Simplify Christmas without sacrificing the joy.Mike Slaughter's beloved holiday classic Christmas Is Not Your Birthday is back in a newly revised and expanded edition to help you rediscover the true meaning of the season.Every year, the promises come easily: cut back, simplify, and celebrate a Christmas centered on Jesus. Yet every year, the pressure mounts. Advertisements flood every screen, wish lists grow longer, and overspending, overeating, an...

Clearly, something is not working. Despite the church’s place of prominence in American culture and the ubiquity of the church in every American town, misconceptions about the faith of Jesus Christ run rampant today. Christians are known more for exclusivity than for love, more for pot lucks than for solving world hunger. It’s time for churches to get over the cruise-ship mentality of being a program-provider, and reconnect with the true message and mission of Jesus: to bring good news to ...

Ministry Makeover examines the decline within the church, especially the United Methodist Church (UMC), and some causes for this decline. It calls for a reforming of United Methodist structure and polity by drawing more attention to the value of the bi-vocational model of ministry and a re-visitation of the Wesleyan/United Brethren view and historical perspective. This book establishes a solid theological foundation upon which to build this shift and it goes a step beyond typical ecclesiol...

People don’t give to church because we don’t offer them a compelling vision of the good their giving will achieve.Hearing a young attorney speak of the faithbased reasons for which he had just made a substantial monetary gift to a community youth center, Clif Christopher asked the speaker if he would consider making a similar contribution to the congregation of which he was an active member. “Lord, no they would not know what to do with it” was the answer. That, in a nutshell, desc...

Nothing in all the vast, created universe could prepare us for God coming down as a helpless infant, or for Jesus the son of God intentionally positioning himself as a mere servant, identifying with the lowest of lows. It's enough to confound the mind, to make the heart contrite. This Advent, God’s great surprise changes everything.The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the 4-week study for Advent, including session plans and discussion questions, as w...

Nothing in all the vast, created universe could prepare us for God coming down as a helpless infant, or for Jesus the son of God intentionally positioning himself as a mere servant, identifying with the lowest of lows. It's enough to confound the mind, to make the heart contrite. This Advent, God’s great surprise changes everything.Four weeks of devotions for use during Advent and leading up to Christmas, based on the down-to-earth, missional messages of the book and videos. Each d...

How many things does your church do just because that's the way it's always been done? Does your congregation value tradition over passion and stability over creativity? If so, it's time to unLearn. Leading congregations into a dynamic and prophetic future requires unLearning what you thought you knew about the church, leadership, and life. Pastor Michael Slaughter casts a vision for innovative and authentic congregations, and for the kind of leadership that can bring congregations to grea...

What happens when we truly put God first in all aspects of our lives?In *First: Putting God First in Living and Giving,*pastor and author Mike Slaughter conducts a four-week all-church stewardship program to help participants reassess priorities andcreate a culture and a lifestyle of faithful living and giving and make a meaningful contribution to the world. To help parents educate and model generosity for their kids, First includes components for children and youth that h...

Nothing in all the vast, created universe could prepare us for God coming down as a helpless infant, or for Jesus the son of God intentionally positioning himself as a mere servant, identifying with the lowest of lows. It's enough to confound the mind, to make the heart contrite. This Advent, God's great surprise changes everything.

What happens when we truly put God first in all aspects of our lives?In a culture guided chiefly by shiny, life-promising distractions, “enough” seems elusive and keeps us indebted to that next source of satisfaction. What if the Giver of Life offered freedom from this downward spiral—would you take it? In First: Putting God First in Living and Giving, pastor and author Mike Slaughter conducts a four-week all-church stewardship program to help participants reassess priorit...

At some time in our lives, most of us have prayed for or hoped for a miracle—an event that seems impossible but is brought about by God's transcendent power. But when miracles occur, did you know that you have a role to play?If that's true, what's the catch? What do we have to do? What's it going to cost us?Popular author and pastor Mike Slaughter examines the two components of every miracle: divine action and human responsibility. For a real miracle to take place, we must ...

Learn how new andyoung pastors from across the country are translating eight time-testedprinciples of church leadership. Adam Hamilton and Mike Slaughterintroduce each principle and discuss its importance in their ministries.Author Jacob Armstrong then shows how the principle works in newcontexts today. The New Adapters is full of energy, wisdom, and stories of hope.“If you have wonderedwhat adaptive leadership looks like in practic...