Growing up the daughter of a pastor, Anne Jackson experienced firsthand the conflict, stress, and struggle church leaders often face. She vowed her life in ministry would be different. Yet, years later, as a church leader, she was hospitalized because stress began wreaking havoc on her body. After being released from the hospital, an associate pastor asked her, 'Does working at this church interfere with your communion with Christ?' The question was aramount in turning her life around. Thinking she wasn't alone, Anne developed a website that allowed church leaders to share their struggles. Within a few days, she was flooded with over a thousand responses from people pouring out their stories of burnout. Using anecdotal parallels between Mad Cow Disease and leadership trends in the church, she writes not only to help us realize what church leaders are facing, but also to provide practical and positive treatment plans. Mad Church Disease is a lively, informative, and potentially life-saving resource for anyone in ministry---vocational or volunteer---who would like to understand, prevent, or treat the epidemic of burnout in church culture.

Does serving in the church hurt your relationship with Christ? That question may have saved author Anne Marie Miller's life. She believes it could save yours, too.As the daughter of a pastor, Anne saw firsthand the struggles leaders face and the toll it takes on their families. She vowed her life in ministry would be different.Yet, years later, as a church leader, she was hospitalized because stress began wreaking havoc on her body. She had burned out.Anne developed a website that allowed church leaders to share their struggles. Within a few days, she was flooded with over a thousand responses from people pouring out their stories of pain.Mad Church Disease, born out of that experience, is a lively, informative, and potentially life-saving resource for anyone who has ever stepped foot in a church who would like to understand, prevent, or treat the epidemic of burnout in church culture.

When it comes to understanding and treating madness, distortions of research are not rare, misinterpretation of data is not isolated, and bogus claims of success are not voiced by isolated researchers seeking aggrandizement. This book's detailed analyses of coercion and community treatment, diagnosis, and psychopharmacology reveals that these characteristics of bad science are endemic, institutional, and protected in psychiatry. This is mad science. Mad Science argues that the fundamental claims of modern American psychiatry are not based on convincing research, but on misconceived, flawed, and distorted science. The authors address multiple paradoxes in American mental health, including the remaking of coercion into scientific psychiatric treatment in the community, the adoption of an unscientific diagnostic system that now controls the distribution of services, and how drug treatments have failed to improve the mental health outcome. This book provides an engaging and readable scientific and social critique of current mental health practices. The authors are scholars, researchers, and clinicians who have written extensively about community care, diagnosis, and psychoactive drugs. Mad Science is a must read for all specialists in the field as well as for the informed public.

Reflecting on the confusion, shame and grief brought on by her mother's schizophrenia, Amy Simpson provides a bracing look at the social and physical realities of mental illness. Reminding us that people with mental illness are our neighbors and our brothers and sisters in Christ, she explores new possibilities for the church to minister to this stigmatized group.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Echoing Hosea, Jesus defends his embrace of the unclean in the Gospel of Matthew, seeming to privilege the prophetic call to justice over the Levitical pursuit of purity. And yet, as missional faith communities arewell aware, the tensions and conflicts between holiness and mercy are not so easily resolved. In an unprecedented fusion of psychological science and theological scholarship, Richard Beck describes the pernicious (and largely unnoticed) effects of the psychology of purity upon the life and mission of the church.

Real Help for the Toughest Talks Most parents dread talking about sex with their children. Anne Marie Miller loves giving "the talk." As she has shared her personal story and talked about God's gift of sex with almost half a million young people, she's noticed some disturbing patterns: · Google is how kids learn about sex · Kids are learning about sex and viewing pornography earlier than parents think · The sexually abused often don't tell anyone for fear of getting in trouble · Sexual messages are being consumed daily through mainstream and social media · Most parents think their child is the exception Instead of sweeping this topic under the rug, Miller wants to change the narrative. In this immensely practical and well-researched book, she equips parents to have meaningful and age-appropriate conversations with their children about sex, pornography, and sexual abuse. She advises parents on how to keep the lines of communication open so that their children know they can trust them with their fears, struggles, and mistakes. Most important, she offers hope to worried parents that their children can grow up with a healthy biblical view of sex as a gift from God.

New York Times bestselling author Lee Strobel trains his investigative sights on the hot-button question: is it really credible to believe God intervenes supernaturally in people's lives today? This provocative book starts with an unlikely interview in which America's foremost skeptic builds a seemingly persuasive case against the miraculous. But then Strobel travels the country to quiz scholars to see whether they can offer solid answers to atheist objections. Along the way, he encounters astounding accounts of healings and other phenomena that simply cannot be explained away by naturalistic causes. The book features the results of exclusive new scientific polling that shows miracle accounts are much more common than people think. What's more, Strobel delves into the most controversial question of all: what about miracles that don't happen? If God can intervene in the world, why doesn't he do it more often to relieve suffering? Many American Christians are embarrassed by the supernatural, not wanting to look odd or extreme to their neighbors. Yet, The Case for Miracles shows not only that the miraculous is possible, but that God still does intervene in our world in awe-inspiring ways. Here’s a unique book that examines all sides of this issue and comes away with a passionate defense for God's divine action in lives today. Also available: The Case for Miracles Spanish edition, kids' edition, and student edition.

This annual bestselling resource for preachers provides a planned preaching program for an entire year, including Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and midweek sermons as well as helps for special occasions such as weddings, funerals, and youth meetings.

Have you ever felt out of place as an introvert in an extroverted church culture? With practical illustrations from church and parachurch contexts, McHugh offers ways for introverts to serve, lead, worship, and even evangelize in ways consistent with their personalities. This expanded edition is essential reading for introverted Christians and church leaders alike.