Spiritual Biography

Despite his deep desire to overcome mental illness and lead others out of their own pain, pastor Andrew Stoecklein died by suicide at the age of 30. In the wake of the tragedy, his widow, Kayla, embarked on a journey to better understand Andrew’s harrowing battle, come alongside those with similar struggles, and help the church overcome the stigma of suicide.

In Help from Heaven, Carlos Vivas shares a story of hope and love as he describes the true events surrounding his near-death experience and the miracles he continues to witness since that day. Through nature and spiritual messages, Vivas describes how God not only saved him, he also transformed him.

More than 50 years after her death, Eleanor Roosevelt is remembered as a formidable first lady and tireless social activist. Often overlooked, however, is her deep and inclusive spirituality. Her personal faith was shaped by reading the New Testament in her youth, giving her a Jesus - centered spirituality that fueled her commitment to civil rights, women's rights, and the rights of all "little people" marginalized in American society. She took seriously Jesus's words and despite her life of privilege, she made the needs of those on the margins her priority.

Here, for the first time, is the spiritual odyssey of this remarkable artist. Mining Lennon’s lyrics, poetry, prose, and interviews, Gary Tillery tracks his thinking as it evolved from his troubled, working-class childhood throughout his many roles as Beatle, peacenik, and social activist.

Women today feel a constant pressure to improve themselves and just never feel like they’re “enough.” All too often, they live their daily lives disheartened, disillusioned, and disappointed. That’s because joy doesn’t come from a new self-improvement strategy; it comes from rooting their identity in who God says they are and what he has done on their behalf.

Before May 31, 2008, September Vaudrey's life was beautiful. But on that day, with one phone call from the ER, her whole world - everything she knew and believed - was shaken to the core. Katie, her 19-year-old artist daughter, had been in a car accident and would not survive. How does a family live in the wake of devastating tragedy? When darkness colors every moment, is it possible to find light? Can God still be good, even after goodbye?

Evangelical pastor Ed Dobson chronicles his year of living like Jesus and obeying his teachings. Dobson's transition from someone who follows Jesus to someone who lives like Jesus takes him into bars, inspires him to pick up hitchhikers, and deepens his understanding of suffering. As Dobson discovers, living like Jesus is quite different from what we imagine.

Pastor and scholar Patrick Henry Reardon travels through the Gospel narratives to discover the real Jesus, to see him through the eyes of those who knew him best—the apostles, his community, believers who vividly portrayed him in stories filtered through their own faith. Through these living, breathing accounts, we contemplate who God’s Son really was and is—and we understand how he came to redeem and sanctify every aspect of every human life.

In 1971, at age 20, Visakha had just published her first book and was beginning her ascent to fame and fortune through a career in photojournalism. Then, at the invitation of her college boyfriend, Visakha traveled east, where she first learned about bhakti yoga - the yoga of devotion - from a simple Indian sage. The bhakti tradition seemed irrelevant to Visakha. Five Years, Eleven Months and a Lifetime of Unexpected Love is Visakha’s deeply personal account of the emotional upheaval caused by her doubting her own cherished convictions....

Grammy-winning gospel singer, television star, and radio host Erica Campbell speaks to women of all shapes and sizes, demonstrating that true beauty is found not in external appearances, but in celebrating the person God made you to be.

Coupled with dialogue from the We Were Soldiers, personal interviews and Biblical truth, The Battle will walk you through the techniques, tactics, and procedures of any successful campaign - including winning the battle as a father, husband, and man of God.

Between Heaven & Hollywood is David's inspirational journey from the wheat fields of his Mennonite home outside of Dodge City, Kansas, to the bright lights of Los Angeles. This story of perseverance will assure you that your dreams aren't frivolous. They might be the most important part of your life.

Enlightening, revelatory, and bold, Beyond Jesus reveals how our political and religious institutions are an outward manifestation of the inner beliefs we hold about who we are, and that beneath the layers of dogma about Jesus lies a key to our spiritual evolution and the astonishing possibility it holds for the future.

What Catholic guy made money as an organ-grinder's assistant, spent one-on-one time with John Paul II, met a very nice Thai prostitute, and confessed his sins on a beanbag chair? Lino Rulli, of course!

At a time when we are all more rudderless than ever, we look for the very best teachers and mentors to guide us. In Fully Alive, an unusual and gripping memoir, Timothy Shriver shows how his teachers have been the world's most forgotten minority: people with intellectual disabilities. In these pages we meet the individuals who helped him come of age and find a deeper and more meaningful way to see the world.

The remarkable true story of the miraculous journey that made the Dalai Lama into the man he is today and sparked the fight for Tibetan freedom. In the early weeks of 1959, a bloody uprising gripped the streets of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa as ragtag Tibetan rebels faced off against their Communist Chinese occupiers. Realizing that the impending battle would result in a bloodbath and his own capture, the young Dalai Lama began planning an audacious escape to India, a two-week journey.

In Coming Clean, Seth Haines writes a raw account of his first 90 days of sobriety, illuminating how to face the pain we’d rather avoid, and even more importantly, how an abiding God meets us in that pain. Seth shows us that true wholeness is found in facing our pain and anxieties with the tenacity and tenderness of Jesus, and only through Christ's passion can we truly come clean.

“You were like this once. What did you do to get better?” A day out from a mental institution, a woman devastated by flashbacks from childhood trauma poses this question to her big brother. Within a few weeks, she took her own life. This book is the answer that her brother wished he could have offered. Spiritual director and professor Frank Rogers had been there. As a young adult, he too was tormented by trauma suffered in the same family.

"Benedict XVI was a spiritual master," writes Robert Cardinal Sarah of his longtime mentor, after his death early 2023. "His very precise and profound theological thought is rooted in an authentic mystical and spiritual experience." This book offers not an academic analysis of Ratzinger's intellectual work, but a personal sketch of the "soul of Joseph Ratzinger", a glimpse into "the secret recesses of his heart". In He Gave Us So Much, Cardinal Sarah traces the spiritual contours of Ratzinger's life and thought, revealing the image of a man on fire with love for God and neighbor.

One thing I have learned is that I love writing. Though I had the desire to compose with words from an early age, it wasn't until the last eleven years that I found the time to begin to put thought and words into some kind of form. I had written plays, lyrics to songs, and tons of letters, but more philosophical things sat unwritten in the deeper recesses of my mind. Then one day I was asked to write something of spiritual encouragement for a monthly church bulletin.