Pastoral Resources

Jim Putnam & Bobby Harrington

Over the last thirty years, many influential church leaders and church planters in America have adopted various models for reaching unchurched people. An “attractional” model will seek to attract people to a local church. Younger leaders may advocate a more “missional” approach, in which believers live and work among unchurched people and intentionally seek to serve like Christ. While each of these approaches have merit, something is still missing, something even more fundamental to the mission of the church: discipleship.
Making disciples---helping people to trust and follow Jesus---is the church’s God-given mandate. Devoted disciples attract people outside the church because of the change others see in their Christ-like lives. And discipleship empowers Christians to be more like Christ as they intentionally develop relationship with non-believers.
DiscipleShift walks you through five key “shifts” that churches must make to refocus on the biblical mission of discipleship. These intentional changes will attract the world and empower your church members to be salt and light in their communities.
Pub Date: May 2013

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie's Essentials Bible Study looks at fundamental topics that every Christian needs to know about: the person of God, heaven and hell, evangelism and prayer, and the end times. As a companion to the Essentials book or used on its own, this Bible study will help you gain deeper knowledge about living life as a Christian.
Pub Date: May 2013

Briana & Amy Bloye

It's Personal is about the personal side of planting a new church and the impact that launching a new ministry has on church planters and their families. Brian and Amy Bloye---a husband and wife team of seasoned church planters, dive headfirst into the challenges of keeping a marriage healthy, raising children, and finding the right balance between family and ministry. They talk candidly about the reality of spiritual warfare, the common difficulties of leading a new church, and the problems that planters face in staffing, dealing with criticism, building friendships, and maintaining spiritual vitality and authenticity. This helpful and encouraging resource warns couples of the most common pitfalls to avoid when planting a church and offers a unique perspective on building a strong, prevailing ministry while also having a healthy family life. Each chapter includes intimate interviews with church planting couples who share some of their personal joys and struggles, giving you practical, authentic insight into the real-life issues that families face when planting a church.

James M. Houston & Michael Parker

James M. Houston and Michael Parker believe now is the time for the church to offer ministry to its increasing numbers of seniors and to benefit from ministry they can offer. They issue an urgent call to reconceive the place and part of the elderly in the local congregation, showing that seniors aren't the problem--they are the solution.

Dr. Mark Rutland

Drawing from his remarkable experience turning around two universities and a mega-church, Dr. Mark Rutland guides leaders through the hard, dangerous work of turning failure into success.
The paralyzing problems of debt, mistrust, declining numbers, and deferred maintenance can be overwhelming. In ReLaunch, Dr. Rutland shows church and business leaders how to.
-Cast a vision while facing reality.
-Align market, message, and medium.
-Transform corporate culture.
-Lead from Quality to Excellence.
-Re-Energize and lead a board.
In ReLaunch, Rutland states, “This book is for the rugged visionaries who see in the wreckage a hope for the future and are willing to pay the price for a relaunch.”
Pub Date: Feb 2013

Hugh Halter

Written for those who are trying to nurture authentic faith communities and for those who have struggled to retain their faith, "The Tangible Kingdom" offers theological answers and real-life stories that demonstrate how the best ancient church practices can re-emerge in today's culture, through any church of any size. In this remarkable book, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay "two missional leaders and church planters" outline an innovative model for creating thriving grass-roots faith communities.

Mark Buchanan

Your Church is Too Safe is a biblical reflection and roadmap to making the earthly church more like the heavenly Kingdom it is called to represent. Part celebration and part manifesto, this pull-no-punches book by veteran pastor Mark Buchanan is a plea for churches to return to their roots: to be both good news and bad news, an aroma and a stench ... a disruptive force to whoever or whatever opposes the Kingdom of God. "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also." - Acts 17:6 That was the startled cry, circa 50 AD, from a hastily assembled mob in Thessalonica. Paul and Silas had been arrested for preaching the gospel. They were viewed as revolutionaries, dangerous men who were upsetting the status quo and inciting riots. But they were just two ordinary men, walking in the power of God, sharing a simple message of his love and grace. It's been a while since we've seen the likes of this. If you ever find church boring or you believe something is missing from our churches today, you aren't alone. Mark Buchanan believes there is a visible gap between the life Jesus offered to us and the life we're living, between the church Jesus envisioned and the church we see today. When Jesus announced that the Kingdom was at hand, this can't be what he meant. Instead of counting everything loss to be found in Christ, we've made it our priority to be safe instead of dangerous, nice instead of holy. Author and pastor Mark Buchanan believes that we need to recover a simple idea: that God meant his church to be both good news and bad news, an aroma and a stench - a disruptive force to whoever or whatever opposes the Kingdom of God and a healing, liberating power to those who seek it.

George Barna

Most leadership in today’s churches comes from “solo practitioners”--individuals who bear the burden of providing all the direction the ministry they direct requires. Inevitably, this results not only in burned-out leaders, but underutilized lay people who merely attend and observe rather than becoming actively engaged in ministry, growing in discipleship, and freeing professional staff to focus on pastoral priorities. In The Power of Team Leadership, noted researcher George Barna demonstrates the incredible difference lay-team leadership can make in a church’s ministry. Based on Barna’s latest national studies, the book sets forth clearly what churches need to know in order to recruit, train, and deploy lay leadership teams for maximum effectiveness in the Kingdom of God. “We have developed an unreasonable notion of what a leader should do. Who could possibly meet such a range of disparate expectations? Leadership works best when it is provided by teams of gifted leaders working together in pursuit of a clear and compelling vision.” –George Barna

Josh McDowell

This outreach program contains everything a church needs for equipping its members to effectively and convincingly share their faith with others. Perfect for a campaign leading up to Easter, More Than a Carpenter Evangelism Campaign Kit contains the following:

    * DVD (approx. 90 minutes long) with introductions to six sessions hosted by Josh and Sean McDowell
    * 47-page Leaders Guide (PDF format)
    * Church promotional kit (PDF format)
    * Sample outreach booklet with door hanger bag (contains My Journey . . . from Skepticism to Faith, Josh McDowell’s personal conversion story)
    * Quick Start Guide

Additional door hanger bags are available in a 100-pack (978-1414334417). Additional copies of My Journey . . . from Skepticism to Faith are available in packs of 30 (978-1414334394).

Pub Date Jan 2010