For pastors, ministers, and lay persons who wish to establish or maintain effective ministries to ex-prisoners in their churches comes this practical guide, written from the perspective and experience of a church-based ex-prisoner ministry in Washington, D.C. (Church Administration/Pastoral Resources)

Having completed their sentences, what kind of neighbors will these returning inmates be? What has been done to prepare them to live healthy, productive, law-abiding lives? The author demonstrates why we should care and how you and your church can help.

Mark Shaw offers ideas from the most significant Christian leaders of the last five hundred years, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, William Carey, John Wesley, Richard Baxter and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

A funny-but-touching tale about everything that can go wrong...and what makes it all right! Tess Nelson is poised to take a well-deserved step up the corporate ladder when it's yanked out from under her. With no job and nothing to fill her days--just a nonrefundable ticket for a trip to Hawaii--Tess decides a tropical vacation is just what she needs. But Tess's journey to paradise is a disaster from the beginning. A sprained ankle at the airport is just the beginning. Then there's the lost contact lens and the lost luggage, the lightning storm at a luau, and the hotel fire. Not to mention the approaching hurricane. And the attractive, annoying young man who keeps crossing her path--and really shaking her up. All Tess wants to do is get her life back under control. But God, it seems, has something else in mind--like opening her heart to everything her life could be.

The reality of a stained glass ceiling is familiar to most women called to the pastorate. Despite being more likely to be seminary educated, female clergy constitute less than 10 percent of Protestant leading pastorates and those who do hold such pastorates are generally paid less than their male counterparts. In light of such statistics, Pastor Chris Smith explores how to overcome the challenges in breaking through the stained glass ceiling and she goes a step further. She shares the lessons learned and best practices of the success stories those women who are currently serving in solo or senior pastorates. Based on a national survey of female clergy, this volume is rich in insights based on data as well as personal anecdotes insights that will empower not only women called to the pastorate but also their male colleagues and denominational leaders who want to support them.

This book presents an overview of the ministry of women associated with Princeton Theological Seminary over the last two hundred years. Beginning with a historical overview of early pioneering women at the seminary and a chapter highlighting selected trailblazers in ministry, it goes on to showcase twenty-eight first-person narratives by women from diverse racial-ethnic, geographical, and denominational backgrounds in a variety of ministry settings. It concludes by developing new understandings and directions for Christian ministry and theological education to challenge the twenty-first-century church. The book includes the newly commissioned hymn "Faith of Our Mothers, Living Still," along with several appendixes that feature time lines and highlight Princeton Seminary faculty and alumnae. Faith of Our Mothers, Living Still celebrates the diverse ministries in which women are called to serve God and others, which inspire a holistic vision for theological education that can benefit seminaries, the church, and the world.

Something clearly is wrong with the current justice system in which repeat incarceration is high, injustice is rampant, and 25 percent of African-American males can expect to spend time behind bars. Colson's biblical ideas for reform have the potential to turn the system around, keep innocent people out of prison, and give victims some relief.