Karen Stiller

8 Habits for Growth

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“8 Habits for Growth is like a conversation with a grounded, thoughtful, faithful friend who wants nothing more than to encourage you in your walk with Christ—a spiritual coach who buys you a coffee and a donut and shares with you some things that worked for them (and multitudes of others). The 'clean-slate policy' of just picking yourself up and moving on if you flounder is especially grace-filled and refreshing. In Darryl's own words: 'The habits are good, but the habits aren't the point. The point is that we were made to know and worship God.' This book will help you get there.”

A New and Ancient Evangelism

Evangelism & Missions

“With A New and Ancient Evangelism, Judy Paulsen succeeds in what feels like the near-impossible task of making evangelism seem less scary and off-putting. With her gentle urging, evangelism sounds almost joyful. Sharing faith feels doable and may even be an appealing prospect after reading this warm and engaging book. Paulsen’s refreshing reexamination of the conversion stories in Scripture helps guide the reader to trust their own instincts and experience to more naturally share their faith in God. The ‘Experiments for Your Church to Try’ section that ends the book will help readers put their new confidence to work immediately.”

Feathers of Hope

Fiction

“One of the things I love most about Sharon Garlough Brown's writing and her beautifully and transparently written cast of characters, is that I'm actually learning and changing as I read a gripping story. Feathers of Hope, like all her work, is edifying and entertaining. Brown has found the perfect balance of these elements in her spiritual fiction. I see how her characters—who now feel like old friends as they occasionally resurface from book to book—search, pray, yearn, breathe deeply to calm and center, reconcile, hurt, and heal each other. I always feel grateful to be a reader at the same time Brown is a writer. More, please.”

Longing for Joy

Christian Living

“Through honesty, poetic logic, and the beauty of a writer who clearly knows his way around a page, Alastair Sterne points the way toward joy for even the most Eeyore-like reader. Like a master craftsman, Sterne weaves story, Scripture, and meaning into the most convincing case for joy I've read yet.”

My Vertical Neighborhood

Christian Living

“Whether you live in a tall apartment building or a tiny house on a quiet street, My Vertical Neighborhood will make you want to throw your doors open wide and invite the neighbors in. This beautifully written chronicle of risk taking, hospitality, success, and even the sadness and struggles of building community for the sake of loving neighbors well over the long run, is inspiring and also practical. There are good ideas in these pages. After reading it, I want to shop for salty olives and some really good bread, and throw a dinner party for my neighbors.”

Sex and the City of God

History & Biography

“Sex is in the title, but this book is surely and mostly about marriage—what comes before and what we receive afterward. It is about all the most important loves we have and how they grow softly and strong and sturdy over time. Weber also provides a rare and honest examination of female desire, sanctified. It is an honest, lyrically and beautifully written memoir from an accomplished writer from whom we expect great things, and Weber does not disappoint.”

The Language of the Soul

Christian Living

“With transparency and wisdom, Crosby walks us through the longings that show we are human and reminds us of the God who meets us right in those very spots, and often through the beauty of community. Pay attention to your saudade. Then read this lovely book.”

The Riches of Your Grace

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“Julie Lane-Gay is guide and fellow explorer in this rich contemplation of the Book of Common Prayer. Her personal journey through an ancient text of Anglicanism is honest and poetic. As she reads the Book of Common Prayer at church and at home, the book reads her, and we all benefit. The Book of Common Prayer can at first seem formal and a bit complicated for some of us, but in Lane-Gay's skilled and sensitive hands, we experience how it opens the mysteries of God's grace, love, and direction in our daily lives. I put down this book and felt encouraged to pick up that 'small red book' once again.”

The Stories Congregations Tell

Church Leadership & Ministry

“Our true stories, well told, are one of the most powerful tools humans have to connect with each other and to grow and learn. That is true of organizations like churches as well. In this fascinating book, Joel Theissen, Arch Chee Keen Wong, and Mark Chapman take us inside the stories of Canadian congregations from coast to coast and examine what those stories tell us and the role the stories play in the flourishing of the congregations and their mission within their communities. Building naturally on earlier work on flourishing, this volume itself contributes significantly to the story of the Canadian Church. An inspiring and valuable work.”