is, social media come at a price. Counting the Cost of Church Social Media: Why A One-Sized Strategy Never Really Fits addresses the challenges of using digital tools that promote a very different set of values than those promoted by the church. It is a book that helps churches move beyond simple questions like “How do I tweet?” to bigger questions like “How will social media shape our church?”

Books about positive psychology and human flourishing have been filling shelves and making the news for the last several years. I was part of this movement, and I consider it to be a good thing.

However, ministry leaders have not connected to this good thing in a meaningful way. A Ministry Leader’s Guide to Behavioral Science will help bridge this gap. The book will show ministry leaders the applications of behavioral science to discipleship and ministry partnerships. This book will address some of U.S. churches’ main areas of ministry, laying out proven ways to deal more effectively with people and busting some old myths. Specifically, A Ministry Leader’s Guide to Behavioral Science will apply behavioral science findings to worship, teaching, discipleship, building community, and becoming a good ministry partner (employer, funder, employee, and recipient of support).

We now live in a postmodern age that poses many unique threats to the evangelical church. Evangelicalism—once defined by its commitment to doctrines and practices of the Protestant Reformation—has now become an amorphous spiritual movement with little connection to historic Christian faith. In its attempt to make the church attractive and relevant to a post-modern world, it has not only greatly diminished the gospel’s impact on the culture, it has also left pastors and church leaders confused and disheartened.

Worse yet, many struggle under the weight of pastoral ministry, targets of the diabolical schemes of the enemy, who seeks to deceive, distract, divide, discourage, and destroy pastors and churches.

So what is the answer? We must recapture the essence of the New Testament church whose spiritual authenticity can be seen most clearly in the Protestant church of the Reformation.  How do we do this practically? We must imitate the life and ministry of the apostle Paul. Through his example we discover seven ruling convictions that informed his decisions, calmed his fears, and soothed his sorrows; principles that can bring clarity and comfort to every pastor and church leader.

What might church look like if, rather than being a controlled, institutional garden, it was a radically decentralized weed? This book describes why the traditional church structure built on the metaphor of gathering is no longer effective, and describes seven core features of a church that takes seriously the biblical metaphor of scattering.

In a world that is socially mobile, digital, postmodern, and increasingly post-institutional, we cannot expect that maintaining the traditional model of the gathered church will continue to be an effective strategy for building God’s kingdom. Nevertheless, people on the margins of the traditional church are hungry for an authentic way to express their faith, as the interest in numerous forms of “emerging church” makes clear. Instead of merely attending a church, people want to be the church. How can that be achieved in a way that is both biblically sound and culturally relevant?

Through biblical reflection, social analysis, and personal anecdotes, Scattering Church paints an enticing picture of an effective church in the modern Western world. A scattering church does not rely on a massive denominational bureaucracy, nor centrally-controlled doctrine, nor paid priests, nor purpose-made buildings. It is fundamentally decentralized and subversive, deliberately scattering its influence and divesting power to the margins.

Why don’t preachers ever talk about the degrading treatment of women in the Old Testament? Why would God have a different definition of adultery for a man than for a woman? If the virgin birth is a core tenet of the Christian faith, why was Christ's ancestry traced through Joseph rather than Mary in the Gospels? Did Jesus come to raise the status of women on one hand, but keep them in their place with the other? These and many other questions are posed by the author as she traces her journey to find dignity in light of God’s apparent tolerance for female degradation.

After years of questioning divine justice and searching for answers, she presents a comprehensive look at a male-centered social system that has shaped history, Bible translations and Christian theology – ultimately leading to a prophetic challenge to the church to address a pivotal issue: what do we do with our patriarchal legacy? By asking hard questions and confronting sensitive topics with grace and candor, the author maintains that Christians are not equipped to handle the sexual and spiritual crisis facing the church today without addressing the roots and consequences of gender inequity.

Over the past 8 years I have given away the leadership of important ministries to unpaid volunteers at an alarming rate. It’s because I discovered that the greatest untapped resource in today’s church is high capacity volunteer leaders. They attend our churches faithfully and yet; their potential is largely untapped which means available but not used.

Sooner or later most Pastors come to the realization that there is more ministry to do than staff to accomplish it. It is a universal problem. What if the answer is right in front of us? What if the greatest resource in every church is its people? Many church members have enormous ministry capacity, but we are afraid to ask them to attempt big things. We settle for letting them hand out bulletins or change diapers. But they will do more…. much more.  

In 2011, Grace Church began implementing a process that allowed high capacity leaders in the congregation to become staff members without pay. We gave them job descriptions, business cards, problems to solve, and people to lead. We gave them responsibility that matched their capacity - and our church has taken on a whole new identity. This book will explain how.

A.I.M. FOR HIGH GROUND is a collection of short stories based on unique, real-life experiences from my forty-eight years of ministry. These experiences are more about church members and ministry opportunities than they are about me, and they are presented in a narrative format, making them easy to read, remember, and relate to. Among them are the conversion of a Satanist, the unlikely formation of one woman’s ministry of caring for outcast elderly women, and the identification of demonism versus mental illness. At the close of each chapter are a list of “Lessons Learned” and “Leadership Application” questions for further study.

Ministers graduate from seminary with few of the practical tools necessary for a successful ministry. As a result, ministers struggle to fulfill their required tasks, become frustrated with the demands of the local church, and leave the ministry. 

The purpose of this book is to equip ministers with the most valuable and strategic practical tools they will need for ministry success – how to handle conflict, how to establish and maintain a healthy church culture, how to lead effectively, along with many other key tools.

