Sparkhouse

You Can Change: Stories from Angola Prison and the Psychology of Personal Transformation

Can people make positive changes in their lives that really last? To answer this question, Dr. Mark W. Baker wound up interviewing inmates in the largest maximum-security prison in the United States, located in Angola, Louisiana. Baker uses stories from inside Angola, along with his decades of experience as a clinical psychologist, to show all of us how to change our lives for the better--no matter who we are or what we've done.

9781506455648

Welcoming and Affirming: A Guide to Supporting and Working with LGBTQ+ Christian Youth

A handbook for pastors, youth workers, church leaders, educators, and other adults in Christian settings, this guide provides answers to the most pressing questions about sexuality, gender, mental health, safe sex, and more. You'll walk away with a lot of insight, prepared to love, affirm, and accept the LGBTQ+ teens in your community the way God does--exactly as they are.

A companion book to Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christian Teens.

9781506464985

Praying through Grief: Poems and Meditations for Healing

"They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies." William Penn With classic texts from the Bible...

9781506458311

Ordinary Blessings: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Everyday Life

The ordinary moments of life can be sacred, if we simply take a moment to notice. From gifted poet and empathetic pastor Meta Herrick Carlson, Ordinary Blessings is a collection of prayers, poems, and meditations offering a brief respite from the hectic, harried pace of our days. Pause, take a deep breath, and open these pages to find that you've been standing on holy ground all along.

9781506450612

In the Midst of Chaos: Caring for Children as Spiritual Practice

In the Midst of Chaos, by Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, explores parenting as spiritual practice.

Both honest about the difficulties and attentive to the blessings present in everyday life, it explores how parents might use seven daily practices, such as play, reading, chores, and saying goodbye or goodnight, as rich opportunities to shape both parent and child morally and spiritually.

9781506454597

Is That Poop on My Arm? Parenting While Christian

God meets us, and our kids, in the mess
Parenting is messy business. Joyful, but messy. When faith is combined with parenting, we double down...

9781506433004

Outlove: A Queer Christian Survival Story

In Outlove, Julie Rodgers details her deeply personal journey from a life of self-denial in the name of faith to her role in leading the take-down of Exodus International, the largest ex-gay organization in the world, to her marriage to a woman at the Washington National Cathedral. Rodgers's story sheds light on the debate between Evangelical Christians and the LGBTQ community, ultimately casting a hopeful vision for how the church can heal.

9781506464046

The Heavenly Party: Recover the Fun, Life-Changing Celebrations for Home and Community

The Heavenly Party is the ideal resource for Christians looking to reintroduce fun, joy, and playfulness into their spiritual lives. Drawing upon her rich Jewish...

9781506458151

Reclaiming Rest: The Promise of Sabbath, Solitude, and Stillness in a Restless World

What does pressing pause look like? In Reclaiming Rest, Kate H. Rademacher explores the gifts of solitude, stillness, and Sabbath rest in a world of motion and noise. Ultimately, Rademacher claims, pausing for sacred rest pierces our illusions of self-reliance and control--and that's good news. What if keeping the Sabbath is not only a command to obey but a gift to reclaim?

9781506465999

Make a Move: How to Stop Wavering and Make Decisions in a Disorienting World

Facing big decisions can lead to frustration, anxiety, and confusion. "It would be so much easier if life just came with a road map!" But life doesn't work like that--it's full of twists and turns, the unexpected and the unforeseen.

In Make a Move, Stephanie Williams O'Brien offers practical steps for moving through the experiments of life, so that we can narrow down the choices and discern God's leadership.

9781506465920

The Mindful Christian: Cultivating a Life of Intentionality, Openness, and Faith

The Mindful Christian provides readers with an overview of mindfulness practice through the lens of faith, showing how the ancient healing practice of mindfulness can help them live more joyfully and wholeheartedly. This book teaches principles of mindfulness as well as easy-to-do practices, leaving readers more compassionate, joyful, content, and at peace with themselves--and with God.

9781506458618

Love and Quasars: An Astrophysicist Reconciles Faith and Science

In Love and Quasars, Paul Wallace shows how faith and science are pitted against one another, and he explains how the standard ways of reconciling them don't work. He then proposes a reasonable, thoughtful approach that will appeal to Christians and students of science alike. Readable and wise, Love and Quasars is an indispensable resource for people who wonder if faith and science can coexist.

9781506448435

Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time

In Receiving the Day, Dorothy C. Bass shows how Christian practices for rest and worship continually welcome us into a way of life attuned to the love of God, neighbor, earth, and self. Through them, we can learn to dwell more graciously, attentively, and faithfully within the hours and days we have and to share the gift of time with others.

9781506454757

Mansions of the Heart: Exploring Seven Stages of Spiritual Growth

In Mansions of the Heart, author R. Thomas Ashbrook tells of discovering a new path of spiritual transformation and offers seekers a way to move forward on their own spiritual paths. Mansions of the Heart offers a step-by-step guide based on Teresa of Avila's seven mansions.

9781506454856

Martin Luther's Christmas Book

Martin Luther's conception of the Nativity found expression in sermon, song, and art. This beautiful new gift edition of a classic collection combines all three....

9780806635774

40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The 40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer introduces Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a well- known and courageous German theologian and Lutheran pastor, who during the...

9780806653686

Psalms for Sojourners

"The Psalms address the days of our lives, in times of hurting as well as happiness, helping us to learn how to pray and also how to praise," says James...

9780800634667

Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US

Lenny Duncan is an unlikely pastor. Formerly incarcerated, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make the headlines, but Duncan connects the church's lack of diversity to its lack of vitality. Part manifesto, part confession, and all love letter, Dear Church offers a bold new vision for the future of the church.

9781506452562

You Can Talk To God Like That: The Surprising Power of Lament to Save Your Faith

In You Can Talk to God Like That, pastor Abby Norman shows us that we can talk honestly to God, despite what we may have been told. You'll be encouraged to express your anger and pain to God and feel relief that you can be honest even when things are not okay. Learn to reclaim this ancient practice of lament and refresh your relationship with a God who has always wanted your whole self.

9781506469065

Love Makes Room: And Other Things I Learned When My Daughter Came Out

When Christian singer and speaker Staci Frenes learned her teenage daughter was gay, she found her dreams for the future--along with her lifelong faith--collapsing around her. Coming to terms with a new reality offered an invitation to make room for many things: the inevitability of uncertainty, hope in the midst of loss, awkward and tough conversations, an expanding faith, and a greater understanding of how people are more the same than different.

9781506468631