Books published by CCS Publishers

Everyone has at least one spiritual gift, according to the Bible. But many don't know what that gift is or how to use it. This book provides clear steps and guidelines to find and activate spiritual gifts. The eight lessons offer biblical insight on what the gifts are and practical suggestions on how to use them. This book will especially help those leading a small group to know how to discern the different gifts among group members, and then to help each person activate that gift. The only way to discover spiritual gifts is in the context of relationships. Spiritual gift tests, while helping believers to think through the possibilities, are insufficient in themselves. The atmosphere of trust in a small group is the key cornerstone that allows the free flow of the spiritual gifts. When trust is established, people are more willing to risk and try out new, potential gifts. A small group can provide honest feedback about the person's success, as well as areas of improvement. This book prepares each small group member to understand what his or her spiritual gift is and then instructs the person how to use that gift. Discover is a great resource to use individually, in a small group, or in a classroom teaching setting.

Una Cita con el Rey ofrece estímulo y abundantes ayudas prácticas para convertir la tarea de las devociones en una costumbre que transformará su vida y le producirá gozo que esperará con agrado. ¡Aprenda el cómo y el por qué de pasar un tiempo de calidad con Dios y descubra cuán profundamente el Rey está deseoso de reunirse con usted! Con calidez y honestidad Joel Comiskey señala claramente cómo usted puede buscar a Dios en su tiempo devocional y explica los beneficios asombrosos que usted experimentará mientras Dios bendice su vida. Con este libro de ayuda y entusiasta, usted puede tener un tiempo devocional que significa mucho más que abrir una Biblia y decir sus oraciones. Será un tiempo de experimentar al Dios vivo - un tiempo de comunión con el Rey.

Comiskey's thesis is that reproduction or church multiplication is critical to all effective church planting. Thus, church planting must be simple enough to keep the process going. The first section lays out the Biblical basis for church planting. The book moves from the Biblical basis to the contemporary scene, showing why church planting is absolutely essential to keep up with the population growth. Comiskey also highlights the characteristics which make a modern day church planter successful. Comiskey draws from practical experiences to help those who are in the battle or are considering church planting. The second section goes into detail about church planting strategies, namely the cell church strategy and house church planting. The reader is not just given information about different church planting approaches but is also shown how to use them. Comiskey's book is a must-read book for those interested in establishing Christ-honoring, multiplying churches.

My favorite coach is John Wooden. During his time coaching college basketball with the UCLA Bruins, Wooden won ten NCAA titles, including seven in a row from 1967 to 1973. His UCLA teams also had a record winning streak of eighty-eight games, four perfect 30-0 seasons, and won thirty-eight straight games in NCAA Tournaments. Yet, Wooden wasn't overly focused on winning basketball games. He was more concerned about building character in his players. He stimulated his players to be successful in their school studies, attitudes, and behavior, ultimately resulted in success on the basketball court. And Wooden lived the life that he asked his players to follow. Wooden was an amazing coach because he built into the lives of his players and developed their character. Coaching small group leaders has similar characteristics. The goal of Christian coaches is to move people toward Jesus Christ. The Christian coach strives to lead people forward to conformity with Jesus Christ, knowing that the ultimate crown is the one that will last forever (1 Corinthians 9:25). While Christ-like character is most important, a small group coach also equips leaders with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities they need to develop themselves and become more effective in small group ministry. A cell coach encourages, nourishes, and challenges cell leaders to grow and multiply their cell groups. The word coach is descriptive of the role a person plays as he or she supports cell leaders under his or her care. It is not a sacred term. In fact, churches use many terms to identify the role played by the cell group coach: supervisor, section leader, G-12 leader, cell overseer, cell sponsor, even L (which is the roman numeral for 50). This book provides step by step instructions on how to coach a small group leader from the initial stages of leading the group all the way to giving birth to a new one. Those who have never coached before will receive clear information on how to take the small group leader to the next level. And someone who is already coaching a small group leader will also find the eight lessons in this book invaluable to empower others to lead fruitful groups. I have another, more-in-depth book on coaching called How to be a Great Cell Group Coach. Some of the same concepts are covered in both books, but the major difference is that this book is a hands-on-training manual to prepare someone to be a coach of small group leaders. My other book How to be a Great Cell Group Coach would be a great reference manual to use alongside this book.

