Church Leadership

This book is intended as a basic guide to help the everyday person serve as a great audio technician in their church. It has been laid out to first help you to understand the equipment involved and how to properly use the equipment. This is written as a beginner's guide to help you understand the majority of equipment and how to best use it to make a great mix. If you follow this book and the principles outlined, you will learn something and become a better audio engineer.

Among the top ten trends that are changing American life, Time magazine recently listed a rising dissatisfaction with organized religion. Though many people today like Jesus, they are growing tired of traditional religious institutions. Even those who follow Jesus aren't so sure they always like what Christianity and the church represent.

You're not alone in your ministry. And you don't have to suffer in silence. Ministry is a stressful vocation, with unspoken expectations, projected anxieties, and conflicting demands. After the pandemic caused a sudden shift to online worship and factions fighting over when and how to return to in-person worship, pastors have been leaving congregational ministry at even higher rates than usual. The emotional fallout of burnout and abuse at the hands of parishioners is something pastors carry for years, whether they stay or leave the congregation.

You can be young, passionate about Jesus Christ, surrounded by diversity, engaged in a postmodern world, and reared in evangelicalism and not be an emergent Christian. In fact I want to argue that it would be better if you weren't. The Emergent Church is a strong voice in today's Christian community. And they're talking about good things: caring for the poor, peace for all men, loving Jesus. They're doing church a new way, not content to fit the mold. Again, all good. But there's more to the movement than that.

In the 15th century, the Augustinian monk, Thomas Kempis authored one of the most profound Christian works to date. The Imitation of Christ focuses on living the life that Jesus and his followers promoted through ministry, emphasizing the need for isolation and prayer, as well as renouncing worldly vanities and searching for eternal truths as a method of getting closer to Christ and God.

Jesus commands his disciples to love one another and promises that “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples” (John 13:35). But what does genuine care for those in our church family look like? This warm, practical book by Dwayne Bond goes beyond specific pastoral-care roles and responsibilities and explores how all church members can love and care for one another in the rhythms of ordinary life.

My introduction into the reality of the spirit realm continued one day when I drove south from the campus in Baton Rouge for about an hour to the city of New Orleans. I had never experienced anything like this in my life. It was as if I was walking on the bottom of a swimming pool. I could actually feel the spiritual atmosphere. The spirit of witchcraft, though I didn’t know what to call it at the time, was swirling around me like a whirlwind. The crushing heaviness that I carried day after day was more intense than ever. I felt sick. This indescribable oppression was the result of a ...

In most cases, when a church needs a lawyer, it hires a lawyer. When it needs a plumber, it hires a plumber. But when it comes to making business decisions, most churches convene well-meaning but often inexperienced volunteers to form a committee, then they take a month and vote on the color to paint a door in the nursery. Conducting business this way kills the vision and drains the passion out of right-brained, creative, relational pastors and ministry leaders.

In 1994, the most Christianized country in Africa became the site of its worst genocide. The tragedy was in Rwanda, but what happened was a mirror reflecting the deep brokenness of the church in the West. Yet by looking at what happened and why, we can find hope for the global body of Christ.

We are living in historic times. Not since the Civil Rights Movement of the '60s has our country been as vigorously engaged in the reconciliation conversation. There is a great opportunity right now for culture to change, to be a more perfect union. However, it cannot be done without the church, because the faith of the people is more powerful than any law government can enact.

Following Sherwood Lingenfelter's successful books on ministering, teaching, and leading cross-culturally (with combined sales of over 200,000 copies), Teamwork Cross-Culturally casts a vision for how teams made up of diverse peoples can serve in unity as the body of Christ despite the complicated problems that arise.

With their new book, Cristofer Pereyra and Erin Monnin provide a guide to authentic lay Catholic leadership. Catholic Leadership for Civil Society is structured to show that lay Catholic leadership is not meant to be lived out within the confines of the Catholic community exclusively, but instead serve mainly as a guiding force which illuminates every aspect of secular society with the Truth of the Gospel. The book explains why lay Catholic professionals have a unique responsibility and opportunity to influence the world for Christ, as their duty as baptized children of God.

Truth and Grace: A Christian Response to LGBTQIA+ Issues is a timely and thought-provoking book that offers a biblically grounded and compassionate approach to one of the most pressing and sensitive topics facing the Church today. As our culture becomes increasingly divided, Christians are called to navigate the complex issues surrounding LGBTQIA+ identities, relationships, and beliefs with both truth and grace. Written by Pastor John E. Miller, who has dedicated nearly three decades to full-time Christian ministry, this book is an invaluable resource for pastors, parents, church leaders, ...

How do you grow a congregation? Is it by hiring the perfect minister or developing the perfect strategy? Preachers and plans are important, but this book is dedicated to the idea that lasting church growth comes primarily through church health. God gives the increase, but He works through people who work together well. The more fit you are, the more fruitful you will be. Consequently, two of the most important questions you can ask are, “How healthy am I as a leader?” and, “How healthy are we as a team?” Are your leaders spiritually mature? Are your teams strategically aligned? Are ...

In every position of power—from executives and world leaders to church elders and parents—lies the potential for life-giving leadership or destructive corruption. Driven by sinful pride or opportunism, many people abuse their God-given authority, harming the ones they're called to lead and contributing to a skeptical attitude toward leadership. The answer to bad authority, however, is not no authority, but good authority—the kind that, according to Scripture, causes those under it to flourish.

This is the story of an audacious journey. It's the story of what happens when people garden, worship, and eat together and invite anyone and everyone to join them. In This Is God's Table, writer and pastor Anna Woofenden describes the way that the wealthy and the poor, the aged and the young, the housed and unhoused become a community in this once-empty lot.

For every person who has felt lonely or isolated, The Sacred Us explores a new way of living through the practice of biblical community. In a world that celebrates individuality and autonomy, too many of us struggle to form deep, meaningful relationships. Loneliness is the norm, rich friendships are rare, and the church is no exception. We long for real community but often don’t know how to get there. What will it take to develop healthy friendships?

Since the earliest days of the Church, the faithful have sought divine assistance through the use of the litany, which is an alternating form of prayer. The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Marian litany originally approved in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V. It is also known as the Litany of Loreto from its place of origin, the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto in Italy. Twelve invocations refer to Mary as Mother whilst six extoll her as Virgin. Thirteen titles are derived from the Old Testament, followed by four calling on her as helper and advocate. The last 13 name Mary as Queen.

Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens, and Dwight J. Friesen have seen—in cities, suburbs, and small towns all over North America—how powerful the gospel can be when it takes root in the context of a place, at the intersection of geography, demography, economy, and culture. This is not a new idea—the concept of a parish is as old as Paul's letters to the various communities of the ancient church. But in an age of dislocation and disengagement, the notion of a church that knows its place and gives itself to where it finds itself is like a breath of fresh air, like a sign of new life.

Home Cell Group Explosion (2023 version) is the most well-researched and practical audiobook ever written on cell group evangelism! Joel Comiskey traversed the globe to find out why particular churches and small groups are so successful in reaching the lost. He shares the answers freely within this volume.