Don Everts

We all long for homes where we can thrive and flourish. What does it take to have a spiritually vibrant household? Don Everts invites us to contemplate what the Bible says about households and consider what a new research project has revealed by pulling back the curtains on everyday households of faith. Original research from the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries shows that some of the healthiest, most vibrant homes extend beyond the nuclear family and include people that may not be biologically related but feel like family. These households have vital practices of spirituality, hospitality, and community that make them delightful places for living and thriving. You might just be surprised by how God wants to work in and through your household. Discover practical steps for nurturing a vibrant household of faith, no matter what stage of life you are in.

Discover your gifts! All of us have gifts that can be used for the common good. The Discover Your Gifts Workbook has sessions on twelve different kinds of gifts, from artistic and technical gifts to entrepreneurial and civic gifts. Every session defines and describes what each gift looks like and gives examples of how the gift can be used in four distinct vocations of life: church, family, work, and society. By using this workbook alongside the Discover Your Gifts book and the EveryGift online inventory, you can grow in your understanding and use of your gifts. And you will be better equipped to recognize the gifts of others and unleash them for use in all areas of life.

You have gifts! And you are a gift to the world around you. Because every human is fearfully and wonderfully made, each one of us has something to offer to the world. But we have not always identified or developed our gifts well, nor deployed them effectively. Don Everts explores the gifts God has given every person and what new research reveals about the difference those gifts can make for us, our churches, and our communities. Churches have unfortunately focused mostly on spiritual gifts and vocations within the church. But we don't always recognize the wide range of abilities, skills, and aptitudes that all of us have, whether civic, artistic, or entrepreneurial. We each have God-given gifts and are called by God to use them in our vocations in the world. Discover how our gifts are a blessing to others and pave the way for reconnecting with our surrounding communities.

We all live somewhere. And we all want our neighborhoods to flourish. Many of us hope (and even pray) for our neighborhoods' well-being. But how do we actually pursue that? This field guide answers this question by walking you through a simple, powerful process for blessing your own neighborhood. Tony Cook and Don Everts offer six sessions for discovering the gifts of your community, imagining the possibilities, and pursuing the common good. Exercises and assessments provide practical tools for bringing your hopes into concrete reality. Join with others so that together you can increase the well-being of your local neighborhood.

Are you tired of hearing people dismiss the church as an irrelevant relic? (Do you secretly wonder if they are right?) Don Everts explores an exciting reality that is revealed in Scripture, shown throughout history, and confirmed in the latest research: when Christians pursue the common good of the neighborhood, the world stands up and notices. It turns out this is exactly what we're called to do. When Christians make good things, we bring blessings and hope to our local community. With original research from the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries on how Christians relate to our neighborhoods, this book is filled with constructive, practical ways that Christians and churches bless those around us. As Christians join together for the common good, we bring hope to the world, credibility to the church, and glory to God.

We all long for homes where we can thrive and flourish. What does it take to have a spiritually vibrant household? Don Everts invites us to contemplate what the Bible says about households and consider what a new research project has revealed by pulling back the curtains on everyday households of faith. Original research from the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries shows that some of the healthiest, most vibrant homes extend beyond the nuclear family and include people that may not be biologically related but feel like family. These households have vital practices of spirituality, hospitality, and community that make them delightful places for living and thriving. In the end you might just be surprised by how God wants to work in and through your household. And you’ll have practical steps for nurturing a vibrant household of faith, no matter what stage of life you are in.

New research finds that Christians are less involved in spiritual conversations today than we were twenty-five years ago. As society has changed, it seems we have become more uncomfortable talking with people about our faith. We are reluctant conversationalists. The reality is that many of our churches and communities are shrinking instead of growing. What can we do about this? Don Everts, himself a reluctant witness, grew up assuming that spiritual conversations are always painful and awkward. But after falling into one spiritual conversation after another, he was surprised to discover that they aren't. Don's surprising—and sometimes embarrassing—stories affirm what Scripture and the latest research reveal: spiritual conversations can actually be a delight. Unpacking what God's Word says about spiritual conversations and digging into the habits of eager conversationalists, Everts describes what we can learn from Christians who are still talking about their faith. With original research from the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries on spiritual conversations in the digital age, this book offers fresh insights and best practices for fruitful everyday conversations.

15th Annual Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year - Evangelism Most Christians are stuck in the huddle. Even though we believe in outreach, most communities tend to focus on our own needs. That turns us into insular groups without many relationships with outsiders. So evangelism is occasional and conversions are rare. How do we change? In their groundbreaking book I Once Was Lost, Don Everts and Doug Schaupp identified five thresholds that individuals cross when they shift from being skeptics to followers. Now they and Val Gordon show how huddled communities can become witnessing communities and then conversion communities, where evangelistic growth becomes the new normal. The authors have studied the growth of congregations, what enhances and limits them, and have gathered best practices for transformation. Our churches and fellowships can become places where evangelism is not done by a just few people, but where the whole community itself becomes a winsome, thriving witness to those around it. Break out of the huddle. Find out how.

In this manifesto for missional Christians, Don Everts brings together personal evangelism, urban witness and global crosscultural mission to show how a life of total mission is possible. In every situation, to see what Jesus is doing, and to go and do likewise.

How do people come to Jesus in today's postmodern culture? Not by a mechanical, linear process of cookie cutter conversions. Nor by a nebulous spiritual wandering that never culminates in decision and commitment. Over the last decade, Don Everts and Doug Schaupp have listened to the stories of two thousand postmodern people who have come to follow Jesus. While their stories are diverse and varied, certain common themes emerge. Postmodern evangelism is a mysterious and organic process that nevertheless goes through discernible phases, as people cross thresholds from distrust to trust, from complacency to curiosity and from meandering to seeking. Everts and Schaupp describe the factors that influence how people shift in their perspectives and become open to the Gospel. They provide practical tools to help people enter the kingdom, as well as guidelines for how new believers can live out their Christian faith.

Following Jesus, says John White, is not cheap. The cost is substantial. But the benefits, rewards and joys that come with our commitment to him are well worth it. Here is a classic work on what it means to be a follower of Christ in all its suffering and glory.

An old man saws through his right ankle. A smooth-skinned boy lies to his father's face. Fetid tombs, harsh slavery, fatal choking . . . these images come right from the words of Jesus They are word pictures Jesus asks listeners to imagine. But why? Why did Jesus paint such vivid pictures when he talked about sin? And why did he make them so sobering and downright gory at times? InThe Smell of Sin, Don Everts seriously tackles these stark images, coming face to face with Jesus' clear, graphic theology of sin. It's a view of sin that might make you uncomforable. But a collision with this hard truth may be just what you need."

Unencumbered by religious language, Don Everts presents an easy-to-read, positive and unapologetic introduction to Jesus and shows why making a decision about him is so important.