Bold transformation is needed in many of the congregations that cover the American landscape, argue Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, and James H. Furr, authors of Leading Congregational Change: A Practical Guide for the Transformational Journey. Drawing on their more than one hundred years of combined experience in a wide variety of church-related positions and a deep commitment to the biblical role of the local church, the authors present practical and concrete principles and concepts applicable across a broad spectrum of congregations. Leading Congregational Change presents a simple, memorable, and transferable framework along with principles of congregational transformation--such as God's call for transformation, the central role of spiritual vitality, the sequential nature of effective change, and the learning disciplines. Illustrations and action items offer adaptable suggestions and starting points for discussion. Leading Congregational Change is designed primarily for pastors and other congregational leaders who sense that things are not "just fine" in their churches and realize that deep change is needed. Judicatory staff and church consultants will also find the model for congregational transformation helpful. Individual ministries within a congregation, new congregations, and parachurch organizations can also use it to facilitate their own transformation. A church will grow when it understands and is genuinely committed to demonstrating and sharing the gospel in relevant ways. Growth will be manifested in the deeper commitment of its members. And more people in the community will hear God's call and become faithful disciples of Christ. Leading Congregational Change is a wise and faithful guide for the journey toward such transformation.

A vivid portrait of both the traumas of war and the shamanic healing ceremonies of ayahuasca • Explains how our culture lacks rites of passage and how shamanic ritual can fill this gap • Reveals how ayahuasca frees your consciousness from inherited beliefs, fears, and traumatic experience, allowing healing from PTSD, enabling genuine growth, and offering an enlightening path out of the malaise, discontent, and dissatisfaction that life in a modern world often brings • Details the author’s experiences in Afghanistan, sailing on the Amazon river with a shaman, and the many ayahuasca ceremonies he experienced in the jungle After returning from a tour of duty during the war in Afghanistan, Alex Seymour needed a way to cope with the extremes he experienced as a member of the Royal Marine Commandos, losing 7 men in his unit, and having his best friend critically injured by a Taliban bomb. Drawing upon his pre-deployment experiences, Alex knew that entheogens could help him release his fears and traumas. But he also knew that simply taking psychedelics wasn’t enough--he needed ceremony, something sacred to draw meaning from his experiences, to help him reassess not only the war and his role in it, but his entire life. So he set out for the Amazon in search of the hallucinogenic brew known as ayahuasca and a shaman to guide him. The result is a crazy, page-turning adventure where he journeys deep into the jungle and himself. Alex soon finds himself deep within the jungle on an incredible adventure, sailing on the Amazon river with an ayahuasca shaman and his troop of 8 female shamanas, whose ethereal songs help guide participants during the nightly ayahuasca ceremonies. Accompanied by others seeking wisdom and a redemptive experience from their First World professional lives, Alex finds his core beliefs fundamentally challenged, replaced by the power of direct experience of the sacred, which allows him to release his fears from the war and set an inspiring path for the future. Painting a vivid portrait of both the anguish of war and the transcendent world of shamanic ritual, the author shows how young people often enlist in the military to satisfy our human need for a rite of passage into adulthood, a ritual sorely missing in our culture. He explores how ayahuasca can offer a way to help soldiers prepare for war and help combat veterans heal from war and overcome PTSD--as well as alcoholism and addiction. From Afghanistan to the Amazon, the author shows how ayahuasca frees your consciousness from inherited beliefs and fears, offering a truly transformative rite of passage.

This book presents a counter-trend against nationalism, religious extremism, xenophobia, and racism. It advocates an alternative globalization based not on trade, the economy, and politics, but on humanity’s transcendence to a collective consciousness. Inspired by a pantheist worldview, it applies an integral perspective toward strategic foresight and anticipation on the planetary scale. Controversial, disappearing, and emerging binary oppositions are explained within the framework of the mythology of the Lord of Wisdom versus the Ignorant Mind. It shows that our anticipatory planetary era might be characterized by the acknowledgement of our “zero knowledge”, as measured in the ocean of all disciplines; zero carbon for energy; zero war in politics and zero killing in society; zero conscious beings excluded; and zero existence (as we have known it), as humanity merges into some higher and enriched complexity.

