Becoming the Good News


Book Description

Perhaps you have seen the signs of the times. Religious faith, on the whole, is declining, and the number of those claiming no religious affiliation is rising. In the face of this, evangelization initiatives permeate the mission and vision statements of Catholic dioceses and parishes across the country, but many of these initiatives are hampered by a strict sense of the tradition. They tend to be an all-or-nothing approach to evangelization, and include some questionable understandings of God, the church, and the world. In Becoming the Good News, Michael Sanem shares an authentically Catholic approach to parish evangelization, grounded in the rich and diverse tradition to which we belong. We the church, as the people of God, are all called, in the common priesthood of all the baptized, to consecrate this world to God in the way we encounter, accompany, and invite people into deeper relationship with Christ. We are called not only to proclaim the good news but to become the good news in a world that desperately needs it.




Jesus and His Death


Book Description

Recent scholarship on the historical Jesus has rightly focused upon how Jesus understood his own mission. But no scholarly effort to understand the mission of Jesus can rest content without exploring the historical possibility that Jesus envisioned his own death. In this careful and far-reaching study, Scot McKnight contends that Jesus did in fact anticipate his own death, that Jesus understood his death as an atoning sacrifice, and that his death as an atoning sacrifice stood at the heart of Jesus' own mission to protect his own followers from the judgment of God.




The Gospel-Driven Life


Book Description

In his well-received Christless Christianity Michael Horton offered a prophetic wake-up call for a self-centered American church. With The Gospel-Driven Life he turns from the crisis to the solutions, offering his recommendations for a new reformation in the faith, practice, and witness of contemporary Christianity. This insightful book will guide readers in reorienting their faith and the church's purpose toward the good news of the gospel. The first six chapters explore that breaking news from heaven, while the rest of the book focuses on the kind of community that the gospel generates and the surprising ways in which God is at work in the world. Here is fresh news for Christians who are burned out on hype and are looking for hope.




It's Only Temporary


Book Description

A memoir by the actor who played Harry Goldenblatt in "Sex and the City" documents his survival of a seemingly incurable form of leukemia, his life philosophy, positive outlook, and relationships with his friends and family.




Good News, Bad News


Book Description

Good news, Rabbit and Mouse are going on a picnic. Bad news, it is starting to rain. Good news, Rabbit has an umbrella. Bad news, the stormy winds blow the umbrella (and Mouse!) into a tree. So begins this clever story about two friends with very different dispositions. Using just four words, Jeff Mack has created a text with remarkable flair that is both funny and touching, and pairs perfectly with his energetic, and hilarious, illustrations. Good news, this is a book kids will clamor to read again and again!




Saturate


Book Description

What does living for Jesus look like in the everyday stuff of life? Many Christians have unwittingly embraced the idea that “church” is a once-a-week event rather than a community of Spirit-empowered people; that “ministry” is what pastors do on Sundays rather than the 24/7 calling of all believers; and that “discipleship” is a program rather than the normal state of every follower of Jesus. Drawing on his experience as a pastor and church planter, Jeff Vanderstelt wants us to see that there’s more—much more—to the Christian life than sitting in a pew once a week. God has called his people to something bigger: a view of the Christian life that encompasses the ordinary, the extraordinary, and everything in between. Packed full of biblical teaching, compelling stories, and real-world advice, this book will remind you that Jesus is filling the world with his presence through the everyday lives of everyday people... People just like you.




Simply Good News


Book Description

The Gospel means good news, but what makes it news? If the message has been around for 2,000 years, what could possibly be newsworthy about it? And what makes it good? Surely not the stories we hear of damnation, violence, and an angry God. Tom Wright believes many Christians have lost sight of what the ‘good news’ of the gospel really is. In Simply Good News, he shows how a first-century audience would have received the gospel message, what the ‘good news’ means for us today and how it can transform our lives.




Gay Girl, Good God


Book Description

“I used to be a lesbian.” In Gay Girl, Good God, author Jackie Hill Perry shares her own story, offering practical tools that helped her in the process of finding wholeness. Jackie grew up fatherless and experienced gender confusion. She embraced masculinity and homosexuality with every fiber of her being. She knew that Christians had a lot to say about all of the above. But was she supposed to change herself? How was she supposed to stop loving women, when homosexuality felt more natural to her than heterosexuality ever could? At age nineteen, Jackie came face-to-face with what it meant to be made new. And not in a church, or through contact with Christians. God broke in and turned her heart toward Him right in her own bedroom in light of His gospel. Read in order to understand. Read in order to hope. Or read in order, like Jackie, to be made new.




And the Good News Is...


Book Description

From her years as the presidential press secretary to her debates with colleagues on Fox News' The Five, Dana Perino reveals the lessons she's learned that have guided her through life, kept her level-headed, and led to her success, even in the face of adversity. Thoughtful, inspiring, and often surprising, And the Good News is . . . traces Dana Perino's unlikely journey through politics and television. It's a remarkable American story-made up of equal parts determination and clear-eyed optimism. From facing professional challenges and confronting personal fears to stepping up to a podium for a President, Dana has come to expect the unexpected and has an uncanny ability to find the good news in any tough situation. And the Good News is . . . takes us from her Western childhood in Wyoming and Colorado to a chance meeting on an airplane that changes her life entirely. Then, with refreshing honesty and humor, she recounts her frustration with a string of unsatisfying jobs and living circumstances until a key career tip leads her back to Washington, D.C. to work for the Bush Administration. Dana also shares here her best work and life lessons-tips that will help you to get your point across convincingly while allowing your own grace and personality to shine through. As someone who still believes in working together to solve the problems our nation faces, Dana offers clear, practical advice on how to restore civility to our personal and public conversations. The result is a fascinating read that can help anyone become more successful, productive, and joyously content.




Good News to the Poor


Book Description

Help them or tell them? Be like Jesus or talk about Jesus? Social action or gospel proclamation? It seems the two are often pitted against each other, as if they are mutually exclusive. But the New Testament paints a different picture where both aspects are valued. In this plea for a renewed understanding of the Christian calling, Chester argues that faithfulness to the gospel necessitates a commitment to evangelism and social involvement. To that end, he structures the book around three basic theses: 1.) evangelism and social action are distinct activities, 2.) proclamation is central, and 3.) evangelism and social action are inseparable. Responding to Christians in both camps, Chester helps people to talk the talk and walk the walk.