Personal Ministries

Every Christian isn't called to adopt, but everyone is called to care for orphans. The evangelical adoption movement is but one strand in a long cord of Christian care for orphans. While adoption trends have fluctuated over time in different contexts, the Bible has not changed its position. The gospel is decidedly pro-adoption and on the side of the orphan. Yet many obstacles stand in the way of the Christian's mission to provide care to the least of these. So, what now?

Significant events such as birth, marriage, and death are milestones in our lives in which we experience our greatest happiness and our deepest grief. And so it is profoundly important to understand how to approach and experience these occasions with grace, endurance, and joy. In a culture that does its best to deny death, Timothy Keller - theologian and best-selling author - teaches us about facing death with the resources of faith from the Bible. With wisdom and compassion, Keller finds in the Bible an alternative to both despair or denial.

Listeners will meet and join young Julio, who is taken on a quest into adulthood - as his grandfather reveals mysterious family secrets.Woven through the story are 12 principles of success including "Work Hard and God Will Prosper You", "Be Meek Before God, but Bold Before Men", "Live Debt-Free and Below Your Means", and "Set Aside the First 10 Percent to Honor God". The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant will change the way you think about your career, wealth, and success.

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

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.

Those asked to preach amid tragedy know the anxiety of trying to say appropriate things from God’s word that will comfort and strengthen God’s people when emotions and faith are stretched thin. This indispensable resource helps pastors prepare sermons in the face of tragedies by providing suggestions for how to approach different kinds of tragedy, as well as insight into how to handle the theological challenges of human suffering.

In CinderGirl, Christina tells her piercing and poignant story of leaving behind homelessness to become Ms. California and the founder of a nonprofit organization that provides advocacy for foster-care children.

Over 90 percent of couples experience some level of tension around money. In fact, money issues are the number one stressor in relationships. So many books try to fix the surface problems, such as how to budget and what to prioritize when it comes to finances, but the issues go much deeper than just a simple spreadsheet. How do men and women view money differently? What do most couples fight about? How can they get on the same page?

As a mom, you always want to give your best to your family. The Better Mom Devotional will help you focus who you are becoming rather than what you are accomplishing. Find freedom from mom-guilt, the myth of perfection, and the endless to-do list of motherhood and step into your greatest adventure yet: becoming the better mom.

In The Relentless Courage of a Scared Child, Tana Amen shares her incredible story of transformation - of growing up in poverty, a bullied latch-key kid raised on sugary cereal and junk food, to becoming a world-renowned food and fitness expert. Her challenging past of neglect, poverty, sexual abuse, thyroid cancer, and bouts of anxiety and depression set her on a path to find healing. Through her remarkable journey, we see more clearly the light that can shine through our own broken places and ultimately heal us: body, mind, and soul.

When your child has reached (or long since passed) the point of independence, it's difficult to know what your "help" as a parent should look like. Following her best-selling book Setting Boundaries®with Your Adult Children, Allison Bottke offers an in-depth guide to help you connect with your adult child and to build your confidence, knowledge, and hope, as your child walks through challenging situations. Learn how to develop effective strategies to truly help your adult child - without sacrificing your sanity.

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.

Best-selling author Dr. John Townsend teaches you that love can actually be learned and gives you the steps and tools to become skilled in love. Using his trademark stories to flesh out the important principles, Dr. Townsend covers receiving love, connecting love, healing love, confronting love, romantic love, and surrendering love. Through his teaching, listeners will discover - and start enjoying - the words, actions, and experiences of authentic love.

Beyond Integrity offers a balanced approach to a number of concrete ethical issues. Readings from a wide range of sources present competing perspectives on each issue, and real-life case studies further help the listener grapple with ethical dilemmas. The authors want to help the listener arrive at his or her own conclusions. To this end, they provide a decision-making model. They also present, in addition to several views on each topic, a distinctly Christian perspective on each issue under discussion.

One of the church's primary responsibilities is to foster genuine spiritual growth in people's lives. Today's pastors bring tremendous effort and passion to this task, but they are often disappointed by people who sit in the pews for years, knowing about Jesus but never really knowing him. In 2004, Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago undertook a three-year study to measure spiritual growth called the REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey. Over the next six years, additional data was collected from over a quarter million people in well over a thousand churches of every size....

Adolescence now lasts longer than ever before. And as world-renowned expert on adolescent psychology Dr. Laurence Steinberg argues, this makes these years the key period in determining individuals’ life outcomes, demanding that we change the way we parent, educate, and understand young people.

Feeling overwhelmed? You can live a less-stressed life! Reclaim control over your spiritual, emotional, and physical health, and conquer stress today. Incorporating the latest medical findings with the timeless wisdom of the Bible, The New Bible Cure for Stress contains findings that your own doctor never may have told you.

With his usual incisiveness, Os Guinness goes past your superficial understanding to the very heart of what calling means. Far bigger than you job, deeper than your personal accomplishments, higher that you wildest ideas of self-fulfillment, calling addresses the very essence of your existence.

Have More Fun is for anyone who has forgotten that fun is an option. In a world where political dramas and cultural uncertainties churn through our news feed every day, Mandy is here to suggest that the answer to many of the most pressing questions is fun.

For 30 years Randy Alcorn has been encouraging people - young and old - to pursue the rewards of sexual purity. Too often we settle for a compromised Christianity that's just a baptized version of the world's sad existence, rather than the abundant life to which God calls us.