Pastoral Counseling Books

The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict

Ken, Sande

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

it was good but... 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

great info but not what I was looking for. I needed info for my family and this is more for large groups like churches and not families.

Peacemakers 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Our church has been doing this study on being a Peacemaker. So far it has been a very good study.

Great book, great reference 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is very helpful to read over when you are not in a conflict and I can only guess how much more you could get out of it if you were in a conflict. This will help you with everything from small conflicts that should be overlooked to something that has torn a family apart.

Ken Sande uses many applicable Bible verses and a well written summary with questions at the end to make this book a great reference for any conflict. If one carefully reads through this book I don't know how they would be able to continue on in conflict with anyone.

I would recommend this book to anyone and I think that the world would be in a much better place with a mentality that the Peacemaker instills. If you are hesitant at all about the book you can download the first chapter and read it for yourself on their website www.peacemaker.net

Editorial Review:

Conflict-resolution expert Ken Sande shows you how to help permenantly resolve disputes in your church. He takes you and your church members beyond quick fixes to true, life-changing reconciliation with family members, coworkers, and fellow believers.

Preparing for Marriage

David Boehi, Brent Nelson, Jeff Schulte, Lloyd Shadrach

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great tool everyone should buy one! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

My fiance' and I are very pleased with this product. We are looking forward to applying what we've learned being engaged and married.

A Great Conversation Starter..... 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

My husband and I used this book as part of an 8 week Premarital Counseling course. We both found the book to bring up good topics for discussion though most of them we had discussed before. I would not describe myself as a very religious person but more of a spiritual person with strong Christian beliefs. That said, I found some "opinions" in the book to be narrow minded and that some of the bible passages were taken out of context. I do think that it was a good tool as part of our sessions but don't depend completely on this book for your premarital counseling. We also looked at The 5 Love Languages and Dave Ramsey's book Financial Peace Revisited. Those books as well as the insight from our counselors made all the difference.

Editorial Review:

Preparing for Marriage is a dynamic program designed to help couples lay the foundation for a strong, biblical marriage. Six romantic sessions and five projects can be undertaken alone or under the guidance of a mentor.

Pastoring Men: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why It Matters Now More Than Ever

Patrick Morley

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Editorial Review:

“Much has been made about the ‘men problem.’ You can hear about it on Oprah. You can read about it in Time. Everyone is concerned about it. Many address the consequences of it, yet very few people are doing anything that will change the root of it.”

No man fails on purpose, yet our society is wrought with the results. And our well-intentioned solutions often don’t deal with the root issue. So what solution does Pastoring Men offer? Disciple men. The purpose of Pastoring Men is to equip you to effectively reach all of your men. Men are hard to reach. But be assured—if you do, they will change the world.

Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave : Finding Hope in the Power of the Gospel (Resources for Changing Lives)

Edward T. Welch

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Misquotes Scripture / Dismisses Psychiatry 1 out of 5 stars.
15 of 23 people found this review helpful.

Early in his book, Dr. Welch inaccurately quotes Scripture, rendering 2 Peter 1:3 to say that Scripture gives us all the tools/information/etc. that we need in order to live. Of course, 2 Peter 1:3 says this not about Scripture, but about God.
I approached this book as one schooled in and accepting of Reformed theology. Certainly Dr. Welch does not stray far from the Gospel. But he is dismissive of anything but a proof-text approach to reading Scripture that suggests that any problems a person may have are "worship deficiencies."
This may be true, in a strict sense. If we are really attuned to God's will, we certainly won't face addiction problems. But a more realistic subtitle for the book ought to have been "Here but for the grace of God go I."
Dr. Welch makes several astounding claims in order to advance his model of addiction theory. One of these is that there is no real evidence to suggest that physical withdrawal symptoms can literally overpower a person. Another is that gambling and sex do not prompt any internal physiological response. Any responsible neuroscientist would scoff at this -- our brains are full of chemical charges that dramatically affect our ability to think rationally, and our attitude toward God and other men.
Dr. Welch offers little in the way of practical help for the recovering addict; in fact, one of the reasons he is critical of AA is that AA has become palatable to non-believers. Heaven forbid it!
Dr. Welch advances a model-driven approach that fails to understand the enormity of God's revealed wisdom and how we ought to apply it when struggling with addiction issues or helping a loved one in need.
This book is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Read it critically. I understand I am the first negative reviewer, but my fear is that people get swept away by what they perceive to be a "gospel message" that is in fact little but a model for laying more guilt at the feet of an addict.
Finally, Dr. Welch gives short shrift to the work of the Holy Spirit in even the lives of addicts, and pretends that people suffering in the grip of addiction are far removed from grace. He also makes the decidedly un-Scriptural claim that, if we pray for God to remove any temptation/sin/etc. from our lives, then God will grant that request. But Paul's struggle with the thorn in his flesh stands in direct opposition to this claim.
Jesus Christ's love for addicts goes far beyond what Dr. Welch contemplates in this disappointing book.

