Spiritual Biography

Your faith is a long-distance run, Pastor John Van Pay tells us: an everyday endeavor to follow Jesus that will sometimes feel impossible, even painful. To give us strength, Van Pay retells the inspirational stories of 20 believers in the Bible who persisted, endured, and thrived in their faith by applying the fundamental principles of endurance running to the single most important journey - the journey to loving and following God.

Do we have anything in common with the bad guys of the Bible? The sins of wrath, idolatry, and abuse of power are closer to us than we think. How do we guard against them? We learn not only by following moral exemplars; we also need to look at the warnings of lives gone wrong. In this fictionalized narrative, JR. Forasteros reintroduces us to some of the most villainous characters of Scripture. He shows us what we can learn from their negative examples, with figures such as Cain, Jezebel, and even Satan serving as cautionary tales of sin and temptation.

Moses never wanted to be a leader. Jonah ran away from his mission's call. And when Marcia Moston's husband came home with a call to foreign missions, she was sure God had the wrong number. His call conflicted with her own dreams, demanded credentials she didn't have, and required courage she couldn't seem to find. She promised to follow where God led, but she never thought the road would lead to a Mayan village on a Guatemalan mountainside.

A layout of feature length stories and shorter quotes and testimonials bring the listener a recapturing of the emotional and spiritual experience a person goes through in the powerful event that is a Billy Graham crusade. The power of the true stories, the authentic voices speaking to how their lives were changed, and the echoes of Billy Graham's words create a powerful and deeply spiritual experience.

To many who have discovered his books, C. S. Lewis is more than simply a writer; he has been a spiritual mentor. Here, over 50 Christians share how meeting the mind and imagination of Lewis in his books sparked the beginning or changed the course of their spiritual journey. These inspiring reflections have been shared by ordinary laypeople as well as many well-known leaders and writers.

Stacy traveled the world as a singer and shared the stage with artists such as Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Teddy Pendergrass, Stephanie Mills, Johnny Gill, and a host of others. As she began to mature in age and mind, her desires began to change, and she cried out to God and asked him to fill the void in her life. Soon after, Stacy walked away from the secular music world and dedicated her life to the Lord. Today she is renewed and walking in the destiny that God has set for her life.

Many of us would say it takes guts and a little bit of crazy to step toe-to-toe with a powerful, 1700-pound bull. For hall-of-fame bullfighter, Jeremy Sparks, it took faith. Sparks' remarkable and illustrious journey began at a young age when he received a God-given calling to become a professional bullfighter.

Blindness became Captain Scotty Smiley’s journey of supreme testing. As he lay helpless in the hospital, he resented the theft of his dreams, but with his wife’s love and the support of family and friends, Scotty’s response became God’s transforming moment. Since the moment he forced his way through nurses and cords to take a simple shower, he has climbed Mount Rainier, won an ESPY Award, surfed, skydived, become a father, earned an MBA from Duke, and much more.

A clear,concise and authentic application of how to live the life Christ promised. George Ackron is author, blogger and the director of Renovator Ministries a not for profit parachurch ministry called to help all engage Christ as Master and Teacher, encouraging all to live the Kingdom Now life by knowing the constant presence of Jesus Christ through a life of Christian disciplines. George focuses all his writings on helping the reader access easily and apply Christian principles for the abundant life Christ promised.

Fighting against an addiction to pornography while trying his best to live as a Christian, Matthew Robert Payne is a sinner who has gone through a lot in his efforts to conquer the challenges that life throws at him. In his memoir he speaks of his battle to overcome the past and ensure that he will walk in the future in the grace of God. Yes, there are days when the darkness seems to be gaining ground, but he perseveres and keeps a tight hold to his faith.

Kommt und seht! fordert Jesus zwei seiner späteren Jünger auf. Wer bis zu Jakobus in Santiago de Compostela gewandert ist, möchte doch weitergehen auf Christus zu. Doch auf welchem Weg? Dieses Hörbuch erzählt die Geschichte eines Pilger, der weitergeht und findet: Das Antlitz Christi, das sich von denjenigen schauen lässt, die demütigen Herzens sind. Ein Buch vom Wandern, vom Pilgern, ein Buch von der Suche nach Gott.

Dare to See includes 30 personal essays that illuminate how Brown has found God's presence in her own real-life experiences from early childhood to the present. From being a victim of a drive-by shooting, experiencing incredible career success, or searching for family fulfillment, Brown's stories will resonate with anyone whose life has been touched by doubt, hurt, defeat, understanding, love, abundance and hope. In Dare to See, Brown shows us how to discover God everywhere we go and in nearly everything we do.

Early in Paula's life, she didn't know God, but there was always a pull to something greater. Once she prayed for salvation at the age of 18, Paula finally understood the meaning of grace and purpose, and realized God had been taking care of her the whole time. Paula shares her journey of faith in Something Greater, what she calls "a love letter to God from a messed up Mississippi girl". She details feeling led to a higher calling as a child, how she came to serve others as a female pastor, and what led to being asked to become spiritual advisor to President Donald Trump.

For 25 years, millions of Americans watched Jack Perkins on NBC News as a correspondent, commentator, and anchorman. People were familiar with his face, his bearing, and his rich, reassuring bass. Yet at the age of 52 and at the height of his career, Jack Perkins disappeared from the public eye and moved with his wife, Mary Jo, to a bare-necessities cabin on an uninhabited island off the coast of Maine. This isolated home they came to call Moosewood was the setting for Jack and Mary Jo’s spiritual awakening.

With humor and wit in Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide?, Zacharias unpacks story after story of those who use the name of God as a means to living their own “good life”, as well as some unlikely folks whose genuine faith has led them to a different understanding of wealth.

What if everything the Gospels say about Jesus of Nazareth - his words, his deeds, his plans - turned out to be true? Searching for Jesus changes "what if?" to "what is", debunking the debunkers and showing how the latest scholarship supports orthodox Christian belief.

Unwilling to return to the darkness of her former life, Sherry Gore attacks her faith head on. Soon the life she remakes for herself and her children as she seeks to follow the teachings of the Bible features head coverings, simple dress, and a focus on Jesus Christ. Only then does she realize, in a fit of excitement, that there are others like her. They are called Amish and Mennonite, and she realizes she has found her people.

These are the firsthand accounts of sisters Helen and Barbara Shores about growing up with their father, Arthur Shores, a prominent Civil Rights attorney, during the 60s in the Jim Crow south Birmingham district - a frequent target of the Ku Klux Klan. Between 1948 and 1963, some 50 unsolved Klan bombings happened in Smithfield where the Shores family lived, earning their neighborhood the nickname “Dynamite Hill.” Due to his work, Shores’ daughter, Barbara, barely survived a kidnapping attempt.

In a culture that praises blending in over standing out, productivity over purpose, and noise over truth, many women find their God-given voice compromised, quieted, or even mocked. We all long to live out our divinely designed passions and unique talents, yet too often it becomes so much easier in the face of opposition to stay silent altogether. What if God is calling you to so much more? As a working mom, wife, artist, and abolitionist, Natalie Grant has struggled to live on purpose while battling the worldly demands of keeping up the appearance of perfection.

Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision unpacks this oft-ignored, but essential, element of Toni Morrison's work - her religion - and in so doing, gives listeners a deeper, richer understanding of her life and her writing.