Bill Bagents – författare

Welcoming God''s Word: Reading with Head and Heart invites a fresh and refreshing hearing of the Bible. While the content of Scripture remains securely fixed by God, our ability to understand deepens and broadens with faith, prayer, experience, and encouragement. While the message remains solid, application is ever fresh. Bible study is presented as an adventure that never ends. There''s always something noteworthy; always something challenging and creative; always something rich, rewarding, and relevant to the needs of the hour.

Welcoming God''s Word models consistent respect for the Bible as God''s holy, loving, and life-changing word through 120 brief essays. Initial articles present the attitudes and skills essential for faithful hearing. Subsequent essays explore application of those attitudes and skills-which welcome thought, challenge assumptions, and promote spiritual growth when practically employed.

Because He loves us, God calls us to hear Him well. Because we love Him, we must answer that call. Thus, Welcoming God''s Word is a series of invitations to hear God well and to let Him help us live in His grace. Enjoy the adventure.

The stories we love to remember bless us on countless levels. They represent and explain us. They entertain, educate, empower, and elevate us. They calm, center, challenge, and contextualize our lives. At times, they help us repent, self-correct, and promise to do better.

The personal stories we choose to share with others document both our common humanity and our amazing individuality. They let us remember, reflect, and reframe. Through stories, we''re able to time-travel. At their best, our stories connect us to the world as it was, is, and should be. More importantly, they cause us to reflect on who we have been, who we are, and who we can become. They connect us to God, faith, friends, and family. Ultimately, our stories define us.

Revisiting Life''s Oases: Soul-Soothing Stories may tell you more about the author than you ever wanted to know. Chances are you''ll smile, laugh, and maybe sympathize. You may even cry, wonder, disbelieve, or tell yourself, "Well, that explains a lot." If so, mission accomplished.

Stories are gifts from God. If this set of stories encourages you to value and share your own heart with others, may God bless you for blessing them.

Always Near shares one self-confessed odd Christian’s ongoing efforts to hear and honor God in the events of daily life. Bagents offers devotional reflections that process events and observations through the wisdom of Scripture. This collection invites the reader to join the adventure of listening for subtle spiritual messages that both bless and challenge. It promotes contemplation and spiritual formation. Occasionally, the book even finds a bit of humor.

Bagents writes from a decidedly Christian perspective and treats the Bible with respect. These devotionals flow from the conviction that God is all-wise and all-loving, and the better we hear Him, the better we’ll live.

God is presented as the most persistent teacher, who has more ways of gaining our attention than we have of ignoring Him. God is more skilled at reaching out than we are at resisting. He is better at teaching than we are at being dense. Even when we’re seeking Him, God can surprise us with precious lessons that we never saw coming. Always Near is an appeal to improve how we hear God and to draw ever closer to His heart.

Ephesians 4:11–16 offers instruction and encouragement for all who want to help the church grow. More than that, it challenges every Christian to grow into more abundant service. Equipping the Saints engages this rich text on a real-world level. It invites you to ask, "How can God use me to bless His church?"

Counseling for Church Leaders offers biblical and practical encouragement to church leaders-in the broadest sense-as they help the hurting. Though Bagents and Snodgrass share insights learned from decades of counseling experience and include resources for further study, their appeal flows primarily from Scripture. Their emphasis is on God''s leaders helping God''s people God''s way.

Chapters explore God as counselor; a biblical understanding of human wellness; why people seek counseling; and the basics of listening, empathy, and emotions. Discussions include traps to avoid during counseling, the power of prevention, and practicing self-care during the helping process. "How to" chapters explore working with the angry, the fearful, the grieving, and the depressed. Counseling for Church Leaders also addresses helping those who are stuck and under-connected as well dealing with toxic people.

Bagents and Snodgrass affirm the ability, obligation, and opportunity for each Christian to lead by helping others. They make no argument that every Christian should become a therapist. Rather, they appeal to church leaders-at every level-to value, enhance, and practice the time-honored people-helping skills that show others the love of God. 