Editorial Review:

A worship disorder: this is how Edward T. Welch views addictions. "Will we worship our own desires or will we worship the true God?" With this lens the author discovers far more in Scripture on addictions than passages on drunkenness. There we learn the addict's true condition: like guests at a banquet thrown by "the woman Folly," he is already in the grave (Proverbs 9:13-18). Can we not escape our addictions? If we're willing to follow Jesus, the author says that we have "immense hope: hope in God's forgiving grace, hope in God's love that is faithful even when we are not, and hope that God can give power so that we are no longer mastered by the addiction." Each chapter concludes with "Practical Theology," "As Your Face Your Own Addictions," and "As You Help Someone Else."

The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery

David G. Benner

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

About the Book

Recipient of the Award of Merit in the Personal Growth/Individual Category of The Word Guild 2005 Canadian Christian Writing Awards!

A Formatio book.

"Grant, Lord, that I may know myself that I may know thee." Augustine

Much is said in Christian circles about knowing God. But Christians throughout the ages have agreed that there cannot be deep knowledge of God without deep knowledge of the self. Discerning your true self is inextricably related to discerning God's purposes for you. Paradoxically, the more you become like Christ, the more you become authentically yourself.

In this profound exploration of Christian identity, psychologist and spiritual director David G. Benner illuminates the spirituality of self-discovery. He exposes the false selves that you may hide behind and calls you to discover the true self that emerges from your uniqueness in Christ. Freeing you from illusions about yourself, Benner shows that self-understanding leads to the fulfillment of your God-given destiny and vocation.

"Christian spirituality," writes Benner, "involves a transformation of the self that occurs only when God and self are both deeply known." The self is not God, but it is the place where you meet God. Genuine self-knowledge revitalizes your spiritual life and opens the door to becoming who God has created you to be.

Rest assured, you need not try to be someone you are not.

But you will deepen your experience of God through discovering the gift of being yourself.

Healing for Damaged Emotions (Personal Growth Bookshelf)

David A. Seamands

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Preface

Early in my pastoral experience, I discovered that I was failing to help two groups of people through the regular ministries of the church. Their problems were not being solved by the preaching of the Word, commitment to Christ, the filling of the Spirit, prayer, or the Sacraments.

I saw one group being driven into futility and loss of confidence in God's power. While they desperately prayed, their prayers about personal problems didn't seem to be answered. They tried every Christian discipline, but with no result. As they played the same old cracked record of their defeats, the needle would get stuck in repetitive emotional patterns. While they kept up the outward observances of praying and paying and professing, they were going deeper and deeper into disillusionment and despair.

I saw the other group moving toward phoniness. These people were repressing their inner feelings and denying to themselves that anything was seriously wrong, because "Christians can't have such problems." Instead of facing their problems, they covered them with a veneer of Scripture verses, theological terms, and unrealistic platitudes.

The denied problems went underground, only to later reappear in all manner of illnesses, eccentricities, terribly unhappy marriages, and sometimes even in the emotional destruction of their children.

During this time of discovery, God showed me that the ordinary ways of ministering would never help some problems. And He began to enable me to open up my own heart to personal self-discovery, and to new depths of healing love through my marriage, my children, and intimate friends.

God then led me to enlarge my pastoral ministry to include special care and prayer for damaged emotions and unhealed memories.

In the twenty years that I have been preaching, teaching, counseling, and distributing tapes on this subject, I have heard from thousands of formerly defeated Christians who have found release from emotional hangups and who have experienced the healing of crippling memories of the past.

In this book, you will meet some of those people. You will read of attitudes and feelings that are familiar to you or to someone dear to you.

Any resemblance to real persons is completely intentional. All of the people in this book are very much alive; their stories are used with permission. Names and locations have been changed to protect their confidence.

Any resemblance to your life may seem coincidental, but it is also intentional. For most of us have the same needs and longings.

I pray that these chapters will be helpful in picturing God's ways of repairing damaged emotions, of recycling hangups into wholeness, and of transforming crippled Christians into healed helpers.

Seeing With New Eyes: Counseling and the Human Condition Through the Lens of Scripture (Resources for Changing Lives)

David Powlison

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"When our gaze awakens to the gaze of God, we have started to see. Seeing clearly, we can love well."

Seeing with New Eyes is collection of essays written over almost twenty years by a respected biblical counselor. David Powlison’s articles are Bible exposition, topical essay, editorial, and sermon. All of them show God’s gracious self-revelation in Jesus Christ and Scripture.

