There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million addition to their building.

Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago about a study revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty.

This is a book about those two numbers.

It’s a book about faith and fear,

wealth and war,

poverty, power, safety, terror,

Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity,

It’s about empty empires and the truth that everybody’s a priest, it’s about oppression, occupation, and what happens when Christians support, animate and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from.

It’s about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians
A Manifesto for the Church in Exile
By Rob Bell and Don GoldenComing October 2008Join the Facebook group

Jim Cymbala has been the pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle for more than twenty-five years. He is also the author of the bestselling titles Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire; Fresh Faith; Fresh Power; Breakthrough Prayer; The Life God Blesses; The Church God Blesses; and The Promise of God’s Power. He lives in New York City with his wife, Carol Cymbala, who directs the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.

Zondervan is publishing Jim Cymbala’s newest book, You Were Made For More: The Life You Have, The Life God Wants You to Have, in September of 2008. The primary goal of this book is to help readers come to a deeper understanding of the nature and character of God and how God works in the lives of his followers. Christians face many barriers in their efforts to grow in their faith, many of which are “self-inflicted.” Some relate to God as a stern judge instead of as a loving Father. Some struggle with the idea that growing in faith entails doing more—more studying, more serving, more Bible reading—instead of being in a closer relationship with God and allowing him to do it.

Jim points out that God has made some pretty big promises to his children: a deeper sense of purpose, abiding joy in the face of life’s setbacks, freedom from the psychological and emotional issues that hold us back, and peace on the inside regardless of external circumstances. In You Were Made for More, Cymbala helps readers understand that these promises are real.

Anchoring his message in the Bible and personal experience, he includes stories of how people today are reaching for more of God and experiencing a greater sense of passion, peace and confidence in their personal lives.

Reminding us that we, too, have unique and fulfilling work assignments from God, he speaks to our need for lives rich in purpose and significance. Written in an encouraging and motivating style with plenty of examples of God’s faithfulness, You Were Made for More will inspire readers to reach for everything God has promised.

Enjoy this exclusive 38-minute video of Jim Cymbala speaking about You Were Made For More and his ministry at The Brooklyn Tabernacle:

Idols are good for two things: making us feel important and making us feel loved. But the idols keep crashing—even when the author turns to his own Christian faith to construct an identity that will give him the life he craves. Through a variety of experiences—sublime and wretched, ego-building and humbling, joyous and painful—he learns the difference between pursuing “holy hero status” and discovering the unpredictable and uncontrollable love of God.

Pete Gall, the author of My Beautiful Idol is on a quest to be successful—in a lucrative job at an advertising agency, in ministry work, even in his relationships. And in a futile attempt to control the sources of love and security, he has turned these things into idols he can keep in his soul’s back pocket. He pulls the idols out when he feels vulnerable and defenseless, and hides them again when things are going well. But the idols keep failing—even when he turns to his own Christian faith.

In a creative narrative style rooted in raw honesty, My Beautiful Idol invites readers to identify with the young would-be Christian hero as he seeks God, and as he hides from God. Far from reducing complex matters to simplistic formulas, Pete Gall weaves together stories both sublime and wretched, ego-building and humbling, humorous and painful, and successfully celebrates the messiness of faith, the importance of validating truth, and the unscripted nature of experiencing a God who is intimately involved in all of life.

Read 12 pages of My Beautiful Idol at this link: 

Pete Gall is a freelance copywriter, brand strategist, author, speaker, and passion-driven gadfly whose clients range from Fortune 50 corporations to national denominations, tech start-ups, nonprofit organizations, and local churches. Pete and his amazing wife, Christine, live in Indianapolis with their two dogs.  Visit Pete’s two websites at www.mybeautifulidol.com and www.petegall.com.

Join the My Beautiful Idol Facebook group at this link.

On April 16, 2007, the campus of Virginia Tech experienced a collective nightmare when thirty-three students were killed in the worst massacre in modern U.S. history.

Following that horrendous event, Virginia Tech campus pastor Matt Rogers found himself asking and being asked, “Where is God in all of this?” The cliché-ridden, pat answers rang hollow.

In When Answers Aren’t Enough: Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn’t, Matt approaches the pain of the world with personal perspective—dealing with his hurting community as well as standing over the hospital bed of his own father—and goes beyond answers, beyond theodicy, beyond the mere intellectual. When Answers Aren’t Enough drives deeper, to the heart of our longing, in search of a God we can experience as good when life isn’t. 

Read 15 pages of When Answers Aren’t Enough at this link: 

Matt Rogers is copastor of New Life Christian Fellowship at Virginia Tech. Eight hundred students call it home.  CNN did a story on New Life Christian Fellowship, and you can view the video at this link.  A video of the church’s first service following the tragedy on April 16, 2007 is at this link.  An interview with Matt Rogers on NPR can be listened to at this link.  Matt’s personal website is at this link. Read the essay by Matt, "The Virginia Tech Tragedy: One Year Later."

