D. A. Carson's father was a pioneering church-planter and pastor in Quebec. But still, an ordinary pastor-except that he ministered during the decades that brought French Canada from the brutal challenges of persecution and imprisonment for Baptist ministers to spectacular growth and revival in the 1970s. It is a story, and an era, that few in the English-speaking world know anything about. But through Tom Carson's journals and written prayers, and the narrative and historical background supplied by his son, readers will be given a firsthand account of not only this trying time in North American church history, but of one pastor's life and times, dreams and disappointments. With words that will ring true for every person who has devoted themselves to the Lord's work, this unique book serves to remind readers that though the sacrifices of serving God are great, the sweetness of living a faithful, obedient life is greater still.

In The Pastor, author Eugene Peterson, translator of the multimillion-selling The Message, tells the story of how he started Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland and his gradual discovery of what it really means to be a pastor. Steering away from abstractions, Peterson challenges conventional wisdom regarding church marketing, mega pastors, and the church’s too-cozy relationship to American glitz and consumerism to present a simple, faith-based description of what being a minister means today. In the end, Peterson discovers that being a pastor boils down to “paying attention and calling attention to ‘what is going on now’ between men and women, with each other and with God.”

In an “eye-opening memoir” (People) “as beautiful as it is discomfiting” (The New Yorker), award-winning writer Apricot Irving untangles her youth on a missionary compound in Haiti. Apricot Irving grew up as a missionary’s daughter in Haiti. Her father was an agronomist, a man who hiked alone into the deforested hills to preach the gospel of trees. Her mother and sisters spent their days in the confines of the hospital compound they called home. As a child, this felt like paradise to Irving; as a teenager, it became a prison. Outside of the walls of the missionary enclave, Haiti was a tumult of bugle-call bus horns and bicycles that jangled over hard-packed dirt, road blocks and burning tires triggered by political upheaval, the clatter of rain across tin roofs, and the swell of voices running ahead of the storm. Poignant and explosive, Irving weaves a portrait of a missionary family that is unflinchingly honest: her father’s unswerving commitment to his mission, her mother’s misgivings about his loyalty, the brutal history of colonization. Drawing from research, interviews, and journals—her parents’ as well as her own—this memoir in many voices evokes a fractured family finding their way to kindness through honesty. Told against the backdrop of Haiti’s long history of intervention, it grapples with the complicated legacy of those who wish to improve the world, while bearing witness to the defiant beauty of an undefeated country. A lyrical meditation on trees and why they matter, loss and privilege, love and failure. The Gospel of Trees is a “lush, emotional debut...A beautiful memoir that shows how a family altered by its own ambitious philanthropy might ultimately find hope in their faith and love for each other, and for Haiti.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

This insightful work examines the variety of ways that collective memory, oral tradition, history, and history writing intersect. Integral to all this are the ways in which ancient Israel was shaped by the monarchy, the Babylonian exile, and the dispersions of Judeans and the ways in which Israel conceptualized and interacted with the divine-Yahweh as well as other deities.

In this strikingly personal account of recent literary approaches to the Bible, Jeffrey Staley shows how people's life experiences relate to what they read in the Scriptures. He illustrates his argument from theories of autobiography, where recent literary and feminist critiques provide him with tools for reflecting upon his childhood on a Navajo reservation and his family's five generations of contact with the Navajo people in northern Arizona and New Mexico.Using Tony Hillerman's popular detective novels as a lens to refract his own childhood memories, Staley investigates how his cross-cultural childhood and family history have contributed to his understanding of the Fourth Gospel.By combining such diverse materials as popular fiction, medieval passion plays, cultural anthropology, rhetorical studies, and autobiographical reflection, Staley takes his readers on a fascinating spiritual and intellectual journey through the Gospel of John.

