Doug Serven
Doug Serven is a pastor at City Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. Doug grew up in southwest Missouri and graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He worked for The Navigators for four years before going to Covenant Theological Seminary, where he earned an MDiv.Doug then moved to Oklahoma to begin ordained pastoral campus work with Reformed University Fellowship at the University of Oklahoma. He and his wife, Julie, and their four kids moved to Oklahoma City in 2011 to start City Pres. Doug likes the OU Sooners, the St Louis Cardinals, the OKC Thunder, IPAs, board games, CrossFit, and yoga. Doug is married to Julie, and together they have four children: Ruth, Cal, Drew, and Anna.
Hear Us Emmanuel:
Another Call for Racial Reconciliation, Representation, and Unity in the Church
In this second edition of essays (it’s a follow up to Heal Us, Emmanuel) you’ll find more discussion regarding Jesus’ love for people in the church. Here are another twenty-nine chapters that dive into experiences, Biblical truths, repentance, reconciliation, and most of all a cry for Christ to hear and heal us. This book gives testimony to pain and grief. There is a lament. Hear Us, Emmanuel asks questions as God’s people kneel before his throne. Hear our prayer, O Lord! We seek union in Christ, giving God the glory for his grace among us. We repent and confess we have been so often wrong. We discuss current obstacles. We are sinners in need of God’s grace, which he eagerly gives. You’ll read about steps forward toward the unity we crave. Jesus, help us, your church! Chapters by: Lindsay Brooks, Ereke Bruce, Becky Carlozzi, Hace Cargo, Mark Dalbey, Sherrene DeLong, Reed DePace, William Edgar, Ronnie Garcia, Maria Garriott. Ashley Hales, Geoff Henderson, Emily Hubbard, Irwyn Ince, Barbara Jones, Alexander Jun, Edward Koh, Duke Kwon, Al LaCour, Moses Lee, Daniel Murphree, Mark Peach, Mike Philliber, Lisa Robinson Spencer, Elissa Weichbrodt, Ashley Williams, Rob Wootton, Robin Wootton, Ryan Zhang Foreword by Randy Nabors
The Birth of Joy:
Philippians
The ancient letter of Philippians invites us to joy—today. The Apostle Paul wrote this short note to a colonized outpost in the Roman Empire, a city named Philippi. It was a mining city built to provide wealth to the Roman Empire and also where retired soldiers went to reminisce about their glory days. It was a city trying so hard to be like Rome that it mimicked its entertainment, politics, and culture. What’s remarkable about this letter is that Paul was in jail when he wrote it, yet it’s a thank you note full of joy. He 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. It shows us that Christ gives us himself and that through him we can find joy in chaos, poverty, and suffering. Joy does not have to be happy-clappy, pie-in-the-sky ignorance of the world we inhabit. It comes through viewing our reality in light of Christ.
We hope that through this short book you will come to understand that kind of joy. Jesus meets us where we are in our lives, not where we think we should be, or where we want to be. Philippians shows us that. It shows us the birth of true joy—found only in Jesus Christ.
Everything Is Meaningless?:
Ecclesiastes
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.
The Organized Pastor
Systems to Care for People Well
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!
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 thirty church leaders
who contributed to Heal Us, Emmanuel desire racial reconciliation, representation, and supernatural unity in all the churches of Christ.