Join the When Answers Aren’t Enough Facebook group at this link.

Zondervan, a world leader in Christian communications, is a finalist for the prestigious EFFIE award, the marketing industry’s highest global honor, for the successful and effective marketing launch of Inspired By…The Bible Experience.

As an EFFIE finalist, Zondervan’s marketing campaign The Bible has a Voice [LISTEN], which launched Inspired By…The Bible Experience, is considered to be one of the most strategic and creative examples of how a brand can successfully connect with customers. The EFFIE Award recognizes advertising effectiveness among American businesses. Criteria for the EFFIE Award include not only visual and creative measures, but also a marketing campaign’s ability to produce outstanding results in the marketplace.

Inspired By…The Bible Experienceis currently the most successful audio Bible available. Worldwide sales have achieved more than 700,000 units to date in all formats, including audio CD, MP3 CD, and MP3 download. It has become Zondervan’s fastest-selling Bible and was named 2007 Audiobook of the Year, the greatest honor in the audio publishing industry. The campaign has already earned the Silver Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America and the Telly Award, honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs.

"Inspired By…The Bible Experience is the most ambitious audio Bible to be produced, so the marketing plan to support it needed to be equally ambitious. Marketing a first of its kind product like this required meticulous planning, innovative creative strategies that took us from more typical Bible marketing and into new areas of execution," says Moe Girkins, president and CEO at Zondervan. "It is gratifying to see the work of our dedicated and talented marketing team recognized with such a significant nomination."

Zondervan is a finalist in the EFFIE’s New Product or Service category. Past EFFIE winners include: Apple Computer, Schick, Coca-Cola, Lexus, Saab, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, Epson, and JetBlue Airways. Since 1968, winning an EFFIE has become a global symbol of marketing achievement.

Inspired By…The Bible Experience(www.zondervan.com/tbe) was produced by Inspired By Media Group and features the voice talent of nearly 400 African-American actors, musicians, and religious leaders. Notable personalities include Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, Blair Underwood, Angela Bassett, Kirk Franklin, and Bishop T.D. Jakes. In addition to dramatic performances of the entire biblical text by leading artists and celebrities, the product also features Hollywood-style sound design created at Technicolor Studios and an original musical underscore featuring performances by the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

Zondervan is pleased to announce that Ruby Slippers: How the Soul of a Woman Brings Her Home by Jonalyn Grace Fincher is now available online and in stores everywhere.  In Ruby Slippers, Jonalyn Grace Fincher explores the essence of femininity. She examines what a soul is, what is meant by “feminine,” and how those two things unite into a picture of God on Earth that is both similar and distinctive from men.

Jonalyn Fincher wants to show that women can be both fully human and fully feminine.

Traditionally, femininity has been a role women play, a role defined by culture and simplistic sermons. The author encourages women to look at the feminine roles or boxes that pinch their souls: mother, fashion devotee, working wife, intellectual. Does God treat femininity as a role, a curse, or a gift? And when Jesus redeemed women, what was it exactly that he redeemed?

Even after Eden, Fincher points out, God planned to redeem both men and women. But for centuries, women have been taught to devalue the very aspects of their souls that are unique and irreplaceable. Femininity itself runs deeper than aprons, frills, or romance. It begins with feminine souls who are living cameos of the triune God.

In Ruby Slippers, Fincher takes a fresh, direct look at the challenges she faced on her search for the feminine soul. She goes step by step through what it means to be a woman and how to cultivate her soul, choosing not to shy away from psychology, theology or personal transparency. In her journey she discovers an understanding of femininity that is timeless and groundbreaking. The roles melt away into something like Dorothy’s ruby slippers, something women have always had—the souls to walk today with freedom and femininity.

Listen to Jonalyn speak about Ruby Slippers at this link: 

Jonalyn Grace Fincher offers a distinctive voice as a female apologist. Holding a master’s degree in philosophy of religion and ethics from Talbot School of Theology, as well as double bachelor’s degrees in English and history from the University of Virginia, she is one half of Soulation (www.soulation.org), a husband/wife apologetics team. For the last three years Jonalyn has been lecturing, speaking and writing on how women are distinctly and fully made in God’s image. Her work has appeared in Radiant, Fullfill and UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity. She regularly updates her blog (www.jonalynfincher.com) sharing her insights about womanhood and the soul. Jonalyn and Dale love to take walks with their three Welsh Corgis in their new hometown of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Below is a video of Jonalyn discussing Ruby Slippers, Soulation, and what it means to be appropriately human.

Click on the widget below to browse inside Ruby Slippers by Jonalyn Grace Fincher.

