What's gone wrong in a perfectly good faith-filled, well-intentioned, settled-in congregation that's instead become plateaued or even started into decline? Maybe like yours, or a church that you know.Perhaps it's happened gradually as the church has become comfortable and complacent over time. Or, maybe the rapidly changing factors of our current community and world environment have resulted in us church-goers hanging on even more tightly to each other, our facility and our budget to just survive? "What's gone wrong?" we wonder. A better question might be to ask, "What is missing?" The answer to that question is straightforward and non-negotiable. In Open Road, Sue Nilson Kibbey seeks to help readers embrace and deploy the missing ingredient anew in their own personal lives and in the life of your church. Sue Nilson Kibbey has been a church pastor, trainer, consultant and author who has been following the Holy Spirit's relentless leading to every part of the country. As a ministry practitioner Kibbey has been sharing with countless numbers of churches, leaders and members a set of simple, practical steps to guide their addition of this mainspring missing ingredient to church life and leadership. As the amazing stories from church after church keep rolling in, the author has also become a storyteller. Kibbey recounts the breakthroughs at churches large, small, rural, suburban, urban, historic, new, multiethnic, multicultural - all bearing witness to the endlessly creative ways God has invited them onward to actively deliver and fulfill the message and mission of Christ. The author's intent is to inspire you about what is Divinely possible, provide you a practical path of steps you can take with ideas you could deploy to add this ingredient and recount a few of the many stories from your sister churches that may add to your inspiration. Testimonials Sue had me at movement. As a part of the district leadership, we have included breakthrough prayer in every initiative of the district and have seen a correlation between a commitment to breakthrough prayer and commitment to the initiative. I am excited to see Open Road as a part of the journey of The Greatest Expedition. Sharing the process and practical examples makes this accessible for every church and church member. This is a must have book! Michelle Holmes Chaney The United Methodist Church in Northern Virginia If it feels like your church is stuck in neutral and even your best efforts can't seem to get you in gear, God has been preparing you for the Open Road. In this power-packed read, Sue Nilson Kibby invites us on a spiritual adventure. With deep truths, real life stories and practical applications, Sue shows us how any church can breakthrough spiritual and organizational blockades to once again become a movement of God. Ronald Bell, Jr. Lead Pastor, Camphor Memorial UMC Starting any new expedition on our knees is always recommended, but certainly we must do so when discerning next faithful steps in the life of the church. Sue provides a clear road map of how to wrap your next high adventure in prayer and allow God to lead and break through in incredible ways. Kay Kotan Director, The Greatest Expedition Open Road unfurls a map that isn't reliant on trendy best practices, big budgets, large church staffs, or fancy technology. Instead, it presents the reader new ways to engage with the one essential element that we all have at our disposal - prayer. Jason Moore Midnight Oil Productions

More than 80 poems by 50 American and British masters celebrate real and metaphorical journeys. Poems by Whitman, Byron, Millay, Sandburg, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Shelley, Tennyson, Yeats, many others.

The president of New York University offers a love letter to America’s most beloved sport and a tribute to its underlying spirituality. For more than a decade, John Sexton has taught a wildly popular New York University course about two seemingly very different things: religion and baseball. Yet Sexton argues that one is actually a pathway to the other. Baseball as a Road to God is about touching that something that lies beyond logical understanding. Sexton illuminates the surprisingly large number of mutual concepts shared between baseball and religion: faith, doubt, conversion, miracles, and even sacredness among many others. Structured like a game and filled with riveting accounts of baseball’s most historic moments, Baseball as Road to God will enthrall baseball fans whatever their religious beliefs may be. In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, Sexton elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to enlightenment.

One Of The Most Acclaimed And Perceptive Observers Of Globalism And Buddhism Now Gives Us The First Serious Consideration For Buddhist And Non-Buddhist Alike Of The Fourteenth Dalai Lama S Work And Ideas As A Politician, Scientist, And Philosopher. Pico Iyer Has Been Engaged In Conversation With The Dalai Lama (A Friend Of His Father S) For The Last Three Decades An Ongoing Exploration Of His Message And Its Effectiveness. Now, In This Insightful, Impassioned Book, Iyer Captures The Paradoxes Of The Dalai Lama S Position: Though He Has Brought The Ideas Of Tibet To World Attention, Tibet Itself Is Being Remade As A Chinese Province; Though He Was Born In One Of The Remotest, Least Developed Places On Earth, He Has Become A Champion Of Globalism And Technology. He Is A Religious Leader Who Warns Against Being Needlessly Distracted By Religion; A Tibetan Head Of State Who Suggests That Exile From Tibet Can Be An Opportunity; An Incarnation Of A Tibetan God Who Stresses His Everyday Humanity. Moving From Dharamsala, India The Seat Of The Tibetan Government-In-Exile To Lhasa, Tibet, To Venues In The West, Where The Dalai Lama S Pragmatism, Rigor, And Scholarship Are Sometimes Lost On An Audience Yearning For Mystical Visions, The Open Road Illuminates The Hidden Life, The Transforming Ideas, And The Daily Challenges Of A Global Icon.