Corrupt Communication: Myths that Target Church Leaders exposes some thirty myths-lies, false messages, cons-that undermine communication within the church. Though ancient, these lines seem ever-fresh. They''re crafted for maximum appeal-and damage. They always sound right and feel familiar. Bill and Laura Bagents consistently appeal to Scripture as they challenge these myths. They add examples from church life as they invite readers to see the hook, resist the bait, and realize that these flawed options always disappoint. As a title, Corrupt Communication is stunningly ironic. Corrupt Communication is in reality a call to practice the honest, loving communication that God models and approves.

Isaiah saw the glory and greatness of God with remarkable clarity. He saw God''s heartbroken disappointment as Israel rejected God. But prophetically, he saw God''s passionate pursuit of God''s people as God constantly called them back to grace. He saw God''s judgment and holiness, but he reveled in God''s majesty and mercy.

Majesty and Mercy: God Through the Eyes of Isaiah invites us to see what Isaiah saw. The colossal establishment of the Lord''s house at the top of the mountains. The wondrous suffering servant sent to reconcile the people to God. The rule of righteousness in the hearts of those who believe. The construction of a highway of holiness. 

Today, God''s people remain a light to the nations, comforted, sustained, and empowered by the Father who loves us intensely.

With the voice of a prophet and the heart of a poet, Isaiah calls us to lift our eyes in faith so we can see what he saw.

Led By God''s Spirit: A Practical Study of Galatians 5:22-26 explores the biblical concept of walking by, being led by, living by, and keeping in step with the Spirit. It features emphasis on each aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. Each of the fourteen brief chapters includes attention to application and questions for group discussion or further study. Led By God''s Spirit is intentionally practical, designed to promote empowered Christian living.

Because life includes major blows to heart, head, health, faith, finances, and relationships, WHAM! Facing Life''s Heavy Hits offers a fresh and focused look at 13 familiar Old Testament stories. WHAM! invites exploration of ways the journeys of Adam and Eve, Noah, Job, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Naomi, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Esther can equip believers to deal with life''s chief challenges. This book promotes pervasive interaction with Scripture that honors God and welcomes His daily help. Each chapter includes discussion questions appropriate for either individual or group use. WHAM! is purposefully brief and fiercely loyal to the principle that less is often more.

Because life includes major blows to heart, head, health, faith, finances, and relationships, WHAM! Facing Life''s Heavy Hits: Thirteen New Testament Encounters offers a fresh and focused look at 13 familiar stories and lives. WHAM! invites exploration of ways the journeys of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary, John the Baptizer, the man born blind (John 9), Pilate, Peter, Paul, Barnabus, the Philippian Jailer, Euodia and Syntyche, Philemon, the church in Laodicea, and Jesus can equip believers to deal with life''s chief challenges. This book promotes pervasive interaction with Scripture that honors God and welcomes His daily help. Each chapter includes discussion questions appropriate for either individual or group use. WHAM! is purposefully brief and fiercely loyal to the principle that less is often more.

Getting My Heart Right With God offers twenty-plus essays on God and ministry written over almost twenty years of teaching and kingdom-work. In four sections, Bagents explores God, Grace, Service, and Leadership. Hundreds of Bible citations invite readers to further study. Essays include "God the Master Servant," "God''s Responses to Human Complaints," "Connecting to God," "How Does the Holy Spirit Lead Christians Today?," "The Church as Salt and Light," "A Contemplation on Faithful Quietness," and "A Plea for Grace and Fairness as Older Generations Assess Younger."

Love of the Faith: Favorite New Testament Texts is the inaugural volume in the Onesimus Bible Study Series from Cypress Publications. It offers 11 chapters from alumni of International Bible College and Heritage Christian University. Readers will find the diversity of style and expression refreshing. Those who love the Bible will appreciate the respect for God''s word as both relevant and authoritative. Love of the Faith: Favorite New Testament Texts is intended for both individual and group Bible study.

Encountering the Gospel takes the broader view of gospel encounters. Any text where people meet Jesus, hear Jesus, or are taught about Jesus qualifies. Jesus embodied the gospel; Jesus is the gospel. He is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). He is both THE question and THE

answer. Meeting Jesus is the pivotal point-the moment of greatest significance-in every person''s life. Encountering the gospel puts life''s greatest decision directly before each of us.