Charles Marion Thomas, Jr. gives personal testimony of how he dealt with finding his independence after several years, being a caretaker for his parents as their health began to fail, and speaks candidly about this reality of epic struggle he endured subsequently, leading to a lengthy period of chronic homelessness and living out of his car. Charles believed that when his parents died he would serve the Lord in full-time ministry while still being homeless. To understand what led to his story, he explains to the best of his knowledge, these events as they happened. His initial experience began when his mother had her stroke in 2002 while she was in school and suffered a brain aneurysm while in class on the left side of the brain that paralyzed the right side of her body. Then later his father died from a heart attack in the house in 2006, and the challenge presented itself. Charles decided to put his life on hold to care for them and run the house. While still lacking stable and appropriate housing, he became homeless through no fault of his own but to serve and honor his parents. In the end, Charles explains how the Lord brought him out of a long journey of homelessness.

Charles Marion Thomas, Jr. gives personal testimony of how he dealt with finding his independence after several years, being a caretaker for his parents as their health began to fail, and speaks candidly about this reality of epic struggle he endured subsequently, leading to a lengthy period of chronic homelessness and living out of his car. Charles believed that when his parents died he would serve the Lord in full-time ministry while still being homeless. To understand what led to his story, he explains to the best of his knowledge, these events as they happened. His initial experience began when his mother had her stroke in 2002 while she was in school and suffered a brain aneurysm while in class on the left side of the brain that paralyzed the right side of her body. Then later his father died from a heart attack in the house in 2006, and the challenge presented itself. Charles decided to put his life on hold to care for them and run the house. While still lacking stable and appropriate housing, he became homeless through no fault of his own but to serve and honor his parents. In the end, Charles explains how the Lord brought him out of a long journey of homelessness.

As a new decade begins the popular demand for change has meant that the social and political fabric of the the Eastern Bloc countries has been irrevocably altered. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the key political, economic and social areas of East German society, such as the military and the church, areas which will intrinsically involved with the movement for change.

What does it mean to live out the theology presented in the Great Commandment to “love God above all and to love your neighbor as yourself”? In Blood and Fire, Poloma and Hood explore how understandings of godly love function to empower believers. Though godly love may begin as a perceived relationship between God and a person, it is made manifest as social behavior among people. Blood and Fire offers a deep ethnographic portrait of a charismatic church and its faith-based ministry, illuminating how religiously motivated social service makes use of beliefs about the nature of God's love. It traces the triumphs and travails associated with living a set of rigorous religious ideals, providing a richly textured analysis of a faith community affiliated with the “emerging church” movement in Pentecostalism, one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic religious movements of our day. Based on more than four years of interviews and surveys with people from all levels of the organization, from the leader to core and marginal members to the poor and addicts they are seeking to serve, Blood and Fire sheds light on the differing worldviews and religious perceptions between those who served in as well as those who were served by this ministry. Blood and Fire argues that godly love— the relationship between perceived divine love and human response— is at the heart of the vision of emerging churches, and that it is essential to understand this dynamic if one is to understand the ongoing reinvention of American Protestantism in the twenty-first century.

The volume presents theological and religious research that explores women's voices and experiences in the fields of migration, culture and (eco)peacebuilding with the goal to discuss complex and dynamic questions of women's active participation and engagement in these challenges, mainly from the perspective of Central European authors. The chapters address these matters in order to rethink and search for theological and religious responses to the inequalities, prejudices, and conflicts that arise from these crises and look for new ethical paths to mitigate them through interreligious dialogue and religious (eco)peacebuilding Nadja Furlan Štante is Principal Research Associate and Professor of Religious Studies at ZRS (Science and Research Centre) Koper. Maja Bjelica is Research Assistant at Institute for Philosophical Studies at ZRS (Science and Research Centre) Koper. Rebeka Ani? is a is Principal Research Associate at Institute of Sociological Sciences Ivo Pilar - Split.

Her quest for independence led to total independence on God. She resigned from the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service to become a misisonary with HCJB World Radio (now Reach Beyond) on June 8, 1973, nearly 51 years ago. Though not all her qestions were answered, and not all of her choices were the best, God has been her closest friend. He’s the one she depends on for guidance and sustenance. After she retired from active service with Reach Beyond in 2008 at 68 God brought Dwight Lind into her life. Though they had worked with the same ministry for decades, she knew his first wife better than Dwight. It was an unexpected surprise when God brought them together. Ron Cline married them at the Flying W Ranch in Colorado Springs on June 20, 2009. Each day she thanks the Lord for bringing them together. Together they are stronger than either of them would have been alone. Her hope is that you will thank the Lord with her for avoiding a very different life than she might have had without God.

How do people in poverty and homelessness change their lives and get back on their feet? Homeless shelters across the world play a huge role in this process. Many of them are religious, but there is a lot of diversity in faith-based non-profits that assist people affected by poverty and homelessness. In this timely book, the authors look at three homeless shelters that take more or less intensive approaches to faith, community, and programming. In one shelter, for instance, residents are required to do a program of classes that includes group Bible study, worship, and self-evaluation. The other two examined are significantly less faith-based, but in different ways and with different structures. The authors show how the three shelters tackle homelessness differently, drawing on narrative biographical interviews and case studies with residents, interviews with staff, and case study research of the three shelters. Entering into significant debates in social theory over religion, agency, cognitive action, and culture, this book is important reading for scholars and students in religious studies, sociology and social work.

In Transforming the Mainline Church, Robert Chesnut provides valuable lessons for inner-city churches. He urges congregations to be more open to diversity, to emphasize the arts and music, to support entrepreneurial leadership, and to move beyond denominational concerns to an approach that responds to the religious hungers of a new generation.

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius have had a tremendous impact in the history of the Church, while the Song of Songs describes mystical union with God in prayer. Written following the format of a personal retreat, Awakening Love includes chapters tracing the themes of the Song of Songs as a very Christian prayer and meditation.