Hopecasting – Finding, Keeping and Sharing the Things Unseen

About the Book

Why are some people full of hope, while many of us struggle to get past the snooze alarm? Hope often seems elusive—both to explain and to experience. So we find ourselves instead clinging to lesser substitutes. From self-medication to lazy clichés, we apply these balms to our pain and experience little to no comfort. But we know, in our guts, that these replacements aren?t the hope-filled lives we long for, the lives we were made for. Mark Oestreicher gets it. Through hard-wrought experience and robust-bordering-on-desperate theological reflection, he offers here a fresh perspective on Hope, that virtue that God carries to us even as God carries us. Read Hopecasting and discover a good God casting hope your way.

Table of Contents:

Foreword
Introduction: On the Service Road

1. I Want Hope
2. Exile: Life Without Hope
3. Identifying Hope?s Enemies
4. Positioning for Hope: Honesty with Ourselves
5. Positioning for Hope: Honest Cries to God
6. The Pushback: Fear
7. Jesus, the Hope-Bringer
8. Hope?s Arrival
9. Hope?s Dance Partner: Transformed Longings
10. Hopecasting

Acknowledgments
Further Reading
Notes

About the Author :

Mark Oestreicher is a partner in The Youth Cartel and has worked in churches in roles ranging from junior high pastor to executive pastor. The former president of Youth Specialties, Oestreicher has authored dozens of books.

Scot McKnight (Ph.D., University of Nottingham) is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. He is the author of The Jesus Creed, The King Jesus Gospel, A Community Called Atonement, Embracing Grace, The Real Mary and commentaries on James, Galatians and 1 Peter, and coeditor of the award-winning Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. He is also a widely recognized blogger at the Jesus Creed blog. His other interests include golfing, gardening and traveling.

Review :
"Hopecasting builds anticipation with each page while avoiding any hint of becoming a self-help, knowledge-based, or a principle-packed read. It is truly in its own class and incredibly easy to read. With Christians and ministry leaders as his main audience, Oestreicher draws out the contemplative traits in all of us to address something so simple and yet so profound as hope. . . . Hopecasting is a breath of fresh air and bursts with the things of God. I think it should be a featured and highlighted read for many months to come." "If you're out of optimism, regularly frustrated, and at risk of falling into cynicism, you definitely need to read and re-read this book." "Why are some people full of hope, while many of us struggle to get past the snooze alarm? Hope often seems elusive—both to explain and to experience. So we find ourselves instead clinging to lesser substitutes. From self-medication to lazy cliches, we apply these balms to our pain and experience little to no comfort. But we know, in our guts, that these replacements aren't the hope-filled lives we long for, the lives we were made for. Mark Oestreicher gets it. Through hard-wrought experience and robust-bordering-on-desperate theological reflection, he offers here a fresh perspective on Hope, that virtue that God carries to us even as God carries us." "Best of all is Oestreicher's premise that the hope of God's promise is for our lives now. If you desire to partner with God, Hopecasting provides a roadmap." "Deeply personal with a simple practicality, Mark Oestreicher's Hopecasting is simply a must-read."