"We learn to see how God sees," writes Powlison. "Learning the gaze of God, we come to weigh life aright. We discern good and evil, fair and foul, lovely and degraded. We become able to pry apart true from false, instead of living in a murk of half-truths and flat lies."

This book explores two main topics.

- Scripture: God’s voice speaks into real life to reveal the gaze and intentions of the Christ who pursues us. How do we embrace, probe, and unravel Scripture?

- Understanding people amid their real life struggles: How do we embrace, probe, and unravel the problems of daily life?

We learn how to see many of life’s struggles through the lens of Scripture, including

- Worry

- Victimization

- Love languages

- Biological Psychiatry

Powlison encourages readers to "think Christianly" by thinking God’s thoughts after him. He asks, "Does God have a take on counseling? Of course, yes, amen." This book seeks to listen, look, and think hard within the patterns of God’s gaze.

God has the real take on things. And God teaches us his gaze!

The Marriage Builder

Larry Crabb

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Soul Mates: Becoming Your Spouse's Spiritual Friend 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

"The Marriage Builder" by Dr. Larry Crabb has become something of a classic in the genre of Christian books on husband-wife relationships. In it, Crabb highlights three relational areas: the couple's spiritual relationship to God, their social/soul relationship to one another, and their physical relationship to each other. When dealt with properly, and in priority order, Crabb asserts that relationships will be healthy (not necessarily happy, since that is not God's goal nor guarantee for life this side of heaven).

Discussing the spiritual relationship, Crabb explains that when God cleanses sin through salvation, His grace simultaneous quenches the deepest thirsts in the human soul. Rather than beings some new-age mantra as some claim when they critique Crabb, the concept of longings, desires, thirsts, and hunger is both biblical and historical (church history). The Trinitarian God of the Bible created humanity in His relational image. Since human beings are finite, they will always long for the infinite--for God's infinite holy love.

Once a husband and wife have come to understand that all they need is God and what He chooses to provide, Crabb notes that then they can quit the old "tic on a dog" relationship of mutual manipulation. Instead, they can begin a relationship of mutual ministry.

In this area, Crabb explores God's essential design for the masculine and feminine soul. He posits that males have a deep social longing for respect, which coincides with Paul's teaching in Ephesians 5. Crabb also explains that females have a deep social longing for intimacy, also correlating with Paul's teaching in Ephesians 5.

As couples learn to drink fully from the God of the universe and to serve one another "heapin' helpins'" of respect and intimacy, then they are prepared to experience body oneness (not simply fun sex). One in their walk with God, one in their relationship with each other, now they move toward physical oneness.

"The Marriage Builder" is a classic because it remains true to God's classic teaching on relationships. We are spiritual beings designed to worship God; we are social beings designed to mutually minister to and intimately connect with one another; and we are physical beings, designed in the state of marital matrimony, to experience body oneness.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and the forthcoming, "Beyond the Suffering: The Story of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction."

Editorial Review:

An all-new discussion guide for couples has been added to this classic best-seller to allow readers to dig into it and apply it to their own lives and marriages.

Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling

John G., Kruis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Super 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Handy, superb quick reference to the super passages, Ideal for any counselor. Even excellent for those just to study deeper into the Bible

What I Think 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I like the fact that this book uses scriipture references. The mental health workers in this world all need one of these. It's handy, too. It will be helpful in my bible studies.

Editorial Review:

The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling was first published in March 1988. While its primary intention was to help counselors and pastors, over the years laypersons have also found it indispensable in helping them meet their personal needs as well as mold their personal and family devotions.

This revised and expanded edition is specially designed to help people use the Scriptures more effectively in their lives. Scripture quotations are from the popular NIV. Scripture passages on each of the practical topics are thoughtfully arranged in a numbered list so that users can see their significance at a glance. Users have all the pertinent Bible passages at their fingertips when they need them most.

The Heart of the Artist

Rory Noland

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

One of the best studies for musician 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I highly recommend this book for every musician in or out of the church. The principles found within will change the way you think about the way you interact with other musicians and will help you succeed in your craft.

Don't Waste Your Money 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book talks somewhat about art issues, but the main focus is on Biblical character. Most of this material can be found on any book about discipleship. It wasn't specific enough about artistic issues. Furthermore, the author's approach was very simplistic, and did not produce any profound insight that an artist might derive benefit from. It would be good for someone who is a brand new Christian, but other than that, I wouldn't recommend it.

Superior! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is very helpful for both persons in worship arts leadership and those who are committed to any given team under that heading. It will challenge you spiritually, mentally, and help you grow no matter what your position is in ministry. I recommend this for all persons in or going into worship arts ministry of any kind.

Editorial Review:

This book explores issues of character facing Christian artists who want to use their gifts more effectively in church ministry.