Search results for ""down to earth""

As the early church took shape in the mid-first century a.d., a theological struggle of great consequence was joined between the apostle Paul and certain theologians who had intruded into the churches founded by the apostle in Galatia. Writing his letter to the Galatians in the midst of that struggle, Paul was concerned to find a way by which he could assert the radical newness of God’s act in Christ while still affirming the positive relation of that act to the solemn promise God had made centuries earlier to Abraham.With the skill of a seasoned scholar and teacher, J. Louis Martyn enables us to take imaginary seats in the Galatian churches so that we may hear Paul’s words with the ears of the early Christians themselves. Listening in this manner, we begin to sense the dramatic intensity of the theological struggle, thus coming to understand the crucial distinctions between the theology of Paul and that of his opponents. We can therefore see why Galatians proved to be a momentous turning point in early Christianity: In this letter Paul preached the decisive and liberating newness of Christ while avoiding both the distortions of anti-Judaism and his opponents’ reduction of Christ to a mere episode in the epic of Israel’s history. Like the Galatians of Paul’s day, we can begin to hear what the apostle himself called “the truth of the gospel.”As its predecessors in the Anchor Bible series have done Galatians successfully makes available all the significant historical and linguistic knowledge which bears on the interpretation of this important New Testament book. A personal letter written by Paul in the mid-first century to friends in the churches emerging in the region of Galatia, where it was circulated, Galatians is down to earth and pragmatic. This biblical book requires the modern reader to take a seat in one of the Galatian congregations, to listen to Paul's letter with Galatian ears, and discern the contours of Paul's theology. That is exactly what Dr. Martyn makes possible in his marvelous commentary, with its careful translation and creative interpretation of Galatians. Though relatively brief, Paul's letter is filled with complex theological and historical issues that demand a thorough treatment. Readers will not be disappointed in Dr. Martyn's sensitive handling of difficult passages, and all will be delighted to have a fresh translation that makes sense to our modern ears. All in all, this volume will stand out as a shining example of top notch scholarship written for the general reader.

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Planned Giving Simplified A down-to-earth introduction to planned giving by a leading pioneerin the field. In this groundbreaking book, charitable gift planning expert RobertF. Sharpe, Sr., demystifies the complex world of planned giving fornot-for-profit managers. He provides a detailed blueprint forstarting and building a successful planned giving program, anddevelops a rational framework for managing the subtle interplay oflegal, administrative, and interpersonal factors involved in theplanned giving process. Central to Sharpe's proven approach is his controversial definitionof the effective charitable gift planner as being not so much afund raiser as an expert at helping potential benefactors satisfy adeeply felt emotional need. Rather than soliciting or closing onplanned gifts, the planner's primary focus should be on formingrelationships with donors and providing them with the means andopportunity to fulfill their desire to do good. Using compelling case studies, Sharpe demonstrates his approach inaction. He identifies the various types of planned gifts and takesyou inside the hearts and minds of the planned givers themselves,revealing their primary motivations and overarching concerns. Hethen guides you, step-by-step, through the entire planned givingprocess, and concludes with a clear delineation of theorganizational structures required to sustain a planned givingprogram. Praise for Planned Giving Simplified "This book is a must for all who are serious about establishing ormaintaining a successful gift planning program for theirinstitution." --Nancy L. Perazelli, CFRE Gift Planning Officer,Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. "In his own inimitable style, Bob Sharpe has done an admirable jobof describing the planned giving process in an easy-to-understandmanner. Woven throughout is the emphasis on the important humanrelationship between the donor and the charitable gift planner."--Walter T. Weaver, III Director, Finance Support Division, BoyScouts of America. "Robert F. Sharpe, Sr., has provided a comprehensive road map ofthe world of planned giving. He guides [readers] to the desireddestination without unnecessary detours along the way. His bookwill be a valuable addition to the libraries of not onlynot-for-profit professionals, but also 'givers' who seek a betterunderstanding of the many routes available to them in their giftplanning." --Joseph H. Powell President Emeritus and SeniorConsultant, Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation. "The name Bob Sharpe is synonymous with planned giving. I don'tknow of anybody who knows more about it and who can better conveyits importance." --Reverend Dr. Arthur Caliandro Pastor, MarbleCollegiate Church, New York City. "I really like [this book]. It is . . . elegantly simple, direct,and forthright. . . . very enjoyable." --Thomas W. Cullinan, JDExecutive Director of Gift Planning, University of Maryland.

