Andrew Root

Living Out of Control

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Rodney Clapp has given us the book we all need at this moment. With vivid writing, theological depth, and an abundance of wisdom, Living Out of Control will help you make sense of this moment and hear again the call of Jesus Christ to follow within it. Timely and rich.”

Love and Quasars

Science & Faith

“Clear, funny, and insightful--Wallace opens up the transcendent quality of love as much as he takes you into the mystery of the universe.”

Love Letters to God

“This is an inspired book. In the tradition of pre-modern theological and pastoral writing, this creative project brings us into a shape of a life through dialogue. The letters allow for a rich and lived theological construction. Both in style and content, there is much to learn from and be inspired by in this book.”

Ministry in Context

Church Leadership & Ministry

“This text and its authors dive deeply into the practical and biblical depth of ministry, inviting the reader to shape their field education and ministry internships programs to enter the profound theological depth of ministry itself.”

Models and Methods for Youth and Young Adult Ministry

Children & Youth

“Canales writes lucidly, thinks deeply, and provides vision after vision for changing the way we think about youth and young adult ministry. You might not agree with everything he says, but almost everything he says will make you think.”

Poetic Youth Ministry

Children & Youth

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Practicing Baptism

Theology

“Norheim is a creative force, effortlessly melding theology, the practice of ministry, and the world of popular music. Norheim is a theologian, a youth missionary, and musical artist in Norway and Estonia. Practicing Baptism introduces his writing to North America where, I predict, it will be received enthusiastically. Norheim is an expert at blending divergent perspectives and genres into beautiful melodies. In this book, you'll hear North American ecclesial practice theory placed in deep conversation with Luther's theology, moving with a tempo that will help you in your ministry.”

Practicing Discernment with Youth

Children & Youth

“My educated guess is that when students look back at the last two decades in youth ministry scholarship, they’ll call it a renaissance. It will be acknowledged as the period where youth ministry founded its own research programs and matured into a location of rich theological thought. When that history is written, David White’s Practicing Discernment will sit at the top of the list of examples. This book that you hold has broken ground, making space for others like me to do my work. I’m incredibly thankful for David’s work, and honored to endorse the re-release of this important, groundbreaking book. If you somehow missed it before—or it's been years since you read it—dive into this re-release. You won’t be disappointed.”

Reciprocal Church

Children & Youth

“Sharon Galgay Ketcham is the most important youth ministry voice you've yet to hear of; with Reciprocal Faith this will be rectified! You hold an exciting book in your hand (or beaming from your e-reader). It's an engaging read with important thoughts on nearly every page. Take time with it. If you do, you'll find your imagination ignited and Sharon will become a new dialogue partner in your ministry.”

Sacred Playgrounds

Discipleship & Christian Education

“There is no doubt that camping ministry has played a major role in the faith formation of Protestant churches over the last hundred years. And yet there has been little to no rich theoretical and theological reflection on camping ministry. That is, until now. Jacob Sorenson in Sacred Playgrounds offers us all a gift. With whimsical writing, rigorous research, and penetrating theological reflection Sorenson provides a practical theology of camping ministry. This book is essential for anyone concerned with faith formation who seeks to understand and sharpen the ministry of camps.”

Saying Is Believing

Children & Youth

“Amanda Drury is one of the most creative and thoughtful people thinking about youth ministry in North America. Mandy has the rare talent to seamlessly blend deep theological ideas with TV shows, parenting and her own experiences in youth ministry. She writes and speaks effortlessly, with numerous creative turns along the way. As Mandy presents in this book, testimony has become a lost element in the church, and its loss has been at the detriment of our youth, as they've been neglected the nourishment that is dependent on testimony for active Christian living. The stories of God's action in each of our lives are the meal that gives our young people the strength and vision to seek God. Saying Is Believing addresses the famine of testimony we face, and promises a feast for the reader and the ministry he or she is called to lead.”

