Houston pastor presents practical steps for believers who want to break out of ‘average, unrewarding’ lives

The shift is coming, says Joel Osteen, No. 1 New York Times best-selling author and pastor of Houston’s Lakewood Church. The preacher with the famous smile encourages believers who feel stuck in present circumstances by reminding them that God is about to move in a new way, causing them to accomplish more than they might have ever imagined.

“You were not created to just get by with an average, unrewarding, or unfulfilling life,” Osteen writes. Rather, each person is meant to leave a mark on the current generation, and it is time for believers to pursue dreams again—dreams of increase, favor, promotion, contracts, good ideas, improved relationships and more.

This, he says, is why he has written Break Out! 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life, which FaithWords releases this month.

The turn away from defeatist living begins in a person’s thinking, asserts Osteen. The keys to being breakout-minded are: believing bigger; focusing on God, not circumstances; praying bold prayers; keeping the right perspective; and not settling for anything less than the fullness of God’s plan. 

Osteen explains that as a believer puts these five keys into action, God releases floods of goodness and propels him into his predestined extraordinary life.

In regard to praying boldly, Osteen suggests reminding God of His promises in Scripture. 

“What God promised, He will do,” he writes.

“Because you have been faithful and honored God, I believe and declare, God will put you in a position you could have never gotten to on your own. … What should have taken you forty years to accomplish God will do in a split second. You’re coming into acceleration,” he writes.

However, Osteen cautions readers that the fulfillment of a dream might not happen overnight, and along the way to God saying yes, “there will be nos.” 

Many people quit too soon, but Osteen adds: “God wouldn’t have given you the dream, the promise wouldn’t have come alive, if He didn’t already have a plan to bring it to pass.”

To order Break Out!, call FaithWords at 800-759-0190.

Max Lucado draws from Joseph’s pit-to-palace story to encourage believers in the midst of suffering

With 30 years of experience as a pastor, New York Times best-selling author Max Lucado has counseled countless people in the pit of trouble and despair. He has also seen what God can do for them. Still, he sometimes struggled for the right thing to say, so he turned to the story of Joseph—the focus of his fall release, You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Your Turbulent Times.

In the book, Lucado shares this reminder based on Joseph’s experiences: “You’ll get through this. It won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. But God will use this mess for good. In the meantime, don’t be foolish or naïve. But don’t despair either. With God’s help, you will get through this.”

We often fear we won’t get through our trials, Lucado says, that the struggles will never end. However, he writes, “Deliverance is to the Bible what jazz music is to Mardi Gras: bold, brassy, and everywhere.” 

He emphasizes that Joseph’s long journey through mistreatment and hardship ultimately demonstrates that what Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good, as Joseph tells his brothers in Gen. 50:20.

Through the years, Lucado has learned the essential question to ask those who are suffering: “What do you still have that you cannot lose?” He asserts that even in the darkest pit the one gift we cannot ever lose is our destiny. While problems will not last forever, he points out, we will last forever—and we are not alone. God is with us in the pit, just as He was with Joseph.

Joseph “models for us that even in the middle of tough times, you’ve got to make the right decisions,” Lucado told Christian Retailing. “Don’t make matters worse by doing something worse. Just do the next right thing and trust God to get you through it.” 

Near the end of his book, Lucado reminds readers that the most important reason we will get through our turbulent times is not because we are big or strong or good, but because Christ is our Brother, and he is for us.

 A six-session study guide and DVD are also available separately or as a bundle. For more information or to order, contact Thomas Nelson at 800-251-4000 or visit www.thomasnelson.com.

GRAMMY- and Dove Award-winning singer-songwriter Ashley Cleveland did not want to write her memoir. The thought of writing an entire book was overwhelming, and most of all hers “is not an easy story to tell,” she admits in Little Black Sheep: A Memoir (9781434705297, $17.99), releasing this month from David C Cook.

But after attending a workshop led by author Lauren Winner and an arts conference sponsored by a literary journal, Cleveland gained confidence. Bolstered by the encouragement of publishing professionals, she committed herself to the task.

Her memoir doesn’t whitewash her journey. 

“This is the story of the groundwork that paved the way to my faith,” she writes.

Cleveland’s parents were alcoholics in an unlikely marriage; her father believed he was a homosexual, yet her parents were adamant about keeping up appearances. Eventually they divorced and Cleveland was shuttled between her mom and dad, attending many schools and a few churches. She was bullied, struggled with her weight and felt she didn’t belong anywhere.

As a young adult, Cleveland hurtled through her own drug and alcohol addiction. When her family intervened, she entered addiction treatment. Although it helped temporarily, she continued to relapse.

