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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.

In a Tiantai theology, conventional truth is conventionally arisen, which means that such truth is never set once and for all, but is to be cherished and rethought in new circumstances, whether interreligious or scientific--but always in critical consonance with its ancient embodiments. Contexts shift frameworks, but life in Christ is translatable across cultures. Christian faith and theology discourage the assumption that the point of it can be clearly pinned down. God's appearance to Elijah out of the whirlwind is an eternal reminder of the paltriness of all human perspectives. Symbolic worlds of faith and wisdom are not themselves finished products. Because it has a past and a future, the cosmos itself is unfinished. Christian creeds ought not be defended as last-word ideological positions and bastions against relativity, but instead recognized in their cultural contexts and affirmed as grammars of communal and personal assent.

Indigenous peoples of Brazil have come to faith in Christ in large numbers in recent decades. As Christianity takes root in each culture, it may incorporate expressive forms of music and art, which can range from those identical to earlier cultural forms to those which are fully imported. But what happens when musicians and artists of a local indigenous community fuse elements from a variety of genres and create their own music? Are they just imitations of external forms? Or are they authentic creations from elements that have now become their own sounds, too? Christian musicians among the Xerente (pronounced Sheh-¿ren-teh) have created their own fusion genre(s) to express their faith, communicate the gospel, and edify their churches. Their music includes elements from their cultural tradition as well as from (secular) genres of the northeastern region of Brazil. Is it, then, authentically Xerente? As we discuss in this book, independent of tangible markers or its long history, the authenticity of an art form can be demonstrated through a number of connections with the community and signposted by its meaning and function among the people, as well as the competence and agency of the people in their artistic choices.

Leadership is vital, but how do you know which leadership theory or practice is right for you? How should you go about assessing the quality of a leadership practice? How can you evaluate leadership ideas to ensure that they line up with Scripture? How can you assess a leadership model and know it will work in your ministry setting?Evaluating Leadership provides a solution to these problems. It introduces the Leadership Assessment Matrix, which helps you assess whether a leadership theory, principle, or practice is suitable for your team and your specific context.Drawing on extensive experience and research, Evaluating Leadership delves deep into the problem, explains the model, and demonstrates how it can be applied. If you have ever had questions about how to evaluate leadership ideas or practices, this book is the book for you.

This volume is the sequel to its companion volume The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus during the Deist Controversy. It comprises a thorough examination of the New Testament materials undergirding the historicity of Jesus' resurrection, focusing on Jesus' empty tomb, his post-mortem appearances, and the origin of his disciples' belief in Jesus' resurrection. This revised edition includes Appendices in response to the competing views of J. Robinson, J. D. Crossan, G. Ludemann, and D. Allison.

Jesus did not say ""take and think."" He said ""take and eat."" This is embodied worship. It includes gestures, rites, kneeling, raising hands, and of course eating and drinking a holy meal with God. These activities are liturgies. Liturgy is the physical, embodied activity of worship--it's what we do in worship--everyone has a liturgy! As such, worship is the church's primary means of discipleship.Instead of fearing to kneel because it's ""Roman Catholic,"" or fearing to raise your hands because it's ""Pentecostal,"" perhaps we should simply see what God recommends in the Scriptures--then without fear and by faith (at the appropriate time) start kneeling, raising our hands, and eating a covenant meal with God (on a weekly basis). The hope is to replace a fear-driven approach to worship with a faith-driven, embodied worship that offers deep, robust, and beautiful worship experiences combined with the hope of great blessings. In doing so, we hope for nothing less than a new reformation--a reformation in worship.

Dive deep into the first book of the New Testament: the Gospel of Matthew. This Gospel is a spiritual bridge between the Old and New Testaments, capturing the essence of Jesus Christ's life, teachings, and profound impact on humanity. This Gospel is often called the ""teaching Gospel,"" rich in parables and events that guide us spiritually. From the Sermon on the Mount to the Great Commission, Matthew lays a foundational framework for living a deeply spiritual life. This devotional is rooted in rigorous biblical and theological scholarship and encourages a fuller understanding of Matthew and its relevance in today's world. This devotional is the second book in a series of devotional books and podcast episodes designed to guide you through the entire Bible, nourishing your soul, renewing your purpose, and deepening your theology, contemplation, and action. In the Daily Devotions with Jesus series, Rev. Dr. Graham Joseph Hill guides you through the entire Bible, moving chapter by chapter from Genesis to Revelation. This is a groundbreaking Bible podcast and devotional book series. See how each book of the Bible deepens your faith and inspires you to follow Jesus in life-changing ways! See the podcast here: grahamjosephhill.com/devotions.

