Living Into God S Dream

An unflinching look at the failure to achieve an equitable society with faith-based approaches to a meaningful racial reconciliation. While the dream of post-racial America remains unfulfilled and the current turmoil (George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, to name a few), this examination of racism is more relevant and consequential than ever. Living into God’s Dream combines frontline personal stories with theoretical and theological reflections. It aims to forge new and truthful conversations on race and doesn’t shy away from difficult discussions, such as reasons for the failure of past efforts to achieve genuine racial reconciliation and the necessity to honor rage and grief in the process of moving to forgiveness and racial healing. This collection of nine essays is honest, pragmatic, and courageous in its real-world view of racism and how people of faith and conscience can work together to “dismantle racism.” Review questions at the end of the book, appropriate for individual or group study, can engender deeper discussions and reflections.

While the dream of a "Post-Racial" America remains unfulfilled, the struggle against racism continues, with tools both new and old. This book is a report from the front, combining personal stories and theoretical and theological reflection with examples of the work of dismantling racism and methods for creating the much-needed "safe space" for dialogue on race to occur. Its aim is to demonstrate the ways in which a new conversation on race can be forged. The book addresses issues such as reasons for the failure of past efforts to achieve genuine racial reconciliation, the necessity to honor rage and grief in the process of moving to forgiveness and racial healing, and what whites with privilege and blacks without similar privilege must do to move the work of dismantling racism forward. The authors of this important book engage the question of how dismantling racism in the 21st Century has to be different from the work of the past and offer ways for that journey to progress.

Julie Clinton, president of Extraordinary Women ministries, influences the lives of thousands of women each year. In "Living God's Dream for You, "Clinton shares devotions rich with insight and wisdom gained through her ministry, life, marriage, and faith. Her message inspires women to grab hold of the dream God has for them as they discover-- the truth and depth of God's love for them personally the mercy of Jesus' intercession for their needs daily the freedom of never having to prove their worth the joy of walking in God's abundant hope and purpose the wellspring of gratitude even on the tough days With each turn of the page, women will find refreshment as they pray for, believe, and live out God's dream for them. This inviting devotional is for every woman ready to rest in all that God is doing in her life and eager to witness all that God is planning for her future.

"The Dream of God is a small masterpiece. . . . Her vision of the Bible is insightful and persuasive, her writing accessible and powerful." -- Marcus Borg "This contemporary prophet has touched lives and transformed hearts through her books and talks. Many centuries before Verna Dozier, there was Amos, from the country, speaking out in the market square against the corrupt practices of merchants who 'sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes.' In this century we have Dozier, a black female, spreading God's word in the nation's capital, across the country, and outside its borders." -- Washington Diocese Again and again the Christian church has fallen away from the dream God has for it, a dream in which we are called to follow Jesus and not merely to worship him. Through adept storytelling and Bible study, Dozier reawakens our sense of calling and our desire for truth.

A launching pad for your spiritual journey, this inspiring book provides clear, specific, and practical guidelines for becoming a Christian who lives like Christ. Christians today live in a world that is activity heavy and relationship light. The result is spiritual emptiness. We struggle to know what God wants from us and for us . . . and we’re unsure what a real relationship with God really looks like. But that was never God’s idea. HIS idea of faith is not about rules or religion— it’s about relationship. That’s where God tells us to start. In Romans 12, God gives us a clear picture of what Christians should look like at the root level. If you’re ready to move from “in” to “all in,” then you’re ready to become a Romans 12 Christian. The next steps of your journey toward true spirituality start here.

Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu has long been admired throughout the world for the heroism and grace he exhibited while encouraging countless South Africans in their struggle for human rights. In God Has a Dream, his most soul-searching book, he shares the spiritual message that guided him through those troubled times. Drawing on personal and historical examples, Archbishop Tutu reaches out to readers of all religious backgrounds, showing how individual and global suffering can be transformed into joy and redemption. With his characteristic humor, Tutu offers an extremely personal and liberating message. He helps us to “see with the eyes of the heart” and to cultivate the qualities of love, forgiveness, humility, generosity, and courage that we need to change ourselves and our world. Echoing the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., he writes, “God says to you, ‘I have a dream. Please help me to realize it. It is a dream of a world whose ugliness and squalor and poverty, its war and hostility, its greed and harsh competitiveness, its alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts. When there will be more laughter, joy, and peace, where there will be justice and goodness and compassion and love and caring and sharing. I have a dream that my children will know that they are members of one family, the human family, God’s family, my family.’” Addressing the timeless and universal concerns all people share, God Has a Dream envisions a world transformed through hope and compassion, humility and kindness, understanding and forgiveness.

The demands of congregational ministry are many, the rewards sometimes seem few, and burnout becomes a real possibility. Small wonder, then, that churches become stuck in a state of arrested spiritual development. When the pastor is functioning in a survival or maintenance mode, the church's vitality is often the first casualty. Yet Wills's own experience demonstrates that churches can turn around; the wind of the Spirit can be felt anew. This happens when the congregation is infected by the vision of what God is doing in their midst--a vision which the leaders, particularly the pastor, must bring before them. In Waking to God's Dream, Richard Wills shares the spiritual disciplines and insights which he believes account for the transformation of the congregation he serves from a large church in decline to one that is growing and reaching out to its community in a variety of creative ministries. Detailing the steps and initiatives that led to this turnaround, Wills demonstrates how personal commitment on the part of the congregation's leaders and ministers have been the key to the work they have accomplished.

Bestselling Author Helps Readers Recognize and Live Out God's Dream for Their Lives In his first new book in more than four years, Dutch Sheets paints a picture of God as a dreamer and then skillfully demonstrates that God shared this nature with his children. As believers increase in maturity and friendship with him, they find in God's dreams for them their life purpose. Both spirit-lifting and practical, Sheets shows readers how to fulfill their God-given calling. Whether looking for a new direction or needing assurance they're on the path God intended, this book is for everyone who wants their life to count and have meaning.