Showing results by narrator "Lyle Blaker" in All Categories

After spending the first 10 years of his career climbing the corporate ladder, Jeff Gothelf decided to change his approach to staying employed. Instead of looking for jobs, they would find him. Jeff spent the next 15 years building his personal brand to become a recognized expert, consultant, author and public speaker.

Let This Mind Be in You explores God’s call on our lives to servanthood. Aimed specifically at ministers of the Gospel, this book argues that servanthood is essential to every form of Christian service. When we consider the teachings of Scripture and the example of Jesus, we simply cannot be who we are supposed to be without taking the posture of servants.

Helen and Frank Schreider's dream was to drive the length of the Americas; from the town of Circle, Alaska (just outside the Arctic Circle), to the world's southernmost town, Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego. With their German shepherd Dinah along for the ride, they were the first people in history to have made this trip.

Johnnie Moore, like many American Christians, didn't fully appreciate the extent of Christian persecution in other parts of the world - until he witnessed the graduation of theology students in India. Unlike graduation ceremonies in America - where feel-good speeches made by visiting celebrities are common - this one featured a remarkable oath. It wasn't an oath to excel or succeed. It was an oath to be willing to die, if necessary, for the cause of Christ. This was no empty promise. This was a choice, choosing the eternal over the temporal.

The American church is at a critical crossroads. Our witness has been compromised, our numbers are down, and our reputation has been sullied, due largely to our own faults and fears. The church's ethnocentrism, consumerism, and syncretism have blurred the lines between discipleship and partisanship. Pastor Eric Costanzo, missiologist Daniel Yang, and nonprofit leader Matthew Soerens find that for the church to return to health, we must decenter ourselves from our American idols and recenter on the undeniable, inalienable core reality of the global, transcultural kingdom of God.

The morning! That is our watchword. Our evening prayers and songs are filled with hope. The morning adds hue to life, imparting color to that which is colorless, and freshening that which is faded. It is the essence of our hopes and dreams. Stars may help to make the sky less gloomy, but they are not the sun – and besides, clouds have now covered them so they are no longer visible. Torches and beacon lights do not help. Our own lights make no impression upon the darkness; it is so deep, so real, so unmistakable.

Scars on the Land is the first comprehensive history of American slavery to examine how the environment fundamentally formed enslaved people's lives and how slavery remade the Southern landscape. Over two centuries, from the establishment of slavery in the Chesapeake to the Civil War, one simple calculation had profound consequences: Rather than measuring productivity based on outputs per acre, Southern planters sought to maximize how much labor they could extract from their enslaved workforce.

In The Strategic Leader's Roadmap, Updated and Revised Edition: 6 Steps for Integrating Leadership and Strategy, Wharton management professors Harbir Singh and Michael Useem offer a six-point checklist for today's leaders to follow. They explain how leading strategically will help managers strengthen their capacity to develop strategy and to lead its execution.

What can we learn about leadership and influence from Paul? Most Christians know something of the Apostle Paul's life and ministry, but what about the incredible team of influencers he assembled and mobilized? Who were they, and how did Paul lead this team to accomplish God's purposes? Even more, what can we learn from their successes and failures, and how can we imitate their qualities?

Are you tired of religion that feels dry, rigid, or lifeless? In Dead Orthodoxy, Ryan Denton delivers a piercing yet hopeful call for Christians to rekindle their love for the Lord and revive their spiritual vitality. Drawing from Scripture, church history, and personal insight, Denton confronts the suffocating effects of a Christianity that is merely formal, complacent, and intellectual.

What do you do when it feels like God isn’t there―when the state of the world, our own suffering, or the struggles of those we know suggest that God is absent? When you’ve experienced soul-crushing silence from heaven, despite your fervent supplications? Looking at Habakkuk, Job, David, and Jesus, as well as reflecting on his own experience of deep suffering, Adam Mabry examines the art of lament―how to cry out to God in desperation from a place of faith and hope. At the end, there are practical suggestions for what you can do to keep faith even in times of darkness and doubt.

For the first time in more than twenty-five years, Greg Sarris—whose novels are esteemed alongside those of Louise Erdrich and Stephen Graham Jones—presents a book about his own life. In Becoming Story he asks: What does it mean to be truly connected to the place you call home—to walk where innumerable generations of your ancestors have walked?

Despite growing secularization, our culture still pays a lot of attention to the devil. He shows up everywhere from movies to music and is blamed for all sorts of crimes, natural disasters, and the policies of politicians we don't like. Yet in the Bible, Satan is barely present, barely speaks, and is subject to God's authority. So how has he gotten so much airtime in the lives of Christians and the wider culture? Award-winning biographer Jared Brock sorts through the myths and misinformation about the devil, revealing a biblical adversary we need to know.

In the space of just nineteen days, former Army Special Forces officer and police officer Shane Winnings went from a public, six-figure career to an unpaid, full-time missionary position across the country. His story exploded across social media, and to this day he reaches millions each week with his audacious daily encouragement to be a light in a dark world.

The Hybrid Congregation explores how technology has become an integral part of our daily lives and how it is impacting religious practices in unexpected ways. With the rise of online platforms, including social media and video conferencing tools, the concept of a physical church space is being redefined. The virtual world is now an extension of our physical reality, blurring the lines between what is considered "real" and what is not.

From technology, media, and retail to sport teams, government agencies, and financial institutions, learn the actual strategies and processes being used to learn about customers, improve manufacturing, spur innovation, improve safety, and so much more. Organized for easy dip-in navigation, each chapter follows the same structure to give you the information you need quickly. For each company profiled, learn what data was used, what problem it solved, and the processes put in place to make it practical, as well as the technical details, challenges, and lessons learned from each unique scenario.

Part travel journal but mostly spiritual guide, Finding Jesus in Israel takes an unvarnished look at the Holy Land with an off-the-bus peek into the people and places that make Israel such an amazing destination. We are shaped and transformed by the oceans we sail, the deserts, mountains, and valleys we wander, and the people we meet along the way. And as any traveler worth his salt knows, the real trip happens within.

Imagine a nightmare in which your darkest fears are coming true. Your life seems to spiral further towards hell with each passing day, yet you can't wake up. You're constantly dominated by unthinkable circumstances as everything you hold dear is in danger of being torn from your grip, and the lines are blurred between the natural and the paranormal. You're entrenched in a spiritual battle against ancient curses, and the satanism and witchcraft practiced by those around you. Nightmare in Holmes County takes you on one man's journey through hell on earth, in the heart of Amish country.

Creativity is the key driver of innovation, but too many teams and projects are organized in ways that stifle new ideas. It's your job as a manager to create the right conditions for creativity to thrive—and to be part of the process yourself.

Does it matter if you are sorry for what you have done—or that you have not done? Does your being sorry—does your remorse—matter? If so, how? Who is helped or changed by it? Can spiritual leaders help people wrestle with some of the most challenging dilemmas of their lives? Episcopal priest and licensed therapist Stephen Crippen describes remorse as the crisis—both destructive and creative—that erupts within the human spirit at the point where sin and grace collide.