PLC Publications & Reformation Press
The publishing arms of The Presbyterian Lay Committee, Inc.
A Guide to Church Property Law: Second Edition
By Lloyd J. Lunceford, Ed.
(Lenoir, N.C: Reformation Press, 2010, 496 pp.)
$24.95 +shipping
Conflict over property is as old as the Bible itself. Wisdom acknowledges the problem and seeks equitable solutions. This book has been prepared in recognition of the growing conflict in Protestant hierarchical denominations – particularly Presbyterian, Methodist and Episcopal – over the use and control of local church property. Recent court decisions in the United States have generated significant publicity and concern, prompting many congregations to seek review of the status of their local church property. This book seeks to address some of their questions:
- Who is the owner, or real title-holder in interest, of local church property in Hierarchical denominations?
- Does a trust attach to local church property in favor of the national denomination, as some denominational constitutions assert?
- Is any such trust valid or revocable under state law?
This practical guide seeks to help local church ministers and officers – elders, vestrymen and women, administrative board members and trustees – as well as local or regional church legal counsel.
The First Edition of this title, published in 2006, is avaiable for $5 + shipping.
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Forgotten Foundation
How the great ideas of the Christian faith
became the foundation of the Western world
By Russ Stevenson
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2009, 161 pp.,
11.95 each, plus shipping)
Over the past half century the United States has become a largely secular nation. Secularism has become the “established” religion of the public square. But are we forgetting something? What are the roots from which Western civilization sprang?
Russ Stevenson suggests that it sprang from a handful of great ideas that find their origin in the Christian faith. Because this fact is so little understood, these ideas are invisible to most people. We need to uncover these vital truths to understand who we are and who we can be. And it’s not too late. Within these pages you will embark on a journey to recover our Forgotten Foundation.
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The Journey
A trip through the Bible
By Don Elliott (Lenoir, N.C.: PLC Publications, 2009, 412 pp., 15.95 each, plus shipping)
The desire for this “Journey through the Bible” is to arrive at a place where we are able to live out our lives as God intends. The motivation to take this journey is our thirst for God.
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” (Psalm 42:1)
Over 52 weeks, Genesis through Revelation will be covered by teaching, reading, memorizing, praying, applying and sharing the unique contribution of every section of Scripture. This makes The Journey a year-long excursion into meditating upon the Word of God.
“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (Psalm 119:97).
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Broken Covenant: Signs of a Shattered Communion
By Parker T. Williamson
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2007, 360 pp., $14.95 each, plus shipping)
"The history of the Presbyterian Church between 1926 and 2006 reveals a pattern. In the courtroom, it is called 'the preponderance of evidence.' That pattern discloses an ongoing accommodation to the world – the bartering and brokering of a precious gift from the Lord, the church's moral authority."
Broken Covenant: Signs of a Shattered Communion traces the squandering of that moral authority by the Presbyterian Church (USA). The documentation that is cited in this book invites an inevitable conclusion. The denomination has abandoned its constitutive commitment to Christian faith and ethics, thereby forfeiting its claim to be called the Church of Jesus Christ.
No rational observer disputes the fact that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is dying. What remains at issue is the question, "Why?" By what alchemy did a denomination's passion for influencing American culture result in its irrelevance? How did Presbyterians who sought to renew their church accelerate its approaching demise?"
Blending archival evidence with the firsthand observations of a churchman, theologian and journalist, Parker T. Williamson offers answers to these questions.
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Belonging to Christ
Basic Biblical Truths for Discipleship
By Donna Phillips Munson
(Lenoir, N.C.: PLC Publications, 1999, 184 pp., $12.95 each, plus shipping; buy five or more copies for the $10.95 discounted price)
Belonging to Christ is a dynamic text for teaching young people and their parents basic biblical truths for lifelong discipleship. It has been piloted-tested in four congregations with outstanding results. Students develop a deep relationship with Jesus Christ and master answers to and understanding of the great Christian doctrines of the Reformed tradition. The text is adapted, using modern English, from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Each doctrine is introduced by a great work of art in full color to illustrate the artists’ deep reverence for the great truths of the Christian faith. Curriculum is easy to use and adaptable to your congregation’s calendar.
Involvement by parents, both in classes and home study, is a vital component of the curriculum. Many parents say their first understanding of the Church’s classic doctrines came through Belonging to Christ.
