What can sustain a church's growth over a lengthy period of time, especially across a change in senior pastors? Long, successful pastorates are customarily followed by brief, unhappy ones, and then by a period of stagnation and even decline. Carver McGriff and Kent Millard, succesive pastors of St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, demonstrate how a theologically and socially progressive church can be faithful to its particular character and still experience significant, sustained numerical growth.
The Gratitude Path is a five-session study designed for use by churches, leadership teams, and small groups. This step-by-step guide helps congregations grow in generosity by focusing on gratitude for God’s blessings. Chapters conclude with questions for personal reflection and devotion. The book includes a 12-step plan for pastors and other leaders to successfully conduct their own Gratitude Campaign in a church of any size or denomination. If you have ever cringed at the thought of the annual giving campaign, this is the book for you. With practical instruction for conducting a gratitude campaign, it will not only bring about positive stewardship but may very well shift the culture of your community to walk and live that path of gratitude. --Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes, Senior Minister, Avon Christian Church, Avon, IN This is a practical and accessible tool for developing generous givers, and an invitation into relationship with our bounteous God. --Bruce R. Ough, Bishop of the Minnesota Conference, UMC Kent Millard has helped countless other pastors and congregations conduct ‘Gratitude Campaigns’ with spectacular results. With this book his plan is now available to everyone. I hope many church leaders read and follow this pathway to improved stewardship. --Michael J. Coyner, Bishop of the Indiana Conference, UMC This wonderful resource helps us move stewardship from fundraising to an experience of God's transforming grace. --Rob Fuquay, Senior Pastor, St Lukes UMC, Indianapolis, IN The first five chapters of The Gratitude Path are spiritually energizing, personal, and thoughtfully devotional. Pastors could preach sermons based on each one of them. Chapter six is a pivotal organizational chapter for pastors and lay leaders. Here, Millard outlines his Gratitude Campaign step by step. This is a resource that we are happy to recommend to congregations. --Bill Enright, Senior Fellow, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University This book demonstrates how to develop an attitude of gratitude in each facet of the local church. Every leader in our church will read this book. --Jacob Williams, Jr., Senior Pastor, First Valparaiso UMC, Valparaiso, IN
Helps adults gain an overview of the Christian faith in only eight sessions. This resource will appeal especially to new church members and those who are intimidated about being in a Sunday school class where other students "know theology". The Leader's Guide uses a menu approach, making this resource adaptable to a variety of settings such as Sunday school, retreats, and workshops.
LifeSearch is a popular group study series that examines important issues of our day from a Christian perspective, specifically intended for those who are seeking ways to relate their faith to real life. For use in small-group settings, it is a flexible guide to in-depth study of current life topics. Participants are encouraged to view the topic not only from a personal concern, but from a communal/ congregational concern. Each six-session volume includes QuickLead�,a leader helper. Spiritual Gifts seeks to help persons identify and use the gifts God has given them for ministry to the needs of people in the church and in the world. (6 sessions) For another group study offered by Cokesbury, go to www.livingthegoodlifetogether.com.
Following the success of Get Acquainted With Your Bible, this second elective in the Get Acquainted series will help adults gain an overview of the Christian faith and will appeal to new church members who might be intimidated about being in a class where other students "know theology".
This is the most comprehensive guidebook to the state of Utah, with information on historic attractions, festivals, cultural events, outdoor activities, accommodations, and restaurants. 139 photos. 9 maps.
Despite extensive study of the poetic features of Psalm 119, the conceptions it advocates and its contribution to developing Judaism have not been well understood; indeed some scholars have dismissed the psalm as containing little more than wearisome repetition. Reynolds distinguishes between the psalmist and the speaker within the psalm. The psalmist portrays the speaker as an exemplary Torah student and thereby promotes the contemplation of Torah as a facet of ethical instruction. Using this new perspective, Reynolds contributes a fresh and coherent understanding of the ideas in Psalm 119. He explains the function of its length and highlights its emphasis on Torah study that became axiomatic in Rabbinic Judaism.
