Escaping Enemy Mode


Book Description

Who’s your biggest enemy? Possibly you? Enemy Mode is an immensely damaging brain state that occurs in everyday life. In enemy mode, a person sees and experiences others as adversaries. Living in this mode poisons family and community bonds. It contributes to social stress, business failure, divorce, alienation, domestic violence, crime, racism, and international violence. Social media magnifies the impact of enemy mode toward almost all topics or persons imaginable. Longtime author and neuropsychologist Dr. Jim Wilder explains how the brain develops enemy mode and searches for ways to get the brain to “refriend.” Since a brain in enemy mode cannot tell when someone is trying to help, it rejects or attacks its allies, including refrienders. Wilder puts his years of research to the test in assessing the impossible task put forth by the Christian faith: to love one’s enemies. After being trained in enemy mode through the military, business, and even friendships, retired Brigadier General Ray Woolridge comes alongside Wilder, bringing the reader on his journey of learning to refriend. He interviews leaders in sports, business, the military, law enforcement, politics, health care, and education, assessing the enemy mode impact on lives and culture. Can Wilder and Woolridge figure out how enemy mode works and craft a solution? And can they get people and institutions to implement those solutions? This book is for all who desire to be better equipped to face the barrage of daily relational stressors that come at them. It’s for all who long for more harmonious relationships at home, in the workplace, and in their communities.




The Pandora Problem


Book Description

There is Hope for narcissists. Are you ready to open the box? Most of us are scared to death to lift the lid on the Pandora's box of narcissism. Dealing with predatory people leaves us intimidated, scared, and hopeless. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. E. James Wilder rips the cover off the dreaded box and gives us a clear view of both the problem and the surprising solution. Dr. Wilder offers us a new paradigm that moves us away from the individualized therapy model toward the need for identity groups that help each other learn how to love our enemies. You'll be highlighting insights in nearly every paragraph as you make your way through this fresh approach to a very old problem.




Renovated


Book Description

Outreach Magazine’s 2021 Resource of the Year in the Church Category Christianity tends to focus on beliefs and choices as the keys for personal growth. But biblical evidence and modern brain science tell a different story. Combining faith with the latest developments in neuroscience and psychology, Renovated offers a groundbreaking and refreshing perspective of how our attachment to God impacts our minds and hearts. You’ll find that our spiritual growth is about more than just what we believe—it’s about who we love. Drawing from conversations he had with Dallas Willard shortly before Dallas’s death, Jim Wilder shows how we can train our brains to relate to God. Transformative and encouraging, this book offers practical insight for deepening your relationship with God through the wondrous brain and soul that He has given you. “Elegant, clear and bountiful in hope . . . if transformation for yourself and your community is what you seek, I can think of no better place to start.” —Curt Thompson, author of Anatomy of the Soul “Jim Wilder offers genuine hope. He uniquely combines the truth of Scripture with the truth in developing brain science to give us a path of renewal and restoration.” —Dudley Hall, president of Kerygma Ventures “A breakthrough on so many levels. Renovated is a must-read for everyone who is serious about discipling people and seeing life transformation.” —Bob Roberts, pastor and founder of GlocalNet




Breakthrough!


Book Description

Many of us read our Bibles and pray, but we can still feel fragile, tired, and defeated. This is the book we’ve longed for. We need a breakthrough. We need healing. From our pasts. And from our present battles. But sometimes we feel stuck or despairing—as if nothing is ever going to change. Dr. Marcus Warner shows us the pathway to healing and maturity. Breakthrough! goes beyond the usual one-size-fits-all answers. Written from a Christian perspective, this book takes the Bible and brain science—with the Holy Spirit—and provides an integrative approach to building emotional resilience that changes lives. As you explore five strategies—Be aware of your body, unleash your beliefs, increase your belonging, listen to the Spirit, and defeat demons (BUILD)—you will discover a breakthrough. Our memories and hearts can heal. We can mature and grow in Christ. Whether you’re at your end or simply in need of some spiritual vivacity, this book will not disappoint. Breakthrough! is an excellent resource for Christian counselors, providing essential tools and helpful exercises. It is also for the brokenhearted and those ministering to the weary and brokenhearted. Discover and develop a hope-filled pathway to Christian maturity.




