In the world today, churches and church members are often diverted from their central mission of loving others and interpreting life through the vision of Jesus Christ. If Christians Were Really Christian shows that with the message we have been given and the spirit of God to lead us, we should have led everyone to the kingdom of God. The book is a reminder of how often we have broken trust with Christ in the most essential elements of our discipleship, and how effective our churches can become if we recover the central thrust of our ministry--following Christ and modeling his message in our deeds as well as our words.
After teaching for a number of years, John Killinger, eager to be a pastor, was offered a church in Lynchburg, Virginia. It was in the 1980s when Jerry Falwell had a congregation there. Falwell had just started the Moral Majority movement and had helped to get Ronald Reagan elected president. In 1983, a Good Housekeeping national poll rated Jerry Falwell the second most respected man in America after Reagan. John Killinger’s new book is in part a picture of Falwell and an exploration of his influence from the unique standpoint of a “rival” minister who says that his experience of his Lynchburg years is what soon turned him into one of Fundamentalism’s most trenchant and outspoken critics. This is a fascinating story told with great grace and style about two very different men of faith, both struggling to capture hearts, minds, and souls.
Preaching the New Millennium will help preachers identify the basic questions and concerns that their congregations have as the turn of the millennium occurs. It outlines the basic biblical themes and texts that address these concerns and provides ideas for sermons and sermon series geared to preaching the new millennium. Written in the lively, engaging style characteristic of Killinger's work, this book will be a valuable resource for all who wish to speak the word of the gospel in a changing time.
There is beauty in simplicity. This collection of daily readings helps individuals awaken their spiritual sensitivity by suggesting specific, yet simple ways they can open themselves to God's presence each and every day. Each day's reading begins with a practical suggestion, followed by a brief reflection on how the underlying idea can draw us closer to God. Appropriate quotations from Scripture and other religious writings appear in the margins to help stimulate the reader's reflection and imagination in sensitive ways.
Originally published in 1983, Fundamentals of Preaching is a comprehensive textbook on preaching, guiding the novice from the first steps of conceiving the sermon through the actual construction and delivery. In this new, revised edition, Killinger enhances the outstanding, practical qualities of the text with much input from recent homiletical studies and the preaching of women.
Why are so many people drifting away from today's churches? John Killinger suggests that part of the problem is that they have personally outpaced the thinking and understanding of the church so that they no longer find it adequate as a social structure for the celebration of their faith. In their attempts to find Jesus and his teachings relevant within the new culture, they strike out on their own or adhere to para-Christian organizations that retain an allegiance to Jesus without the baggage of the traditional institution. Killinger, a former big-steeple minister and theologian, describes how he himself has been forced essentially to abandon the church in order to remain faithful to the beliefs and ideals that first drew him into it.
A Presbyterian minister defends the Harry Potter series from conservatives who denounce the books as paganism, demonstrating how they promote the values of faith and morality, and profiling the main character as a Christ figure.
Spiritually rich, easy to use prayers and responses for the community at worship Responsive Prayer for Epiphany Leader: Today, O God, we remember the wise men who came to see the Christ Child at his birth. People: We remember their gifts and wonder what we ourselves can give. Leader: We think of our time, our talents, and our money. People: But there must be something special each of us can bring. Leader: Perhaps a life of renewed devotion or a special act for someone who needs us. People: Whisper in my heart, O God, the unique gift that is mine to offer. Leader: Help me focus on that gift and present it now as a promise to you. People: Then help me fulfill that promise in the days ahead and know the joy of serving you. All: For you are the Lord of all life, and we worship you by sharing ourselves in the most creative ways we can imagine. Through Christ our Lord. Amen You will turn to this helpful anthology of original prayers and responses for many worship services throughout the year. The prayers are organized in three sections. Prayers for Holy Days and Seasons includes, for example, Advent, Christmas, Ash Wednesday, and Lent. Prayers for Civic Holidays includes such events as Valentine’s Day, Mothers Day, and Fourth of July. Prayers for Special Days in the Church Year includes prayers for baptism, Bible presentation to children, sending out mission teams, stewardship, graduation, and so on. All the prayers may be reproduced for congregational use. Suggested scripture readings for each special day are also provided. Once again, John Killinger has wordsmithed a masterful collection of prayers. I have already incorporated some of these spirit-filled prayers in Wilshire's worship. This particular collection is one of the best of all the collections I have seen. It is a collection all pastors should have at their fingertips. --Rev. Donald B. Colhour, Senior Minister, Wilshire Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Los Angeles, California Killinger's rich pastoral experience in a variety of congregations is evident in these prayers. Reading them opens our eyes to the needs and concerns of all who look to us for spiritual guidance. --Blair Gilmer Meeks, author of Season of Ash and Fire: Prayers and Liturgies for Lent and Easter and Season of Light and Hope: Prayers and Liturgies for Advent and Christmas. John Killinger, who taught Preaching, Worship, and Literature at Vanderbilt Divinity School for fifteen years, has pastored large churches in Virginia and California. He is the author of several books, including Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise and Enter Every Trembling Heart.