What this Curriculum is all About and How to Tailor it for your Church
Works of art featured in Belonging to Christ
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Leadership Jesus Style
By Douglas A. Rehberg
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2008, 217 pp., $14.95 plus shipping)
ISBN: 978-1-934453-05-6
After decades of witnessing the patent failure of secular business models to create meaningful church leadership, it’s time to try something different – Jesus’ leadership model.
Leadership Jesus Style challenges the common Church practice of leader selection – which is often based on little more than willingness to serve. The new model is based on a simple question: “What did Jesus do?”
Rehberg contends it is not enough to tell Christians to be disciple-makers – they must be taught how. He takes a page from the model Jesus provided: Choose disciples from many backgrounds, spend directed time with them, give them opportunity and they will lead effectively. He brilliantly melds the secular idea of measurable achievement with less tangible spiritual objectives to produce unexpected leaders – with the foundation to recognize God’s role in effective leadership, to stay dedicated and to replicate themselves! “The record of the New Testament Church … is the record of ordinary men doing extraordinary things through the sovereign dispensation of Divine grace.” Leadership Jesus Style offers that early church reality to the 21st century.
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This is a great resource for your leadership team.
Selecting an Evangelical Pastor ... A Lay Perspective
A Guide For Pastor Nominating Committees
By Robert B. Fish
(Lenoir, N.C.: PLC Publications, 2003, 215 pp., $7.95 each, plus shipping)
In Selecting An Evangelical Pastor … A Lay Perspective author Robert B. Fish writes: “Serving on a Pastor
Nominating Committee is one of the most crucial tasks requested of lay people in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The person you select will be the central focus for the spiritual leadership of your congregation as it helps to build up Christ’s Church in your community. Each of us can only imagine the wonderful ministry that could be achieved with pastoral leadership that ‘fits’ a congregation….
“Selecting the right candidate is a joyous accomplishment, a blessing from God. On the other hand, selecting the wrong candidate often can be a painful, frustrating exercise in disappointment that can wound a congregation for years to come. That is why the job of a Pastor Nominating Committee – struggling through the step-by-step process to find a pastor with the necessary qualifications to complement a congregation’s witness – is so crucial.
“And, because it is so crucial, that job cannot be conducted willy-nilly. The search process that a Pastor Nominating Committee undertakes must embody the procedures of Presbyterian polity. Unlike the Episcopal Church USA’s hierarchical call process or the Baptist Church’s congregational call process, the local congregation in the Presbyterian Church (USA) authorizes the Pastor Nominating Committee to conduct the search with counsel and guidance from the presbytery’s Committee on Ministry and the executive presbyter. That counsel and guidance is designed to complement – and not take the place of – the hard and necessary work of a Pastor Nominating Committee, which makes a recommendation on a candidate to its congregation. And while it is true that the presbytery ultimately approves a call, it is the congregation alone that elects a pastor (Book of Order G-14.0501b).”
As a service to the church, and because it believes this book is a valuable resource, PLC Publications is offering a free copy to the chairperson of every Pastor Nominating Committee who requests it. Bulk discounts are available for other copies.
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This is a powerful tool for sessions, elders or Pastor Nominating Committees!
You also may also order by calling 1-800-368-0110.
Lyrical Meditations
A Devotional Journey Through the Bible in 365 Days
By Geoffrey A. Todd
(Lenoir, N.C.; PLC Publications, 404 Pages; $12.95, plus shipping)
Every book of the Bible is represented in this devotional journey through 365 days. In an easy-to-use format, the reader is challenged to explore deeper and more satisfying moments of meditation.
The combination of readings and poems provides wonderful aids to devotion – and, in the process, provides intellectual satisfaction and spiritual nourishment.
Immensely practical and yet profound, Lyrical Meditations is a rich resource for individual or group devotions, women’s groups, preaching or teaching.
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A Cry of Need and of Joy
Confessing The Faith in a New Millennium
(Volume One)
Edited by Richard E. Burnett
(Lenoir, N.C.; Reformation Press, 138 Pages; $12.95, plus shipping)
We have confessions, at least in the Reformed tradition, not because we want to say more than what the Bible says, but because we do not want to say less. There have been many times when the Church has been tempted to say less than what the Bible says. There have been many times when she has slept when she should have remained awake, many times when she has been silent when she should have spoken.
