Personal Ministries

Parenting isn't rocket science, it's just brain surgery. And Dr. Joshua Straub has good news for you: You can do it! You don't need to do all the "right" things as a parent. Both science and the Bible show us that the most important thing we can provide for our kids is a place of emotional safety. In other words, the posture from which we parent matters infinitely more than the techniques of parenting. Emotional safety - more than any other factor - is scientifically linked to raising kids who live, love, and lead well.

Grace is more story than doctrine. It's more than forgiveness or compassion. It's undeserved by definition, essential to salvation. And it turns out that God's grace—though it's the only thing we stand on and the only thing we should stand for—is the very thing that we consistently distort and hesitate to extend to others. Why is that? To understand the story of grace—what it means and how it's misunderstood, why we need it and how it was given to us—we have to begin at the beginning.

This book explores issues of character facing Christian artists who want to use their gifts more effectively in church ministry.

When Rebecca Tervo awoke on January 29, 2012, it seemed like just another lazy Sunday morning. What she didn't realize was that her life and the life of her family had already been changed forever. Her 17-year-old son, Trevor, was already dead of suicide in an adjacent room, she just didn't know it yet.

For more than 15 years, Scott Stanley's A Lasting Promise has offered solutions to common problems - facing conflicts, problem-solving, improving communication, and dealing with core issues - within a Christian framework. Thoroughly revised and updated, this new edition is filled with sacred teachings of scripture, the latest research on marriage, and clear examples from the lives of couples. The audiobook's strategies are designed to help couples improve communication, understand commitment, bring more fun into their relationship, and enhance their sex lives.

Community is more than just a word; it is one of our most fundamental requirements. So how do flawed, abnormal people such as ourselves master the forces that can drive us apart and come together in the life-changing relationships God designed us for? In Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them, teacher and best-selling author John Ortberg zooms in on the things that make community tick. You'll get a thought-provoking look at God's heart, at others, and at yourself. Even better, you'll gain wisdom and tools for drawing closer to others in powerful, impactful ways.

Tired of being trapped in unhealthy and destructive behaviors? Feeling stuck in moving on and getting the most out of your life? You may not realize it, but you’re probably dealing with deep-rooted shame that negatively impacts your relationship with others and God. In many cases, it is shame that prevents us from moving away from emotionally troubling behaviors. In Removing Your Shame Label, you will discover how to remove the shame label from your life by overcoming harmful behaviors.

Rabbi Gershon Schusterman knew all the textbook answers when comforting bereaved community members who asked him, “Where is God? If God is loving, how could this happen?” But when the rabbi’s young wife died suddenly, leaving him a 38-year-old widower with eleven children to raise, he found himself reeling.

Dr. David Jeremiah reminds us, it's a biblical truth: Sex and passionate, romantic love are God's ideas! Nothing rivals the beauty of the writing in the Song of Solomon - and nothing rivals the wisdom of Solomon on matters of love, romance, marriage, and sexual intimacy. Dr. Jeremiah's thoughtful interpretation of Solomon and Shulamith's relationship provides all of us - whether married or single - with valuable lessons for a better, happier, more fulfilling life and a long, loving marriage.

Gary Chapman has helped millions prepare for marriage. Now let him prepare you for kids. Inside, Gary shares what he wishes he and his wife had known before having kids. For example: Children affect your time, your money, and your marriage - and that's just the beginning. With his trademark warmth, he offers practical advice on everything from potty training, to the importance of apologizing to your child, to keeping your marriage strong, all the while celebrating the great joy that children bring.

So many women are living overcommitted lives and buckling under the nagging guilt. When they are busy, they feel guilty for not playing with their kids or having a quiet time of prayer and Bible study. When they try to rest, they feel guilty because there's so much left to do. It's an endless cycle of overwork and exhaustion. Yet inside every woman's heart is a longing for true rest. It's there because God designed us that way - but it seems out of reach.

In classic Joyce Meyer style, she provides proven "how-to's" and practical methods along with her encouragement. Joyce has been there. She offers us the benefit of her own experience and helps us avoid the hazards on the way to realizing our dreams

If you've lost a spouse, child, family member, or friend, you've discovered that few people understand the deep hurt you feel. Through a Season of Grief is the first 365-day devotional designed to support and uplift you in the first, most difficult year of bereavement. These devotions offer biblical comfort and practical teaching that will enable you to take steps forward each day toward healing. You will better understand the grieving process and will receive needed encouragement along the way.

Learn to navigate life's twists and turns to find God's best for your marriage with the help of Dr. Greg and Erin Smalley. They'll lead you and your spouse to discover true love as described by God in the Bible. With candor and grace, these beloved marriage experts share the secrets of a strong marriage that yield a lifetime of adventurous and cray-zee love.

There are literally thousands of books available on how to live various aspects of the Christian life. Of these, at least a couple of dozen pertaining to family life and child training are well worth reading. This is not one of those books. This book is designed to help you take those other books, as well as all the sermons, teachings, and exhortations you have received on child training and leadership in the home, and make sense of it all. Pastor Tad Thompson has assembled a biblical approach to effective family discipleship.

From the cradle to college, tell your daughters the truth about life before they believe the culture's lies. For mothers with girls newborn to 18, 5 Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter is simply a must-have book. Youth culture commentator Vicki Courtney helps moms pinpoint and prepare the discussions that should be ongoing in their daughters' formative years.

The truth shall set you free. Ignoring it will cost you a fortune. It has become clear that we are living a lie, and it has brought devastating results: Bankruptcy among churchgoers is equally as high as for those who don't attend. Financial misconduct is destroying marriages, families, individuals, and churches. A record number of churches are in foreclosure.

What you need to know to control the emotion of anger and find healing for damaged relationships. Anger is something everyone struggles with - whether it's our own emotion threatening to explode out of control or the anger of others that makes us feel intimidated and afraid. But when we understand where anger comes from, how it shows or doesn't show, then we can do something about it. Either it will control us or we will control it, because anger is a choice. In learning how to handle conflicts and anger, we are enabled to heal damaged relationships and help others as well.

Learn to find and play the role God wants most for you to play, not the ones you feel pressured into playing for the sake of others or even our sense of accomplishment and worth. Most of us spend a lot of our lives figuring out when to say yes and when to say no. How to manage our time, reduce stress, do our best for our families, find a little space for "me". But we don't find space for our souls until we learn to step past the yes and no of daily decisions and seek a third option: the best yes. The best yes is the choice that shapes all our other choices.

Radio personality and best-selling author Barbara Rainey knows firsthand the challenges newly married couples face. Dismayed by Hollywood depictions of marriage and the seemingly easy solution of divorce, she sees a desperate need for a voice of experience, a mentor who has been there and understands - and can encourage, coach, and care. As her daughters began their married lives, Barbara wanted to share with them, and now you, some of the lessons learned throughout her own marriage as well as those gleaned from years of ministry to couples.