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New Items in the
*Unless otherwise noted, all notations are those of the publisher.
Revelation: a 12-part
DVD teaching series (Dr. Brian K. Blount, Union Presbyterian Seminary
President and Professor of New Testament)
A 2010 offering of The Union Sunday teaching series that is appropriate for
adult Sunday school, youth, Presbyterian Women, or personal Bible study. A
gifted preacher and teacher, Union Presbyterian Seminary President Dr. Brian K.
Blount is a renowned Revelation scholar. He recently published a commentary on
The Book of Revelation by Westminster John Knox Press that was selected as the
top reference book of the year by the Academy of Parish Clergy. The author and
editor of numerous books and articles, Blount also preaches and directs adult
education classes in local congregations.
Chapter 1. The One Revelation
Chapter 2. Letters to Seven Churches
Chapter 3. Enter the Lamb
Chapter 4. A Dazzling Church
Chapter 5. Exodus Revisited: Seven Trumpets and Seven Bowls
Chapter 6. The Power of Witness
Chapter 7. Dragonslayer
Chapter 8. The Power of the Beast: Resistance is Futile!
Chapter 9. The Fall of Babylon
Chapter 10. Victory Song
Chapter 11. A Thousand Years
Chapter 12. I Can See Clearly Now
Teaching Our Story:
Narrative Leadership and Pastoral Formation (Edited by Larry A. Golemon,
The Alban Institute)
As congregations become intentional story-forming communities, they can shape
the lives of millions of generative, faithful, and civic-minded adults. To do
so, a framework that relates narrative work to the full range of congregational
life is needed. Teaching Our Story offers such a framework, featuring
essays that examine crucial shapers of narrative, outline a course in preaching
that addresses crucial questions for today’s church leaders, illuminate the
creative power of listening to the collective stories of a faith community, and
observe what can happen when first-year seminary students are asked to become
story brokers – integrating the stories from their communities with biblical
stories, their own personal stories, and the theological doctrines formed within
the story of their tradition. Contributors to this volume include Larry A.
Golemon, Judy Fentress-Williams, Susan K. Hedahl, Mary Clark Moschella, Kathryn
Vitalis Hoffman, Robert Charles Anderson, and Susan Kendall.
Living Our Story explores how good narrative works – the retrieval,
construction, and performance of valued stories – takes place in ministry.
Authors Larry Golemon, Lee Ramsey, Graham Standish, Tim Shapiro, Carol Johnson,
Mike Mather, Niles Elliot Goldstein, and Diana Butler Bass examine this question
from a variety of perspectives, including the role of the pastor or rabbi as
narrative leader, the sacred and mundane stories that shape congregational life
and identity, storytelling as a means of community building, and story sharing
as a practice of hospitality. Through the stories, they themselves tell, these
authors show how stories witness to God’s presence in the unfolding of human
life, and how the best leaders craft stories that reveal how God is at work
among the people and inspire them to become a part of this larger story.
Finding Our Story:
Narrative Leadership and Congregational Change (Edited by Larry A.
Golemon, The Alban Institute)
Helping a community of faith “re-vision” its personal and collective
narratives is one of the greatest leadership challenges of the age. Finding
Our Story assembles essays by congregational consultants who use the power
of story to help congregations to heal, strengthen, and reinvent themselves.
These consultants describe how narrative therapy works, explore its promise and
its challenges, and share the practical wisdom of their own experiences.
Contributors to this volume include Larry A. Golemon, Gil Rendle, Lawrence
Peers, Alice Mann, Susan Beaumont, Susan Nienaber.
Managing Polarities in
Congregations: Eight Keys for Thriving Faith Communities (Roy M. Oswald
and Barry Johnson, The Alban Institute)
Lawrence Peers, Senior Consultant at The Alban Institute states, “Finally –
an insightful and practical guide for applying polarity management to some very
common congregational dilemmas! This book unties knots that keep congregations
stuck and provides ways to shift conversations to new places. Oswald and Johnson
are wonderful teachers of the principles of polarity management who reinforce
your learning through illustrations and processes that can be grasped by
congregational leaders and immediately applied.”
