BOOKS

What Jesus Intended: Finding True Faith in the Rubble of Bad Religion

Have you lost your footing in church? Or has the church lost its footing?

Many of us feel unsteady, disoriented, even crushed after an endless string of scandals within the walls of a place meant to offer compassion and safety. Others feel forced to draw back or distance ourselves from the church. All the while, our instincts tell us this is not what Jesus wanted for his people. But what did he intend?

After four decades of ministry, Anglican Bishop Todd Hunter is no stranger to betrayal and pain in the church. Still, he has hope. He believes more than ever that Jesus is who the world needs and that Jesus has plans for his followers. In What Jesus Intended, Hunter offers a vision for emerging from the rubble of bad religion and rebuilding faith among a community of sincere believers. By unpacking the purposes of Jesus, we can expose twisted, toxic religion for what it is and embrace the true aims of the gospel.

Come for a fresh hearing of Jesus, one that offers us the healing and goodness we’ve always longed for.

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Deep Peace: Finding Calm in a World of Conflict and Anxiety

Experience deep wholeness in your life that springs forth from the peace of God.

We live in a fearful, anxiety-driven age where the problems and challenges of the world assault us from every direction and every media source, and they far exceed our abilities to respond to them. The sense of desperation that often comes of this leads to discord and violence: from bitter, cutting remarks to the atrocities of war; from pervasive racism to knee-jerk micro-aggressions. It contributes to our current, peace-bankrupt social discourse, leading to patterns of dismissing, dividing from, condemning, or hating people.

But what if the root of these problems is not found out there, in the situations, the information or misinformation of what’s happening in the world? What if they come from here: in our minds, hearts, thought-life, and emotions?

Deep Peace analyzes the anxiety and desperation of our current moment and brings it before a biblical framework of profound peace. This book provides practices to help Christians value and actively seek peace, becoming people of reconciliation in ordinary life.

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Our Character at Work

Many leaders need to win (and thus humiliate others), need to get their way (and thus threaten others), need to be seen in a positive light (and thus blame others), need to give good news to those they report to (and thus intimidate others into fudging reports when necessary), and need to be seen as powerful in every setting (and thus speak condescendingly to others). Our Character at Work demonstrates that leadership is more effective and ethical when done in servant-led ways. How do you become a servant leader? It begins with your heart… Put everything you have into the care of your heart — the hidden, causative, motivational you — for everything you do flows from it. It is the real source of your outward life. It determines what your life amounts to. (Proverbs 4:23, author’s paraphrase) Our Character at Work leads you on a personal journey, guiding you to an interior renovation of heart and soul that produces genuine and consistent servant leaders.

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The Accidental Anglican  

Many are longing for historical connectedness and for theology that is “not tied to the whims of contemporary culture, but to apostolic-era understandings of Christian faith and practice.” They also yearn for rhythms and routines that build spiritual health. Still others are responding to a call to participate in worship rather than merely sitting back and looking at a stage. Liturgy offers all of this and more. In this book Todd Hunter chronicles his journey from the Jesus People movement and national leadership in the Vineyard to eventually becoming an Anglican Bishop. Along the way he explains why an evangelical Christian might be drawn to the liturgical way. Curious about the meaning of liturgy? Come and discover what may be waiting for you there.

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Our Favorite Sins 

Falling for temptation isn’t inevitable. We don’t have to lose the fight. In fact, we can win if we understand the root of the problem and what Christians have done from the beginning to beat it. Our Favorite Sins shines a much-needed light in our lives’ dark corners and reveals the time-tested methods for getting victory over sin.

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Christianity Beyond Belief: Following Jesus for the Sake of Others

What If You Knew You Were Going to Live Tomorrow? You’ve prayed the sinner’s prayer. You know that if you die tonight, you’ll go to heaven. But Todd Hunter believes Christianity is a life, not merely a secure death. Which means that eternal life–abundant life–begins on earth, as soon as we become a follower of Jesus. Drawing from his leadership and ministry experience as president of Alpha USA and from his own study and life experiences as an ordinary Christian, Hunter calls us to reframe our salvation and discipleship to focus on life, instead of just heaven and hell. God’s intention, he says, is for us to become God’s cooperative friends, seeking to live consistent lives of creative goodness for the sake of others.

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Giving Church Another Chance

2011 Golden Canon Leadership Book Award winner! Everybody wants to be spiritual. But nobody wants to be religious. Everybody is looking for a rich spiritual life. But nobody is looking to church. As a pastor, Todd Hunter found himself disillusioned, burned out and needing to drop out of traditional forms of church. He experimented with house churches and other options but was still dissatisfied. Eventually he found himself sneaking off to worship services on Sunday mornings with surprising results. What did the historic spiritual practices of church do for him? How did they lead to a life of centered peace, chart a path to simplicity and cause him to reach out to others while focusing on the glory of God? Walk with Hunter on this journey to find spiritual riches in a surprising place. You might just give church another chance.

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The Outsider Interviews

Statistics tell us that Christianity has an image problem. But what are the stories behind the stats? This question led Jim Henderson, Todd Hunter, and Craig Spinks to host a national interview tour with young non-Christians and Christians in Kansas City, Phoenix, Denver, and Seattle. They wanted to hear why Christians get such a bad rap and what we can do to improve.

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