New Releases by Bill Hybels

Exhausted. Overwhelmed. Overscheduled. Sound familiar? Based on Bill Hybels' groundbreaking book Simplify and the companion DVD series, the Simplify Participant's Guide leads you on a journey of discovering a simpler life. Today's velocity of life can consume and control us . . . until a breakneck pace begins to feel normal and expected. That's where the danger lies: When we spend our lives doing things that keep us busy but don't really matter, we sacrifice the things that do. What if your life could be different? What if you could be certain you were living the life God called you to live--and building a legacy for those you love? If you crave a simpler life anchored by the priorities that matter most, roll up your sleeves: Simplified living requires more than just cleaning out your closets or reorganizing your desk drawer. It requires uncluttering your soul. By eradicating the stuff that leaves your spirit drained, you can stop doing what doesn't matter--and start doing what does. In Simplify, bestselling author Bill Hybels identifies the core issues that lure us into frenetic living--and offers practical steps for sweeping the clutter from our souls. This study guide is an ideal resource for small groups, along with the Simplify DVD Experience (sold separately).

In this five-session video-based Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), bestselling author and pastor Bill Hybels challenges you to make doing life together a priority, exploring from the book of Proverbs how experiencing community and growing in wisdom are inseparably linked and offering practical direction on how to experience this with others. All of us want to get better at life. Gettting wiser alone, however, is not the way it works. God didn’t wire us to catch onto wise and godly living through lone-ranger attempts at learning; it’s something that rubs off on us when we spend time with others who have the wisdom of God living inside of them. As the proverb says, “Iron sharpens iron as one person sharpens another.” This study is designed with both new and experienced group leaders in mind. For new leaders, it includes optional weekly DVD training sessions (DVD sold separately) to help them lead a fantastic, first-time small group experience. For experienced leaders, it includes a "Going Deeper" section for those ready to take this content to the next level. Sessions include: Walking with the Wise The Counsel of Community Iron Sharpens Iron The Heart of Community Faith and Friendship Designed for use with the Wiser Together Video Study 9780310820116 (sold separately).

In "Simplify," bestselling author Bill Hybels identifies the core issues that lure us into frenetic living--and offers searingly practical steps for sweeping the clutter from our souls. Today's velocity of life can consume and control us . . . until our breakneck pace begins to feel normal and expected. That's where the danger lies: When we spend our lives doing things that keep us busy but don't really matter, we sacrifice the things that do.What if your life could be different? What if you could be certain you were living the life God called you to live--and building a legacy for those you love? If you crave a simpler life anchored by the priorities that matter most, roll up your sleeves: Simplified living requires more than just cleaning out your closets or reorganizing your desk drawer. It requires uncluttering your soul. By eradicating the stuff that leaves your spirit drained, you can stop doing what doesn't matter--and start doing what does.

Pastor Bill Hybels’s firm conviction is that the highest value in personal evangelism is being attuned to and cooperative with the promptings of the Holy Spirit. This means playing only the role you are intended to play—walking when the Spirit says to walk, talking when the Spirit says to talk, and falling silent when the Spirit suggests that you’ve already said enough. More than two thousand years ago, Jesus himself introduced the perfect model for evangelism. He left the marvelous adoration of the angels and the perfection of heaven, and he chose to “walk” clear across the cosmos. He had no memorized script, no forced formulas. Instead, he was armed only with an offer of redemption to people just like you and me, many of whom were neck-deep in pain of their own making. Today, the goal for every Christian is to reflect Christ’s love and follow his example by taking simple walks across rooms—leaving our circles of comfort and extending hands of care, compassion, and inclusiveness to people living far from God. Designed for use with the video.

The urgent need for prayer in today’s broken world is clear, but busyness still keeps many of us from finding time to pray. So Bill Hybels offers us his practical, time-tested ideas on slowing down to pray. In this four-session video Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately) based on Hybels’s classic book on prayer, Too Busy Not to Pray calls both young and old to make prayer a priority, broadening the vision for what our eternal, powerful God does when his people slow down to pray. In Too Busy Not to Pray, you and your small group will learn: The importance of a consistent time and place for prayer How to organize prayers according to tried-and-true frameworks How to hear the Spirit’s promptings To love prayer time Hybels helps you slow down, listen to God, and learn how to respond. As a result, you will grow closer to God and experience the benefits of spending time with him. Sessions include: Why Pray? (15:00) Our Part of the Deal (20:00) When Prayer Feels Hard (19:00) People of Prayer (20:00) Designed for use with the Too Busy Not to Pray Video Study (sold separately).

