Most Popular Books by Kevin Johnson

The disconnect between national rhetoric, the law, and public policy.

During an interview for a faculty position, a senior professor asked Kevin Johnson bluntly, "How did you get to be a Mexican?" And, a young woman at a Harvard Law School dinner party inquired, "Are you one of those people whose high school friends are all dead from gangs and stuff?" The son of a Mexican American mother and an Anglo father, Professor Johnson has spent his life in the borderlands between racial identities. In this insightful book, he uses his experiences as a mixed Latino Anglo to examine issues of diversity, assimilation, race relations, and affirmative action in the contemporary United States. Johnson also grew up in the borderlands between classes. He spent his childhood with his mother, first on welfare and then with a racist working-class stepfather. As an adolescent, he moved to his father''s home in a predominantly upper-middle-class suburb. His educational experiences too extend from a racially mixed elementary school to an all-white high school, and from Berkeley to Harvard Law School. From this vantage point, he analyzes the intersection of race and class in the United States. This book looks not just at the question "Who is a Latino?" but also at the question of where persons of mixed Anglo-Latino heritage fit into the racial dynamics of the United States. Professor Johnson''s mother was an ardent assimilationist who classified herself as "Spanish"; her failure to become a part o f middle America led her into depression and eventually mental illness. Her son has woven not just her experiences and his own, but also those of friends and relatives, into a complex and moving story of one white/brown man''s search for identity.

A 365-Day Devotional from a Trusted Youth Author Total devotion means being 100 percent committed friends with God. He created us to know and love others in the same way he knows and loves us. His desire is that we belong to him and do life his way. But living out your faith isn''t always easy, especially if you''re still figuring out what that means. Here are some tools to help. Total Devotion equips you with solid biblical truth to help you navigate whatever challenges come your way. You''ll grow more confident in your faith and deepen your friendship with God--and improve your relationships with others along the way. Whether you''ve been a Christian for years or are just starting out, it''s never the wrong time to work on the way you act or think. If you''re ready to start taking your faith seriously, you''re ready for Total Devotion.

God might not be asking you to build an ark, but he is asking you to help him change the world. So don’t worry...you won’t have to grow out a beard or spend 40 days in a rainstorm. Believe it or not, changing the world can be as simple as everyday acts of kindness. Whether you do something good for someone in your family, or that new kid at your lunch table, or the neighbor around the corner, you can make a difference and help change the world—or at least, their world, for now. Inspired by the Universal Pictures movie, Evan Almighty, starring Steve Carell, Do Good will show you how you can help change the world by doing good every chance you get, right where you are, right now. You’ll discover:• how you can live every moment with God• what to do when life (or God) interrupts your plans• where to look for opportunities to do good• what to do when people around you think you’re crazy• how you can make a difference in the world within your reachMost of all, you’ll begin to see why you’re the perfect person to help God change the world—starting right now!

A young child learns that even superheroes hurt too in this heartrending story about loss and love, written by debut author Kevin Johnson and illustrated by #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Kitt Thomas. When a child loses the person in his life that he loves more than anything, he uses his cape as protection from his grief. On the day of the funeral, he uses it to block out the pictures and stories people share, refusing to acknowledge the memories that keep bubbling up. He won''t think about them. He doesn''t want to. He avoids the memories, until he no longer can. He remembers then. Their laugh, their smile, the moment they gave him the cape. The cape transforms, becoming a source of comfort and strength as the child navigates the sadness and joy that these memories bring up. In Cape, Kevin Johnson has crafted an achingly beautiful and honest story about processing and redefining grief after the loss of a loved one. With evocative illustrations by New York Times bestselling artist Kitt Thomas (Stacey’s Extraordinary Words), Cape is a powerful, unforgettable, and necessary story.

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Kids are curious about Jesus and God and yet, by the time they are teens, the majority stop asking questions about faith and starting questioning faith altogether. Respected Christian apologist Josh McDowell encourages children to stand on the foundation of truth with this contemporary gathering of concise, welcoming answers for kids ages 8 to 12. A fun format includes key Bible verses and pre-teen friendly explorations of topics that matter most to kids: God’s love and forgiveness Right and wrong and making choices Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God’s Word Different beliefs and religions Church, prayer, and sharing faith The next time a child asks “Who is God?” parents, grandparents, and church leaders will want this practical and engaging volume handy. Helpful tips and conversation ideas for adults will help them connect with kids hungering for straight talk about faith in Jesus.

