Skipping Church

Sidelined and derailed. That’s how Suzanne Kelsey felt three decades ago after her husband of fourteen years announced his decision to become a Methodist minister. They were thirty-four and had two young sons. An independent free-thinker who believes in a divine something-or-other but not organized religion, Kelsey values her privacy and likes to settle in and nest. She felt her husband was choosing an itinerant, public life of commitment to doctrine for both of them. Kelsey wanted no part of that strange world. In Skipping Church: Notes from an Accidental Minister’s Wife, Kelsey explores what callings are and who gets to claim them, whether a life right for one is right for two, how to live authentically despite pressures to be different, how nature and art can ground us spiritually even if we’re not religious, and where home is for those who move frequently. These musings, laced with humor and infused with honesty, are accompanied by scenes from Kelsey’s life as she gradually made peace with her husband’s career decision while forging her own path.

Are you working harder at church these days but enjoying it less? Are you wondering why, amid so much Christian church activity, American life seems to be angrier and more fragmented and stressful? Why isn't the Body of Christ more powerful in shaping culture? Galen Blom and Bob Baldwin take a fresh approach to these questions in The Missing Church: The Power of Being the Body of Christ in the Family, Neighborhood and Workplace, and the answer is profoundly simple: the church has little influence on our society because it is missing from the people groups that actually exercise dominion in our culture—our families, our local neighborhoods, our places of work, and our schools. But how can the church be present in the family and in a suburban neighborhood? And isn't it illegal for Christians to be the church at work or at school? Blom and Baldwin trace God's plan for human society from Genesis through the New Testament. His Word has much to say about what Christians are to be together as Christ's Body within these strategic people groups. The good news is God's call is not something additional we have to add to our already busy lives. It is simply a call to live in community that adds wholeness and meaning to every part of life. Let The Missing Church help you see church in a new way.

The author practices Optometry in the Atlanta area, and serves as a legal consultant to optometrists and related health care professionals. He holds an undergraduate degree in Physics-Mathematics, and post-graduate degrees in Law and Optometry. Dr. Provost is a member of The Florida Bar and The Georgia Bar, and is licensed to practice Optometry in Florida and Georgia. He lives in an Atlanta suburb with his wife Evelyn, an attorney, and their four champion Persians, who have replaced in both intelligence and charm, four talented children who have gone on to careers in Optometry, teaching and real estate. The author graduated from Berry College near Rome, Georgia in 1961. While at Berry College in the late fifties the author was President of the Freshman Class, Treasurer of the Sophomore Class, Secretary, Vice-president and finally President of the Men's Student Government. At the end of his Junior year he became the first ever recipient of the Jessie Pritchett Parish Student Leadership Award, presented to the one student among the entire student body who best demonstrated leadership qualities on campus. While at Berry College the author rewrote the Berry College Handbook for Men. Following graduation in 1961, the author enlisted in the U. S. Army. He served two tours of duty in South Korea, the first as the feature writer for The Pacific Stars and Stripes newspaper, distributed daily to more than 37,000 U. S. soldiers in South Korea. The young reporter covered all meetings of the Military Armistice Commission (MAC) held at Panmunjom, and traveled freely throughout South Korea in his assigned Jeep, writing about anything of a military or civilian nature that interested him or that might be of interest to his readers. At age 24 the author was accepted as a student at the prestigious Defense Language Institute, located at Monterey, California, where he studied the Korean language for a year, graduating first in his class of thirty students. Following months of instruction at the U. S. Army Intelligence Center located at Ft. Holabird, Maryland, the author was stationed with the 502 Military Intelligence Battalion in Seoul, South Korea. As the youngest of the five prisoner interrogators and intelligence analysts, the specialist daily interrogated captured North Korean espionage agents and their 'minders" who had failed in their attempt to infiltrate the irregular coastline of South Korea. These experiences are the subject of the author's soon to be published book entitled The Wall at Inchon. In 1965 the author received an Honorable Discharge from the U. S. Army, and in 1967 was accepted as a student at the University of Houston College of Optometry. Dr. Provost graduated in 1972 with the degree Doctor of Optometry, and began his private practice of Optometry in the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida suburb of Plantation. In 1977 Dr. Provost was accepted into Nova Southeastern University College of Law, graduating in 1980 with the degree Juris Doctor. He has practiced Optometry since 1972 and Law since 1980, in Georgia and Florida. The author was born in Kinston, North Carolina in 1939, the knee baby of seven children. Following the sudden death of his father, a wartime U. S. civil service engineer, in February 1947 the seven-year-old was sent to live for a decade in historic Oxford Orphanage, located northeast of Raleigh. Dr. Provost's Reflections in An Orphan's Eye-A Decade at Oxford is the first book written about the historic 132-year-old institution since Nettie Bemis' popular Life at Oxford, published in1925. However, whereas Nettie Bemis' work centered around the history and campus life at Oxford, Dr. Provost's work, while recounting the history of the institution, is a factual, bittersweet narrative of a youngster's decade-long odyssey spent growing up 'inside the hedges." This work is a moving account of how tradition rich Oxford Orphanage and its four hundred students and staff grabbed a timid, disillusion

