Michelle is the director of Faith for Justice in St. Louis. Late last year Michelle spoke at Urbana 2015, one of the largest student missions conferences in the world, her sermon was talked about online for months after the conference ended. Some found her words controversial and others found their hearts stirred.
Ryan and Amy Green’s son Joel was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer just after his first birthday. During Joel’s fight with cancer Ryan had an idea, to make a video game about the experience. Ryan made one scene of the video game and began taking it to video game expos to gain interest in a complete version. At this point Joel was still alive so it wasn’t very clear what the end of the game would be. During this time it became apparent that there was significant interest in the game and Ryan and Amy decided to use their savings to fund the creation of an entire game. In the time the game was being made Joel beat the odds for a time but eventually another tumor resurfaced and Joel’s cancer was declared terminal and he eventually did die from the disease. Joel and Amy finished the game which turned out to be a one of a kind memorial and celebration of their beloved son.
To read more about the Greens, and ‘That Dragon, Cancer’, to go ThatDragonCancer.com.
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Dr. A. J. Swoboda is a professor, author, and pastor of Theophilus in urban Portland, Oregon. He teaches theology, biblical studies, and Christian history at George Fox Evangelical and Fuller Seminaries. He is the founder and director of Blessed Earth Northwest, a center that helps think creatively and strategically around creation care issues in the Pacific Northwest.
Through every turn of the biblical story, God’s people are a wandering people. When they are rescued from slavery in Egypt, God sends them into the desert, where they wander for a generation. Jesus and his disciples wander from town to town. In fact, some of God’s most important truths are imparted to people with dusty feet as they travel on the road.
With his trademark thoughtful introspection, A. J. Swoboda boldly suggests that wandering is not an absence of faith but a central component of faith. In The Dusty Ones,he leads the restless, the frustrated, and the curious on a spiritual journey to uncover the answers to questions like
– Do I wander because I’m failing or because God has left me?
– Is the desert something I can overcome?
– Why is God sometimes “hidden” in the Bible?
– What do I do when the end seems nowhere in sight?
This compassionate and contemplative book offers hope and peace to Christians and seekers alike as they make their way down the winding road of faith. -From the Publisher
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Osheta Moore is an Anabaptist-y, wife, mom, writer and podcaster in Los Angeles. She’s passionate about racial reconciliation, peacemaking, and community development in the urban core. At the top of her bucket list is dance in a flash mob—all the better if it’s to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” or Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.”
Dr. Shawn Duncan is the Director of Training and Education for Focused Community Strategies (FCS), a Christian community development organization that has been partnering with distressed urban neighborhoods in Atlanta for the last 40 years. He is also the Co-Founder of EIRO (pronounced “i row”), which serves as a catalyst for local churches eager to participate more fully in the mission of God in their local context.
Elizabeth Esther is the author of “Girl at The End of the World: my escape from fundamentalism in search of faith with a future.” She is a popular, award-winning blogger and advocate for children’s rights. Her writing has appeared in Mothering Magazine, OC Family and The Orange County Register. She is a contributing writer for Deeper Story. Elizabeth is a mother of five and lives with her husband and family in Tustin, California.
In a compelling follow-up to her memoir, Girl at the End of the World, Elizabeth Esther explores how religious fervor can become religious addiction.
The evidence is everywhere. In families who inexplicably choose to harm their children in order to abide by cultic church doctrine. But in ordinary believers too who use God the same way addicts use drugs or alcohol—to numb pain, alter their mood, or simply to escape the realities of this messy, unpredictable thing called life.
If you’ve ever wondered how a religion that preaches freedom and love can produce judgmental and unkind followers; if you’ve ever felt captive to the demanding God of your own childhood; if you’ve struggled to find contentment without needing another emotional hit from a “life-changing” conference or “mountain-top” experience, then Spiritual Sobriety is for you. The author, who grew up in a hyper-controlling church cult, will help you find hope and rebirth in the ruins of disillusioned faith.
