A Disruptive Gospel

Stories Help Readers Impact Their Communities What would happen in your city if 10 percent more people became vibrant Christians who worked together for the good of the community? Mac Pier knows from firsthand experience that when the gospel invades your city, big things start to happen. For thirty years he's watched and participated in what God has been doing in New York City. Now he shares true stories of transformation to inspire readers who long to see God move in their own communities. He helps readers understand the greatest barriers to the gospel in major cities all over the world, shares hopeful stories of reconciliation, highlights the passion and leadership of millennials advancing the gospel, and offers insight into how to start or join a gospel movement wherever in the world readers find themselves. Anyone looking for motivation and inspiration to join God where he is working will love these exciting dispatches from the front lines of outreach on five continents. Foreword by Tim Keller.

This engaging book guides readers through one of the most colorful books of the Bible, illuminating passages from Acts that show the Christian gospel expressing itself through the lives, speech, struggles, and adventures of Jesus's followers. The book emphasizes the disruptive character of the Christian gospel and shows how Acts repeatedly describes God as upsetting the status quo by changing people's lives, society's conventions, and our basic expectations of what's possible. Suited for individual and group study, this book by a New Testament scholar with a gift for popular communication asks serious questions and eschews pat answers, bringing Acts alive for contemporary reflection on the character of God, the challenges of faith, and the church.

2018 WORLD Magazine Book of the Year - Accessible Theology 2018 ECPA Top Shelf Book Cover Award ★ Publishers Weekly starred review We live in a distracted, secular age. These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits—and devices—that distract and "buffer" us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls "a secular age"—an age in which all beliefs are equally viable and real transcendence is less and less plausible. Drawing on Taylor's work, Alan Noble describes how these realities shape our thinking and affect our daily lives. Too often Christians have acquiesced to these trends, and the result has been a church that struggles to disrupt the ingrained patterns of people's lives. But the gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this book Noble lays out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society's deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus. Disruptive Witness casts a new vision for the evangelical imagination, calling us away from abstraction and cliché to a more faithful embodiment of the gospel for our day.

It can seem like all you ever hear these days is bad news. Yet in the midst of contentious political posturing and stories of communities in trouble are stories of love, reconciliation, and restoration. Through a variety of innovative programs and initiatives, and flying mostly under the national news radar, Christian business leaders are bringing hope to blighted urban communities in our greatest cities. A Disruptive Generosity shares their inspiring stories. From Dallas to New York City, from London to Singapore, lives and communities are being changed through strategic stewardship. These stories will challenge marketplace Christians to find innovative ways to use their resources as God's hands and feet in a hurting world.

A new commentary for today's world, The Story of God Bible Commentary explains and illuminates each passage of Scripture in light of the Bible's grand story. The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding everyday readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is ideal for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and laypeople alike. Three easy-to-use sections designed to help readers live out God's story: LISTEN to the Story: Includes complete NIV text with references to other texts at work in each passage, encouraging the reader to hear it within the Bible’s grand story EXPLAIN the Story: Explores and illuminates each text as embedded in its canonical and historical setting LIVE the Story: Reflects on how each text can be lived today and includes contemporary stories and illustrations to aid preachers, teachers, and students Praise for SGBC: "The easy-to-use format and practical guidance brings God’s grand story to modern-day life so anyone can understand how it applies today." - Andy Stanley "Opens up the biblical story in ways that move us to act." - Darrell L. Bock "It makes the text sing and helps us hear the story afresh." - John Ortberg "This commentary breaks new ground." - Craig L. Blomberg

Named one of 100 Leadership & Success Books to Read in a Lifetime by Amazon Editors An innovation classic. From Steve Jobs to Jeff Bezos, Clay Christensen’s work continues to underpin today’s most innovative leaders and organizations. The bestselling classic on disruptive innovation, by renowned author Clayton M. Christensen. His work is cited by the world’s best-known thought leaders, from Steve Jobs to Malcolm Gladwell. In this classic bestseller—one of the most influential business books of all time—innovation expert Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right—yet still lose market leadership. Christensen explains why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation. No matter the industry, he says, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know how and when to abandon traditional business practices. Offering both successes and failures from leading companies as a guide, The Innovator’s Dilemma gives you a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation. Sharp, cogent, and provocative—and consistently noted as one of the most valuable business ideas of all time—The Innovator’s Dilemma is the book no manager, leader, or entrepreneur should be without.

Accessible to general and academic readers, Gospel Thrillers interweaves close readings of key themes in a little studied fiction genre with 'real world' tensions over biblical vulnerability, evident in political and cultural debates over the Bible and in popular literature about the Bible and Christian origins.

Well-meaning church leaders and planters often set out to radically transform their communities for Christ-kingdom causes. Their aspirations and visions are limitless. However, often the best-laid plans fail to yield results of any consequence—they become frustrated, and pull the plug leaving behind the remnants of all their best intentions. Does it have to be this way? Is it possible for a local church to become so influential in its community that it becomes a life-giving agent for believers and non-believers? A resource that becomes the catalyst whereby abandoned buildings are repurposed, small businesses attracted, jobs created, crime reduced, justice progressed, health improved, and ultimately, the kingdom of God advanced in such a way that it impacts the every corner of the community? In Disruption: Repurposing the Church to Redeem the Community, Dr. Mark DeYmaz explains why such an outlook it not only possible but essential for the church to gain credibility and relevance in the community it seeks to influence. Genuine transformation never occurs through maintaining the status quo. A Disruption is often the missing ingredient that moves the church from ineffective to radically transformative.