Encouraging Words from Cary Schmidt » books and resources

Here’s a VERY BIG Bag of Seed…

caryschmidt — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:47:47 +0000

Would you like to know about a completely free, biblically reliable resource that could help you and those you know to greatly grow in the Word of God? If so, keep reading! You’re gonna like this!

A few years ago we built preaching.lancasterbaptist.org and launched it, and it keeps getting better! Our media team works diligently to archive in multiple formats all of Pastor Chappell’s preaching, as well as special guest speakers such as this week’s revival meeting from Dr. John Goetsch.

Each sermon, shortly after it is preached, is placed in it’s own series and archived by date. Video and audio files are posted and downloadable to any device. And all of the material is also subscribe-able via iTunes podcasts and RSS feed. Imagine having all the messages of Lancaster Baptist Church automatically streamed to whatever your favorite viewing or listening device may be!

Also, every sermon is tagged and searchable by text, topic, title, keywords, etc. For instance, when you visit the site and enter a search for “Ephesians” you will discover more than 45 sermons—audio and video—from that single book of the Bible! Searching for the word “love” provides 36 sermons. You can imagine what a fantastic resource this could be if you are studying a particular text and topic.

Why blog about this? Because it’s a HUGE resource that we have actually said very little about. There are years and years worth of sermons and preaching series from Paul Chappell available at your finger tips—and ALL of them shareable, tweet-able, and useful in a myriad of ways!

So get to it. It’s free. It’s for you. And it’s about the power of the Word of God. Think of all the people you know, those who need Christ, or those who need encouragement, who may be helped because you shared or tweeted a link!

We are trying to hand you a very BIG bag of seed. What will you do with it? We pray that you will grab it and start planting! God’s Word NEVER returns void!

Happy harvest!

Christmas is a Gift—Dr. Chappell’s New Book

caryschmidt — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:32:03 +0000

This week, Striving Together Publications introduced a new, hardback, full-color, mini-book from Dr. Paul Chappell. Christmas is a Gift—Unwrap the Significance of the Season is just over 130 pages, and is filled with encouraging insights from the Christmas story, as well as a clear salvation message. It makes a perfect gift for a Christian friend or a tool for sharing the gospel with someone that is lost. The book is available now, and significant quantity discounts are available.

To find out more about Christmas is a Gift, or to order a copy today, visit www.strivingtogether.com!

We pray that this resource will help you encourage others and share the gospel this Christmas!

Done—Free for the Amazon Kindle!

caryschmidt — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:21:36 +0000

This post is all about sharing the gospel with friends, family, and co-workers. If you know someone who doesn’t know Christ, read on:

Perhaps you are familiar with the little book I wrote several years ago entitled “Done—What Most Religions Don’t Tell You About the Bible.” It’s a small book (about 100 pages) that shares a simple, clear presentation of the gospel. It’s been a tremendous joy to receive emails every week from people around the world who trusted Christ after reading “Done.”

I’m happy to report that this little book is now available for free at both Amazon.com and Apple’s iBookstore in ebook format for the Amazon Kindle and for Apple devices. The Spanish version is also available for free on iBookstore. Normally, I would not make a request like this, but in this case I feel it’s appropriate…

May I ask you to consider sharing this witnessing resource over social networking with friends, co-workers, and family? More and more people are reading books on electronic devices, and this free book gives you a great reason to share the gospel and an easy way to do it.

The book is written in a friendly tone, contains much scripture, and a clear explanation of God’s truth. For friends and relatives that have refused to “hear you” regarding your faith, this may be a simple and disarming way to help them consider the gospel.

Hardcopies of “Done” are available from Striving Together Publications in English, Spanish, and Korean. Also an audio version and free PDF copies of the book are available on this blog (also in Chinese and Romanian.)

Again, consider sending a link for the Kindle of iBook edition over email or on Facebook or Twitter. Who knows how God would use your simple effort to spread the gospel in this way.

Here are the links if you want to copy them:

http://www.amazon.com/done-religions-about-Bible-ebook/dp/B002RS66HE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1320037498&sr=1-1

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/done./id460210609?mt=11

New Podcast: Biblical Vision for Growth

caryschmidt — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:53:41 +0000

The newest edition of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast from Dr. Paul Chappell is posted. This month the lesson is entitled “Developing a Biblical Vision for Every Stage of Growth.”

