This resource for individual and group study explores what it means to be a deacon in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Addressing both the leadership and spiritual requirements of the position, Your Calling as a Deacon offers new and seasoned deacons the direction, understanding, and encouragement to serve God and church.

Inspired, well-trained, and spiritually mature deacons can be a mighty force for the church, and local American churches need their servants to excel in their ministry and service to the Body of Christ now more than ever. Most pastors and deacons in America are sincere in their desire to serve, but many do not receive enough advanced orientation, and even more receive no ongoing training at all. This lack can create much frustration and may even overwhelm deacons and their families as they try to manage the minefields of ministry. Daily Devotions for Deacons, by Russell R. Cook, guides deacons in daily preparation for their enormous and invaluable task and inspires them to become all Christ means for them to be. This guide for deacons offers a year of brief yet deeply spiritual and relevant biblical devotions. For a few moments a day, five days a week, all who desire to live as fully devoted followers of Christ will benefit from Cooks years of teaching and training pastors and deacons across America. By learning the principles and qualities necessary for a strong, effective ministry, and by applying these same qualities of service in everyday life, we begin to fulfill our God-given role and draw ever closer to His presence and His truth.

Be the leader God intended you to be! Churches often elect deacons and fail to give them the training they need to accomplish their task, assuming that if one is qualified to become a deacon, he doesn't need training. This assumption has proven injurious both to the individual deacon and to the body of Christ. Dr. Ledbetter is one of the most qualified leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention to assist deacons in becoming the leader God intended them to be. As a pastor, he worked with deacons in four growing churches. Since entering evangelism in January 1984, he has conducted several hundred deacon retreats in both small and large churches across America, in addition to conducting revivals. To be an effective leader, a deacon must have a right relationship with Christ, his family, his church, his pastor, and with himself. This book discusses each of these relationships and provides spiritual insights that will help not only deacons, but every Christian leader to become all God intended them to be.

In this book, we will examine the history and subsequent development of the Deacon's office in the Church. In addition, we will learn how the first men who were appointed to serve in the Church are the standard for which deacons and servants are to evaluate their service today. In doing so, the Church, deacons, and those called to serve will benefit from mutual understanding and cooperation.

Winner of a first-place award in the collection of prayers category from the Catholic Media Association. Greg Kandra’s A Deacon Prays—the essential prayer book for Catholic deacons—is a practical, daily companion that speaks to deacons as no other book has because it comes from Kandra, creator of The Deacon’s Bench blog and one of the most popular voices and enthusiastic advocates of the diaconate in the Church today. Kandra left a successful career as a television news writer and producer to become a Catholic deacon after the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. Covering the devastating story set Kandra on a spiritual quest that led to his ordination in 2007. He serves a parish in the Diocese of Brooklyn. In A Deacon Prays, Kandra has written prayers to greatly strengthen a deacon’s spiritual life and richly enhance his ministry. There are prayers for daily life and seasons; for service in particular ministries; to patron saints; of devotion tailored for deacons; of petition and intercession; and marking special times in the life of a deacon. This is an indispensable addition to any deacon’s prayer corner, briefcase, or glove compartment, and will be a popular gift for ordinations, birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions in the life of a Catholic deacon. With about 20,000 deacons serving the Catholic Church in the United States, the permanent diaconate is its fastest-growing vocation. Deacons serve in parishes, dioceses, schools, health care, social service agencies, and many more ministries throughout the Church.