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Many who lead or who aspire to lead rightly champion the importance of hard skills, or quantitative and analytical skills. Knowing the numbers and implementing the right strategies are important but no longer enough to be an effective leader. Indeed, soft skills are now on the scene.In The Softer Side of Leadership, Habecker, who spent thirty-five consecutive years as a CEO of two universities and one large NYC nonprofit, makes the case for the integration of soft skills, like emotional intelligence and character quality. He shares that these should be woven into every aspect of the leader's personal life and organizational agenda. Habecker draws from his own experience, that of other international colleagues and popular leadership literature, and from the Scriptures. As you develop your soft skill competencies, including new behaviors and disciplines, and combine them with hard skill competencies, you will be better equipped to be more effective as a leader. Join Habecker in building healthier professional and personal lives and healthier organizations.

In this meditation on birding as a practice of hope, Courtney Ellis weaves together stories from her own life, including the death of her grandfather, with reflections on birds of many kinds. By "looking up to the birds," Ellis found the beauty of these creatures calling her out of her darkness into the light and hope of God's promises.

"We are in the business of seeing others, seeing them the way God sees them, and letting them know they have value."Amy L. Williams has spent three decades doing ministry with youth in gangs and prisons. While most of society sees high-risk youth through lenses of fear or disregard, she has come to see them through God's eyes as having tremendous value and potential. Worth Seeing provides an up-close look at her work--successes, losses, lessons, and embarrassing mistakes. Through personal narrative, Amy reveals the lives of youth who are often pushed to the margins of society. Her storytelling both challenges perceptions and increases compassion and understanding, not just with youth, but all people. Practical tips equip you to take action to see others the way God sees them.

The hour is critical. The American republic is suffering its gravest crisis since the Civil War. Conflicts, hostility, and incivility now threaten to tear the country apart. Competing visions have led to a dangerous moment of cultural self-destruction. This is no longer politics as usual, but an era of political warfare where our enemies are not foreign adversaries, but our fellow citizens.Yet the roots of the crisis are deeper than many realize. Os Guinness argues that we face a fundamental crisis of freedom, as America's genius for freedom has become her Achilles' heel. Our society's conflicts are rooted in two rival views of freedom, one embodied in "1776" and the ideals of the American Revolution, and the other in "1789" and the ideals of the French Revolution. Once again America has become a house divided, and Americans must make up their minds as to which freedom to follow. Will the constitutional republic be restored or replaced?This grand treatment of history, civics, and ethics in the Jewish and Christian traditions represents Guinness's definitive exploration of the prospects for human freedom today. He calls for a national conversation on the nature of freedom, and poses key questions for concerned citizens to consider as we face a critical chapter in the American story. He offers readers a checklist by which they can assess the character and consequences of the freedoms they are choosing.In the tradition of Alexis de Tocqueville, Guinness provides a visitor's careful observation of the American experiment. Discover here a stirring vision for faithful citizenship and renewed responsibility for not only the nation but also the watching world.

I am with you, I will strengthen and help you, I will uphold you. God's promises spoken through Isaiah offered reassurance and comfort during difficult days, and they're still true for us today! Join Bible teacher Kori de Leon in this six-week Bible study experience on Isaiah 40-48, pointing us to God's faithfulness and mercy.

Many bemoan the decline of the church. But new research shows that unchurched Americans are surprisingly more receptive and open to the Christian faith than is commonly assumed.Researcher and practitioner Rick Richardson unveils the findings of the Billy Graham Center Institute's groundbreaking studies on the unchurched. A study of 2000 unchurched people across the country reveals that the unchurched are still remarkably open to faith conversations and the church. Further research into the top 10 percent of churches that most effectively reach the unchurched reveals their best practices. People who were previously unchurched share what actually moved them to faith and Christian commitment. And research shows that churches and organizations can be transformed to become places where conversion growth becomes the new normal.If people tell you "the sky is falling," don't believe them. You can lead the change that will help your church reach people-who then reach others.

Christianity Today Award of MeritWhat if our memories are like shells we gather on a beach?According to pastor and spiritual director Casey Tygrett, "We--and all those who have come before us--pick up the experience and we sense it: we feel its edges, notice its color, we smell the distinctive character (for shells it is the sickly seafood salt smell) of the experience, and we try to make sense of what it is. Is it beautiful? How would you describe the color--the tones, the shades, wrapped around the ridges and swirls? Has it been damaged? Does the hard edge scrape our hand, leaving a blemish or a mark?"How we hold and carry these memories--good and bad--is a part of what forms us spiritually. In this way we have a common bond with the people of Scripture who also had a sensory life, gathering shells and trying to make sense of them. Previously titled As I Recall, Casey Tygrett's writing in The Practice of Remembering explores the power of memory and offers biblical texts and practices to guide us in bringing our memories to God for spiritual transformation.

While Christians generally acknowledge that the Bible is God's Word, many of us lack robust confidence in the reality of its trustworthiness. We may not be sure if we really believe what we read. But the more we understand how Scripture came to be, the more we discover its power and truth.Historian Susan Lim unpacks how the history of the Bible bolsters our faith and anchors us through the changing tides of time. The story of Scripture, while messy and complicated at times, is also the story of how God shepherded his people throughout the centuries in and through these writings. Lim explains how Christians came to accept certain documents as inspired and not others, and how the books we now call the Bible came to be assembled and canonized as authoritative. The same Spirit of God who oversaw the writing of Scripture continues to be at work actively in us in our receiving and reading of it, to grow us in faith and maturity.Those of us who confess that Jesus is Lord can also confess with confidence that Scripture is God's Word. As the church through the ages has received and passed down the sacred Scriptures, so too can we receive for ourselves the living Word that God still speaks through today.

