In the formative years of the Methodist Church in the United States, women played significant roles as proselytizers, organizers, lay ministers, and majority members. Although women's participation helped the church to become the nation's largest denomination by the mid-nineteenth century, their official roles diminished during that time. In Beyond the Pulpit, Lisa Shaver examines Methodist periodicals as a rhetorical space to which women turned to find, and make, self-meaning. In 1818, Methodist Magazine first published "memoirs" that eulogized women as powerful witnesses for their faith on their deathbeds. As Shaver observes, it was only in death that a woman could achieve the status of minister. Another Methodist publication, the Christian Advocate, was America's largest circulated weekly by the mid-1830s. It featured the "Ladies' Department," a column that reinforced the canon of women as dutiful wives, mothers, and household managers. Here, the church also affirmed women in the important rhetorical and evangelical role of domestic preacher. Outside the "Ladies Department," women increasingly appeared in "little narratives" in which they were portrayed as models of piety and charity, benefactors, organizers, Sunday school administrators and teachers, missionaries, and ministers' assistants. These texts cast women into nondomestic roles that were institutionally sanctioned and widely disseminated. By 1841, the Ladies' Repository and Gatherings of the West was engaging women in discussions of religion, politics, education, science, and a variety of intellectual debates. As Shaver posits, by providing a forum for women writers and readers, the church gave them an official rhetorical space and the license to define their own roles and spheres of influence. As such, the periodicals of the Methodist church became an important public venue in which women's voices were heard and their identities explored.

What is it like to be a preacher or rabbi who no longer believes in God? In this expanded and updated edition of their groundbreaking study, Daniel C. Dennett and Linda LaScola comprehensively and sensitively expose an inconvenient truth that religious institutions face in the new transparency of the information age—the phenomenon of clergy who no longer believe what they publicly preach. In confidential interviews, clergy from across the ministerial spectrum—from liberal to literal—reveal how their lives of religious service and study have led them to a truth inimical to their professed beliefs and profession. Although their personal stories are as varied as the denominations they once represented, or continue to represent—whether Catholic, Baptist, Episcopalian, Methodist, Mormon, Pentecostal, or any of numerous others—they give voice not only to their own struggles but also to those who similarly suffer in tender and lonely silence. As this study poignantly and vividly reveals, their common journey has far-reaching implications not only for their families, their congregations, and their communities—but also for the very future of religion.

“God has appointed preaching in worship as one great means of accomplishing his ultimate goal in the world.” —John Piper John Piper makes a compelling claim in these pages about the purpose of preaching: it is intended not merely as an explanation of the text but also as a means of awakening worship by being worship in and of itself. Christian preaching is a God-appointed miracle aiming to awaken the supernatural seeing, savoring, and showing of the glory of Christ. Distilling over forty years of experience in preaching and teaching, Piper shows preachers how and what to communicate from God’s Word, so that God’s purpose on earth will advance through Biblesaturated, Christ-exalting, God-centered preaching—in other words, expository exultation.

Who Moved My Pulpit? may not be the exact question you’re asking. But you’re certainly asking questions about change in the church—where it’s coming from, why it’s happening, and how you’re supposed to hang on and follow God through it—even get out ahead of it so your church is faithfully meeting its timeless calling and serving the new opportunities of this age. Based on conversations with thousands of pastors, combined with on-the-ground research from more than 50,000 churches, best-selling author Thom S. Rainer shares an eight-stage roadmap to leading change in your church. Not by changing doctrine. Not by changing biblical foundations. But by changing methodologies and approaches for reaching a rapidly changing culture. You are the pastor. You are the church staff person. You are an elder. You are a deacon. You are a key lay leader in the church. This is the book that will equip you to celebrate and lead change no matter the cost. The time is now.

