Argues that one can retain their faith, even when distancing oneself from the traditional methods of worship through the organized church, and helps readers identify six life-tested passages that lead through changes in faith towards authentic renewal.

When the challenges you've faced threaten to destroy your life, how do you find your way back to the truths you thought you believed? I Am Restored tells the untold story of how Lecrae's past nearly ruined his future--until he learned that the wounds we carry can have the potential to be unlikely guides to healing and freedom for ourselves and others. Throughout I Am Restored, Lecrae documents the shattering yet hopeful story of how he faced the scars of his past--sexual abuse, physical trauma, addiction, and depression--and emerged more fully human than ever before. With remarkable transparency and vulnerability, Lecrae reveals that at the height of his professional success, his life was spinning out of control, driven by a past that he had never confronted and a religious perspective that was incapable of meeting the challenge. I Am Restored takes an unflinching look at the personal and public spaces that are too often at the societal core of our pain and heartache--culture, politics, family, church, and more--and teaches us that forgiveness can be the birthplace of the life that God has created for us. Throughout this powerful, deeply personal account, Lecrae shares the life lessons he's learned about: Confronting the pain and trauma that has shaped your story Breaking the cycle of sin and shame and embracing joy and authenticity Finding hope and healing in the midst of chaos The simple practices that can change your mental, emotional, and spiritual health Leading a life that's bursting with creativity and true freedom I Am Restored is a hopeful, inspiring charge to start your journey to lasting healing today. No matter what your past has held, God is near you, he hears you, and he's not done writing your story.

Over the past few years, John Pavlovitz's blog, Stuff That Needs To Be Said, has become a virtual hub for millions of people from all over the world, drawn there by his clear, compelling words on compassion, equity, love, and justice. This expansive, like-hearted community transcends race, orientation, gender, religious tradition, political affiliation, and nation of origin--and finds its affinity in the deeper place of our shared humanity, which is the True North of his writing. This collection lovingly pulls together some of John's most widely-read and most beloved essays on faith, politics, grief, and the elemental parts of being human. It is an encouraging, inspiring, challenging storehouse of "stuff that needs to be said."

Losing Faith in Faith records Dan Barker's dramatic journey from devout soul-winner to one of America's most prominent freethinkers.Following his "calling" at age 15, Dan Barker worked as a missionary, ordained minister, associate pastor, touring evangelist, Christian songwriter, performer and record producer. After preaching for 19 years, Barker "lost faith in faith." Throwing out the bath water, he discovered: "There is no baby there!"Today Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., (www.ffrf.org) frequently represents freethought on the talkshow circuit and at personal appearances, concerts, and debates around the country, turning his experience as a former minister into ammunition against superstition and irrationality.In Losing Faith in Faith, Barker explains why he left the ministry. He also offers a definitive, compelling analysis of why he rejects belief in a god and the claims of religion. He explores the fallacies, inconsistencies, and harm of Christian doctrine and theistic dogma. In its place, he issues an appealing and compassionate invocation of freethought, reason, and humanism.Losing Faith in Faith is both a challenge to believers and an arsenal for skeptics.

William Lobdell's journey of faith—and doubt—may be the most compelling spiritual memoir of our time. Lobdell became a born-again Christian in his late 20s when personal problems—including a failed marriage—drove him to his knees in prayer. As a newly minted evangelical, Lobdell—a veteran journalist—noticed that religion wasn't covered well in the mainstream media, and he prayed for the Lord to put him on the religion beat at a major newspaper. In 1998, his prayers were answered when the Los Angeles Times asked him to write about faith. Yet what happened over the next eight years was a roller-coaster of inspiration, confusion, doubt, and soul-searching as his reporting and experiences slowly chipped away at his faith. While reporting on hundreds of stories, he witnessed a disturbing gap between the tenets of various religions and the behaviors of the faithful and their leaders. He investigated religious institutions that acted less ethically than corrupt Wall St. firms. He found few differences between the morals of Christians and atheists. As this evidence piled up, he started to fear that God didn't exist. He explored every doubt, every question—until, finally, his faith collapsed. After the paper agreed to reassign him, he wrote a personal essay in the summer of 2007 that became an international sensation for its honest exploration of doubt. Losing My Religion is a book about life's deepest questions that speaks to everyone: Lobdell understands the longings and satisfactions of the faithful, as well as the unrelenting power of doubt. How he faced that power, and wrestled with it, is must reading for people of faith and nonbelievers alike.

So, you're deconstructing your faith? It can be painful. It can be scary. But the good news is that you're not alone, and you don't have to lose your mind in the process. It doesn't matter whether you are questioning hell, penal substitution, or the end times; or you're troubled by how politics has invaded the pulpit; or you're uncomfortable with the way Christians treat people in the LGBTQ+ community; or you're just not convinced that the Bible is really inerrant, infallible, or inspired. There are many reasons to find yourself deconstructing Christianity. Before You Lose Your Mind features contributions from Brandon Andress, Michelle Collins, Derrick Day, Brandon Dragan, Matthew J. Distefano, Jason Elam, Maria Francesca French, Keith Giles, Mark Karris, Matthew J. Korpman, Josh Roggie, Rev. Dr. Katy Valentine, and Skeeter Wilson. This book was created to give you hope for your journey from faith to doubt and back again. To a place where embracing mystery is what true faith is all about. Because the opposite of faith isn't doubt. It's certainty.

Where Is God? There are never quick fixes or easy answers when it comes to suffering. But even when we can't immediately see God's hand—when the struggle is hard and painful—he is working. Weaving together Scripture, personal stories, and the words of the classic hymn "How Firm a Foundation," David Powlison brings an experienced counselor's touch to exploring how God enters into our sufferings, helping us see God working in our own particular struggles—and discover how God's grace goes deeper than we could ever imagine.

How does a boy learn to be a man? A man learns masculinity primarily from his father. But generations of boys who grow up without caring fathers or male mentors to emulate are left to guess what "men" are really like. They rely on cultural icons--larger-than-life images--as models of masculinity. As a result, they grow up mirroring overblown myths of manhood. Obsessed with being "man enough," they become philanderers, controllers, and competitors--constantly overcompensating for their loss of a true role model, yet sorely unprepared for family life. In Man Enough, psychiatrist and family therapist Frank Pittman explores what it is like to grow up male today. With great poignancy, humor, and candor, he weaves together case studies from his practice, examples from literature and films, plus personal vignettes from his own experiences as a father to examine these hyper-masculine men and to illustrate how they developed and how they can change. Dr. Pittman asserts that men can move past proving their masculinity and start practicing it by striving with the other guys rather than against them, achieving equality and intimacy with their mates--and by fathering. A man raises himself as he raises children and learns to understand and forgive his parents as he becomes one. An important book for men and women, Man Enough offers a new approach to issues of commitment, caring and control and creates a positive model for the fathers of tomorrow's men.

Trusting Jesus is hard. It requires following the unseen into an unknown, and believing Jesus's words over and against the threats we see or the fears we feel. Through the imaginative retelling of 35 Bible stories, Not by Sight gives us glimpses of what it means to walk by faith and counsel for how to trust God's promises more than our perceptions and to find rest in the faithfulness of God.