Creating The Better Hour

The spirit of William Wilberforce, who worked to stop the transatlantic slave trade 200 years ago, is alive and active in all people whose faith complel their tireless efforts to transform their culture and build a better world. Creating the Better Hour: Lessons from William Wilberforce is not an ordinary study book. It is a call to end ongoing human oppression and slavery. The life of this great Christian parliamentarian and abolitionist is the starting point for a first-class group of contributors to show Wilberforce as a model for engaging modern culture. Essays detail how people today can emulate his life, great persuasive techniques, and his Clapham Circle colleagues to bring about cultural change and end oppression. Each chapter's Extended Observation draws readers and study groups into transforming reflections and conversations--all designed to help people become a force for good and commit to a life on behalf of others.

Promiseland is Willow Creek’s highly successful children’s ministry. Using examples from Promiseland and churches of all sizes around the country, this book provides step by step guidance and creative application exercises to help churches develop a thriving children’s ministry—one that strives to be the best hour of every kid’s week. Included are Scripture-based principles and practical resources for church staff members and volunteers who agree with the critical role children’s ministry plays in a local church. Making Your Children’s Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid’s Week, based on twenty-eight years of experience at Willow Creek, explains four ministry foundations: Mission, Vision, Values, and Strategy. Content includes: Detailed answers to questions facing every children’s ministry: • What does Jesus expect from children’s ministry? • How can we evangelize lost kids and disciple saved kids at the same time, and should we? • How do we engage kids so they don’t become bored? • How do we get better at recruiting and leading volunteers? • How can our ministry be a safe place for children? • Six specific ministry values that address the needs of today’s children • Practical first steps for ministries that want to get serious about change • Clear indicators of success in children’s ministry

This important book explores how community-based interventions can bridge the gap between health services and the voluntary sector to create more sustainable, healthy communities. Moving beyond a technologically driven, medicalised approach to healthcare, the book shows how social prescribing can provide a direct pathway to improving community health, embracing connection and challenging inequality. Written by a practicing GP, and illustrated through practical guidance, it demonstrates how this can offer a cost-effective, preventative means to improving health outcomes, enabling communities to be more resilient when confronting major issues such as climate change or pandemics. Building to a case study of how these methods were used in one town, Ross-on-Wye, the book will be invaluable reading for those working in healthcare, public health, local authorities, and the voluntary sector, as well as students and researchers interested in these areas.

Offers an updated tutorial for beginners explaining how to use Java to create desktop and Web programs, applications, and web services, including setting up the programming environment, building user interfaces, and writing Android apps. --Publisher's description.

Based on what we now know about reading, this practical book offers strategies in a consistent format that is easy for teachers to incorporate in their daily instruction. This grab-bag of classroom-tested activities allows teachers to choose what they need to meet the diverse needs of students in grades 1 through 8. These strategies guide students through the reading process and build important comprehension skills through reading, talk, art, drama, and more. These innovative ways to use the best children’s books will inspire students to become enthusiastic and avid readers, and take the first giant step into becoming lifelong readers.

The thirteen ten-minute plays in this collection--comedies of various ilk--are the best of the scripts written for Gardner-Webb University's "24 HOURS," a bi-annual play festival in which the entire event is created in just twenty-four hours. "24 HOURS" is an initiative of the theater program at GWU dedicated to developing new plays and training undergraduates in the craft of play production. The plays in this collection were created by students for students and express the worldview of a generation coming of age. Rachel Jones . Jeremy Kerr . Pamela Darnell George Harrison Hendricks IV . Micheal S. Pardue Amber M. Jackson . Michael Mitteer . Stephanie Faile Noelle DeLozier . Donovan Craft . Wendy Shockley Carrie Cranford . Tiffany Stephens . Amanda Miller Aissa Williams . Brad Archer . Meg Elliot