Pastoral Helps
Showing 101–150 of 389 results
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How To Thrive As A Pastors Wife
$16.99Add to cartEvery pastor’s wife is a faithful servant and leader in her own right. She has great influence on her church, her community, her family, and her husband, and she finds joy in seeing God move in the lives of others. Yet she also faces unique challenges that too often go unnoticed and unaddressed. At times, a pastor’s wife may feel she can’t talk about her struggles even with those who are closest to her, which can leave her feeling alone, depleted, and misunderstood. She may settle for this way of living, but that’s not God’s desire for her.
Christine Hoover knows firsthand the unique struggles and opportunities afforded a pastor’s wife–she’s been filling that role for more than 20 years. Coming alongside as an understanding friend, she offers encouragement and guidance to the struggling pastor’s wife, showing her how to make meaningful personal relationships with God, her husband, her children, her church community, and other women–relationships that will sustain her and help her thrive.
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Garden The Curtain And The Cross Sunday School Lessons
$14.99Add to cartThis six-session Sunday School curriculum is based on the bestselling storybook The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross and takes kids on a journey through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, thrilling them with God’s loving determination for his people to enjoy life with him.
Featuring age-differentiated lesson plans for 2-4s, 5-8s, and 9-12s, this flexible resource will work for any size of kids’ group and is easy to use for any leader.
Includes activity, craft, game and music ideas, along with an exclusive link and password for free downloadable resources.
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God And The Transgender Debate
$16.99Add to cartIn the West, more and more Christians are coming across the topic of gender identity in their everyday lives. Legislative changes are impacting more and more areas of life, including education, employment and state funding, with consequences for religious liberty, free speech and freedom of conscience that affect everyone. So it’s a crucial moment to consider how to engage lovingly, thoughtfully and biblically with one of the most explosive cultural discussions of our day.
This warm, faithful and compassionate book that helps Christians understand what the Bible says about gender identity has been updated and expanded throughout, and now includes a section on pronoun usage and a new chapter challenging some of the claims of the transgender activist movement.
Andrew T. Walker also answers questions such as: What is transgender and gender fluidity? How should churches respond? What does God’s word actually say about these issues?
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Hope Explored Picture Cards
$4.99Add to cartHope Explored is a three-session evangelistic course that invites people to discover the lasting hope, peace and purpose that Jesus offers.
This Picture Pack contains 12 images to use as an opening activity to break the ice and prompt discussion about each session’s theme. Simply spread the images in front of your group, ask the question in the Guest handbook and see where conversation leads. For the best guest experience, you’ll need one set of pictures for each small group.
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Hope Explored Leaders Kit
$29.99Add to cartThere are few emotions more powerful than hope. But these days, hope often feels hard to come by. Where can we find a hope that won’t disappoint us?
Looking at the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, this three-session series from Christianity Explored Ministries shows that Christianity is about real hope: a joyful expectation for the future, based on true events in the past, which changes everything about my present.
It sounds good… but is it true? Whatever people do or don’t believe, Hope Explored offers them an opportunity to explore, to discuss and to discover the hope, peace and purpose Jesus offers.
With only three sessions, Hope Explored does not require a huge time commitment from guests and is one of the easiest ways to introduce someone to Christianity. The Christianity Explored series can then be run as a follow-up course for those eager to explore the Christian faith more.
This Leader’s Kit contains everything you need to evaluate and run your course:
– a Leader’s Guide
– a guest handbook
– picture cards
– a DVD
– a code to access video downloadsThe videos are presented by Rico Tice, Founder of Christianity Explored Ministries. They introduce the concepts for each session (Hope, Peace, Purpose) and deliver compelling Bible teaching from Luke’s Gospel. The ideas are then discussed as participants look at the Bible passage together.
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Hope Explored Handbook
$3.99Add to cartThere are few emotions more powerful than hope. But these days, hope often feels hard to come by. Where can we find a hope that won’t disappoint us?
Looking at the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, this three-session series from Christianity Explored Ministries shows that Christianity is about real hope: a joyful expectation for the future, based on true events in the past, which changes everything about my present.
It sounds good… but is it true? Whatever people do or don’t believe, Hope Explored offers them an opportunity to explore, to discuss and to discover the hope, peace and purpose Jesus offers.
This easy-to-use guest Handbook contains everything a participant needs for Hope Explored.
With only three sessions, Hope Explored does not require a huge time commitment and is one of the easiest ways to discover more about Christianity. It can be run in person or on video-meeting technology, in small groups or .
Leaders of this series will need a Leader’s Handbook and the video sessions, which are available as downloads or on DVD.
The videos are presented by Rico Tice, Founder of Christianity Explored Ministries. They introduce the concepts for each session (Hope, Peace, Purpose) and deliver compelling Bible teaching from Luke’s Gospel. The ideas are then discussed as participants look at the Bible passage together.
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Hope Explored Leaders Handbook (Teacher’s Guide)
$9.99Add to cartThere are few emotions more powerful than hope. But these days, hope often feels hard to come by. Where can we find a hope that won’t disappoint us?
Looking at the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, this three-session series from Christianity Explored Ministries shows that Christianity is about real hope: a joyful expectation for the future, based on true events in the past, which changes everything about my present.
