Church Leadership

The Garden in Eden was filled with fruit-producing trees, sprouting plants and grasses, and gently flowing rivers. Adam, G-d's chosen king/priest, was called to cultivate the garden's fertile soil, to guard the sacred space from external enemies, and to rule over the Earth. After breaking covenant with YHWH, his king, Adam was banished to the field, a place of thorns and thistles, where he became a slave to the earth. The Temple Revealed in the Garden: Priests and Kings examines the Garden story from an ancient Near East perspective.

Becoming Brave offers a distinctly Christian framework for addressing systemic injustice. It challenges Christians to be everyday activists who become brave enough to break the silence and work with others to dismantle systems of injustice and inequality.

How do you grow as a leader in the church? Should you read church growth books? Take a few seminars? Or just wing it? Scott Thomas, former President of Acts 29, church planter, and pastor has a different approach. He unpacks how leaning on Jesus empowers not just your teaching, but also grows the humility and biblical wisdom you need to lead.

An essential guide for maintaining integrity and preserving the good standing of your church in the face of a crisis, Church on Trial will teach you how to maintain and earn congregational trust and unity; safeguard your church's reputation preemptively and proactively before it crashes and burns; implement best practices for crisis prevention and recovery; build relationships and collaborate with trusted legal advisors; and gracefully handle negative media attention and publicity.

Has a church burned you? Award-winning author, radio host, Dr. David Spoon unveils his debut book “Broken for His Glory” to investigate that question. Using his own painful church experience as a springboard for teaching others, Dr. Spoon spins his adolescent battles with drug addiction, eventual conversion to Christianity, and hurt felt at the hands of a church into a personal journey designed to help listeners resolve and recover from their spiritual conflicts.

Is it possible our world is just one big high school lunchroom? In a world fraught with polarization and division—where we form separate tables based on political beliefs, skin color, economic status, theological ideas, and personal preferences—can we find a way to live differently, more aligned with the ways of Jesus? In Lunchroom Theology, Heather Gorman and Mark Nelson confront our societal and theological rifts, and by weaving together scriptural and sociological insights, they expose the many ways our contemporary divisions are mirrored by the church today.

That nagging thought drove William Kirkwood to develop this primer on worship for all lead pastors and worship planners who have wondered the same thing. Most pastors come out of seminary with little training in worship yet are ultimately responsible for the worship life of their church. Most worship planners/leaders have musical and leadership skills but little theological background in worship. Kirkwood brings his decades of worship leading experience and education from the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies in this timely book.

She provides women with a fresh and unique perspective on many of the hot issues women face today. Twenty-something single recording artist Rebecca St. James teams up with 40-something radio talk show host and mother of three Lynda Hunter Bjorklund to present a multigenerational look at why women feel out of control and vulnerable. She helps women understand how they can be safe, healthy, and empowered as they find their identity and security in God.

God called. He wants his church back. Many Christians have begun to recognize that God desires his church to function as an organism rather than an organization. After over 11 years of experience founding and facilitating a house church, author Keith Giles shares the insights he developed in the trenches. Filled with practical, real-world examples of how to plant and nurture an organic gathering, listeners will find a wealth of information to help them bring Jesus back to the forefront of every meeting.

The key to growth as a church, youth ministry, or a business is getting first-time guests to come back. It's about hospitality. The Come Back Effect reveals to church, ministry, and even business leaders the secret to helping a first-time guest return again and again. Through an engaging, story-driven approach, they explain how service and hospitality are two different things, describe how Jesus practiced hospitality, and invite leaders to develop and implement changes that lead to repeat visits and, eventually, to sustained growth.

The twenty-six biblical qualifications for church elders/bishops found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 are a supernatural revelation given to the apostle Paul by the Holy Spirit. It is such a revealing study into Gods holiness and standards. The Lord really loves His church, and He requires that only well-qualified believers be appointed and placed in leadership positions.

Let the gospel of Jesus and the example of Jesus motivate you to serve your church sacrificially. This book looks at the gospel of Jesus and the example of Jesus to motivate us to serve our church family sacrificially with our energy, time, and gifts. This is a great book for Christians who have grown weary over time, those who need help in identifying their gifts and gaining the confidence to offer them, and church members who are lacking the motivation to get started.

In The Shepherd Leader, pastor and professor Tim Witmer laid out seven elements of an effective shepherding plan, showing church leaders how to minister to their congregations in practical, pastoral ways. Now, in this stand-alone but complementary volume, he gathers seven church leaders to show how they and their churches have addressed specific shepherding challenges in innovative ways.

The call of God to be a pastor is exciting and can be fulfilling in your life.You will see God use you in miraculous ways to reach people and to impact your community. To be effective, however, you must learn to be strategic. You need a plan. You need wisdom. You need people and resources. Your vision is big, but your energy is limited. Whether you are a pastor of a church or have the desire to be a pastor one day, you need to take time to gain insight in to how to be a strategic pastor, not just a passionate pastor.

If we desire to honor God in all we do, we need to be in his Book every day. Through the Bible, God offers us so much more wisdom for living and leading-and for every domain of life—than anything this world can ever give us. That's why Hobby Lobby founder and CEO David Green wrote The Leader's Devotional. By sharing the biblical principles that are the foundation of his life and leadership, he challenges and encourages each of us to seek God's guidance for our lives, for our families, and for our organizations.

In Stirrers and Saints, Brian Harris provides biblical, theological and pastoral pointers to help all involved in church leadership become both spiritually mature and effective leaders. Leadership in the church really matters, but sadly it is often undermined by toxic leaders hitting the headlines. Yet often the most spiritual people in the church do not make strong leaders. So how can we square the circle?

In a world marked by rapid change, shifting values, and so many different voices, the Church finds itself at a crossroads. "A Church in Flux: Building on 'The True Foundation'" you're on a journey of rediscovery. This book peels back the layers of tradition, human doctrine, and worldly noise that have obscured the truth of the gospel. It's a call to return to the unshakable cornerstone of our faith, revealed in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Our responsibility is the "ask or think," and God takes care of the "far more abundantly." God has called you to be a small-town pastor and grow your church right in your own backyard-but your vision is obscure and your resources are scarce. Take heart, because if God can prosper one church, He can prosper all.

In The Bible, God uses many ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Moses didn’t think he was a leader when God chose him; people laughed at Noah for building that ark for so many years; Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers only to rise to second-in-command of all of Egypt.

Renewable Wellbeing reveals how re-discovering the Jesus way of wellbeing is our best hope for a tired church in a broken world. Examining episodes from Jesus’ life as seen in John’s Gospel, Ruth Rice unpacks the five culture shifts she believes the church needs today to renew wellbeing in our churches: connecting with our identity, learning the new economy of the kingdom, getting active in community, taking notice of simplicity in our habits, and giving in renewable ways and sensing our call to serve.