What does God really require for eternal life? And what can we say, for sure, that the thief believed?It came as a realization, as a result of these questions, that everything we know about salvation has to go through the thief on the cross. For those coming to Him and those now living to please Him, the Lord requires no more than is absolutely necessary. Through this book, discover the many examples of God's grace and mercy to even those who fell well short in their beliefs or beh...

In the name of the Father, the Son, and ... the Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of all three, but how often do we live with an awareness of only the first two? As Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit—the Helper—so that we could be true and living witnesses for Christ. Unfortunately, today's church has admired the gift but neglected to open it.Breakthrough author Francis Chan rips away paper and bows to get at the true source of the church's power—the Hol...

The issue is church health, not church growth—if your church is healthy, growth will occur naturally. So how do we make healthy churches, driven by purpose?In order for any church to thrive, it must be built around the five New Testament purposes given to the church by Jesus Christ. In this classic of Christian church stability, pastor and bestselling author of The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren unpacks this proven five-part strategy tha...

A church in deep debt with attendance down by the thousands. A college that had lapsed into a coma, its buildings in shambles, its faculty demoralized, its enrollment at rock bottom. A university facing lawsuits, scandal, and near-bankruptcy. Each situation involved different financial needs, different lost dreams, different personal wounds. But they each had one thing in common: each needed a leader who could restore hope, vision, and viability.Dr. Mark Rutland has led three insti...

The Catholic Church is on the threshold of a bold new era in its two-thousand year history. As the curtain comes down on the Church defined by the 16th-century Counter-Reformation, the curtain is rising on the Evangelical Catholicism of the third millennium: a way of being Catholic that comes from over a century of Catholic reform; a mission-centered renewal honed by the Second Vatican Council and given compelling expression by Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.The Gospel-...

A Christian’s desire to grow in faith is beautiful and biblical, best illustrated in Jeremiah 17 where Scripture describes “The man who trusts in the LORD” as being “like a tree planted by water . . . It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.”But how do people really grow? Transformational Discipleship describes the process that brings to life that kind of person described in the Bible. There’s no magic formula or mantra to recite here, but rather a ...

Although leadership is the hot topic on conference agendas and book tours, most people who find themselves in positions of leadership have little or no training for the role. They simply continue to make the same old mistakes.With additional and newly updated material, this leadership classic reveals the most common errors that leaders consistently make-regardless of training or age-and the way to stop these bad habits from undermining their positive talents and accomplishments.

People are leaving the church J.D. Greear pastors. Big givers. Key volunteers. Some of his best leaders and friends. And that’s exactly how he wants it to be.When Jesus gave his disciples the Great Commission, he revealed that the key for reaching the world with the gospel is found in sending, not gathering. Though many churches focus time and energy on attracting people and counting numbers, the real mission of the church isn’t how many people you can gather. It’s about training u...

Insights from Effective Churches on New Member Classes and AssimilationFindings from a national study to improve membershipclasses and to motivate current members into activeministryHow do churches move members—both old and new—into ministry? Many church staff and lay leaders knowthey need to start new member classes as a point of entryinto their churches but don’t know how. This book isbased on a national study of effective churches andshows how growing churches implement new memberclasse...

Transformation lays the groundwork for what church and Christian community can become in this new century.Author and pastor Bob Roberts Jr. is one of the architects of this unique approach to Christianity—based on biblical and missional discipleship—that he calls T-Life (transformed life), which leads to a T-World (transformed world).Ever since Jesus' commission to make disciples in his name, Christianity has transformed lives and the world at larg...

A challenging and encouraging manual for day-to-day life in ministry written specifically for couples who want to do more than survive the process of church planting and leadership—who want to actually thrive and grow in faith together as a family.Though we may feel like we can't show it, every aspect of planting a church is personal. Church planters and those in ministry leadership roles give so much to starting and growing healthy, thriving churches that when som...