Creative, inspiring aids to prayer in corporate worship from one of today's best known preachers and teachers. "John Killinger has been helping us to worship the true, living, and interesting God for a long time. John loves words, particularly words spoken to God by those who have heard God speak. This is a wonderful collection of prayers." --William H. Willimon, Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry, Duke University Chapel, Durham, North Carolina "Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise is a book of worship resources and prayers that is practical in nature and poetic in quality. An artist with words, Dr. Killinger takes our common experiences and illuminates them with deep spiritual insight." --Dr. Walter J. Vernon, Consulting Minister, First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, California "In the tradition of Buttrick, Fosdick, Baillie, and Samuel Miller, a great preacher has shared with the church a timely and unique collection of his prayers and other aids to public and private worship. John Killinger is a wordsmith who weaves together images that lead us to the very heart of God. Pastors will find their own prayer lives deepened by this volume and congregations will discover language that bridges classical and contemporary liturgy. One cannot read Killinger's words and not be 'Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise.' " --William B. Oden, Resident Bishop, Dallas Area, The United Methodist Church
A timeless primer on prayer, "Beginning Prayer" is a simple how-to book designed to answer basic questions beginners have about how to pray. Killinger addresses such topics as the appropriate attitude for prayer, the best time to pray, the best place for prayer, postures for prayer, and the mood required for prayer. He also introduces readers to 21 methods of praying.
Well-known preacher and literary scholar John Killinger has combined his talents to provide the most revolutionary study of the Gospel of Mark ever written. On the basis of textual patterns he discovered in a Gospel long believed to be "naive" and "unstudied," Killinger reveals evidence that the two calming-of-the-sea stories traditionally regarded as miracles are actually post-resurrection stories. This explanation not only accounts for the absence of such stories at the end of the Gospel, where the other Gospels place them, but suggests that Mark might actually be a gnostic document, as the gnostics believed in the resurrection of Jesus but did not emphasize his physical resurrection. A gnostic origin for Mark also explains other long-standing enigmas in Mark, including its high opinion of women (the gnostics had women priests); the annoying stupidity of the disciples; the amazing recognition of Jesus' real identity by a blind man; and the so-called Messianic Secret (gnostics wanted to conceal their rites and teachings from outsiders). In this groundbreaking interpretation of the Gospel of Mark, Killinger has given us a reason to reassess the purpose of the Gospel of Mark.
Since mainline churches for so long established norms, any crisis in their existence becomes a major crisis in modern Christendom. Killinger positions the preacher to think about preaching and what its hallmarks must be in order to communicate effectively.
Killinger shows how the Beatitudes are not a set of rules for living or a ladder to moral success but a description of what it is like to live within the commonwealth of God and to see life from that perspective. He examines the Beatitudes verse by verse and relates their meanings to modern-day Christians through inspirational stories and examples.
Sharing years of wisdom from more than fifty years in ministry and teaching, The Ministry Life: 101 Tips for New Ministers by John Killinger is filled with practical advice and wisdom for a minister's day-to-day tasks as well as advice on intellectual and spiritual habits to keep ministers of any age healthy and fulfilled. With a chapter of guidance from other pastors, the book shares important and timely insights that will help ministers, both new and seasoned, find their way a little more quickly and easily.
Sharing years of wisdom from more than fifty years in ministry and teaching, The Ministry Life: 101 Tips for New Ministers by John Killinger is filled with practical advice and wisdom for a minister's day-to-day tasks as well as advice on intellectual and spiritual habits to keep ministers of any age healthy and fulfilled. With a chapter of guidance from other pastors, the book shares important and timely insights that will help ministers, both new and seasoned, find their way a little more quickly and easily.
In an intensely personal way, John Killinger talks about the deeper meaning of prayer and the inner life. Bread for the Wilderness, Wine for the Journey is a spiritual pilgrimage that enables the reader to delve into the recesses of his or her inner self; to catch a new glimpse of the power of prayer, not only in Jesus's life, but in ours as well; and to help us in our own journey to be more attuned to the things of the spirit, and more open to following the silent whisperings and mystery of God's leading.
When Maggie Bowles and her ex-CIA husband, Bill, arrive on tiny Marigold Island, where she is to be the summer pastor of a small resort church, her only experience with crime has been as the chaplain of a women's prison. But she is soon thrown into deep waters by her curiosity over the theft of a priceless antique golden turtle that once belonged to Lord Marigold.
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