A year's worth of daily readings written to add good perspectives on leadership and life for both Christian and secular audiences.

Keeping Life in Focus: 365 Motivational Minutes

Wright, Todd

Religion & Spirituality

Missional Press

The book of Jude is a pearl waiting to be discovered.  It is a small, yet potent book that covers two main topics:  faithfulness to the Gospel of Christ and keeping ourselves from embracing a distorted message. Kept: The Message of Jude is a devotional commentary.  Designed for those who would like to teach or preach through the book of Jude, the author provides solid biblical exegesis and practical application to reveal many of the gems Jude has to offer.

Kept: The Message of Jude

W. David Phillips

History

When did the church become our refuge from the world? How did it happen that the church became the place we went when trying to get away from those we are supposed to be trying to reach? How did we ever become convinced that lost people remain lost because they will not come to church, rather than because followers of Christ refuse to live the gospel while sharing the gospel with them?For various reasons, many church leaders today have a tendency to ignore the value of understanding the changing times. Others simply preach against the changing seasons, as if by doing so they will prevent the times from coming. In JOURNEYS: Transitioning Churches to Relevance, Pastors Todd Wright and Marty Duren share candidly about the road they each traveled as they labored to bring their churches to a place of significance and cultural relevance. Wright and Duren speak candidly about their struggles and their own pharisaical attitudes that for years kept them from experiencing lives lived on mission with Jesus Christ. JOURNEYS is about seeing every encounter as a divine appointment to somehow bring Jesus to the surface of life. It is a challenge issued to the church to intentionally find areas of need in their communities to be the eyes, ears, heart, and hands of Jesus. Lots of people can tell you what to do. Some can do so through research, others through personal observation, and still others through their intuition. In JOURNEYS: Transitioning Churches To Relevance, Marty and Todd take us on a journey and tell us a story-and it is a worthwhile journey and a moving story. Instead of telling you what to do, Marty and Todd tell their journey from religious role-playing to personal transformation.and from personal transformation to fresh expressions of mission and ministry in their churches. I found myself engaged and challenged and believe you will as well. - Ed Stetzer, co-author of Comeback Churches and Compelled by Love

JOURNEYS: Transitioning Churches to Relevance

Todd Wright

Second Edition: Most church planting literature highlights enormously successful ministries. While such ministries can serve as a noble benchmark for every church planter, they are far from the norm. Most who plant churches will never see their name in lights, and all who plant churches will find it to be one of the most difficult things they have ever sought to accomplish. In this book, the author invites you to take an "inside look" at those difficulties. He shares his own successes and failures with candor, and lays bare the reality of planting a new church, which include both strenuous difficulties and glorious rewards. Read this book to be prepared for the effort, and ready for the blessing that comes from planting churches. Planting Churches in the Real World is written by Dr. Joel Rainey, Director of Missions for the Mid-Maryland Baptist Association, a network of more than 50 evangelical churches located in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area. Dr. Rainey has been involved in planting more than 30 churches, and trains church planters nationally and internationally. He lives in central Maryland with his wife and their two sons. Praise for Planting Churches: Church planting is not for the easily discouraged. The average new church is less than 100 attenders after four years, but most conference speakers and book writers tell stories of hundreds after the first year- a reality few church planters experience. Rainey paints a picture of reality, including both the difficulties involved in starting a new church, and the evidence that planting a church is worth enduring those difficulties. If you are a planter drunk with vision, this will sober you up. But, it is more than that. It also shows that church plants make a difference whether they are thousands or dozens after the first year. I've known Joel for years, and he tells the stories from his own journey- telling lessons he learned the hard way. It's real world church planting and it is worth your time. Dr. Ed Stetzer, author of Planting Missional Churches. Director of Research, Lifeway Christian Resources, Nashville, TN "Dr. Rainey amuses the reader with countless stories of life on the field. His "lessons learned" approach to the book serves as a clear warning for future church planters: "The Kingdom of Heaven is near you, but this won't be easy!" Dr. Jack Allen, Director, The Day Center for Church Planting. New Orleans, LA "Candid, winsome, thoroughly biblical, keenly missional, and sensibly linked to the real world. Don't be fooled. The weightiness of this little book is inversely proportional to its size, and its wise counsel will help point a safe way through the tangle of neglected assumptions, misguided strategies, ill-founded hopes, and unintentional blunders that accosts the unwary planter on the way to church. Well done!" B. Spencer Haygood, Senior Pastor, Orange Hill Baptist Church. Marietta, GA "Reality bites, as the saying goes. Yet in the age of incredible lostness in America, we must see church planting for what it is . . . a way to spread Gospel influence to every, man, woman and child. High birth weight churches, although fun and influential for the Kingdom, are not the norm, nor are they the answer. Joel Rainey has captured the reality and yet the incredible potential of church planting. New churches running less than 100 are key players in the Kingdom. Small does not have to mean ineffective. Small groups of missionary Christians are critical to our mission and our future. Way to go!" Dr. Dino Senesi. Church Planting Movement Leader, Columbia, SC