The author of Among Friends returns with a witty, heartfelt account of his adventures as a full-time traveling storyteller for God. In third grade, we talked about what we wanted to be when we grew up. I raised my hand and said, “I want to be the pope!” Everyone laughed. But, hey, if you think about it, I’m still in the running. Encountering God is a collection of Father Jim Sichko’s tales about what happened after he left his home parish in the Lexington, Kentucky, diocese to embark on a new role as a papal missionary of mercy. As his former congregation well knew, his warmth, humor, and genuine passion for spreading the message of God’s unconditional love made him an ideal choice for the job, and Pope Francis seemed to agree. Here he reveals what it’s like to live out of a suitcase (and love it) as he engages in the “Ministry of Encountering”—meeting people face to face, connecting through the shared experiences of daily life, and revealing how God’s presence is accessible to us all if we simply open our hearts. Father Jim knows how challenging that can be, but his purpose is to make it easier. He passes along the Holy Father’s message that it’s not just about what we give up, but what we give—because we all have something to offer, and it costs nothing to be kind. Insightful, inspiring, and frequently funny, Encountering God offers a glimpse into an unusual life—and a call to move from “me” to “we” thinking in a world that sometimes seems determined to drive us apart. This ebook features forewords by Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., and Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Airlines; and an afterword by Olivia Newton-John.

A Smithsonian Best History Book of the Year Winner of the Littleton-Griswold Prize Winner of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award Winner of the Order of the Coif Award Winner of the Sidney M. Edelstein Prize Winner of the David J. Langum Sr. Prize in American Legal History Winner of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize “From traffic stops to parking tickets, Seo traces the history of cars alongside the history of crime and discovers that the two are inextricably linked.” —Smithsonian When Americans think of freedom, they often picture the open road. Yet nowhere are we more likely to encounter the long arm of the law than in our cars. Sarah Seo reveals how the rise of the automobile led us to accept—and expect—pervasive police power, a radical transformation with far-reaching consequences. Before the twentieth century, most Americans rarely came into contact with police officers. But in a society dependent on cars, everyone—law-breaking and law-abiding alike—is subject to discretionary policing. Seo challenges prevailing interpretations of the Warren Court’s due process revolution and argues that the Supreme Court’s efforts to protect Americans did more to accommodate than limit police intervention. Policing the Open Road shows how the new procedures sanctioned discrimination by officers, and ultimately undermined the nation’s commitment to equal protection before the law. “With insights ranging from the joy of the open road to the indignities—and worse—of ‘driving while black,’ Sarah Seo makes the case that the ‘law of the car’ has eroded our rights to privacy and equal justice...Absorbing and so essential.” —Paul Butler, author of Chokehold “A fascinating examination of how the automobile reconfigured American life, not just in terms of suburbanization and infrastructure but with regard to deeply ingrained notions of freedom and personal identity.” —Hua Hsu, New Yorker

The Christian life isn't always a walk in the park. Children of Christian parents do die. Christian businessmen do lose their jobs. And husbands of Christian wives do cheat. Being a Christian doesn't protect you from the tough punches life throws. Taking fourteen strategies from the biblical account of the Israelite journey, Walking with God on the Road You Never Wanted to Travel offers real hope to those on an unexpected, difficult journey. For forty years the Israelites wandered through a devastating wilderness, suffering many losses, and yet learning some timeless lessons. These lessons, presented here as strategies for modern believers, are simply stated, clearly explained, and beautifully illustrated with dramatic and inspiring stories.

With equal parts wit and wisdom, New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller invites you to reconnect with your faith. Miller shares what he's learned firsthand--that our relationship with God is designed to teach us about redemption, grace, healing, and so much more. Searching for God Knows What weaves together timeless stories and fresh perspectives on the Bible to capture one man's journey to discover an authentic faith that's worth believing. Along the way, Miller poses his own questions about faith, religion, and community, asking: What if the motive behind our theology was relational? What if our value exists because God takes pleasure in us? What if the gospel of Jesus is an invitation to know God? Maybe you're a Christian wondering what faith you signed up for. Or maybe you don't believe anything and are daring someone to show you a genuine example of genuine faith. Somewhere beyond the self-help formulas, fancy marketing, and easy promises, there is a life-changing experience with God waiting for you--it just takes a little bit of searching. Praise for Searching for God Knows What: "Like a shaken snow globe, Donald Miller's newest collection of essays creates a swirl of ideas about the Christian life that eventually crystallize into a lovely landscape...[He] is one of the evangelical book market's most creative writers." --Christianity Today "If you have felt that Jesus is someone you respect and admire--but Christianity is something that repels you--Searching for God Knows What will give you hope that you still can follow Jesus and be part of a church without the trappings of organized religion." --Dan Kimball, author of The Emerging Church and Pastor of Vintage Faith Church, Santa Cruz, CA "For fans of Blue Like Jazz, I doubt you will be disappointed. Donald Miller writes with the wit and vulnerability that you expect. He perfectly illustrates important themes in a genuine and humorous manner...For those who would be reading Miller for the first time, this would be a great start." --Relevant

A four-month New York Times bestseller: This classic gay love story is as gripping and sexy today as when it was first published. Charlie Mills always played the role of the good grandson, and his grandmother rewarded him for it handsomely in the form of all the gifts, money, and attention a boy could want. Entering college in the late 1930s, Charlie just has to keep doing what his grandmother expects of him in order to continue to receive her gifts. He has to find a nice girl, get married, and have a few kids. Then one summer, he meets Peter Martin. Peter is everything that Charlie has ever wanted. Despite all the obstacles, Charlie immediately craves and pursues Peter, who happily obliges him. As they grow closer, Charlie is forced to choose between two options: complying with the expectations of society and family, or following the call of true love. In this, the first book of the Charlie & Peter Trilogy, Gordon Merrick creates an enduring portrait of two young men deeply in love, and the tribulations they endure to express themselves and maintain their relationship.