When it comes to experiencing transformation in your life, it's all about taking the first step and that first step is always easier when supportive friends walk along beside you. In this interactive workbook, designed to be a companion study guide to the book Transformation, Jim and Janene Ayer journey with you as you explore an honest assessment of your personal relationship with God, and as you make life-altering discoveries through God's Word, inspiring stories of others' experience and practical wisdom that will move you out of your comfort zone and into a life that is shaped and powered by the Holy Spirit. You are only 12 weeks away from a deeper, more powerful relationship with God that will impact every aspect of your being and result in a transformed existence. Take the first step. Designed to be used individually or in a small group setting.

This book helps pastors and church leaders understand the role their personal transformation as Jesus's disciples plays in effective congregational leadership. It shifts the focus of leadership from techniques and charisma to spiritual transformation and developing emotional maturity so leaders can effectively lead congregations to embrace change. End-of-chapter discussion questions are included. The first edition sold more than 20,000 copies and has been regularly used as a textbook over the past fifteen years. The second edition has been revised throughout and includes a greater emphasis on Bowen Family Systems Theory.

This story takes the reader inside the mind of a child (the abuser) born into the maladjusted environment of the social cultural conditions that shaped the emotions and behaviors of a network of people who influenced his self-destructive personality and the journey to mental and emotional readjustment that brought the man-child to peace and healing. It displays a fusion of many teachings and principles that transform one's own spiritual nature. It is my hope that this book appeals to anyone of any culture that has experienced domestic violence and abuse, as it is an international crisis that desperately needs to be addressed.

With an animated fable, the Journey to Newland storybook provides readers with a cast of memorable characters, a captivating story, and a common language to deal with difficult and often emotionally sensitive issues in negotiating change within their organizations. The allegory follows a group of animal characters through uncharted territory, from Oldland to Newland. Each animal represents a different type of work personality; navigating such metaphorical places as Nostalgia Desert, Transition Valley, and Leverage Lake, the team—comprised of Eagle, Owl, Lion, Dolphin, and Ant—finds a way to survive, even thrive, by leading change.

In 2003 Eileen Anumani Santos had a powerful and mystical dream in which God told her "I have a mission for you. One that you won't understand right now, but be patient, for in time all will be revealed to you." Now she in turn is revealing to you her process for embracing your divine purpose. Through poetry, art, divine teachings, guided meditations, journaling, and rituals, with Anumani's guidance your soul will speak to you on this transformational journey of truth, light, healing, and spirituality. Each of twelve chapters highlights a different chamber of your soul to be unmasked. Each truth you unmask allows you to reconnect with the real you, and align with your soul's purpose, and find true healing and fulfillment through a soul-driven life. The author backs up her experience of divine expression with stories from her family, career, and personal life. Anumani is an interfaith minister, artist, singer, healer, and spiritual guide. Though this book is based in the spiritual, Anumani says she does not want to convince you of anything, but is your guide to connect with the vastness of consciousness beyond the human mind, your natural gifts, and your deepest passions."

In 1974 Dr. W. Brugh Joy was a distinguished and respected member of the Los Angeles medical community. In that year he contracted a life-threatening disease that culminated in an illuminating meditation, which caused him to give up his medical practice abruptly. Six weeks later he discovered that his illness was totally cured. This experience pushed him to further his explorations into realms of healing involving body energies, the chakra system, meditation, and higher levels of consciousness. In part, Joy’s Way is the story of an extraordinary personal transformation. More significantly, it is a book that shows vividly the process of individual and group transformation and that rattles and re-forms the reader's concepts of the nature of reality. It expands our vision of our own unrealized potential to be conscious beings who are alert to multiple realities, and introduces us to the seemingly miraculous abilities associated with energy fields radiating from the human body. Joy’s Way contains fascinating and beautiful insights into the awakening process, into teachers (inner and outer), psi phenomena, the holographic aspects of consciousness, observer and witness states, dream analysis, the Tarot and I Ching, visualization, the chakras, meditation and healing, transformational psychology, and the transformation of humanity. In addition, this book clearly describes exercises and techniques that show readers how to feel the radiating body-energy fields and how to transfer this energy to another person.