Some of the Words Are Theirs

Preaching & Worship

“The Christian tradition asks pastors who preach to take on, to some degree, the disposition of a poet. The pastor must engage words with skill and be stirred by their mysterious power to touch hearts and beckon souls. But the pastor must also accept an even more mystical task: saying something true about God and life while simultaneously recognizing that the living God may choose to speak another word entirely, and not only being open to this possibility but even hoping it happens. The backdrop to all this, as Austin Carty skillfully shows, is not only the craft of writing and preaching sermons, but also the formation of the preacher by the hand of God. Some of the Words Are Theirs is an honest, beautiful, practical, and deeply moving book. Every pastor must read it. And everyone who loves the work of pastors will love this book. It is simply superb.”

Stars Beneath Us

Science & Faith

“Paul Wallace is an astrophysicist who writes with magic, seamlessly blending story and theory, biblical texts and scientific concepts. This book will make you think. But also make you laugh. It will not only scratch an intellectual itch in your mind, but will touch your heart, connecting faith and reason in a way you’ll actually enjoy—even call fun.”

Teenagers Matter

Church Leadership & Ministry

“Mark Cannister has given his career to cultivating space for love and commitment between budding youth workers and youth ministry, between academic discourse and the field of youth ministry, and between the young people themselves and the church. This book is the manifestation of those many years of deepening skill and passion. On every page you’ll see a wise teacher, devoted parent, and ferocious advocate for the young.”

Tending the Garden

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“In an age addicted to spiritualities with (or more often without) God, Jennifer Wojciechowski's Tending the Garden is an important contribution. As the great teacher she is, she teaches the reader that the mystical is a fundamentally theological practice of encountering a living, speaking, and acting God. This is a helpful book for our times.”

The Five Questions

Children & Youth

“Youth ministry, across the globe, finds itself at a crossroads. What is youth ministry’s future, both academically and congregationally? . . . The Five Questions is the book we need right now, and Jos de Kock and Bård Norheim are the perfect guides. Their wisdom, faithfulness, and insights will help us all walk hopefully into the future of youth ministry.”

The Goodness of Judgment

Theology

“Jeff McSwain does systematic theology in the cadence of the practice of ministry. Few to no one else can do this like he does. He continually lands doctrine nicely in the reader’s life. McSwain’s rich grasp of Scripture is complemented with stories and analogies unpacking his central idea of a Christological anthropology. Pastors and others seeking a robust theological grounding for gospel embodiment will find this work engaging, challenging, and refreshing.”

The Logic of the Spirit in Human Thought and Experience

Theology

“In my opinion, James Loder is one of the most creative theological minds of the last one hundred years. Unfortunately, because his genius was so deep, few have been willing to swim to the depth needed to engage his work. Dana Wright and his contributors have given us, in this book, a kind of vessel that promises exciting voyage into the deep waters of Loder's thought. Every chapter is a treasure for pastors and practical theologians.”

The Pastor as Midwife

Church Leadership & Ministry

“We always live inside metaphors. All humans do. Metaphors are powerful shapers of our actions, pastoral practice not excluded. We might argue that the challenges facing pastoral ministry, and the church overall, are a deficiency in a rich theological and practical metaphor to guide us. If this is the case, then Shawna Songer Gaines does us all the best of services. With beautiful writing and deep insight, she gives us a metaphor to live by, a metaphor that can lead pastoral practice to holdtogether both the divine and human realities. From this metaphor she offers us new visions of life and fullness for the church and the vocation of the minister. This book is a gift.”

The Pastor’s Bookshelf

Church Leadership & Ministry

“The complications and tensions of pastoral ministry can make it a lonely business, both personally and intellectually. One of the most important antidotes to the perplexing loneliness of pastoral ministry is to read. Not as busywork or even distraction, but as communion with those dead and alive. All pastors need a community, obviously a community of persons, but also of authors, of people the pastor is thinking alongside, who are speaking into her or his ministry. Austin Carty is the perfect guide into this community of authors and texts. Austin is a faithful pastor who reads all sorts of texts with insight and depth. The Pastor’s Bookshelf puts this all on display. It’s a treasure.”