Great Non Fiction Bargains

Bill Hull

When Jesus called his disciples he embraced fishermen and tax collectors and turned them into some of the most influential men to ever live. Can modern church leaders empower regular people to meet their potential as servants of God?

The standard resource in disciplemaking for over twenty years, Jesus Christ, Disciplemaker outlines Christ's methods in training his twelve disciples and presents a biblical pattern that emulates Christ's model for reaching the lost. This updated edition includes new insights from the author's twenty years of helping churches make disciples from ordinary church members.

"This book deserves attention by anyone serious about making Christian disciples."-Robert Coleman, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

David Gregory

What if a fascinating stranger knew you better than you know yourself?

When her husband comes home with a farfetched story about eating dinner with someone he believes to be Jesus, Mattie Cominsky thinks this may signal the end of her shaky marriage. Convinced that Nick is, at best, turning into a religious nut, the self-described agnostic hopes that a quick business trip will give her time to think things through.

On board the plane, Mattie strikes up a conversation with a fellow passenger. When she discovers their shared scorn for religion, she confides her frustration over her husband’s recent conversion. The stranger suggests that perhaps her husband isn’t seeking religion but true spiritual connection, an idea that prompts her to reflect on her own search for fulfillment.

As their conversation turns to issues of spiritual longing and deeper questions about the nature of God, Mattie finds herself increasingly drawn to this insightful stranger. But when the discussion unexpectedly turns personal, touching on things she’s never told anyone, Mattie is startled and disturbed. Who is this man who seems to peer straight into her soul?



Available in Audio
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Shaunti Feldhahn & Lisa A. Rice

For Parents Only: Getting Inside the Head of Your Kid
For every bewildered parent, there’s a kid longing to be understood.

What parent hasn’t occasionally looked at their beloved but bewildering offspring and wondered, What in the world is he thinking? or Why is my sweet little girl acting like that?

In this remarkable book, Shaunti Feldhahn and Lisa Rice take you inside the mind of teens and preteens through the same innovative approach that seized national attention in the best-selling books For Women Only, For Men Only, and For Young Women Only. They explore the results of a nationwide survey and personal interviews with more than 1,000 real-life teens and tweens to tackle those things parents often don’t “get” about their kids. You’ll hear first-hand about the longings that drive your kids’ seemingly illogical decisions, the truth behind those exasperating “attitude problems,” and what your children would tell you if they could trust you to truly listen.

Erwin McManus

The Future Is Waiting Within You

The alarm sounds. Your feet hit the floor and carry you into another day. But what does that day hold for you? Will you be punching your card at work, catching up on TV at home, and crashing into bed before you rinse and repeat the next day? Or will you dare to dig deep and discover the incredible potential lying dormant within us all?

In Wide Awake, renowned speaker and church visionary Erwin Raphael McManus challenges us to put an end to all the sleepwalking and settling, for each of us was created by God for a reason. He has called you to live as Jesus did—a heroic life, void of monotony, teeming with danger, adventure, and the unknown. Living wide awake is about realizing that the world desperately needs you to live up to your potential.

There is a future that needs to be created, and it is waiting for us all to wake up and get out of bed. The alarm has sounded, and it is time to shake off the slumber.

It’s time to live, to create, to imagine, to dream . . . Wide Awake.

Pub. Date:  July 2008
View more by Erwin McManus

Dr. Linda Mintle

Raising Healthy Kids in an Unhealthy World teaches parents how to raise healthy kids in an over-scheduled, fast-food, video-game world by making simple choices, easy changes, and instilling good habits that will improve everyone's life today and forever.

Previously titled Overweight Kids, this positive, practical, and inspirational guide will help parents find spiritual and behavioral solutions to help their kids achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Acclaimed specialist, Dr. Linda Mintle, gives parents the information and encouragement they need to raise happy, healthy kids. As childhood obesity rises to epidemic proportions, every parent is faced with challenges that were not an issue a decade ago. Dr. Mintle addresses the toxic environment that impacts every family-overscheduling, eating on the run, sedentary options instead of active play, even school systems that no longer include physical activity. She then presents real life solutions that have immediate and long-term results for every family.

Pub. Date:  June 2008
View more by Dr. Linda Mintle

Robert J. Keeley

You can guide children to a deeper, life-long faith

Whether you are a Sunday school teacher, volunteer, leader, or parent, you and your church play a vital role in nurturing children's faith. In this practical book, you will find six principles for fostering the kind of three-dimensional faith that affects a child's head, heart, and spirit. Glean from both theory and theology to explore how to:

• make your children's ministry effective
• distinguish between building faith and teaching morals
• tailor your teaching to children's developmental levels
• give children a faith foundation that stands through doubts and questions
• balance age-specific programs with the full life of the church

Helping Our Children Grow in Faith offers great ideas for turning your church into a child-friendly community--a place where children develop faith that affects every aspect of their lives.

