Religions, politics, and education shaped the cultural world of Asia Minor where a new faith emerged that would change history. Gods, Emperors, Philosophers, and a New Movement uncovers how the earliest Christians navigated—and often disrupted and adapted—the dominant forces of their age. Drawing on decades of research, fieldwork, and teaching, Michael T. Cooper takes readers beneath the surface of Ephesos, Smyrna, Pergamon, and other cities to reveal how temples, inscriptions, an...

Discovering God’s Passion for MovementsThe city of Ephesus was the site of the most significant church-planting movement in the early church, with 40 percent of the New Testament texts relating to it. What made that city the epicenter of the movement? And how can we replicate sustained movements in a world that feels so different?This is not another methodology or attempt to re-contextualize evangelicalism. Rather, it is a journey from the launch of the chu...

T Cooper's Real Man Adventures is not a memoir. It's an adventure story?and one packed with all the requisite dark alleys, disguises, leading ladies, and plot twists.Cooper's bold and bracing exploration of his transition to male unfurls in a series of inspired vignettes, intimate letters never sent, interviews, lists, and good old-fashioned stories that capture the range of the human experience. Real Man Adventures is a ?sharp, hilarious, incredibly personal, and ...

Some people wouldn't think of prayer as a ministry. Many would consider ministry to be preaching, or teaching, or knocking on doors, and telling people about Salvation through Jesus Christ. Something as simple as prayer is a ministry? Then “Fasting”. A practice that is foreign for so many, even Bible believing Christians. Even though fasting is mentioned thirty-one times in the Bible in a positive sense, very few people in our modern era have any knowledge about it. Dr. Cooper informs read...

Tobacco, alcohol and pornography-three very controversial topics with mixed opinions. Christians wonder what place should these things have in my life and community if any. Are they very dangerous or not really a vice? Dr. R.T. Cooper gives clear and concise descriptions of what the Bible has to say about these social issues.

Cooper & Mansbach team with some of today's most talented writers to vitalize American history."This is a 'people's history' with tongue in cheek: delightfully funny, imaginative, but with a subtle undertone of seriousness. I enjoyed it immensely." —Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United StatesHistory is distorted the moment it's recorded—and in these politically dishonest times, challenging the stories we're told is more ...

In Paris, haute couturier Sébastien Fel is totally blocked about designs for his new collection until he sees Rachel Bowman, a plump, pretty Ohio teacher who has never worn anything from a designer in her life. He claims her as a muse for his Renaissance Woman high fashion clothing, celebrating the beauty of, um, larger women. Everyone is skeptical, including Rachel, but she reluctantly agrees, mostly to enjoy Paris for another few months rather than teaching French to bored high schoolers...

Zephaniah and Haggai. Two of the least familiar books of the Bible, yet two of the most needy for our time. The book of Zephaniah presents bold preaching needed to bring a revival. Haggai instructs on how to rebuild the Kingdom of God after a people have been punished for unfaithfulness. Dr. Todd Cooper expounds on these two wonderful books and educates our generation on these two extraordinary prophets Zephaniah and Haggai.

Reclusive, obsessive, and creative, painter Keith Owen has secrets, dark ones that have affected his family for years. His grown daughter Kinley ignores her artistic talent and shrinks from a romantic commitment with a musician, figuring he'll turn out to be like her father, while her brother Brendan keeps trying to make the family he always wanted out of an impossible marriage. After their mother's death, Kinley and Brendan begin to question the source of their father's behavior. As they ...

"This strong entry in the series is a good choice for readers looking for books about friendship, identity, and LGBTQ issues." — School Library JournalWhen we last saw Oryon Small he was kidnapped and locked in a basement, his best friend Chase dying in his arms. In Book Three of the groundbreaking Changers series, Oryon awakens as Kim Cruz, an Asian American girl whose body looks nothing like she expected or desired.Where Changers Book ...

What were the most important practices in the early church? In this volume, Michael Cooper arranges the writings of the Apostolic Fathers into eight themes that provide deeper understanding about the subjects important to the disciples of the New Testament apostles. First Christian Voices examines the written testimonies of the late first and second centuries to discover what animated the church in the face of internal and external struggles and growth as the gospel extended to the boundar...

In this series finale "the suspense is high, the plot is irresistible . . . fast-paced and wonderfully, forcefully loud about privilege" ( Kirkus Reviews).When we left Kim Cruz in Changers Book Three, she'd just come out to her best friend. In Changers Book Four: Forever, Kim discovers that this is only one small part of understanding who she is and where she belongs. Soon enough, she ...