Having Nothing, Possessing Everything
Finding Abundant Communities in Unexpected Places
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Narrated by:
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Trevor Thompson
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By:
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Michael Mather
About this listen
Pastor Mike Mather arrived in Indianapolis thinking that he was going to serve the poor. But after his church’s community lost nine young men to violence in a few short months, Mather came to see that the poor didn’t need his help - he needed theirs.
This is the story of how one church found abundance in a community of material poverty. Viewing people - not programs, finances, or service models - as their most valuable resource moved church members beyond their own walls and out into the streets, where they discovered folks rich in strength, talents, determination, and love.
Mather’s Having Nothing, Possessing Everything will inspire listeners to seek justice in their own local communities and to find abundance and hope all around them.
©2018 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (P)2020 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing CompanyListeners also enjoyed...
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- Finding Deep Friendships in a Shallow World
- By: Dick Foth, Ruth Foth
- Narrated by: Dick Foth, Ruth Foth
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In a shallow light-speed world, how can we really know and be known by another person? How do we make true friends? The Digital Age is all about change, but the need for true friendship never changes. We are designed for real engagement with others - for affirmation that goes beyond a simple "like" on social media, for connection over meals, for hope and excitement about the future. Above all, we need to be known and accepted for who we are.
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Love the Foths
- By Jenni B on 07-22-17
By: Dick Foth, and others
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Uncluttered
- Free Your Space, Free Your Schedule, Free Your Soul
- By: Courtney Ellis
- Narrated by: Courtney Ellis
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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This guide is not a formula about what stuff you need to give up. It's about slowing down long enough for God to remind you of his truth and what it means to be his child. Through heartwarming, relatable, and hilarious stories, Courtney Ellis shares her journey from a life of stress, stuff, and exhaustion to one of peace, space, and fulfillment. You'll learn practical tips for paring down your possessions, simplifying your schedule, and practicing the ancient art of Sabbath - even if you're a parent! Uncluttered ushers you towards a lifestyle of holiness and joy in the Lord.
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Outstanding and Eye Opening
- By Kathy Albritton on 01-03-20
By: Courtney Ellis
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Raising World Changers in a Changing World
- How One Family Discovered the Beauty of Sacrifice and the Joy of Giving
- By: Kristen Welch
- Narrated by: Jaimee Draper
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Almost any parent you asked would tell you that they want their children to be happy, successful adults. But many of us forget (or never knew to begin with) that lasting personal joy is not necessarily found the way the world says it is - through reaching a certain socioeconomic status, having a certain job, buying a certain house, or having a certain amount in one's bank account. In fact, says Kristen Welch, author of Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World, personal satisfaction comes not from grabbing onto things but from holding them with an open hand and, very often, giving them away.
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wasn't expecting the Jesus
- By Kitty kat on 12-01-19
By: Kristen Welch
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Billy Graham
- The Man I Knew
- By: Greg Laurie, Marshall Terrill
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Pastor and bestselling author Greg Laurie was one of those fortunate few blessed with an insider’s view of Billy Graham’s world for more than two decades. With the same painstaking research and eye for detail that distinguishes his previous biographies, Steve McQueen: Salvation of an American Icon and Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon, Laurie now turns to the life of his beloved mentor, offering the intimate perspective of a disciple and friend.
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Very well done
- By Beverly Heidrick Baker on 05-06-21
By: Greg Laurie, and others
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Fix It
- By: Rob Ketterling
- Narrated by: Rob Ketterling
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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It may sound simplistic, but it’s not. The genius of this book is how Rob Ketterling targets the problems all leaders face, deconstructs them, and wrote a book that will be a lifesaver for all who listen to it. This book is not just for leaders of churches, corporations, or organizations. The truths and concepts apply to all walks of life - including our homes.
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Super practical and helpful
- By GVPuma on 02-11-23
By: Rob Ketterling
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Rebuilt
- Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, Making Church Matter
- By: Michael White, Tom Corcoran
- Narrated by: Michael White, Tom Corcoran
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on the wisdom gleaned from thriving mega-churches and innovative business leaders while anchoring their vision in the Eucharistic center of Catholic faith, Fr. Michael White and lay associate Tom Corcoran present the compelling and inspiring story to how they brought their parish back to life. Rebuilt is a story of stopping everything and changing focus. When their parish reached a breaking point, Fr. Michael White and lay associate Tom Corcoran asked themselves how they could make the Church matter to Catholics.
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Don't Do What's Suggested Unless You Will OWN IT.
- By Julia S on 02-06-18
By: Michael White, and others
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The Long Loneliness
- The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist
- By: Dorothy Day
- Narrated by: Nancy Linari
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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When Dorothy Day died in 1980, the New York Times eulogized her as “a nonviolent social radical of luminous personality...founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and leader for more than 50 years in numerous battles of social justice.” Here, in her own words, this remarkable woman tells of her early life as a young journalist in the crucible of Greenwich Village political and literary thought in the 1920s, and of her momentous conversion to Catholicism that meant the end of a Bohemian lifestyle and common-law marriage.
