All Are Welcome At My Table

No matter how you start your day, What you wear when you play, Or if you come from far away, All are welcome here. Follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcome. A school where children in patkas, hijabs, baseball caps and yarmulkes play side by side. A school where students grow and learn from each other's traditions. A school where diversity is a strength. Warm and inspiring, All Are Welcome lets young children know that no matter what, they have a place, they have a space, and they are welcome in their school. Engaging lyrical text and bright, accessible illustrations make this book a must for every child's bookshelf, classroom and library.

A Journey In Imagination offers the hope of an alternative to a world convulsed by hostility and violence. Through an imaginative journey into Bible stories, incidents, and verses, the possibility of reversing hostility in both personal and communal life is explored. Biblical hospitality is neither a head in the sand nor a pie in the sky pleasantry. Instead it is the daring and challenging work of reversing hostility through seeing the 'other' fully as a human being. We may be failing at relationships, but that does not mean that we are doomed forever to fail. Too many of the tensions between the haves and the have-nots, between races, and between different religious traditions seem to have only two alternatives: violence and more violence. Life and relationships do not have to be this way. By exploring incidents that demonstrate alternatives to hostility, the book addresses this failure of imagination. This book is also a response to the accusation that the God of the Old Testament is little more than a God of vengeance and violence. To the contrary, the God of the Old Testament is the same God to whom Jesus prayed. Throughout the Bible, God yearns for a reversal of hostility.

Louie Giglio helps you find encouragement, hope, and strength in the midst of any valley as you reject the enemy voices of fear, rage, lust, insecurity, anxiety, despair, temptation, or defeat. Scripture is clear: the Enemy is a liar who will stop at nothing to tempt you into poor decisions and self-defeating mindsets, making you feel afraid, angry, anxious, or defeated. It is all too easy for Satan to weasel his way into a seat at the table intended for only you and your King. But you can fight back. Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table outlines the ways to overcome those lies so you can find peace and security in any challenging circumstance or situation. With the same bold, exciting approach to Scripture as employed in Goliath Must Fall and his other previous works, pastor Louie Giglio examines Psalm 23 in fresh ways, highlighting verse 5: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." You can find freedom from insecurity, temptation, and defeat--if you allow Jesus, the Shepherd, to lead the battle for your mind and heart. This spiritual warfare book for those who are leery of spiritual warfare books will resonate with Louie's core Passion tribe as well as with Christians of all ages who want to live a triumphant life in God.

Place of publication transcribed from publisher's website.

If God were to write you a letter, in 200 words or less, what might it say? Would it be full of harshness, pointing out all your faults and wrong-doings? Would it be a laundry list of things you should have done, or should be doing, places to go, or people to see? In The Letters, my hope is that you will see the God of hope, grace and encouragement. He is not the ogre that we are sometimes led to believe he is.As you read these letters, you will discover a God who knows your name, He knows what you like (pecan pie), what you are good at (drums and ping-pong), what you dislike (broccoli) and what makes you happy (seeing your loved one at the end of your day). And most of all, you will discover a God who not only loves you, but is very, very fond of you. Some will use this book as a nightly read. Some might find it to be a valuable group-study book. Others will dip into it from time to time when dealing with issues. Some in lands outside the borders of America will read this and perhaps wonder at the images of God presented here. For all of you, you were kept in mind whether you were born in Africa, America, Russia, Dubai, or Des Moines. May you delight in discovering a God of great grace and mercy who always has you in his sights.

Have you ever loved someone who was choosing a life that was leading them to hell? I mean really loved them, watching them make choice after choice after choice and no amount of noise from your own corner could guide them to a different path? Have you ever just wanted to scream at those you love deeply and say it is not only that I want to help you get to Heaven, but I also want you to be able to taste and see RIGHT NOW the goodness of God? Have you ever begged God to give you some avenue, some path to change the trajectory of their lives, some introduction to a new way of seeing the Truth God offers? This place of anguish, this earnest pleading, is the foundation for this book. I know a lot of broken people, and I am guessing you do too. I pray, dearest friend, that somehow this can be something you share with the people you love so they can start to see a new way. I pray they can re-vision the stories of their own lives and come to see Him who is The Way, The Only Way, The Way to Truth and Life. And if you are the one who needs a re-vision, and if we are honest, we all do, then please know I have been crying out on your behalf as well as my own behalf, praying we all take one step closer to Him today and everyday hereafter until He calls us home

A womanist church has great power to transform church and society, primarily because womanist theology centers the experiences of Black women while working for the survival and wholeness of all people and all creation. Experiences of the triple oppression of racism, sexism, and classism give Black women an epistemological insight into recognizing injustice and creating solutions that benefit all. The Gathering is unique, the only church founded and identified as “womanist,” applying womanist theology to the full life and worship of a church. The Gathering, a womanist faith community in Dallas, Texas, welcomes all people to partner in pursuing racial equity, LGBTQ equality, and dismantling PMS (patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism), following Jesus in liberating the oppressed and lifting up the marginalized. The Gathering, A Womanist Church tells the story of the birth and ongoing development of a womanist faith community. This book includes personal narratives of people transformed in this community, womanist co-pastors’ sermons informed by their experiences and those of other Black women, and litanies for womanist worship.

In an age of decreasing denominational loyalty, questions of identity have become important. Both church members and inquirers wonder what to make of a denomination's core values, mission, and common practices. Because the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) was born as a movement of reform on the American frontier during the early nineteenth century, it is marked by the time and place of its birth. The message it offered at the time was one of Christian unity rooted in theological simplicity and freedom of belief and practice. This message influenced the way the tradition came to understand biblical interpretation, theology, the sacraments, ministry, and its eschatology. As the movement matured, many recognized that this message of freedom could lead to unfettered individualism and tended to undermine congregational life and cooperation beyond the congregation. In response, Disciples leaders turned to the biblical idea of covenant to balance the message of freedom and link congregations with other forms of church without creating hierarchical systems. If, as some have suggested, this is a movement whose time has come, then it is important to understand the movement's identity and core values, which have been formed within the fulcrum of the tension existing between freedom and covenant.