Robert Morris

Today's church world is complex, with an array of church and leadership models that can cause confusion rather than bring clarity. It's no wonder that some leaders can lose sight of the church they is commissioned to build. Strategic Church will help pastors and leaders refocus on visioning and building a faith community that is biblically based and spiritually transformative, helping people become fruitful disciples of Christ. Readers will uncover principles from the church Jesus built and find out how to apply these strategies to their local context. Strategic Church offers road-tested tools and proven principles for building a life-changing church in a complex culture.

What does it look like when pastors cultivate a culture of generosity in the church by actively teaching and mentoring people in the spiritual act of giving? It’s generosity that’s contagious. A growing number of leaders are beginning to discover that there are key factors that make some churches thrive with abundant resources while others struggle with shrinking budgets. Jim Sheppard and Chris Willard have spent years consulting with church leaders across a broad spectrum of church settings and have gathered their observations into this resource, part of the Leadership Network Innovations Series. Contagious Generosity highlights the best practices gleaned from real-life church leadership situations and shows how church leaders can effectively cultivate a culture of generous giving in the local church. It explains why some churches are experiencing unexplainable ministry growth and unprecedented church funding … even in the midst of tough economic times.

The 95th Bomb Group (Heavy), the most highly decorated bomb group of World War II, participated in every major mission of the war in Europe from May 1943 through the war’s end and was awarded an unprecedented three Presidential Unit Citations. Flying the celebrated B-17 Flying Fortress, the 95th was the first U. S. bomb group to bomb Berlin-a feat that put it on the centerfold of Life magazine-and the last group to lose a plane over Europe in World War II. Over six hundred men in the 95th never came home. The Wild Blue Yonder and Beyond is the first book to cover a World War II bomb group from its inception through the present day. Utilizing interviews with nearly a hundred air war veterans, dozens of unpublished crew memoirs, all the bomb group’s official mission reports from the National Archives, and nearly a hundred other sources, author Rob Morris (assisted by air war historian Ian Hawkins) provides a deep tactical and human understanding of the group. Also included are the stories of the veterans’ wives and families, who fought a different kind of war at home, and the residents of Horham, whose tiny English village was suddenly on the war’s front lines. Intensely human, exhaustively researched, and lovingly told, this book is certain to be a classic in the field and a resource for anyone interested in the workings of a World War II bomb group.

Do Your Dreams Seem Out of Reach? If you have a dream, then you have a destiny. In his inspiring new book, From Dream to Destiny, Robert Morris prompts you to ask yourself, How do I travel from the dream to the destiny--and what happens on the way? Each of us is given a dream by God--it's the notion that sets our hearts racing by the mere thought of it. Unfortunately, most people never see their dream come to pass, so they never fulfill the destiny that God has in store for them. Robert Morris tells readers exactly how to make their dream into the reality for which they long. Using the example of Joseph in the Old Testament, Pastor Robert shows how God gave Joseph a dream and then promptly took him through 10 character-building tests that lasted 13 years. These tests assessed Joseph's strengths and weaknesses--from pride to purity--and they are the same tests that each of us must pass before God lets us realize our dream. Find out what the tests are and if you are passing or failing them, and get ready to begin fulfilling the destiny that God has in store for you.

The Whistling Blackbird: Essays and Talks on New Music is the long-awaited book of essays from Robert Morris, the greatly admired composer and music theorist. In these essays, Morris presents a new and multifaceted view of recent developments in American music. His views on music, as well as his many compositions, defy easy classification, favoring instead a holistic, creative, and critical approach. The Whistling Blackbird contains fourteen essays and talks, divided into three parts, preceded by an "Overture" that portrays what it means to compose music in the United States today. Part 1 presents essays on American composers John Cage, Milton Babbitt, Richard Swift, and Stefan Wolpe. Part 2 comprises talks on Morris's music that illustrate his ideas and creative approaches over forty years of music composition, including his outdoor compositions, an ongoing project that began in 1999. Part 3 includes four essays in music criticism: on the relation of composition to ethnomusicology; on phenomenology and attention; on music theory at the millennium; and on issues in musical time. Threaded throughout this collection of essays are Morris's diverse and seemingly disparate interests and influences. English romantic poetry, mathematical combinatorics, group and set theory, hiking, Buddhist philosophy, Chinese and Japanese poetry and painting, jazz and nonwestern music, chaos theory, linguistics, and the American transcendental movement exist side by side in a fascinating and eclectic portrait of American musical composition at the dawn of the new millennium. Robert Morris is Professor of Music Composition at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.

