The entire purpose of Jesus Christ coming to earth was to bring God's gift of grace to fallen humanity. Yet, even with this ultimate victory achieved, sin forever finds a way to twist divine blessings into distorted burdens. And so the idea of "grace" has been distorted over the years until, for many, it is little more than a buzzword to gloss over faltering faith or a terrible rationalization for living according to any selfish impulses we crave. It's time to depose the idols of grace in our lives! Author Dave Vance tackles this crisis of grace in the Christian walk, pointing out where believers easily go astray and defining the various roles of God's gift is meant to have in transforming us to be more like Christ.

Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl meets Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty in this contemporary YA about what it means to be a fan—and what it means to be a friend—when your whole world is in flux. In middle school, everyone was a Fever Dream fan. Now, a few weeks after her high school graduation, Grace Thomas sometimes feels like the only one who never moved on. She can’t imagine what she’d do without the community of online fans that share her obsession. Or what her IRL friends would say if they ever found out about it. Then, one summer night, the unthinkable happens: Grace meets her idol, Jes. What starts out as an elusive glimpse of Fever Dream’s world turns into an unlikely romance, and leads her to confront dark, complex truths about herself and the realities of stardom. From the author of A Song to Take the World Apart, Grace and the Fever is a heart-clutching reminder of what it’s like to fall in love—whether it’s with a boy or a boy band—and how difficult it is to figure out who you are after you’ve fallen out of love again. "Grace and The Fever crackles with sharp cultural commentary and deep emotional resonance." —Bitch Magazine "Grace and the Fever is a clear-eyed portrait of 'the girls of the internet' . . . a YA novel that does the fangirl justice."—The Verge "A wise, bittersweet coming-of-age story for the thinking fangirl." —Anna Breslaw, author of Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here "Super addictive." —Goldy Moldavsky, New York Times bestselling author of Kill the Boy Band "A smart, warm, feminist ode to anyone who has ever been eighteen, made a mess of their own life, spent their late night hours on Tumblr, or loved a band so much it hurt." —Katie Coyle, author of Vivian Apple at the End of the World

This fascinating book explains that the gospel is about the restoration of "cracked Eikons" (fallen humans) so that humans can be in union with God and in communion with the saints. In the candid and lucid style that has made McKnight's The Jesus Creed so appealing to thousands of pastors, lay leaders, and everyday people who are searching for a more authentic faith, he encourages all Christians to recognize the simple, yet potentially transforming truth of the gospel message: God seeks to restore us to wholeness not only to make us better individuals, but to form a community of Jesus, a society in which humans strive to be in union with God and in communion with others.

For half a century, Madeleine L'Engle has spun magic with words, touching millions of lives and earning a devoted readership with her award-winning fiction, candid reflections on her personal and family life and graceful meditations on faith. Now, Glimpses of Grace captures the essence of L'Engle's literary gift in one unprecedented volume. Ranging freely throughout L'Engle's remarkable lifework of more than 40 volumes of fiction and nonfiction, adventure stories, family dramas, autobiography and religious commentary, editor Carole P. Chase has collected evocative passages and arranged them as daily readings that offer illuminating bits of wisdom, provocative insight, and, above all, engaging and intelligent daily inspiration. With enduring power and resonance, each of these 366 rich selections speaks to the simple joys and sorrows of daily life and the deepest questions of the human heart and spirit, while reflecting the exhilarating artistry of one of the most spiritually alive and articulate storytellers of this century.

Behind the glitz and glam of Sin City, an amazing story is unfolding. It’s a story of people who have run out of dreams, given up on hope. It’s a story of what can happen when Christians open their arms wide–really wide–in the name of Christ. In Uncensored Grace, Jud Wilhite and Bill Taaffe introduce you to card players, exotic dancers, a flying Elvis, an American Idol contestant, and a beat cop turned hero, among others. Each has one thing in common–at their moment of extreme need they encounter an extraordinary God. And the place they find him is in an unusual church community that is gambling everything on a hope-filled message they call “uncensored grace.” Writes Jud, “As a pastor, I completely misjudged what grace could look like in my world. Sure, I believed in a God who passionately pursues every human being, no matter how beat up or broken. I believed, but not enough. Not nearly.” Welcome to the streets of Vegas. What happens here could change your life. “In Uncensored Grace, Jud Wilhite describes the life-changing power of God’s forgiveness as it’s encountered on the streets of Vegas. Wherever lives hurt, God’s grace is present with more than enough power to heal.” -Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life

This collection of essays includes historical and theological studies in the sacraments from a Baptist perspective. Subjects explored include the liturgy and sacrement, presence of the Kingdom, some fallacies of Baptist anti-sacramentalism, ...a profound mystry, first communion, sacraments in a virtual world, richly are thy children fed, the scacraments, sacramental pratices of the believing community, priesthood of all the people, "laying on of hands," holistic approach to water-baptism, powerful practices, and enough to set a Kimgdom laughing.