A personal story of learning to trust our heavenly Father when you feel your earthly father has let you down. Blair Linne’s personal story of growing up without a father at home reflects the experiences of millions. She weaves her personal story with thoughtful theological reflection, inviting readers to learn from God what "father" really means and to trust him, even if they feel their earthly father has let them down. This book will help readers to shift their eyes from what they do not have in their earthly fathers (who, whether present or absent, loving or the opposite, can never be perfect) to what they do have in their eternal Father, who will never disappoint, reject or abandon them. Readers will see that the gospel promises not just forgiveness but also a place in God's family, experienced in a local church, where they can enjoy the fullness of his fatherly joy, care, wisdom, provision, protection and security. Also includes a chapter by Blair’s husband, the Christian hip-hop artist Shai, on his own story of fatherlessness and faith.

Walk through the pages of the Bible in 90 days with a definitive voice in Christian spirituality. In this devotional, Eugene Peterson provides brief commentary and challenging thoughts designed to stir the biblical imagination and encourage even the weary believer. Life is a mixture of deep joy, heartbreaking disappointment, and hopeful dreams. We long for quick answers, yet God invites us into something far better—a dance of worship, wonder, and mystery. Discover this beautiful rhythm in Every Step an Arrival, a ninety-day devotional from the beloved translator behind the popular Message Bible and the author of spiritual classics, including Run with the Horses and A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. Eugene Peterson believes our confusion about the world comes from a lack of clarity regarding who we are and, more important, who God is. Each reading focuses on a unique facet of God’s nature or of our identity. Drawing insights and stories from a number of books in the Old Testament, Peterson stirs the imagination and encourages travel-weary readers to keep moving forward. Life is full of unexpected moments. But when we enter each day in rhythm with God, every step is an arrival.

When Carolyn Weber set out to study Romantic literature at Oxford University, she didn't give much thought to God or spiritual matters—but over the course of her studies she encountered the Jesus of the Bible and her world turned upside down. Surprised by Oxford chronicles her conversion experience with wit, humor, and insight into how becoming a Christian changed her. Carolyn Weber arrives at Oxford a feminist from a loving but broken family, suspicious of men and intellectually hostile to all things religious. As she grapples with her God-shaped void alongside the friends, classmates, and professors she meets, she tackles big questions in search of truth, love, and a life that matters. From issues of fatherhood, feminism, doubt, doctrine, and love, Weber explores the intricacies of coming to faith with an aching honesty and insight echoing that of the poets and writers she studied. Surprised by Oxford is: The witty memoir of a skeptical agnostic who comes to a dynamic personal faith in God Rich with illustration and literary references Gritty, humorous, and spiritually perceptive An inside look at Oxford University Weber eloquently describes a journey many of us have embarked upon, grappling with tough questions and doubts about the meaning of faith—and ultimately finding it in the most unlikely of places.

The Hidden Life of Jesus Christ: A Memoir, is a metaphysical novel that speculates on what Jesus was doing between the age of 12, when he appeared in the temple in Jerusalem; and age 30, when he began his ministry in Galilee.The novel was written by Bill Worth, a retired Unity minister and a former newspaper editor and publisher. Worth believes Jesus was born a human being, like the rest of us, and learned how to perform the "signs and wonders" of the New Testament by studying with the mystical Essenes in Israel and traveling to Egypt, India, and the Himalayan mountains, where he spent years at the feet of sages and avatars.What he learned there enabled him to create the “miracles” as related in the New Testament gospels: raising the dead; healing the blind, the sick, and the lame; and calming storms. From the masters of the Far East, he learned to access higher physical and spiritual laws – so much so that he was able to raise the vibration of his own body and escape the tomb.This novel features unforgettable characters, including Mary Magdalene, the love of Jesus' life; Amad, the bandit trader who kidnapped Jesus but later became a fast friend; John the Baptist, who constantly challenged Jesus' belief system; Maya, Amad's feisty mother-in-law who taught Jesus about the Buddha; and Om, the irascible dwarrow who forced him to learn how to access – and use – the higher laws. And the novel answers these controversial questions: did Jesus have an intimate relationship with Mary Magdalene? If so, what was the outcome? Did he really die on the cross, or did he spend his old age in India?The central theme of this novel centers on the words of Jesus, as recorded by the apostle John, in Chapter 14, Verse 12 of his gospel: "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father."