Church Ministry

If you're not reaching the future of the church, your church has no future. As much sting as that statement has, it's hard to argue with. Yet many churches have no idea how to attract and retain younger generations. If you want to understand how to reach, teach, and empower young adults in your church, Jonathan "JP" Pokluda is ready to show you how.

We are more than our DNA or our upbringing. Never a baby has been born that got past the plan and purpose of Yahweh. If we are here, it is by divine design. If we made it this far, he planned on it. The difference between children and sons is (sons) know who they are in him, and no longer identify with the fictional man. The fictional man is who we became apart from him and one another. (DNA, upbringing, life experiences, etc.) If we were able to become all we were foreordained to be apart from one another in him, we would have done it long ago.

At the beginning of the book of the Revelation of St. John, John was commanded to "write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches". We know that these seven churches were named after cities in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). From the Book of Revelation itself, we have St. John's description of each Church:

Why is it that so many gifted and passionate leaders end up on the sidelines of ministry rather than finishing well? How can you avoid the pitfalls that face those who serve Christ and his church? What steps can you take that will propel you forward into a more faithful and fruitful ministry than you ever dreamed? These questions and more are addressed in Leadership from the Inside Out.

In Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian’s Guide to Engaging Politics, Cho encourages listeners to remember that hope arrived—not in a politician, system, or great nation—but in the person of Jesus Christ.

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.

In this provocative new contribution to public theology, world-renowned theologian Miroslav Volf (named "America's New Public Intellectual" by Scot McKnight on his Jesus Creed blog) and Matthew Croasmun explain that the intellectual tools needed to rescue us from our present malaise and meet our new cultural challenge are the tools of theology. A renewal of theology is crucial to help us articulate compelling visions of the good life, find our way through the maze of contested questions of value, and answer the fundamental question of what makes life worth living.

In 1979 the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith withdrew Hans Kung's missio canonica. Pope Paul VI approved the censure saying, "We are obligated to declare that in his writings he fell short of integrity and the truth of the Catholic faith." Through a 1980 agreement with the Vatican, Kung is now permitted to teach, but only under secular auspices. In this acclaimed Modern Library Chronicle, Kung examines the Catholic Church through its many reformations, focusing on the people and events...

In the most basic sense, worship is the act of offering praise to God. But worship is a much more powerful act than we are often aware. It is nothing less than an opened floodgate, unleashing a supernatural flow between heaven and earth. For the first time, multiple generations of apostolic, prophetic, and warfare worship leaders join together to reveal the ways in which God is working through praise and worship today! Discover how you can participate in it, and what you can expect from this fresh move of God!

The church began as a discipleship movement known as “The Way”. Despite the best of intentions, church as we know it in the West is unknowingly blocking discipleship multiplication - which we must have to accomplish the Great Commission. It’s time for the church in the West to be in The Way, without being in the way.

Scott Hahn is an internationally recognized Catholic lecturer and theologian. His books Hail, Holy Queen and Publishers Weekly best seller The Lamb's Supper began Hahn's examination of the Catholic faith. With First Comes Love, he thoughtfully focuses on the connection between the Church, the Holy Trinity, and the family.

It is no secret that our world desperately needs change. Politicians know this and use it to collect votes. Journalists exploit it to sell newspapers and magazines. Advertisers, to sell everything else. Each of these groups (and countless others) spend their lives working to convince others that they hold the key to a better country, a better life, a better future. But what exactly is this change we all long for? And how can it ever come about?

In Powerful Prayers for Troubled Times, Stormie Omartian challenges Christians to pray for the land we call home. In this audio, Stormie tackles genuine questions about praying for our country. She offers sample prayers you can use to pray for government and community leaders, the heroic men and women who protect us (police officers, firefighters, soldiers), and the welfare and healing of our nation. You will also find encouragement for today and hope for the future as you join with other believers and, as one people, offer up our country to God in prayer.

In Sticky Church, author and pastor Larry Osborne makes the case that closing the back door of your church is even more important than opening the front door wider. He offers a time-tested strategy for doing so: sermon-based small groups that dig deeper into the weekend message and tightly velcro members to the ministry. It’s a strategy that enabled Osborne’s congregation to grow from a handful of people to one of the larger churches in the nation - without any marketing or special programming.

Dwight Zscheile, Michael Binder, and Tessa Pinkstaff build on Scripture, theology, and the latest leadership and change theories to guide church leaders on a journey toward grassroots, participatory spiritual growth. This faithful innovation begins with a three-step process: listening to God and to each other, acting so we can learn, and sharing our stories in community. Real-life stories and supportive spiritual practices make each step toward effective change accessible and actionable.

For every person who has felt lonely or isolated, The Sacred Us explores a new way of living through the practice of biblical community. In a world that celebrates individuality and autonomy, too many of us struggle to form deep, meaningful relationships. Loneliness is the norm, rich friendships are rare, and the church is no exception. We long for real community but often don’t know how to get there. What will it take to develop healthy friendships?

These principles of war were formulated by Carl von Clausewitz, an officer in the Napoleonic Wars. They quickly became a paradigm for developing strategy and tactics by virtually every military in the world and remain so to this day. In this study, one of our premier warriors and a founding member of the US Army Delta Force, LTG (R) W.G. "Jerry" Boykin, addresses the military application of these principles. I then elaborate on how each can be applied to virtually any other endeavor such as business, sports, missions, or even government programs.

Is gospel Christianity dead? Pundits are writing the obituary of historic, orthodox Christianity, but pastor and author J. D. Greear (Gospel, Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart) believes the postmortems are premature. Jesus promised to build his church. He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. The church is not going away. Along with this promise, Jesus gave clear instructions for how the church would prevail. He promised to build it on the rock of the gospel.

Longtime Christian journalist, researcher, and ministry leader Rick Lawrence believes that the driving force propelling the church into irrelevance is its propensity reduce Jesus. Deeply researched and comprehensively sourced, Editing Jesus, explores the 8 ways the Jesus of the contemporary church has been edited to fit the spirit of the age. Lawrence writes on:

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.