Small group resources tend to overlook the spiritual side of small group leadership. And yet most would agree that spiritual preparation is the most important aspect of leading a small group. Only Gods supernatural power can draw people to the truth and liberate them to be all that God wants them to be. Only through the Spirit's power can we expect to see the miracles that Jesus talked about when He said that if we would abide in Him, we would bear much fruit and even do greater works than He did while He was on earth. The key distinction of this book is the spiritual perspective it gives to small group ministry. So much of the literature about small groups that is already published relates to small group technique and only touches briefly on the Spirit's power. This book is a practical reference guide to help small group leadership begin to move in the supernatural realm. The books first priority is to help small group leaders and members trust the Holy Spirit to lead them, empower them and work in their group. Small group facilitators often sense a lack of guidance, power and spiritual authority. Jesus knew His disciples would be powerless without a touch from the Holy Spirit, and so He told them to wait in Jerusalem, saying, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Small group leaders need a power boost to make small group ministry relevant and exciting. The second priority of this book is to help the facilitator identify and mobilize each small group member to use his or her own spiritual gifts. Small group facilitators often feel ill-prepared to identify spiritual gifts of the people in the group. I firmly believe that the small group atmosphere is the perfect place to develop the gifts of the Spirit in each member's life, and so it is essential that the facilitator know how to do this. Whatever denominational or non-denominational label a church wears, the most important characteristic, in my opinion, is promoting individual sensitivity, devotion and dependence on the Holy Spirit. In a Holy Spirit-charged atmosphere, cell leaders are best raised up and members are encouraged to minister in their giftedness. Some churches are better at empowering lay people than others. Those that are less adept often make lay people feel they must possess a theological degree (much like the pastor has) before they can successfully minister to a small group. The emphasis in such churches is on acquiring Bible knowledge rather than obedience to Scripture and dependence on the Holy Spirit. In such churches, a high premium is placed on sitting and hearing the Word preached each Sunday. While I agree that small group leader training is essential, ultimately the graduate must step out and depend on the Holy Spirit. And my observation is that success in small group ministry will hinge on that dependence. Effective small group leaders and churches emphasize the Holy Spirit's empowerment in daily life and the fact that all believers are priests and ministers of the living God. Such churches emphasize the need for each member to depend on the Holy Spirit to guide, direct, empower and even take the biblical text and apply it to daily experience. It is this atmosphere that makes small group ministry work successful, whether the church is Baptist, Methodist or Assembly of God. This book has been written for those who are leading (facilitating) a small group, participating in a small group or considering joining a small group. Group members should read this book for two particular reasons: First, members make a significant contribution to the life of the cell. Each member will be intimately involved in using the gifts, intercession, etc. In the life of the group, no one is to sit back and do nothing. The best cell leaders, in fact, rarely "lead" the entire cell, instead encouraging cell members to participate actively. Second, members are the next in line to actually lead the small group. I am assuming that the readers of this book are believers who desire God and are seeking to walk in the Spirit. I am also assuming that those reading this book are studying the Bible and growing in their relationships with the Lord. There are many great books dedicated to defining each spiritual gift in detail. Many other authors cover gifts beyond the scope of this book, such as voluntary poverty, hospitality, celibacy, missions, exorcism, martyrdom, artistic creativity, craftsmanship and music. Rather than cover every possible gift, this book will focus on how the Spirit uses gifts in the small group context and guides the leader to facilitate a Spirit-filled group. Because this book is written to lay leadership rather than senior leaders of the Church, I will not cover in detail the five-fold offices that Paul mentioned in Ephesians 4.8 Instead, the gifts I will cover in this book are explicitly listed in Scripture (the one exception is intercessory prayer, which I call a spiritual gift although some would disagree). To remain effective in small group leadership, I recommend that each small group leader have a coach. This coach might be the senior pastor, a staff pastor or another volunteer lay leader (for example, the leader of the mother cell that gave birth to the new cell). I will not cover the discipline of coaching, nor the small group coaching structure necessary to have long-term success."

We've entitled this book "You Can Coach" because we believe that coaching is more about passing on what you've lived and holding others accountable in the process. Coaching doesn't require a higher degree, special talent, unique personality, or a particular spiritual gift. We believe, in fact, that God wants coaching to become a movement. We long to see the day in which every pastor has a coach and in turn is coaching someone else. In this book, you'll hear three coaches who have successfully coached pastors for many years. They will share their history, dreams, principles, and what God is doing through coaching. Our hope is that you'll be both inspired and resourced to continue your own coaching ministry in the years to come.

