Great ministers don't just happen.Great falls from ministry don't just happen either. A complex mix of factors both internal and external test the limits of your ability to minister wholeheartedly over the long haul.Senior pastor Brad Hoffmann andlicensed professional counselor Michael Todd Wilson work with pastors removed from their place of service. The common experiences of these pastors revealed patterns that consistently contributed to burnout, ineffectiveness and moral failure. If su...

Throughout his ministry, Jesus consistently demonstrated his concern and love for the whole person: soul, mind, and body.That task is carried forward today by pastors and church leaders, who are called to care for people inthe midst of individual circumstances as well as seismic cultural shifts. How might that calling be informed by recent developments in psychology? How should the church attend to matters of mental health? How might psychology and counseling aid u...

If I had known the Enneagram earlier in my ministry, I would have been a much better pastor.When this thought came to Todd Wilson, he had already served as a pastor in several churches for the better part of fifteen years and was successfully leading a large, historic, and diverse congregation. He'd started out in ministry with a strong education in everything from biblical exegesis and homiletics to organizational development and Christian education. Howe...

Pittsburgh's Bridges takes a comprehensive look at the design, construction, and, sometimes, demolition of the bridges that shaped Pittsburgh, ranging from the covered bridges of yesterday to those that define the skyline today. Pittsburgh is the "City of Bridges," and what remarkable bridges they are! The area's challenging topography of deep ravines and mighty rivers - the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio - set the stage for engineers, architects, and contractors to conquer the terrain w...

The roles of pastor and theologian have gone their separate ways.Throughout much of the church's history, these two roles have been deeply intertwined, but in our contemporary setting, a troubling bifurcation between them has developed. The result has been a theologically weakened church and an ecclesially weakened theology.The Center for Pastor Theologians (CPT) seeks to overcome this divide by assisting pastors in the study and production of biblical and ...

Humans are sexual creatures.Our sexuality can be a beautiful and mysterious expression of what it means to be human. But it can also become distorted and sinful.Perhaps no issue is as urgent for the church today, orconfronts it with as many questions, as human sexuality: What does it mean to fulfill God's will through our sexuality? To what extent should our sexuality define who we are? How can we navigate cultural trends around sexuality while being faithf...

The doctrine of creation is crucial to the Christian faith, but it has often been maligned, misinterpreted, or ignored.Some, such as pagan philosophers and Gnostics, have tended to denigrate the goodness of the material world. More recently, new questions have emerged regarding human origins in light of the Darwinian account of evolution. What does it mean today to both affirm the goodness of God's creation and anticipate the new creation?The Center for Pas...

Daily Strength, a year-long devotional, walks Christian men through Scripture passages that speak to their most pressing issues. Featuring content from the ESV Men's Devotional Bible, each single-page daily reading features a short summary of a Bible passage with a thought-provoking message from author and pastor Sam Storms. Arranged canonically from Genesis to Revelation with short introductions to each Bible book, Daily Strength encourages and enlightens men th...

Every person has been designed by God for one-of-a-kind Masterpiece Mission, what most people refer to as personal calling or personal purpose. Everyone needs to be able to name what God has put them on the earth to do. Most people never do. That is a tragedy of epic proportions.We need a simple way to discover that calling, and Find Your Place is that way. GPS technology is widely known as a way to know where you are on the earth, as well as a way to guide you to get wher...

More meets Christians where they’re at, acknowledging the roots of their discontent and demonstrating how to move from inspiration and desire into action. Church strategist and ministry activator Todd Wilson shows how all believers can live more abundant lives around the uniqueness of how they were made and what they are called to do.Introducing a memorable vocabulary and an easy-to-use practical framework, More equips readers to embark on a journey of discovering...

Our world presents daily distractions that can easily displace Christ as the center of a man’s heart and life. The goal of the ESV Men’s Devotional Bible is to strengthen and encourage men through the life-giving Word of God and sound devotional content aimed at nurturing godliness.With 365 theologically rich and gospel-centered devotions drawn directly from the Bible, this all-new resource was created under the editorial oversight of Dr. Sam Storms with contributions from...

The Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God's Word. These 12-week study lead participants through books of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) Reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) "Gospel Glimpses" highlight the gospel of grace throughout the book; (3) "Whole-Bible Connections" show how any given passage connects to the Bible's overarching story of redemption, culminating i...