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Everything you need to know to succeed in today's fastest growingsector of the consulting market. Jim Ainsworth is an extremely successful financial planningprofessional with more than 30 years in the business. In How toBecome a Successful Financial Consultant, he tells you everythingyou need to know to move into financial consulting. He familiarizesyou with all the types of planning that financial consultants dealwith, as well as the various investment vehicles. And, based on hisown experiences and those of other successful financial consultantsacross the nation, he supplies you with a proven blueprint forsuccess. You get expert advice, guidance, and insiders' tips on howto: * Get the education, experience, and licensing you need to qualify. * Get certified (and whether you need to). * Develop a surefire success plan. * Set up a practice and attract clients. * Network, market, and sell your services. * Set fees and collect other forms of compensation for yourservices. * Avoid the 10 most common mistakes that beginners make. * Get the most out of meetings and professional conferences. Written by Jim Ainsworth, a financial planning professional with 30years in the business, this valuable guide provides professionalsinterested in making the move into financial consulting witheverything they need to know to make a living investing otherpeople's money. Drawing on his personal experiences and those of colleagues acrossNorth America, Ainsworth covers all the bases. He begins bydescribing the three major groups of financial planners and theseven different styles of asset management and helps you to decidewhich is right for you. You find out all about the various types offinancial planning that most consultants deal with--includingestate planning, retirement planning, and family financialplanning--and the best investment vehicles currentlyavailable. Ainsworth then cuts to the chase and provides the nuts-and-boltsinformation you need to make it as a financial adviser. Writing ina down-to-earth style, he tells you what type of education andexperience you need to become an effective financial consultant,how to become licensed, how to get started in business, how to setfees and receive compensation, how to market your services andpromote different financial instruments, and much more. He showsyou how to develop a surefire success plan, and he supplies expertadvice and guidance on how to avoid the top 10 beginners'mistakes. Throughout this book, Ainsworth advocates taking a holisticapproach to financial planning--one that takes into considerationnot just people's differing needs, but their contrasting attitudesabout money and investments. To that end, he provides insightfulprofiles of the different types of "money personalities" in thefinancial world and shows you how to identify and successfully workwith each type. How to Become a Successful Financial Consultant is your completeguide to making it in today's fastest growing sector of theconsulting market.

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Survival Reading Skills for Secondary Students is your guide for working with struggling students in grades 5-12 no matter what their reading ability. This valuable resource is a down-to-earth guide that contains countless classroom-tested strategies that reading and content area teachers can use to reinforce skills that students must master to read effectively. In addition, the book offers ready-to-use activity sheets designed to improve competency in a number of relevant reading skills. Students will learn how to fill in a job application, read an airline schedule, apply for a driver's license, and practice many more useful real-life skills. For quick access and easy use, the book is organized in seven sections and printed in a big 8 ½" X 11" lay-flat format for easy photocopying. The following is just a small sample of the many strategies, assessments, inventories, and activities featured in each section: 1. INFORMAL READING ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR OLDER STUDENTS: Includes a Content Reading Inventory. . . lists of sample words from a range of content areas including English, social studies, science, and mathematics&an informal assessment to determine a student's approximate instructional reading level. 2. STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING SKILLS TO IDENTIFY CONTENT SIGHT WORDS: Provides reproducible copies of words needed for computer literacy . . . strategies for improving students' ability to recognize and identify important content and daily-living words . . . activities that include a reversed crossword puzzle and a magic square from science. 3. STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING BASIC PHONIC SKILLS: Contains the basic phonic elements in which older students should be competent . . . seven helpful phonic generalizations . . . activity sheets that challenge students to complete a shopping list and discover a secret code. 4. STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING ABILITY IN WORD STRUCTURE: Includes an explanation of the usefulness of word roots, prefixes, and suffixes . . . comprehensive lists of the most useful elements of word structure that help students read and study content materials effectively . . . activity sheets that help students determine word etymologies and correct accents. 5. STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING USE OF CONTEXT CLUES: Presents a useful classification scheme for context clues . . . method of teaching context clues, cryptology, and mutilated messages . . . activities that direct students to choose the correct word in sentence context. 6. STRATEGIES AND MATERIALS FOR IMPROVING COMPREHENSION SKILLS WHILE READING CONTENT MATERIAL: Contains an explanation of levels of reading comprehensiontextually explicit, textually implicit, and critical or evaluative . . . myriad classroom-tested strategies for improving comprehension . . . activity sheets that engage students to figure out which is the better invention and complete a job application form. 7. STRATEGIES AND MATERIALS FOR IMPROVING STUDY SKILLS IN THE CONTENT AREAS: Offers a description of the specialized study skills that students need to read specific content material . . . a multitude of classroom-tested strategies for improving study skills . . . activities that help students to use the Dewey Decimal System and read the newspaper more effectively.

