It is now 1986, and the preachers of the Gospel United Church are preparing for their much-anticipated Triennial General Conference. The last time readers encountered the good Rev. Theophilus Simmons, he was a newlywed and the pastor of a modest-sized congregation in Memphis. Now he's the father of three and running a congregation in St. Louis. His best friend, Rev. Eddie Tate, is now with a fast growing church in Chicago, but he is getting real frustrated...

"The perfect recipe for friendship, Christmas Cake is a delightful read for the holidays. This is a book to be shared, a story to be treasured. "-Joan Medlicott, author of The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love In a long-awaited sequel to her beloved national bestseller Friendship Cake, author Lynne Hinton returns to the town of Hope Springs with Christmas Cake, a heartwarming story that celebrates the close and lifelong bonds among women. Set in...

Norma L. Jarrett's novels are peppered with humor, tragedy and faith in the Lord. In this raucous follow-up to Sunday Brunch, five girlfriends-Lexi, Capri, Jermane, Angel, and Jewel-find their lives becoming more and more chaotic, even as they discover God's plans have ways of making themselves clear. "Jarrett delivers the goods in this light, entertaining follow-up to Sunday Brunch."-Publishers Weekly

Avis Douglass and her husband, Peter, have dreamed of a two-year mission to South Africa. But when the economy crashes, they're suddenly faced with the real possibility of bankruptcy. When one of the co-pastors of SouledOut Community Church passes away suddenly, Avis and Peter are asked to step in and assist with the leadership of the church in the interim.

"This is a practical manual of everything our church did," says author Molly Phinney Baskette, "to reverse our death spiral and become the healthy, stable, spirited and robust community it is today evident in the large percentage of children and young adults in our church, and a six-fold increase in pledged giving in the last decade." Baskette, pastor of First Church Somerville UCC in the Boston area, strongly believes her church's strategies will...

"For a generation that has largely said, "count me out," church represents a complicated relationship of both longing and apathy. There's a history there- a past full of confusion and hurt, but a past that often is impossible to abandon. In Searching for Sunday, Rachel Evans exposes her own thorny relationship with the church, articulating the concerns, frustration, and hopes of many of her peers."-- back cover.

"It's easy to feel at home in Mitford. In these high, green hills, the air is pure, the village is charming, and the people are generally lovable. Yet, Father Tim, the bachelor rector, wants something more. Enter a dog the size of a sofa who moves in and won't go away. Add an attractive neighbor who begins wearing a path through the hedge. Now, stir in a lovable but unloved boy, a mystifying jewel theft, and a secret that's sixty years old. Suddenly,...

Calvary's Father James is a good priest who is faced with sinister and troubling circumstances brought about by a mysterious member of his parish. Although he continues to comfort his own fragile daughter and reach out to help members of his church with their various scurrilous moral, and often comic, problems, he feels sinister and troubling forces closing in, and begins to wonder if he will have the courage to face his own personal Calvary.