Showing results by narrator "Brandon Batchelar" in All Categories

Most of us are regular people who have good days and bad days. Our lives are radically ordinary and unexciting. That means they're the kind of lives God gets excited about. While the world worships beauty and power and wealth, God hides his glory in the simple, the mundane, the foolish, working in unawesome people, things, and places.

Whether you are on a church staff or leading a small group, you will find that the insights from the enneagram that have helped many grow in self-awareness can be applied to life in our faith communities. The enneagram can help us to become better teachers. It can influence how we develop worship and Christian education. And it can guide us in building and leading teams. It's time to take the enneagram to church - and to allow it to shape our life together.

In our age when the church can too often seem like a poor copy of the world, Chad Bird challenges us to reclaim the astounding originality of our ancient, backward faith. With compelling examples from the Bible and today, Bird paints an enticing picture of the counterintuitive, countercultural life that God wants for us. He helps listeners delight in all of the ways that Jesus turned the world upside down, allowing us to experience true freedom, not from our weaknesses but in the midst of them.

There comes a time in every man’s journey with God where tips and techniques simply do not work. The Restored Man is a practical, life-changing path for every man to take for a deeper and healthier relationship with God and others. This process helps explore four key areas of restoration in a man’s life: know God as father, know yourself, live in brokenness, and walk with God. The results of this process are measurable. Stop trying to change a behavior, and let God buff out the rough edges of the heart. He’ll take care of the rest.

The single father is often considered a mythical creature, found only in sitcoms as an object of humor or pity. Where does that leave real single dads? Too often, it makes them susceptible to overcompensation or apathy. This is guidebook for the rocky road of single fatherhood, extending encouragement, confidence, and challenges, using specific examples from dads who've survived parenting and have hope to offer.

When Scott Douglas found that his own image of Jesus was based more on culture than on fact, he wanted more. Join his search for the 100 percent organic, additive-free Jesus as he gently pokes fun at the culture that has grown up around Christianity. Entertaining, historically informative, and genuine, #OrganicJesus will serve as both a wake-up call and a guide to lead you to a faith rooted in truth, not hype.

When you're ready for something truly extraordinary, consider living life unleashed! Jesus promised us a full and abundant life. But if we’re honest, most of us feel as if we’re missing out. Every one of us - that includes you - has been custom designed with a purpose and a plan beyond imagination. Yet for some reason, we fill our days with normalcy, complacency, and predictability. In Unleash!, Perry Noble challenges us to grab on to God’s promise of full and complete living.

Sixty-eight stories that will inspire you to bless a child's life. Do you remember that one moment (or maybe there were several) that changed your life when you were a child - and shaped part of who you are today? Does it bring a smile to your face? Tears to your eyes? A wistful gaze back through time? We all have those stories and we can all, now, make those stories happen!

God doesn't need your help. But He definitely wants it. Let’s face it. God is God, and there isn’t a single problem in the universe that He can’t solve. But the fact is, God gave each of us unique talents for a reason. When we offer up the gifts He’s given us, He will transform them into something bigger than we could have ever imagined. He might even work a miracle, like turning one lunch into a meal for 5,000 people. Or turning Austin Gutwein’s favorite hobby into an international AIDS relief organization.

Apexx Behavioral Solutions CEO Ted McLyman presents a compelling story about how behavior drives money decisions and that the common wisdom about personal finance is wrong. Building on over 35 years of experience as a leader, educator, financial advisor and business owner McLyman offers a refreshing new approach to money management. Money Makes Me Crazy: A Prescription for Money Sanity draws on his vast understanding of behavioral finance to explore why we continually make bad money choices.

Domesticated Jesus. Or “DJ”. It’s a horrible name—but a name that accurately reflects what each of us has done in our own lives. “I can hear your protests,” says author Harry Kraus, “and believe me, they are my own. Jesus Christ cannot be domesticated! I’m talking about the way I make myself big. And in the process, I've domesticated the Almighty. Tamed him. Advised him. Put him in a box. Expected him to function like a divine vending machine. That sickens me. Shocks me. And it should.”

Jim Gash's comfortable life as a Los Angeles lawyer and law professor nearly ensured that he and Henry, a Ugandan boy languishing in prison for two murders he didn't commit, would never meet. Henry was losing hope and prayed for a sign from God. Halfway around the world, Jim listened to best-selling author of Love Does Bob Goff encourage lawyers to use their legal training to help imprisoned children in Africa. Jim felt an irresistible urge to respond to this call.

It’s time to wake the sleeping giant in our world, in our communities, in our churches, and in our homes. There’s a revolution brewing, a sleeping giant coming out of a long slumber. For years, men have been sitting to the side, minding their own business, nursing their own wounds. But that time is reaching its end. Our wounds must surely be tended to, and our business must surely be minded. We are meant for greater things than these, and the world can no longer indulge our slumber.

You believe God can still do miracles, but how do you know which stories are true? A blind man suddenly sees. A lame man gets up and walks. A little boy is raised from the dead. You believe the Biblical accounts that these miracles happened, but do you believe eyewitness reports that miracles still happen today? Between shady faith healers, weeping madonnas, and gimmicks like holy land water, it’s difficult - even foolish - to believe every miracle account we hear.

See yourself, your church, your world...differently. Ed Stetzer turns conventional Christian living on its head with this inspiring, instructional guide to life in the kingdom of God - not just church, not just check marks, but a full, everyday, out-there adventure of worship, lifestyle, relationships, and service. It’s about living so confident in God’s eternal promises that you can live every moment at His complete disposal, deployed by His Spirit to make creative, courageous inroads into the heart of a dying culture.

Only God could weave a story that would captivate people all over the world, bring thousands of people from 17 countries to a free-throw line, raise over a million dollars in international AIDS relief, and build a school and medical clinic in Zambia. And only God could do it through the hands of a nine-year-old boy. Austin made a difference by shooting hoops. Take Your Best Shot captures Austin’s amazing adventure and challenges listeners to make a difference.

Discerning a calling is a messy undertaking. You are already involved in many good things now, even as you are being called to many good things in your future. The good life - good work, good relationships, good citizenship, good faith - is to be enjoyed now and pursued on every horizon. We are living out the Kingdom of God even as we seek it.

When Beth Thompson’s only son, James, goes missing in action in Afghanistan, she is left with her prayers, hopes, fears... and letters. Mother and son have been writing since boot camp. James writes of his struggle to become a confident soldier and of his concern for his young wife and their unborn child. Beth, like any mom, praises her son’s courage even as she frets for his safety. Even after James disappears, Beth is comforted by a daily ritual of writing him about her feelings, faith, and attempts to maintain a normal life when nothing is really normal but the waiting.

Do you want a passionate and powerful prayer life? If you know there is more to prayer than you are experiencing, this audiobook is for you. God truly does hear you and is ready to respond when you call out to Him. Whether your faith is new or mature, God Listens will bring comfort and reassurance as you talk to God and listen in an intimate, life-changing way.

In Pressure Points, J. D. Payne gets to the heart of 12 of the most important challenges we face today, raising awareness of realities that will influence the church for decades to come. J. D. helps us understand how we can prevent these global issues from pushing the church off her biblical moorings. Pressure Points gives us the tools to absorb the pressures of society while responding in a way that remains faithful to the church’s calling and mission.