Willard F. Harley, Jr.

Revised and Expanded Edition

Protecting Your Marriage from Habits That Destroy Romantic Love

Are you loosing the "chemistry" you once had? Is sex becoming a burden? Do you bring out the worst in each other? Are you arguing a lot more lately? Are you growing apart?

Then you need Love Busters. Marriage expert Dr. Willard F. Harley, Jr., identifies six Love Busters that pull marriages apart and shows how you and your spouse can learn to avoid them.

You will see that once Love Busters are eliminated, conflicts over friends and relatives, career choices and time management, financial planning, children, or sex will be much easier to resolve.

The strength of your marriage depends on the passion you share for each other. So stop destroying the feeling of love and discover, instead, how to build your love with care and with time.

See more by Willard F. Harley, Jr.

Melody Carlson

A well-hidden secret has haunted Colleen for twenty years. Her husband made her promise she would never speak of it again, but now he's gone and life seems so out of control. Will her fragile relationship with her adult son Jamie survive the truth she's hidden for so long?

Jamie has a few secrets of his own--like his desire to pursue his music. But as with many things in his life, it isn't going very well. Why doesn't he seem to fit in anywhere?

When Jamie announces his plans to join the military, Colleen decides it's time for the two of them to take a trip together--to Ireland. But will this trip cost her the very relationship she's trying to save? The truth they discover could change their lives in a way neither ever thought possible. This will be a Christmas they will never forget.

Minton Sparks

Desperate Ransom: Setting Her Family Free

"Time changes nothing, girl, but the size of your underwear...and hopefully your hairdo."

Minton Sparks unique brand of performance art has brought the rural South to life for the many fans who flock to her shows and relive them through her audio releases. Now, the Grammy-nominated artist has committed some of her most popular poems and stories to print. The thirty pieces collected here veer from heartbreak to hilarity and back again, as Sparks shares her memories of growing up in small-town Tennessee. This unusual family may not walk the straight and narrow, but they're guaranteed to walk straight into your heart and mind, and linger. Like an old-time preacher, Sparks draws her audience in with compelling storytelling while leaving them with something essential to ponder.

Desperate Ransom takes readers on a journey into the heart of an extraordinary family, demonstrating once again that Sparks is a ground-breaking artist--and a true American treasure.

Faith and family are impetus for both trouble and solace in this poet's work.

Fans will love this if they:

    * Are fans of Southern fiction like Widow of the South
    * Own books by Flannery O'Connor or Walker Percy
    * Like Allison Kraus or Gillian Welch
    * Appreciate Louisiana catfish and Alabama fried chicken

Jim Burns

To counter the usual trial-and-error method of parenting, Jim Burns offers time-tested advice and strategies for today's busy families. Infused with his signature candidness and practicality, each chapter explores a different aspect of parenting--from breaking generational chains of dysfunction and creating a warm atmosphere at home to handling discipline issues and blessing your children with a legacy of faith. Helpful follow-up exercises and questions along the way reinforce the basics of good parenting and provide a foundation for developing your own family plan.

You won't find any quick fixes here, but you will learn how to make a positive difference in your family.

Pub. Date:  June 2009
View more by:  Jim Burns

Julie Barnhill

One Tough Mother: It's Time to Step Up and Be the Mom

As a mom, you get a lot of advice. TV shows, magazines, friends, your own mother (and mother-in-law) are all telling you the best way to raise your kids. But all of this well-meaning counsel can paralyze you. Julie Barnhill says, "Enough already!"

Unapologetically raucous and refreshingly relevant, One Tough Mother gives you ten nonnegotiable ways to stand firm and be the mom. With a sharp wit, Julie offers you a dose of reality and a way to calm your fears about raising children. She shows you how to

    * take joy in your child
    * say no like you mean it
    * stop over-analyzing every tiny detail
    * communicate truthfully and effectively with your child
    * save yourself from scrapbooking madness
    * and more

You can be confident, loving, and in charge. Are you ready to become one tough mother?

Chap Clark & Dee Clark

Disconnected: Parenting Teens in a MySpace World

Chap and Dee Clark equip parents with an up-to-date, realistic parenting book that doesn???t ignore the harsh realities of adolescent life.

View more titles by Chap Clark.

Will Davis

Why Faith Makes Sense: Reasons You Can Believe God Is Real



I think, therefore I believe

Christians are often made to feel stupid, gullible, even irrational for their beliefs. After all, isn't the Bible for uneducated people? Hasn't science eliminated the need for God?

Not even close...

Why Faith Makes Sense shows that believing isn't foolish at all. It counters common objections and encourages your faith by examining:

    * why the Bible is a trustworthy source
    * six holes in the evolutionary theory
    * the problem with Humanism
    * how faith and reason fit together
    * the undeniable evidence for God

Ignorance of God produces unbelief; knowledge of God increases faith. Why Faith Makes Sense invites you to a new level of thought where you will discover that faith is not only reasonable, it's the only logical choice.

Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones

An Emergent Manifesto of Hope is a coming together of divergent voices into a collection of writings that will bring you into the latest thinking of the emerging church. You will have a front-row seat as both established leaders and up-and-comers in this influential international movement grapple with how to be faithful Christians in today's ever-changing cultural context. More than twenty-five contributors present honest, compelling, and at times highly personal reflections on topics like spiritual formation, social justice, sex, church and community, evangelism, racial reconciliation, postcolonialism, and the Bible.

Publication Date:     Jul. 08

Barry Minkow

Down, But Not Out: 10 Steps for Rebuilding Your Life, Your Career (and all that other stuff)

Everyone's had a bad day, some of us have had a lot worse. But as Barry Minkow shows in this inspirational and empowering book, you can come back from anything. He started from jail-and millions in debt. You might be starting from a wrecked marriage. Or a business gone belly up. Whatever your failure, you can overcome and get beyond it starting today. In Down, But Not Out, Barry explains the 10 all-important steps you need to succeed in the process. You may not end up helping the FBI bust investment fraud like Barry does today, but you can turn your life around and get back on the road to success. Barry shows you how.

Wesley Sharpe

Help your child reach his or her potential in school.

Whether your child loves to learn or struggles in school, you can help him or her get the most out of education. In an easy-to-use format, Wesley Sharpe offers you valuable tips, checklists, and strategies for
    * Discovering your child's learning style
    * Utilizing homework strategies
    * Promoting creative thinking
    * Teaching family values

In addition, get suggestions on
    * Maintaining safety from bullies and on the Internet
    * Taking charge of ADHD
    * Recognizing and treating childhood depression
    * Dealing with school phobia
    * Contemplating homeschooling
    * Considering special education

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to find practical information that will help your child succeed in school, look no further! The ABCs of School Success is the resource that takes the mystery out of education and makes school a positive experience for your child.

Pub. Date: July 2008

Kester Brewin

Signs of Emergence: A Vision for Church That Is Always Organic/ Networked/ Decentralized/ Bottom-Up/ Communal/ Flexible/ Always Evolving

Many in the church are recognizing that traditional "top-down" structures are no longer functional. The church is seen as an institution that is out of touch, ignored by the very people it seeks to serve, and unaware of the opportunities for ministry that exist as the interest in things spiritual rises. Signs of Emergence challenges the church to face its fears and take a bold step toward doing things in a completely new way--to adopt an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, approach to change.

Drawing on the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ, as well as urban theory, art, and social practice, Kester Brewin calls the church to dispense with tired structures and re-emerge as a networked, bottom-up organism that is responsive to the needs found in the urban environment. This unique book will be of interest to pastors, church leadership, and consultants.

Author Information: Kester Brewin is a writer and pioneering church planter based in London, England. In emerging church circles he is best known for working with a collective of artists and city lovers to create the experimental, alternative worship group Vaux. Brewin has worked in an advisory role at Fuller Theological Seminary, helping them to think about new ways of training Emerging leaders.

Stephen Arterburn and John Shore

Being Christian.  What does that mean?  And how do you do it?

However you answer those questions--even if the answer is "I don't have a clue!"--you need this book. Here Steve Arterburn and John Shore tackle some simple, but also complex, questions that just about everyone has about being Christian. And they do so using everyday language. Here you'll find real questions, like

    How do I know God loves me personally?
    Is there any sin that's beyond forgiving?
    Will being a Christian help me get rid of my bad habits?
    Why are there so many Christian denominations?
    Should I join a Bible study group?

Wherever you happen to be along the faith continuum, this book is for you. For some, it will be an introduction to Christian beliefs and practices. For others, it will be an in-depth review. The authors say, "We asked a lot of people, and did a lot of thinking and praying, in order to come up with the questions about Christianity and its attending issues that we feel even the most experienced Christians sometimes want answered."

Pub. Date:  September 2008

Winn Collier

There's nothing quite like a pointed question to elicit an honest answer.

Jesus knew this. He used convicting questions throughout his ministry--not to find out something he didn't know but to probe into people's deepest, most unsettled places. In Holy Curiosity, Winn Collier leads us to encounter Jesus in a new way by helping us face Jesus' questions in the Gospels, including:

    Why are you afraid?
    Are you being willfully stupid?
    Do you believe this?
    Why do you doubt?

We quickly see that we are no different from those Jesus questioned--the grieving and hopeless sister, the fearful friend, the power-crazed hypocrite, or the wallowing invalid. And the questions are just as relevant and life-changing to us today.

Collier shows us that Jesus' motivation in asking such provocative questions is true friendship and fierce love. If we allow ourselves to grapple with the issues these questions raise, we will emerge better able to embrace the life-giving power Jesus offers.

Pub. Date: October 2008