Planting Churches in the Real World

Christian Books & Bibles

Rainey, Joel

Christian Living

This book is for anyone who wants to follow Jesus and change the world. Movements that change the world are characterized by white-hot faith,commitment to a cause, contagious relationships, rapid mobilization,and adaptive methods. Jesus founded a missionary movement. His followers are called to continue his mission in the power of the Holy Spirit. A thoroughly readable description of the dynamics of missionary movements and how to initiate, maintain, and extend them. ALAN HIRSCH Author of The Forgotten Ways Steve synthesizes his vast amounts of experience, wisdom, and research into an easy-to-read book. NEIL COLE Author of Organic Church Practitioners and thinkers with a passion for mission will want to read and re-read this book. DR. MARTIN ROBINSON Co-author of Metavista: Bible, Church and Mission in an Age of Imagination An important book for our times well researched, well written, and well thought out. DR. ROBERT E. LOGAN Author of Be Fruitful and Multiply I couldn¹t put it down till it finished rearranging my mind. This is a keeper! RALPH MOORE Author of How To Multiply Your Church Steve identifies the core characteristics of movements and does it in a way that enables all of us, not just the academics, to understand. BOB ROBERTS Author of The Multiplying Church As I read the manuscript I felt that I had met a long-lost brother. I had to read it through in a single sitting. DAVID GARRISON Author of Church Planting Movements Steve casts a compelling future vision by tracing God¹s discernible lessons demonstrated in movements. He taps into the heart hunger of the growing number of us that want to see God do something great. ED STETZER Author of Planting Missional Churches I love this book! Every so often a book comes along that fuels the flame that was started in my heart years ago when I was a young and on-fire world changer. FLOYD MCCLUNG Author of You See Bones, I See an Army About the author Steve Addison is a lifelong student of movements that renew and expand the Christian faith. He serves as Australian director of Church Resource Ministries. Steve¹s calling is to spark church planting movements everywhere.

Movements That Change the World

Steve Addison Bob Roberts Alan Hirsch

Descripción del producto  Alan Hirsch está convencido de que las fórmulas de crecimiento heredado el Cuerpo de Cristo no funcionan más. Y en lugar de confiar en soluciones ligeramente revisada del pasado, él ve una visión de futuro crecimiento de la iglesia viene por aprovechar el poder de la iglesia primitiva, que pasó de tan sólo 25.000 fieles en el año 100 a un máximo de 20 millones de en el año 310. Esa también es increíble el crecimiento que experimenta hoy en día en la iglesia en China y en otras partes del mundo. ¿Cómo lo hacen? ¿Ha olvidado la formas explora el concepto de genio apostólica como una manera de entender lo que causó la iglesia para ampliar en diversos momentos de la historia, la interpretación de que para su uso en nuestro propio tiempo y lugar. A partir de la bases teológicas para la aplicación práctica, Hirsch lleva al lector a través de esta dinámica mezcla de pasión, la oración y la encarnación práctica de redescubrir el potencial latente de la iglesia moderna en Occidente.  De la contraportada "Hirsch ha descubierto la fórmula que abre los secretos del universo eclesial como Einstein es simple... Fórmula (E = mc ²) desbloquea los secretos del universo físico. Hay algunos libros es suficiente para leer hasta el final. Hay sólo una pocos libros lo suficientemente bueno como para leer hasta el final del tiempo. Olvidaste formas es uno de ellos. "- Leonard Sweet (del prólogo)  "Con Los Olvidados formas, Alan Hirsch nos ha acercado a la realidad de ver a una verdadera iglesia apostólica de plantación de circulación en el oeste. Esta es una obra que va a cambiar nuestro pensamiento, nuestro vocabulario, y es de esperar que nuestra forma de ser de la iglesia en este nuevo siglo. Ya me he leído el libro dos veces y probablemente devorar de nuevo. "- Neil Cole, autor de Orgánica Iglesia: la fe de Crecimiento Cuando la vida pasa y Cultivo de una vida para Dios  "A sangre completa y amplia convocatoria de la reorientación completa de la iglesia en torno a la misión. Nada menos que el redescubrimiento de una eclesiología revolucionario misional hará por Alan Hirsch. Un maestro de obra". - Michael Frost, coautor de la concepción de las cosas Venga y al autor de los Exiliados  "Es AD 30 todo de nuevo. Si bien muchos líderes de la iglesia están tratando desesperadamente de readaptación institucional expresiones del cristianismo con la esperanza de lograr mejores resultados, Al Hirsch nos ayuda a entender la necesidad de que la reengage movimiento misional en su forma primitiva." -- -Reggie McNeal, autor de La práctica de grandeza: 7 Disciplinas Extraordinario de Líderes Espirituales y en el presente futuro: Seis preguntas difíciles para la Iglesia  "Con un estudioso de la atención al detalle y las lecciones de la historia, así como un misionero del primer siglo de la pasión creativa, Alan Hirsch nos recuerda a una vida de fe que es flexible, rápido movimiento, y sin encuadernar. Se rescata el término" misional 'de la fosa común de la iglesia de moda en el proceso. "- Greg Paul, autor de Dios en el Callejón: Ser y ver a Jesús en un mundo roto, fundador y director del Santuario de los Ministerios en TorontoThis book is also available for FREE in PDF form from my website at ... theforgottenways.org/training-resources.aspxDescargar una traducción libre en español de "Los Caminos Olvidados" aquí! or here theforgottenways.org/media/pdf/Caminos_Olvidados_Hirsch%20libre_e-texto.pdf

