Go above and beyond religion and come face to face with the Lord! What if you could break out of your Sunday-morning rut and experience real change in your life? Imagine being personally, intimately connected to the God of the universe and stepping into the abundant, purposeful, powerful life He has designed for you! Roberto Hernandez, challenges us with the truth that we are either serving the Lord or serving the world; there is no in-between. Hernandez delves into Scripture and examines his own experiences with faith, religion, and the world to show us the practical steps of what it really means to walk with the Lord as well as the blessings we will receive if we do. He reveals to us how to use our few days on earth to fulfill Gods purpose and prepare for eternity. In this book, youll learn: Why one foot in and one foot out of the Kingdom will leave you out in the cold How to see with spiritual eyes and listen to the right voice so you can avoid being deceived The only way you can be sure never to fall into temptation The best way to share about God with a lost world How to learn from the past but not live in it Why you need to think in terms of Gods economy if you want lasting success You are missing out if you arent going all-in with God! Begin your Reencounter with Jesus today and your life will be forever transformed!

Spiritual darkness isn’t always recognizable from the outside, looking in. But God sees it, and He offers a path out of the darkness and into His light. Born in El Salvador and raised in New York as a teenager, Roberto Hernandez grew up in religion but became lost in religion and the ways of the world before finding his life again with Jesus. My Reencounter: A Breakthrough from Darkness into Life recounts Roberto’s winding journey to a life of faith, love, and success. No matter who you are or where you come from, coming to know the Lord is a process. Discover how the practical insight and encouragement of My Reencounter can inspire you to break through the trials and the temptations of this world into a deeper and more sincere relationship with the God of the universe.

His Eminence Robert Cardinal Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, recently commented on the fire at Notre Dame cathedral. He said, "the Church is only of interest because she allows us to encounter Jesus. She is only legitimate because she passes on Revelation to us. When the Church becomes overburdened with human structures, it obstructs the light of God shining out in her and through her. The Church should be like a cathedral. Everything in Her should sing to the glory of God. She must unceasingly direct our gaze toward him, like the spire of Notre-Dame pointed toward heaven." Encounter Jesus! Transforming Catholic Culture in Crisis is a call to rebuild a Catholic culture that has wandered from her spiritual root system. In the West and the United States, the light that shined, starting in the Acts of the Apostles, has become dim and in some places extinguished. The specifics to what apostolic spirituality embodies will convict, challenge, and call the clergy, consecrated religious, and laity to take seriously what it means to be a catholic Christian. Just as architects design the rebuilding of the Notre Dame Cathedral, may this book serve as a blueprint for transformation in the culture of the church.

An exploration of the historicity of Jesus and whether he is relevant today What can we really know for sure about the past? Can anything be trusted as reliable historical fact? What can we really know for sure about the past? Can anything from ancient history be regarded as €˜fact’? In particular, how seriously can we take the historical sources for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth? Did he really even live in first-century Galilee and Judaea, or is he a figure of legend? In this timely book, historian Dr John Dickson unpacks how the field of history works, giving readers the tools to evaluate for themselves what we can confidently say about figures like the Emperor Tiberius, Alexander the Great, Pontius Pilate, and, of course, Jesus of Nazareth. He presents the evidence, methods, and conclusions of mainstream scholars-both Christian and not-and asks some pertinent contemporary questions, without offering any pushy answers: If Jesus really did exist, what are we to make of his own claims and those of his followers, and what would any of it mean for us today?

How can we transmit a living, personal Catholic faith to future generations? By coming to know Jesus Christ, and following him as his disciples. These are times of immense challenge and immense opportunity for the Catholic Church. Consider these statistics for the United States. Only 30 percent of Americans who were raised Catholic are still practicing. Fully 10 percent of all adults in America are ex-Catholics. The number of marriages celebrated in the Church decreased dramatically, by nearly 60 percent, between 1972 and 2010. Only 60 percent of Catholics believe in a personal God. If the Church is to reverse these trends, the evangelizers must first be evangelized-in other words, Catholics-in-the-pew must make a conscious choice to know and follow Jesus before they can draw others to him. This work of discipleship lies at the heart of Forming Intentional Disciples, a book designed to help Church leaders, parish staff and all Catholics transform parish life from within. Drawing upon her fifteen years of experience with the Catherine of Siena Institute, Sherry Weddell leads readers through steps that will help Catholics enter more deeply into a relationship with God and the river of apostolic creativity, charisms, and vocation that flow from that relationship for the sake of the Church and the world. Learn about the five thresholds of postmodern conversion, how to open a conversation about faith and belief, how to ask thought-provoking questions and establish an atmosphere of trust, when to tell the Great Story of Jesus, how to help someone respond to God's call to intentional discipleship, and much more. And be prepared for conversion because when life at the parish level changes, the life of the whole Church will change.

