Changed By Faith

International evangelist and speaker Palau offers a gritty, up-close look at the broken world around us, the true redemptive power of the Gospel and what it means for your life today.

Western culture has changed radically in the last fifty years. Death seems less dreadful, sexuality less sacred, and humanity less dignified. Reason has yielded to passion, and science often to political bias. Philosophically and culturally, the West has slowly moved from modernism to postmodernism. It’s not surprising that this shift has also radically affected the Christian church. The doctrinal confidence of the past 350 years has given way to greater levels of theological confusion. But while the new era thrives on religious pluralism, a refreshing desire has arisen among many Christians to experience and share the unchanging good news of Jesus more authentically, accurately, and passionately. This book is written to help ordinary people understand the nature of the transition that has occurred, and to inspire them to allow the gospel itself to shape life and church ministry in the midst of this great change. Each chapter ends with important questions for reflection or discussion.

Over two dozen Christian leaders describe how they changed their minds about evolution Perhaps no topic appears as potentially threatening to evangelicals as evolution. The very idea seems to exclude God from the creation the book of Genesis celebrates. Yet many evangelicals have come to accept the conclusions of science while still holding to a vigorous belief in God and the Bible. How did they make this journey? How did they come to embrace both evolution and faith? Here are stories from a community of people who love Jesus and honor the authority of the Bible, but who also agree with what science says about the cosmos, our planet and the life that so abundantly fills it. Among the contributors are Scientists such as: Francis Collins Deborah Haarsma Denis Lamoureux Theologians and philosophers such as: James K. A. Smith Amos Yong Oliver Crisp Biblical scholars such as: N. T. Wright Scot McKnight Tremper Longman III Pastors such as: John Ortberg Ken Fong Laura Truax

Our spiritual practices carry us through the times of transition in our lives, when we wander in a metaphorical desert. For migrants, refugees, and immigrants, the journey is more than a metaphor. Daily reflections by diverse contributors invite us to reflect on and embody God’s welcome and love for people who are on the move for a variety of reasons. A study guide for groups is included.

How many people do you know who say they believe in God . . . but you’d never know it from looking at their lives? Despite good intentions, their faith isn’t life-changing or world-shaking; they may go to church on Sundays, but God doesn’t seem to make much difference the other six days. Maybe this describes you, and you’re starting to realize that the “before” of your life looks a lot like the “after.” Is that really the best life that faith in Jesus has to offer? International evangelist and speaker Luis Palau has encountered people from all walks of life who believe in God but have never experienced real, life-defining transformation. In Changed by Faith, he offers a gritty, up-close look at the broken world around us, the true redemptive power of the Gospel—and what it means for your life today. Through dramatic personal stories and solid Scriptural perspective, Luis looks at the practical changes that come when you begin to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and shows how God can take the ashes of your life and transform them into something beautiful.

In our Western, post-Christendom society, much of Christianity's cultural power, privilege, and influence has eroded. But all is not lost, says bestselling author Gerald Sittser. Although the church is concerned and sobered by this cultural shift, it is also curious and teachable. Sittser shows how the early church offers wisdom for responding creatively to the West's increasing secularization. The early Christian movement was surprisingly influential and successful in the Roman world, and so different from its two main rivals--traditional religion and Judaism--that Rome identified it as a "third way." Early Christians immersed themselves in the empire without significant accommodation to or isolation from the culture. They confessed Jesus as Lord and formed disciples accordingly, which helped the church grow in numbers and influence. Sittser explores how Christians today can learn from this third way and respond faithfully, creatively, and winsomely to a world that sees Christianity as largely obsolete. Each chapter introduces historical figures, ancient texts, practices, and institutions to explain and explore the third way of the Jesus movement, which, surprising everyone, changed the world.

The astonishing, Job-like story of how an existence filled with loss, suffering, questioning, and anger became a life filled with shocking and incomprehensible peace and joy. Vaneetha Risner contracted polio as an infant, was misdiagnosed, and lived with widespread paralysis. She lived in and out of the hospital for ten years and, after each stay, would return to a life filled with bullying. When she became a Christian, though, she thought things would get easier, and they did: carefree college days, a dream job in Boston, and an MBA from Stanford where she met and married a classmate. But life unraveled. Again. She had four miscarriages. Her son died because of a doctor's mistake. And Vaneetha was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, meaning she would likely become a quadriplegic. And then her husband betrayed her and moved out, leaving her to raise two adolescent daughters alone. This was not the abundant life she thought God had promised her. But, as Vaneetha discovered, everything she experienced was designed to draw her closer to Christ as she discovered "that intimacy with God in suffering can be breathtakingly beautiful."

Click here to visit evolutionandchristianfaith.org "I'm an evolutionary biologist and a Christian," states Stanford professor Joan Roughgarden at the outset of her groundbreaking new book, Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist. From that perspective, she offers an elegant, deeply satisfying reconciliation of the theory of evolution and the wisdom of the Bible. Perhaps only someone with Roughgarden's unique academic standing could examine so well controversial issues such as the teaching of intelligent design in public schools, or the potential flaws in Darwin's theory of evolution. Certainly Roughgarden is uniquely suited to reference both the minutiae of scientific processes and the implication of Biblical verses. Whether the topic is mutation rates and lizards or the hidden meanings behind St. Paul's letters, Evolution and Christian Faith distils complex arguments into everyday understanding. Roughgarden has scoured the Bible and scanned the natural world, finding examples time and again, not of conflict, but of harmony. The result is an accessible and intelligent context for a Christian vision of the world that embraces science. In the ongoing debates over creationism and evolution, Evolution and Christian Faith will be seen as a work of major significance, written for contemporary readers who wonder how-or if-they can embrace scientific advances while maintaining their traditional values.