“Contemplative Youth Ministry is refreshing rain for dry youth workers and barren youth ministries. More than the same old youth ministry tips and tricks, it gives principles and practices to soak in God’s grace, love, and power. I wish I had read it 15 years ago.” - Kara Powell, Ph.D., executive director, Center for Youth Ministry and Family Ministry, Fuller Theological Seminary “Mark invites readers to be encountered by the presence of Jesus who is always near. This book is transparent a...

A practical book for youth ministers, pastors, parents, and teachers who want to teach prayer to teenagers. The book will be written in short, meditative chapters that provide readers with the appropriate history, theology, pedagogy, and examples for introducing teens to the life of prayer.

In many ways society teaches us to try to have everything under our control. If we are honest, we tend to think that this can be true even of our spiritual lives. But Mark Yaconelli eloquently expresses the reality of our situation: "We are small, sensitive creatures with short lifespans, in a world that is often chaotic, capricious, mysterious, terrible and wonderful all at the same time. Failure, disappointment, loss and other difficult experiences call us to accept our humanity, feel gr...

In our hectic lives, it's easy to forget that prayer is more about a conversation and experience with God than it is a request line. This book is an invitation to meaningful prayer. It invites us -- through stories, images, contemplative exercises, poetry and meditation -- to explore the human experiences where prayer originates. Every heart feels wonder. Every heart knows fear. Every heart aches with longing. Every heart needs prayer.

Dreamcare: A Theology of Youth, Spirit, and Vocation helps parents, youth workers, and congregations cultivate purpose and vocation in youth and young adults. Recent findings disclose a pervasive sense of purposelessness that threatens young adults' health and well-being, and also the common good. The good news is that research shows all young people also have an often hidden sense of purpose that can be noticed, named, and nurtured by parents and communities. This volume supplements resea...

"Now more than ever, we need a teacher and a book such as this."--Anne Lamott, from the forewordStories tether us to what matters most: our families, our friends, our hearts, our planet, the wondrous mystery of life itself. Yet the stories we've been telling ourselves as a civilization are killing us: Fear is wisdom. Vanity is virtuous. Violence is peace. In the pages of Between the Listening and the Telling, storyteller, author, and activist Mark Yaconell...

Stories tether us to what matters most: our families, our friends, our hearts, our planet, the wondrous mystery of life itself. Yet the stories we've been telling ourselves as a civilization are killing us: Fear is wisdom. Vanity is virtuous. Violence is peace. In Between the Listening and the Telling, author and activist Mark Yaconelli leads listeners into an enchanting meditation on the power of storytelling in our individual and collective lives. We tell stories to remember who...

Our happiness in Christ is not assured because we're right or powerful or feared. Jesus said we inherit the kingdom when we face insult, persecution, and lies with gladness, charity, and mercy.

Learn how to live with the peace and presence of God in the midst of our hectic, busy lives.Spiritual formation is more than just solitude and contemplative reflections. Spiritual formation happens in the everyday, in each and every moment of life. For those caught up in the busyness of work, family, and church, it often feels like time with God is just another thing on a crowded to-do list.Ken Shigematsu—award-winning author and pastor—will teach you simpl...

When beloved author Henri Nouwen set out to record this daybook of totally new reflections, he suddenly found himself on "a true spiritual adventure." For in these 366 original, interlocking morsels of daily wisdom, Nouwen provides both sustenance and a trail for us to follow, as he unveils, to his own surprise, his personal map of faith. From the delicate interplay of human experience to the surrender to Christ and the embrace of Christian community, that journey of Christian spirituality...

An empowering message about the true meaning of prosperity—to help anyone achieve a life of spiritual and material abundance.Imagine if you could achieve a life of true prosperity, enjoying:- A vitally alive, healthy body through which you experience relationships that are always satisfying and intimate, honest, and nurturing- Work you love so much that it's not work, it's play- All the money you can spendLiving at this exceptional leve...

What Are You Waiting For?Intimacy with God can happen right now if you want it. A closeness you can feel, a goodness you can taste, a reality you can experience for yourself. That's what the Bible promises, so why settle for less? God is closer than you think, and connecting with him isn't just for monks and ascetics. It's for business people, high school students, busy moms, single men, single women . . . and most important, it's for YOU.God Is Closer ...