Gordon Smith
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Courage And Calling
$25.00Add to cartYou have a calling.
First, God calls us all to know and love him. Second, for each individual there is a specific call-a defining purpose or mission, with implications for all of life.
In this classic book on vocation, Gordon Smith invites you to discover your calling by listening to God and becoming a coworker with him. Courage and Calling has helped thousands of readers explore questions such as these:
*What is my calling?
*How do I live it out in the midst of difficult relationships or moral challenges?
*Will my vocation change as I enter a new stage of life?
*With competing needs and demands, how can I craft a balanced way of living?Smith explores how to pursue excellence in all kinds of work and how to continue growing throughout a lifetime. He also considers four examples of particular callings: business, the arts, education, and religious leadership.
This third edition includes a new chapter that explores how a church community can be a dynamic venue for discerning vocation. Church leaders can help sustain a conversation about vocation, work, and career, and celebrate the diverse ways in which God is calling people. From students exploring careers to elders leaving a legacy, this book provides rich insight for all who long to courageously follow God’s call.
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Your Calling Here And Now
$18.00Add to cartOur vocation is the outworking of how God has made us. It is not a goal on the horizon but a present reality that we are called to discern and explore. However, in the midst of our daily lives, finding meaning can prove both difficult and elusive, and we are often left wondering if we are missing out on God’s purpose for our lives.
Gordon Smith invites us to reflect on our vocation and step into God’s call in the present moment. When discerning our vocation feels overwhelming, Smith offers a simple question as a way forward: At this time and place, who am I meant to be, and what am I called to do?
Theologically and historically grounded, Your Calling Here and Now offers theological reflections and spiritual practices that will help you discern God’s call on your life. Whether you are navigating career transitions or looking for meaning in the ordinary, God has a purpose for your life for the here and now.
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Welcome Holy Spirit
$22.00Add to cartAs the renowned scholar Thomas Oden noted, “No subject of Christian teaching is more prone to fanaticism and novelty and subjectivism than that of the Holy Spirit.”
The Bible’s own metaphors for the Spirit are as elusive as they are evocative–wind, oil, flame, water, dove–making pneumatology a mysterious study. But shying away from the topic is no solution. Gordon Smith encourages us to seek both fresh understanding and fresh experience of the Spirit through openness to learning more, no matter what our theological tradition. In this way, as we hold biblical convictions firmly but gracefully, the guiding principles of discernment and humility will help us intentionally live Spirit-responsive lives day by day. Welcome, Holy Spirit is a much-needed master class with a trustworthy and encouraging teacher. How can we cultivate an understanding of the Holy Spirit that helps us experience the presence of the Spirit in worship, in witness, in joy and sorrow, in seasons of blessing and times of difficulty alike, all the while honoring the fullness of the Trinity? That is the objective of the reflections in this book: an attentiveness to the Spirit, not to replace Christ as the focus of our lives and worship but to bring us truly into the presence of the living and ascended Lord. It is to this end that we pray, “Welcome, Holy Spirit.”
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Teach Us To Pray
$16.00Add to cartPreface: Practicing Prayer
1. Prayer And The Kingdom Of God
2. Praying In The Spirit
3. The Prayer Of Thanksgiving
4. The Prayer Of Confession
5. The Prayer Of Discernment
6. Prayer As Spiritual Practice
Afterword: Prayer As Petition
NotesAdditional Info
One of the most basic and vital dimensions of the Christian life is the practice of prayer. Frequently our prayers begin with a petition or request, so the content of our prayers is informed by our circumstances. But what if the opposite were true? What if we allowed our prayers to inform our lives? What would our lives be like if prayer altered our living and began to shape the contours and content of our daily experiences?Gordon Smith invites us to learn three movements of prayer-thanksgiving, confession, and discernment-in order to be formed and transformed by prayers that seek God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” Whether you are a beginner in the life of prayer or further along, this small book is a resource for deepening your prayer practice.