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Bestselling Author and Christian Publisher Deliver Adventure that Keeps Young Readers on the Edge of their Seat

Zondervan, a world leader in Christian communications, has teamed up with bestselling author Bryan Davis to release its first young adult (YA) suspense series, Echoes from the Edge, an all new, thrilling, fantasy epic. The first book of the series, Beyond the Reflection’s Edge, will be released in May 2008, in time for the popular summer reading season.

The young adult fiction genre has maintained its strength and grown amid a challenging market. Drawing inspiration from fantasy writers such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, Bryan Davis has become one of the leading contemporary writers in the YA category. His novels enthrall readers with young, but strong, protagonists and storylines that teens have a difficult time putting down.

"Bryan Davis is renowned for his vivid storytelling and the rich personalities of his characters that help readers find victory in Christ," says Alicia Mey, a vice president of marketing at Zondervan. "Beyond the Reflection’s Edge is intense from the start — an imaginative and contemporary thriller that is yet another example of his seemingly endless creative works of art."

In Beyond the Reflection’s Edge, 16-year-old Nathan Shepherd’s life is turned upside down when he finds his parents have been murdered. Determined to solve the mystery of his parent’s death, Nathan and his friend Kelly gather evidence with the help of a strange, supernatural mirror left behind by Nathan’s father.

As their investigation continues, Nathan and Kelly discover dark forces that may have been involved with the murder. With danger lurking around every corner, the two are faced with spiritually trying situations causing them to realize nothing is as it seems, and even mirrors tell lies.

Bryan Davis is the author of the bestselling fantasy series Dragons in Our Midst. His use of spiritual parallels and symbolism to engage teen readers has led to sales of more than 300,000 books. Davis’ writing style satisfies those seeking a suspenseful, investigative adventure that exposes new worldly dimensions that are hiding, or leak into our real world, and each story is aligned with a deep spiritual message.

RECOMMENDATIONS

What authors are saying about Beyond the Reflection’s Edge by Bryan Davis:

"Action, intrigue, and take-home value — the very essence of a powerful story and…the defining characteristics of Bryan Davis’s new novel: Beyond the Reflection’s Edge. Davis ratchets up the intensity right from the start, grabs you by the throat, and draws you into 16-year-old Nathan Shepherd’s world, a world where nothing is quite what it seems. Readers will white-knuckle through the pages until the stirring conclusion where, at last, they can exhale."
~ Wayne Thomas Batson
Author of The Door Within Trilogy, Isle of Swords, and Isle of Fire

"Beyond the Reflection’s Edge is a suspense thriller, packed with action and adventure that hurtles along at top speed from beginning to end."
~ L.B. Graham
Author of The Binding of the Blade series

Beyond the Reflection’s Edge (ISBN: 0-310-71554-7) can be purchased in May 2008 at retailers nationwide for $12.99 or for more information, go to www.zondervan.com.

Zondervan and Breakpoint are nearing the end of an 8-day blog tour for Chuck Colson and Harold Fickett’s new book, The Faith. 

Three new blog tour stops for The Faith were posted this past 12 hours:

Adrian Warnock’s blog

Tall Skinny Kiwi

Mark D. Roberts’s blog

Previous blog tour stops for The Faith include:

Acton Powerblog

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Reasoned Audacity

Challies.com

Upcoming blog tour stops for The Faith are:

Thursday, March 13 – Rebecca Writes

Friday, March 14 – One Year Bible Blog

Friday, March 14 – Jolly Blogger

Chuck Colson was also interviewed by James Dobson on Focus on the Family’s daily radio broadcast this week  – click here and here to listen to those shows.  You can also read a recent interview with Chuck from Newsweek magazine at this link.

Zondervan is pleased to share with you three brand new videos from our upcoming book Reckless Faith: Let Go and Be Led by Beth Guckenberger.  Thirteen years ago, a missions trip inspired a young couple to move to Mexico to care for orphans and other children. True stories drawn from their ministry experiences challenge readers to trust God to show up exactly when and where he’s needed most.

When Beth and her husband Todd took a missions trip to Mexico thirteen years ago, they just thought it was an opportunity to do a little good with their summer vacation. But they couldn’t forget a chance encounter with a forgotten orphanage, couldn’t forget that transcendent feeling of having participated in something truly profound and like addicts they wanted that feeling again. A year later, they moved to Monterrey, Mexico.

Some might call that reckless.

In the years that follow, Beth and Todd establish a ministry that helps orphans—the poorest, most defenseless members of a needy populace. And while the stories here are drawn from those experiences, this book isn’t a memoir.

It’s about living with faith, with the certainty that God will show up, exactly where and exactly when He’s needed. Beth calls it a reckless faith—a willingness to trust even when you don’t understand. And her book—an inspiring collection of true stories about real people who, when faced with real challenges, chose to trust God—is a call to every reader to live with Reckless Faith.

Beth’s Story:

Gaby’s Story:

Joel’s Story:

Visit this link for more information about
Reckless Faith: Let Go and Be Led
by Beth Guckenberger.