Meant to both inspire and inform pastoral leaders, So Much Better examines the impact of peer group participation on pastoral leaders, their families, and ministries.This book goes beyond numbers and data by breathing life into the statistical bones. At this book's heart are seven peer group models including stories and examples from participants, families, and church members. Also featured is information about peer group recruitment, leadership, content, and structure, an...

This reflective medical essay begins by treating death not as a distant abstraction, but as the one certainty that demands serious study. Drawing on Shakespeare, personal observation, and forensic inquiry, it asks what death is, how it appears, and why contemplating mortality can sharpen rather than darken life. From there, the book moves into the unsettling world of apparent death, where funeral customs, premature burial, and the fear of being entombed alive expose how uncertain the signs...

Public speaking is an essential component in the life of a scientist, whatever your level of career. In this book, the authors describe a tried-and-tested technique for preparing a presentation: the SELL method. Following these three simple steps—Skeleton, Envelope, and Life and Logistics—will help you make the most out of any talk. Whether it be a 3-minute pitch or an hour-long plenary session, you will find pages of advice, theory, and practical exercises enabling you to Sell Your Resear...

Public speaking is an essential component in the life of a scientist, whatever your level of career. In this book, the authors describe a tried-and-tested technique for preparing a presentation: the SELL Method. Following these three simple steps - Skeleton, Envelope, Life & Logistics - will help you make the most out of any talk. Whether it be a 3-minute pitch or an hour-long plenary session, you will find pages of advice, theory and practical exercises enabling you to SELL YOUR RESEARCH ...

Claude Cahun is the most important artist you've never heard of - until now. Writer, photographer, lesbian; revolutionary activist, surrealist, resistance fighter - Cahun witnessed the birth of the Paris avant-garde, lived through two World Wars and, as "Der Soldat ohne Namen", risked death by inciting mutiny on Nazi-occupied Jersey. And yet, she's until recently been merely a peripheral figure in these world-shaping events, relegated by academics to the footnotes in the history of art, se...

Reggie McNeal's bestseller The Present Future is the definitive work on the "missional movement," i.e., the widespread movement among Protestant churches to be less inwardly focused and more oriented toward the culture and community around them. In that book he asked the tough questions that churches needed to entertain to begin to think about who they are and what they are doing; in Missional Renaissance, he shows them the three significant shifts in their thinking and behavior that they ...

A new brand of apostolic ministry for today's worldThe Permanent Revolution is a work of theological re-imagination and re-construction that draws from biblical studies, theology, organizational theory, leadership studies, and key social sciences. The book elaborates on the apostolic role rooted in the five-fold ministry from Ephesians 4 (apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teacher), and its significance for the missional movement. It explores ...

In this provocative book, author, consultant, and church leadership developer Reggie McNeal debunks these and other old assumptions and provides an overall strategy to help church leaders move forward in an entirely different and much more effective way. In The Present Future, McNeal identifies the six most important realities that church leaders must address including: recapturing the spirit of Christianity and replacing "church growth" with a wider vision of kingdom growth; deve...

Randy Pope has created a blueprint for pastors and church planters with The Intentional Church. Such an organization must model a dynamic spirit of worship and servanthood that will cause it to become a magnet for people needing help. Part of the blueprint involves having a God-honoring purpose, a faith-oriented commitment, a well-defined mission, biblically-based job descriptions, and more. A relevant resource for pastors and lay persons.

How are we doing? The church, that is. And how are we doing it? Congregations have long measured success by "bodies, budget, and buildings"--a certain record of attendance, the offering plate, and square footage. But the scorecard can't stop there. When it does, the deeper emphasis on accountability, discipleship, and spiritual maturity is lost. Ignoring those details, we see fewer lives transformed, Christian influence wane, and churches thin out--a situation that is all too familiar acro...

Borderland Churches is a call to embrace the pluralistic, post Christian and postmodern culture with a sense of opportunity and hope. The author uses the image of the church crossing over into an "in -between time." A place where faith is lived outside the walls of the church engaging the community in incarnational ways.

Across North America, many pastors are excited to see churches growing as they achieve their mission to connect the message of the gospel with the community at large. Still others are equally frustrated, following the exact same model for outreach but with lesser results. Indeed, just because a "missional breakthrough" occurs in one place doesn’t mean it will happen the same way elsewhere.One size does not fit all, but there are cultural codes that must be broken for all churches t...