Mission Bound

Embracing pilgrimage as a comprehensive image of the Christian life, Mission Bound offers a transformative approach to short-term mission. Although the relationship of pilgrimage to short-term mission has been previously considered, it’s been invariably dismissed: understood in terms of personal spirituality while its social applications and biblical images have been overlooked. Transcending the inner journey, pilgrimage is crossing boundaries, following God in unfamiliar places, both being and befriending the stranger, and walking alongside one another. As the imitation of Christ, pilgrimage embodies humility, service, love, and compassion as well as our vulnerability with others. Espousing the union of God, self, and the Other as the objective of the Christian life, the book casts the mission partnership as one of reciprocal relations based on the body of Christ. Addressing the entirety of the mission journey, including a spirituality of religious travel, the intragroup experience, and individual Christian formation, the heart of the book explores short-term mission through the lens of the hero’s journey. Having loved, served, and listened to others, short-term missioners return home as more Christlike people where their lifelong journey of faith continues. Mission Bound is written as a pre-departure discussion guide for leaders and participants of short-term mission.

Based on a real military program! The US Navy's new breed of soldier is ready to make a big splash. An action-packed, maritime military adventure from the author of Dog Tags.A notorious Somalian pirate sails the Arabian Sea, leading a band of deadly thieves and mercenaries on an international crime spree. When they take American hostages aboard a cargo ship, they've finally gone too far -- and a special task force of Navy SEALs and Marines is called in to help. SEALs, Marines . . . and a talented sea lion named Sly.As Sly's handler, young sailor Felix has two important jobs. Job one is to get Sly to plant a beacon so that the U.S. strike force can follow the pirates back to their haven. Job two is to keep the sea lion safe and out of combat. But when the mission goes wrong and the pirates get the upper hand, Felix and Sly end up right in the middle of the action . . . with dozens of innocent lives at stake.

Jackson was born with a rebel spirit, a lost past, and an inevasible destiny. Found wandering the city streets of Munich, Germany, hungry and abandonedaEUR"the turmoil within this child alienated him from any who would help, except for the unlikely companion of Will Herrington. Will is a German psychologist and professor, whose cherished freedom reluctantly wavered to a needy obligation to this highly oppositional and grossly ungrateful child. Will's futile efforts a mere attempt at damage control. Beyond surprised to find this youth with no gravity in thought of a future, he could ultimately change the world to come. A remote pull of indebtedness lands Jackson's otherwise reckless judgement in an ambiance of earthly affliction. Through the fire of the abounding peril to come, a depth emerges. The onceaEUR"inconsequential damning of a life, then desperately longs to persevere, to escape an inevasible destiny. With the impossible love of a tyrant's oppressed daughter, a buried path resurrects and sets into motion an innate truth. Sustained by the unlikely allies of a desperate family, searching for a miracle. As their journeys collide, their path extends from the ends of the world and beyond. This damning adventure will both bewilder and excite you right up until the last breathtaking beat.

Bound Together is a unique resource that addresses the intrinsic relationship between social justice issues and local faith and ecumenical community building. Bos articulates the theological warrants for ecumenical and interfaith ministry at a local level, showing how neighboring congregations of various denominations or faiths, simply by virtue of their common relationship to a surrounding community, have a theological connection that can cooperatively undergird joint ministry ventures. He explores how congregations or denominations of the same or different faiths can combine their resources and design a common strategy or program in response to the needs and assets of their particular community. To demonstrate, he takes a close look at both the African American denominations and the theology of the laity movement.

‘The personality who received the Christ Being into himself in his thirtieth year is a complex entelechy. Only on the basis of the Akashic Record can an accurate view be gained as to why the life of Jesus is so diversely presented in the various Gospels…’ – Rudolf Steiner Previously untranslated, this collection of twelve lectures represents a middle point in Rudolf Steiner’s unique exposition of the Christian gospels – his momentous courses on St John and St Luke had already been delivered, whilst his lectures on the Matthew and Mark gospels were yet to follow. Here, he examines the varying depictions of Christ in the gospels, explaining that they represent four different but complementary perspectives. Steiner’s unparalleled insights are based on his firsthand ability to research the spiritual Akashic Record – the universal compendium of all events, thoughts, emotions and intentions. The twelve lectures include: ‘The Gospels, Buddha and the two Jesus children’; ‘Four varying depictions of Christ in the four Gospels’; ‘The Mission of the ancient Hebrew people’; ‘Preparations for an understanding of the Christ Event’; ‘On the right attitude to Anthroposophy’; ‘The Gospel of Matthew and the Christ conundrum’; ‘Group souls and Individuality’; ‘God within and the God in outer manifestation’; ‘The Christmas tree as a symbol’; and ‘A Christmas mood’. Translated by Christiana Bryan, this volume features an introduction by Tom Ravetz as well as notes and an index.