Life is filled with challenges. We might be weary and overwhelmed by the world around us. Whether we are facing personal struggles or working against unjust circumstances, it can feel like the odds are against us. Does God care? How can we carry on?There is hope for us because God is a God of justice who cares for people in distress. Bruce Strom shows how those facing difficulties can receive God's power to persevere. By looking to God's perspective and purpose, we can find direction for what God has in store for us. He transforms our understanding of the past and gives us resources to renew our souls and find fresh strength to continue on. Strom shares how God has been active in his life and in others', encouraging us with examples of how lives can change and things can be different.If you're running on empty and are tired from the fight, discover the persevering power God has for you.

In stirring verse and essays, Katy Bowser Hutson chronicles her battle with breast cancer and the complications of faith amid such a fight. Accentuated by the art of Jodi Hays, Katy's words lead us through the realization of cancer, the experience of chemotherapy and a mastectomy, relentless rounds of radiation, the uncertainty of ongoing treatment, and what comes after survival. She writes in resistance to sickness, of wrestling toward beauty:Cancer is an overgrowth, a kudzu: Tangling and strangling legitimate life. Chemo is a killing, a burning out: Burning down to ashy carbon, indiscriminately But cancer, did you know that I am a poet?Through it all, she shows what it means to struggle in a battered body and to pray to a God who is near to the broken. Join her in this consideration of mortality and witness her persisting trust in God's unseen ways.

It takes time and space to grieve well. Sharing her own stories, Natasha Smith invites us into a reflection on grief and how to cling to hope even in our darkest moments. With practical tools and prayers that point us to God who always sits with us in our grief, this book creates space for us to grieve, learn, and heal in healthy ways.

What does it take to have a spiritually vibrant household? Original research from the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries shows that some of the healthiest homes extend beyond the nuclear family. Don Everts shows how these households practice spirituality, hospitality, and community that make them delightful places to live and thrive.

The constraints of the spiritual life, practiced in community, are what set us free. Practicing spiritual disciplines can seem difficult, especially when we undertake them as isolated individuals. But we were never meant to practice them alone.Jared Patrick Boyd reveals how the constraints practiced in Christian community shape us into the way of Christ. He re-anchors the practices of constraint within the ascetic tradition of monasticism, religious orders, and the early church fathers. Boyd writes, "The constraints of a rule of life are what make life together, lived for one another, possible. A rule of life is not meant to be primarily personal, but communal. It's not primarily meant to guide my life. It is meant to describe our way of life together." Constraint is the practice of learning to pay deeper attention to the things in our inner world that prevent us from progressing in the school of love.Discover a deep conversation on freedom and constraint with six core practices of constraint that can form in us a greater freedom to be and become people who love as God loves. Enter into this vision with your local community (in small groups, church leadership teams, or families), and learn to make greater room to experience the love of God.

Being human is complicated! Our bodies, intellects and emotions are all God-given gifts, but we so often find them in varying states of disorder. How then, can we become the full bearers of God's image that we were made to be? In response to this profound question, Ros Clarke helpfully outlines what the Bible has to say about the nature of humanity. Addressing our status as created beings; our purpose in God's world; our nature as body and soul; and our fall away from God, Human unpacks questions around the issues of identity, sexuality and gender. It then turns to Christ's example as the perfect human, and considers Jesus' teaching about each of us being loved, valued and redeemed. A teaching that remains foundational for all discussions around important topics like inclusivity, disability and race.Written with both humour and pastoral concern, and including a study guide to aid personal reflection and group discussion, this book will help you consider afresh what it means to be a human.

Have you lost your footing in church? Or has the church lost its footing?Many of us feel unsteady, disoriented, even crushed after an endless string of scandals within the walls of a place meant to offer compassion and safety. Others feel forced to draw back or distance ourselves from the church. All the while, our instincts tell us this is not what Jesus wanted for his people. But what did he intend?After four decades of ministry, Anglican bishop Todd Hunter is no stranger to betrayal and pain in the church. Still, he has hope. He believes more than ever that Jesus is who the world needs and that Jesus has plans for his followers. In What Jesus Intended, Hunter offers a vision for emerging from the rubble of bad religion and rebuilding faith among a community of sincere believers. By unpacking the purposes of Jesus, we can expose twisted, toxic religion for what it is and embrace the true aims of the gospel.Come for a fresh hearing of Jesus--one that offers us the healing and goodness we've always longed for.

Crises around race have put the church in a reactive, defensive posture, but Jesus wants more. He wants Christians to play offense by discipling people into a new humanity that pushes beyond mere diversity so that the church becomes the aroma of Christ to our culture and gains ground against the demonic foothold of racism in all its forms.

Pentecost is one of the most misunderstood days on the church calendar. In this Fullness of Time volume, Emilio Alvarez offers us a rich biblical and theological introduction to the day of Pentecost and sets it in its liturgical context--not only in the Protestant tradition but also in Catholic, Orthodox, and Pentecostal expressions.