Download Free The Rise Decline And Renewal Of A Megachurch Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online The Rise Decline And Renewal Of A Megachurch and write the review.

Rise, Decline and Renewal tells the remarkable story of the Maine Democratic Party – how it suddenly rose from irrelevance in 1954 with the election of Governor Ed Muskie, successfully challenged the ruling Republican Party over the next two decades, and initiated a creative period of wide-ranging reforms that produced a model government for a state long perceived as a cultural and economic backwater. Prosperity was clouded by leadership failures, however, then succeeded by political and institutional decline. The vision that had once galvanized Democrats faded, elected officials clung to power, and legislators failed to provide good representation for the citizens who’d empowered them. The final chapters describe how Maine’s largest political party can again seize the initiative, energize a new generation of young people, and govern in the public interest once more.
As one of the founders of the field of women's history, Lois Banner reveals Marilyn Monroe in the way that only a top-notch historian and biographer could. Banner appreciates the complexities of Monroe's personal life in the context of her achievements as an actor, singer, dancer, comedian, model and courtesan.
"Focuses on the emotional, social, and religious dynamics that pull thousands of people into megachurches and how those churches make some feel like they are 'high on God' and can't wait to get their next spiritual 'hit'"--Publisher marketing.
The megachurch is an exceptional recent religious trend, certainly within Christian spheres. Spreading from the USA, megachurches now reached reach different global contexts. The edited volume Handbook of Megachurches offers a comprehensive account of the subject from various academic perspectives.
From wildcatting Texas oilmen to Colorado rock climbers, from hipster capitalists to populist moralizers, westerners have proven themselves to be a highly individualistic breed of American-as much in their politics as in their vocations or lifestyles. This first book on the landscape of the American West's politics looks beyond red state/blue state assumptions to explore how westerners have expanded the boundaries of the political and emerged as a harbinger of America's electoral future. Representing a wide range of specialties-popular culture, business history, the environment, ethnic history, agriculture, and more-these authors portray a politically heterogeneous region and show how its multiple traditions have strongly shaped the nation's body politic. Viewing politics as more than cyclical electioneering, they draw on historical evidence to portray westerners imaginatively rethinking democratic practice and constantly forging new political publics. These twelve essays move western political history beyond the usual discussions of elections and parties and the standard issues of water, progressivism, and states' rights. Some explore claims to western authenticity among those associated with western conservatism-not just regional heroes like Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, but farmers and evangelicals as well. Others examine the transformation of the West's minority communities to reveal a liberalism that celebrates diversity and articulates claims for social justice. The final chapters reveal the complexity of contemporary western political culture, challenging longstanding assumptions about such notions as space, nature, and the liberal-conservative divide. Here then is the paradox of western politics in all its enigmatic glory, with frontier individualism going head-to-head with multiethnic diversity in debates over divergent views of "western authenticity," and wild cards put into play by counterculturists, cyber-libertarians, fiscally conservative gun-toting Democrats, and environmentalists. The Political Culture of the New West shows how westerners have expressed themselves within a complex, often contradictory, and constantly changing political culture-and helps explain why no electoral outcome in this part of America can be predicted for certain.
A prize-winning, five-decade history of the evangelical movement in Southern California that explains a sweeping realignment of American politics. From Bible Belt to Sun Belt tells the dramatic and largely unknown story of “plain-folk” religious migrants: hardworking men and women from Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas who fled the Depression and came to California for military jobs during World War II. Investigating this fiercely pious community at a grassroots level, Darren Dochuk uses the stories of religious leaders, including Billy Graham, as well as many colorful, lesser-known figures to explain how evangelicals organized a powerful political machine. This machine made its mark with Barry Goldwater, inspired Richard Nixon’s “Southern Solution,” and achieved its greatest triumph with the victories of Ronald Reagan. Based on entirely new research, the manuscript has already won the prestigious Allan Nevins Prize from the Society of American Historians. The judges wrote, “Dochuk offers a rich and multidimensional perspective on the origins of one of the most far-ranging developments of the second half of the twentieth century: the rise of the New Right and modern conservatism.”
The church is the hope of the world when it's working right...and therein lies the problem. Most aren't. This has led both Christians and non-Christians to give up on the church entirely; it has led many others to give up on all existing churches-and maybe even start new ones. But all church can and should be transitioned to a new life. A church is never beyond hope. This book will provide principles and practices that can lead to a resurrection of any church, in any setting. It will provide the inspiration and information needed to lead a church successfully through the necessary changes of tradition and culture without compromising God's timeless truth. When this happens, the church will once again be what God intended...the hope of the world.
The Megachurch Book juxtaposes the way of the scripture to the way of the modern day church, particularly the megachurch. A broad range of subjects are explored including church membership, lavish buildings, dual church locations, the absence of men in the church, neglect of community, the corporate orientation of the megachurch, the tax exempt charter, and many more intriguing topics. The book primarily focuses on trends and practices that are found in African American community based megachurches. Certain topics are written in prose and biblical metaphoric style for greater impact. The more biblical versed a reader is, the more the book will resonate. In order to accommodate various levels of biblical familiarity, the author includes a Discussions and Supporting Scriptures section at the conclusion of each topic. The Megachurch Book was written to open dialogue, invoke discourse, and inspire church attendees to not only consider the appropriateness of certain megachurch practices, but to also question such practices.
Religious traditions provide the stories and rituals that define the core values of church members. Yet modern life in America can make those customs seem undesirable, even impractical. As a result, many congregations refashion church traditions so they may remain powerful and salient. How do these transformations occur? How do clergy and worshipers negotiate which aspects should be preserved or discarded? Focusing on the innovations of several mainline Protestant churches in the San Francisco Bay Area, Stephen Ellingson’s The Megachurch and the Mainline provides new understandings of the transformation of spiritual traditions. For Ellingson, these particular congregations typify a new type of Lutheranism—one which combines the evangelical approaches that are embodied in the growing legion of megachurches with American society’s emphasis on pragmatism and consumerism. Here Ellingson provides vivid descriptions of congregations as they sacrifice hymns in favor of rock music and scrap traditional white robes and stoles for Hawaiian shirts, while also making readers aware of the long history of similar attempts to Americanize the Lutheran tradition. This is an important examination of a religion in flux—one that speaks to the growing popularity of evangelicalism in America.