Caminos Olvidados: Reactivemos la Iglesia Misional (Spanish Edition)

Alan Hirsch

Spiritual change is not the result of mere human ingenuity, effort or methodology. The Sword of the Spirit challenges us to allow God's Spirit to use God's Word to transform us into the likeness of God's Son, Jesus Christ. As God's Word comes to life in us, He enables us to change the world for Him!  About the Author Kelly Malone is Assistant Professor of Intercultural Studies and the Jack Stanton Chair of Evangelism at Southwest Baptist University. He served for fifteen years as a missionary in Japan with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Kelly lives with his wife Molly, his daughter Maggie, and his son Kevin in Bolivar, Missouri.

The Sword of the Spirit

Kelly Malone

This is a book about the journey towards wholeness from a life of unhealthy, addictive, and sinful behavior. In it the author examines how findings from emerging disciplines like neurobiology and behavioral science enrich and even validate the scriptures regarding the reason for unhealthy, addictive and sinful behavior. Holy Rewired describes how changing our behavior is not simply a matter of being more disciplined about prayer and Bible reading or adding additional spiritual activities like fasting. Behavioral change requires accessing the deepest parts of our emotional lives. Engaging and dealing with our emotions leads to increasing emotional health, which in turn leads to behavioral change. Emotional health allows us to change our thinking about ourselves, our actions, and our relationship to others. It offers the freedom to regain a healthy understanding of who we are in Christ and in our relationship with God the Father. In this context, we can make progress in our journey toward wholeness. In order to effectively change our behavior, we must also remember who we are as created by the Father. The ultimate impact of sin has been to destroy our sense of identity. We have lost the sense of being created in the image of God and being created for perfect relationship with our Creator. Because we are broken eikons (the Greek word for man being created in the image of God), we are searching to discover who and whose we are. Unhealthy behavior is an expression of that searching and longing that is within all of us. However, without the reshaping skill of the Potter, the cracked pots cannot be made whole and thus continue to struggle finding themselves in a world ignorant of the hope that brings wholeness. Unfortunately, the institutional church has frequently dismissed the issues of unhealthy behavior as simply sin or a lack of self-discipline. The antidote for dealing with the behavioral dysfunction, according to those who emphasize spiritual disciplines, is to do more things that are spiritual: pray more, read the Bible more, spend more time in church. This prescription is limited in addressing the real cause of destructive behavior. It does not address the impact of other people's destructive behavior upon us. The unhealthy behavior of others can negatively impact our own behavior. The negative impact is often, perhaps even always, the source of the unhealthy and destructive behaviors a person exhibits. In addition, the spiritual prescription does not take into account multiple memory storage areas with which our minds are created. The emotional memory holds traumatic experiences, which cause us to react out of pain when we sense we are in a similar situation. These experiences, part of our emotional memory, are rarely readily accessible in our cognitive memory. These memories must be probed, remembered, and released. Drawing on recent research from emerging sciences such as neuroplasticity, emotional intelligence, and family systems theory, behavioral change is a result of our journey towards emotional health and wholeness. It requires us to unlearn and put aside the practices and effects of self-destructive behavior and fully embrace our identity as people created in the image of God for relationship with him. In this encouraging study of spiritual whole-making, the key to a whole-souled life is to be wholly souled in biblical truth and integrity. Leonard Sweet, Drew University, George Fox University, sermons.com

Holy Rewired: Science, the Gospel and the Journey Toward Wholeness

Parenting & Relationships

Do you long for a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ? Are you tired of constantly trying to measure up to the world's definition of success? If so, allow God's Word to transform the way you live as you embrace the call to reflect His glory. "Reflecting His Glory: From Conformity to Transformation" explores Romans 12:2. This study provides a step-by-step approach for you if you long to: * recognize conformity in your life * understand the call to spiritual transformation * establish a daily process for renewal * view God's will from His holy perspective, not your own. Join Andrea Lennon as she leads you to discover life-changing truths that teach you how to think like Jesus, act like Jesus, and ultimately reflect the glory of Jesus Christ. Come away from this study changed, living for God's glory not your own.

Reflecting His Glory: From Conformity To Transformation

Lennon, Andrea

Savannah Goes to Children's Worship

Buddy Earnest Brenna Phillips

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

Books by Missional Press