It sounds good… but is it true? Whatever people do or don’t believe, Hope Explored offers them an opportunity to explore, to discuss and to discover the hope, peace and purpose Jesus offers.
With only three sessions, Hope Explored does not require a huge time commitment from guests and is one of the easiest ways to introduce someone to Christianity. The Christianity Explored series can then be run as a follow-up course for those eager to explore the Christian faith more.
The videos are presented by Rico Tice, Founder of Christianity Explored Ministries. They introduce the concepts for each session (Hope, Peace, Purpose) and deliver compelling Bible teaching from Luke’s Gospel. The ideas are then discussed as participants look at the Bible passage together.
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2 Peter And Jude For You
$16.99Add to cartWhen friends, family members, and even respected church leaders fall away from the faith, it is deeply sad and painful. But the reality is that we are all tempted to compromise our faith in one way or another. We all need to be careful not to fall.
Peter and Jude knew that first-hand. They wrote with a sense of urgency, showing a deep concern for the believers they were addressing. Their aim? To help their readers stand firm.
Verse by verse, pastor Miguel Nuez unpacks these two short letters, showing how they are still utterly relevant to us today–warning us where we may be in danger of stumbling and equipping us to stand firm in our faith.
This expository guide is less academic than a traditional commentary and includes lots of application. It can be read from cover to cover, used in personal devotions, or referred to as a resource for leading small groups or preparing sermons.
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40 Days To Excellence In Church Management
$16.99Add to cartThe modern church is being poorly managed but does not know it. The level of inefficiency and waste in today’s churches is staggering. 40 Days to Excellence in Church Management was written specifically for churches to convey basic business wisdom, management principles, and the best business practices. Unlike intimidating business textbooks, it includes forty short vignettes designed to be read like a daily devotional. Each chapter deals with everyday challenges and offers real-life examples derived from the author’s more than thirty years of experience. It shows how to (and sometimes how not to) handle each situation of conducting business for the church.
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God Of Freedom Bible Study Book With Video Access (Student/Study Guide)
$34.75Add to cartEvery book of the Bible tells us what is true about God. In Genesis we see Him as Creator and Covenant Maker. In Exodus we see Him as our strong Deliverer who sets us free from sin and death.
In this 10-session study of Exodus 19-40, journey through the story of how God shepherds His newly-liberated children into an understanding of what their freedom means: lives consecrated for service to God and to one another. Revisit familiar scenes of the giving of the Ten Commandments, the idolatrous worship of a golden calf, and of the intricate details of the tabernacle. And with fresh perspective, ask what these stories teach God’s children today about how to live as those set free.
In every page of the Bible, learn to see Christ through the stories of His people. And discover how the God who created you and made a covenant with you will deliver you from death to life, for His name and renown.
Additional purchase or renting of the video teaching sessions is recommended for the best experience of this Bible study book.
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Contagious Faith Training Course
$61.99Add to cartIn this new video-based training course, bestselling author and teacher Mark Mittelberg introduces you to the five Contagious Faith Styles-Friendship-Building, Selfless-Serving, Story-Sharing, Reason-Giving, and Truth-Telling-and helps you discover which of these approaches (or combination of them) will enable you to naturally share your faith in Jesus with the people around you.
The Contagious Faith assessment will help you identify your primary style, along with any secondary styles you discover. It will give you next steps for developing and deploying your natural approach in order to reach others for Christ. It will also emphasize the importance of all the skill set areas discussed in the Contagious Faith book, and wherever natural it will prompt them to try out the skills discussed on the video with someone else in the group. In this way their effectiveness and confidence will grow-and with it, their potential for bearing spiritual fruit by impacting the lives of others.
The six sessions in Contagious Faith can be used in small groups, classes, student ministries, and church-wide campaigns. The training videos will also include short interviews in which Mark Mittelberg will interact with five individuals who speak and use each of the 5 faith-sharing styles. Much like Mittelberg’s, Becoming a Contagious Christian, we see the Contagious Faith book and course becoming the standard materials churches and Christian ministries will use around the world to help their members more effectively share their faith with others.
The kit includes:
*one six-session teaching DVD
*one Study Guide (with built in Leader’s Guide)
*one Contagious Faith book -
No More Excuses Teen Guys Bible Study Book (Student/Study Guide)
$22.25Add to cartNo More Excuses Teen Guys’ Bible Study Book includes printed content for eight sessions, personal study between group sessions, applicable Scripture, “How to Use This Study,” and a leader guide.
Sometimes circumstances in life make it difficult for young men to be all God wants them to be. But Tony Evans urges guys to stop looking at their circumstances as excuses and instead to see them as challenges and opportunities for success.
Exploring examples of men of God throughout the Bible, this study will challenge teen guys to lay down their excuses, stop compromising, and fight to be a man of character and commitment. Despite setbacks, failures, and pressures, guys can still find purpose, meaning, and direction in life and become the men God has called them to be.
