The Almost True Story Of Ryan Fisher

Meet Ryan Fisher—a self-assured real estate agent who’s looking for an edge in the market. While watching a news special late one night, he sees evangelical Christians raising their hands in worship. It’s like they’re begging for affordable but classy starter homes. Ryan discovers the Christian business directory and places an ad complete with a Jesus fish. His business doubles in a week. But after visiting an actual church, Ryan realizes that with his business savvy, he could not only plant a church—he could create an empire. The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher is a hilarious, spot-on, and often heartbreaking satire in the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Perrotta, and Douglas Adams.

The Hendersons struggle with family difficulties including fears for their safety, mother Amy's certainty that God meant more for her life, son Will's perplexity over fifth grade, and daughter Emily's determination to be homecoming queen.

After his attempt to write a horror novel results in mysterious paranormal events which threaten his family, Charlie Walker, an unbeliever, asks God for help and ends up meeting his guardian angel.

"Churched" is the compelling narrative of life inside the walls of the local church building, examining what it means to "be" churched--relevant to those who are familiar with the evangelical culture.

God has offered us firsthand knowledge of His love, His grace, and His power. Yet so often, we too easily settle for someone else's descriptions, the Cliff notes from another's spiritual journey. We are content for "God-experts" to do the heavy lifting and then give us the bottom line. And like any secondhand information, after enough times through the grapevine, the truth about God deteriorates and crumbs of rumor are all that remain. But when life derails, and things don't go as we had planned, our thin view of God is challenged. In those critical moments, we can choose to walk away from God, or to let our questions lead us home. When we choose to wrestle with God, to engage Him for ourselves, we-like Jacob and Job and David-will see rumors die and revelation come alive. It's time to hear the magnificent, Divine Invitation. It's time to take God up on His offer and embrace the mystery and majesty of knowing Him for ourselves.

Evangelicals have been scandalized by their association with Donald Trump, their megachurches summarily dismissed as “religious Walmarts.” In The Subversive Evangelical Peter Schuurman shows how a growing group of “reflexive evangelicals” use irony to critique their own tradition and distinguish themselves from the stereotype of right-wing evangelicalism. Entering the Meeting House – an Ontario-based Anabaptist megachurch – as a participant observer, Schuurman discovers that the marketing is clever and the venue (a rented movie theatre) is attractive to the more than five thousand weekly attendees. But the heart of the church is its charismatic leader, Bruxy Cavey, whose anti-religious teaching and ironic tattoos offer a fresh image for evangelicals. This charisma, Schuurman argues, is not just the power of one individual; it is a dramatic production in which Cavey, his staff, and attendees cooperate, cultivating an identity as an “irreligious” megachurch and providing followers with a more culturally acceptable way to practise their faith in a secular age. Going behind the scenes to small group meetings, church dance parties, and the homes of attendees to investigate what motivates these reflexive evangelicals, Schuurman reveals a playful and provocative counterculture that distances itself from prevailing stereotypes while still embracing a conservative Christian faith.

Leaving home for college can be both exciting and scary, especially for young Christians who want to succeed academically, socially, and spiritually.The College Adventure Handbook provides what every college student needs most: practical tips blended with spiritual commentary designed to help faith-filled students stay on track. Most college advice books don't talk about how to make a student's faith a natural part of the college experience. Or they're so focused on faith, they don't deal with practical matters. The College Adventure Handbook is different. It's packed with useful tips for every aspect of college life, from passing classes and dealing with roommates, to avoiding temptations, stressing out, even finding a church that fits – all spiked with humor and presented in a format that can be referenced on a need-to-know basis. College students don't need one more textbook to read, and most of them don't want one more inspiration-packed devotional. What they need most in this extremely nerve-racking, life-changing time is some down-to-earth advice and practical strategies on how to walk a God-inspired life with as few missteps as possible. The College Adventure Handbook delivers all that and more.

Glenn Packiam redefines the word lucky in the context of Jesus’ beatitudes in Luke’s Gospel. Lucky uncovers how the poor, hungry, mourning and persecuted are blessed because the Kingdom of heaven—its fullness, comfort, and reward—is theirs in spite of their condition. This is Christ’s announcement: the Kingdom of God has come to unlikely people. Like the people Jesus addressed, we are called lucky not because of our pain or brokenness but because in spite of it, we have been invited into the Kingdom. The trajectory of our lives have been altered. What’s more, we now have a part in the future that God is bringing. Like Abraham, we have been blessed to carry blessing, to live as luck-bearers to the unlikely and unlucky.