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Required reading for any who work in poverty
- By marguerite allred-crawford on 11-16-20
By: Dorothy Day
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My Life, My Love, My Legacy
- By: Coretta Scott King, Barbara Reynolds
- Narrated by: January LaVoy, Phylicia Rashad
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The life story of Coretta Scott King - wife of Martin Luther King Jr., founder of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, and singular 20th-century American civil rights activist - as told fully for the first time, toward the end of her life, to one of her closest friends. Born in 1927 to daringly enterprising Black parents in the Deep South, Coretta Scott had always felt called to a special purpose.
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Inspirational memoir
- By Jean on 01-30-17
By: Coretta Scott King, and others
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Dream with Me
- Race, Love, and the Struggle We Must Win
- By: John M. Perkins, Randy Alcorn - foreword
- Narrated by: Calvin Robinson
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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A trailblazer in the civil rights movement, John M. Perkins led voter registration efforts in 1964, worked for school desegregation in 1967, and was jailed and tortured in 1970. He is no less zealous today as he sees a new generation of freedom fighters battling the same issues and the same systems he has spent his life working to correct.
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Thoughts from a Christian elder
- By Adam Shields on 03-02-17
By: John M. Perkins, and others
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The Cause Within You
- Finding the One Great Thing You Were Created to Do in This World
- By: Matthew Barnett
- Narrated by: Matt Baugher
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Matthew Barnett, son of a well-known megachurch pastor, discovered his great cause when he relinquished his dream of building a big, successful church like his father’s and began listening for God’s dream for his life. Sensing that God was calling him to serve the poor and powerless of Los Angeles, Matthew founded the Dream Center, a beacon of hope for homeless families, drug addicts, abused women and children, victims of human trafficking, teen runaways, gang members, and many others whose lives were filled with brokenness.
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Your Cause Isn’t Nearly as Hard to Find as You Might Think
- By Kari on 12-30-22
By: Matthew Barnett
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Thrive
- Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way
- By: Dan Buettner
- Narrated by: Michael McConnohie
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first book to identify demographically proven happiness hotspots worldwide, researcher and explorer Dan Buettner documents the happiest people on earth and reveals how we can create our own happy zones. Detailing extraordinary new discoveries and meticulous research on four continents, Buettner observes happiness in unlikely places and gleans surprising insight into what generates contentment and what it means to thrive.
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Around the world with circular reasoning
- By Andy on 05-17-11
By: Dan Buettner
What listeners say about Having Nothing, Possessing Everything
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- pcull
- 03-21-24
An inspiring story of love in action
This is an amazing story of a church that is making a real difference in the community in which it is located. I loved the real-life examples and the way that the 'helpers' valued and listened to their neighbors.
As someone who has studied "Asset-Based Community Development" and similar concepts, this book was a breath of fresh air that showed how these principles can be applied in practical ways in real life. I strongly recommend it to all who are involved in community development or ministry, as well as to students and researchers who want to hear inspiring stories of how these models, when applied with humility and sensitivity, can make a real difference to real people.
The narration worked well and, to be honest, my only disappointment with this book was that it isn't longer!
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- Gregory K Tucker
- 10-21-20
Must-Read for services & Non-Profits
Such an important perspective for us all to understand, and infuse into our relationships. A dramatic learning for our “giving,” charity, non-profits, social services and low-income housing. And For how we “serve” our Senior population.
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- Michael
- 08-14-20
A Challenging message to give it ALL away for something better!
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
A challenging message for our materialist instant gratification times. The embrace of this message will change your life - no doubt! Your gain will be a treasure you will not find any other way.
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- Preacher
- 01-24-24
Inspirational and practical
Must read for anyone wanting to see change in your communities and the people in them.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-01-24
Misread words
The narrator missaid several words during his narration. I realized this because I read along with the audio.
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- Adam Shields
- 04-27-20
Story filled reimagining of ministry
I have read many books on 'urban ministry' or community development. I have a master's degree in social service administration, and my job is non-profit consulting. Having Nothing, Possessing Everything is not a unique take, but it is well told. In an overly simplified form, this is a church that has taken the Asset Based Community Development model (look to develop the strengths of the community more than bringing in resources to address the weaknesses.) I broadly support the ABCD model, but it is not simple to implement well (or easily replicable), and some use the model as an excuse not to address systemic issues or immediate needs.
I think the story focus of Having Nothing, Possessing Everything does an excellent job of exploring what is and is not meant here. Mather takes on traditional social ministry, unconstrained capitalism, consumerism, and the lack of resources in a helpful way. I wish he dealt more directly with race, although it is in the background throughout the book.
At the end of the book, there is an exploration of a set of six principles that I think are helpful. They are the principle that guides both how partnerships work and the ideals of the church
Our neighbors are God's people. Act like it
Everything begins with and builds on the gifts of our neighbors.
Parents and guardians are the first and best teachers. Respect this.
We invest first and foremost in the good the people of the neighborhood seek.
Money must flow into the neighborhood.
Practice neighbor love.
