What is your greatest priority? Followers of Jesus are called to be disciples who make disciples of all nations. Somewhere along the way global missions have slipped far too low as a priority for individuals and churches. Missions and outreach to the lost is not an option for any true follower of Jesus because if you are a disciple then missions is in your DNA. Jesus requires us all to make disciples and live on mission with Him daily. Missions Abandoned challenges you to refocus your life as Jesus' follower making it a priority to make disciples locally and globally. Jesus has been calling His disciples for centuries to be obedient to follow him and to engage in His mission. Now is your time to follow Jesus and to do what disciples of Jesus do; make disciples. Andrew and Owen confront you to get reacquainted with what it truly means to be His disciple by reintegrating missions and witnessing into your daily life. You will not only be inspired, but also be equipped with the tools to become an effective disciple-maker. "Missions Abandoned" does more than inform followers of Jesus, it challenges us to reevaluate our commitment to missions and our passion for the lost." - Kyle Idleman, teaching pastor at Southeast Christian Church.

Winner, Presidio La Bahia Award, Sons of the Republic of Texas Built to bring Christianity and European civilization to the northern frontier of New Spain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries...secularized and left to decay in the nineteenth century...and restored in the twentieth century, the Spanish missions still standing in Texas are really only shadows of their original selves. The mission churches, once beautifully adorned with carvings and sculptures on their façades and furnished inside with elaborate altarpieces and paintings, today only hint at their colonial-era glory through the vestiges of art and architectural decoration that remain. To paint a more complete portrait of the missions as they once were, Jacinto Quirarte here draws on decades of on-site and archival research to offer the most comprehensive reconstruction and description of the original art and architecture of the six remaining Texas missions—San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, San Juan Capistrano, and San Francisco de la Espada in San Antonio and Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo in Goliad. Using church records and other historical accounts, as well as old photographs, drawings, and paintings, Quirarte describes the mission churches and related buildings, their decorated surfaces, and the (now missing) altarpieces, whose iconography he extensively analyzes. He sets his material within the context of the mission era in Texas and the Southwest, so that the book also serves as a general introduction to the Spanish missionary program and to Indian life in Texas.

In this provocative examination of the fall of the profession of social work from its original mission to aid and serve the underprivileged, Harry Specht and Mark Courtney show how America's excessive trust in individualistic solutions to social problems have led to the abandonment of the poor in this country. A large proportion of all certified social workers today have left the social services to enter private practice, thereby turning to the middle class -- those who can afford psychotherapy -- and away from the poor. As Specht and Courtney persuasively demonstrate, if social work continues to drift in this direction there is good reason to expect that the profession will be entirely engulfed by psychotherapy within the next twenty years, leaving a huge gap in the provision of social services traditionally filled by social workers. The authors examine the waste of public funds this trend occasions, as social workers educated with public money abandon community service in increasing numbers.

The debate about how higher education is failing to play a role in reducing inequality often centers on elite colleges, while ignoring the numerous public colleges and universities that educate the majority of our students. This book adds to the discussion by exploring an in-depth case study of the largest public higher educational system in the United States, The California State University, with implications for other state systems as well. Benjamin P. Bowser, experienced faculty member and author, discusses higher education reforms in response to increasing tuition, underprepared graduates, and declining academic standards. Focusing on the faculty perspective, this text examines how these reforms can threaten the mission of a public institution, only exacerbating the crisis of higher education and inequality.

Bathed in desert light and shadow, rising up from the earth in improbable, faraway places, stand eight original Spanish missions on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. Built of stone by Roman Catholic priests and indigenous laborers in the eighteenth century, these stunning missions dominate the landscape around them. Baja California Missions: In the Footsteps of the Padres is a beautiful and informative book about the eight monumental Spanish colonial churches, buildings seldom seen by those familiar with the missions of California, Arizona, and Sonora, Mexico. With gorgeous photographs of the architecture and religious art, and supported by a concise history that outlines the peninsula’s exploration and colonization by Roman Catholic priests, Baja California Missions excels as a book of photography and history. It promises adventure for readers at home, as well as for travelers ready to explore the churches in person. The eight Spanish colonial stone churches of Baja California endure as the only intact originals of 34 missions built by the padres during the peninsula’s colonization. Due to structural renovations and restorations of the artwork undertaken over the last 30 years, the renowned mission churches have become sources of pride to the citizens of Baja California. Travelers are invited to visit at any time, especially during patron saint day celebrations. As a guide, Baja California Missions is fully up to date, with directions for navigating Baja’s paved highways and desert and mountain roads. The mission sites are pinpointed on a topographic roadmap of the peninsula. A church floor plan is provided to accompany a walk-through tour for each church interior. The lovely eighteenth-century oil paintings and wooden statues that grace the church altars are also identified and described