In this four-session small group bible study, Just Walk Across the Room, Bill Hybels equips participants with simple, practical ways to share their spiritual journey. This pack includes one softcover Participant Guide and one DVD.

Previously published as: The heart of Christmas (c1998).

Imagine writing a sermon that must be original, insightful, useful, challenging, comforting . . . once a week. Thats exactly what most preachers are called upon to do while seeing to all of the other responsibilities that comprise their vocation.

"When I listen to the evening news or read the morning paper these days my reaction is always the same: what's wrong in our world will not be set right until people who love God and who refuse to cave to these overwhelming challenges put the things they believe into action, things like courage and discipline and love." Bill Hybels Who You Are When No One's Looking has pointed the way to godly character for more than twenty years. Now Bill Hybels's essential book is completely revised and updated, featuring a new introduction, a new concluding chapter ("World-Change: When Character Counts Most") and a discussion guide for groups. Read this book to discover who God is calling you to be in the world around you.

FOR DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE THE USA. Full-throttle faith resides in fully yielded hearts. In The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Having the Guts to Respond, Bill Hybels reveals the attitudes and actions that help us hear directly from heaven as we navigate the most significant challenges on earth.

The floodwaters of life are rising; the current races faster. You feel yourself slipping. You need a secure foothold . . . and you need it now! We have all experienced the heart-pounding feeling of losing our stability in the storms of life. We want to stand strong as followers of Christ, but the world presses against us with staggering force. Where can we find an unshakable foundation for life? In the book of 1 Peter, you and your small group will find a rock-solid basis for living in a precarious and uncertain world. God offers you hope, love, purpose, service, submission, and victory. You can stand strong against the flood as you anchor yourself to the bedrock of Jesus Christ.

Evangelism doesn't have to be frustrating or intimidating. We just need encouragement and direction. In Crossing the Line of Faith you will discover how to build spiritually strategic relationships, to direct conversations toward matters of faith, and to share biblical truths in everyday language. This easy-to-read book presents a blueprint for starting a spiritual epidemic of hope and enthusiasm for spreading the Gospel.

In this made-for-use guidebook, Bill Hybels provides the exact steps needed for ministry leaders to translate the principles described in his book Holy Discontent into practical and effective action. What is the one aspect of this broken world that, when you see it, touch it, or get near it, you just can’t stand? What reality is so troubling that it thrusts you off the couch and into action? This is what Bill Hybels refers to as a holy discontent: a personal “firestorm of frustration” that, although sparked by that which is terribly wrong, can catalyze fierce determination to set things right. It is often during these eye-opening, heart-hungering moments of engagement when you will hear God whisper, “I feel the exact same way about this situation. Now, let’s go solve it together!” Here are the steps and the guidance you need to make that happen. This companion to Holy Discontent includes: • Interactive processing exercises that encourage you to ask the tough questions of your ministry strategy, your supporting organizational structure, and the key people with whom you collaborate • Sidebar stories of ministry leaders who are living and leading from their holy discontent in a variety of contexts • Insightful prompts to help you act on what you learn • Space for personal reflection

Our lives are like lumps of clay on a potter's wheel. Form, function, and beauty appear as God, the Potter, shapes us with his hands. He is in the business of molding our common lives -- even the ugly parts -- into something wonderful! In Colossians, you and your small group will discover how to place your lives in the secure hands of God. If you long to experience newness of life, this study will point the way. If you desire to see God mold and shape your spiritual life, home, workplace, church, and relationships, Colossians will teach you the pathway to a whole new you.

Face the Tough Times with Confidence The question is not, “Will I face challenges?” The issue is, “How will I deal with the tough times that come my way?” No one travels far down the road without confronting the sobering reality that life can be hard. The book of Nehemiah is a case study in overcoming life’s challenges. Wave after wave of pain pounded on the shores of Nehemiah’s life, but he kept standing strong. A tsunami of relational, financial, and spiritual attacks came, but he withstood it all in the power of God. As we meditate on Nehemiah’s story, we discover the hope and victory that come when we walk in God’s wisdom through the challenges of life.

