Renew

“The only stability possible is stability in motion.”—John William Gardner In his classic treatise Self-Renewal, John W. Gardner examines why great societies thrive and die. He argues that it is dynamism, not decay, that is dramatically altering the landscape of American society. The twentieth century has brought about change more rapidly than any previous era, and with that came advancements, challenges, and often destruction. Gardner cautions that “a society must court the kinds of change that will enrich and strengthen it, rather than the kind of change that will fragment and destroy it.” A society’s ability to renew itself hinges upon its individuals. Gardner reasons that it is the waning of the heart and spirit—not a lack of material might—that threatens American society. Young countries, businesses, and humans have several key commonalities: they are flexible, eager, open, curious, unafraid, and willing to take risks. These conditions lead to success. However, as time passes, so too comes complacency, apathy, and rigidity, causing motivation to plummet. It is at this junction that great civilizations fall, businesses go bankrupt, and life stagnates. Gardner asserts that the individual’s role in social renewal requires each person to face and look beyond imminent threats. Ultimately, we need a vision that there is something worth saving. Through this vision, Gardner argues, society will begin to renew itself, not permanently, but past its average lifespan, and it will at once become enriched and rejuvenated.

Renew Your Mindset In God is a spiritual guide designed for those who desire a shift in their mindset. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. If you renew your mind in God, everything else will fall in place. This book is designed to encourage each individual to change their thought process to see things differently from the spiritual realm by walking ina different direction.

They came for the coffee and wound up in the Cretaceous. A ticking sound fills the air as Tim MacGregor enters The Daily Edition Cafe, hoping to meet his new girlfriend for coffee. Moments later, a chunk of building is transported 67 million years back in time, along with everyone inside. Ten unlikely companions find themselves in a world of dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles. Several survivors compete for leadership as they search for a way home, while one member of the group plots to keep them all trapped in the past..."

Calling on history, cutting-edge research, complexity science and even The Lord of the Rings, renowned thought leader Thomas Homer-Dixon lays out the tools we can command to rescue a world on the brink. For three decades, Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of The Ingenuity Gap and The Upside of Down, has examined the threats to our future security—predicting a deteriorating global environment, extreme economic stresses, mass migrations, social instability and wide political violence if humankind continued on its current course. He was called The Doom Meister, but we now see how prescient he was. Today, just about everything we've known and relied on (our natural environment, economy, societies, cultures and institutions) is changing dramatically—too often for the worse. Without radical new approaches, our planet will become unrecognizable as well as poorer, more violent and more authoritarian. In his latest work (dedicated to his young children), he calls on his extraordinary knowledge of complexity science, of how societies work and can evolve, and of our capacity to handle threats, to show that we can shift human civilization onto a decisively new path if we mobilize our minds, spirits, imaginations and collective values. Commanding Hope marshals a fascinating, accessible argument for reinvigorating our cognitive strengths and belief systems to affect urgent systemic change, strengthen our economies and cultures, and renew our hope in a positive future for everyone on Earth.

Why do we feel bad at the zoo? In a fascinating counterhistory of American zoos in the 1960s and 1970s, Lisa Uddin revisits the familiar narrative of zoo reform, from naked cages to more naturalistic enclosures. She argues that reform belongs to the story of cities and feelings toward many of their human inhabitants. In Zoo Renewal, Uddin demonstrates how efforts to make the zoo more natural and a haven for particular species reflected white fears about the American city—and, pointedly, how the shame many visitors felt in observing confined animals drew on broader anxieties about race and urban life. Examining the campaign against cages, renovations at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and the San Diego Zoo, and the cases of a rare female white Bengal tiger and a collection of southern white rhinoceroses, Uddin unpacks episodes that challenge assumptions that zoos are about other worlds and other creatures and expand the history of U.S. urbanism. Uddin shows how the drive to protect endangered species and to ensure larger, safer zoos was shaped by struggles over urban decay, suburban growth, and the dilemmas of postwar American whiteness. In so doing, Zoo Renewal ultimately reveals how feeling bad, or good, at the zoo is connected to our feelings about American cities and their residents.

REAL-LIFE ANSWERS TO LIFE'S BIGGEST QUESTIONS Real Life Theology invites you to a fresh way of living by bridging two areas of your life: what we know about God and how we live our lives. This collection of thirteen accessible books gives real-life answers to fifty-two of life's biggest questions, such as: What is the gospel? What is saving faith? What role does baptism play in salvation? What are the essential, important, and personal elements of the faith? How should we view marriage, gender, and race? Real Life Theology was written with everyday Christians in mind. We encourage you to read it, walk with others through it, and along the way learn God's real-life answers to your biggest questions. This series will help churches in their training of pastoral staff as well as the everyday disciple maker in your church or ministry. -- Jim Putman, author of Real-Life Discipleship As our churches become more diverse and our culture less biblically literate, we increasingly need Real Life Theology. -- Mark Moore, author of Core 52 This book is a one of a kind for our generation. Highly recommended! -- David Young, author of King Jesus and the Beauty of Obedience-Based Discipleship We're excited to integrate Real Life Theology into our leadership development resources at Southeast Christian Church. -- Matt Reagan, Associate Pastor of Southeast Christian Church It's imperative that we do theology wisely and well, and this book is a fantastic help! -- Matt Proctor, President of Ozark Christian College BOBBY HARRINGTON (DMin, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is CEO of Renew.org and Discipleship.org, both national disciple making networks. Bobby is the founding and Lead Pastor of Harpeth Christian Church. He is author or coauthor of more than a dozen books on disciple making. DANIEL MCCOY (PhD, North-West University) is Editorial Director of Renew.org. He has created classes on philosophy, ethics, and world religions for Ozark Christian College. Among his books are The Popular Handbook of World Religions (general editor) and The Atheist's Fatal Flaw (coauthored with Norman Geisler).

One of the first books published to deal with the phenomenon of residential schools in Canada, Resistance and Renewal is a disturbing collection of Native perspectives on the Kamloops Indian Residential School(KIRS) in the British Columbia interior. Interviews with thirteen Natives, all former residents of KIRS, form the nucleus of the book, a frank depiction of school life, and a telling account of the system's oppressive environment which sought to stifle Native culture.