Bøger af James C. Howell

Veteran preacher James Howell reflects on the craft and practice of preaching. Drawing on a wide range of resources, Howell provides discussions on the "Subject Matters of Preaching," "Where Sermons Happen," "When Sermons Happen," and the "Life of the Body." The conclusion on "The Preaching Self" considers the person of the preacher. These seasoned reflections will be of great help for all who preach.

Music is such an important part of Advent and Christmas. Can you imagine Advent without "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"? How about Christmas without carols like "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Silent Night," and "Joy to the World"?It pleases the Lord Jesus when we sing of his coming with carols we know by heart. It pleases him even more when we think about the words we are singing.In 24 reflections on well-known carols and Christmas songs, James Howell explores the birth of Jesus. He ponders the meaning of certain phrases from these songs and relates them to our daily lives.The four weeks of devotions are arranged by topic: The PlaceThe Men (Joseph, shepherds, magi)The MotherThe ChildA guide for weekly discussion is included.Join Howell in this rich remembrance for the Advent and Christmas seasons.

Take spirituality into the real world.Jesus didn't "become flesh" so we could feel different. He came to this world so we will be different.Often our spirituality seems invisible and mute to a hurting world. Many of us simply internalize faith out of fear, feelings of inadequacy, or choice. A faithful response to discipleship's call, however, is both inward and outward.Through Howell's study, you'll find ways to apply faith to your daily life and make evident your commitment to Christ. By considering all that Jesus did with his hands as a teacher, a healer, and a compassionate servant, Howell challenges readers to be the hands and feet and love of Christ in the world."Christianity must become something real, tangible, something that pervades all that we are," writes Howell. "It must become something we do. In our culture, for Christianity to have any meaningful future, we must get serious about a genuine lifestyle that is holy without being elitist, engaged with the world without being jaded or self-righteous, active and busy yet prepared to cope with failure."Howell's inspiration for this work comes from a poetic meditation written by Teresa of Avila, a Spanish nun who lived in the 16th century. The poem begins: "Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours."Howell connects these words with the apostle Paul, who wrote in 1 Corinthians 12: "Now you are the body of Christ."Express your faith through action. Be the hands of Christ today to a hurting world.

A seasoned pastor explores the connections between our own birth, the experience of having children, and the new birth of the Christian life.

Veteran pastor James C. Howell skillfully unpacks one of the most powerful verses in the Old Testament, Micah 6:8: "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Howell illuminates the original context in which this verse was written, while demonstrating how it can still guide us...

How are we to know the will of God? In this honest discussion, veteran pastor and theologian James C. Howell considers a number of issues relating to God's will, how it is known, how it is done, and how we respond when bad things happen and we feel God is absent or has turned away from us. In this sensitive presentation, Howell explores these...

Howell provides contexts for the selected verses and draws from a wide range of sources to illuminate their meaning for Christian faith and life today. He encourages, inspires, and motivates others to understand the biblical verses in relation to faithful Christian discipleship.

This introductory-level book on Christianity looks clearly at what the church believed and taught throughout its history. Hard questions about the Bible, theology, and the Christian life are dealt with. As author, veteran scholar, and pastor James Howell puts it, "Great hope rests in thinking through these questions." In doing so, he explores...

Using the Apostles' Creed as the "primary text" this book explores what we believe as Christians and how those beliefs are relevant today. The author's goal is to help pastors educate and transform members of their congregations. He examines the Creed phrase by phrase in brief sections suitable for congregational study or for emailing to the congregation. For each phrase in the Creed, a "deeper reflection" provides material for preaching a 13-sermon series or for further congregatonal study. A detailed appendix includes recommendations of hymns and songs related to each phrase in the Creed; the suggestions are keyed to several hymnals and songbooks.

In this volume of the For Today series, author and pastor James Howell takes us on an engaging exploration of the Beatitudes. Howell considers each of the well-known phrases in these passages from Matthew and creatively applies Jesus' teachings to our contemporary world and Christian lives.The For Today series was designed to provide reliable...

This handbook promotes a comprehensive strategy founded on evidence-based programming for juvenile justice systems to adopt or enhance their current system. The comprehensive strategy is supported strongly by the broad research base that is now available. This strategy recognizes, first, that a relatively small proportion of the juveniles who initially enter the juvenile justice system will prove to be serious, violent, or chronic offenders, but that group accounts for a large proportion of the overall amount of delinquency. An important component of a comprehensive evidence-based juvenile justice system, therefore, is distinguishing these offenders from others and focusing attention and resources on that smaller group. Second, a comprehensive strategy recognizes that serious, violent, or chronic delinquency emerges along developmental pathways that progress from less to more serious profiles of offending. Priority must be given to interrupting these offender careers by calibrating the level of supervision and control of the juveniles' behavior to their level of risk. The third major component of a comprehensive strategy, therefore, is effective intervention programs that are capable of reducing the recidivism of those juveniles at risk for further delinquency. The Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders is an administrative framework that supports a continuum of services that parallel the development of offender careers. This framework emphasizes evidence-based programming specifically on recidivism reduction, and supports protocols for developing comprehensive treatment plans that match effective services with offender treatment needs along the life-course of delinquent careers, as they move from intake onward, to probation, community programs, confinement, and reentry. Juvenile justice systems will benefit from incorporation of a comprehensive strategy as provided in the handbook.

This book is an historical account of the emergence of youth gangs and the transformation of these into street gangs in the United States. The author traces the emergence of these gangs in the four major geographical regions over the span of two centuries, from the early 1800s to 2012. The author's authoritative analysis explains gang emergence and expansion from play groups to heavily armed street gangs responsible for a large proportion of urban crimes, including drive-by shootings that often kill innocent bystanders. Nationwide, street gangs now account for 1 in 6 homicides each year, and for 1 in 4 in very large cities. In recent years, the number of gangs, gang members, and gang homicides increased, even though the U.S. has seen a sharp drop in violent and property crimes over the past decade. The author's historical analysis reveals the key contributing factors to transformation of youth gangs, including social disorganization that occurred following large-scale immigration early in American history and urban policies that pushed minorities to inner city areas and public housing projects. This analysis includes the influence of prison gangs on street gangs. The first generation of prison gangs emerged spontaneously in response to dangers inside prisons. The second generation was for many years extensions of street gangs that grew enormously during the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in large urban areas in which public housing projects have served as incubators for street gangs. The third generation of prison gangs is extremely active in street-level criminal enterprises in varied forms, often highly structured and well managed organizations that are actively involved in drug trafficking. In recent years, returning inmates are a predominant influence on local gang violence. Now, prison gangs and street gangs often work together in street-level criminal enterprises. This book identifies the most promising ways that gang violence can be reduced. The best long-term approach is a combination of gang prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies and programs. Targeted suppression of gang violence is imperative. Street-workers that serve as violence interrupters can break the cycle of contagious gang violence.

This volume provides information on juvenile violence in America. It also examines: the historical response of the US to juvenile delinquency; the seriousness of the problem; and the public policies available to deal with it. The author also discusses proposed modifications in delinquency policies.

The Second Edition of Preventing and Reducing Juvenile Delinquency: A Comprehensive Framework aims to inform students about the latest research and the most promising and effective programs and provides a wealth of information for understanding, preventing and controlling juvenile delinquency.

Invites readers to pose their most difficult spiritual questions to St. francis- and to listen for the questions he asks in response