Good Faith Reads

Discipleship is not step two in the Christian life: it is the very essence of the Christian life. Discipleship begins with a willingness to trust the one who calls us to follow. It seeks to know Jesus in every way—to know his teaching and to know his sacrifice; to know his healing and to know his resurrection.

The goal of Christians and congregations in our context must be to know, love, and follow Jesus. A balanced understanding that finds the teaching of Jesus inseparable from the passion of Jesus is needed. Christians, congregations and the larger Christian community have the capacity to center their thoughts and actions around the thoughts and actions of Jesus. A gospel informed, Jesus-centered faith is both imminently possible and urgently needed.

Learn more and purchase Seeing with Jesus at goodfaithmedia.org

Barry Howard, pastor of Wieuca Road Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, joins the Good Faith Reads podcast to discuss Call Stories: Hearing and Responding to God's Call, which he edited. In the interview, Howard explains the origins of the book and shares how he hopes it will help others in discerning their sense of calling, while highlighting a few of the stories and reading a short excerpt.

This volume is a collection of call stories from pastors representing a cross-section of Baptist life, offering a glimpse into the diversity of avenues by which individuals have felt a sense of divine calling to vocational Christian ministry. This book is part of the Healthy Church Resources series, which is a collaboration of the Center for Healthy Churches, the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation and Good Faith Media.

While the leadership positions and other responsibilities she has achieved are impressive, perhaps the most important achievement for Doctor Miller is the impact she has had on the lives of so many patients and therefore their families. Her clinical ability and pragmatic, realistic evaluations of patients and their problems have always been impressive. In addition, her personal relationship with and caring for those patients was and is unusually dedicated. She doesn’t just know and understand their health problems; she knows them as a person.

Phyllis Miller, M.D., has been a trailblazer for women in medicine. The number of firsts she has achieved—including first woman president of the Chattanooga Hamilton County Medical Society, first woman chief of staff at Erlanger Medical Center, and first woman president of the Tennessee Medical Association—opened the doors for many other women to follow suit. She has proved that gender is not a determinant in doing an excellent job.

Learn more and purchase Climbing Mountains at GoodFaithMedia.org.

To Dream Again, Again! Growing Healthy Congregations for Changing Futures explores the power of congregational dreams.

The health cycle model offers an organic, inside-out approach for understanding church health and avoiding pathology. To root churches in redemptive health, we’ll identify and apply health cycle discoveries. By rooting life and witness in healthy purpose, we can cultivate new life and vitality in our churches. When congregations discern and then act on their fundamental reason for being, a purposeful dream awakens and empowers them.

This book is for leaders, both clergy and laity, who love their congregations and are committed to keeping their churches healthy and redemptive. The model and principles in this book fit most volunteer (and many for-profit) organizations. Applying this model to your church is your minis- try opportunity. Why? Because leaders like you are tenders of congregational health.

This book is part of the Healthy Church Resources series, which is a collaboration of the Center for Healthy Churches, the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation and Good Faith Media. Other books in the series are available here.

Welcome to the inner lives of leaders. Current leadership literature is more apt to feature practices than practitioners—what leaders do rather than who leaders are. Much of today’s leadership literature seems to assume leaders burst forth ready to lead with little introspection or no struggle. We know better.

Our best leaders are anchored in clear values and considered beliefs. They have grown down. And, our best leaders have cultivated their own maturity. They have grown up and are comfortable in their skins. Growing down, growing up: In the pages ahead we trace and weave together these two master threads.

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When I saw that most of the Gospel readings for Epiphany, Year B, were from the first chapter of Mark, I wondered if I could put together a sermon series on the seven first words of Christ in that particular Gospel. I asked myself: What would happen if we looked at the opening chapter of this earliest Gospel and let Mark tell the story of Jesus in his way? Of the many things Jesus said in his life, which would Mark want to include in his Gospel, especially at the outset? If what Mortimer Adler says is true, that the most important parts of any book are the beginning and the end, then what would happen if we paid attention not only to the seven last words of Christ but also the seven first?

So I went through Mark 1 with a fine-toothed comb, and what I found was some words and some deeds, but in the end seven distinct episodes from that action-packed chapter: 1) Jesus is baptized; 2) he begins to preach, 3) calls some disciples, 4) teaches in the synagogue, 5) heals the sick, 6) defines his mission, and 7) cures a leper. My hope is that by the end of it you will not only have a fuller appreciation of Mark 1, but also a brighter and clearer picture of the Christ he wants us to know.

Learn more at GoodFaithMedia.org