Quietly Courageous


Book Description

Quietly Courageous offers practical guidance to leaders--both lay and ordained--on leading churches today. It encourages leaders to focus on their mission and purpose--what is ultimately motivating their work. It also urges a shift in perspectives on resources, discusses models of change, and offers suggestions for avoiding common pitfalls.




Leading Quietly


Book Description

Badaracco (business ethics, Harvard) observes that the most effective leaders are rarely public heroes or high-profile champions of causes. His study of "quiet leadership," carried out over four years, presents a series of stories describing quiet leaders at work and drawing practical lessons for executives and aspiring corporate leaders. The cases include a hospital CEO dealing with a case of sexual harassment; a bank president under pressure to remove underperforming but longtime employees; and a high-tech marketing rep who learned that his company was dumping obsolete equipment on its small customers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Finding Your Bearings


Book Description

If you feel you’ve lost your bearings, you aren’t alone! Global pandemic . . . Economic crisis . . . Racial tensions . . . Political polarization . . . Climate change. The converging crises expose our timeless need for an internal compass to guide us through disruption, disorientation and change. James Harnish invites you into six crucial moments when Jesus found his bearings by recalling words and stories from the Old Testament. By connecting Jesus’ story with your own, you can find your bearings as you walk the way Jesus walked in the way that Jesus walked it. It’s the way that leads to life! Questions for Reflection create an opportunity for you to pause, find your place in the story, and determine your next step along the way. These may also be used for journaling or small group discussion.




Countercultural


Book Description

After decades of anti-institutionalism, here is a book that is honest about the importance of congregations and our need for them in our lives. Despite our lack of trust in institutions, we cannot live without them and still hope to live together in communities, let alone a nation. For important reasons our neighborhood institutions of religion (congregations) hold hope not found in other places. Politics and the economy have proven themselves gridlocked and incapable of breaking the narratives of fear and scarcity that now divide us. However, to step up into public space in order to offer what they hold as so important to these divided times, leaders of congregations need to understand why they are so countercultural and why being countercultural is an important role to play. This is not a time for congregations to try to fit into the culture and to worry about growing their membership and increasing their finances. It is not a time to let organizational anxieties determine next steps. What is required is courage – leaders courageous enough to speak openly with confidence of what they know, congregations courageous enough to seek new forms with which to offer the ancient wisdom that people still search for. As much as religious institutions are now needed, old forms no longer work in a fast and deeply changing culture. Instead of trying to improve what is already known, this book will provide a way for congregations to thrive and fulfill their purpose by being countercultural.




Leading with the Sermon


Book Description

In this addition to the new Working Preacher Books series, prolific author William H. Willimon makes the compelling case that two key pastoral tasks--preaching and leadership--complement, correct, strengthen, and inform one another. Preaching is the distinctive function of pastoral leaders. Leadership of the church, particularly during a challenging time of transition in mainline Protestantism, has become a pressing concern for pastors. This book shows how the practices, skills, and intentions of Christian preaching can be helpful to the leadership of a congregation. It will also show how leadership is an appropriate expectation for sermons. In preaching, pastoral leaders can help a congregation face its problems and coordinate its God-given resources to address those problems. Sermons can be an opportunity to articulate, motivate, and orchestrate God's people in doing God's work in the church and in the world. Leading with the Sermon includes chapters on why pastors must be leaders, why preaching is such an essential task in telling the truth about the gospel, how preaching makes better leaders, and how better leaders make better preachers.




