Personal Ministries

Do you ever find yourself stuck in the comparison trap? Speaker and author Richella Parham knows what this feels like. “I couldn’t break free from admiring one person’s achievements, someone else’s personality, another’s skills, yet another’s relationships. And don’t get me started on how I looked at other people’s appearances”, she writes. “I was haunted by the admirable attributes of other people, certain that I could never match their worthiness.”

In The 21-Day Financial Fast, award-winning writer and The Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary proposes a field-tested financial challenge. For 21 days, participants will put away their credit cards and buy only the barest essentials. With Michelle's guidance during this three-week financial fast, you will discover how to break bad spending habits, plot a course to become debt-free with the Debt Dash Plan, avoid the temptation of overspending for college, learn how to prepare elderly relatives and yourself for future long-term care expenses, and more....

If you are currently providing care for your aging parents or facing the prospect of doing so in the near future, you are definitely not alone. Dr. Grant Ethridge and his wife, Tammy, have been there, having given care during their dads' last days. They know the stress and uncertainty you face. Through their story and those of other caregivers, Grant and Tammy share research and practical tips to aid you in dealing with everyday caregiving struggles and situations. You will learn how to decide which care is best, prepare legal documents, handle family disputes, and much more.

Your character, more than anything else, will impact how much you accomplish in this life. It is more important than your talent, your education, your background, or your network of friends. Andy Stanley helps you chart a course toward becoming a man or woman of character. You'll discover a definition of character that will inspire you for a lifetime, the external and internal benefits of strong character, the six false beliefs behind negative behaviors, and more.

What is transgender and gender fluidity? What does God's word actually say about these issues? How can the gospel be good news for someone experiencing gender dysphoria? How should churches respond? This warm, faithful, and careful book helps Christians understand what the Bible says about gender identity. It will help us to engage lovingly, thoughtfully, and faithfully with one of the most explosive cultural discussions of our day. If you want to learn more and love better, and are open to considering what God has to say about sex and gender, this hope-filled book is for you.

The transition from "married" to "married with children" can be tough. Before they know it, a once youthful and energetic married couple finds themselves in a minivan loaded with noisy kids and littered with Cheerios, crusty Sippy cups, banana peels, and missing library books. As much as you love your children and work hard to nurture and train them for the future, the challenges that come with parenthood can make the "for better or for worse" promise a hard one to honor.

Through original poetry, vividly drawn vignettes, and honest reflection, Parrott mixes images of rain and "wasteland" to explore the daily juxtaposition of deluge and desert we all encounter. A conversation about grief and death takes place in lush gardens teeming with life. A prayer, delivered and answered at a dying friend's bedside, leads to bittersweet understanding. And personal confidences ("My flaws and fears are so real, they demand my full attention.") strike a chord in all of us who struggle earnestly, if sometimes defiantly, to see God's purpose in everything.

Your past is not your past if it’s still impacting your present. Do you ever feel as though your life has become a broken record? You’re hearing the same song play over and over again? Nearly every human being on earth has likely spent some time on the carousel of pain. Whether you’re dealing with the guilt and regret of your own sinful choices, or you’re sitting in the shame of someone else’s deceitful actions, God wants to bring you healing.

Of all the teachings of Christianity, the doctrine of hell is easily the most troubling, so much so that in recent years the church has been quietly tucking it away. Rarely mentioned anymore in the pulpit, it has faded through disuse among evangelicals and been attacked by liberal theologians. Hell is no longer only the target of those outside the church. Today, a disturbing number of professing Christians question it as well. Perhaps more than at any other time in history, hell is under fire. The implications of hell make the popular alternatives, annihilationism and universalism, appealing.

Are you busier than you want to be? Than you need to be? Than you are meant to be? It's time to break busy. We are all spread too thin, taking on more than we can handle, trying to do so much - almost as if we are afraid that if we were to take a moment of rest, we might discover that all our busyness is covering up an essential lack in our lives. But God never meant for us to be so busy. God desires for us peace.

We don't know what's coming tomorrow, and usually we live unprepared, just going through the motions of life and practicing a reactive rather than proactive faith. Battle Ready prepares a woman's mind, in advance, for the troubles, opportunities, and invitations of tomorrow, allowing her to build a deep character of determination, resiliency, and faith. Author Kelly Balarie arms listeners with 12 life-altering, love-spreading mindsets that build confidence, grow faith, and increase a spirit of joy.

Have you convinced yourself the abundant life Jesus came to bring is out of reach? Have you developed an "if only" mentality, waiting for something or someone to turn things around? While you become more and more dependent on your excuses, you watch others get what you want to have, go where you want to go, and experience what you long to feel. It seems it's never your turn to experience the joy that comes from attaining all God has for you.

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.

He Speaks in the Silence is the story of Diane Comer's search for the kind of intimacy with God every woman longs for. It is a story of trying to be a good girl, of following the rules, of longing for a satisfaction that eludes us. Disappointed with all Diane had been told was supposed to fulfill her, she begged God in desperation to give her more. And he did. But first he took her through a trial so debilitating it almost destroyed what little faith she had. He let her go deaf.

The Duggars: 20 and Counting! is a behind-the-scenes look at the supersize family that fascinates millions of television viewers around the world. From Idaho to Istanbul, people want to know how Arkansas parents Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar efficiently and lovingly manage 19 happy, home-schooled children without going into debt—or losing their minds!

No relationship is perfect - but it can be better. The secret to stronger relationships isn't to become more charming or funny or to solve the world's problems or to just try harder. All you have to do is listen. It's that simple. Yet our noisy culture hasn't equipped us to do this. With warmth and a touch of humor, personal coach and expert communicator Becky Harling shares simple, practical listening tools that will help you become a person others are drawn to and want to spend time with.

For years, Christians have argued, debated, and fought one another while "speaking the truth in love," yet we are no closer to the grace-filled life Jesus modeled. Biblical scholar and popular podcast host of The Bible for Normal People, Jared Byas casts a new vision for the Christian life that's built not on certainty, but on the risk of love.

Author Michelle Van Loon weaves together personal stories and keen insights on the biblical themes of pilgrimage and exile. She will help you embrace your own pilgrim identity and reorient your heart toward the God who leads you home. Engaging and thoughtful, enhanced with practical suggestions, prayers, and questions, Born to Wander will teach how to trust God even when you don’t understand what’s happening around you and follow him even when it hurts. Embrace the purpose behind the wandering and discover the freedom and safety of resting in God alone.

Author Bob Buford called them "code breakers". They are people age 40 and older who have pioneered the art of finishing well in these modern times, and who can teach us to do the same, starting today. Buford sought out 60 of these trailblazers - including Peter Drucker, Roger Staubach, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Dallas Willard - and has recorded their lively conversations in this audiobook so that they can serve as "mentors" for all of us.

In this best-selling memoir, Marla Frees reveals her extraordinary life journey from a small-town girl in a troubled family to a stage and TV actress and ultimately one of the country’s most respected transformational psychic mediums. Her tales of a harrowing childhood, burgeoning career in Hollywood, and astounding psychic and spiritual adventures along the way reveal the resilience and heights of the human spirit. U.S. military psychic spies, homicide cases, messages from the other side, spiritual healing.