Church Development

"I was one of 28 children born to my dad and his three wives. Indoctrinated to believe that the outside world was evil, and that I resided among the righteous, I was destined to marry a man chosen for me by the Prophet. I would then live in harmony with my sister-wives, bear many children, and obey and serve my future husband in this life and throughout eternity. But my innocence didn't last long." Flora goes on from there to tell the dramatic true story of how she ultimately escaped and has been rescuing women and children from the FLDS.

Everyone is busy. The pressure to get results in nonprofit organizations and churches is extreme. As a result, often projects and tasks are given full attention, while development and training of staff and volunteers are seen as secondary. In How Time-Crunched Leaders Develop Potential Leaders, author Christopher Scott provides six simple ways that busy leaders can develop the people they lead.

Spiritual Intelligence is a groundbreaking exploration of how we are all hardwired for higher consciousness. Based on over 400 scientific studies, this transformative book reveals the brain’s capacity to access states of bliss, compassion, and connection through what neuroscientists call the "Enlightenment Network." Whether through meditation, prayer, or peak performance “flow” states, author Dawson Church demonstrates how anyone can activate these circuits to create rapid and life-changing shifts in wellbeing and health.

Power has a God-given role in human relationships and institutions, but it can lead to abuse when used in unhealthy ways. Speaking into current #MeToo and #ChurchToo conversations, this book shows that the body of Christ desperately needs to understand the forms power takes, how it is abused, and how to respond to abuses of power.

The gospel of Jesus Christ—the good news that through Jesus we have been adopted as sons and daughters into God’s family—means that Christians ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans in North America and around the world. Russell D. Moore does not shy away from this call in Adopted for Life, a popular-level, practical manifesto for Christians to adopt children and to help equip other Christian families to do the same.

Authors Eric Geiger (author of the best-selling Simple Church and Creature of the Word) and Kevin Peck argue that churches that consistently produce leaders have strong convictions to develop leaders, healthy cultures for leadership development, and helpful constructs to systematically and intentionally build leaders. All three are essential for leaders to be formed through the ministry of a local church.

Dr. James Papandrea introduces you to all the major theologians, philosophers, and martyrs of the early Christian church and explains the theological principles that guided the Church from the New Testament era through the apologists, and, ultimately, to the development of the major doctrines. He uniquely situates the teachings of the early Church Fathers against the social and cultural context of the Roman Empire and its relationship to the Church.

The Experience is a unique guide to mastering the art of customer service and service relationships, based on the principles employed at the renowned leader in customer experience - the Walt Disney Company. Co-author Bruce Loeffler spent 10 years at Disney World overseeing service excellence. He has partnered with Brian T. Church to show you how to bring that same level of care and value to your own organization.

Few things in life are more frustrating than knowing you need to change, wanting to change, and trying to change, but not changing. Craig Groeschel knows what it's like to be caught in that demoralizing cycle. That was his own story—until he discovered practical principles for experiencing lasting change. Since then, Craig has helped countless others find true change in their relationships, habits, and thoughts. A powerful blend of biblical wisdom and fascinating psychology, The Power to Change will equip you to start living the life God wants for you.

At the age of five, Megan Phelps-Roper began protesting homosexuality and other alleged vices alongside fellow members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Founded by her grandfather and consisting almost entirely of her extended family, the tiny group would gain worldwide notoriety for its pickets at military funerals and celebrations of death and tragedy.

How to Start a Church -- EVEN if you have never been to Bible school or seminary. Don't know how to plant a healthy church? Want a step-by-step plan that's CHRIST-CENTERED? Need a strategy for church planting that will work anywhere in the world? Ever wish you could start a church that changes lives? Starting churches has quickly become THE way to reach lost people today. The problem? Copying church planting models doesn't produce the same results. The secret is to plant a church deeply in love with Jesus and committed to obeying His commands. In this guide, "Simple Church Planting," you'll...

Ministry is supposed to be a team sport, but it's hard to build a team if you're a pulpit hog. Sharing the pulpit is one of the most powerful ways to instill a ministry-wide culture of equipping, empowering, and releasing others for the work of the ministry. Preaching the Other Way is an absolute must have for any preacher, speaker, or primary communicator. It's an inspirational reminder that no one person can be it all, and do it all. This book comes from forty years of ministry wisdom. Insightful, and backed with impeccable integrity, JD Pearring presents an innovative approach to equip ...

Author and advocate Mary DeMuth urges the church she loves to rise up and face the evil of sexual abuse and harassment with candor and empathy. Based on research and survivors' stories, along with fierce fidelity to Scripture, DeMuth unpacks the church's response to sexual violence and provides a healthy framework for the church to become a haven of healing instead of an institution of judgment.

Many men don't have a good role model for how to love their wives. From the crucible of real-life experience and study of God's Word, Larry McCall delivers a powerful message that there is a model of perfect husband-wife love. This helpful volume explores aspects and implications of using Christ as our model in marriage.

We have a leadership problem, and we all know it. When we look at our churches, we see two glaring problems: a lack of qualified leaders, and a general mistrust of leadership as a response to sinful leadership. But churches need leaders. What do we do? The answer is in The Leadership Formula.

What would happen if we intentionally chose to live a life of nobility? If we thought of our fellow man before ourselves? In a world littered with lawsuits, hate mail, and demands for punishment, when did we stop caring for our neighbor? When did we set aside the cause and effect of our decisions? With humor-filled personal tales and in-depth research, Carrie Lloyd will unfold the meaning behind the characteristics of nobility - self-sacrifice, humility, courage, self-conquest, integrity, honesty - all required for nurturing noble virtues.

Do you have a biblical worldview? A biblical worldview simply means we as Christians view life through the lens of God's inspired Word. The Bible is (or should be) the basis and foundation for all decisions made by pastors, church leaders, and everyone seeking to follow Jesus. Marketing Like God is NOT about lofty ideas, elaborate marketing plans, overpriced branding packages, or the "next new thing" in church marketing. Marketing Like God IS about how to use PROVEN biblical principles and strategies to be real as a church and how to contact people right where they are to show them the ...

Hollywood Park is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country’s most infamous cults and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.

Stephen Smith is the boy who did not exist. Born out of wedlock in the early 1960s, Steve's parents - both devout Catholics - had felt so 'shamed' by their son's illegitimate birth that they hid him away from the world by locking him in the cellar...for 13 years. Apart from a few admissions to hospital as a result of his 'imprisonment', Steve remained in the coal cellar of the family home where he was deprived of daylight, his childhood, school and human contact until he'd reached his teenage years.

A trillion years from now, your child will be either in heaven or in hell. And this is only the beginning of eternity. In light of this eternal perspective, the time is now, dear parent, to raise your child to live entirely for Christ and his church. The time is now to train your child in the Four Last Things, the spiritual life, the virtues of piety and humility, and the school of Calvary while shielding him from the errors of modernism, Protestantism, and much more.