Pasar tiempo a diario con Jesús ¿es un deleite o una carga? ¡Este libro te mostrará cómo hacer que tu tiempo devocional con Dios sea la parte más emocionante y satisfactoria de tu día! Jesucristo quiere que cada cristiano crezca en una relación más profunda con Él. Sin embargo, tantas personas se estancan en la vida cristiana. ¡Crece! Profundiza tu relación con Cristo explica cómo tener diariamente un tiempo devocional para conocer a Cristo más íntimamente y crecer en madurez. Este libro ofrece abundante ayuda práctica para convertir la "rutina" de tus devociones en un hábito transformador y gozoso. Explica con claridad cómo buscar a Dios en el tiempo devocional y los asombrosos beneficios de experimentar a Dios día tras día. Se puede usar este libro en forma individual, en pequeños grupos o en un salón de clases. Al final del libro hay una sección para que un asesor pueda guiar a otra persona o personas a través de los contenidos de este libro. Los temas incluyen: Los beneficios de pasar un tiempo diario con Dios ¿ Pautas prácticas para empezar y mantener el tiempo devocional ¿ Cómo descubrir el gozo de Dios al buscarle ¿ La meditación en la Palabra de Dios ¿ Cómo entrar en la presencia de Dios ¿ Cómo oír la voz de Dios ¿ Cómo interceder por otros ¿ El ayuno ¿ El tomarse un día de descanso sabático

¿Qué sucedería si invitaras al Espíritu Santo a capacitar y transformar tu grupo celular desde dentro? El centro de atención de muchos grupos celulares hoy en día ha pasado de ser una transformación dirigida por el Espíritu a ser simplemente un estudio bíblico. Pero utilizar los dones espirituales de todos los miembros del grupo es vital para la eficacia del grupo. Con una perspectiva nacida de la experiencia de más de veinte años en el ministerio de grupos celulares, Joel Comiskey explica cómo tanto los líderes como los participantes pueden ser formados sobrenaturalmente para tratar temas de la vida real. Pon estos principios en práctica y ¡tu grupo celular nunca será el mismo!

La misión Elim en San Salvador ha crecido a aproximadamente 11,000 grupos celulares y 110,000 personas asistiendo a esas células. Adicionalmente, han plantado 125 iglesias celulares alrededor del mundo. ¿Cuál es el secreto de su éxito? ¿Por qué Dios ha bendecido y usado a esta iglesia? Elim ha aprendido que el modelo celular no es una estrategia de grupos pequeños; es una estrategia de liderazgo. El énfasis no es solamente comenzar grupos en casas sino equipar líderes para alcanzar su ciudad para Jesús. Ellos han desarrollado un plan concreto de entrenamiento para convertir a los miembros de la iglesia en cosechadores que lideran grupos celulares. Elim tiene éxito en esto y su iglesia ha florecido. El manual de entrenamiento que ahora tiene en sus manos es el mismo manual que ha entrenado miles de líderes celulares en San Salvador para recoger la cosecha.Este manual de entrenamiento, creado por Mario Vega, el Pastor General de Elim, es a la vez sencillo y claro. Este manual es hecho de 26 lecciones concisas y esbozadas que un maestro puede usar para entrenar creyentes a través de un proceso de crecimiento espiritual. Después de completar este entrenamiento, un líder potencial está equipado para comenzar su grupo celular. El Pastor Mario Vega explica cómo Elim usa este manual en la introducción.

PREFACIO POR MARIO VEGA, PASTOR GENERAL ¡Increíble! ¡Increíble! ¡Increíble! Ésta era la palabra que repetía para mí mismo una y otra vez al leer por vez primera el borrador del libro "La historia de Elim" de Joel Comiskey. Lo narrado en el libro es tan fuera de lo común que al ponerme imaginariamente en la posición de una tercera persona imparcial lo rechazaría por considerarlo exagerado y fuertemente inclinado a favor del modelo celular. El leer el libro de Joel me permitió ubicarme en la perspectiva de quien ve a la iglesia Elim desde afuera y tal visión me llevó a repetir: ¡Increíble! No podría este libro de "La historia de Elim" salir a circulación mundial sin que haya de mi parte un agradecimiento profundo por las importantes enseñanzas que el Pastor Cho ha dado a la iglesia cristiana universal no solamente sobre el modelo eclesial en el Nuevo Testamento, que conduce al crecimiento ya conocido, sino también sobre la fe, la oración, la dependencia del Espíritu Santo y la humildad. Dejo en sus manos esta historia de la iglesia Elim, muy bien elaborada por el Doctor Joel Comiskey, que probablemente usted la calificará de increíble. Pero verdadera, se lo aseguro. Mario Vega, Pastor General Iglesia Elim