701 Sentence Sermons

Effective, pointed, and notable sentences sure to make a sign ministry more meaningful. Complete topical and Scripture indexes included.

This collection of attention-getting quotes are perfect for church signs, bulletins, newsletters, and sermons. With 10 helpful chapters on effectively using and rating the quotes, 701 Sentence Sermons is an easy-to-use, meaningful, and effective tool--a must for every pastor and church library.

From hand-rendered folk signs to high-dollar church marquees, religious messages and imagery saturate the landscape of the American South. In With Signs Following, photographer and southern studies scholar Joe York introduces readers to the role of artistic, witty advertising in southern churches. In seventy black-and-white images of religious signs and other ephemera, he simultaneously presents the factual while encouraging reflection and introspection. Though York's pictures speak volumes, With Signs Following features an equally compelling essay by York. This piece seeks the stories of the sign makers through informal interviews. The combination of images and text offers an insightful, humorous, historically grounded perspective on one of the South's most familiar scenes. In collecting images of religious roadside signs from across the region and interviews with the evangelicals who put them there, Joe York shows us the "Christ-haunted" South as it has never before been considered. Joe York is a freelance photographer and a producer and director of documentary films for the Center for Documentary Projects and the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi. Charles Reagan Wilson is director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.

A fascinating "up close and personal" look at the final days of seven terminally ill Christians, Seven For Heaven chronicles their feelings and experiences as they prepare for a new life in heaven. Memorable characters like "the dancing printer" and "the officer's gentleman" share touching and humorous anecdotes about their families, faith, and vocations. Seven For Heaven also candidly examines the difficult end-of-life decisions each had to make. The Harveys champion hospices as a caring, humane option for those facing death -- and these case studies vividly demonstrate the many helpful services hospices provide. An informative final chapter summarizes important lessons, including the value of being in familiar surroundings with family and friends, how to communicate with the dying, patients' rights, reducing needless pain and suffering, and the crucial role of faith. While the subject of this book is imminent death, its uplifting message of living to the fullest and looking forward to God's grace in eternal life leaps out from every page. Dying is a doorway through which we all must pass -- and Seven For Heaven is an inspiring, entertaining, and educational reading experience that will help you face it with faith and confidence.

The Reverend Howard Finster (1916–2001) was called the "backwoods William Blake" and the "Andy Warhol of the South," and he is considered the godfather of contemporary American folk and visionary art. This book is the first interpretive analysis of the intertwined artistic and religious significance of Finster’s work within the context of the American "outsider art" tradition. Finster began preaching as a teenager in the South in the 1930s. But it was not until he received a revelation from God at the age of sixty that he began to make sacred art. A modern-day Noah who saw his art as a religious crusade to save the world before it was too late, Finster worked around the clock, often subsisting on a diet of peanut butter and instant coffee. He spent the last years of his life feverishly creating his environmental artwork called Paradise Garden and what would ultimately number almost fifty thousand works of "bad and nasty art." This was visionary work that obsessively combined images and text and featured apocalyptic biblical imagery, flying saucers from outer space, and popular cultural icons such as Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Henry Ford, Mona Lisa, and George Washington. In the 1980s and 90s, he developed cult celebrity status, and he appeared in the Venice Biennale and on the Tonight Show. His work graced the album covers of bands such as R.E.M. and Talking Heads. This book explores the life and religious-artistic significance of Finster and his work from the personal perspective of religion scholar Norman Girardot, friend to Finster and his family during the later years of the artist’s life.