Being a mission-driven leader is hard. Being a mission-driven leader who knows how to navigate the emotions of loss and grief connected to leadership is harder still. It takes a vulnerable leader to lead well--one who has faced into their own losses and can let those losses equip their character for God's greater plans. Not all leaders are willing. Not all leaders are able. Yet, according to David Woolverton, leaders' vulnerability to the emotional processes of grief is essential for the overall health of the organizations they lead and for the well-being--and discipleship--of those under their direction. Grief, he says, is best viewed as a mosaic, where each of our significant losses forms a constellation of tiles that, when seen together over time, helps tell a story of God's redemptive love, grace, and mission--a story desperately needed within today's post-pandemic angst. Using Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) as a guide, along with five biblical prophet ""mentors,"" Woolverton presents five strategies to equip pastors and leaders in negotiating with their losses to attain organizational resilience, sustainability, and vibrancy.

Is Revelation really worth the effort? Does its message resonate with followers of Jesus in the here and now? Encountering Jesus in Revelation offers pastors and laypeople an accessible tool for studying Revelation within the local church. It situates Revelation in its ancient context while stressing how its apocalyptic nature addresses God's people at every point in history, including our own. It does this by introducing apocalyptic writing as a form of literature and then surveys the alternative perspective Revelation offers on the world of its readers. That perspective is one in which we encounter Jesus and his call to leave behind the often-unrecognized beasts and monsters that inhabit our world. Readers who find themselves reluctant to study Revelation because of the confusing nature of its contents--and of academic books written about it--will find that Encountering Jesus in Revelation offers accessible and applicable insights as it explores how Revelation addresses its readers today.

In an increasingly broken world filled with hate and violence, God's plan from the beginning was to save and restore the world to the glory for which he had created it. This simple plan has not changed with the evolution of sin, time, or man's rejection of his creator. Rather, God's simple twofold plan of redemption included both a commandment to love the creator with all one's heart, mind, soul, and strength, and a commandment to love one's neighbor as one's self. Neither commandment stands in isolation, for one cannot fully love others without a consuming love for God, and neither can one completely love God without a love for the neighbor created by God. The answer to hate is love; the answer to war is love; the answer to violence is love; and the answer to all of societal disfunction is love. The answer is not a commandment to like God and others, because one only likes others because of likeness. Rather, love is a choice. A choice to love what you don't like. A choice to love what you don't understand. A choice to love until the God you love sets everything right in eternity.

Drawing upon real-life stories from his extensive restorative justice work in many countries and cultures, Dr. Mark Umbreit illuminates the power we all have to make profound shifts in the troubles that rob our lives of zest, joy, meaning, and fulfillment. Using personal stories of anguish, trauma, and woundedness, Umbreit demonstrates again and again how he and others have transformed the toxicity of violation into its life-giving properties through restorative practices and facilitated dialogue.

We have been brought up to see things in a particular way--to interpret our experience and respond to events, people, and even to God in cultural and personal ways. This has given us a frame of reference that undergirds all else we know, trust, and love in life, as well as all we question, distrust, and hate. But this foundation is not without its cracks. We live in a broken world, and it has influenced us more than we know. Various Christians give us advice, but we often find ourselves stuck in the emotional pain of past experiences. We may not realize how much it controls our thinking, and we wonder why we are unable to experience the freedom and peace Jesus talks about. But things are not always what they seem; we need to see them as they are, not as other influences have shaped them. It is time we let God speak for himself on the matter. This book turns our minds to trust and freedom in our walk with God. It leads us to know God's grace, providence, and purposes in a way that changes our lives and experiences in this broken world from this day on.

