BOOK STUDIES
The Divine Mentor: Growing Your Faith as You Sit at the Feet of the Savior - Wayne Cardeiro - 236 pages
Wasted years and untold tears---God
wrote the book on avoiding "if onlys"! Discover how a disciplined,
systematic digesting of Scripture gives you the benefit of countless
experiences and invaluable life lessons. From routine reading to fresh
encounters, you'll learn to listen to the Holy Spirit's eternal counsel
as you spend time in his living Word.
The Bookends of the Christian Life - Jerry Bridges, Bob Bevington - 176 pages
What are the chief cornerstones of the Christian life? The righteousness of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit! Using a bookends motif, Bridges and Bevington show how justification and sanctification can help you overcome guilt and self-righteousness, develop the motivation to grow, be assured of God's love, and bring about lasting change in your life. This is a relatively small book that packs an amazing wallop of truth.
The Me I Want to Be - John Ortberg - 208 pages - small group and teen curriculum available
“As God helps you grow, you will change, but you will always be you. An acorn can grow into an oak tree, but it cannot become a rose bush. It can be a healthy oak or it can be a stunted oak—but it won’t be a shrub. You will always be you—a growing, healthy you or a languishing you—but God did not create you to be anybody else. He pre-wired your temperament. He determined your natural gifts and talents. He made you to feel certain passions and desires. He planned your body and mind. Your uniqueness is God-designed.
Here is the good news: When you flourish, you become more you. You become more that person God had in mind when he thought you up. You don’t just become holier. You become you-ier…God wants to redeem you, not exchange you.”
* an excerpt from The Me I Want to Be.
Fearless - Max Lucado - 224 pages - small group curriculum available
Max Lucado presents six DVD sessions that offer hope and calm in a time of unprecedented fear in our nation and the world. Designed for individual study or for a small group experience, Fearless draws from Jesus’ encounters with people in frightening situations giving evidence that we can trust God through these scary times.
The Organic God - Margaret Feinberg
Through personal stories and biblical insights, Margaret Feinberg shares glimpses of God’s character-bighearted, kind, beautiful, mysterious-that point you to an authentic and naturally spiritual relationship with him, allowing you to truly discover God in a healthy, refreshing new way so that you can’t help but fall in love all over again.
God loves to paint the world beautiful.
Glacial ice reflects a type of spender and wonder and depth that reminds me that God is big, active, powerful, and deeply mysterious. Some things about him cannot be explained. Just like the scientist, theologians can provide definitions and descriptions and debate, but in the end, some things about God are beyond explanation. They are simply mysterious.
This is a wonderful and enriching book study for any small group. Each chapter has many thought provoking questions for group discussion as well as a list of songs to accompany your journey through this book. Take a look through a different set of lenses, as you experience how awesome is our God. Small group workbooks and leader guides available.
Mentor Like Jesus - Regi Campbell, Richard Chancy - 176 pages
Jesus is the greatest mentor of all time. The handful of disciples He coached became totally committed to His mission, worked together as an effective team, and through their efforts, one-third of the world's population follows what Jesus taught. From eleven people to two billion people-now that's effective mentoring.
The Life You've Always Wanted-John Ortberg with Stephen and Amanda Sorenson. 272 pages.
If you rely on God only when everything is falling apart, you're missing out on God's life-transforming power! This six-session curriculum serves as a practical guide through a variety of spiritual disciplines for ordinary people. Expanded from material in John Ortberg’s award-winning book, this curriculum offers a modern perspective on ancient spiritual practices that can bring about measurable spiritual growth. Complete kit, leader’s guide and participant’s guides available.
Why I am a Christian - John Scott - 140 pages
Compelling and persuasive case for considering the Christian faith. Amid a virtual smorgasbord of world religions, what answer can a believer in Christ give as to why he or she has chosen the Christian faith? Many people have no answer to this question; but, in his book Why I am a Christian, John Stott enumerates the scriptural and intellectual reasons why it makes sense to pursue a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Basic Christianity - John Scott - 180 pages
Here is a sound, sensible guide for all who seek an intellectually satisfying explanation of the Christian faith. Examine historical facts on which Christianity stands upon. This volume is perfect for seekers who are desperate to know whether Christianity makes sense and believers who long for a deeper understanding of Christian belief.
Just Courage - Gary A. Haugen - 150 pages
International Justice Mission (IJM) president Gary Haugen has found that “the pathway out of a nearly comatose state of boredom, ineffectiveness and triviality lies in the struggle for justice.” The truth and stories presented here will call you out of an unsatisfying ho-hum Christian life and into the adventure of seeing God work in powerful and miraculous ways.
“Just Courage shines like exit-lighting, leading me out of the guilt-laden, often overwhelming conversations about what I should be doing, to the life-giving redemptive promises about my life as a follower of Jesus Christ. Gary Haugen speaks beautifully and directly to the truth that entering into justice work is not optional in the life of the believer, but is the realization of our deepest faith and desires to the live lives of significance.” – Sara Groves, singer and songwriter
Too Busy Not to Pray: 20th Anniversary Edition-Bill Hybels - 208 pages
Slow down to be with God. Revised throughout with a new introduction and a new chapter on praying for the needs of the world, this twentieth-anniversary edition of Too Busy Not to Pray calls both young and old to make prayer a priority, and broadens our vision for what our eternal, powerful God does when his people slow down to pray.