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This is a book for 21st Century leaders. The authors are offering approaches to reduce stress and to promote satisfaction at a time when this seems impossible for most people struggling to make sense of the workplace and its demands: 76% of managers want to spend more time with their families 50% say they feel too mentally and physically exhausted to do anything but work or sleep 30% say their lives are out of control one in five say they are too stressed to enjoy their lives at all Many of the leadership skills (such as emotional intelligence, weak signal management, mental agility) that are key to success in today's corporate world are not taught in business schools, are rarely discussed by business academics, nor are they recognised within corporations as they recruit, promote and train their staff. Business conversation is all about the war for talent - and yet the solutions presented are all "outside-in" (i.e. what the corporation needs to do to ensure people stay, to "make" their values align, to retain them) rather than "inside-out" (i.e. alignment of individual's sense of purpose with how they spend their time, the fit of their skills to the demands of their job, and so on). Alpha Leadership seeks to redress these imbalances. The book is constructed around a new and simple model of leadership. The authors call this, 'Alpha leadership', which consists of three main axes: Anticipate, Align and Act. They have derived this model from their extensive experience of leadership development in the US and Europe, during a period of rapid adaptation to the digital economy. The authors argument is that traditional approaches to leadership, leadership as it is taught in the business schools and the criteria assigned to it by corporate promotion and appraisal systems, focus exclusively on 'action', and take little or no account of the crucial importance of anticipation and alignment. This is of increased concern since the skills most likely to generate success for leaders in today's networked, knowledge-based and unpredictable business environment are precisely those most often ignored. This emphasis on action without its preliminaries of anticipation and alignment is also a paradox, since without effective anticipation and alignment, action is likely to be inefficient, ineffective, and unsustainable. The book is aimed at an "inside-out" view of leadership: starting with the individual and his/her sense of purpose and values, rather than the more typical approach to leadership writing which adopts an "outside-in" view, holding up models and examples of other leaders to emulate with little or no clue of how to go about doing so, or indeed whether or not this would be an appropriate model in the reader's specific context. Alpha Leadership is designed as a pragmatic "how to" book, derived from the authors experience of one-to-one executive coaching - with tools, approaches and frameworks to support leaders in progressing in their careers, while also maintaining a sense of balance and purpose in their lives. Each chapter starts with a "parable" or story - a very readable analogy from completely different fields of study that is used to shed light on the issues and problems facing leaders in the business environment. The authors then move to a section on "sense making" (avoiding blue sky theorising in favour of practical, down-to-earth interpretation and real life business examples). Finally the authors include relevant tools/frameworks to help the readers apply what they have read in their every day business lives.

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‘This book is hilarious! I have not been able to put it down… and I have literally belly laughed on a number of occasions.’ Reader ReviewIt’s Annie Beaton’s 50th birthday! But instead of getting roses and perfume, she gets sacked, her son, Ben, tells her she’s growing a beard and her husband Joe tells her he wants a divorce.Moving to the countryside to stay in her eccentric aunt’s house, Annie must find her mojo again – and fast. So when she discovers a stack of self-help books, Annie vows to use their advice – from Chicken Soup for the Soul to The Secret – to get her life back on track. Never mind that her 9-going-on-19-year-old daughter, Izzy, is currently engaging Annie in psychological warfare and her adorable 6-year-old son, Ben, spends more time wetting the bed than making friends at his new school…But now, armed with a load of affirmations/inspirational quotes/positive vibes, Annie’s determined to kick her Crappy Old Year to the kerb and have a brilliantly Happy New Year. Just as soon as she’s had her chin waxed… A hilarious, laugh-out-loud feelgood read - fans of Gill Sims, Sophie Ranald and Tracy Bloom will be hooked!Readers are loving Annie Beaton's Year of Positive Thinking!‘nothing short of a delight. Annie is a likable and relatable protagonist whose antics had me laughing out loud more than once. I would recommend this book if you are looking for a lighthearted and feel good read to brighten a dreary winter's day. Reader Review‘This was a great book to start the year on, it was full of laughs…I really liked the character of Annie Beaton and would love to see what else she gets up to in the future…engaging and fun.’ Book Before U Leap‘so fun to read. It reminded me of Bridget Jones’ Diary (for 50 year olds!). She definitely turned her life around and had fun doing it. Highly recommend!’ Reader Review ‘A wonderful read, Annie had me laughing hysterically and falling in love with her, her thoughts, life, her “go get it” attitude. So entertaining’ Reader Review ‘This book had me laughing because it is so relatable and down to earth. It is a great read for learning to move forward and accept who you are. Within the first few pages, I found myself chuckling…Highly recommend this read.’ Reader Review‘I really enjoyed reading this in a tough season - it was lighthearted and full of comedy…the story was relatable and enjoyable.’ Reader Review‘A really easy, feel good read which is particularly relatable for those of us of a certain age!!!’ Reader Review‘A brilliant, enjoyable and entertaining book that made me smile and laugh. It also made me reflect on how a positive outlook on life can help to succeed…well written, I loved the humour and the likeable cast of characters. Highly recommended.’ Reader Review‘this book was hilarious…a great way to escape for a few hours.’ Reader Review‘we should always think positive!!! I loved this book! Mink Elliot has caught on to something good and I look forward to more of her books in the future.’ Reader Review‘a fun and light hearted read which I’m sure most women will be able to relate to. It’s a good reminder to not take life so seriously and try and focus on what is good in our lives instead of the negatives.’ By The Letter Book Reviews‘I really enjoyed this, from the outset it has that upbeat feel about it and is easy to sit back with and enjoy…A wonderful uplifting read.’ Nicki’s Book Blog

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