Help! I’m Drowning!
That’s the feeling that many people experience. Not a literal drowning, but something very similar… it may be pressing financial concerns, the icy hand of a serious illness recently diagnosed, a wayward child who seemingly won’t respond to all your loving discipline, or the dark thoughts of suicide invading a friend’s life.
Some years ago–it was towards the end of 2009–I was working on some strategic ideas with the publishing company I served at the time. It would be a good idea, I thought, to generate some small-sized books which dealt with the kinds of issues people are facing today. Itches that need to be scratched, or, to put it another way, issues that people are facing on a day-to-day basis where they feel the need for sound counsel from the Bible. The outcome of this was the commencement of several booklets published under the series name, Living in a Fallen World, and under the consulting editorship of my good friend, Dr. Paul Tautges. Paul’s burden and my concern met precisely at this point. Paul’s book, Counsel One Another had also recently been published.
A Life-line
Through various events and circumstances, while over twenty of these resources saw the light of day in 2010 and 2011, the original publisher released them to be taken over by a US-based publisher. The outcome was a rebranding of the series, this time called the Lifeline Mini-books, an imprint of Shepherd Press. (Shepherd Press is known for its enormously helpful range of resources under the classification of Shepherding a Child’s Heart, the best-selling book by Dr. Tedd Tripp.)
Earlier in 2014, Shepherd Press released eight titles in the new series, thus: Help! He is Struggling with Pornography; Help! I have Breast Cancer; Help! I Want to Change; Help! My Spouse has been Unfaithful; Help! My Teen Struggles with Same-Sex Attractions; Help! My Toddler Rules the House; Help! Someone I Love has been Abused; Help! Someone I Love has Cancer.
Hot off the press this week are the next four titles, pictured above, and hyperlinked below:
Useful, Spiritual, Helpful
There are many more of these excellent mini-books in preparation and I plan to say more about them in due course. The main point to make at present is that these are immensely helpful! Packed with biblical content, written with feeling and concern for readers in the issues covered (all the authors are in the trenches of ministry themselves–here is no ivory tower, distant academic theorizing!), written with personal application projects to help readers engage practically with the issues concerned, and, especially important, written with a call to turn from sin and trust the Savior. All this in just 10,000 words (that’s 64 pages of small-format reading) makes for an excellent resource to use and give away.
Consider this series of excellent resources in your ministry, your church, for your friends and family, and for your own use!
