Sean I. Palmer
Biography
Sean I. Palmer has served as teaching pastor at Ecclesia Houston, as an executive coach, and as vice-chair of Missio Alliance. Palmer wrote Speaking by the Numbers (2026), Forty Days on Being a Three (2020), and Unarmed Empire (2017).
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History & Biography
“For over a quarter of a century I wished there was a resource I could give church leaders to remind us of the grit and glory of how Churches of Christ came to be. I wanted a word that knew the history in order to shape a preferred future. An inability to hold the tension between the past and the future as a movement meant we would fail—not die and be resurrected—but fail at our mission. Jack Reese’s At the Blue Hole is the work I needed. If you want your church to blossom in our changing world, this is the book you and your church need.”
Science & Faith
“My wife, like Janet Kellogg Ray, is a science teacher. Her students and colleagues know she is married to a pastor. Each year, like clockwork, a student or fellow teacher asks her about the intersection of science and faith. Their assumption is that her allegiances lie with either faith or science, that she couldn’t hold them both appropriately. Science and faith are in a dance together, and Janet Kellogg Ray’s Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark? helps those of us with questions about the interplay of faith and science articulate and understand our faith better. Here you will discover more of what God is up to in the world, how faith and science testify to one another, and even more so how they testify the beauty of our Creator.”
Christian Living
“I’m addicted. Addicted to activity. Addicted to noise. Addicted to accomplishment. All this addiction means I’m never still. My mind never quiets. I often lack the space to be with God. And, crazy as it sounds, that’s what God wants most. AJ gifts the church with needed, helpful insights into the crazed culture we live in and the way our minds work, and he presses it against God’s dream for human flourishing. If you, like me, struggle to get quiet, read this book.”
Arts & Literature
“Great communicators know the importance of telling a story ’slant.’ New angles. Fresh twist. All these help us appreciate the textured perspectives and new insights old truths have to offer new generations. In Faith in Mirrors, Houston Heflin offers us new surprises inside the stories we thought we always knew. Here you will find new wineskins and ways to approach the stories of scripture you already thought you knew.”
Christian Living
“Doubts about God and faith can feel paralyzing for Christians. Even worse, acknowledging our doubts about God and faith can feel unfaithful. That being the case, we often shove our doubts away or fear facing them. But it doesn’t have to be so. In Grace, Sideways, Jack Reese helps guide us through the beautiful and harrowing dance between doubt and faith. His is a true journey with God. And because it is, his journey can help you too.”
Christian Living
“Knowing the Enneagram and how your personality is structured is a gift, which can truly be useful only after you’ve discovered how your Enneagram type helps and hurts you. Each of us is a gift to the world—one that can be beautiful only when we embrace all of who we are and who our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and families are. How We Relate is a practical and valuable guide to receiving what is beautiful and rejecting what is false about who God created you to be.”
Church Leadership & Ministry
“Doubt, the dark night of the soul, and deconstruction—Scot McKnight and Tommy Phillips are no strangers to these experiences, for they have been through them as well. They point out, however, that despite what is wrong with the churches, church history, or contemporary Christianity, the best thing about it is still Jesus, and it is Jesus who calls us to himself. To whom else can we go? The pursuit of power, the lust for pleasure, and the drowning of our pain in the numbness of our devices don’t work. McKnight and Phillips elegantly remind us that Jesus invites us to take his yoke upon ourselves, for he is good and gentle, and he offers us rest from our travails. REV. DR. MICHAEL F. BIRD (PHD, University of Queensland), deputy principal, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia It is truly difficult to recommend books for people who are walking through the deconstruction journey. Too many, sadly, belittle the experiences of people who are questioning their faith or the church. And too many seek to add fuel to the fire and almost seem to require the abandonment of Christian faithfulness. The message of Invisible Jesus is different. It offers a safe path forward for individuals who seek to love God and do so through the valley of their questions. For it is only in walking through those questions that the true life will be found. A. J. SWOBODA (PHD, University of Birmingham) is associate professor of Bible and theology at Bushnell University and author of The Gift of Thorns Deconstruction has become en vogue among a certain sect of Christians. That being so, other believers have responded to the rise of deconstruction with everything from questions to outright opposition. For some, deconstruction is a lifeline; for others, it is a ligature. Scot McKnight and Tommy Person Phillips give the church handles for seasoning this conversation with hope and a love that is Jesus-centered. If you, or someone you know, are asking questions about the Jesus of the Gospels, or have questions about the people who have questions, this is the book for you.”
Bible Studies & Devotionals
“There are few people I trust more to guide me through the Word of God than Tara Beth Leach. With a strong heart, pastoral sensitivity, and a soul immersed in the light of the Spirit and hope of Jesus, Tara Beth gives us fresh eyes to see Jesus and experience the gifts of the Spirit through the letters of John. She is a trusted counselor, visionary leader, and deep lover of Jesus.”
The Enneagram for Spiritual Formation
Christian Living
“So much of what we learn from the Enneagram about ourselves and the people we love stops at simple self-awareness, which can easily become another exercise in self-centered navel-gazing. Thankfully, AJ Sherrill deepens and expands our endeavors, revealing how we can use the wisdom of the Enneagram to draw us closer to the heart of God. Having AJ equip our pastors and staff with the lessons and tools found here in The Enneagram for Spiritual Formation developed us in immediate and powerful ways. It will do the same for you.”
Prayer & Spiritual Formation
“Perhaps you, too, need a reset for the restlessness of your soul; a new way of noting and noticing what God is up to in your life. If so, The Gift of Restlessness is the balm you've been looking for, and Casey is just the right guide.”
Prayer & Spiritual Formation
“Most of us want more of God—a deeper and more ongoing connection. We also want to gain with a greater sense of life, gratitude, and positivity. The GREAT Morning Revolution provides the path we need. It is amazing how life changes when we begin to orient ourselves toward God and immerse ourselves in God’s activity in the world. Tara Beth Leach knows how to point us to this. The GREAT Morning Revolution routine is the recipe you need.”
Christian Living
“There are smells, tastes, and moments in life that instantly take me back in time. I have my own mental DeLorean nearing eighty-eight miles per hour ready to shoot me back to another time, but I can never predict when it will reach velocity. Sometimes I wonder why recollections strike, but I've never pondered it deeply until now. Casey Tygrett, with deep insight and a sharp pen, leads us more deeply into what God is revealing to us through our personal and communal stories and how embracing those stories leads us forward.”
Christian Living
“Everyone thinks they know what love is. For some love is gushy and warm like a bowl of something melted. For others, love is a hardened, crusted alignment to their vision of what the world ‘ought’ to be. Joshua Graves helps us move beyond these amorphous, self-centered definitions of love, calling us into an other-focused, action-oriented, long-serving, cruciform love. The Simple Secret clears the way to a better way of loving like Jesus.”
Christian Living
“Tyler Wigg-Stevenson's The World Is Not Ours to Save walks Christ-followers through both his own journey and the story of Scripture, helping us arrive at a kind of world engagement and activism that is more effective than slogans and social media and more humane and healing than shouting down the world on cable news. This is a kind of activism that is drenched in the story of God and Christ's love for humankind. The World Is Not Ours to Save is a pilgrimage of the heart for those longing to see the fullness of God's kingdom.”
Arts & Literature
“Richard Beck captures Johnny Cash in ways no one else might, exploring our universal struggles at the intersection of brokenness, healing, and faith. You don't have to love Johnny Cash to be captivated by him and, more importantly, by the Jesus who is reaching out to you the same way he did the Man in Black.”
NOTE: Only includes books currently in our catalog; not necessarily a complete list.
Christian Living
Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
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