"Pastor Weiss [tells] the truth about what private life can be like for women who seek to publicly serve the Church." --Lynne Silva-Breen, MDiv, MA, LMFT, former ELCA Pastor "Anyone who daily searches for a genuine faith relationship will find benefit from this work." --Bruce G. Trethaway, MDiv "What are you?" the curious man asked Pastor Marjorie Weiss when he saw her walk by him in the church corridor while she was wearing her clerical collar. That question is indeed the heartbeat of her story. Until the 1970s, "pastor" had been a male-only profession. "What am I?" she asks throughout her journey. "What am I as I stand before a congregation weekly to deliver a sermon that will inspire and guide listeners to better understand themselves and God?" And what is she when that faith, so necessary to do her job, suddenly seems to vanish? What is she when her emotional life crumbles and anger rules her landscape? Can she be a pastor without God in her life? Weiss's deeply vulnerable, often humorous, memoir speaks to universal issues experienced by the religious and nonreligious alike. Many of her experiences may seem familiar while others border on the truly toxic. Can the pastor recover her faith? Or is it God from whom she needs to recover?

Be inspired to pray boldly, pray powerfully, pray with passion, and trade ineffective prayers and lukewarm faith for raw, daring prayers that will transform your daily life. Do you ever wonder if God answers your prayers? Do you wish you could see the evidence that prayer changes lives? Do you long for more than playing it safe in your faith? Join New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel as he helps you discover the power of authentically communicating with God, breaking out of the restrictive spiritual safety bubble, and expanding your ideas about what's possible with God. The Bible tells us that prayer has the power to move God's heart, but some prayers move him more than others. He wants more for us than a tepid faith and half-hearted routines at the dinner table. God called you to a life of courage, not comfort. In Dangerous Prayers, Groeschel will show you how to pray the prayers that search your soul, break your habits, and send you out to pursue the calling God has for you. But be warned: If you're fine with settling for what's easy, or if you're okay with staying on the sidelines, this book isn't for you. You'll be challenged. You'll be tested. You'll be moved to take a long, hard look at your heart. But you'll be inspired, too. Dangerous Prayers will give you the encouragement and tools you need to: Transform the patterns around your daily prayer life Truly embrace and believe in the power of intentional prayer Start to pray daring, faith-filled, God-honoring, life-changing, world-transforming prayers You'll discover the secret to overcoming fears of loss, rejection, failure, and the unknown, and you'll welcome the blessings God has for you on the other side. But best of all, you'll gain the courage it takes to pray dangerous prayers.

What If You Could Change the World without Changing Your Daily Routine? When you’ve been transformed by God’s love, you can’t help but want others to experience the same grace and freedom. But how do you share it without scaring them away or offending them? For most Christians, “evangelism” is an intimidating word that suggests handing out tracts to strangers or doing other awkward things. But what if there was a more organic, more authentic way to share your faith with your friends, neighbors, and coworkers? Dave and Jon Ferguson have found five simple, straightforward practices that will allow any believer to do just that. And by consistently living them out, you can affect not just individual lives but your entire neighborhood and community—one person at a time.

For writer, professor, and activist Marlena Graves, formation and justice always intertwine on the path to a balanced life of both action and contemplation. Drawing on the rich traditions of Eastern and Western Christian saints, she describes the process of emptying herself that allows her to move upward toward God and become the true self that God calls her to.

Your 40-day guide to experiencing more passionate, persistent, intimate communication with God. Do you pray as often and as bravely as you want to? Are you looking to strengthen your relationship with God and experience a deeper, more intentional prayer life? Mark Batterson, New York Times bestselling author of The Circle Maker, is here to teach you all about a new, life-changing way to pray. After the release of The Circle Maker, thousands of readers quickly became many tens of thousands, and soon enough, true stories of miraculous and inspiring answers to prayer began to pour in. Draw the Circle shares these inspiring testimonies and combines them with timely scriptures and daily prayer prompts designed to stir you to pray like never before. Through these moving stories and encouraging devotionals, you'll learn all about: The life-changing power of intentional prayer Why prayer is such a crucial aspect of your relationship with God How to start applying the principles of The Circle Maker in your everyday life How to stay humble, patient, and focused as you start your 40-day journey Building prayer habits that will support your faith for a lifetime There's a way for all of us to experience a deeper, more passionate, persistent, and intimate prayer life. Batterson invites you to begin a lifetime of watching God work, believe in the God who can do all things, and experience the power of bold prayer and even bolder faith. Let Draw the Circle be the first forty days on your way to a lifetime of watching God work and believing in the God who can do all things.

It's amazing how heavy the weight of emptiness can feel, how much room it can take up in our souls, how much pain can be caused by something that isn't even there.But while we may see the emptiness of our lives as our greatest problem, that's not how God sees it. When God looks into the empty places of our lives, He sees His greatest opportunity. God does His best work in the emptiness of our . . . Insatiable craving for things that don't satisfy Relational disappointments and loneliness Frustrated search for purpose and meaning Relentless desire for comfort and security Ongoing struggle to live with loss and unfulfilled dreams Join Nancy Guthrie in discovering why emptiness has never been, and never will be, a problem to God. As Nancy pulls back the curtain on God's work to fill up emptiness as revealed throughout the Bible, you'll experience page after page of grace and hope that your emptiness can and will be filled. You'll begin to see that God really does do His best work with empty--as he fills it with Himself.

A Comprehensive Guide to Corporate Prayer God commands his people to pray together and answers graciously when they do. The Bible specifically calls on church leaders to guide this essential form of corporate worship, but it can be challenging to pray boldly and confidently in front of others. This practical, step-by-step guide was created to help pastors and church leaders pray thoughtfully and biblically in public. Through seven guiding principles, Pat Quinn illustrates how to lead prayers of adoration, confession, and supplication to God, and covers the history of public prayer in Scripture. He also includes elegant, reverent, gospel-centered examples from the Latin Liturgy, John Calvin, the Puritans, John Wesley, and others, as well as many examples of his own congregational prayers. Pastors and church leaders will learn to glorify God more passionately, effectively intercede for the church and the world, and find joy—not fear—in praying publicly.