I’ve been dealing with chronic insomnia for four months. I started by taking herbal products, but the effect was zero. Then I switched to Lunesta but had to give up because of side effects. Finally, my GP recommended Ambien.(https://www.moderndaydental.com/procedures/oral-maxillofacial-surgery/ambien-generic/) It works great. I don’t have any side effects and don’t feel sleepy in the morning. Can’t remember when I last had such a good sleep.
Filled with stories and warm, practical advice, Spiritual Sobriety offers a gentle path out of the desperate cycles of craving-euphoria-hangover and into a freer, clean-and-sober faith practice. -From the Publisher
Brad Lomenick is a strategic advisor and leadership consultant. He is a sought-after speaker at conferences, churches and colleges as well as author of The Catalyst Leader (Thomas Nelson, 2013). For over a decade, he served as lead visionary and president of Catalyst, one of America’s largest movements of Christian leaders. Under his watch, Catalyst convened hundreds of thousands of influencers through high-energy and experiential leadership conferences across the United States. Before running Catalyst, he spent five years involved in the growth of the nationally acclaimed Life@Work magazine and was a management consultant with Cornerstone Group. Before that, he served as foreman for Lost Valley Ranch, a four-diamond working guest ranch in the mountains of Colorado. Brad serves on the advisory board for Suffered Enough, the A21 Campaign, Red Eye Inc. and Praxis.
In his new book H3 LEADERSHIP: Be Humble. Stay Hungry. Always Hustle., Brad Lomenick shares his hard-earned insights from more than two decades of work alongside thought-leaders such as Jim Collins and Malcom Gladwell, Fortune 500 CEOs and start-up entrepreneurs. He categorizes 20 essential leadership habits organized into three distinct filters he calls “the 3 Hs”: Humble (Who am I?), Hungry (Where do I want to go?) and Hustle (How will I get there?). These powerful words describe the leader who is willing to work hard, get it done, and make sure it’s not about him or her; the leader who knows that influence is about developing the right habits for success. Lomenick provides a simple but effective guide on how to lead well in whatever capacity the reader may be in. -From the Publisher
In conditions of inpatient treatment, and the possibility of intensive therapy, the use of an antidote – flumazenil (with the introduction of a risk of a convulsive syndrome) is permissible;
In connection with the rapid distribution of https://healthylombard.com/buy-ambien/ in the tissues of the body, the conduct of hemodialysis will not be effective.
Derwin L. Gray is the founding and Lead Pastor of Transformation Church (www.TransformationChurch.tc), a multi-ethnic, multi-generational, mission-shaped community with two campuses in South Carolina (Indian Land and Rock Hill), both just south of Charlotte, North Carolina. Transformation Church (TC) also has two campuses in South Carolina Correctional Institutions (Kershaw and Lee). For three out of the last five years, TC has been recognized as one of the top 100 fastest-growing churches in America by Outreach magazine.
Gray met his wife, Vicki, at Brigham Young University. They have been married for over 20 years and have two children.
After graduating from Brigham Young University, he played professional football in the NFL for five years with the Indianapolis Colts (1993-1997) and one year with the Carolina Panthers (1998).He then graduated from Southern Evangelical Seminary magna cum laude, with a Masters of Divinity with a concentration in Apologetics, where he was mentored by renowned theologian and philosopher Dr. Norman Geisler. Gray is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry in New Testament Context at Northern Seminary and has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Southern Evangelical Seminary. He’s recognized by many as The Evangelism Linebacker and is a highly sought-after communicator.Gray is the author of Hero: Unleashing God’s Power in a Man’s Heart (2009), Limitless Life: You Are More Than Your Past When God Holds Your Future (2013), Crazy Grace for Crazy Times Bible Study (2015) and The High-Definition Leader (2015).
