Your church is dying! Should you just give up and close the doors? Dr. Robert LaRochelle thinks there are more answers and more options. In this book, he draws from a lifetime of experience as a teacher, pastor, counselor, and writer to offer ideas and strategies to make the church a caring presence in your community and to revive and sustain what many may have regarded as a dying church. From worship to Christian education, from the elderly members to the youngest, and with consideration and concern from multiple denominations and communities, Dr. LaRochelle builds a case for a continuing caring presence of the church in our communities. This book will be encouraging to those who seek new strategies to meet the changing needs of their 21st century congregations. With that encouragement, it will provide practical advice. If a church must close, it will help congregants work together to continue in their work of sharing, ministry, and service to one another and to their community. This book is designed for anyone who is interested in keeping the ministry of the many churches in America alive and helping them grow and change. Church leaders and pastors will be especially blessed.

This candid exploration of belief transcends arguments between atheists and people of faith to show that it is our nature to believe and that the key to understanding our reason for being is not what we believe about but believe in. Kennedy, a renowned psychologist and person of faith, demonstrates that sincere seeking and believing are one, and that authentic faith comes from getting at the truth of what we believe in ourselves. He applies these principles to his own life and that of others, and shares his Christian beliefs in words that make sense for seekers of all faiths and none. The result is a grounded, original formulation of religious faith for those who doubt and those who want to better understand their own spiritual tradition. The reader finishes the book with a sense of assurance, understanding, and desire to keep on learning.

A testament to the vitality of the Masterson Approach to the study and treatment of the disorders of the self, this incisive volume documents the evolution of Masterson's theoretical and clinical work during the past five years. It is comprised of writings by a second generation of clinicians who both carry on and expand the horizons of the Masterson Approach. Disorders of the Self addresses four new areas of great clinical importance from the perspective of developmental, self, and object relations theory. First, Ralph Klein, Clinical Director of the Masterson Institute), has combined the work of Fairburn and Guntrip with the Masterson Approach to develop and updated, broader, original and clinically useful concept of the Schizoid Disorders of the Self. The force of his approach is illustrated by the focus on the schizoid dilemma and the schizoid compromise, vividly depicted with detailed clinical applications. Candace Orcutt, Senior Faculty Member in the Masterson Institute, along with a colleague, then apply the Masterson Approach to the controversial topic of early abuse - physical and/or sexual - to the developing self. Diagnosis and treatment of narcissistic pathology is the focus of section three. Chapters further refine and expand how the disorders of the self triad - self activation leads to anxiety and depression which lead to defenses - operate in both the patient's life and in the therapeutic relationship. The authors identify and illustrate critical points in treatment, detail the technical approach to the closet narcissistic personality disorder, and address the therapeutic management of devaluation and disappointment reactions along with the countertransference reactions they evoke. The volume concludes by delving into arenas beyond individual psychotherapy for disorders of the self. An innovative approach to group therapy combines the Masterson Approach with that of W. Bion, and authors examine the complexities of drug therapy and comorbidity and their interaction with psychodynamic forces. Disorders of the Self will be a vital addition to the armamentarium of any clinician who works with personality disorders. It demonstrates the continued expansion and evolution of a profound theoretical and clinical paradigm - the Masterson Approach - aimed at penetrating and healing the disorders of the self.

Christmas is not a mystery. People understand Christmas. Who can deny the beauty, simplicity, and gracefulness of the season of the year in which there are lights on the lawns of houses, gifts given and received, and the story of the birth of the Christ Child remembered with readings and reenactments? Essentially, Christmas is a response to a longing for something holy and sacred. The deeper meaning of Christmas promotes the idea that there is something greater than ourselves stirring in our hearts and minds, and the God-likeness is evident in the most unusual places. This book attempts to identify some of those places where the Holy-Other is Wholly inner. Suggesting that it happened in Bethlehem a long time ago is conveying the idea that if it happened there and then, it can happen here and now. This book offers an invitation to look at the secular world and find the sacred within it. It encourages us to look into the lights of Christmas as they confront the darkness and to find the source of that light beyond and within us.

How do you forgive a person who has hurt your deeply? Why forgive someone who does not deserve to be forgiven? Forgiveness is not easy, and often we discover that the person who needs to be forgiven the most is ourselves. As we forgive others and ourselves, we find that we are the ones who have benefited--forgiveness brings a peace to our lives that no one can take away from us. Learning to Forgive: A Memoir of Doubt and Faith is the author's personal journey of forgiveness from a spiritual and psychological point of view. The book shows the reader how they can use their relationship with God, the resources of the Christian faith, and their psychological understanding of themselves to learn how to forgive. As readers see that pastors are not immune to the challenges of everyday life, nor are they spared from abusive backgrounds, they will be encouraged to embark on their own journeys of forgiveness or receive strength and hope for a journey already started.

With no particular rhyme or reason to its organization, Haszto puts together another collection so deep in feeling and intense in thought that 'Pieces III' would fit perfectly with its predecessors, 'Pieces of the Heart' and 'Pieces of the Heart II'. Once again, as is with life, anything thing can happen at any time, and that continues to be the theme running through the 'Pieces' books. All too often, life is improvised, feelings blossom, sometimes to extremes, as events occur in our everyday lives. Enter the mind of this author and prepare to take a long ride into his rollercoaster-like imagination and perception-filled world. A peek will be all that's needed, as any one of the dozens of creative poems will hook the reader into full indulgence. Enjoy!

This book of poetry was partly inspired by Tupac Shakur’s book of poetry entitled: THE ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE, I am not as poetic as he, but I try my best. Just as Tupac has written a song dedicated to his mother entitled: DEAR MAMA, I have also written a song dedicated to my mother which I turned into a poem called RIVER, in the song DEAR MAMA Tupac sung: and even as a crack fiend, mama, you always was a black queen mama. I view my mother as a black queen as well. This is the first time that I have written a book consisting only of poetry. I hope you enjoy and choose one or many of the poems within this book that you can relate to and appreciate, and one or many that represents you, please accept this gift I give to you.