LITMIR.BIZ

Leaders constantly rely upon power. In fact, leadership and power have so much in common that their definitions are often functionally identical. Every act of leadership is an act of power. Hence, the better we understand power, the better we understand leadership. What, then, are the consequences if, as scholars argue, different people understand power differently and often fundamentally misunderstand power? One consequence turns out to be the emergence of a number of ironies. Another consequence is the opportunity to understand leadership settings better through a careful, redeeming, synergistic look at power. To that end, this book first presents roughly sixty studied, power-related dynamics, and then takes a closer look at how these dynamics clarify leadership settings. Ultimately, this study seeks a better understanding of a particular leadership setting–the local church. Challenges distinct to this setting are explored in marked sections, while the book as a whole offers useful lenses through which to assess the challenges all leaders navigate.

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Why have so many churches started community gardens over the past decade? Are they simply a fad? Or do community gardens somehow connect more deeply with the mission of the churches that launch them? What can churches and faith-based institutions interested in starting community gardens learn from those that have started their own gardens over the past decade? And what would it mean for a church to put Christ in the center of its community gardening efforts? In order to discern best practices for launching Christ-centered community gardens moving forward, Cultivating Neighborhood begins with a brief survey of the history of community gardens in the United States and builds a constructive theological framework for community gardening grounded in the practice of Christian hospitality. It continues with two case studies of church-sponsored community gardens and one case study of a community garden sponsored by a Christian college, all three of which were created between 2003 and 2011. The results of this research conclude with a new definition of Christ-centered community gardening and an outline of fifteen best practices for launching a Christ-centered community garden.

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The term Ubuntu articulates an African understanding of our need to connect to one another in order to be complete. Likewise, A Common Mission offers a description of churches that connect with one another through the growing phenomenon of mission partnerships. The word «common» indicates something shared among equals. The word «common» also suggests something present in all parts of an organism, production, or narrative, such as a common thread. These two aspects of commonality provide an important orientation for contemporary mission.
Since 2008, congregational partnerships emerged so quickly and spontaneously that very few researchers originally noticed this groundswell. Partnerships remain present in over 80 percent of United States mega-churches and are prominent in a large number of smaller US churches. This should not be surprising. Mission exists as an expression of the church's identity, an evangelistic expression that crosses frontiers and goes to the ends of the earth. In our globalized context, however, mission also crosses neighborhood «frontiers» to the immigrants within our own communities. Mission expresses its Christian witness as congregations love those separated from the church by ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, religion, or fear.
A Common Mission provides a framework of healthy patterns for churches to live into this mission identity.

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Life After Death takes an in-depth look at the important issues surrounding death. Does it matter what we believe? Why do we avoid talking about it? Can we confidently assume there is life after death? This book presents the Christian view of death and what lies beyond. It doesn't avoid the difficult questions of judgment and the possibility of missing out on all that God has planned for his people. However, for those who are searching for a real relationship with the living God, Life After Death presents a glorious message of hope and certainty. You don't have to go through life with any doubt about the future. On the contrary, if you are willing to accept all that God offers, on his terms, you will be able to look forward to an endless future in which you will experience all that God, in his infinite love and wisdom, has planned for you. You will also find a hope that will transform your goals, values, and understanding of every part of this present life.

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Luther's universal priesthood is, in part, a political doctrine that constitutes a revolutionary strain in Luther's thinking–a strain that can only be described as radical. Luther's political understanding of the universal priesthood posed a challenge to the concrete structures of his day, which were built upon a cosmological foundation that came under attack as a result of the Protestant Reformation. Thus, Luther's universal priesthood was not simply another evangelical concept that dealt with the office of ministry. It also served as the means for reordering the concept of temporal authority and the temporal order. Understood in this way, the universal priesthood had a political dimension that must be acknowledged if it is to be fully understood.

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Brokenhearted Parents is for Christian parents who want to heal, deal with, and find spiritual help with the serious pain and hurt they are feeling because of their adult child's choices. Their child's choices can lead to a breakage in the relationship between them and/or God and cause great feelings of grief, frustration, and pain. Some of these choices have caused the child to pull away or leave. Christians know that God intends for them to grow through their hard experiences. But how do they do that? This book is to help parents analyze their feelings by studying the views of God, themselves, and their child. Through this they can process these feelings, come to a deeper level in their walk with God, and find more ways to express the love they have for their child. This book leads them by reading the twelve short devotionals, answering questions, and journaling both in writing and drawing. Parents will also find song references, extra scripture references, and a daily devotional idea they can format for their own use.

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Do you struggle to get into the Christmas spirit? Do you dislike all the trappings of the season and cannot bear its crass materialism? This book is written by a theologian who feels that way too. As an antidote, Ben Pugh tries to take us back to that very first Christmas as described in the Gospels. Particular moments in the story are vividly brought to life and paralleled with the present day. Using good scholarship, Pugh tries to get the reader to imagine actually being there, and suggests a simple prayer of response at the end of each chapter. The chapters are short, the book is small, and the therapy it offers might be just what you need.

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The Gospel Miracles examines the thirty-five miracles performed by Jesus, as reported in the four Gospels. The objectives are firstly to try and determine what really happened at the time they were enacted and, secondly, to see if it is possible to explain them. This exercise is neither an attempt to deny miracles, nor to blindly accept the accounts as inerrant, but it is an unbiased attempt to arrive at the truth. The findings conclude that sometimes there are possible naturalistic or simple alternative explanations to a supernatural one. However, this does not discount the possibility that Jesus employed natural means at the right time for the right reasons. The Gospel Miracles concludes with a summary of some more modern reports of miraculous events.

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This simple, accessible little devotional should be taken like a medicine in daily dosages: repeat as necessary until your spirit is heartened. I was moved in my spirit and heartened in my commitment to act by contemplating these lives and these prayers. I trust you will be, too. Expect to be sobered, nourished, uplifted, and spurred to responsive action. In short, expect to be blessed and edified. –Dr. William David Spencer

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Christians, the Care of Creation, and Global Climate Change is a wake-up call for Christians and others. It is a cogent and persuasive call to love God and our neighbors by caring for creation–especially in light of the dramatic climate changes occurring before our eyes. This book is not the final word on the subject, but it is a sincere invitation to examine the scientific evidence for global warming and to respond with individual and collective faithful actions.
CONTRIBUTORS: Douglas Allen, Jeffrey K. Greenberg, P. J. Hill, Sir John T. Houghton, A. Duane Litfin, Ben Lowe, Vincent E. Morris, L. Kristen Page, Lindy Scott, Noah J. Toly

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