Too often, when a life crisis hits, a marriage suffers--even a healthy one--and all the personality profiles and couples' therapy in the world won't keep your marriage from experiencing the tough stuff. So how do you and your spouse face the stresses put on your marriage and not only stay together but come out on the other side even more loving and committed? In Staying Power, two longtime couples offer insights, skills, and clear direction so that you can respond to trials in a way that strengthens rather than weakens your marriage. They show you how to - handle anger creatively, forgive freely, and persevere together - nurture one another in powerful ways - learn new techniques for connecting both verbally and nonverbally in the midst of crisis - and much more Don't let financial trouble, infertility, health challenges, parenting cares, addiction of a loved one, or heartbreaking loss destroy your marriage. Instead, learn how through your strong relationship you can overcome all of life's curveballs--together.
Around the world, populism has weaponized anxieties over globalization and other forms of cultural, social, and economic change. Many populist leaders have succeeded in conflating trade concerns with apprehensions over immigration, thereby creating potent campaigns to overturn existing trade agreements and the multilateral cooperation they embody. In the United States, avowed protectionist Donald Trump set out not only to raise tariffs, but to dismantle the system of global trade embodied in the World Trade Organization. In the UK, the Brexit referendum resulted in that country's withdrawal from the European Union, ending its commitment to trade integration with the continent. Populism and Trade explores the impact of populist regimes on protectionism and the damage they have inflicted on global trade and trade policy institutions. Focusing on the disruption caused by the Trump administration and the Brexit referendum, the book traces the influence of populism on trade policy today. Kent Jones shows how these methods will continue to damage global cooperation--something that is essential when faced with international crises like a deadly pandemic--until the sources of populist anger can be addressed. He argues that economic and institutional reforms, along with better education and adjustment policies, will be necessary to break the populist fever. In an age of global populism, open trade policy has become a victim of anti-globalization and economic nationalism. Populism and Trade traces the impact of these divisive political tactics to explain the fragile nature of global trade institutions and the steps needed to save them.
The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science provides an outstanding resource in 33 published volumes with 2 helpful indexes. This thorough reference set--written by 1300 eminent, international experts--offers librarians, information/computer scientists, bibliographers, documentalists, systems analysts, and students, convenient access to the techniques and tools of both library and information science. Impeccably researched, cross referenced, alphabetized by subject, and generously illustrated, the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science integrates the essential theoretical and practical information accumulating in this rapidly growing field.
Written by renowned basic and clinical scientist, Raymond D. Kent, the Handbook on Children’s Speech: Development, Disorders, and Variations provides comprehensive and systematic coverage of the topic of how speech develops and how it can be disordered or otherwise, a departure from typical patterns of a mainstream dialect. The book emphasizes relevant biology and psychology of speech development; contemporary models of spoken language; typical speech development; bilingualism and dialect; motor learning and motor control; clinical assessments of articulation, phonology, voice, prosody, and intelligibility; populations in which speech disorders and differences often occur; and methods and strategies for prevention and treatment. The Handbook covers both speech development and pediatric speech disorders focusing on the ages of birth to puberty. Because speech disorders in children occur against a complex developmental background, the understanding of these disorders requires knowledge about how speech develops and how it is affected in children with disorders or with exposure to languages other than American English. A major theme of the book is that speech development is a constructive, goal-directed phenomenon that weaves together several different processes having their own individual trajectories that generally reach maturity only in puberty or adolescence. For clinicians, researchers, and students, this book will serve as a valuable compendium of the many different tools and methods that have been developed to study speech development in diverse populations and to assess and treat speech disorders and variations.