This lesson discusses the various stages of growth that every church experiences, and how to develop vision for each of those stages. It’s a very practical and challenging lesson.

Don’t forget, you can always subscribe to receive the free companion outline if you visit paulchappell.com and click on the Spiritual Leadership Podcast link. This podcast, and it’s previous editions are available on iTunes.

Enjoy this month’s lesson!

More Christian Books for Kindle

caryschmidt — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 23:20:21 +0000

Our team here at Striving Together Publications has been quietly and aggressively working to bring the full Striving Together book library to the Kindle format! I’m pleased to announce that almost the entire Striving Together Publications book library is now available through Amazon.com for the Kindle.

To see the entire Striving Together selection of books available for the Kindle, simply click here.

Also, when visiting Strivingtogether.com you will find a kindle symbol on the product page of books that are available digitally.

We have also begun migrating content onto Apple’s iBookstore as well—The Choice is Yours, In Desert Places, A Daily Word, and more soon! Also, DONE is presently available on iBookstore, and it’s available for FREE!

Digital reading is a rapidly growing niche. I admit, I was slow to join the transition, but once I did—there was no turning back. Now, my first thought on every book I want to read is, “I hope this is available for the Kindle.” There’s a great benefit to having a large library available in one device, and all of your highlights available with a couple of clicks.

If you haven’t yet gone digital with your reading, it’s worth considering—especially with Amazon’s newest offerings of Kindle readers. I quickly found that the Kindle paid for itself in two ways—first, the books cost less, and second, Christian publishers often give away their books at no cost for a limited time.

For a complete list of new resources available from Striving Together Publications, click here.

SL Podcast – Staying the Course

caryschmidt — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:00:54 +0000

The most recent Spiritual Leadership Podcast is one you SHOULD NOT miss! It’s entitled “Staying the Course Through Troubled Waters” from Pastor Paul Chappell.

This lesson challenges spiritual leaders to stay faithful through difficult times! I promise you it will encourage your life and strengthen you in the ministry. You can listen above, or better yet, subscribe through iTunes.

The Spiritual Leadership Podcast is a monthly resource that is offered free from Pastor Chappell. To subscribe to the complimentary outline, click HERE. Submit your email address and you will receive the outline along with a notification that the newest podcast is posted.

Enjoy!

Book Review: Diagnose Your Spiritual Health

caryschmidt — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:38:56 +0000

I just completed reading one of the most practical, helpful, well-written books about the Christian life that I’ve ever read. I wanted to share it with you.

Coming out of my cancer struggle, the Lord allowed my path to cross the book entitled “Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health” by Donald S. Whitney. It was timely, because I desired to step back and assess my life before the Lord, before I just resumed my “pre-cancer” mentality. I wanted to emerge from the cancer struggle with a deeper walk with the Lord, having grown in His grace through the trial. I desire for the trial to have a permanent spiritual impact on my heart and life.

This book was fantastic! It was one of those books that made me want to highlight every single paragraph! Every page was intensely scriptural, very articulate, and powerfully inspiring regarding the healthy Christian life. Here are the things that I appreciated about this book:

1. It was unquestionably biblical. The author did a great job of supporting his “health diagnosis” from Scripture.

2. It was incredibly practical. Every chapter brought me back to a baseline aspect of authentic Christian living.

3. It was very inspiring. This book made me love the Lord more, love living for Him more, and long for greater spiritual maturity.

4. It was comprehensive. The author got it right! There weren’t any glaring omissions of scriptural directives.

5. It was encouraging. Every page of this book lifted my heart and reminded me why I’m so thankful that I’m a Christian.

6. It was well written. Mr. Whitney has an easy to read, enjoyable style of writing that isn’t trivial by any stretch! His writing runs deep and challenges both the heart and the intellect.

If you’re looking for a book that will encourage you and spur you on to greater spiritual maturity, you should definitely read Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health.

