Fight for Your Pastor


Book Description

Practical Ways to Support and Care for Your Pastor Do you pray for your pastors? Do you encourage them? Do you have realistic expectations for them? The office of pastor is simultaneously a rewarding and draining position. Pastors today have immense pressure on their shoulders and they need the support of their congregations. Peter Orr has written Fight for Your Pastor as an exhortation for church members to stand behind their pastors through the difficulties of ministry. Orr specifies ways in which congregations can be intentional in caring for church leaders, including prayer, encouragement, generosity, and forgiveness. Featuring stories from current pastors about their struggles, this book is perfect for thoughtful church members eager to understand the weight of their pastors' positions and support leaders in their important ministry. For Thoughtful Christians: Specifically those wanting to know more about their pastors and how to care for them Current: Features insight from pastors about their personal experiences in ministry Applicable: Gives practical examples of how to love and care for pastors, including specific prayers for church leaders and the best ways to encourage them










Still Time to Care


Book Description

At the start of the gay rights movement in 1969, evangelicalism's leading voices cast a vision for gay people who turn to Jesus. It was C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, Francis Schaeffer and John Stott who were among the most respected leaders within theologically orthodox Protestantism. We see with them a positive pastoral approach toward gay people, an approach that viewed homosexuality as a fallen condition experienced by some Christians who needed care more than cure. With the birth and rise of the ex-gay movement, the focus shifted from care to cure. As a result, there are an estimated 700,000 people alive today who underwent conversion therapy in the United States alone. Many of these patients were treated by faith-based, testimony-driven parachurch ministries centered on the ex-gay script. Despite the best of intentions, the movement ended with very troubling results. Yet the ex-gay movement died not because it had the wrong sex ethic. It died because it was founded on a practice that diminished the beauty of the gospel. Yet even after the closure of the ex-gay umbrella organization Exodus International in 2013, the ex-gay script continues to walk about as the undead among us, pressuring people like me to say, "I used to be gay, but I'm not gay anymore. Now I'm just same-sex attracted." For orthodox Christians, the way forward is a path back to where we were forty years ago. It is time again to focus with our Neo-Evangelical fathers on care--not cure--for our non-straight sisters and brothers who are living lives of costly obedience to Jesus. With warmth and humor as well as original research, Still Time to Care will chart the path forward for our churches and ministries in providing care. It will provide guidance for the gay person who hears the gospel and finds themselves smitten by the life-giving call of Jesus. Woven throughout the book will be Richard Lovelace’s 1978 call for a "double repentance" in which gay Christians repent of their homosexual sins and the church repents of its homophobia--putting on display for all the power of the gospel.




A Guide to Prayer for All God's People


Book Description

A compilation of scripture, prayers and spiritual readings, this inexhaustible resource contains thematically arranged material for each week of the year and for monthly personal retreats. Its contents have made it a sought-after desk reference, a valuable library resource, and a cherished companion. Includes excerpts from such writers as Thomas Merton, Evelyn Underhill, Albert Schweitzer, Eugene Peterson, Esther de Waal, Thérèse of Lisieux, and many others.




Pray for the Flock


Book Description

“Brothers, pray for us.” (1 Thessalonians 5:25). The Apostle Paul’s letters are filled with references to prayer—requests for prayer from the churches, prayers for them, and teaching and encouragement that God was working through these prayers. Pastors and church leaders know that prayer is powerful and it must be a priority in any ministry, yet many pastors struggle to maintain an active prayer life. Even more difficult is the challenge of praying for the flock, lifting up the needs of the people God has placed in your care. The Practical Shepherding series of guides provides pastors and ministry leaders with practical help to do the work of pastoral ministry in a local church. In Pray for the Flock, pastors Brian Croft and Ryan Fullerton provide biblical encouragement, practical advice, and helpful suggestions that will help busy pastors effectively pray for their people and care for their church through the ministry of intercession.




Gospel


Book Description

Could the gospel be lost in evangelical churches? In this book, J.D. Greear shows how moralism and legalism have often eclipsed the gospel, even in conservative churches. Gospel cuts through the superficiality of religion and reacquaints you with the revolutionary truth of God's gracious acceptance of us in Christ. The gospel is the power of God, and the only true source of joy, freedom, radical generosity, and audacious faith. The gospel produces in us what religion never could: a heart that desires God. The book’s core is a “gospel prayer” by which you can saturate yourself in the gospel daily. Dwelling on the gospel will release in you new depths of passion for God and take you to new heights of obedience to Him. Gospel gives you an applicable, exciting vision of how God will use you to bring His healing to the world.




Prayer Shield


Book Description

Right now, someone you know is in desperate need of your prayers. It's the person out on the front line, leading God's army into the world to proclaim His good news. Pastors, teachers, and all types of leaders are under severe attack from the enemy. And they're depending on the prayers of those who care to help see them through. You can help these leaders by reinforcing them through intercessory prayer. In this book, Peter Wagner not only teaches the biblical basis for intercessory prayer, but also shares who is and who isn't an intercessor, why leaders themselves often don't pray enough, what the three types of personal intercessors are, and how you can recruit prayer partners. The Prayer Shield is a complete guide to becoming a personal intercessor. Discover how you can impart God's strength and protection in support of those advancing the Kingdom of God here on earth.




Healing


Book Description

The million-copy bestselling introduction to the healing ministry, re-issued with a beautiful new cover. Does healing happen today? Why is there prejudice against the healing ministry? Why are some people not healed? These topical and vital questions are just some of the issues addressed by Francis MacNutt in Healing. A wideranging and broad-based overview, it is essential reading for all involved in the healing ministry. 'Prayer for healing is so central to the gospel, ' writes MacNutt, 'that it should be an integral part of the life of every community of believers. My heart cries out to see it restored to the place it had in the early Christian church.