Courage Doesn't Always Roar


Book Description

Discover Your Inner Courage "Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" --Mary Anne Rademacher Written initially as part of a longer poem and featured in a gallery show in 1985, these words by Mary Anne Rademacher defining courage have traveled the globe. Defining courage in a beloved quote. The quote has been featured in ceremonies of all sorts and included in sports and network news broadcasts. Oprah has included it in her magazine and journalists include it in "top ten" lists across many disciplines and categories. And, it is among the most beloved quotes on cards, posters, journals, and gift books. Bravery comes in many forms. Rademacher insists in her book that we overlook opportunities for growth and personal celebration by shrugging off courageous acts of perseverance with, "I just did what I felt I had to do." Courage shows itself in many ways from having the courage to heal, to change habits, to learn and begin anew, or even to speak up for yourself. Defining courage with daily inspirations. This daily companion for women, men, or anyone who wants to change for good, and live a bolder, more courageous life may be the perfect addition to the start of your day or the key to letting go and ending your day right. Featuring an introduction from courage specialist, Candace Doby, Courage Doesn't Always Roar begins as an invitation to recognize all of the ways courage, and the associated risk, show up on ordinary days. Inside you'll find: Keys to finding and defining courage in your everyday life 180 entries covering all aspects of courage, like: resilience, thresholds, choices, grace, and more Mental health-friendly inspirations meant to shape the way you think about courage If you liked Courage is Calling, Inward, or Designing the Mind, you'll love Courage Doesn't Always Roar.




If there are no limits...


Book Description

With life charging at warp speed in a 24/7, on-demand world vying for every ounce of energy, is it any wonder we hunger for more meaning and balance. Like many others, I tried to do it all, only to realize I was far too busy making a living instead of living with balance and joy. I share with you a holistic process and stories that will inspire you to transform your own life. If you're ready to live intentionally and to respond more effectively to the incessant demands that get in the way, this book is for you. Refuel your passions and create possibilities to live on purpose while you provide a living legacy for those who are blessed to be part of your life....




Canadian Churches and the First World War


Book Description

Most accounts of Canada and the First World War either ignore or merely mention in passing the churches' experience. Such neglect does not do justice to the remarkable influence of the wartime churches nor to the religious identity of the young Dominion. The churches' support for the war was often wholehearted, but just as often nuanced and critical, shaped by either the classic just war paradigm or pacifism's outright rejection of violence. The war heightened issues of Canadianization, attitudes to violence, and ministry to the bereaved and the disillusioned. It also exacerbated ethnic tensions within and between denominations, and challenged notions of national and imperial identity. The authors of this volume provide a detailed summary of various Christian traditions and the war, both synthesizing and furthering previous research. In addition to examining the experience of Roman Catholics (English and French speaking), Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Mennonites, and Quakers, there are chapters on precedents formed during the South African War, the work of military chaplains, and the roles of church women on the home front.




Along Came a Spider


Book Description

Little Miss Muffet and Little Boy Blue are all grown up—and hunting the world’s most famous vampire—in this gritty paranormal romance novel. Ever since Make Believe characters were transported into the ordinary world, their Happily Ever Afters have been a thing of the past. So when Trish Muffet is attacked at a grisly crime scene, the last person she expects to come to her rescue is Nicky "Little Boy" Blue. But these days Nicky's doling out vigilante justice as "The Spider," taking on predators of the night in the hopes of locating his ultimate target—Vlad Dracula. And he needs Trish's help. Although Nicky's renegade style goes against everything Trish stands for, she'll do what she must to bring Dracula down. With danger stalking her, Trish knows the only person she can count on is the one man who has the power to leave her breathless. There's no way she's letting this spider frighten her away.




The Better to See You


Book Description

Once upon a time, a spell went awry and Make Believe characters were cast into the ordinary world. And the results aren’t always happily ever after… Everyone thinks fairy godmothers can do no wrong. But if not for a certain spell mis-cast by Lavender Seelie, Cinderella’s former fairy godmother, the Tales would not be stuck in the Here and Now. Fortunately for Lavender, she’s about to get a second chance at a happy ending… The Refuge, a sanctuary for wayward Tales, seems like the perfect place for Lavender to start a new life—especially when she discovers an unexpected ally in Seth, the brooding werewolf who’s been typecast as a villain ever since his run in with Little Red Riding Hood. But when humans from nearby towns start turning up dead, their bodies mutilated with archaic Tale symbols, Lavender wonders if Seth’s deep sensuality has blinded her to the truth. And that distraction could put innocent lives in danger. Including her own… “It’s not often that something totally new and entertaining comes along, but Kate SeRine doesn’t disappoint with Red. I definitely recommend this to readers who want humor, drama, suspense, and a truly entertaining, “feel good” romance.” —Kate Douglas




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