Fetter: (noun) "a chain or manacle used to restrain a prisoner." In Buddhist teachings there are said to be ten "fetters" (samyojana) which hold back our progress in this life. In 2009 Joshua laid in a Beijing hostel room, 750 yards away from Tiananmen Square, for 2 days, waiting for his friend to leave China, so that he could kill himself for being gay. The author prayed to God for 15 years to heal the so-called "sinful desires." In that hostel room he began to realize there was never any sin to begin with. This book is told through the author's personal experiences growing up in the Christian American South; before expanding into the broader patriarchal, political, religious, and historical reasons that have caused so much unnecessary confusion & pain for individuals in the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities. Lessons of empowerment are interspersed with poetry and photography by the author. Philosophical reasoning and quantum consciousness are discussed as the author broadens a blueprint of hope for individuals reclaiming their personal freedom. From 2012-2018 the author worked as a respected investigator for Child Protective Services of Texas. Social workers routinely respond to cases of children and teenagers who have self-harmed as they discover their sexual orientations or gender identities are non-heteronormative. Many of these teens do not have supportive parents and are further disempowered by their local communities during these important formative years. In short, kids were wanting to kill themselves for being gay, queer, or questioning their identities. These are many of our stories. That was Joshua's story too. Something had to change. This book was written in hopes that future generations won't live in a world where these stories need to be told anymore. It is the author's intention that each reader will walk away from this story with the same self-confidence, love, and acceptance written within these pages. One day we will be able to write new stories void of systemic or religious oppression. Until then we must each become a change agent for the greater good of all humans. Joshua broke the Violent Fetters and walked into living exactly as we are all meant to live: free, empathetic, joyful, connected to Earth, and with hopeful empowerment for all humankind.

Moving Jesus beyond the Pulpit: Doing It the Community Way Can Help Church Growth describes the challenges facing Christianity and the church. Although these challenges are very significant, they help to boost the efforts of the present disciples of Christ to be good ambassadors to the world. What prompted the writing of this book is that author Sunday J. I. Etsekhume clamored for a dramatic change in the way some churches do outreach. Some churches only prefer to do outreach from the pulpit, but ignored the practice in the community where they are situated. The book also describes various ways in which the church can show love and care, which indicates the various ways that can portray the church healthiness. For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me, (Matthew 25:35-36). The book also argues against the idea that church leaders would not compromise their positions as spiritual leaders, due to financial insufficiencies, in order to become fleshy leaders. The arguments further center on how the church can do evangelism without jeopardizing church principles and some of the Christian rules of conduct. Finally, the book focuses on the pulpit, where sermons are preached without the preachers practicing what they preachedhypocrisy! Dr. Etsekhume has written an insightful, thoughtful, and thought-provoking rationale for getting back to basics in terms of the way the Church approaches ministry. Moving from pulpit to pew, from leadership to follow-ship, and from minister to member, Dr. Etsekhume identifies the spiritual, organizational, and interpersonal challenges facing the Church and recommends Scriptural principles for addressing them. By turns compassionate and passionate, Moving Jesus Beyond the Pulpit is a wonderful reminder of the restorative, renewing, and revitalizing power of Christ, both in the congregation and in the community at large. Minister Sonja A. West Associate Minister, Mariners Temple Baptist Church, New York, NY. Dr. Sunday Etsekhume analyzes some of the issues that address the Church, both from inside the institutional church and issues in the context that hinder the mission of the Church. In this book, one finds thoughtful and pragmatic methods for addressing some of the problems of the church and the larger community! Moving Jesus Beyond the Pulpit is an important work that will be beneficial both to the church and the academy. I highly recommend this work! Dr. Cleotha Robertson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Old Testament at Alliance Theological Seminary, New York City and the Senior Pastor Sound View Presbyterian Church, Bronx, New York.

Biblical exegesis doesn’t stop with the words alone. Faithful preachers exegete the emotion of the text as well. It’s easy to let our own personalities dictate the emotional dimension of our sermons, but the best preachers mirror the Bible’s emotive intent in their sermons. In Passion in the Pulpit, Jerry Vines and Adam Dooley will teach you how to exegete not just the verbal content of Scripture, but its emotional appeal as well. They show you the role the Bible’s emotional intent should play in each stage of sermon prep, and: Offer exegetical steps to discern the biblical pathos Teach you how to avoid manipulation while making your sermons emotional Help you determine the appropriate limitations of emotional appeal Give you verbal, vocal, and visual techniques to help convey the biblical emotional intent in your sermons When we elevate the Bible’s emotional intent above our own, we preach truth rather than personality.