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Contagious Faith Study Guide Plus Streaming Video (Student/Study Guide)
$19.99Add to cartIn this new video-based training course, bestselling author and teacher Mark Mittelberg introduces you to the five Contagious Faith Styles-Friendship-Building, Selfless-Serving, Story-Sharing, Reason-Giving, and Truth-Telling-and helps you discover which of these approaches (or combination of them) will enable you to naturally share your faith in Jesus with the people around you.
The Contagious Faith assessment will help you identify your primary style, along with any secondary styles you discover. It will give you next steps for developing and deploying your natural approach in order to reach others for Christ. It will also emphasize the importance of all the skill set areas discussed in the Contagious Faith book, and wherever natural it will prompt them to try out the skills discussed on the video with someone else in the group. In this way their effectiveness and confidence will grow-and with it, their potential for bearing spiritual fruit by impacting the lives of others.
The six sessions (DVD/digital downloads sold separately) in Contagious Faith can be used in small groups, classes, student ministries, and church-wide campaigns. The training videos will also include short interviews in which Mark Mittelberg will interact with five individuals who speak and use each of the 5 faith-sharing styles. Much like Mittelberg’s Becoming a Contagious Christian, we see the Contagious Faith book and course becoming the standard materials churches and Christian ministries will use around the world to help their members more effectively share their faith with others.
Designed for use with the Contagious Faith Video Study (sold separately).
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Isaiah For You
$17.99Add to cartIsaiah can seem intimidating. It’s a big book covering an extended timescale, full of unfamiliar names and places. You may be familiar with Isaiah’s vision of God’s holiness in chapter 6 or his description of the cross in chapter 53. But large sections can feel like alien territory.
But the book of Isaiah is full of good news. Forming a kind of bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament, Isaiah enlarges our view of God, sharpens our understanding of salvation and illuminates our Bible reading. It points forward to Jesus and fuels our vision for the church and our mission. This is good news worth shouting about!
This expository guide by pastor and author Tim Chester takes you verse by verse through the text in a digestible and applied way. Each chapter focuses on a key text and shows how its themes play out in the surrounding passages, helping you to drill down into the details while also seeing the big picture. You’ll find ideas and challenges for application throughout, plus a helpful glossary at the back.
It is less academic than a traditional commentary and includes lots of application. It can be read from cover to cover, used in personal devotions, used to lead small group studies, or used for sermon preparation.
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Encountering God Bible Study Book
$16.99Add to cartIn Encountering God, Kelly Minter explores how essential spiritual disciplines are to our faith experience and everyday lives. She’ll unpack the biblical foundation for these sacred habits along with approachable ways to practice disciplines like prayer, study, worship, rest, simplicity, hospitality, and celebration.
Over 8 sessions, you’ll discover that spiritual disciplines aren’t just one more thing to add to your to-do list, but they can actually create more margin in your life, resulting in deeper peace, communion, and rest. And perhaps most importantly, cultivating habits of faith help you know God more, as you release control to Him, express your need for Him, and walk in glad submission and worship of Him.
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Stewardship : For The Care Of Souls
$19.99Add to cartStewardship isn’t just managing resources–it’s soul care.
Stewardship of time, talents, and treasure isn’t just about sustaining the material of the church. It’s about guiding those resources in service of the church’s primary mission: proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Stewarding the lambs of Christ that make up your congregation encompasses all aspects of their lives–material and spiritual.
Nathan Meador and Heath R. Curtis present a practical theology of stewardship focused on ministry in service of the gospel. Guiding pastors away from the pitfalls of idolatry around money, they instead call stewards to embrace their identity in Christ and encourage their congregations to do the same. This fresh approach to stewardship reorients both individuals and congregations toward their true purpose as stewards who have been baptized into Christ.
Stewardship will help pastors to teach and preach stewardship as a call to repentance and new life.
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Preaching By Ear
$19.99Add to cartAccording to Kenton Anderson, professor of homiletics at ACTS Seminaries of Trinity Western University, this volume represents “a powerful tool” because it offers a new (actually old) model of preaching. For centuries, preaching has been shaped from a literary standpoint (i.e., reading, writing, outlining, and displaying sermons), but a premodern method of oral preparation and delivery has largely been forgotten. Preaching by Ear hearkens back to an earlier era when sermons were rooted inside the preacher and moved out in a natural and powerful way.
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Growing With The Enneagram Leaders Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$14.99Add to cartWhen people discover the Enneagram, they are excited to learn more about their type–and curious about the typology of others in their lives. The problem is, not everyone is familiar with the Enneagram or aware of what their type might be.
To solve this problem, Elisabeth Bennett wrote Growing with the Enneagram: Guiding All Types in Spiritual Growth. Written specifically for group leaders to facilitate discussion, discovery, and spiritual discernment through the Enneagram, this study guide is designed to be used in conjunction with Elisabeth’s nine sixty-day Growing as an Enneagram devotional books that are tailored for each type.
Growing with the Enneagram enables groups to embark on a journey through Elisabeth’s Enneagram devotional series, meeting once a week for eight weeks or every other week for sixteen weeks. It could be used in a church organization setting, a college residence hall, a book club, or among a group of friends. Participants will:
*Develop a better understanding of their unique personality and everyday struggles
*Learn more about the whole Enneagram, not just their own type
*Find a community of like-minded Christians who are looking for spiritual growth
*Gain grace and understanding for other Enneagram types
*Have an opportunity to grow in relationship with others through deep conversation and activities based on each week’s topic
*Grow in their relationship with God as they better understand the ways in which we reflect Him
*Increase their faith journey through a devotional that speaks directly to them
Growing with the Enneagram includes group activities, frequently asked questions, and videos to aid the discussion leader.
