Beauty. Fascination. Power. Love. Intimacy. Importance. Devotion. Those words don’t simply describe the newest Hollywood hit. They describe the core longings of the human heart—the core longings of your heart. Everything you do, from posting pictures to purchasing products, to striving for a higher pay grade, is driven by one (or all) of these desires. But most people assume these desires annoy or even anger God. They think that the only thing God says about these passions and pursuits is “No!” or “Stay Away!” But what if the opposite was true? What if your desires were originally given to you by God and only satisfied through him? What if they are the primary way you were created to connect with God? In Driven By Desire, author Thomas Fitzpatrick introduces you to several key Biblical truths that have the potential to radically change your understanding of your desires and the God who purposefully gave them all to you.
C’est La Guerre: The Memoir of Capt. James McBrayer Sellers, USMC By James Gregory, William Sellers, Steven Girard
In June 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I, James McBrayer Sellers joined the United States Marine Corps. Wounded during battle and later commanding a company engaged in heavy fighting, he later received the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, the Purple Heart, and the French Croix de Guerre. His account of his time during the war is a fantastic look from enlistment to the discharge of a U.S. Marine Corps Officer during World War I.
Faithful Doubt by Travis Scott
Many Christians think the presence of doubt cancels out faith or makes them somehow unworthy to go to God. Many others assume they could never have faith because they have so many doubts about the God of the Bible. But what if faith and doubt aren't polar opposites? The book of Habakkuk could be described as one man’s wrestling with God and boldly stating his questions and doubts. In Faithful Doubt, Travis Scott explores the ancient prophecy in Habakkuk to see how it helps us better understand the relationship between faith and doubt and how the practice of faithful doubt is a necessary part of a healthy spiritual life.
Questions of the Heart: Leaning In, Listening For, And Loving Well Toward True Identity In Christ by Kevin Thumpston
God calls Christians to love our neighbors as ourselves and to give the reason for the hope that is within us. Most believe we ought to do so, but we have a hard time actually doing it. Our culture's crisis of identity makes the task of sharing the Gospel daunting and complex. Instead of trying to sell our friends on what we believe, we ought to let the questions of their hearts lead the conversation. Their unique heart cry is the sweet spot that helps them find their true identity in Christ. Everyone needs a friend to lean in, listen for, and love well toward a true identity in Christ. Questions of the Heart will equip you to be that friend.
Hear Us, Emmanuel: Another Call for Racial Reconciliation, Representation, and Unity in the Church
This second edition of essays (a follow-up to Heal Us, Emmanuel) dives into experiences, biblical truths, repentance, reconciliation, and most of all a cry for Christ to hear and heal his people from racial division. Hear Us, Emmanuel laments and asks questions as God’s people kneel before his throne to find a better, more holy way forward.
Christ in the Time of Corona: Stories of Faith, Hope, and Love
What stories will historians tell about COVID-19? They’ll include the death count and rate of contagion. But to get a full picture of life in the time of Corona, we also need the stories of regular people navigating an upended world. Christ in the Time of Corona explores what a life of faith, hope, and love looks like for some of the people living in a global pandemic. Written by Christians under social distancing orders, the essays offer a snapshot of how work, relationships, and worship were altered overnight and what broken, trying-to-be-faithful, often-failing, Jesus-following people did and thought during this time. Author proceeds from this book go to World Central Kitchen to help cook meals for people all over the world.
Insufficient: Pursuing Grace-Based Pastoral Competence by Randy Nabors
Insufficient challenges pastors to look at their work in its varied complexity while recognizing the need and demand to increase competency in skills and admit their “insufficiency.” Nabors does not shy away from calling pastors to realize there is more than meets the eye in pursuing ministry. A right pursuit of orthodoxy has sometimes blinded pastors to what has been left out, namely the articulation of orthopraxis. Pastors also need Christian good works, especially justice and mercy. This book calls pastors to a dependence on the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, who alone is able to make competent pastors of the Gospel. It provides insights, advice, and pragmatic wisdom from more than 40 years of ministry.
To You I Lift Up My Soul: Confessions & Prayers by Michael W. Philliber
It is a strange phenomenon. When someone leads public prayer, some begin to have a truckload of ideas flood their minds and pour out of their mouths, while others freeze and can barely utter an intelligible request. One remedy for roaming and rambling or stammering and stumbling is to share public prayers. Whether leading a congregation in a corporate confession of sin or a communal series of prayers, it helps to know there is a thought-out beginning, middle, and end. To You I Lift Up My Soul gathers a number of prayers for such occasions.
Doing God’s Work: With Brothers and Sisters in Christ Serving in Milwaukee By Arnold "Arn" Quakkelaar
We often pray for God’s will to be done, but what is our role and responsibility in doing it? Arn Quakkelaar has experience in searching God’s will as a professional engineer and corporate executive in the global marketplace. Doing God’s Will may help you find how to fulfill God’s purposes, discern his plan, and do his work his way. These real-life stories and testimonies of faith from the disenfranchised in Milwaukee have much to teach those in any culture.
EmbRACE: A Biblical Study on Justice and Race by Dennis Kang
An explosion of racial conflict and division ensues across the country. Viral videos show scenes of police brutality, protesters insisting Black Lives Matter, while many others consider the problem isolated. What is the call of faithful believers in midst of these tensions? Is the goal of racial reconciliation part of a non-Christian agenda or is it God’s dream for his church? EmbRACE is a tool to help guide individuals and churches in a conversation of learning and growing in our understanding of the intersection of race, faith, and society.