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Spiritual Direction : A Guide To Giving And Receiving Direction
$17.00Add to cart1 The Ministry Of Spiritual Direction
2 Theological Perspectives
3 Focused Conversation
4 Attending To What Is Happening In Our Prayers
5 A Spiritual Direction Session
6 Pastoral Ministry, Evangelism And Friendship
7 The Qualities And Character Of A Director
8 The Qualities And Character Of A Directee
9 The Holy Spirit As Spiritual Director
For Further Reading
NotesAdditional Info
We Are Not Alone God is present with us. And God gives us companions on the journey. A spiritual director is one such companion, offering spiritual guidance to help make sense of the faith journeyinterpret the significant markers on the roadencourage us, particularly through the more difficult transitions and valleys of our pilgrimageand, most of all, to notice the ministry of the Spirit in our lives Gordon Smith writes: Even if we have been Christians and maturing in our faith for many years, we still need the encouragement and guidance that might come through spiritual direction. . . . Genuine humility is evident in our realization that we need a companion, a fellow pilgrim and Christian, who can help us discern and foster an attentiveness to God’s presence in our lives. This is the gift of spiritual direction. Whether you are a director, a directee or simply someone who wants to learn more about this ancient ministry, you will find this book to be a helpful guide. -
Courage And Calling Revised And Expanded
$22.00Add to cart1. Stewards Of Our Lives
2. The Meaning Of Our Work
3. Seeking Congruence
4. Chapters In Our Lives
5. As Unto The Lord
6. Thinking Vocationally
7. Four Callings
8. Courage And Character
9. The Capacity For Continuous Learning
10. The Cross We Bear
11. Working With And Within Organizations
12. The Ordered LifeAdditional Info
God calls us first to himself, to know and follow him, and also to a specific life purpose, a particular reason for being. This second call or “vocation” has implications not only for our work or occupation, but also includes our giftedness, our weaknesses, our life in community and what we do day to day. In this book Gordon Smith invites us to discover our vocation by listening to God and becoming coworkers with him.
What is my calling?
How do I live it out in the midst of difficult relationships or moral challenges?
Will my vocation change as I enter a new stage of life?
With competing needs and demands, how can I craft a balanced way of living?
In the pages of this book, these questions and many more are addressed. This new edition has been revised and updated throughout. The first two chapters are expanded, with a new chapter on four specific areas of calling. Here is rich insight for all who long for the ears to hear and the courage to follow God’s call. -
Holy Meal : The Lords Supper In The Life Of The Church
$20.00Add to cart“This is my body,” said Jesus at the Last Supper. What did he mean? Throughout church history, there have been various interpretations of his words. These differences have caused denominational ruptures that have yet to heal.
In A Holy Meal, Gordon T. Smith shows that we cannot appreciate the Lord’s Supper until we understand it. In light of the renewed attention given to the sacraments by all branches of the church, he examines the historic interpretations and seeks common ground among believers. In the process, he shows how the Lord’s Supper can infuse new meaning into the church as it confronts the forces of postmodernism and secularism.
A Holy Meal is essential reading for Christians who want to ponder the Lord’s Supper again–perhaps truly for the first time.
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Voice Of Jesus
$28.00Add to cartJesus takes it for granted that you will hear his voice. But how do you hear it? How do you separate it out from the cacophony of other voices you hear everyday, including those of your own desires? Is your experience of Jesus’ voice something purely subjective, or is it something you can talk about with others and have them confirm?
Building on the rich spiritual tradition that spans the diversity of history and theology from Ignatius Loyola to John Wesley to Jonathan Edwards, Gordon T. Smith helps open your ears and heart to the depths of the inner witness of the Spirit. By learning to attend to the Spirit, Smith urges, you will learn to hear and heed the voice of Jesus in everyday life.Written with warmth and wisdom, this book speaks to the mind and heart of every Christian who longs for a closer, more intimate walk with Jesus
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Beginning Well : Christian Conversion And Authentic Transformation
$25.00Add to cartHow can Christians grow to maturity unless their conversion experience takes them past sin’s consequences to true spiritual transformation? The key, says Gordon Smith, is Beginning Well. His challenging and provocative survey of Scripture, spiritual autobiographies, and a range of conversion theologies (Protestant, Catholic, Reformed, Wesleyan) takes you beyond “minimalist” views to one that recognizes seven elements necessary for authentic transformation. A must-read for pastors, evangelists, and spiritual directors.