Synagogues in a Time
of Change: Fragmentation and Diversity in Jewish Religious Movements
(Zachary I. Heller, The Alban Institute) – published by the Alban Institute in
cooperation with the
“Do denominations matter? In this timely and provocative volume, some of
American Jewry’s most effervescent minds wrestle with this vital question.
Their contributions paint a vivid portrait of synagogue life today: fractious,
fast-changing, and fecund. Judaism in the years ahead may be
‘nondenominational,’ ‘transdenominational,’ ‘postdenominational,’ or
just plain ‘denominational,’ this book suggests, but in the final analysis,
the future depends upon vibrant and successful synagogues. Memorable chapters
introduce us to some of those synagogues, and to their strategies for
revitalizing American Jewish life.”
Strategic Leadership
for a Change: Facing our Losses, Finding our Future (Kenneth J. McFayden,
The Alban Institute)
“If you’ve ever wondered why your great, new plans meet resistance and fail,
you should read this book. Grounded in the author’s real experience with
congregations and their leaders, it offers significant insight into the
implementation of change and how, as leaders, we can help congregational members
and church systems accept and even embrace change.”
Know Your Story and
Lead with It: The power of Narrative in Clergy Leadership (Richard L.
Hester and Kelli Walker-Jones, The Alban Institute)
Walter Brueggemann states, “On the basis of wise experience and anecdotal
accounts from their research, Hester and Walker-Jones weave a new pattern of
pastoral leadership. Given the inadequacy of any top-down leadership, they model
and exposit a relational way of leadership based on acute self-awareness,
whereby pastor and people together walk into the unknown with freedom and
intentionality. Their study reflects not only an awareness of old, failed
patterns, but a recognition that newness is dawning in the church that bespeaks
healing, engagement, and the generativity of trusting collegiality.”
Holy Clarity: the
Practice of Planning and Evaluation (Sarah
Sarah Drummond dispels the myth that evaluation can only be done by experts with
advanced degrees in the field. She garners the latest thinking in evaluation,
leadership studies, and practical theology, together with biblical and
theological interpretations of evaluation, to offer the most up-to-date teaching
on evaluation for religious leaders. Heed her message: employing the practices
of evaluation is the way to holy clarity about the work of religious communities
and organizations.
Spiritual Leadership
for Church Officers: a Handbook (Joan S. Gray,
This timely new leadership guide for the PC(USA) is written for church officers
looking for a deepened relationship with God as they serve the church. Gray
challenges elders and deacons to see themselves as spiritual leaders and equips
them to act as spiritual leaders alongside their pastors. This helpful volume
also provides resources for dealing with interpersonal relationships in the
church and identifies ways in which churches can create an atmosphere that
supports the spiritual leadership of elders and deacons.
The
With imagination and vision, Mary Louise Gifford proves that decline in mainline
Protestantism is not the final word for the Church. Rebirth is possible! In her
insightful telling of Wollaston Congregational Church’s remarkable turnaround,
she offers the key to revitalizing churches across the country. This book is a
great resource for all pastors and leaders dreaming bigger dreams for their own
turnaround church.
The Wisdom of the
Seasons (Charles M. Olsen, The Alban Institute)
In The Wisdom of the Seasons, Charles Olsen is like a dance coach helping
congregations move to the rhythms of the Holy Spirit. He observes that
congregations who are aware of God playing a role in their story can move
forward with energy and vision. This spiritual and practical book helps
congregations believe that by God’s grace their stories can become songs and
old dry bones can dance.
Tending to the Holy:
the Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry (Bruce G. Epperly and
Katherine Gould Epperly)
The Epperlys have written an engaging invitation to think about our daily walk
as servants of the living Christ. Whether you are ordained or lay, parish
pastor, chaplain, or counselor, you will find sustenance in this book.
Palo Duro Presbytery Resource Center -- contact Kathy Dane
Phone: 806-797-2417 or 877-725-6387
e-mail: kathypdp@swbell.net