Every church has them-inactive members who drop out of church life. Statistics show that more and more individuals every year become "backdoor losses." It's a growing problem. Who are these people? What they really like? Why do they drift away from the Church? How can we reach out to them and bring them back? Dr. Harre uses a great deal of data from a wide variety of sources to help us better understand how a person becomes an inactive member. He provides a "how to" program for training people to call on inactive members. If your congregation is concerned about the loss of precious souls, you'll find the suggestions in Close the Back Door to be well worth your time and attention!

Why closing the back door of your church is even more important than opening the front door wider. In Sticky Church, author and pastor Larry Osborne offers a time-tested strategy for doing so: sermon-based small groups that dig deeper into the weekend message and tightly velcro members to the ministry. It's a strategy that enabled Osborne's congregation to grow from a handful of people to one of the larger churches in the nation—without any marketing or special programming. Sticky Church tells the inspiring story of North Coast Church's phenomenal growth and offers practical tips for launching your own sermon-based small group ministry. Topics include: Why stickiness is so important Why most of our discipleship models don't work very well Why small groups always make a church more honest and transparent What makes groups grow deeper and sticker over time Sticky Church is an ideal book for church leaders who want to start or retool their small group ministry—and velcro their congregation to the Bible and each other.

Leaders can see the vision of the church, they know ti &have it memorized But unfortunately most churches don't have a system to deliver the vision. Every pastor wants to reach lost people, want people to know God but they don't have a structure nor system to accomplish that! Leaders want people ot discover their God given purpose, believe ni ti But don't have a strategy and system to accomplish it! Systems, Strategies and Structures are extremely vital! God is a God of Systems, Strategies and Structures.

"This is the story of thirteen churches and the leaders who moved them from stagnancy to growth and from mediocrity to greatness. Drawing on one of the most comprehensive studies ever on the church, this book reveals the process of becoming a "breakout" church and the factors that lead to this spiritual metamorphosis."--The Publisher description.

The Closing Door is the first major critique of the effect of conservative policies on urban race and poverty in the 1980s. Atlanta, with its booming economy, strong elected black leadership, and many highly educated blacks, seemed to be the perfect site for those policies and market solutions to prove themselves. Unfortunately, not only did expected economic opportunity fail to materialize but many of the hard-won gains of the civil rights movement were lost. Orfield and Ashkinaze painstakingly analyze the evidence from Atlanta to show why black opportunity deteriorated over the 1980s and outline possible remedies for the damage inflicted by the Reagan and Bush administrations. "The Closing Door is a crucial breath of fresh air . . . an important and timely text which will help to alter the 'underclass' debate in favor of reconsidering race-specific policies. Orfield and Ashkinaze construct a convincing argument with which those who favor 'race-neutrality' will have to contend. In readable prose they make a compelling case that economic growth is not enough."—Preston H. Smith II, Transition

For over a quarter of a century the problem of losing church members has progressively increased. Today the situation is so bad that less than one-third of the members in some churches attend worship services. Church leaders are crying for help.In an effort to help church leaders, the Billy Graham School of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary conducted a massive research project involving nearly 287 churches. The most revealing aspect of the study was that the higher expectations placed on members, the greater the likelihood that the members would stay and be involved with the church. Using the data gathered from this project, Thom Rainer presents the first-ever comprehensive study about 'closing the back door.' Rainer looks at why people are leaving the church and how church leaders can keep the members.

This audio resource looks at proven ways churches are keeping members and attendees active and happy (without compromise) preventing them from slipping out the back door. Most every church loses people by transfer or inactivity. In this audio seminar, you will hear very practical descriptions of how other churches are successfully reaching their communities and keeping their members active. You will learn how to do the same. Includes: Dr. Thom Rainer's compelling seminar on CDs (approx. 4 hours) and 18-page seminar workbook. (382C replaces 382 which contained audiocassettes)"

A leading legal scholar explores how the constitutional right to seek justice has been restricted by the Supreme Court The Supreme Court s decisions on constitutional rights are well known and much talked about. But individuals who want to defend those rights need something else as well: access to courts that can rule on their complaints. And on matters of access, the Court s record over the past generation has been almost uniformly hostile to the enforcement of individual citizens constitutional rights. The Court has restricted who has standing to sue, expanded the immunity of governments and government workers, limited the kinds of cases the federal courts can hear, and restricted the right of habeas corpus. Closing the Courthouse Door, by the distinguished legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, is the first book to show the effect of these decisions: taken together, they add up to a growing limitation on citizens ability to defend their rights under the Constitution. Using many stories of people whose rights have been trampled yet who had no legal recourse, Chemerinsky argues that enforcing the Constitution should be the federal courts primary purpose, and they should not be barred from considering any constitutional question.

Today in America, half of the people won’t or don’t read that much. Begin creatively transforming the lives of this generation by using first-century methods of teaching—storytelling, drama, and dialog. The “TruthSticks” strategy is a revolutionary approach using the DNA of the first century disciplemaking that will Use Bible Storying to effectively make disciples at all levels Unite families by using fun methods to disciple children Revitalize small groups Develop a disciplemaking church A creative tool to use in leadership, evangelism, or missionary work.