The question of whether true friendship could exist in an era of patronage occupied Renaissance Florentines as it had the ancient Greeks and Romans whose culture they admired and emulated. Rather than attempting to measure Renaissance friendship against a universal ideal defined by essentially modern notions of disinterestedness, intimacy, and sincerity, in this book Dale Kent explores the meaning of love and friendship as they were represented in the fifteenth century, particularly the relationship between heavenly and human friendship. She documents the elements of shared experience in friendships between Florentines of various occupations and ranks, observing how these were shaped and played out in the physical spaces of the city: the streets, street corners, outdoor benches and loggias, family palaces, churches, confraternal meeting places, workshops of artisans and artists, taverns, dinner tables, and the baptismal font. Finally, Kent examines the betrayal of trust, focusing on friends at moments of crisis or trial in which friendships were tested, and failed or endured. The exile of Cosimo de’ Medici in 1433 and his recall in 1434, the attempt in 1466 of the Medici family’s closest friends to take over their patronage network, and the Pazzi conspiracy to assassinate Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici in 1478 expose the complexity and ambivalence of Florentine friendship, a combination of patronage with mutual intellectual passion and love—erotic, platonic, and Christian—sublimely expressed in the poetry and art of Michelangelo.
Does reading the Bible sometimes leave you confused? Do you have difficulty seeing the relevance of the Bible to modern concerns or to important issues in your life? Do you believe Bible reading and intellectual inquiry are mutually exclusive? This book explores how the Bible can serve as a resource for discovering truth. It provides a method that accepts and incorporates the knowledge gained from modern scholarship while also recognizing that truth-discovery is a personal, multifaceted journey. It honors the integrity of Scripture while remaining open to insight from additional truth-sources. In exploring what we mean when we speak of the Bible's authority, it is honest about the challenges presented to modern readers by the cultural chasm separating the biblical writers from today's world. How to Read the Bible Without Losing Your Mind shows how the Bible can be read with full engagement of both mind and heart.
First Lieutenant Cushing was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by the pPresident of the United States on November 6, 2014, 151 years after his death at the Angle at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, where he commanded Battery A, Fourth United States Artillery. He is likely the last Civil War soldier to who will be so honored. Although many individuals were involved in the effort to give the Medal of Honor to Cushing, this book, first published in 1993, played a critical role.
Preaching the Word Commentaries are written by pastors for pastors, as well as for all who teach or study God's word. With pastor R. Kent Hughes as the series editor, these volumes feature an experienced pastor or teacher who models expository preaching and practical application. This series is noted for its steadfast commitment to biblical authority, clear exposition of Scripture, and readability, making it widely accessible for both new and seasoned pastors, as well as men and women hungering to read the Bible in a fresh way. This volume explores 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus to help us better understand what God requires of those who lead in the local church, as well as of those who would be led.
A deeper understanding of the occult aspects of 9/11 and the Kennedy assassination The year is 2013, the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, and Kent discovers that he and the rest of the unwitting citizenry of Tupelo, Mississippi, are enmeshed in a year-long series of scripted events meticulously planned and brilliantly executed by some of the most ruthless, diabolically creative, powerful psychopaths on the planet. From a critical look at the suspicion-arousing Boston bombings to new revelations about the Kennedy assassination and the Zapruder film, the author weaves tantalizing insights into a range of historical events that help the reader better understand the breadth and depth of the villainy with which Kent is faced.
J. Kent Edwards recalls a story that late pastor J. Vernon McGee told about seeing children in South Africa playing a game of marbles in the dust with real diamonds. The precious stones were being handled with no regard for their true worth. Edwards fears the same thing happens today when preachers offer Scriptural truth to listeners without being completely overwhelmed by its greatness themselves in the process. Deep Preaching is his call to "rethink" preaching. Edwards helps preachers learn to preach the word in ways that will powerfully change the lives of hearers. He contends that sermons "need not settle comfortably on the lives of the listeners like dust on a coffee table." He encourages preachers to join him in casting off the lines that moor their ministries to the status-quo and make every effort to steer their preaching out of the "comfortable shallows." He urges them to preach deep sermons rather than superficial ones, moving "beyond the yawn-inspiring to the awe-inspiring, from the trite to the transforming.