The Jesus I Never Knew - Philip Yancey
This is a passionate and disarming look at who Jesus was and why He came. Your stereotypes will be challenged and your comfort zones eroded with startlingly fresh perspectives on the authentic Jesus. In this revised small group DVD, Yancey guides you and your group through six sessions. Tapping the drama and immediacy of motion pictures, The Jesus I Never Knew will engage hearts, minds, emotions and senses. Prepare for life changing encounters with Jesus of the Gospels…and discoveries as refreshing, unpredictable and exciting as the person you’re about to meet. Participant guides and audio CD available.
Foundations - Tom Holladay and Kay Warren
If you’re going to live your life with purpose and wisdom, you need a solid foundation. You need to know what you believe and why you believe it. Namely, your doctrine. This curriculum is designed to help maturing believers see everything around, above, and within them through the filter of God's truth. In 24 sessions you can take your group on an exploration of the 11 core truths that our faith is built on: the Bible, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Creation, Salvation, Sanctification, Good and Evil, the Afterlife, the Church and the Second Coming. With step-by-step teaching notes and tips, discussion questions, Powerpoint slides, and memory cards with key verses and themes, our worldview has never been easier to examine.
God is Closer Than You Think Curriculum-John Ortberg with Stephen and Amanda Sorenson
Learn how to enjoy a vibrant, intimate connection with a deeply personal God. Why settle for anything less? Ortberg shows you God's hand stretching toward you and the ways you can reach toward God and complete the connection---to your joy and his. Through this six-session curriculum, recognize the hand of God at work in the complex mosaic of your life, find God where you least expect Him, align yourself with the flow of the Holy Spirit and more.
An Ordinary Day with Jesus Curriculum-John Ortberg, Ruth Haley Barton
Christ entered our broken world to give us life in all its fullness. Not just in pinnacle experiences, but in every situation, every relationship, every activity. As you learn to recognize and welcome Christ's presence into every moment, ordinary days become filled with a tangible sense of God's presence. Suddenly, you are experiencing all of life with God--not just Sundays or "quiet times." Even more, he is transforming you in the process. You begin to experience the kind of ongoing, close connection to God you've longed for. Take the first steps toward that kind of life today. An Ordinary Day with Jesus is designed to show you how. This flexible eight-session curriculum can literally change your life, one ordinary--extraordinary--day at a time. PowerPoint CD, video curriculum, leader’s guide and participant’s guides available.
Refrigerator Rights: Our Crucial Need for Close Connection-Will Miller, Glenn Sparks
How many people are you truly close to – who could open your fridge without asking? This paradigm-shifting book unpacks the importance of community in a personal emotional and physical health. Updated and expanded new content.
Prayer-Philip Yancey
In this six-session small group DVD, award-winning author Philip Yancey probes the very heartbeat-the most fundamental, challenging, perplexing and deeply rewarding aspect-of our relationship with God: prayer. Yancey shows you how to pray to a God who sees what lies ahead of you, knows what lies within you, and who invites you into an eternal partnership with Him---through prayer.
What is prayer? How does it work? And more importantly does it work? Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? is an exploration of the mysterious intersection where God and humans meet and relate. Six-session DVD, audio CD, leader’s guide and participant’s guides available in addition to the book.
Just Walk Across the Room-Bill Hybels with Ashley Wiersma
The next era in personal evangelism has arrived! This transforming, four-week experience will guide your group through inspiring sermons, and individual reading in the book Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith. Discover how to follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings to “just walk across the room” and into the lives of people living far from God. DVD and participant’s guides available.
Becoming a Contagious Christian-Mark Mittelberg, Lee Strobel and Bill Hybels
Relational Evangelism: Unlocked easier than ever before. In six sessions, you can teach your members to communicate boldly and effectively by tapping into their natural approach to relationships. Participants begin by taking an “evangelism style” assessment. From there, they’ll link into one of six personality profiles and learn how to use their unique traits to enhance their witness. Add on practical instruction-such as how to begin a spiritual conversation, clearly communicate biblical realities and engage others with your testimony-and they’ll have all the tools they need to unlock their own personal evangelistic approach. DVD, leader’s guide and participants guide available.
The Case For…studies-Lee Strobel-Book Study
Faith reaffirming and confidence building, the “Case for” series nourishes deep convictions within every believer while also connecting seekers to the hard evidence they need.
The Case for the Real Jesus-A journalist investigates current attacks on the identity of Christ.
The Case for Faith-A journalist investigates the toughest objections to Christianity.
The Case for a Creator-A journalist investigates scientific evidence that points toward God.
The Case For Christ-BESTSELLER-A journalist’s personal investigation of the evidence for Jesus.
God is Closer Than You Think-John Ortberg with Stephen and Amanda Sorenson
The story of the Bible is the story of God’s desire to be with his people. God is extending himself, stretching out to reach us and to fill our lives with his presence. Every moment of your life is like a page in a Where’s Waldo book. God is there, the Scriptures tell us, but the ease with which he may be found varies from one page to the next. God is closer than you think! Six-session DVD, leader’s guide and participant’s guide available with this book.
Freed Up Financial Living - Good Sense Stewardship Ministry
The Freed-Up Financial Living Participant's Workbook is designed for use with the Freed-Up Financial Living Teaching DVD. This inclusive, six-session DVD curriculum features the teaching of seasoned financial ministry leaders Dick Towner, John Tolfilon and Shannon Plate. It contains all teaching and supporting drama videos in a simple plug-and-play format that allows the content to be experienced without the need for an up-front teacher. The curriculum outlines biblical essentials on earning, giving, saving, spending and reducing debt, while providing practical tips to help participants achieve their own financial, personal, and spiritual goals, and is easily adaptable for use in seminar, small group or even individual use settings.