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Lords Prayer Bible Study
$11.99Add to cartUsing colorful visuals, easy-to-read summaries, and reflections, The Lord’s Prayer Bible Study takes you through the seven petitions of one of Jesus’s most famous prayers.
Enrich your prayer life with a deeper understanding of this model prayer that Jesus taught his closest disciples to pray.
Key features include:
*Short, concise lessons for people with busy lives, as well as an optional reading plan for people with more time who want to go deeper.
*Leader’s guide is contained within each study guide, so no extra book purchase is required.
*Discussion questions for each session and lots of space for writing.Most Bible studies on the Lord’s Prayer don’t include visuals. Imagine having one that does! Perfect for small groups, individual use, young adult study, homeschool, church library, to give to a friend, and more!
Whether you have repeated The Lord’s Prayer countless times in church or are new to this classic prayer, this Bible study will help you dive deeper into the rich theological and spiritual meaning behind each line. This study answers questions such as:
*What does it mean for God’s kingdom to come, and to ask for our daily bread?
*How do we “hallow” God’s name?
*How are we forgiven of our debts (trespasses)?
*And more!With practical life application and thought-provoking discussion questions, you will discover more about God’s attributes and how to pray to our Father in heaven.
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1 Corinthians For You
$17.99Add to cartThe scope of 1 Corinthians is breathtaking. Paul tackles a huge variety of subjects, and as he does so, he gives us a precious insight into what a local church is (or at least can be).
As Andrew Wilson walks through this compelling, challenging epistle, you’ll see how grace looks in every Christian and how it can shape every church–even a church as flawed as the Corinthian one.
This expository guide is less academic than a traditional commentary and includes lots of application. It can be read from cover to cover, used in personal devotions, used to lead small group studies, or used for sermon preparation.
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Pastoral Leadership : For The Care Of Souls
$17.99Add to cartChrist’s sheep need shepherding. That’s where you come in.
With more than 60 years of ministry between them, Harold Senkbeil and Lucas Woodford have come to understand that everything in ministry–even administration, leadership, and planning–revolves around the ancient tradition of the care of souls. Pastors are entrusted with the care of a flock by the Good Shepherd and are called to be faithful to this task. But pastoring seems to be getting more and more difficult.
Based on a sound theological framework, Senkbeil and Woodford present a set of practical tools for church leadership and strategy. Calling on their vast experience, they encourage pastors to protect, guide, and feed their flock as Jesus would, bridging the eternal wisdom of the word of God with the everyday practicality of hands-on leadership. Originally published as Church Leadership & Strategy, this revision includes a new chapter and litany.
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Funerals : For The Care Of Souls
$17.99Add to cartDeath will strike your congregation. Are you ready? Are they?
Death has become a four-letter word. Whereas in previous generations, the practice of memento mori (“remember death”) was embedded in family life, people today have found ways to distance themselves from death. As Western culture becomes increasingly more secular, the Christian understanding of death and the funeral appear more and more strange.
Fear of death affects us all, and so pastors have significant hurdles to overcome. What Christians need today is a renewed vision of the traditional Christian funeral liturgy. In Funerals, Tim Perry recovers the rich theology inherent to the Christian funeral: communion with the saints in death, peace in forgiveness, hope in the resurrection, and joy in life eternal. Perry guides pastors through the practice of funerals, from planning the service to preaching the eulogy, and offers wisdom for the hard cases.
Perry’s Funerals will help pastors disciple their people to see through the valley of the shadow of death and into the hope beyond.
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Ministers Manual For Funerals Updated Edition
$16.99Add to cartThe plans for this book began several years ago as I personally sought quality resources for my work with grieving families. With such an abundance of homelectical materials in general, I was concerned that there seemed to be very little to offer guidance for the funeral setting. The goal of this book is to provide resource material for a setting that has so much potential for ministry. – From the Preface.
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Worlds Greatest Sermons And Preachers
$16.99Add to cartRay Comfort and Kirk Cameron have compiled some of the signature sermons of the greatest Christian preachers in history. Join these “fathers of the faith” as they discuss a wide range of subjects, including the key to evangelism and how to reach souls.
Thanks to this treasured collection of classic Christian wisdom, you can experience…
*The eloquence of Charles Spurgeon
*The zeal of John Wesley
*The effectiveness of Jonathan Edwards
*The passion of Martin Luther
*The power of George Whitfield
*The brilliance of R. A. Torrey
*The influence of Gawin KirkhamThese men laid the foundation of evangelical Christianity that we carry on today. Discover the secret of their success and the truth that you, too, can win the lost!
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Love Your Church
$15.99Add to cartGod calls us to be devoted to one another in love (Romans 12:10). What does this look like for us today? How can we be the kind of church member who makes a real difference?