This book is an excellent primer on a subject that Americans are likely to debate for the foreseeable future. --Bimonthly Review of Law Books Unlike every other western democracy in the world, capital punishment is an active part of the criminal justice system in the United States. By the end of 1992, 2,700 men and 41 women were living under the sentence of death in America. Executing the Mentally Ill examines the compelling case of Florida death-row inmate Alvin Ford, which led the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that executions of severely psychotic death-row inmates are in violation of the Eighth Amendment′s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. But how should mental illness be defined for purposes of exemption from execution? How should mental health professionals evaluate competence for execution? What happens when the professionals disagree among themselves about the defendant′s mental health? How strong should doubts about mental status be before the execution is stopped? And what should be done with the prisoner who is found incompetent? In telling the powerful story of Ford′s history, crime, mental state, and how he was handled by the criminal justice system, the authors confront questions about modern capital sentencing and the administration of the death penalty in America today. Executing the Mentally Ill provides a thought-provoking read for students and professionals in mental health, criminal justice, and legal fields, as well as policymakers and others concerned with capital punishment. "Those seeking a clearer context for the ambiguities and dilemmas that characterize the ongoing debate over exemption of the mentally ill from execution will find valuable historical and cross-cultural references here. The case of Alvin Ford provides a new perspective for measuring the gaps between the vagueness of the criteria used by mental health professionals in determining competence and its various legal definitions. . . . An underlying message for the reader is that questioning whether mentally ill or mentally retarded death-row inmates should be executed implies questioning the use of the death penalty for anyone." --Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health "The case of Alvin Ford, a Florida man convicted of killing a police officer during a bungled armed robbery, provides a specific focus for Miller and Radelet′s wide-ranging discussion of mental illness and the death penalty. . . . Miller is a psychologist and longstanding student of mental disability issues; Radelet is a leading contemporary authority on the death penalty. Their combined expertise provides readers with a thorough exploration of the "competence to die" issue, and they also touch on other death penalty issues such as proportionality and racial bias. . . . This book cannot, of course, decisively resolve all the issues involved in the death penalty debate, but it is a worthwhile contribution to the literature. Advanced undergraduates and above." --Choice "The life of Alvin Ford and his 17-year odyssey through Florida′s complex capital-punishment process is the subject of Executing the Mentally Ill. In telling this fascinating and often macabre story, professors Miller and Radelet expose an inherent and often ignored moral dilemma with capital punishment. The book provides compelling empirical support for the dictum that ′though the justice of God may indeed ordain that some should die, the justice of man is altogether and always insufficient for saying who these may be′ (Black, 1974, p. 96). The authors also use the Ford case to examine other important issues about the death penalty in the United States including racism and ineffective assistance of counsel. This well-documented volume should appeal both to an academic audience and to the general public." --Robert M. Bohm, Ph.D., University of North Carolina "Over the last five years, I have reviewed about a dozen books, mostly for university presses, and found this particular piece to be the most well-written and well-researched document to date. The scholarship is sound and ′workmanlike.′ I was impressed with the authors′ scholarship and ability to apply a wide range of data (e.g. psychiatric testimony, appellate decisions, interviews, and personal letters) to a critical social issue that will continue to haunt our society: the execution of the mentally ill offender. This book makes a very important contribution to the literature in psychology and the law. The book could be used as a supplementary text in criminal justice programs, sociology, psychology, law, and public policy. This book should be read by every appellate-level judge, felony district-court judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney in America. It leads the way in clarifying the practical, moral, and ethical issues. Legislators should also read this account." --James W. Marquart, Ph.D., Sam Houston State University "It is an important book, addressing an area that has only recently become the focus of much attention for mental health professionals. Miller and Radelet have undertaken a comprehensive and carefully articulated look at the issue of competency for execution and the way in which it affects mental health professionals, interwoven as it is with the politics of capital punishment." --Kirk Heilbrun, Ph.D., Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services, Central State Hospital, Virginia
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.