Though there is such a thing as premature confession, according to Karl Barth, “Confession is always a protest against the utterance of a false faith that contradicts the glory of God. It is always a partial moment in the history between God and man in which the divine Yes is set against the human No, the divine truth against the human lie, the light of this truth against man’s obscuring of it, its totality against the mass of human error which consists supremely in half and quarter and eighth truths.”
Confession occurs when “the faith of the Christian community is confronted and questioned either from within or without by the phenomena of unbelief, superstition and heresy.” It occurs, Barth says, after a period of “continuous confrontation and questioning.”
The celebration of confessions in this book, coming “after a period of ‘continuous confrontation and questioning,’ is, indeed, a cry of need and of joy.”
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Confessing The Faith
Reclaiming Historic Faith and Teaching for the 21st Century
Edited by Craig M. Kibler
(Lenoir, N.C.; Reformation Press), 184 pages, $8.95 plus shipping
In an age awash in religious permissiveness, the Light of the World still is shining in a broad, grassroots movement that is advancing a stronger and more unified witness to orthodox Christianity within the historic mainline churches in North America.
This movement is committed to raising the standard for Biblical truth within the various denominations and, far from withdrawing from the churches, are determined to stay and encourage one another in the struggle for renewal.
Already, those engaged in this movement joyfully see that God is at work in bringing “fresh vitality in worship, in preaching, new ventures in mission, the renewal of personal piety, an increase in enthusiastic discipleship, and a more profound embrace of God’s concern for the poor.”
This volume, comprised of addresses from the historic Association for Church Renewal’s “Confessing the Faith” conference, introduces the reader to the positive work of renewal taking place in North America. The contributors include:
- Maxie D. Dunnam, president of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky.
- James V. Heidinger II, president and publisher of Good News magazine and the chairman of the Association for Church Renewal.
- Edith Mary Humphrey, associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
- Dennis F. Kinlaw, founder of the Francis Asbury Society.
- Jerry Kirk, founder of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- Diane Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C.
- Thomas C. Oden, the Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology and Ethics at the Theological School of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
- Parker T. Williamson, editor emeritus of The Layman.
- Thann Young, a pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a board member of the Alliance for Marriage in Washington, D.C.
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I Am With You Always
Meeting Jesus in Every Season of Life
By Gerrit Scott Dawson
(Lenoir, N.C.: PLC Publications, 2000, 150 pp., $6.95 each, plus shipping)
"This is a quite wonderful book which carries the reader into the intimate presence of the Lord Jesus, the incarnate Saviour of humankind. It is also a beautiful book, both in thought and diction, which mirrors the truth and beauty of the healing love of God as it flows to us through the Gospel story. It is at once a book both for pastors and congregations. In its pages there is exhibited the way in which the saving grace of the Lord Jesus is pastorally ministered to congregations, and the way in which people are introduced step by step into a life of joyful union and communion with the crucified and risen Christ.
"I Am With You Always should be put into the hands of every pastor, and be given to members of every congregation. It is certainly one of the very best books of its kind that has apppeared for a long time. I would have loved to have had Gerrit Dawson as my pastor."
Thomas F. Torrance
Edinburgh, Scotland
Gerrit Scott Dawson is the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church (EPC) of Baton Rogue, La. He is married and the father of four children. Writing frequently in the area of Christian spiritual theology, his books include Heartfelt: Finding Our Way Back to God and Called by a New Name: Becoming What God Has Promised.
Chapter 1: Come to Me
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Jesus: The Only Way?
By John Snyder
(Babylon, N.Y.: Appleseed Press, 2005, 221 pp., $14.95 each, plus shipping)
This book puts the New Testament, The Da Vince Code, the "other Gospels" of early Christianity, and all the rest of the latest rages into clear perspective. The Christian claim that Jesus is the only way to God - as well as the alternatives to this view - are vigorously cross-examined in this unique book.
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And God Spoke All These Words
The Ten Commandments for the Third Millennium
By Robert P. Mills
(Lenoir, N.C.: PLC Publications, 2000, 99 pp., $4.95 each, plus shipping)
This book puts the New Testament, The Da Vince Code, the "other Gospels" of early Christianity, and all the rest of the latest rages into clear perspective. The Christian claim that Jesus is the only way to God - as well as the alternatives to this view - are vigorously cross-examined in this unique book.