This engaging book by Tony Merida explores what church is, why being part of it is exciting, and why it’s worthy of our love and commitment. He sets out eight privileges and responsibilities of a church member: to belong, to welcome, to gather, to care, to serve, to honor, to witness and to send.
As we see how wonderful it is to belong to God’s family and be a part of his amazing witness to both the earthly and the heavenly realms, we’ll grow in our love for and commitment to our local church.
This is a great book for every churchgoer to read, whether they’re new or have been attending for some time but need re-energizing with God’s vision for the local church.
With a discussion guide at the end of the book, Love Your Church is also a great resource for small groups.
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Celebrate Recovery Updated Participants Guide Set Volumes 1-4 (Student/Study Gui
$30.99Add to cartAlcoholism–Divorce–Sexual Abuse–Codependency–Domestic Violence–Drug Addiction–Sexual Addiction–Food Addiction–Gambling Addiction.
Move beyond your hurts, habits, and hang-ups to experience the forgiveness of Christ. The Journey Begins Participant Guides are essential tools in the Celebrate Recovery program for your personal recovery journey. These four guides by Pastor John Baker walk you through the eight recovery principles, drawn from the Beatitudes, upon which the 12-step Celebrate Recovery program is built.
This shrinkwrapped pack includes one each of all four participant’s guides for the Celebrate Recovery Program:
Guide 1: Stepping Out of Denial
Guide 2: Taking an Honest and Spiritual Inventory
Guide 3: Getting Right with God
Guide 4: Growing in ChristBy working through the lessons and exercises found in each of the four Participant’s Guides, you will begin to experience the true peace and serenity you have been seeking, restore and develop stronger relationships with others and with God, and find freedom from life’s hurts, habits, and hang-ups.
Note: This shrinkwrapped pack is identical to the participant’s guides included in the Celebrate Recovery Updated Curriculum Kit (9780310131601). Designed for use with the Celebrate Recovery Journal (9780310090342), sold separately.
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Celebrate Recovery Updated Leaders Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$21.99Add to cartThere is a way the church can help the wounded move beyond their hurts, habits, and hang-ups to experience the forgiveness of Christ. Celebrate Recovery helps the church fulfill its role as Christ’s healing agent. You don’t have to lead alone. To lead people forward in spiritual, physical, and emotional restoration is to walk in the footsteps of Christ. And that’s why the Celebrate Recovery Leader’s Guide is so important.
With everything you need to encourage lasting life-change, the leader’s guide is the best way to facilitate Celebrate Recovery in your church and help people look forward to a whole new future.
The Celebrate Recovery Leader’s Guide includes:
*Fresh testimonies
*A 90-day start-up strategy
*A clear, easy-to-follow format
*Step-by-step instructions for each meeting
*Guide for conducting leader training
*Teaching notes for the 25 lessons of The Journey Begins (Participant Guides 1-4)
*Overview of the 25 lessons of The Journey Continues (Participant Guides 5-8)Along with a willing heart, this leader’s guide is invaluable for leading men and women forward in complete restoration and transformation through Christ.
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Ministers Of Reconciliation
$21.99Add to cartRace is one of the most pressing issues of our time; How should pastors tackle it from the pulpit?
In this collection of essays, issues of race and ethnicity are explored from a variety of perspectives, offering guidance to pastors on how to address those topics in their own contexts. Each builds on a foundational passage of Scripture. With contributions from Bryan Loritts, Ray Ortlund, J. D. Greear, and more, Ministers of Reconciliation offers practical and biblically faithful approaches to the subject of race.
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Small Preaching : 25 Little Things You Can Do Now To Make You A Better Prea
$18.99Add to cartIs bigger always better?
It’s not often that we hear the virtues of the small. Our culture teaches that bigger is better–and that includes church ministry and preaching, too. But what if rather than swinging for the fences, preachers focused on improving their sermons through small habits, practices, and exercises? What if smaller is better?In a world where “small” isn’t always celebrated, Jonathan T. Pennington provides Small Preaching, a short book of simple tips that can have revolutionary effects over time. Pennington offers preachers 25 words of wisdom that will help shape their preaching for the better.
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Hebrews For You
$17.99Add to cartApplied expository guide to Hebrews-a book that shows us how and why Jesus is better than anything else.
We are all tempted to drift away from Jesus, but in the book of Hebrews God gives us an anchor: a detailed understanding of how and why Jesus is better than anything else.
Seminary professor Michael J. Kruger unpacks this rich book verse by verse. He explains the Old Testament background, gives plenty of application for our lives today, and shows us how Jesus is the fulfilment of all God’s work on earth. He encourages us to live by faith in Jesus-the only anchor for our souls.
This expository guide can be read as a book; used as a devotional; and utilized in teaching and preaching.
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Faithful Leaders : And The Things That Matter Most
$14.99Add to cartExplore the things that really matter for a successful ministry.
“Well done good and faithful servant.” Every ministry leader wants to hear these words when they meet their Lord. But what does successful ministry look like?
There are many books on leadership strategies and church structures, but this one looks at what matters most: the character and attitude of church leaders. It recognizes that the spiritual health of the church leaders in large part determines the spiritual health of the congregation and therefore the success of the ministry.