Today, she and husband Kenny Greenberg and their three children live in Nashville. She and Kenny were longtime friends and played together in her band. After they married, Cleveland finally succumbed to her brokenness, where true recovery could begin. 

 “I had learned in treatment that the gateway to recovery was willingness. … I needed the will to be willing, and I began to tell the Lord that if He wanted me to turn my wineglass over to Him, He needed to supply me with the will to do it,” she writes. 

When someone at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting challenged Cleveland to attend 40 meetings in 40 days, she agreed.

 “And on that ordinary day,” she writes, “I began an extraordinary chapter of my life. I began to recover.”

The book’s final pages celebrate how God began to rebuild her life and bring others hope through her experiences.

To order, call David C Cook at 800-743-2514.

A collection of Si Robertson’s tall tales and quirky one-liners releases from Howard Books this month in Si-cology 1: Tales & Wisdom From Duck Dynasty’s Favorite Uncle. The brother of Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson, Uncle Si tells stories from his childhood, his Vietnam days and his duck-hunting exploits. He also talks about his wife and two children, who are rarely mentioned on the show, and the more than 25 marriage proposals he has received since the show began airing. Written with Mark Schlabach, the hardcover book retails for $22.99.

Charisma House introduces the next book by New York Times best-selling author Jentezen Franklin this month. The Spirit of Python: Exposing Satan’s Plan to Squeeze the Life Out of You (softcover, $16.99) helps readers understand the devil’s strategies to stifle them when they should speak up and to steal the peace of knowing they belong to God. Franklin lists 10 warning signs that a person is under attack and explains specific ways to fight back and overcome. 

Mark Batterson, New York Times best-selling author and lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., challenges readers to fully surrender to the lordship of Christ in All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life (hardcover, $22.99). Releasing from Zondervan this month, All In addresses Batterson’s concern that believers often settle for complacency rather than follow Christ with passion.

Guideposts Books releases The Song of Annie Moses: A Musical Quest, A Mother’s Gift by singer/songwriter Robin Donica Wolaver this month. Retailing for $15.98 in softcover, the book tells Wolaver’s family saga from the cotton fields in Depression-era Texas to the halls of Julliard and beyond. Wolaver and her husband raised six musicians, eventually forming the Annie Moses Band, a family band named after Wolaver’s grandmother. The book emphasizes family roots, hard work and living by biblical truth.

Written by Caleb Bislow with Ted Kluck, Dangerous: Engaging the People and Places No One Else Will recounts Bislow’s journey from a youth pastor in the Midwest to a missionary in some of the most dangerous, forgotten places on Earth. Bislow is founder of Unusual Soldiers, which trains Christians to minister at home or abroad under adverse circumstances. His book, releasing from Bethany House this month for $14.99 (softcover), includes appendixes of organizations and prayer needs from around the world.

In The Vanishing Evangelical: Saving the Church From Its Own Success by Restoring What Really Matters (hardcover, $19.99), the late Calvin Miller warns that evangelicalism faces a dubious future since it has largely adapted to the culture. Miller asserts that restoration begins with individuals developing a personal, vital spirituality. The author of more than 70 books, Miller served as a pastor for more than 30 years and was distinguished writer in residence at Beeson Divinity School. Baker Books (Baker Publishing Group) releases Miller’s book this month. 

Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot is a collection of true stories from Kurt W. Bubna’s trials and triumphs on his Christian journey, demonstrating God’s unconditional love and how His grace can transform imperfect lives into priceless treasures. Bubna is the founding and lead pastor of Eastpoint Church in Spokane Valley, Wash. Tyndale Momentum releases Epic Grace this month for $14.99 in softcover.

Also this month, Multnomah Books releases Clear Winter Nights: A Journey Into Truth, Doubt, and What Comes After (hardcover, $13.99), an apologetic using fiction techniques and Socratic dialogue to explore tenets of Christianity. Written by Trevin Wax, managing editor of The Gospel Project, a small-group curriculum developed by LifeWay Christian Resources, Clear Winter Nights offers the story of a young man grappling with his faith when a family revelation causes him to question everything. 

Latest project: Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book About a (Really) Big Problem (9781433533389, $11.99, Crossway).

How is Crazy Busy different than other books about living busy lives?

I hope Crazy Busy hits that sweet spot between theological and practical. Some books do well at the macro-level and remind Christians about pride, idolatry and the need for rest. These are helpful reminders, but sometimes they don’t get down to the nitty-gritty of our busy lives. On the other hand, and the greater danger, I think, is that a book on busyness ends up being nothing but common-sense suggestions for time management. I hope Crazy Busy can take the important truths of the Christian faith—sin, salvation, Sabbath, childrearing, mission, vocation—and show how the Bible has a lot to say about our busyness.

