Neighborhoods are moving. While neighborhood changes can mean exciting and fresh opportunities for some, the experience can be vastly different for long-time residents. The rapid movement of people means changes in employment, economics, landscape, demographics, and the feel of a community. Churches often experience the painful impact of these shifts. Depending on how a church navigates through these changes determines if it will either live, die, or be reduced to a tragic...

What would happen if your community had a head-on collision with Jesus? Pastor and community leader Mark Strong says, "You would have exactly what God wants: a divine merger!" He continues: "A divine merger is when the church intentionally integrates with its community. . . . The result is a kingdom transformation."This book is designed to give you the vision and tools you need to fulfill your own God-given mission in your community and church. Ranging from single-person sponsored ministri...

Fatherlessness has reached epidemic levels.Forty percent of children in the U.S. will go to bed tonight in a home without a father. Studies show that people without fathers are at much higher risk for low educational performance, drug abuse, crimeand poverty.Fatherlessness is rampant in our churches as well. When planting his church, Mark Strong realized that fifteen of twenty core leaders, whether they were in their twenties or sixties, white or black, had grown up without an active fathe...

God made your heart for love, joy, peace, and wholeness. But pastors say that more than 90% of their congregations struggle with unforgiveness—and unforgiveness can make us forget what we were made for.What if the most pervasive sin of our day is invisible, hidden deep inside our hearts? What if it affects every aspect of our lives and relationships so quietly and insidiously that most of us miss it altogether? Bruce Wilkinson believes unforgiveness is that sin.

"Unfinished might just challenge everything you thought you understood about your Christian faith...If every Christian read this book and took it seriously, the world would never be the same again."—Bill Hybels, senior pastor Willow Creek Community Church"Just when I've gotten comfortable with my faith, here comes Rich Stearns, reminding me what matters and who God loves and why...Just when I dare think my work is done, Rich reminds me that we are just getting start...

Pastor and cofounder of the Bethel School of Ministry Kris Vallotton walks Christians through the profound process of discovering their true identity and experiencing the wonder of their kingdom purposes.Christians are often told that they were born with a purpose that reaches beyond their human strivings, but most are not sure how to break past the daily struggles holding them back, much less how to fully step into their callings.As a pastor and the cofoun...

Thriving in a Changing WorldChange comes to all of us—whether we prepare for it or not. How we deal with those inevitable changes—no matter what the source—determines whether they will ultimately be a positive or negative force in our lives.Best-selling author Dr. Myles Munroe reveals how to experience security, confidence, and freedom in the uncertainty of our changing world. Through this book, you can discover how to:Become an active part of...

God has a personal vision for our lives, and He wants us to know it even more than we do. But determining God’s will can be a difficult process, especially when we need to make a decision in a hurry. The Discovering God’s Will DVD and its companion study guide, designed for small groups or personal study, take you through the important steps of decision making, pursuing God’s will, seeking counsel from others, learning to use discernment, and understanding the mind of God through ...

ECPA 2010 Christian Book of the Year Award Winner! What Does God Expect of Us?Is our faith only about going to church, studying the Bible, and avoiding the most serious sins—or does God expect more? Have we embraced the whole gospel or a gospel with a hole in it?More than twenty years ago Rich Stearns came face-to-face with that question as he sat in a mud hut in Rakai, Uganda, listening to the heartbreaking story of an orphaned child. Stearns’s jo...

What you and I need is NOT more information - but Transformation. We need a completely new paradigm for living life and living marriage. As valuable as they are, more books, seminars and sermons will not do the trick.Jesus said in John 15 - "...apart from me you can do nothing." Why is it that we keep trying to find a fulfilling marriage without Him? Yes, we may have prayed a salvation prayer once upon a time - but is Jesus really the Lord of our daily, moment-by-moment life and ou...

It's time to stop asking the old questions about how to do church better and instead ask how churches can more effectively participate in and grow God's kingdom. AND helps Christian leaders recognize the best in different church models and see how to incorporate these values into a cohesive church movement.By the numbers, the American church enjoys the resources to profoundly impact the Kingdom. But despite the rapid growth of these evangelical mo...

Highly respected, best-selling spiritual mentors, including Francis Chan, Eugene Peterson (The Message), Bill Hybels, and others, provide guidance as you navigate uncharted roads ahead.