In this short, punchy, challenging and at times surprising book, Rico Tice draws on decades of experience in church leadership to call fellow pastors and others with oversight of areas of church ministry to define success biblically, fight their sin, lead themselves and serve their churches. It will be a battle, but one worth fighting because personal holiness and godly leadership matter eternally.
A must-read on pastoral leadership for pastors, elders, worship leaders, youth leaders and anyone else with a leadership role in church ministry.
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Keeping The Cross Central (Revised)
$15.99Add to cartTeen Challenge, also known as Adult and Teen Challenge, was founded as an evangelistic outreach to drug addicts in Brooklyn, New York City. As a holistic Christian ministry with the life-changing message of the gospel, this faith-based rehabilitation program was created with the vision that God can redeem the whole person, starting on day one of the program. This unique approach has produced success rates of over 70% for those who complete the rehabilitation program. However, as Teen Challenge has grown worldwide, with over 1,400+ centers in 129 countries, some centers are now turning to secular methods in order to access government funding. As co-founder of Teen Challenge, Don Wilkerson raises a warning flag on this mission drift: the power of the Cross, which brings about a changed life, must be the priority in treating drug addiction; if the Cross is not central to the mission of any Teen Challenge center, then it is not worthy of using the name “Teen Challenge.” The ministry must never lose its vision and focus in bringing men and women to Christ-through the gospel and discipleship-and stay faithful to the original mission which the founders stood upon.
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God Of Creation Bible Study Book Revised (Student/Study Guide)
$22.25Add to cartThe opening lines and chapters of Genesis teach us fundamental truths about God. We watch Him bring light after darkness, order after chaos, and rest after toil-all through the power of His Word.
Over 10 sessions of verse-by-verse study, dive into the first 11 chapters of Genesis by following three critical stages of understanding: comprehension, interpretation, and application. Teaching videos are key in understanding this study. Revisit familiar stories and historical figures, challenge your basic knowledge, and discover deeper meanings in the text. As God reveals Himself through Scripture, we can only begin to understand ourselves when we first glimpse the character, attributes, and promises of our Creator.
Additional purchase or renting of the video teaching sessions is recommended for the best experience of this Bible study book.
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Elijah Bible Study Book (Student/Study Guide)
$28.99Add to cartOld Testament heroes are best known for their most celebrated, highlight moments: Moses dividing the Red Sea; David slaying Goliath; Gideon routing an insurmountable army; Joshua marching around the defiant walls of Jericho.
And Elijah-calling down fire on Mount Carmel.
Blinded by the remarkable narratives of our biblical heroes, we can forget they each had a backstory-months and years of development, even difficulty, which fortified their spiritual muscle and prepared them for the tasks that made their lives unforgettable.
This 7-session Bible study, on one of the premier ancient prophets, is your invitation to surrender to that process.
Every serious believer longs to summon up the kind of boldness and faith that can stand firm on Mount Carmel and pray down heaven into impossible situations. Yet few are willing to go through the process required to get them there. Strength of faith, character, and boldness can only be shaped in the hidden fires of silence, sameness, solitude, and adversity. Those who patiently wait on God in the darkness emerge with their holy loyalty cemented, their courage emblazoned, and their confident belief in Him set afire.
Join author and Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer on a journey through the life and times of Elijah. Discover how the fire on Mount Carmel was forged in the valley of famine. And how the emboldened, fiery faith you desire is being fashioned by God in your life right now.
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Rest In The Storm 20th Anniversary Edition (Anniversary)
$19.99Add to cartA best-seller among seminarians and seasoned leaders alike, this 20th anniversary edition offers updated and expanded content for readers familiar with the original as well as those new to the work. In both modest and substantial additions throughout, the expanded edition also features a new Author’s Introduction, two fresh chapters on “Cultivating Meaningful Friendships” and “Unleashing Dynamic Creativity,” and two original sermons, “Living at a Sacred Pace” and “Stopping, Stepping Back, and Stepping Up Stronger”!
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Future Church : 7 Laws Of Real Church Growth
$24.99Add to cartChurch growth models have often been long on promises and short on disciple-making. We continue to watch consistent church attendance shrink, and our desire to reach the lost is infected with a need for self-validation by growing our numbers at any cost. If we believe that God wants his church to grow, where do we go from here? What is the future of the church?
Drawing from his 20 years and 15,000 hours of consulting, author Will Mancini shares with pastors and ministry leaders the single most important insight he has learned about church growth. With plenty of salient stories and based solidly on the disciple-making methods found in Scripture, Future Church exposes the church’s greatest challenge today, and offers 7 transforming laws of real church growth so that we can faithfully and joyfully fulfill Jesus’s Great Commission.
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Ruth For You
$16.99Add to cartApplied expository guide on the book of Ruth: a story of redemption that points us to Jesus.
The book of Ruth is a love story. Like all love stories it has twists and turns, tension and resolution, and a happy ending.But it’s far more than that because it reveals to us a God who is deeply committed to caring for his people. In Boaz, God provides Ruth with a loving husband to free and provide for her, pointing us to the Bible’s grand story of redemption and David’s greatest son, Jesus.
Tony Merida’s compelling story-telling and Christ-centered insights make this both an accessible and absorbing expository guide to the book of Ruth. It can be used for personal devotions, or for leading small-group studies, or for sermon preparation.