The Life Model


Book Description




The Emmanuel Promise


Book Description

God's face is always shining toward us. Our God is not asleep, nor indifferent. But we don't always experience this nearness or the depth of how beloved we truly are--especially if we have experienced neglect, betrayal, or indifference in our formative human relationships. Drawing from the deep well of Scripture, attachment theory, and her own personal story, Summer Joy Gross invites you to experience Emmanuel, God-with-us, as the One whose love toward you is secure and unchanging. She teaches you simple, repeatable practices grounded in biblical teaching and our rich and ancient church traditions that will equip you day-by-day to build a secure attachment with the God who holds you in a sure hand. Because when you are rooted in God's nearness in the ordinary moments, you can rest in God in the midst of life's storms.




Healing What’s Within


Book Description

We can’t always control what happens to us. But we can discover how to heal the hidden hurt it leaves behind. If you’re like many of us, you carry a weight of buried pain. Despite looking put together on the outside, you feel secretly fractured within. While you appear strong and resilient on the outside, inside a storm brews of all the ways you’ve been hurt or harmed. There’s a constant churn of unprocessed feelings of shame, anger, grief, or loneliness. And your body tells the story of its struggles in a myriad of aches and ailments. Little by little, you find yourself becoming disconnected from who you truly are. Not knowing what to do with your suffering and fearing you'll be hurt again, you’ve learned to cope, to numb and suppress the ache within. It doesn’t have to be this way. In Healing What’s Within, therapist and professor Chuck DeGroat invites you on a compassionate journey inward to return and retune to the life God created you to live. Along the way, you will discover how to: Gently consider and confront what’s keeping you stuck and blocking the path to joy and flourishing Better understand the relationship between your body and your emotions Experience God as a compassionate witness to your trauma—and his unconditional kindness to wherever you find yourself Discover real rest and renewal as you reconnect with God, others, and yourself. It’s never too late to start healing. God’s heart is always ready to help you find your way Home.




Following Wisdom, Leading Wisely


Book Description

If it is true that "everything rises and falls on leadership," we have a problem. A recent international survey revealed that 86 percent of respondents believe we are facing a global leadership crisis. The study encompassed leadership in business, government, the non-profit sector, and religion. Non-profit and business leaders ranked highest in terms of public confidence. Government leaders ranked very low. The only leaders to rank lower than government leaders were religious leaders. This leadership crisis is not driven by an absence of leaders. Leaders are everywhere, yet we still have a leadership crisis. Nor is this crisis caused by a lack of leadership training. Who can keep up with the books, seminars, and training programs offering the latest trends and best thinking on leadership? And yet, we still have a leadership crisis. While the world is looking for better leadership methods, God is looking for better leaders--leaders shaped by wisdom. What use, after all, is getting things done, or even servant leadership, without wisdom? In Proverbs we discover an ancient training regimen for leaders, guiding them in the cultivation of virtuous character. Following Wisdom, Leading Wisely is an invitation to rediscover this ancient wisdom for today's leaders.




The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled People


Book Description

Is joy the icing on the cake of life—or the fuel on which it runs? Are some people just born happy? Most of us grew up thinking that joy is random and fleeting, instead of something we can actually count on or build our life around. But brain science has revealed that joy is the perfect word to describe the fuel on which our brains run. So how do we live a joy-filled life? Marcus Warner and Chris Coursey show us how to build habits that fill our lives with greater joy and satisfaction. Based on the latest neuroscience and attachment theory—but written in everyday language—The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled People is practical and easy to comprehend. The authors provide exercises and tools you can put into practice immediately. Joy is possible. It doesn’t have to be a random experience that catches you off guard now and then. Some of the most joyful people have endured unbelievable trauma. Joy-filled living expands our world. It makes life an adventure and teaches us to live for what is truly satisfying. Discover the skills and habits you can develop that will enhance your very quality of life.




The Other Half of Church


Book Description

Could brain science be the key to spiritual formation? Why does true Christian transformation seem fleeting? And why does church often feel lonely, Christian community shallow, and leaders untrustworthy? For many Christians, the delight of encountering Christ eventually dwindles—and disappointment sets in. Is lasting joy possible? These are some of the questions Michel Hendricks has considered both in his experience as a spiritual formation pastor and in his lifetime as a Christian. He began to find answers when he met Jim Wilder—a neurotheologian. Using brain science, Wilder identified that there are two halves of the church: the rational half and the relational half. And when Christians only embrace the rational half, churches become unhealthy places where transformation doesn’t last and narcissistic leaders flourish. In The Other Half of Church, join Michel and Jim's journey as they couple brain science with the Bible to identify how to overcome spiritual stagnation by living a full-brained faith. You'll also learn the four ingredients necessary to develop and maintain a vibrant transformational community where spiritual formation occurs, relationships flourish, and the toxic spread of narcissism is eradicated.