"I want to invite you to join me in slowing down and paying attention. I want you to feel comfortable asking questions of the numbers in the Bible. Most of all, I want you to come to the Bible confident that God will meet you there. This book is about the numbers in the Bible, but - more than that - it is a book about how to approach the Bible with anticipation and joy, rather than anxiety and fear."
- from the Introduction 

When we come across a number in the Bible, we know it must be important, but we often don't know how or why. As a pastor and bible teacher, Stephen C. Shaffer has spent years patiently studying the Bible and the numbers it contains. What he has discovered is that a few simple practices can help de-mystify the numbers in the Bible - not to uncover some secret code for the end times - but so that everyday disciples of Jesus can follow him more closely. Count the Stars is an attempt to help ordinary Christians grow in their confidence when reading the Bible. Filled with examples and practical advice, this book will deepen your reading of, not just biblical numbers, but all of Scripture. 

Biblical genealogies do not have to be intimidating. 

For many people, coming across a list of unfamiliar names in the Bible serves as a stumbling block. We know it should be important, but are unclear how to make sense of it. In The Sinews of Scripture, Stephen Shaffer demystifies the genealogies of the Bible and provides tools to read the whole Bible well. With chapters on the purpose of genealogies, how to read the Bible, and an exploration of eight different biblical genealogies, this book contains a wealth of information and practical advice of the everyday Bible reader. Drawing from years of preaching and teaching the genealogies, Stephen Shaffer will make the genealogies come alive and show how they draw the various parts of Scripture together and point us to Jesus. 

In a rootless world, we long for a place where we find peace, rest, and belonging. 

The soil of our society is not particularly well-suited for growing deep roots of character and Christian identity. The consistent pattern of uprooting our lives and families for a new job, a new opportunity, a new church has left our roots damaged, our friendships weak, and our souls drained. We long for a place where we are known, loved, and even challenged to live more fully. 

The longing for home, for place, for rootedness is ultimately a longing for Jesus. Wrestling with the biblical themes of land and exile, Rooted: Growing in Christ in a Rootless Age is a call to grow more at home in our true home, Jesus Christ. Walking along with Israel from Eden through the Exodus to the Exile, Stephen C. Shaffer shows how God both rooted and uprooted his people so that they would find their identity and center in God. 

How can we live faithfully in a world that feels like it is coming apart at the seams? 

In All Things Hold Together, Stephen C. Shaffer offers an invitation to return to an older, more humble, and yet more confident Christian faith. 

In Christ, all things hold together. Apart from him, things fall apart. The multitude of fractures in our world result from the removal of our center in Christ. Worldview is not a weapon. It was meant to mend the fractures opened up by the modern world. The recovery of a theological center, of a Christian worldview, is intended as a way of sewing back together what the modern world is ripping apart. Worldview serves to give voice to a way before and beyond the fractures, a world we have abandoned in order to rule ourselves.

All Things Hold Together works to recover this original purpose of Christian worldview and present it as a gift for faithfully navigating our contemporary culture.