This book puts the New Testament, The Da Vince Code, the "other Gospels" of early Christianity, and all the rest of the latest rages into clear perspective. The Christian claim that Jesus is the only way to God - as well as the alternatives to this view - are vigorously cross-examined in this unique book.
"The Ten Commandments are probably the most obvious place where Bible truth touches modern life. This splendid and accessible study is all the more to be welcomed since we Christians neither know the Commandments as we used to, nor is it always easy to bring them to bear on the complicated situations with which life presents us today. With its welcome marks of brevity and clarity, its deft applications to current problems and its thoroughgoing commitment to the veracity and relevance of the Word of God, this book deserves to be in the hands and mind of every Christian and to have the widest possible use in church study groups. I feel privileged to commend it."
J. Alec Motyer, Old Testament editor
The Bible Speaks Today (InterVarsity Press)
Preface
Introduction
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Truly the Son of God
What the Bible Teaches about Jesus
By Robert P. Mills
(Lenoir, N.C.: PLC Publications, 2000, 125 pp., $4.95 each, plus shipping)
Jesus. You and your friends will know Him better after using this powerful, 13-week study.
Truly the Son of God is Jesus on His terms, God and man. It is a study that dispels unbelief and provides a bridge for today's disciples to stand alongside the Roman centurion and declare, “Truly this man was the son of God.”
Robert P. Mills, former director of PLC Publications for the Presbyterian Lay Committee, has rendered faithfully the life of Christ, from Incarnation to Second Coming, as a dynamic study for your Sunday school class or small group.
Introduction
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I Believe...
The Apostles' Creed for the Third Millennium
By Robert P. Mills,
(Lenoir, N.C.: PLC Publications, 1998, 154 pp., $2.95 each, plus shipping)
In I Believe … The Apostles’ Creed for the Third Millennium, Robert P. Mills underscores the Biblical foundation for the Apostles’ Creed and its powerful contemporary relevance.
He writes with unwavering commitment to the truths of the Apostles’ Creed, evangelical zeal for faithfulness and a winsome invitation to readers to know more personally and fully the Trinitarian God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – whom the Creed exalts.
Introduction
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Whom Alone We Worship and Serve
What the Bible teaches about God
By Robert P. Mills
(Lenoir, N.C.: PLC Publications, 1998, 120 pp., $2.95 each, plus shipping)
Robert P. Mills, minister, author and journalist, explores the person and work of God — from I AM WHO I AM to the incarnate Jesus — in this new evangelical Bible study. It blends first-rate scholarship, devotional insight and practical application. The 12-lesson Bible study feeds the soul, fires the heart and sharpens the mind, and is excellent for Sunday school classes, home Bible studies, women's circles and individual use.
Introduction
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Standing Firm
Reclaiming Christian Faith in Times of Controversy
By Parker T. Williamson,
(Lenoir, N.C.: PLC Publications, 1996, 209 pp., free with any purchase)
Like a refiner's fire, intense theological debate has resulted in clarified belief, common vision, and invigorated ministry. Standing Firm revisits an ancient Christian battlefield called Nicaea, in the hope that conflict-weary Christians of our time may gain strength from the struggles of their forebears, and reclaim the faith that emerged from that fourth-century contest.
Introduction
"This is one of the most brilliant, refreshing and helpful books concerned with the heart and centre of the life and witness of the church that has appeared in recent years."
Thomas F. Torrance, professor emeritus, Edinburgh, Scotland
"I commend this book."
John Leith, professor emeritus, Union Theological Seminary
"I heartily endorse Standing Firm."
Bill Bright, President, Campus Crusade for Christ
Reflections: Biblical and
Otherwise About Sexuality
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2001, 148 pp., $11.95 each, plus shipping)
One side takes a Biblical position contrary to another side. In the middle is a vast audience of people who really are looking for guidance – beset by passion and politics from both camps.
Reflections provides a dispassionate, thought- provoking look at the issue – without mudslinging, name calling or outbursts of emotion.
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The Presbyterian Left's
Great Witch Hunt
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2001, 58 pp., $2.95 each, plus shipping)
The title of this monograph is based on an essay by Bruce L. Felknor, a Presbyterian elder who chaired the Commission on Religion and Race of the Presbytery of Hudson River (1963-67) and served on the denomination’s Council on Church & Society (1966-72).