As part of fulfilling the six principles, the church stopped tracking standard goals and started 'gamifying' their targets. (You can read more about this in the quote toward the bottom of this page). The following quote is an example of how the team received points:
"Count the number of times you ate with someone and reminded them during the meal of the communion that Jesus shared with his friends on Maundy Thursday and of Christ’s presence at their table. Count the number of times you went and offered forgiveness to someone who was laboring under guilt and shame. Count the number of times you threw a party to celebrate the presence and power of God’s love in the people and parish around you. Count the number of times you took your Bible and read a story to someone whose life you see in that particular story. Count the number of times you posted on Facebook celebrating in concrete and joyful ways the discipleship/vocation of the people in your parish."
Throughout the book, Mather mostly told stories of other people. He illustrated how he learned, but the success stories mainly were of others. This isn't only an excellent method, it appears to be essential to actually how the church has had success. Michael Mather was the pastor, but without a partner who primarily worked in the community and made personal connections and listened to people's stories and helped discern gifts and skills around the church, Mather's ability to pastor and get funding, and tell stories would have been worthless. Because it is in hearing stories and building relationships where this type of work matters. And where the church ministry understands most deeply was in how they did not orient the relationships around them (you relate to me, and I relate to this other person), they sought ways to facilitate involvement and connection outside of themselves.
Where I do lament a bit is that many people are doing similar work, but the stories told publicly, and the books published are still mostly done by old White guys. Mather certainly has put in his time and faithfully done ministry. But as he points out, most of that ministry wasn't done by him or thought up by him. Mather was slower to learn than many of those around him that were teaching him. But he still was the one that published the book and told the stories. He is undoubtedly skilled at telling them, but the reality of the world is market forces and a lot of unstated assumptions impact who tells stories. And we do not hear all of the stories that should be told, and in many cases, some of the good stories like this may point to others, or they may inoculate readers from hearing better, more representative stories.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-07-20
Inspiring ideas for urban ministry
This pastor has learned so much in his years of living and working in inner cities. Now, as a seasoned pastor, he shares that knowledge and real stories of hope and change in this inspirational narrative. He is not condescending to those who may have done ministry (especially in an urban setting) a different way from his, but he does encourage you to take another look at how and why you do ministry the way you do. And he would challenge you to consider if there is another, unique or effective way which might yield better results.
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- Bruce Cline
- 04-17-20
A must-read for people in the social sector
Having Nothing, Possessing Everything, by Michael Mather (Audible Audio Book). Published 2018. [NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.] This book is part of the Christian literature genre, but it’s message goes far beyond any particular faith. The author writes of his experiences in low income communities, and rather than searching for and addressing the needs of those residents, he and his parishioners looked for the assets of the individuals who are, more often than not, considered (and treated as) recipients of services. This is a perspective promoted most famously by John L.McKnight and John P. Kretzmann in the 1990s. In this instance, it appears Pastor Mather came upon the idea of looking for community strengths rather than weaknesses through his own work and that of others in the neighbors in which his two parishes were situated. In short, instead of deciding what each community needed — the traditional nonprofit and government approach — his churches began refusing to throw money at problems, at least directly. Instead, they established personal relationships with individuals and families, and through conversation and small family-oriented meetings, discovered the skills, talents, dreams, and wishes of specific people. When those were revealed, his church supported them in various ways. Bakers, cooks, artists, tutors and others with skills were identified and sometimes hired to provide their services, often jumpstarting small businesses. If a parishioner came to them with a request for money the answer was “no.” If the requester didn’t immediately leave, s/he was engaged in a conversation about what were his/her strengths and talents. When they identified what they could do, what they could teach or otherwise share with others, they were supported. They even got to the point where staff would be fired if they tried to directly help parishioners in the traditional ways: giving them money. This entire story is, naturally, framed within a strong Christian sensibility, but it’s message applies to anyone and anywhere. Discovering what people can do, and supporting them, has the potential to revitalize communities, often in areas where traditional service programs fail. When people are successful and see the success of those close to them, learn problem solving skills, and refuse to see themselves in negative ways often perpetuated by well-meaning but ineffectual service providers, they can revitalize their own neighbors in ways others can’t. A weakness of this otherwise very good book is the lack of examples showing where they failed with this ‘new’ approach and how they dealt with those poor outcomes. I would have liked to hear from others within the author’s churches who supported this fairly radical approach to social services. Without those stories, it comes across as a universally successful program, which seems highly unlikely. Regardless, I highly recommend this book to people in the large service provider sector. At a minimum it is thought-provoking and at best could be life-changing. [By the way, this is the third audio book I’ve listened to narrated by Trevor Thompson. He is so good that I’d be tempted to listen to him reading an audio book version of a dictionary.]
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- Cody Cook
- 04-17-20
A thought provoking read
I wasn't sure if I'd like the book from the introduction. There were vague platitudes about the "strength" and "beauty" of people in need, etc. But as the book continued and the author began to give practical advice based on numerous experiences to support his claim that ministry to the "needy" should be based on nurturing their gifts rather than meeting what we think their needs are, it quickly became a book that was hard to put down. If you are involved in any kind of ministry or work which addresses people in need, you should read this.
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