Does conflict have a place in advancing God's message? Ken Sande says yes, that we can use conflict as a stewardship opportunity to show people the Gospel. He says that forgiveness is powerful, and if we take what God has done for us and show it to other people, we will make a difference for God. Sande also gives some practicals on how to become a peacemaker.\r\n

What is wealth, and is it good? Jeff Gordon gives a cultural perspective, as well as a Christian perspective on wealth and affluence. Using Jesus's life and view on wealth, Gordon gives us ways to lead regarding wealth.\r\n

We all experience obstacles and suffering in our lives, but what do we do about it? Gene Getz takes us through the life of Joseph as an example of how to overcome obstacles through faithfulness. He takes us through the ways that Joseph suffered, that many people go through today as well. Then he talks about how to see emotional and spiritual healing in our lives.\r\n

We all suffer; what does God say about it? Gary DeLashmutt talks about how we can be a good steward of our sufferings. He talks about how through the cross God has made redemptive suffering central to His plan and His glory. DeLashmutt talks about why we can view our sufferings as a precious resource as well as how we can manage our sufferings to God's glory.\r\n

David Chilcoat, a devoted Christian and the founder of the Columbus Young Life branch, experienced intense suffering as his body decayed slowly due to ALS, a devastating disease. After his diagnosis, he began journaling about his experience, and these entries are what his wife, Beth, and Bev DeLashmutt share in order to illustrate his faithfulness during such an intense trial. Through David's journal, we see an active example of enacting three important steps amidst suffering: asking, affirming, and waiting. As we explore and act on these three principles, we can begin to respond to suffering in a way that allows us to persevere through it instead of crumbling under it.

Creating a committed ethos in a church involves theology, application of truth, expectation, and making judgment calls. Ultimately, the ethos is where your theology meets your value system. The elements needed for a committed ethos include: strongly held and clear convictions, clear points and counterpoints, being relational and practical, encouragement, and honesty. Against these, there are many ethos killers to look out for.

Home group evangelism is a balance of outward movement with inward growth. Learn about the steps of challenging a group to generate a new focus on evangelism, including how to anticipate resistance. Each step is rooted in getting members to become outward-focused and to fight against staying in a small comfort zone.

All followers of Christ should be able to make a defense for their faith. Studying and being equipped with Christian apologetics will give followers of Christ a greater ability to defend their faith. There are many practical ways that apologetics can be used in evangelism. Five practices to consider when evangelizing include: 1) listening carefully; 2) knowing common objections; 3) preparing for roadblocks; 4) offering evidence; and 5) knowing the goals of your conversation.

Many people needlessly suffer at the end of their life due to prolonged medical care. This can lead to suffering for the patient as well as the decision maker. Continuing to research and have better conversations about end of life care will lead to better quality of death, lower risk of complicated grief, less aggressive care, and lower cost of care.

If we prescribe to God's command to make disciples, we will see lives transformed and growth in the church through multiplication. Entering into a personal discipleship relationship with someone takes commitment to investment, prayer, friendship building, casting visions, and understanding our role and God's role.

Incorporating new Christians into community is important but not necessarily easy. First, our own growth in the gospel is essential, because it ensures that people are settling into a growing community. We also need to emphasize our relationship with new believers instead of focusing more on the meeting. This often means we must bring the community to the person we are hoping to incorporate. Along the way, we must recognize Satan's attempts to thwart our efforts and fight to ensure the believer is exposed to the Word and growing in their own personal learning about God. Finally, we must keep in mind that we are only assisting God in his moves to incorporate believers into the body of Christ. \r\n

Xenos' structure is centered around small Bible study groups called home churches. This model is Biblically based. The New Testament gives multiple examples of the early church operating "house to house." Countless New Testament principles such as the "one another" passages also indicate that the church must provide smaller group settings where relationships can grow between members so that they will be able to discover and meet one another's needs. Home church leaders should be developed before selection and then selected on the basis of character, knowledge, relationships, and ministry. Leaders should have four areas of focus: 1) their own growth in God's grace, love, and sanctification, 2) outreach to non-Christians, 3) Biblical community, and 4) discipleship. This teaching discusses a typical home church schedule and meeting format. Evangelism is often a weakness in adult home churches, for a variety of reasons. But it is also a vital part of a healthy home church's ministry. Evangelism can be done in two ways - "come and see" stepping stone events, where the lost are invited into Christian community to experience fellowship, and "go and be" evangelism, where Christians go out into the secular community to witness. Several examples of these types of events are given. This teaching also plays a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMyTMTmJU6E) in order to comically show how shallow some small groups can be. The remedy to shallow community is discipleship. The product of successful discipleship is multiplication on both an individual and home church level.\r\n

We can glean many insights from the Pastoral Epistles into coaching leaders. Ministry coaches are not consultants, counselors or middle managers, but their mission is to help others learn how to serve God effectively. One insight we learn is that there is a relational component involved in these letters, but still ministry advice dominates. There is also both a mix of explicit instructions and general principles as well as both character and ministry advice. Combining these insights as well as focusing on fostering independence can lead to more effective ministry coaching.

