Many in our day think that it is no longer possible to have big, strong, vital, influential, mission-minded downtown congregations. Those who predict the end of downtown churches will point to the suburbanization of Anglo populations, the erosion of inherited institutional loyalties, the decline of public transportation, the lack of interest by a younger generation in Sunday evening worship, the deterioration of central city public school systems, the fear of crime, the closing of downtown department stores with the rise of shopping malls, and so on. While much can be learned about the failures of various downtown churches, more can be learned about the successful experiences. Today's downtown church, therefore, must be competitive. Howard Edington has led a church that for a dozen years has excelled in offering an alternative to most of the lures in our society that compete for attention with the church. First Church is reaching new generations of people by being relevant to community needs, by becoming a credible partner with the government and the city, and by offering the good news with a message and program that is of the highest quality.

Downtown Church: The Heart of the City (Innovators in Ministry Series)

Edington, Howard

Religion & Spirituality

ABINGDON PRESS *

This is the wonderful saga of the man chosen by God to be the earthly father of Jesus. Warm and inspiring, readers are given insight into the strength demonstrated by this carpenter who took on the role of Mary's husband and the stepfather of the Son of God. The secondary story told by the author (one of the great living Biblical story tellers) is of the important role adoptive fathers in general (the author and his wife raised three adopted children). Has the potential to become a Christmas classic -- a book for which copyright means very little and which the powerful story will span generations.

The Forgotten Man of Christmas: Joseph's Story

Insync Communications Llc

Destined to become a seasonal classic, "The Forgotten Man of Christmas," is the amazing story of the adopted father of Jesus -- the man who stands in the shadows of Mary and the Babe, the shepherds and the Magi, and host of angels. Most of us have favorite Christmas holiday stories that have come down from other family members. "The Forgotten Man of Christmas" is the type of story that will grab readers and give them a new perspective on one of the most important characters in the Christmas saga -- a story that readers will pass on to generations within their own families. 
Much of what we know or take for granite about the events surrounding the birth of Jesus is found in a few chapters in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Those few Biblical lines provide us with our view of events. Howard Edington takes us on a journey that spans 2,000 years and opens our eyes to the critical role played by Joseph, the wordly father of the Babe of Bethlehem. 
In the pages of this book, you will be part of discovering that during the events surrounding the First Christmas, God spoke directly to Joseph in four separate and critically important dreams. Each of those dreams proved pivotal in the unfolding Christmas events, and Joseph's responses to the dreams are loaded with spiritual insturctions applicable to our own journeys of faith. 
As Edington points out, God had all the men in the world from who to pick when He selected a father for Jesus. Yet, when all were considered, it was Joseph he picked. "The Forgotten Man of Christmas" was an incredible man -- not merely a carpenter of Nazareth -- and forgotten no more.

The Forgotten Man of Christmas

Literature & Fiction

InSync Communications

What do you do, when your much-younger wife to be, informs you that she is pregnant? What if you're not the father? How do you handle the discussion, when she goes on to tell you that the father isn't of this earth -- that he is, in fact, God? And what if God sends an angel to speak with you and confirm what your bride to be had told you? And years later, what if that baby turns out to be the promised Messiah that had been foretold in more than 300 prophecies? This the situation that Joseph, a not-so-spectacular, but honorable carpenter, found himself facing nearly 2,000 years ago. We all know what has been told to us of the famous event and what is presented in the four narratives of the Bible known as the Gospels (written, most likely in this order: Mark, Matthew, Luke and John). However, the Biblical stories give us more information about the shephards and the animals in the manger scene, more about the angels, the Magi and their gifts, and more about the hunt for the newborn child by Herod, than it does about the eartly father of the infant Jesus. We know very little, if anything solid, about Mary's husband. Singled out by God to be, in fact, the adopted earthly father of Jesus, Joseph is known to us only as a dim figure in the background of the Gospel narratives. Yet his whole-hearted reconciliation to Mary, even in the face of possible slanderings by his neighbors, his complete self-sacrifice, when he left all and fled into Egypt to save the infant Jesus, are indicative that he was not unworthy to fulfill the great trust which was imposed upon him by his creator. In reality, this man, Joseph, has become, down through the ages, virtually 'the forgotten man of Christmas."

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

DC Press

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Books by Edington, Howard

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Edington, Howard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Downtown Church: The Heart of the City (Innovators in Ministry Series)

The Forgotten Man of Christmas: Joseph's Story

The Forgotten Man of Christmas

The Forgotten Man of Christmas: Joseph's Story