“Every pastor should read this. . . . Every believer who has ever despaired of church, been tempted to quit, or struggled with guilt over leaving should, too” (Rod Dreher). Americans still believe in God, but they are leaving the church in record numbers. Why are the faithful fleeing? Julia Duin, a veteran journalist and a Christian, has collected the research and added insights from interviews with disillusioned followers, as well as from her own story. In this engrossing account of churches in decline, Duin visits numerous churches and explores a number of factors underlying the social shift away from church: irrelevant teaching, the neglect of singles, the marginalization of women, and a lack of authentic spiritual power. She also journeys into house churches and emergent congregations. Duin’s careful analysis is sure to help church leaders and churchgoers examine how they might better serve their communities and create inviting spiritual homes for people of all kinds. “Engaging . . . as religion editor for the Washington Times, [Duin] is in her element marshaling statistics, interviewing authors and clergy, and commenting on the trend of faithful evangelicals who increasingly vote with their feet by leaving their churches.” —Publishers Weekly

What does an atheist think about church? Jim Henderson decided that the best way to find out was to ask! So he recruited an atheist—Matt Casper—to visit twelve leading churches with him and give the “first impression” perspective of a non-believer. Week after week, this spiritual odd couple attended services at churches all over the country and documented their experiences at and reactions to each one. Along the way, they found the real value of their journey in the open and authentic friendship that developed as they talked, questioned, joked, and—most important—listened. Follow along with Jim and Casper on their visits, and eavesdrop as they discuss what they found. Their articulate, sometimes humorous, and always insightful dialogue offers Christians a new view of an environment where we’ve become overly comfortable: the church.

Sermons change people's lives. Rev. Steven Schafer has been in the pulpit for over a quarter of a century. This sermon collection consists of a few of the sermons his congregation thinks are his best.

Shiloh’s Scepter was to leave my descendants a clear, unequivocal message of hope and truth pointing them to the God who has sustained and blessed me since I was nine years old. A great challenge in this modern computer age is finding a way to peak people’s curiosity, especially young people, about what a centuries-old book has to say. I have struggled to present many of the basic biblical truths in an easy-to-read format interesting to all ages. In these pages you can find the basis for the confident beliefs and strong convictions responsible for shaping the essence of my being and guiding my choices in life. Many of the key themes of the Christian life are addressed in the thirty-nine chapters. These include the way to salvation, coping with sin, spiritual growth and responsibility, church life, prayer, faith, anxiety, happiness, depression, materialism, old age, death, and heaven. If you own a Bible, you hold in your hand the very same scepter our Lord so deftly wielded against the enemy when tempted in the wilderness. This kingly wand, an awesome weapon and incomparable guide, will protect you from the evil one and keep you safe on your journey through life. But importantly, you must learn how to use the Word for it to be effective. Results achieved are commensurate with how well your powerful blade is brandished. If you find the time to read this book and it improves your Bible skills in any significant way, then my countless hours of writing will have been well spent. May these pages lead you humbly to the feet of Christ, enlighten your spiritual understanding, and challenge your commitment to Christian service!

No one ever plans to fail in their faith. We all think we'll be the kind of Christian who follows the straight and narrow, ending our days with the relief of knowing we were ultimately a good and faithful servant. So why do so many leave that road? What enables some to survive as Christians when so many others have faltered? With A Christian Survival Guide, Ed Cyzewski steps up to be your trail guide and provide some possible answers. He addresses some of the biggest, toughest questions in Christianity, including: - Disturbing Bible stories - Hell and what it means - Does the Bible have to be "true"? - The question of evil- Money and the church- Evangelizing when no one wants to listen Candid and wry, Cyzewski deals with the tension of hard questions without resorting to empty answers, cliches, relativism, or the smug certainty that can so often drive seekers and strugglers further away. This popular blogger also has a knack of making long-ago biblical figures absolutely recognizable in today's issues. This survival guide is not meant to be a "one size fits all" handbook. It is a first step to confronting the big issues and challenges of a life of faith--even the ones that Christians fear most. Cyzewski writes for those who both care and question deeply, and offers survival tips to help readers move from living on the edge to a place of health and life.

This volume includes a section on spirituality and hope that brings together theoreticists and practitioners who present original research on this important topic. Alongside this section are papers presenting studies on civic participation, suffering with God and spirituality.

First published in 1972, The Foxfire Book was a surprise bestseller that brought Appalachia's philosophy of simple living to hundreds of thousands of readers. Whether you wanted to hunt game, bake the old-fashioned way, or learn the art of successful moonshining, The Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center had a contact who could teach you how with clear, step-by-step instructions. This eleventh volume celebrates the rituals and recipes of the Appalachian homeplace, including a one-hundred page section on herbal remedies, and segments about planting and growing a garden, preserving and pickling, smoking and salting, honey making, beekeeping, and fishing, as well as hundreds of the kind of spritied firsthand narrative accounts from Appalachian community members that exemplify the Foxfire style. Much more than "how-to" books, the Foxfire series is a publishing phenomenon and a way of life, teaching creative self-sufficiency, the art of natural remedies, home crafts, and other country folkways, fascinating to everyone interested in rediscovering the virtues of simple life.