God loves all people, and as his children we are called to go out and love those in our neighborhoods and cities, beyond those in our immediate circle. Jesus himself set an example of this and sent his believers out as lights in the world. We need to go out and help meet the needs in our community, actively bearing witness to God's love and mercy. This begins with and is maintained through prayer, both individually and corporately. We can start right where we are, adding on to existing efforts in our communities in order to maximize our aid to those in need.

When kids come into the picture, the temptation to decrease our involvement in ministry and fellowship raises immensely. In order to guard our own hearts from falling into this temptation that our culture feeds, we must recognize why we involve ourselves with ministry in the first place. It makes us better parents, it models healthy relating (both to people and to God) to our children, it teaches our kids valuable lessons, and ultimately it is because of the great joy of being made new in Christ! With this understanding, we can equip ourselves with some practical suggestions for how to schedule our lives in such a way that we minister to both our families and to the others God has placed before us.

Spiritual confidence is not about being confident of our own abilities (pride). Rather, spiritual confidence is rooted in who God is and is reflected in a Christian's humility that doesn't sway to being man-centered or super-spiritual. Christians can have true confidence in knowing that their all-powerful and omniscient God is in control.

Parents are ordained by God to play a part in their children's lives, and certainly in their teenage years, kids need help transitioning. Parents have a huge spiritual influence over their kids, and because of this, Christian parents need to tackle some key issues when parenting teens. First, a relational approach is needed in order to maintain positive influence. Second, parents should set some key goals that are centered around the Lord. Parents also should set a plan for how to transition their child from disciplined control to responsible independence. This includes avoiding unnecessary conflicts and choosing to focus on the most important issues.

It is very easy for believers to fall into overvaluing or undervaluing work. Scripture reveals to us that all parts of our life can bring glory to God, including our career. You must start with orienting your mind around the biblical perspective that your whole life can be a spiritual service of worship. Once you have been grounded in this principle choosing a career and working hard will fall into place. Like Jesus communicated to his followers, you must seek first his kingdom and all things will be added to you. \r\n

The pastoral epistles are a rich quarry of key elements of Christian leadership. Six of these are compressed in a letter from Paul to Timothy. 1. Be continually strengthened by the grace that is in Christ; 2. develop other leaders; 3. embrace the rigors of Christian leadership; 4. keep your teaching focused on Biblical priorities; 5. pursue godly character in your own life; and 6. deal with errant members in a firm and redemptive way. There is a bonus element found in another chapter: keep making progress that your flock can see.

Under the world view of philosophical naturalism you cannot adequately answer the bigger questions of life about purpose and consciousness. The naturalist has three aspects to their world view that can easily be critiqued: 1) the naturalists' theory of knowledge; 2) the naturalists' creation account; and 3) the naturalists' view of reality.

A God-centered life presents optimism and meaning, and stands opposed to the pointless tendency of a self-centered life. By drawing near to God, Christians can be effective servants for Him, even through suffering and life changes. With Christ, believers can have hope for their futures and eternity.

The American Christian church is losing teen interest and attendance at an alarming rate. Those who "drop out" can cite many reasons for their loss of interest, including boredom and moving away. To engage youth and prevent this exodus from the body of Christ, churches are challenged to raise the commitment level by: teaching deeper content, actively combating sins of commission and omission, calling on students to actively participate in ministry, and not placing major emphasis on minor laws.

Through the life of Paul, Gene Getz talks about how we can live our lives for the call of Christ. He gives us principles to live by from Paul's formative years including what our lives should look like when we receive Christ's forgiveness. He also takes us through Paul's life in ministry and some principles for us to take from those years in Paul's life.\r\n

J.P. Moreland exposits Ecclesiastes 1, drawing out the worldview present in Solomon's writing. This Scripture reflects a worldview common in our culture today, naturalism, or the belief that there is no God or divine being. Moreland explains the discrepancies and implications in this worldview and how we can use that today as we try and share our faith with others.

As believers in Christ, we have two choices: we can conform to the values of this world, or we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We cannot straddle the line between these two choices, but are called to make a conscious decision and effort to be transformed by God. That decision allows us to make an eternal impact instead of investing in the fleeting things of this world. It also causes us to grow deep relationships alongside others in the body of Christ who are being transformed by God with us. When Christians choose to be transformed in this way, they become more persuasive, more zealous, and more mature in their spiritual lives.