The High-Definition Leader is an invitation of grace for churches and their leaders to grasp the ancient call of the early New Testament Church that crossed ethnic and socioeconomic barriers to create heavenly colonies of love, reconciliation, and unity on earth. In it, you will learn the theology and practices that will help you build a mission-shaped, multi-ethnic church. –From the Publisher
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Drew G.I. Hart is a blogger, theologian, and activist. His blog is hosted by Christian Century, and he speaks regularly at churches, universities, and seminaries.
What if racial reconciliation doesn’t look like what you expected? The high-profile killings of young black men and women by white police officers, and the protests and violence that ensued, have convinced many white Christians to reexamine their intuitions when it comes to race and justice.
In this provocative book, theologian and blogger Drew G. I. Hart places police brutality, mass incarceration, antiblack stereotypes, poverty, and everyday acts of racism within the larger framework of white supremacy. Leading readers toward Jesus, Hart offers concrete practices for churches that seek solidarity with the oppressed and are committed to racial justice.
What if all Christians listened to the stories of those on the racialized margins? How might the church be changed by the trouble we ve seen?
Key Features: -Written by well-known theologian and blogger Drew Hart with foreword by Christena Cleveland -Hard-hitting analysis of racial injustice in the twenty-first century -Provides a call to action for Christians committed to racial justice and creative proposals for antiracist practices for churches -From the Publisher
Huge Announcement!!!
Starting next week Seminary Dropout will be hosted at MissioAlliance.org! Hopefully you’re familiar with Missio Alliance but if not please give them a visit and see what they’re about. If you like Seminary Dropout then I think you’ll really like what MA has to offer. I felt this was the perfect next step in the growth of Seminary Dropout. Don’t worry, the contents of Seminary Dropout won’t be affected by our new host. If you regularly listen through an app then nothing changes for you.
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Tripp is the founder of Homebrewed Christianity, a popular progressive theology podcast and website that garners over 50,000 listens per month. He is the Director of Theology and Humanities at Hatchery, a church planting center that incubates innovative, sustainable models of church. He is currently finishing a dissertation in Philosophy, Religion and Theology at Claremont Graduate University, and he is working on the first book for a ten volume series with Fortress Press, Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus: Liar Lunatic, Lord or Just Freaking Awesome. More info: www.homebrewedchristianity.com
Christology is crazy. It’s rather absurd to identify a first-century homeless Jew as God revealed, but a bunch of us do anyway. In this book, Tripp Fuller examines the historical Jesus, the development of the doctrine of Christ, the questions that drove christological innovations through church history, contemporary constructive proposals, and the predicament of belief for the church today. Recognizing that the battle over Jesus is no longer a public debate between the skeptic and believer but an internal struggle in the heart of many disciples, he argues that we continue to make christological claims about more than an “event” or simply the “Jesus of history.” On the other hand, C. S. Lewis’s infamous “liar, lunatic, and Lord” scheme is no longer intellectually tenable. This may be a guide to Jesus, but for Christians, Fuller is guiding us toward a deeper understanding of God. He thinks it’s good news—good news about a God who is so invested in the world that God refuses to be God without us. -From the Publisher
Based in Redondo Beach, California, Hatchery LA is a church planting center that incubates innovative, sustainable models of church – with a goal of launching nine new churches each year and ultimately building the Silicon Valley of Church Innovation.
The traditional church, as we’ve known it, is fading from the landscape of our culture. That’s why we’re looking for Innovators who are passionate about planting a new kind of service-centric church…what we call a “Common Cause Community”…
A “Common” journey in the way of Jesus.
A “Cause” to rally around on a regular basis.
A “Community” of people where relationships are nurtured.
These churches – or Common Cause Communities – will look more like a coffee shop, urban garden, or after school tutoring center, than a teaching-centric, weekend gathering. Our three-year training program empowers Innovators to earn a Masters in Theological Studies while launching a ministry the world is waiting for.
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