This book features seven lessons, based on Scripture, on beliefs and practices that are often neglected by the church today but are key in making a church truly biblical. Dr. Carpenter, drawing on his background as a scholar of Puritanism and years of planting and pastoring a church, establishes each pillar on the Bible and shows with Scripture and practical examples how they work. Beginning with the tale of how an eyewitness account of the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center shows us the perils of only seeing part of God's revelation, we see: why we must listen to what God says about Himself; why we must understand that the gospel is not a self-help plan; why salvation is so simple it can be reduced to a bumper sticker ("Jesus saves") but it is still so often misunderstood, leading to unconverted people leading churches; and why believers aren't called just to go to church but to be covenanted members of a specific church where they can be corrected by their pastors and where worship is centered on God, not on personalities, putting on a show, or attracting crowds.

Hurricanes and typhoons. Earthquakes and tsunamis. Floods and wildfires.  Avalanches and volcano eruptions. Droughts and famines. What is common to each of these? That one may be coming to a church near you! Disastrous Preaching: Preaching in a Natural Environmental Disaster is based on the qualitative research of the experiences of pastors (including the author) who served and preached in the aftermath of a natural environmental disaster in their locale. The research is augmented by information from global disaster and environmental trauma experts. This book will inform and equip local pastors and preachers to be better able to faithfully preach to the needs of people in the aftermath of a natural environmental disaster.

Do you live your Christian life, on the outside looking in, due to your struggles with mental health? Oftentimes, believers with depression face a lack of proper support and understanding from church members and leadership, leading them to feel alienated within church walls. In The Church and The Depressed Christian, suicide attempt survivor and mental health advocate Tabitha Yates seeks to encourage Christians of all ages who have battled mental health issues and wrestle with how their faith and their feelings can coexist. As a lifelong believer, Tabitha had countless experiences with individuals in her church who felt that her faith was invalidated or lessened by a perceived weakness: her depression. Tabitha’s church leaders lacked the proper tools and understanding to support those living with depression. As a result, her mental health was mishandled to the point that it compelled her to attempt suicide. Readers will find hope and healing as Tabitha shares her inspiring story of living with anxiety and depression within a church setting, surviving a suicide attempt, and clinging to faith when it seemed her life was beyond all possibility of redemption. Tabitha will break down the stigma regarding mental illness within the church in a heartwarming and relatable way. She will gently prod readers back towards a loving relationship with the God who unconditionally accepts them, while sparking a more open conversation about how mental health is approached in the church. She hopes to help those who have left the church due to their mental health to find their way back to restoration and fellowship with other believers, with healthy boundaries in place and a firm understanding that when we learn to put our faith in God, rather than in flawed humanity, we can better navigate life and relationships within the body of Christ. Readers will be reassured that God has a purpose and place within the church for Christians who struggle with anxiety and depression.

Working title: Exploit! Maximizing the Strengths of the Small Church This title comes from Dr. Mark Rossi, COO of the Hopedale Medical Complex, a thriving medical community in a town of less than 1,000 people. People regularly drive by the large, premier downstate hospital in Illinois to seek medical help 30 minutes away in this small place. Spend a few minutes with Dr. Rossi and you will hear him sing the praises of their medical community without even a hint of inferiority because of size. To the contrary, at some point Dr. Rossi will say, “We exploit the fact that we are small and rural!” Through the blending of rich “small theology” with corresponding practical outcomes, Exploit! convinces the reader that small size is not a liability but a trait begging to be exploited. Readers will see that their-size church is well-suited for fulfilling God’s mission and in fact has advantages. Exploit! does not pit small against big; it is not about what size is best but about how to be the best given the size that one’s church is. Rather than trying to imitate large churches, small churches do well to study themselves and their communities, and then prayerfully design ministries uniquely suited for their size, place, and time.

38% of pastors have given serious thought to leaving full-time ministry in the last year. Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the unpredictable, never done work of the ministry, is it any wonder that many pastors contemplated resigning? All of this plus church members with unrealistic expectations and a knack for criticism has taken its toll on pastors and on one particular ministry that pastors are entrusted with: preaching. Empty preachers are filling pulpits. Is there anything church members can do to help their pastors with the essential stress of preaching week-in and week-out? Given his own battle with panic attacks and his extensive research on the subject, the author sought out 97 pastors and asked them: What can your church members do to help you preach well? Each chapter in this book is a commitment, a clear, concrete action developed from the study that church members can take to help their pastors preach well.

Amid worldwide upheaval, believers and non-believers alike are asking profound questions. That's what happens when something or someone you have depended on for guidance, structure, community, comfort, identity, and meaning has been exposed to the light, shaken to the core, and found to be unreliable and untrustworthy. Whether you are a believer in Jesus, a faith deconstructor, a seeker, a skeptic, or an opponent, What is Church? will inform and help resolve your longing for answers, truth, meaning, and belonging while plumbing the depths of divinely revealed knowledge. Drawing on a wealth of relationships, personal experience, study, travel, stories, and a deep love for Jesus and His Church, Dub Karriker shares valuable insights on the Church from a different perspective, revealing the Church's place in history, the present and the future. Rather than walking the well-worn path of two thousand years of best intentions and church misdeeds, Karriker reveals the Church as intended by its founder, Jesus and His Apostles. Whether you are in church, hurt by church, on the way out, looking in from the outside, or just curious, What is Church? is a fascinating, soul-stirring journey of inquiry and answers.