Designed for middle schoolers, Deeper Bible studies provide you with a unique and effective tool for your students. Use in large or small groups to help communicate God’s truth in a way that connects with young teens and shows them what faith can look like in their everyday lives.• Choose will help students learn about temptation, the Holy Spirit’s power to help, and what God desires from them.• Pray helps students understand and participate in meaningful prayer with the creator of the universe. They’ll find that not only does God listen; he cares.• Stick shows students what God says about friendships and helps them find and be great friends.• Trust will help you teach your students who Jesus is and what it looks like to trust him on a deeper level. With questions that meet the developmental and spiritual needs of early adolescents, you’ll find that your students engage in the Deeper studies and really grasp the lessons.

Are you tired of the hustle and bustle of everyday life? Are you consumed with a never-ending pursuit of traditional success or the quest for wealth? Has your health suffered because you can''t stop or slow down to enjoy what''s in front of you? In The Success Makeover, author Kevin Johnson challenges you to re-evaluate your idea of success and encourages you to refocus on what matters most. He introduces the Xente lifestyle, explaining the concept and describing how he developed the idea. With assessment tools and exercises included, Johnson shares that the Xente lifestyle is a shift by everyday people to connect, activate, and reconnect with their whole lives, recapturing what is truly important through a balanced approach to living. By following the principles outlined in the Success Makeover, Johnson helps you to create an existence enabling you to experience deeper relationships that include increased excitement, intimacy, spontaneity, joy, integrity, belonging, security, faithfulness, connectedness, achievement, and relative balance supporting a more fulfilling life.

Find Hope Through Praying the Scriptures What do you do when prayer feels futile, an endless rehashing of your problems? If one of the most practical reasons we pray is to obtain strength from God, then we need to understand how that happens. Prayer is about more than making requests. In addition to our agony and questioning, Scripture teaches us to also offer up our surrender. We can voice not only loneliness, resentment, and frustration but also peace, hope, and worship. When we let Scripture teach us a breadth of prayers, we begin to be filled with God''s fresh life. Interweaving his own story of inner anguish and physical illness, Kevin Johnson takes you through nine key Scripture passages that will help you find peace. Each passage is broken down into smaller portions, paired with short phrases to prompt you to pray Scripture back to God. Learn how to talk to God in your pain.

The Power of Legacy and Planned Gifts provides practical knowledge and tools nonprofits need to connect with loyal donors, resulting in a stream of future income that will sustain and advance their mission. Filled with illustrative real-world examples and cases, as well as worksheets to guide the reader, the book details a simple, multi-stage process for nonprofits to build a pipeline of future bequest income and offers donors perspective on making their gifts in a way that will best accomplish their goals. Praise for The Power of Legacy and Planned Gifts "Kevin Johnson has done a great job making clear the process and the implications of a bequest to a charity. A nonprofit''s workers and its donors will be well served in reading this book." —Bill Gates, Sr., author, Showing Up for Life "Regardless of the size, vintage, or mission of your organization, you can use this book. If this is the part of fundraising you have been avoiding, Kevin''s sensible advice can get your team started and get results sooner than you think." —Joan Flanagan, fundraiser, Center for New Community, and author, Successful Fundraising "Bequests are the key for small and medium-sized charities to survive and thrive. Kevin clearly shows how board and staff can easily develop the comfort and confidence to build effective relations with donors, and help them tell their stories and express their deepest values through bequests. Oh, that we all had this book years ago!" —Roger Ellison, vice president for planned giving, West Texas Rehabilitation Center Foundation "Kevin''s insights into donor motivation and the richness of our story have resulted in a substantial increase in planned gifts to our organization." —Karlene McCabe, executive director, Greenbelt Land Trust Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Our high school students read about the people in the Bible who followed Jesus, but it''s hard for them to understand what it would look like for them to follow Jesus today. Follow will help students explore God''s Word and discover how a man who lived 2,000 years ago can impact their lives today and for all eternity.

The Missions Trip Prep Kit is an easy-to-use resource--including a leader''s guide and 5 student books that offers several options designed for training and preparing either middle schoolers or high schoolers for short-or long-term missions projects.

A woman whose great loves in life are talking, taking her nieces on vacations to interesting places, and taking in strays, has unlikely experiences, becoming a hero? How unlikely is that? She, her young nieces, and various strays save the family, the space program, the world, the solar system, and, heck, even the universe? And they all become heroes? How unlikely is that?From Yellowstone to the National Hall of Statuary...cascarones...Old McDonald...sitcoms..."xanthic shores"...fending off blockers...bullies...Rosa Parks...ocher..."That was English?"..."''Erry Co''o!"Join Aunt Gabby and the girls as they use the most unlikely elements to save themselves and all the rest of us too from the wildest, wierdest, and wonkiest troublemakers ever seen on one world! Or even solar system. Heck, universe!"Aunt Gabby, things like this always happen on vacations with you!"