Spiritual Leadership Downloads 2011!

caryschmidt — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:28:29 +0000

Spiritual Leadership Conference 2011 was held last month. I’m late in posting this information, but wanted to share it none-the-less.

It is our desire to share Spiritual Leadership Conference with people who couldn’t attend. I’m posting several links below that will help you access videos, audio, photos, and resources that were available at the conference. The entire conference—sessions, services, messages, and videos—is FREE online. Here is where you will find it all:

Free audio downloads of the entire conference—as a gift to you, the entire conference, including the outline notebook, can be downloaded free of charge at www.strivingtogether.com. Pastor Chappell’s sessions will be produced into Spiritual Leadership Podcasts in the coming months. You can find out more about the podcasts at www.ministry127.com.

Videos from the conference and of main services—several videos are already available. These take longer to upload, but you can view each service and video at this link in the coming few days. Feel free to download the videos and use them in your own ministry.

New Striving Together Publications resources introduced—this is a complete list of the new resources available at the conference.

Registration for the 2012 conference—this link will let you get the best seats and early registration benefits for next year’s conference which is in June.

New Resources from Striving Together

caryschmidt — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:27:12 +0000

Over the past few weeks, Striving Together has introduced a great new line up of resources for spiritual growth and local church ministry. These include several new books, new Sunday school curriculum, new children’s curriculum, new mini-books and booklets, and several other items.

Our team has labored for a year or more on many of these resources. All of them are now available, and you can view them and read more about each one here.

Also, every new book is simultaneously available for the Kindle through Amazon. You can see all of the Striving Together books available for Kindle at this link.

Take a moment to stop by the Striving Together online store and see what’s new! We pray that these resources will greatly bless your life!

Off Script is Now Available

caryschmidt — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 06:47:17 +0000

It’s amazing how the Lord allows the timing of events to unfold. Yesterday I left the hospital in Hollywood after my last radiation treatment! It was a moment I will never forget. Only minutes later I received a message from my secretary that the first copy of Off Script was sitting on my desk. You can read more about the book in this post from a few weeks ago.

I simply wanted to take a moment to let you know that the book is now available. You can order it directly from Striving Together Publications, or you can order from Amazon.

And the Kindle edition is also available beginning today, also through Amazon. I’m thankful that Pastor Chappell felt that it could be useful, and I’m thankful to a wonderful team of co-workers who helped make it happen. I really do pray that God will use it to encourage you or someone you know who is facing an “off script” time of life.

SL Podcast – Christlikeness in the Church

caryschmidt — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:52:26 +0000

Don’t miss this month’s Spiritual Leadership Podcast from Pastor Paul Chappell. The topic is “How to Develop Christ-likeness in the Church.”

This lesson will challenge you to evaluate the spiritual health and development of your church family. More than that, it will provide some thoughts for measuring progress and evaluating what a “Christ-like church” looks like. It will encourage you to focus on the roots, to make sure that your church family is being nourished and established in the faith.

Enjoy this month’s lesson!

A New Book—Off Script

caryschmidt — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:28:48 +0000

Over the past eight months, people have asked me if I was going to write a book about this cancer experience. At first, my answer was to laugh and say, “probably not!” But the Lord overruled me. It’s been two and a half years since I’ve written a book personally. My writing time between then and now has primarily been invested into other projects for Striving Together. But yesterday, a book that I’ve worked on for the past five months went to press, and I’d like to tell you a little bit about it, if you can spare a moment.

Early in this trial I read several Christian books about hardship. They were helpful, but each one was lacking something. In one, I longed for the author to be more transparent about his own struggle. In one I felt that certain aspects of trials were completely overlooked. In all of them, they were written “after the trial.” In other words, the tough days were behind. I really wanted a book written by someone who didn’t know what the outcome would be—a book written from the middle of the trial. I couldn’t find that book.

That’s when the Lord put on my heart to write. I argued with Him about it. Who would read it? Why should my story matter? My trial is so small compared to those of many people I know. I wouldn’t know what to say. It’s too personal. I’m in the middle of it right now… maybe some day in the future. He continued to press my heart to obey. Every excuse was met with an answer I couldn’t resist—especially when God said, “You don’t know the outcome—what if this is the only chance you have to write about this? And what if this is one of the reasons I brought you into this trial?”