The role of the pastoral psychotherapist requires balance between the individual, the community, and God. Are you ready to take on this challenge?This unique book examines the role of pastoral psychotherapy as it relates to the individual, the community, and God, and describes the process of pastoral psychotherapy in detail. It identifies healing as a mark of God's activity, and then shows how God, through healing, creates communities that ultimately shape the selves and personalities within them. Pastoral psychotherapy is a sanctified act taking place in a sanctified space. It occurs in “sacred space” as defined/created/hallowed by God, the community, the therapist, and the client. The delineating of this sanctified holy space separates what goes on in therapy from the secular, ordinary processes of life. A Theology for Pastoral Psychotherapy: God's Play in Sacred Spaces finds God in the creation of each sacred space. Pastoral psychotherapy has developed as a means of enabling individuals and communities to cope with the ills of the modern age. It addresses sin and evil in today's world, changing the way that clients relate to people, ideas, and events in their communities, families, and individual psyches. A Theology for Pastoral Psychotherapy: God's Play in Sacred Spaces describes the process of psychotherapy from a theological point of view. It shows how God hallows sacred spaces and explores the power of God to stimulate the search for healing. A Theology for Pastoral Psychotherapy: God's Play in Sacred Spaces: explores the sharing of selves as presented by theorists on intersubjectivity identifies the creation of the therapy dyad in the work of the Holy Spirit, drawing on new trinitarian theology explores ways in which therapy both is and is not an extension of the work of Christ shows how God lures us toward spiritual growth links psychoanalysis to the mystical disciplines, interweaving mystical Christianity, object-relations view of psychoanalysis, and process theology Based on the theories of Bion, Klein, Winicott, Bollas, and Whitehead, A Theology for Pastoral Psychotherapy: God's Play in Sacred Spaces is an in-depth examination of the intricate interplay of God, community, the individual, and the therapist in pastoral psychotherapy. at www.HaworthPress.com.

As believers, we are more alive in the middle of God’s white-hot presence than anywhere else on earth. The history of revival is often studied from man’s perspective; what we do to encounter God. God on Fire explores what God does to encounter us.

Preachers often think of prophetic preaching in the caricature of the prophet as the lonely outsider confronting the congregation, often angrily, with the congregation’s complicity in social injustice and with a bracing call for repentance. The twenty-seven essays and sermons in this book offer a different perspective by viewing prophetic preaching specifically—and ministry, practical theology, and theological education more broadly—as pastoral care for the community in prophetic perspective. Such preaching does indeed bring a critical theological analysis of justice concerns to the center of the sermon, but in such a way as to invite the congregation to consider how the move toward justice is a pastoral move— that is, a move that seeks to build up community. Rather than contributing to the polarization so rampant in today’s social world, the preacher seeks to help the congregation build bridges along which concern for justice can travel. The contributions honor the work of the late Dale Andrews, a scholar of preaching and practical theology at the Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, whose seminal work inspires the notions of prophetic care and building bridges to justice. With contributions from: Donna Allen L. Susan Bond Teresa Fry Brown Gennifer Brooks Teresa Eisenlohr Anna Carter Florence Kenyatta Gilbert R. Mark Giuliano David Schnasa Jacobsen John McClure Mary Elizabeth Moore Mary Alice Mulligan Debra Mumford Peter Paris Luke Powery Shelly Rambo Lee Ramsey Robert London Smith Amy Steele Frank A. Thomas Lisa Thompson Scott Williamson Sunggu Yang Ted A. Smith William B. McClain

Do you feel uncertain about how to share your Catholic faith with others, especially as society increasingly rejects religion? Why not follow examples from the scriptures and saints to guide you? In this five-week guide to becoming a daily disciple of Jesus in a post-Christian culture, popular speaker, bestselling author, and experienced FOCUS missionary Kevin Cotter presents thirty-five brief and engaging meditations that provide Catholics with the conviction and tools for sharing Jesus with others. Called is an accessible guide to evangelization for the average Catholic. Through short and simple daily meditations, you will gain everything you need to begin sharing the Gospel, including the conviction that you can and should be evangelizing their faith. Based on the principles of evangelization taught by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS)—where Kevin Cotter is the senior director of curriculum—Called invites you to delve into powerful scenes from Jesus’ life, plus stories from the lives of saints such as Augustine, Mother Teresa, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, as you explore how the call to discipleship is at the heart of scripture in ancient Israel, the life of Jesus, and the apostolic Church. Cotter leads you on this five-week journey as someone who understands the challenges of talking about faith with friends and the sacrifices needed to invest in others. He encourages you to step outside your comfort zone as you open your eyes to Jesus’ call to discipleship. Week One: As you reflect on Jesus’ initial call of his disciples and how he calls you to radically love and follow him in your everyday life, you deepen your relationship with God and complete the first stage of becoming his disciple. Week Two: You examine the characteristics of a daily commitment to discipleship—daily prayer, submission to God’s will, regular Confession, frequent reception of the Eucharist, acting in love. Week Three: You discover how our current culture, which places little value on faith, compares to the world Jesus faced. You develop, like Jesus, the desire to save our world and draw others to God. Week Four: You unpack the tools Jesus used to touch every person he came into contact with. Through Jesus’ example, you will become equipped with what you need to reach others for him. Week Five: You learn that you are called not just to be a disciple but to be one who makes disciples of others. You will come away with the understanding that being a disciple of Jesus is not optional for Catholics: it is essential to our identity as members of a missionary Church. Jesus showed us how to evangelize and called us to be his disciples. Now, more than ever, it is time to be just like him.