Ray Johnston – författare

Yes, help is on the way--in this funny, yet extremely practical volume. Flannel graph-tested Sunday school veteran Ray Johnston offers empathy and understanding as he serves up 50 creative thoughts, tips, and ideas you can use to make Sunday school come alive, including: Letting students choose the content. How to use the element of surprise. How to tackle tough topics. Small can be beautiful. Keep your kids guessing. How to adapt curriculum for your kids. You (yes, you) can be creative. It's OK to have fun and many more! As an added bonus, Ray has included resources that you can use to improve your effectiveness, including a "Pick Your Topics" survey, a learning styles inventory, an active learning planning sheet, and much more. Whether you're teaching first graders or high schoolers, no matter what kind of church you're in, Ray's wit, wisdom, and practical ideas are just what you need to give your teaching that extra spark. You'll approach Sunday school in a whole new way (and even find yourself liking it!) after you've chuckled your way through Help! I'm a Sunday School Teacher!

What’s at the heart of every thriving person, every thriving marriage, kid, and business?

Hope!

The Hope Quotient is a revolutionary new method for measuring—and dramatically increasing—your level of hope. Hope is more than a feeling; it’s the by-product of seven key factors. When these are present in your life, they cause hope to thrive.

Factor 1: Recharge Your Batteries Nobody does well running on empty.

Factor 2: Raise Your Expectations You don’t get what you deserve; you get what you expect.

Factor 3: Refocus on the Future It’s time to throw away your rearview mirror. No one goes forward well when they are looking back.

Factor 4: Play to Your Strengths Be yourself; everyone else is taken.

Factor 5: Refuse to Go It Alone Never underestimate the power of support. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.

Factor 6: Replace Burnout with Balance Burning the candle at both ends isn’t as bright as you think.

Factor 7: Play Great Defense Avoid these five toxic hope killers that can threaten your future.

Using seven years of research, powerful biblical illustrations, and compelling human-interest stories, Ray Johnston explains how these seven essential factors will support, sustain, and strengthen your hope. And when consciously built into your life, how they will unleash hope in your marriage, your kids, your career, your church, your community, and the world.

Discover your HQ level, the most important contributor to your overall success, and then learn how to improve it. Because when hope rises—everything changes.

FLAP COPY:

Hope: It’s the one thing that can change everything!

When you have hope, eleven things are unleashed in your life:

You have more satisfying relationships.You’re more productive.You’re less affected by stress.You’re more successful.You’re more satisfied.You’re more compassionate.You’re more willing to help people in need.You’re physically healthier.You hold yourself to higher moral and ethical standards.You’re more likely to assume leadership.You’re more likely to see God as loving, caring, and forgiving.

This book will help you discover your HQ level and learn the seven key factors that, when built into your life, unleash hope. When you have genuine hope—not trite, pious platitudes but authentic hope that produces inner strength and confidence—anything is possible.

As early as 50 AD, Christians had gotten away from knowing who Jesus really is. Our generation is no different.

In every decade we, as Americans, lost something important that we couldn''t afford to lose:

In the 1950''s, we lost innocenceIn the 1960''s, we lost respect for authorityIn the 1970''s, we lost loveIn the 1980''s, we lost valuesIn the 1990''s, we lost faithIn the 2000''s, we lost securityIn the 2010''s, we lost hope in the future

 

What can restore what we''ve lost? Only Jesus. Jesus gave us His name, His friendship, and a commission to accept responsibility for ourselves and for the world. When introduced to His wordsandways we''ll rediscover the Jesus who:

Wants His enemies won over, not wiped outWants you to stop playing it safeBelieved great things were possible no matter what things are like right nowWas full of grace and truthUnleashed compassionBelieved no one was too far from God to return to HimCame to seek and to save that which was lostLoves the church                                                                    

Pastor Ray Johnston shares the Jesus of the Bible and how we can be Christians without being jerks. He reveals how the radical message of the gospel calls us to love and serve not only our neighbors but our enemies as well. That’s the Jesus the American Church has missed and needs to meet.

Jesus'' mission is clear—risk everything in order to take care of people, starting in our home, neighborhoods, cities, and those in need around the world. That''s the Jesus the American Church has missed and needs to meet.