Rooted: The Apostles' Creed - Second Edition by Ray Cannata and Josh Reitano
In a day when many things divide us, what unites us? Christians have, for centuries, found unity and solidarity through the confession of faith found in the Apostles' Creed. Many learned it as children, while others only became familiar with it later in life; some can recite it by memory, some in song, but all using the same essential words. Yet, familiar though it is, do we understand its meaning? When we profess, Sunday by Sunday, these historic words, do we have a full grasp of what it is we are professing? In Rooted: the Apostles' Creed, Dr. Raymond Cannata and Rev. Joshua Reitano teach us and refresh us in our understanding of what these important truths mean. Taking a little bit at a time, this book will guide you through a comprehensive understanding of the principles contained in the beloved Creed.
The Almost Dancer by Jessica Ribera
Climbing canyon walls in Texas, young Jessica dreams of becoming a real ballerina. Hours, auditions, and bloody toes later, she finds herself dancing professionally as a trainee of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Then one moment on stage sends her spinning. A memoir rich with vulnerability, humor, and an insider view of the ballet world, The Almost Dancer unpacks the effects of ambition, faith, education, and trauma on artistic life. Through spiritual insight and deep theological questions, Jessica recovers an identity that was never truly lost. This book is for anyone who needs to know that dreams don’t always come true but are always worth having.
Firstfruits of a New Creation: Essays in Honor of Jerram Barrs
Jerram Barrs serves as Professor of Christian Studies and Contemporary Culture at Covenant Theological Seminary. A student of the late Francis Schaeffer, Jerram joined the seminary faculty after 18 years with L’Abri Fellowship in England, where he also served as a pastor in the International Presbyterian Church. As Founder and Senior Scholar-in-Residence of the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute, Jerram is widely respected for the breadth of his teaching interests, and he is especially known for the sensitivity he brings toward those outside the Christian faith. Firstfruits of a New Creation is an expression of thanks for his life and ministry and his founding of the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute 30 years ago.
Co-Laborers, Co-Heirs: A Family Conversation
While our church doctrine teaches that men and women are co-laborers and co-heirs in Christ, does our practice reflect that truth? And what do we lose in our failures? To serve effectively together as brothers and sisters, we must be able to speak about good and hard things. The essays in Co-Laborers, Co-Heirs, by our sisters and mothers in the church can help us know, grow and do better. Here are redemptive celebrations, gentle corrections, and winsome invitations from the diversity of women God has given as gifts to the church body. Read and listen well so that may we better serve each other and God's kingdom.
Practices Of Love For the Life Of The World: A Lenten Devotional by Justin Edgar
A Lenten Devotional from City Pres Albequerque that may be used by anyone. This book guides you through a liturgical season that forms church, Lent, and all of life.
The Best Game: A Simple and Memorable Model for Successfully Running Any Organization By Michael S Smith
Leaders often don’t understand how to motivate their team and get the best results. They’re frustrated by low-performance or fuzzy results. Michael Smith’s The Best Game will help any leader win. It’s for organizational, business, and philanthropic leaders. The Best Game guides you through the process Smith has worked on so you can win the best game and enlist others to know the rules so they can succeed.
Jesus Redeems: Lenten Devotional by Doug Serven, Catie Forester
The season of Lent helps prepare us to celebrate Easter, the greatest Christian holiday. This devotional booklet will help guide you, with daily readings in Luke 19–24 through the last week of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
Ever Light and Dark: Telling Secrets, Telling the Truth by Elizabeth Miller Hayes
As we look into the stories of our lives, particularly the most difficult ones, we connect more deeply with ourselves, with others, and even with God. Elizabeth believes that when people tell their stories, things change. We are found through the telling, and so is hope. She also has found faith. It's mysterious, and at times infuriating, as she experiences a God who refuses to be controlled. God doesn't promise the elimination of suffering, only that he will be with us in it. It's not the religion she grew up with. It's more nuanced than that. But most important, it’s real. Explore this real faith with her in Ever Light and Dark.
All Are Welcome: Toward a Multi-Everything Church
As conversations abound on social media platforms and in the news media, more people are beginning to wonder why ethnic and cultural diversity is increasing in our cities, yet it is not reflected in our churches. All Are Welcome is an attempt to have (and continue) the conversation that looms in our communities. Each contributor in this edited volume is an ethnic minority. These are the voices that are often overlooked, yet they provide ideas and answers for how to create a much more welcoming environment for all people in our local congregations.
A Sometimes Stumbling Life: Making Sense of Our Struggles and God's Grace in the Journey of Faith by Mike Khandjian
"God didn’t send Jesus to make us perfect but to make us his." This line from Mike Khandjian's A Sometimes Stumbling Life encapsulates the unfolding drama of a faith that is rooted in the delight of a Father who relentlessly pursues his children in spite of themselves. Offering no self-help secrets or empty platitudes, it is an invitation to experience God's welcoming grace in the midst of our brokenness. With fresh glimpses of the biblical story, Mike employs his own experiences and those of others to invite us into a story where we are both fully known and fully loved.