Could you explain why you describe yourself as “the worst possible person to write this book. And maybe the best”?

In most of my books I’m writing about something I’ve seen that I hope others can see. I’m often trying to correct misunderstandings or misguided theology. I’ve written this book, however, more out of my sense of need than out of my sense of having arrived. Busyness is something I’ve struggled with since I was a teenager. For that reason, this is a very personal book. I’m not writing for the vantage point of semi-retirement in a quiet cove somewhere in the mountains. I have five kids, a 600-person church and more responsibilities than I know how to handle. I wrote this book first of all to help my own soul.

Why is being “crazy busy” a problem?

On one level, it’s not a problem. We are meant to be busy. We are meant to work, to “spend and be spent,” as the Apostle Paul put it [2 Cor. 12:15]. And yet, there are huge dangers with being crazy busy. Busyness can ruin our joy, it can rob the seed of the Word, and it can cover up the rot in our hearts. The biggest dangers are not physical, financial or even relational. The biggest concerns are spiritual.

What is the structure of your book?

The outline is as simple as three numbers: three, seven and one. In this short book, I unpack three dangers of being crazy busy. Then in the bulk of the book I look at seven diagnoses for the bane of busyness in our lives. These seven chapters cover topics like pride, mission, priorities, parenting, technology, rest and expectations. In the final chapter I turn to Luke 10 and look at the one thing we need to do most: sit at the feet of Jesus. As quaint as it may sound, I’m convinced that when we make daily time with the Lord our first priority, so much of what ails us as busy people can drastically improve.

Why do we end up doing so much?

It’s hard to say whether people work harder than they used to. On the face of it, that seems like an absurd conclusion. Most of us don’t plow or push or build or church or write by candlelight. Our lives have more conveniences than ever before. But at least two factors are unique in our modern world: complexity and opportunity. Our world is terribly complex. We may not write with parchment and quill, but now we have to manage insurance policies, bank accounts, home repairs, technological innovations, heightened parenting demands and a gaggle of other responsibilities. On top of that, we suffer from never-ending opportunities. Part of the reason we do so much is because we can do so much. The results, though, are not good. We are working more, sleeping less and paying little attention to our souls.

Do you think Christians carry unnecessary expectations? If so, why? 

Absolutely. Many of us suffer from the terror of universal obligation. Every world crisis, every unevangelized person, every unreached people, every un-dug well, every un-adopted orphan, every new Bible study feels like our responsibility. Well-meaning pastors, writers, parents and friends communicate the not-so-subtle message that nothing is ever enough. We can never give enough, never pray enough, never study enough, never share our faith enough. Most of us live with low-level guilt year after year. We can scarcely believe that a faithful, obedient, normal life is even possible.

What else would help Christian retailers to promote Crazy Busy?

The chapter on parenting where I encourage us all to relax a bit will be eye-opening to many parents. ... It should work well as a graduation gift, [for] a church small group, a book for pastors and even a non-threatening Christian book we can give our non-Christian friends.

The ESV Gospel Transformation Bible releasing from Crossway this month is a new tool helping readers see the entire Bible as the message of God’s grace culminating in Christ. Written by 50 pastors and scholars, the study notes and application points focus on heart transformation. The introduction is written by General Editor Bryan Chapell, President Emeritus of Covenant Theological Seminary. Features include all-new book introductions, a concordance, 80,000 cross-references and free access to the Online Gospel Transformation Bible. Available in black or white hardcover editions, the new Bible retails for $39.99.

For the first time in four years, the standard-size edition of The Message from NavPress releases in a new cover this month. In brown leather-look, the cover sports a harvest wheat design across the center and retails for $49.99. 

From Zondervan this month comes a large print edition of the NIV Single-Column Bible in brown hardcover for $39.99. The New International Version text is presented in a single column. A concordance is included as well as a bookmark ribbon. 

Building the popular Life Application Study Bible line,
Tyndale House Publishers expands its offerings with a new large print New King James Version edition. Retailing for $69.99, this hardcover also has large print thumb-indexing and includes nearly 10,000 notes and features that explain difficult passages, provide information about Bible life and times and help readers apply God’s Word to everyday life.

Tyndale House Publishers releases an affordable softcover of the Holy Bible Text Edition NLT this month. This plain-text Bible in the New Living Translation retails for $14.99. Features include a 33-page Tyndale Bible Verse Finder and eight pages of full-color maps.