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Preaching Hope In Darkness
$23.99Add to cartHow can a preacher best address suicide from the pulpit?
Pastors face many challenges. Suicide in a congregation is amongst the most heart-rending and intimidating. However, the preacher has a unique capacity to engender gospel hope for preparing the congregation and comforting the bereaved. To do so, preachers need help understanding the challenges and opportunities presented by addressing suicide from the pulpit.
In Preaching Hope in Darkness, two practitioners in fields that do not typically interact–homiletics (Scott M. Gibson) and psychology (Karen Mason)–work together to support the preacher in this difficult task. Gibson and Mason offer wise advice on a range of topics such as suicide prevention, post-crisis care, and funeral sermon preparation. With an appendix of sample sermons and a sample funeral liturgy, Preaching Hope in Darkness is an essential go-to guide for this difficult topic.
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Insider Church : Ekklesia And The Insider Paradigm
$19.99Add to cartInsider Movements = Church-planting Movements?
?In the last few decades, the Church has witnessed a growing harvest of Muslim-background believers coming to Christ. However, a divide remains over whether the “insider” paradigm contributes to the flourishing and multiplication of healthy, biblical churches among Muslims.
S. T. Antonio advances this conversation beyond the old arguments through a fresh analysis of the insider paradigm by asking the question, What is church? Starting with the identity-shaping narrative of the people of God, Antonio digs deep into the nature of biblical ekklesia from multiple angles-local and universal, visible and invisible, the classical “marks” of the church, and missional identity. Combining a robust, biblical vision with a nuanced contextualization framework, and informed by firsthand ministry among Muslims, Antonio uncovers the roots and contours of the ecclesial vision of the insider paradigm. Insider Church provides an innovative diagnosis of a paradigm that has been surrounded by controversy, challenging it with constructive analysis for multiplying biblical churches among Muslims.
This integrative study draws together biblical, theological, and missiological scholarship in service of Christ’s mission. Insider Church helps guide mission practitioners, leaders, and students toward a wise assessment of insider movements and a vision for church multiplication that is both fruitful and faithful to the Lord of the harvest.
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Forgiving What You Cant Forget Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$15.99Add to cartHave you ever felt stuck in a cycle of unresolved pain, playing offenses over and over in your mind? You know you can’t go on living like this, but you don’t know what to do next. And you just don’t know if you’ll ever get past it.
In this six-session Bible study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately), Lysa TerKeurst has walked this journey, wrestling with deep wounds that feel impassible and struggling to move forward. And she’s discovered that, to find life-giving freedom, we have to let go of our bound-up resentment and resistance to forgiving people who’ve hurt us. With deep empathy, therapeutic insight, and rich Bible teaching coming out of 1,000 hours of study, Lysa helps us:
*learn how to move on when the other person refuses to change and never says they’re sorry;
*walk through a step-by-step process to free ourselves from the hurt of our past and feel less offended today;
*discover what the Bible really says about forgiveness and the peace that comes from living it out right now;
*identify what’s stealing trust and vulnerability from our relationships so we can believe there is still good ahead; and
*disempower the triggers hijacking our emotions by embracing the two necessary parts of forgiveness.
Designed for use with the Forgiving What You Can’t Forget Video Study (sold separately).
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Church Called Tov
$22.99Add to cartWhat is the way forward for the church?
Tragically, in recent years, Christians have gotten used to revelations of abuses of many kinds in our most respected churches-from Willow Creek to Harvest, from Southern Baptist pastors to Sovereign Grace churches. Respected author and theologian Scot McKnight and former Willow Creek member Laura Barringer wrote this book to paint a pathway forward for the church.
We need a better way. The sad truth is that churches of all shapes and sizes are susceptible to abuses of power, sexual abuse, and spiritual abuse. Abuses occur most frequently when Christians neglect to create a culture that resists abuse and promotes healing, safety, and spiritual growth.
How do we keep these devastating events from repeating themselves? We need a map to get us from where we are today to where we ought to be as the body of Christ. That map is in a mysterious and beautiful little Hebrew word in Scripture that we translate “good,” the word tov.
In this book, McKnight and Barringer explore the concept of tov-unpacking its richness and how it can help Christians and churches rise up to fulfill their true calling as imitators of Jesus.
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John 1-12 For You
$17.99Add to cartJosh Moody helps those new to John to dip their toes in its waters, while also showing new depths to those more familiar with this Gospel. Jesus came to bring life to the full–and in showing us his seven signs, John pictures the fulfillment that comes from living life as a follower of the Word become flesh.
This Expository Guide takes you verse by verse through the text in an accessible and applied way. It is less academic than a traditional commentary and can be read cover-to-cover, used in personal devotions, used to lead small group studies, or used for sermon preparation. There is an accompanying Good Book Guide for small group Bible studies.
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Post Quarantine Church
$12.99Add to cartA trustworthy and respected guide for pastors and church leadership in the post-quarantine world, providing hope and vision for the future of your congregation.
