Mike Graves begins this book with the question "If preaching is intended to enliven the church, why is it killing so many ministers?" His answer? Because preaching has become divorced from the vitality and diversity of the preacher's daily life. He invites preachers to discover how preaching can be renewing rather than draining.

What makes a man masculine? A woman feminine? Did God design the two genders so differently? If so, why? The answers to these questions will free women and men to gladly embrace all that it means to be fully alive as gendered bearers of God's image who can profoundly impact others for good by the way they relate. Author and psychologist Dr. Larry Crabb presents a biblically grounded understanding of gender uniqueness. His illustration of a bridge of connection shows how the two genders can relationally come together in God-revealing harmony as they celebrate their God-designed uniqueness. Readers will discover that God created male and female to relate in gender-specific ways to make a difference in others by displaying God's relational character. Crabb clearly shows men and women what it means to live fully alive as feminine women and masculine men.

Shares the author's story of his return to physical, mental, and spiritual health, highlighting the action steps that will help readers live life to the fullest.

Peter Stevenson provides an introduction to the practice of preaching. It is designed for people from various church traditions, in the early stages of ministerial formation. Preaching is a complex and challenging business requiring a demanding mixture of skills. People listening to a sermon have the right to expect that a person who stands up to preach, can interpret the Bible competently, has a grasp of core Christian beliefs, and believes what they preach. They also expect someone who has the necessary range of communication skills to put the message across in an accessible way. Such a range of expectations presents daunting challenges to the most experienced preacher. Including practical exercises which could be used by individuals or by groups, this book is suitable for introductory courses in preaching or for modules which consider preaching within an overall focus upon leading public worship.

Preaching, and the discipline of preaching, is at a crossroads. The changing realities of church and theological education, the diversity of our classrooms, and our increasingly complex community contexts leave us in search of tools to help train a rising generation of preachers for a future whose contours are far from clear. The questions are immense: How to support preachers in contexts that are diverse religiously, culturally, and ethnically, both inside and outside the church? How to help students take varied contexts seriously as they are formed as leaders? In Ways of the Word, a dynamic team of master preachers brings much-needed help. Different in race, gender, age, and tradition, both Sally A. Brown and Luke A. Powery speak with one voice their belief that preaching is Spirit-empowered event: an embodied, vocalized, actively received, here-and-now witness to the ongoing work of God in the world. They aspire to help students and preachers alike to reflect on a journey of learning by doing. They aim to help preachers to become more attuned to the Spirit, more adept in preaching’s component skills, and more self-aware about all that is at stake in proclaiming the redemptive work of God in specific contexts.

A companion to the popular Creative Church Leadership, this co-publication with "MODEM" focuses on the practical skills necessary for dynamic leadership in the local church. A wide range of experienced church leaders and management gurus reflect on key components of successful contemporary church leadership including: part one which discusses people, leading a team, choosing and mentoring assistants, leading lay ministers and volunteers, how to delegate, how to resolve conflict; part two which describes organisation, leading churches of different sizes, leading multiple congregations, relating to the local community, initiating and completing projects, how to chair meetings; and, part three which discusses up close and personal, what kind of a leader are you, getting your work/life balance right, thinking strategically, preaching with a purpose, and much more.

A longstanding annual favourite has a new editor and a new, refreshed look. What hasn’t changed is its year-long reliability as a resource for preaching at the principal and the second service (for which preaching resources are scarce) every Sunday of the coming year. Ideal for preachers in all churches that use the Revised Common Lectionary, it also includes sermons for holy days, major saints’ days and special occasions such as Mothering Sunday, harvest, rogation and Christmas services. If preparation time is short, the sermons are complete and can be used as they are, but they will also act as a framework for creating your own sermon texts. It also includes: - an introductory essay for preachers - all-age talks for special occasions - hymn suggestions throughout the year - an index of topics and names A boon for hard-pressed clergy, readers and local preachers everywhere.

While I don't pretend to know what your particular purpose is, I do know something about the imperative process you will undergo on your way to achieving it. Could it be that the journey is just as important as the destination? Discover how you are being shaped to live out a dream only God Himself could imagine for your life. Wake up from the monotony and begin living your dream today. Throughout these pages you will... Push through uncertainty and move toward purpose. Leverage your current struggles for accelerated progress. Remove self-limitations to ignite your dreams. Exchange fear and insecurity for bold confidence. Find your place in a greater plan.

Preaching has fallen on hard times with many questioning its relevance and even its validity as a New Testament practice. This symposium of specially commissioned essays draws together an international team of thirteen scholars and pastors to address theimportance of textual preaching in the history and life of the early church, the historic church, and the contemporary church. Contributions include essays on Old Testament preaching; preaching in Eastern Orthodoxy; gender-sensitive preaching; and preaching in the theology of Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It also includes essays on a range of homiletical challenges that textual preaching raises for the contemporary preacher, including genre, preaching without notes, inhabiting the text, and preaching without platitudes. A final reflection by Dave Hansen on the state of textual preaching rounds out the collection. The preaching of the gospel stands at the heart of Christian praxis. These essays make a vital contribution to the recovery of the importance of preaching, focused on the text of Scripture. Written with an eye to the pastor and practitioner as well as those in the pews and in the classroom, this is a book that is appealing to a wide range of readers.