So, I started writing. Four chapters in, I quit. “I can’t do this,” I reasoned. I set it aside for a long time, but God kept nudging me to pick it back up and finish. He strongly impressed upon me to write before I knew the outcome—to write from within the storm. And so I wrote.

It would be a major understatement to say that God has taught me a lot from His Word through this trial. The challenge was how to write about it concisely, transparently, and from the middle of a very weak and sickly time. Somehow, it happened, and frankly, I really have a hard time remembering how! (Chemo-brain!)

The title I couldn’t get away from was “OFF SCRIPT.” The Subtitle—”What to do when God rewrites your life.” The premise—ten decisions that will transform your perspective in the midst of your trial.

God takes all of our lives “off script” at one point or another, and what we decide in our off script seasons is HUGE for our future. The book is about 225 pages and shares ten chapters—each detailing a decision and a passage of Scripture that God used in my life over these past eight months.

More than a book about cancer, it’s primarily a book about rightly responding to any trial. It’s transparent, at many points comical, and hopefully encouraging. When I got done writing, I thought surely people are going to think this is stupid. So far, folks who have read it, enjoyed it.

I feel a bit uncomfortable with this post. I almost didn’t want to print this book for fear of people misunderstanding the spirit, the motives, or the heart behind it. But I pray that God will use it to encourage people to rightly and joyfully respond during seasons of suffering. And it would be silly not to try to let you know about it, after putting so much work into it.

It will be available in about a month (early July) at www.strivingtogether.com and shortly thereafter on Amazon in both hardback and for Kindle. I’ll post again when it’s available, and probably share a sample chapter with you. If you know someone in a trial, in might encourage them.

Thanks for giving me a moment to tell you about this. I hope it will be a blessing to you or to someone you love.

PS—We have several very helpful resources coming off the press soon for Striving Together Publications—so stay tuned!

Life Quest Curriculum Available!

caryschmidt — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:45:39 +0000

A new curriculum for Senior High and Single Adult ministry is now available from Striving Together Publications! Life Quest features 13 weeks of lessons taken from the book by the same name. The lessons are focused on helping an older teen or a twenty-something young adult to move forward in a culture that continues to prevent them from embracing adulthood.

This series is designed to combat the cultural trend for twenty-something young adults to avoid maturity and responsibility. It will equip them to make wise choices and to pursue the will of God for the future. It will challenge their faith and help them chart a course for wisdom, purpose, and passion for God. The curriculum comes with a teacher’s edition as well as student guides.

Click here for more information or to order!

New Book—In Desert Places!

caryschmidt — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 19:54:50 +0000

We are thrilled to announce the availability of Dr. Paul Chappell’s newest book—In Desert Places! This beautiful hardback book takes the reader on a wonderful journey of discovering what God can do in the “desert places” of our lives. The captivating narrative is woven together with the experiences of Bible characters in desert moments, as well as the true stories of amazing life-change that have unfolded in the California desert at Lancaster Baptist.

This book will greatly encourage your heart and minister to your spirit! It is filled with biblical principles and inspiring stories that will challenge your faith and remind you that some of God’s greatest work in our lives happens when we least expect it!

The book is available today as a hardback, and will soon be available through Amazon for the Kindle device or software. Don’t miss this amazing read! Click here to order your copy today!

Podcast—Characteristics of Healthy Church

caryschmidt — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 02:42:10 +0000

The December edition of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast is now live. It’s a little late, but you were probably too busy before Christmas to listen to it any way, right?

The lesson is entitled “10 Characteristics of a Healthy Church” and it focuses on the health of a church as opposed to the growth. So often we focus on “growth,” but in reality, the right kind of growth is always a product of health. A healthy church is pleasing to the Lord and a blessing to those who attend.

I thank the Lord that He has allowed my family to grow up under the leadership of Paul Chappell, and I’m thankful that his primary concern over the years has been the health and purity of our church. This lesson will challenge you and encourage you as you evaluate your church direction in the new year.

Don’t forget you can subscribe to the outline for free here: www.paulchappell.com/slp/