The book you hold resonates with this conviction: that leaders such as you have the potential to be the most influential forces on planet Earth. Yours is the staggering responsibility and the matchless privilege of rallying believers and mobilizing their spiritual gifts in order to help people who are far from God become fully devoted followers of Christ. Life transformation and the eternal destinies of real people depend on the redemptive message entrusted to the local church. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to lead your church effectively so God’s message of hope can change the world? Then this book is for you. Courageous Leadership is Bill Hybels’ magnum opus, a book far too important to be written before its time. Only now, after nearly thirty years leading his own church from a handful of people with a burning vision into a globe-spanning kingdom force—only after almost three decades of victories and setbacks, of praying hard and risking big—is Hybels ready at last to share the lessons he has learned, and continues to learn, about Christian leadership. Too much is at stake for you not to maximize your spiritual gift of leadership, insists Hybels. In this passionate, powerful book, he unpacks the tools, tasks, and challenges of your calling. You’ll discover the power of vision and how to turn it into action. You’ll gain frontline insights for developing a kingdom dream team, discovering your leadership style, developing other leaders, making decisions, walking with God, embracing change, staying your God-given course, and much, much more. Drawing on his own richly varied life experiences, Hybels fleshes out vital principles with riveting firsthand stories. This is far more than another book on leadership strategies and techniques. You’ll find those topics in here, to be sure. But beyond them, you’ll find the very essence of one of today’s foremost Christian leaders—his fervent commitment to evangelism and discipleship and his zeal to inspire fellow church leaders even as he seeks to keep growing as a leader himself. If unchurched people matter to you . . . if you love seeing believers serve passionately with their spiritual gifts . . . if God’s heartbeat for the church is your heartbeat as well . . . then this book is a must. Courageous Leadership will convince you to lead with all your might, all your skill, and all your faith. And it will give you the tools to do just that.

FOR DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE THE USA. Winning leaders have winning points-of-view---succinct, practical, portable leadership proverbs that help them arbitrate decisions and arouse troops to action. In Axiom: The Language of Leadership, Pastor Bill Hybels reveals sixty God-given, from-the-gut truths that continue to raise his game and his vision, thirty-plus years into his local-church leadership experience.

Shows readers how they can find and feed their personal areas of holy discontent, fight for it when things get risky, and follow it when it takes a mid-course turn.

Discover how firmly God is committed to forming noble qualities within you and the power to do something about it! (6 Sessions)

Identify the trappings of Christianity and trade them for a vibrant faith that integrates Christian values into your everyday life. Discover the inconsistent areas of your life, proven ways to align them with the teaching of the Bible, and find a new joy that comes from growing closer to God. (6 Sessions)

This study will help you recognize and cooperate with God's transforming influence in your life. You'll learn proven ways of responding to God's guidance that will keep you growing closer to Him.. 6 SESSIONS

This study will help you and your spouse draw insight from one another and from the other couples in your group to build the kind of close relationship you've always wanted. (6 sessions)

Through study of the Sermon on the Mount, discover practical ways for assessing your present level of commitment to Christ and for setting goals for its growth. (6 Sessions)

God wants you to walk confidently in your new identity in Christ, serving Him with joy and energy in your various roles. This study gives you a close-up view of these different roles and equips you with the sound biblical insights you need to fulfill them. (6 sessions)

What kind of love makes a differenceA bold yet compassionate love is a trademark of Jesus Christ. Love without limits. A world-changing love. Can such love be reproduced in the lives of sinful men and women like us Is it possible to follow Jesus' model of giving and receiving love In Lessons on Love, you'll find out how. You'll learn about the various kinds of love, beginning with forms of love you'll recognize--and ending with a supernatural love so awesome it can utterly transform lives. Christ's love. The world around you will take note when you unleash the power of Christ's love--and it will never be the same.Interactions--a powerful and challenging tool for building deep relationships between you and your group members, and you and God. Interactions is far more than another group Bible study. It's a cutting-edge series designed to help small group participants develop into fully devoted followers of Christ.

Through this small group Bible study, move beyond six tough hurdles: adversity, fear, apathy, greed, lust, and sorrow. As you unite the hope and insight of Scripture with the support of the people in your group, you'll find strength to overcome the things in your life you thought would never change. 6 SESSIONS

Network is a six-session dynamic program to help Christians understand who God has uniquely made them to be and mobilize them to a place of meaningful service in the local church. Each participant in Network will work through a series of assessments to discover their unique blend of spiritual gifts, personal style, and ministry passion.

Focusing on the key aspects of Christian life--prayer, character, and wisdom--this one-year devotional shows believers how to know God more deeply and discover how he works in them.

This Willow Creek Resources evangelism course for churches and groups of all sizes is designed to equip believers for effective evangelism by showing them how they can share the Gospel in a natural and powerful way while being the person God made them to be.

Modern man has come up with a host of formulas for life. You can read countless books telling you how to get rich, find love, or reach your hidden potential. But all this advice pales next to the timeless wisdom contained in God's original set of operating instructions. Those directions are found in--of all places--the Bible. They are known as the Ten Commandments. For those who want to live life according to the manufacturer's specifications, they are the ultimate "how-to" for life.