How credible are the Gospel narratives in the Bible? What did really happen during the life of Jesus of Nazareth?This ground-breaking book is destined to revolutionize the discipline of New Testament studies. Its aim is to provide a novel, original, and credible explanation of the origins and contents of the Gospel narratives in the New Testament of the Bible, as well as some extra-biblical writings, using critical, scientific, and rational methods and techniques, from the perspective of a non-partisan historian. This book examines the value of the narratives as historical sources for the life, teachings, and execution of Jesus of Nazareth and to reconstruct his life as far as possible after the mythological, metaphysical, dogmatic, legendary, and obviously skewed descriptions of his life have been exposed and cleared away. New insights regarding the background of the Gospels are presented and the previously ignored and hidden role of astronomical and astrological phenomena in the life of Jesus is highlighted. No serious student of the Bible can ignore this book.

Dive deep into the first book of the Bible: Genesis. This foundational book of the Bible sets the stage for the entire biblical narrative and offers profound insights into God's plan for humanity. Through a dedicated fifty-day journey, readers will explore Genesis, unveiling its broader significance within the tapestry of Scripture.Rooted in rigorous biblical and theological scholarship, this devotional encourages a fuller understanding of the stories of Genesis and their relevance in today's world. Each day, readers are invited to meditate on a complete chapter, reflecting on its overarching themes and intricate details. This Genesis-centered journey is the first book in a series of devotional books and podcast episodes designed to guide you through the entire Bible, nourishing your soul, renewing your purpose, and deepening your theology, contemplation, and action. In the Daily Devotions with Jesus series, Rev. Dr. Graham Joseph Hill guides you through the entire Bible, moving chapter by chapter from Genesis to Revelation. This is a groundbreaking Bible podcast and devotional book series. See how each book of the Bible deepens your faith and inspires you to follow Jesus in life-changing ways! See the podcast here: grahamjosephhill.com/devotions.

Daniel is a book intended to be read thoroughly from beginning to end. The final verse (12:13) promises a restoration of what was lost in the first two verses (1:1-2). Between these bookends, with artistic flare, historical accuracy, and apocalyptic hope, Daniel encourages readers that God was, is, and always will be in control. The book's portrayal of God, its rich theology, and its contribution to the spiritual formation of God's people influenced Jesus, the New Testament writers, and the early church, and it deserves a place of prominence in the church today. With substantive exegesis, clear exposition, and relevant teaching outlines, Interpreting Daniel for Preaching and Teaching helps preachers and teachers to unpack Daniel's significance for the church today.

Here is a phenomenological inquiry into the fruitful ministry of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa's Sunday Morning Worship Service. The purpose was to uncover and explicate the quintessential elements of worship leading from the life experiences of those worship leaders who shared the platform with Pastor Chuck Smith, known as the father of the Jesus Movement. The book examines Calvary Chapel's inauspicious beginnings in a senior citizen trailer park recreation center as it explores key elements of Kay and Chuck Smith's ministry. The church and the couple combined in 1965. By 1968, the church and the Smiths became a spiritual home replete with a spiritual mama and papa, ministering to hippies seeking everlasting love and eternal peace.The fruitfulness of Calvary Chapel's ministry is its ability to reproduce maturing Christians that reproduce maturing Christians. This replication occurred thousands of times as the movement blossomed and spread to new churches and new ministries across the United States and globally. The phenomenon spawned a megachurch movement and birthed the modern Christian worship music industry. The hippies were alternately loathed and loved in their era. Perhaps the hippies' most enduring and endearing contributions to twenty-first-century culture are traced to the Jesus movement.

Ten American scholars sketch the contemporary relevance of evangelical Christianity in this sweeping survey of the present century of theological debate. Reaching into major spheres of life and thought--theology, philosophy, ethics, science, history, education, biblical studies, apologetics, evangelism and preaching--they discuss familiar fields with an eye on the theological turmoil of our times.They confirm an uneasy feeling that the loss of inherited ideas and ideals by the West is due in part at least to the indifference and hostility to biblical Christianity spawned by Protestant Liberalism. But the neglect of evangelical theology during the past half century, and the tragic consequences of this for the West, is not their only emphasis, for the volume pinpoints evangelical emphases of permanent validity.It evaluates current contributions from the side of conservative Christianity to the present theological scene. It is a treasury of information about contemporary evangelical writers and writings. It sketches guidelines for effective evangelical impact. It provides a selective working bibliography in its ten fields of evangelical interaction.The volume is an indispensable tool for every minister and theological student seeking to keep abreast of the currents of relevant Christian thought. And it provides the alert church member eager to honor Christ as the center and end of all knowledge whit a wider appreciation of the relevance of the Christian message to the larger problems of culture and life.