Experience Rich Mullins's Legacy of Joy and Real CompassionBeloved contemporary Christian musician Rich Mullins lived his life with abandon for God, leaving the spotlight to teach music among a Navajo community. An accident cut his life short in 1997, but his songs and ragamuffin spirit continue to teach many.In honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of R… Read more…
Healing Our Toxic Self-Narratives to Experience True TransformationThe Christian faith is not only about belief and practices, it is also about the kind of people that we become. Yet some of the biggest barriers to our transformation come from our toxic self-narratives. These narratives shape the way we see ourselves and the way we interact in the world. God… Read more…
We are story-making people. We love reading stories—and we love hearing the personal stories of others. We need stories, or narratives, to make sense of our world. And those stories shape our lives.What is the story you have been told about the gospel? About God? About the Christian life? About Jesus? About the cross? About yourself? About heaven?Your … Read more…
Curiosity is essential to growth.A little curiosity moves us deeper into the lives of the people around us.A little curiosity leads to opportunities we never knew existed. A little curiosity helps us understand our own strange emotions.A little curiosity, if focused on Jesus, will make us more like him.Pastor and spiritual director Casey Tygrett loves to ask… Read more…
"I was dying from the inside out and could envision nothing life giving, nothing energizing, nothing vital happening in my life. Ever. Again." Many of us can identify with pastor Kai Nilsen in this place of exhaustion and long to find a source of refreshment. This book shows us the way to the wellspring of the Holy Spirit. When we find the energy for creativ… Read more…
Dallas Willard spent his life making eternal living concrete for his friends. After his unexpected passing in 2013, the kaleidoscope of memories and the diversity of the lives he had touched could not be confined to one or even two memorial services, but three. It is this wide breadth of impact that inspired friends, family, colleagues, students, and leaders… Read more…
Dallas Willard spent his life making eternal living concrete for his friends. With his unexpected passing in 2013, the world lost a brilliant mind. The wide breadth of his impact inspired friends, family, colleagues, students and leaders of the church to gather their reflections on this celebrated yet humble theologian and philosopher. Richard Foster, a frie… Read more…
In this third book in the Apprentice Series, James Bryan Smith helps us know how to live in relationship with others as apprentices of Jesus. "Apprentices of Jesus are not part-time do-gooders," he writes. "They live in continuous contact with the kingdom of God, and are constantly men and women in whom Christ dwells. They do not sometimes tell the truth, … Read more…
A Deeper Sort of DevotionalWords are powerful. They contain ideas and shape the way we see God, ourselves and all of reality. We're transformed, in particular, by God's Word, and by "the Word," the Logos—Jesus himself—as described by John in the first chapter of his Gospel.Memorizing and studying a passage in depth can offer a deeper sense of the… Read more…
We believe a lot of false narratives about the nature of God, things like "God helps those who help themselves"; "God blesses the righteous"; "God might not be out for your good, and you might be missing something." But pastor and professor James Bryan Smith, author of the Apprentice Series, points us to the truth of who God is, revealed by Jesus: A God who … Read more…
In this Good and Beautiful Series book, James Bryan Smith helps us know how to live in relationship with others as apprentices of Jesus. "Apprentices of Jesus are not part-time do-gooders," he writes. "They live in continuous contact with the kingdom of God, and are constantly men and women in whom Christ dwells. They do not sometimes tell the truth, sometim… Read more…
James Bryan Smith believes we have bought into false notions of happiness and success. We find ourselves caught up in self-serving decisions that lead us further into the vices that cause ruin: anger, lust, lying, worry and judging. In this follow up to his first book, The Good and Beautiful God, Smith traces through the Sermon on the Mount and helps us look… Read more…