It is what it says it is. . . .
Aubrey Malphurs, Keith Willhite, and Dennis Hillman, eds. A Contemporary Handbook for Weddings & Funerals. Revised and updated edition. 456p., $23.99, Kregel Academic.
Weddings and funerals are some of the most meaningful events in people’s lives, and also some of the most challenging for the pastor to perform. Written with the needs of the busy pastor in mind, this popular and newly updated handbook includes everything necessary to conduct a variety of weddings and funerals, along with other common events such as communion, baptisms, dedications, and ordinations.
Helpful aids for weddings include services, vow renewals, messages, prayers, guidelines for vows, information on marriage laws, and, new in this edition, a service and message for second marriages. Guidance for funerals covers orders of service, quotations and reflections, and eulogies for a variety of circumstances, incorporating those with evangelistic appeal, untimely deaths, and suicide. New to this edition are funerals for service members, victims of violence, accidental deaths, cancer, and community tragedies.
Additional new resources include blessing services for a home or special event and guidance for speaking at fraternal organizations.
Pastors of all denominations will benefit from the services, advice, and resources in this sought-after handbook.
Kerux: Colossians/Philemon
Another day, another commentary :). . . .
Adam Copenhaver and Jeffrey D. Arthurs. Colossians and Philemon: A Commentary for Biblical Preaching and Teaching. Kerux Commentaries. 368p., $30.99 (hardcover), Kregel Academic.
Kerux Commentaries enable pastors and teachers to understand and effectively present the main message in a biblical text.
Each volume uniquely combines the insights of an experienced Bible exegete (trained in interpretation) and a homiletician (trained in preaching). These two authors work together to explain the essential message for the original listeners or readers, unpack its timeless truth, and then provide a contemporary restatement and communication insights for the key biblical concept. Every book is a resource designed and written with the real needs of the pastor and teacher always in sight, providing many ways to creatively express the principal thought in a biblical passage.
Based on the Big Idea preaching model, Kerux enhances the reader’s ability to deliver a message that is biblical, cohesive, and dynamic.
Colossians and Philemon were penned at roughly the same time to an overlapping set of recipients. Paul, writing out of great concern, urges his fellow believers to make Jesus Christ the foundation of their lives. By expounding on the divine person, finished work, and exalted position of Christ, the apostle entreats his readers to stand against false teaching, pursue reconciliation, and be united with Christ. In Colossians and Philemon, Copenhaver and Arthurs combine exegetical precision with homiletical care, helping preachers and Bible teachers take Paul’s message–a plea for walking together in a manner worthy of Christ–to the church today.