Felknor is retired from Encyclopaedia Britannica, where he was executive editor (inter al.). Among his books are Dirty Politics (1966, 1975, 2000) and Political Mischief (1992). In 1997, his 125-year history of the Highland Park (Ill.) Presbyterian Church won the Robert Lee Stowe Award as the best published history of a Presbyterian or Reformed congregation.
Also contributing to this monograph are Stephen D. Crocco, librarian, Princeton Theological Seminary; Jerry D. Andrews, co-moderator of the Presbyterian Coalition; Parker T. Williamson, chief executive officer of the Presbyterian Lay Committee; and J. William Giles, executive coordinator of the Presbyterian Coalition.
Their comments are based on a book that widely was promoted during the 2000 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The book attacked evangelical renewal ministries in the denomination. That book was A Moment To Decide (New York: Institute for Democracy Studies, 2000. Research prepared by Lewis C. Daly; Preface by Anne Hale Johnson; foreword by the Rev. Dr. Robert W. Bohl. $25).
Foreword
Introduction
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Called By a New Name
Becoming What God Has Promised
By Gerrit Scott Dawson
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2008, 231 pp., $14.95 each, plus shipping)
Called By a New Name carries the reader into a life-changing encounter with our naming, promise keeping God. The book moves us from identifying and then shedding old names that have diminished us into embracing God's new names that we receive through Jesus Christ. The new names are profoundly missional as well. Those who know themselves to the "Sought Out" and "Redeemed of the Lord" also realize how they are called to be "Repairers of the Breach" and "Restorer of Streets" in our broken world.
A complete study guide with questions and exercises makes Called By a New Name idea for small group use.
Gerrit Scott Dawson is the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church (EPC) of Baton Rogue, La., and the author of Discovering Jesus: Awakening to God and Jesus Ascended.
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Faith as Foundation
A Christian Reorientation of
Church/State Relations in America
By René de Visme Williamson
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2006, 289 pp., $17.95 plus shipping)
The separation of church and state, as it is commonly understood today, was not a prevailing doctrine among the framers of the U.S. Constitution. Dr. Williamson’s research into the religious views of the constitutional framers reveals that the majority of the framers regarded Biblical truth and American public philosophy as inseparable.
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Politics and Protestant Theology
An Interpretation of Tillich, Barth, Bonhoeffer and Brunner
By René de Visme Williamson
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2005, 256 pp., $14.95 each, plus shipping)
Theology matters, not only to the stained glass world of pulpit and pew, but to the halls of Congress, the White House and the judiciary. Politics and Protestant Theology evaluates contemporary political thought and behavior by measuring it against the ideas of four great theologians of the 20th century.
Politics and Protestant Theology examines the theologies of Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Emil Brunner and Paul Tillich, spelling out the implications of the faith that they professed for the political work in which all of us live.
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Discovering Jesus
Awakening to God
By Gerrit Scott Dawson
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2007, 135 pp., $14.95 each, plus shipping)
In this helpful book, Gerrit Scott Dawson shares that you can come home to God. Living water, healing forgiveness, eternal life, a festive celebration of love – are all available. Jesus is the means and the way back to God his Father.
You can awaken to God by discovering Jesus.
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Given and Sent in One Love:
The True Church of Jesus Christ
By Gerrit Scott Dawson and Mark R. Patterson
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2005, 183 pp., $12.95 each, plus shipping)
Given and Sent in One Love: The True Church of Jesus Christ leads us to the true peace, unity and purity of the Church. Part-poetical, part-polemical and built on the solid rock of Reformed theology, this refreshing vision helps the Church breathe again.
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Love Bade Me Welcome:
Daily Readings with George Herbert 
By Gerrit Scott Dawson
(Lenoir, N.C.: Glen Lorien Books, 1997, 242 pp., $11.95 each, plus shipping)
George Herbert’s poetry was written in the very key of Scripture, and Love Bade Me Welcome is soaked with Biblical references. Herbert’s loving contemplation of his Lord led to poetry that is suffused with fresh language and insight into Reformed Christianity.
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Rock Solid ... Helping Teens
Discover the Truth of Christianity
By Matthew Everhard
(Lenoir, N.C.: Reformation Press, 2005, 242 pp., $11.95 each, plus shipping)
This book, designed for youth groups, was written to satisfy one of life’s toughest questions: ‘How can we be sure that Christianity is true?’
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