Passage Into Discipleship is designed to help older children and youth more faithfully prepare for the act of baptism by teaching what it means to walk a Christian journey. This book incorporates four different learning models that stimulate young people in being excited about becoming followers of Jesus. Learning models include classroom instruction, community and communal hands-on experiences, mentors that guide youth throughout the process, and a day-long retreat that concludes the curr...

Explores how authoritarian regimes are deploying "sharp power" to undermine democracies from within by weaponizing universities, institutions, media, technology, and entertainment industries.The world's dictators are no longer content with shoring up control over their own populations—they are now exploiting the openness of the free world to spread disinformation, sow discord, and suppress dissent. In Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power, editors W...

With democracy in decline, authoritarian governments are staging a comeback around the world.Over the past decade, illiberal powers have become emboldened and gained influence within the global arena. Leading authoritarian countries—including China, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela—have developed new tools and strategies to contain the spread of democracy and challenge the liberal international political order. Meanwhile, the advanced democracies have retr...

It's totally refreshing to find a book written by a bloke for blokes about blokes in love. This book is well overdue and women all over the world should be celebrating. At last a bloke talking about "evolve-ya-bastard" to men. What is great is the question and answer format. So, it's relevant and contextual. I mean he's taken questions from people and answered them in as short a space of page as could be imagined. I don't think he could have said less, but in this case, less is more. The c...

"Some people are born boring. Some live boring. Some even die boring. Fred managed to do all three, and when he woke up as a vampire, he did so as a boring one. Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort.One fateful night – different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful – Fred reconnects with an old friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events thrusting...

My name is Rylee and I was a Tracker.The final battle is over and The Blood of the Lost was spilled. In the aftermath, the humans still have mysteries they call upon me for. Except I can no longer Track, and my new abilities terrify me.A salvage is offered to me, and with it a chance to redeem myself. A missing girl, her brother desperate to find her. Simple and straightforward, this salvage should be a piece of cake - and a chance to learn some discipline ...

THEY KILLED THE KING. THEY PINNED IT ON TWO MEN. THEY CHOSE POORLYThere is no ancient evil to defeat, no orphan destined for greatness, just two guys in the wrong place at the wrong time. Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles until they become the unwitting scapegoats in a plot to murder the king. Sentenced to death, they have only one way out...and so begins thi...

You’d think there’d be a little more action for the only professional wizard listed in the Chicago phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn’t been able to dredge up any kind of work: magical, mundane, or menial.Just when it looks like he can’t afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise. There’s a brutally mutilated corpse, and monstrous animal markings at the scene. Not to mention that the killing took place on the nigh...

Harry Dresden’s investigation of a grisly double murder pulls him into the darkest depths of magical Chicago in the first dramatized audiobook in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series!As a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most of them don’t play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far to...

"On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is... different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because sh...

"Ilona Andrews invites you to experience the first dramatized audiobook in the #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring the intriguing fantasy world of mercenary Kate Daniels.When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck merce...

"If you come after the CIA’s most feared assassin, there’s one cardinal rule: Don’t miss.America is under attack. Thousands lie dead after simultaneous strikes across the country. The day will come to be known as Bloody Monday.Jason Trapp, codename ‘Hangman’, was a covert operative whose feats became the stuff of legend. He was the tip of the spear—the man his country unleashed when all hope was lost.Six months ago, someone sold him out. The Agency listed him as kil...