How do I find the right church? Choosing a Church is written for anyone who is interested in Christianity but is unfamiliar with the Christian church. Perhaps you want to learn more about Jesus, but you don't know where to turn. This book is your guide to finding a church you can call home.You'll learn:If there is one God, why are there so many different churches? Does it matter if a church has rock music or hymns? Is there one true church? How do I know what beliefs are essential? Does church membership matter? And much more!
The Birth of Joy: Philippians by Doug Serven and Bobby Griffith
The ancient letter of Philippians invites us to joy—today. The Apostle Paul calls the Christian community to rejoice in all things and to endure all things joyfully. However, it is not out of a naïve focus on dying and going to heaven, but rather out of a willingness to embrace the reality of what it means to take hold of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection—to follow him in loving God and others. Philippians invites us to joy and to find something in which to rejoice in the midst of our hectic, never-satisfied world.
Fantastic Voyage: A Story of School Turnaround and Achievement by Overcoming Poverty and Addressing Race by Lee Roland
How can we help our inner city children when schools continue to fail them? Who offers practical helps that have been tested and proven effective? Fantastic Voyage offers a helpful and hopeful tool for educators at every level. It also serves as a guide for communities to know how to better love and serve their neighbors and advocate for sustained improvement in their local school systems. Lee Roland believes every child deserves the best. He shares his experience at Tulakes Elementary to inspire educators to passionately work to ensure that EVERY child succeeds—regardless of color or class—and to encourage communities to fight for a quality public education for ALL children.
Urban Hinterlands: Planting the Gospel in Uncool Places by Sean Benesh
As city centers become more revitalized, desirable, hip, and trendy, there is a wave of new church planters moving in. A direct correlation can be seen between the “livability” of a place and the number of new churches planted there. But should the driving goal of church planters be to move and plant the Gospel in cities and neighborhoods that are deemed desirable? What about uncool paces? What about the Urban Hinterlands? Benesh includes frank confession and discussion about motives in church planting, the value of place, ministry calling, and personal identity. He also challenges prevailing perceptions of what makes a city livable.
The Organized Pastor: Systems to Care for People Well by Doug Serven
In The Organized Pastor, Rev. Doug Serven gives hope and practical tips to pastors who want to get a handle on their time and priorities so they can be more productive. As someone who is not naturally organized but has learned to be more so, Serven provides specific, actionable suggestions for how pastors can make the most of the time they have. As a pastor, he provides encouragement because he wants pastors to succeed in their calling to love Christ and his church. As someone in ministry, he kept the book short because he knows pastors are busy people!
Everything Is Meaningless?: Ecclesiastes by Doug Serven and Bobby Griffith
Do we live in a dark and depressing time? Many think so. But many have thought so in times before. This is a look at one of the most ancient descriptions of what we now call the postmodern condition of meaninglessness, going all the way back to the poem of Ecclesiastes to see if it has anything to say to our current day and age. We'll find descriptions and musings that sound so very familiar. And we'll also find hope, grace and mercy in the midst of it all.
Heal Us, Emmanuel: A Call for Racial Reconciliation, Representation, and Unity in the Church
Most Christians would say they believe all people are made in the image of God and are equal before him. They would say red, brown, yellow, black, and white, they are precious in his sight. But do they have any friends of another race? Is there anyone at their church who does not look like them? Does this matter to God? The majority of American Christians do not have significant relationships with anyone who does not look like them, which makes them susceptible to cultural blind spots and less effective as ambassadors for biblical justice. The 30 church leaders who contributed to Heal Us, Emmanuel desire racial reconciliation, representation, and supernatural unity in all the churches of Christ.