LITMIR.BIZ

We the Storytellers provides examples and techniques for expressing deeply held beliefs through the oldest form of communication–stories. This book can be used as a resource on narrative theology for preachers, teachers, and storytellers. Narrative theology is about peeling back the known to discover the unknown. Rather than pronouncing facts, it gives an opportunity for an «ah ha» experience. In a sermon it allows the hearer to grasp an element of truth through fiction or personal story–Jesus's method. And narrative theology is about revealing the relationship between God and God's people. What better way to look at relationships than through stories? The book is written in two parts. Part 1 asks what is a sacred story and offers a number of possibilities. Part 2 is a workshop on acting, writing, and presentation skills aimed at those who are drawn to expressing themselves through stories. The stories here are from Sally's own life experiences–the monologues from her imagination. Each story is related to a theme and is humorous, poignant, and human. We the Storytellers will inspire and equip its readers to develop and perform their own sacred stories.

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I can't tell you my name. I can't tell you where I live. I can't tell you who I work for, or any details about the people with whom I work. Because where I live, my line of work is not exactly legal. But if you can pardon the vagueness, I have a story for you.
Edge of the Map is a memoir of the calling and adjustment, success and failure of our first year as missionaries to a closed country in the 10/40 window. It tells the story of how my family and I lived out the challenges and blessings of the lives we tried to lay down for Jesus. It is the book I would have wished for, had I known the right questions to ask.
How do I know that I'm called overseas? How do I move beyond callousness and distraction? What do I do once I've accepted a call to the nations? What issues arise after I step into my calling? How do I go about resolving those issues?
Edge of the Map speaks to these questions in hopes that our journey to a closed country will help nudge the souls of a young, poised generation toward the calling God is whispering over their lives.

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With humor and candor, Eric Moore addresses common challenges that the pastor of the small church encounters on a daily basis. As the pastor of a small church, he shares stories from his own experience and provides biblical and common-sense solutions to the issues that pastors face.
If you pastor a small church, then you are a key part of God's program. This book will encourage and remind you of the importance of your calling.

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While it is readily admitted that we learn in order to do, we are in need of guidance. It is with this in mind that Morris A. Inch set out to compose this present volume. Inch has taken as his inspiration the biblical injunction: «Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will» (Rom 2:12) and the graphic imagery concerning Christians derived from the Epistle of Diagnetus: «They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native county, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.» One might gather from reading A Guide to Christian Ethics the necessary direction for a more true Christian faith and practice in our world today.

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From Wall Street to Main Street, the moral toxicity in our country is alarming. There are frightening signs that America is on the same path to destruction as the Roman Empire was before its fall. Since America has embraced secular progressivism and redefined its traditional spiritual values, our nation has greatly declined. History points to the judgment of God that came upon nations for their moral toxicity. Unless America repents, returns to God, reorders its priorities, and sets its financial house in order, future generations will ask, «Why has the mighty fallen?»
America needs to heed Abraham Lincoln, who said, «America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedom, it will be because we destroyed ourselves from within.» From Wall Street to Main Street is a trumpet blast not only to alert Americans to our spiritual and moral decline but also to encourage our citizens to save this great republic. Our struggle is not merely social, economic, and political–it is spiritual. There is hope, and this hope is in the struggle to make God, justice, and morality central in our nation once again.

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Funny Stuff in the Bible is a field trip through the Bible library hunting for funny stuff. The many stories and other literature in this library were written over a period of a thousand years. This is well known. Thinking of the Bible as a library provides perspective. Though there are more copies of this library, its writings bound into a single volume, than of any other book in the world, the literature in it is underrated and underenjoyed. It is underenjoyed because of the smog created by the notion that every word is religiously serious and not for enjoyment, let alone laughter. This overlay of morality and religious seriousness makes it difficult to read a particular story as we do other stories in the world. Funny Stuff shakes off these notions to enjoy some stories. The Bible is a large library. We can only explore a little of it as we look both for stuff that makes us laugh and also things that are strange. We investigate what we come across–stumble on, so to speak. The quest is undertaken in good humor and with light hearts.

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Perhaps without realizing it, we now find ourselves living in a unique time compared to all of human history. No generation has ever had such an abundance of material goods at their fingertips. Food, transportation, communication, and all kinds of entertainment flood a saturated marketplace, every one promising to make us «happy.» Yet in the midst of such plenty many people are experiencing distress and a growing sense of sadness–in spite of all their possessions.
Material and technological progress is a great thing, but one that has had the unintended consequence of being confused with human progress. The pursuit of the «goods life» has been confused with seeking a good life. Fortunately, wisdom gleaned from both faith and the social sciences points toward the same true north regarding principles that lead to a life of well-being.
Happy Without the Meal is for all who are interesting in understanding the historical, educational, and marketing forces that have lead to the cultural confusion over what makes for a happy life, and for all who want to rediscover the nature of simple ways of living flourishing lives.

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There's more to Eastern Christianity than ethnic food bazaars, enclaves of immigrants, and clergy with beards. The mystical theology, spiritual disciplines, and rich liturgical worship of the Orthodox Church provide sustenance for anyone seeking resources for growth in the Christian life. Ancient teachings and practices persist in Eastern Christianity that hold together much of what Catholics and Protestants have separated. Believers of all stripes increasingly resonate with Orthodoxy's healthy synthesis of prayer, doctrine, liturgy, asceticism, and call to holiness in all areas of life. This ancient faith speaks with refreshing clarity to contemporary Christians who want to learn from a living tradition that is too little known in Western culture. This volume presents profound insights that will enrich, challenge, and inspire readers of all backgrounds. It invites everyone to encounter a spiritual tradition that is ancient, contemporary, and fascinatingly different.

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After logging thousands of miles in planes, jeeps, dugout canoes, pickup trucks, bicycles, and on foot, LeQuire and du Plessis offer insights into how Christians around the world are using tourism to develop their villages while caring for both creation and culture. Based on a multi-year research project, this book showcases innovative projects that Christian villagers and faith-based organizations are engaging to alleviate poverty through business ventures. Through a unique mix of travelogue and theological reflection, this book concludes with a challenge to the status quo of current short-term mission practice and provides thoughtful alternatives.

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Embracing Solitude focuses on the interior turn of monasticism and scans the Christian tradition for women who have made this turn in various epochs and circumstances. New Monasticism is a movement assuming diverse forms in response to the turn to classical spiritual sources for guidance about living spiritual commitment with integrity and authenticity today. Genuine spiritual seeking requires the cultivation of an inner disposition to return to the room of the heart. The lessons explored in this book from women spiritual entrepreneurs across the centuries will benefit contemporay New Monastics–both women and men. The accounts will inspire, challenge, and guide those who follow in the footsteps of the renowned spiritual innovators profiled here.

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