Thirty major contemporary writers examine life in a deeply divided New York In a city where the top one percent earns more than a half-million dollars per year while twenty-five thousand children are homeless, public discourse about our entrenched and worsening wealth gap has never been more sorely needed. This remarkable anthology is the literary world’s response, with leading lights including Zadie Smith, Junot Díaz, and Lydia Davis bearing witness to the experience of ordinary New Yorkers in extraordinarily unequal circumstances. Through fiction and reportage, these writers convey the indignities and heartbreak, the callousness and solidarities, of living side by side with people of starkly different means. They shed light on the subterranean lives of homeless people who must find a bed in the city’s tunnels; the stresses that gentrification can bring to neighbors in a Brooklyn apartment block; the shenanigans of seriously alienated night-shift paralegals; the trials of a housing defendant standing up for tenants’ rights; and the humanity that survives in the midst of a deeply divided city. Tales of Two Cities is a brilliant, moving, and ultimately galvanizing clarion call for a city—and a nation—in crisis.

With Love from the Streets is a confessional about the process of repentance from a model of church that has been learned all over America. Challenging and sometimes disturbing, this love letter to believers comes from Nate Bull's years as a domestic street missionary and asks many questions about what the church in the west has come to believe and why.

"The Greatest is Love." God wants us to love our neighbors. If this is the premise of being Christian, then why do thousands of denominations claim to be the "right and true" one, implying that all others are false? The author searches for truth and explores real world issues concerning Christians throughout history and today, and the future of Christianity in this ever-changing world. Join the author as he challenges you to think outside of your comfort zone and questions what you might have been told not to question about the Word of God. This book contains many facts and true stories, some you might recognize and some from the author's own life, as he logically discusses controversial subjects such as a Perfect Bible, sex, lying, killing, ethics, Christian leadership, Bible-thumping judgment, and women's rights. It is well documented and written in easy-to-understand language to arm you with the knowledge you need to discuss Scripture in an educated and meaningful way, and to develop a real-world perspective of Christianity; a must-read for all who profess to be Christian!

Interest in the middle ages is at an all time high at the moment, thanks in part to "The Da Vinci Code." Never has there been a moment more propitious for a study of our misconceptions of the Middle Ages than now. Ranging across religion, art, and science, Misconceptions about the Middle Ages unravels some of the many misinterpretations that have evolved concerning the medieval period, including: the church war science art society With an impressive international array of contributions, the book will be essential reading for students and scholars involved with medieval religion, history, and culture.

When hurt imposes its crabby will on our lives, many of us lock up the scars in our "private journals." We write down stuff that is for our eyes only. It's a safe place to hide our fears, failures, and frustrations with ourself, our friends, and even God. Journals are never meant to be read to the world, because if we did, they would reveal who we really are. Nobody really wants to undress their soul in front of others, to be made fun of-me included. Somewhere behind the halleluiahs, praise the Lords, and God is good stuff, there is this real place that only our journals have enough grace to accept. It's a place where 1+1 doesn't equal 2. It's a place where you mix red and blue and get gray. It's a place where you are mad at God and feel He's mad at you. That's what journals hold, the stories of our lives-not the way we always want them but the way they really are. When God invited me to write a book exposing "my journal" to the world, I politely rejected Him. Okay, not really politely. I balked, "There is no way I am ever going to reveal what I spent a lifetime concealing. God, I'm a pastor and these stories don't make me look good; as you know, some don't even make me look like a Christian. God, how about you and I make a deal? On my forty-seventh book, I will let the world snoop around in my journal, but not my first." I refused to hand over the key to my journal, knowing God would just blab it to the whole world. "I will not write a book that makes me look way more human than holy." That all changed one day when five strangers walked into McDonald's and tried pouring ketchup ...

The man no one defies… Wildman Red Calhoun has a reputation to protect. When a troublesome blonde with an awesome pair of… eyes strolls into town, the Loco, Texas cowboy isn’t going to take attitude from a saucy California girl. Especially since she is remodeling his favorite bar. As a battle of wills ensues, Red is determined to take her down...and not just to his bed. Is about to meet his match… Jessie Dale just wants to start over after her last relationship went sour, and the burly man with the sexy grin is being a pain in her rear. Red isn’t even her type. He’s too big, too loud, and too damn bossy for her piece of mind. At least, that’s what she tells herself…until the first time he slants that hot mouth over hers, and suddenly, she’s having all kinds of steamy thoughts. And a kiss can change everything… When Jessie’s ex-boyfriend strolls into town looking for a fight, Red finds himself ready to step in and protect the woman he’s fallen for. But Jessie has always run away from trouble…and finding herself in love with Red is definitely that.