Explore the Tabernacle, from the outside and inside, with your host Pastor Robert Morris. A you turn the pages of Messiah in the Tabernacle, Pastor Morris takes you back to ancient Israel and the wilderness camp, true to chapters 25 through 30 of Exodus. When you have completed your virtual tour of the Tabernacle, you will feel as though you have been there, standing on holy ground. Beyond that, you will see the unmistakable connection between the Tabernacle and the Messiah of Israel. You will view illustrations and descriptions of the construction of the Tabernacle, according to the biblical account. Throughout, you will get an easy-to-understand explanation of the symbolism behind the various elements of the Tabernacle. Pastor Morris demonstrates that this symbolism is based not on guesswork, but on a careful study of the use of symbols throughout Scripture. Bob Morris, who is a Jewish believer in Yeshua (Jesus), weaves the historical and Messianic importance of the Tabernacle effortlessly into your trek. He continually returns to the practical side of Bible study: applying this knowledge of the detailed construction plan of the Tabernacle from the Bible to life. Taking this tour is eye-opening, offering rich insight into a portion of the Scriptures often overlooked or misunderstood. Pastor Bob Morris and his wife Susan reside in Southern California where Bob directs HaDavar Messianic Ministries, the culmination of over 30 years of practical ministry experience. HaDavar educates individuals and organizations from a Jewish perspective of the Bible, offering all of the following: - A notable Jewish studies program, - A research library and bookstore, - Practical opportunities and information on how to reach the Jewish community for Messiah Jesus, and - Discipleship literature for all who are interested in growing spiritually.

Robert Morris, a leading figure in postwar American art, is best known as a pioneer of minimalist sculpture, process art, and earthworks. Yet Morris has resisted affiliation with any one movement or style. An extraordinarily versatile artist, he has produced dances, performance pieces, prints, paintings, drawings, and installations, working with materials including plywood, felt, dirt, aluminum, steel mesh, fiberglass, and encaustic. Throughout his career, Morris has written influential critical essays, commenting on his own work as well as that of other artists, and exploring through text many of the theoretical concerns addressed in his artwork-about perception, materiality, space, and the process of artmaking. Have I Reasons presents seventeen of Morris’s essays, six of which have never been published before. Written over the past fifteen years, the essays, along with the volume’s many illustrations, provide an invaluable record of the recent thought of a major American artist. The writings are arranged chronologically, beginning with “Indiana Street,” a vivid autobiographical account of the artist’s early years in Kansas City, Missouri. Have I Reasons includes reflections on Morris’s own site-specific installations; transcripts of seminars he conducted in conjunction with exhibitions; and the textual element of The Birthday Boy, the two-screen video-and-sound piece he installed at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy, on the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of Michelangelo’s David. Essays range from original interpretations of CÉzanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire paintings and Jasper Johns’ early work to engagements with one of Morris’s most significant interlocutors, the philosopher Donald Davidson. Have I Reasons conveys not only Morris’s enduring deep interest in philosophy and issues of resemblance and representation but also his more recent turn toward directly addressing contemporary social and political issues such as corporate excess and preemptive belligerence.

Robert Morris, a leading figure in postwar American art, is best known as a pioneer of minimalist sculpture, process art, and earthworks. Yet Morris has resisted affiliation with any one movement or style. An extraordinarily versatile artist, he has produced dances, performance pieces, prints, paintings, drawings, and installations, working with materials including plywood, felt, dirt, aluminum, steel mesh, fiberglass, and encaustic. Throughout his career, Morris has written influential critical essays, commenting on his own work as well as that of other artists, and exploring through text many of the theoretical concerns addressed in his artwork-about perception, materiality, space, and the process of artmaking. Have I Reasons presents seventeen of Morris’s essays, six of which have never been published before. Written over the past fifteen years, the essays, along with the volume’s many illustrations, provide an invaluable record of the recent thought of a major American artist. The writings are arranged chronologically, beginning with “Indiana Street,” a vivid autobiographical account of the artist’s early years in Kansas City, Missouri. Have I Reasons includes reflections on Morris’s own site-specific installations; transcripts of seminars he conducted in conjunction with exhibitions; and the textual element of The Birthday Boy, the two-screen video-and-sound piece he installed at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy, on the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of Michelangelo’s David. Essays range from original interpretations of CÉzanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire paintings and Jasper Johns’ early work to engagements with one of Morris’s most significant interlocutors, the philosopher Donald Davidson. Have I Reasons conveys not only Morris’s enduring deep interest in philosophy and issues of resemblance and representation but also his more recent turn toward directly addressing contemporary social and political issues such as corporate excess and preemptive belligerence.