From thousands of surveys of church leaders and in-person consultations, Thom Rainer and his Church Answers team have gathered the essential wisdom you will need to face the challenges and opportunities that the quarantine crisis creates for the local church, including:
New and better ways to lead the gathered churchA wide-open door for growing the digital churchA moment to rethink the facilitiesNew strategies for church growth . . . and much more!
This book is, in effect, your personal church consultant, helping you plan and prepare for the future. In the midst of heartbreak, tragedy, and struggle due to Covid-19, here’s hope, wisdom, encouragement and vision.
This book is valuable for those looking for local church and pastor resources to enhance church leadership, grow your church, and serve digital and online church communities in the post-quarantine world.
As a former pastor and founder of Church Answers, Thom S. Rainer is intimately familiar with the ever-present demands that pastors face. He has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of the local church.
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Proverbs For You
$19.99Add to cartDivine wisdom for your everyday life from the book of Proverbs.
In the Proverbs, God offers us wisdom for real life and he shows us Jesus, who was wisdom personified and exemplified.
This accessible, absorbing expository guide to Proverbs by Kathleen Nielson brings these ancient sayings to life, helping ordinary Christians to see what it can look like to enjoy living in line with God’s wisdom in the great multitude of everyday situations and decisions we face.
This book gives an expository rather than topical treatment to the book of Proverbs, so it can be read as originally intended. It also has more application than a typical commentary, making it a great resource for personal devotions, as well as useful for leading small-group studies or sermon preparation.
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Proverbs For You
$17.99Add to cartIn the Proverbs, God offers us wisdom for real life and he shows us Jesus, who was wisdom personified and exemplified.
This accessible, absorbing expository guide to Proverbs by Kathleen Nielson brings these ancient sayings to life, helping ordinary Christians to see what it can look like to enjoy living in line with God’s wisdom in the great multitude of everyday situations and decisions we face.
This book gives an expository rather than topical treatment to the book of Proverbs, so it can be read as originally intended. It also has more application than a typical commentary, making it a great resource for personal devotions, as well as useful for leading small-group studies or sermon preparation.
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Precepts For Living Regular Print 2021-2022
$19.95Add to cartPastors and educators alike praise Precepts For Living(R), UMI’s best-selling annual Bible commentary. This indispensable resource is based on the texts outlined in the International Uniform Lesson Series and provides 52 weeks of in-depth Bible studies for personal or classroom use. Unlike other Bible study lesson plans, Precepts For Living(R) highlights the cultural relevance and contributions of Africans in Bible history – a bonus for African American churches. Each easy-to-use weekly lesson explores the life-changing power of God’s Word and takes a creative approach to teaching and applying those truths today. The interactive and encouraging students are practical and clear – perfect for students and leaders. Scripture text in parallel King James Version – New Living Translation, In-depth Bible Commentary to promote insight and understanding, Teaching Tools such as illustrations, maps, charts, tips, and daily Bible readings, Instructive Bible Commentary, Proven, effective Teaching Tools, Historical, Biographical, and Geographic Insights, with Greek and Hebrew translations and pronunciation guides, “Perspective” Quarterly Essays by leading theologians and Christian educators, Heritage Profiles of notable African Americans to introduce Bible themes, offering the unique African American perspective readers anticipate from UMI. Precepts For Living(R) is an invaluable study guide for all who desire to further their knowledge, understanding, and application of biblical truths.
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Pages From A Preachers Notebook
$24.99Add to cartInside the disciplined mind of John Stott
Like many preachers, the great British evangelical leader John Stott was always looking for illustrations to include in his sermons and writings. Beginning in the 1940s and continuing until the early 2000s, when he came across something he thought he could use, he captured it on a note card, labeled it according to topic, and filed it away in his study.
Editor Mark Meynell, who worked at All Souls Langham Place with Stott, has selected the best of these illustrations to be included in Pages from a Preacher’s Notebook. Here we see Stott’s fruitful and disciplined mind on display in hundreds of preaching notes and prayers on various subjects, all arranged topically. Whether you are a preacher or writer looking for a good idea, or an admirer of Stott who enjoys reading anything he writes, Pages from a Preacher’s Notebook illuminates his careful working methods for the benefit of readers today.
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Finding Our Voice
$17.99Add to cartNo one preaches in a cultural vacuum.
The message of what God has done in Christ is good news to all, but to have the greatest impact on its hearers–or even to be understood at all–it must be culturally contextualized.
Finding Our Voice speaks clearly to an issue that has largely been ignored: preaching to Asian North American (ANA) contexts. In addition to reworking hermeneutics, theology, and homiletics for these overlooked contexts, Kim and Wong include examples of culturally-specific sermons and instructive questions for contextualizing one’s own sermons.
Finding Our Voice is essential reading for all who preach and teach in ANA contexts. But by examining this kind of contextualization in action, all who preach in their own unique contexts will benefit from this approach.
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I Still Believe Leaders Guide
$14.99Add to cartMany small group leaders feel ill-equipped to create natural conversation that leads to a meaningful experience for their group members. This I Still Believe Leader’s Guide works in conjunction with the video series to equip group leaders with helpful tips on leading a group, thoughtful discussion questions for each week, and suggested scripture to read. Create a directed, safe, and open environment to lead your group to trusting and leaning on God and his promises during life’s most difficult times.
