Feeling overwhelmed and unproductive? The answer isn’t to do more. What image forms in your mind when you think of productivity? An assembly line? Spreadsheets? Business suits or workplace uniforms? In the ancient world, productivity didn't conjure images like these. Instead, it referred to crop yield and fruit bearing. This agrarian imagery helps us understand productivity through a biblical lens. Jesus taught, By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit (John 15:8). Who doesn’t want to have a truly productive life—to bear much fruit? But how does this happen in the places we hold dear—the home, workplace, and in our communities? We often feel overworked and overrun, defeated and discouraged. The world says be productive so that you can get all you can out of this life. The Bible says be productive so you can gain more of the next life. In Redeeming Productivity, author Reagan Rose explores how God’s glory is the purpose for which He planted us. And he shows how productivity must be firmly rooted in the gospel. Only through our connection to Christ—the True Vine—are we empowered to produce good fruit. This book shows how we can maintain the vitality of that connection through simple, life-giving disciplines. Readers will discover manageable applications like giving God the first fruits of our days. Additionally, Reagan discusses how our perspective on suffering is transformed as we see trials as God’s pruning for greater productivity.

New Directions in Print Culture Studies features new methods and approaches to cultural and literary history that draw on periodicals, print culture, and material culture, thus revising and rewriting what we think we know about the aesthetic, cultural, and social history of transnational America. The unifying questions posed and answered in this book are methodological: How can we make material, archival objects meaningful? How can we engage and contest dominant conceptions of aesthetic, historical, and literary periods? How can we present archival material in ways that make it accessible to other scholars and students? What theoretical commitments does a focus on material objects entail? New Directions in Print Culture Studies brings together leading scholars to address the methodological, historical, and theoretical commitments that emerge from studying how periodicals, books, images, and ideas circulated from the 19th century to the present. Reaching beyond national boundaries, the essays in this book focus on the different materials and archives we can use to rewrite literary history in ways that highlight not a canon of “major” literary works, but instead the networks, dialogues, and tensions that define print cultures in various moments and movements.

Manage your time the way Jesus managed his with a biblical antidote to swamped to-do lists and hurried schedules. “A highly practical road map.”—Mark Batterson, New York Times bestselling author and lead pastor of National Community Church Despite the overwhelming amount of resources for time management and work-life balance, the ability to cultivate the efficiency and equilibrium needed to manage all our worthy pursuits can often feel frustratingly out of reach. The reason for our struggle is that productivity and time-management systems focus on individual habits rather than more meaningful and lasting lifestyle changes. But as it turns out, there is a better way to reach our full potential. We don’t need just another approach to changing our habits. What we need is an operating system that takes into account the full scope of our lives. In these pages, bestselling author Jordan Raynor presents this system, using seven powerful time- management principles drawn from the example of how Jesus lived: 1. Start with the Word: Find meaningful connection with the author of time daily. 2. Let Your Yes Be Yes: Accept only the commitments you can fulfill. 3. Dissent from the Kingdom of Noise: Create room for silence, stillness, and reflection. 4. Prioritize Your Yeses: Confidently maintain your commitments. 5. Accept Your “Unipresence”: Focus on one important thing at a time. 6. Embrace Productive Rest: Live the God-designed rhythms of rest which are productive for our goals and souls. 7. Eliminate All Hurry: Embrace productive busyness while ruthlessly eliminating hurry from our lives. With these principles, you’ll see how Jesus managed his time on earth and how he responded to human constraints much like the ones you face today. More than that, you’ll discover corresponding practices that will help you embrace the best, most Christlike version of yourself possible: purposeful, present, and wildly productive.

Solid guidance for managers and trustees to better position their nonprofits now and in the future The Great Recession has left a paradigm shift for nonprofit leadership and their board members as fiduciaries. It has changed how boards make, evaluate and document investment decisions, the risks they are willing to take and the way these details are communicated to donors. Nonprofit Investment and Development Solutions + Website will provide solid guidance for nonprofit leadership, staff and volunteers to better position their nonprofits to thrive now and in the future. This guide will provide: Sophisticated investment and development principles that are easily understandable and adaptable Specific steps to take in order to avoid unnecessary investment risk and secure financial stability Solutions and techniques for capitalizing on opportunities created by funding shifts and evolving donor expectations Principles and practices of fiduciary responsibility, behavioral finance, socially responsible investing, strategic development planning and charity efficiency In addition, Nonprofit Investment and Development Solutions + Website offers a web site resource with a variety of online tools and templates to help readers implement key concepts discussed in this book.

In contrast to all who decry managers and management, Hilmer and Donaldson have a strikingly positive view of managers. And, unlike those who predict the imminent extinction of managers, these authors foresee a larger role for them in the corporations of the future. Rather than doing away with classical management, Hilmer and Donaldson urge that it be upgraded to a profession on par with medicine, engineering, law, or architecture.

Kindness has fallen on hard times. Almost daily, we witness or experience cynicism, impatience, or incivility. And it begins to wear on a soul. Overall, we’re not doing well. We need hope. We need truth. We need God. In The Kindness of God, pastor and teacher Nate Pickowicz shows how our lives must be understood and lived in light of God’s kindness. Pickowicz brings the reader along a joy-filled journey of discovering God’s lifegiving lovingkindness and compassion. This book is for Christians overwhelmed with their life circumstances. It’s for anyone who is feeling disappointment or hurt from a fractured relationship. It’s for all those who are discouraged by caustic political discourse. And it’s for those who are saddened or frustrated, desiring more from life . . . more from God. This book offers biblical salve to spiritual wounds and answers how God's own character remains intact even when wounds are inflicted by others. You will come away from this book, marveling and thanking God for His immeasurable kindness. And you will come to reflect His kindness more deeply in your own life toward others. In a world that can feel dark and cold, this resource is a light of God’s kindness!

The Cespedes parents, Jan and Vicki, and all 5 of their daughters, Ivana (23), Belicia (22), Briana (20), Giana (19) and Eliana (9) share memories of their homeschool journey and how they were able to accomplish amazing achievements while still so young. They will each share thoughts about their philosophy of education, daily routines, the things they enjoyed most, the things they would have done differently, books and resources they used, tips for acceleration, etc. The father, Jan Cespedes, who is suffering with terminal cancer, wanted to write this as a legacy book and a tribute to his wife and daughters. Vulnerability and transparency are seen throughout the story of parents who felt inept to take on such a daunting task as the home educating of their daughters and more importantly of the discipleship of their hearts.

Sometimes the many tasks of homemaking and motherhood seem unending, and many moms wonder if they will ever feel productive. Author Esther Engelsma says moms can feel productive—if they change the way they think about their work. She helps readers understand that God’s goal for moms is not centered on getting things done. Rather, God wants them to use time well, grow in sanctification, and glorify Him. With a warm, friendly style, the author shares from Scripture and practical experience the freeing truth of God’s purpose for moms and their valuable kingdom work.

If self-help isn't getting you anywhere, it’s time for God’s power! Have you grown accustomed to bad habits, written off lifelong battles as unwinnable, or believed that some destructive behaviors can never be altered? Then The 7 Resolutions is for you. This book will teach you how to overthrow old patterns, create new life systems, and take hold of God’s promises. Resolve to: Join God Think Truth Kill Sin Choose Friends Take Risks Focus Effort Redeem Time Never settle for too little. The time is now for humble dependence on God and a plan to walk in His power. It’s time to come alive!