Showing results by narrator "Nan Mcnamara" in All Categories

Jen, Faith, and Carrie have worked hard to make sure that the Newport Harbor house is out of the woods and stays in the family. New plans, a new future for Faith's pillow business and new love for Jen and Carrie are on the horizon. But the unexpected high tide from the full moon coupled with high winds put the house—and their dreams—in jeopardy once again. All hands on deck are required to keep everything on track, and the friends come together to ensure the future of the house—and their plans.

With Jen and Carrie at the beach full time, it's gotten harder by the week for Faith to return to her job inland as a new life has been unfolding for her at the beach on the weekends. Her part time job at the boutique has taken more and more of her time as the owner becomes increasingly scarce. Her daughter, Maggy, has been visiting more frequently, with all the ups and downs that brings. Jen's son, Max, has been spending time in Newport as well, and Faith still holds out hope that Maggy and Max might end up together.

It took Jen and her best friends Carrie and Faith all summer to save the beach house. And none of them could have realized how much it would change their lives. Jen's making a new life for herself in Newport, facing new challenges and new relationships. The beginning of the school year calls Faith back to her kindergarten classroom while she tries to juggle that and her job at the boutique. But Carrie—Carrie's life is about to be turned completely upside down when the stepdaughter she thought she'd lost forever turns up on her doorstep.

It was a blood-curdling crime that rocked the town to its core, leaving some with permanent scars and others with deep regrets. A young girl had been brutally slain. Memories were beginning to fade, but during the renovation of the old parsonage, the murder rears its ugly head again when workers discover a time-ravaged portrait of the young victim. Conservator Annora Garde is hired by the local police to clean the painting and expose what lies buried within it.

Widow Jen Watson's grown boys are on their own, and she's looking forward to having a blissful summer at the family beach house with her lifelong best friends, for the first time in years—until she finds out her family has been scheming to sell it. Just the thought of losing her late grandmother's home and all the memories it holds makes her head spin, even though it needs quite a bit more fixing up than her family is willing to do. But Jen and her best friends will do just about anything to keep the house in the family. Especially when a long lost friend comes back into Jen's life.

In a world marked by transience, envy, and rootlessness, committing to staying put is a radical, unusual act. Hungry for rootedness, Courtney Ellis and her family decided to truly commit to a place and a people God had given them for a season, to grow some deep roots and discover what it would mean to be “all in.” Through winsome storytelling, Courtney demonstrates that there is tremendous growth when we stop holding a community at arms’ length and open ourselves to the blessing of stability, the grace of limits, and the joy of presence.

You're not alone in your ministry. And you don't have to suffer in silence. Ministry is a stressful vocation, with unspoken expectations, projected anxieties, and conflicting demands. After the pandemic caused a sudden shift to online worship and factions fighting over when and how to return to in-person worship, pastors have been leaving congregational ministry at even higher rates than usual. The emotional fallout of burnout and abuse at the hands of parishioners is something pastors carry for years, whether they stay or leave the congregation.

Is your church a rowboat church or a sailboat church? Rowboat churches depend largely on human effort. When church budgets shrink and membership declines, rowboat churches frantically row harder against a current. Sailboat churches, on the other hand, take up the oars, hoist sails, and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide them. Arguing that churches should be "sailboats," Joan S. Gray encourages listeners to shift concern from the many daily, practical concerns of their local church to fresh ideas that can be found using the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

What is your purpose in life? This is the question we ask ourselves far too often. In Lean Forward Into Your Life, author Mary Anne Radmacher invites you to find a new way to live: by leaning forward. When you’re trying to see something better, you lean toward it. When you are listening to someone and can barely hear, you lean in. When the really exciting part of a basketball game comes, you lean forward in your seat. When you’re trying to catch, to see, to listen to the best bits—you lean forward.

We in the church do not speak the same language as the culture. We use many of the same words, but they rarely mean the same thing. And speaking louder isn't the answer. If we are to faithfully and effectively share the Good News, we have to translate Jesus. Embracing and unpacking the bilingual nature of spreading the gospel, pastor and teacher Shauna Pilgreen shows you how to learn the language of the culture so that you can clearly communicate the love of God in the three places Christ and culture meet: the gate, the cross, and the table.

Their authentic podcast conversations spill over the pages of this book and explore how the kitchen can be a place where the things we care about most in the world are reflected in the foods we prepare and the way we prepare them. In a world where disconnection from the earth, our food, our faith, and each other is becoming the norm, Weston and Woofenden bring together voices of hope who are working for a world of organic reconnections. They invite us to dig deeply into the complexity of ecology and food systems, as well as how faith communities are connected to them.

American history has profoundly shaped, and been shaped by, Christianity. This engaging introduction provides a brisk and lively yet deeply researched survey of these intertwined forces from the colonial period to the present. Elesha Coffman tells the story of Christianity in the United States by focusing on thirteen key events over four centuries of history. The turning points are as varied as the movements they track, including a naval battle, a revival, a schism, a court case, an outpouring of the Spirit, an act of terrorism, the election of a bishop, and the election of a president.

On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, asserting that the Constitution did not confer the right to abortion. This ruling, in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case, was the culmination of a half-century of pro-life activism promoting the idea that fetuses are people and therefore entitled to the rights and protections that the Constitution guarantees. But it was also the product of a much longer history of archaic ideas about the relationship between pregnant people and the fetuses they carry.

This epic novel follows one extraordinary American woman as she grieves and triumphs through the horrific realities of three wars that threaten the men she loves.

There are more challenges than ever facing you at work: Many corporate cultures still struggle to fully respect differences. Health impacts at work and at home are rising from ever-present technology and the wake of COVID-19. And recession threats can wreak havoc on job security. As a result, too many rising stars like you get pushed out of the leadership pipeline, suffer through toxic work situations, or see their careers cut short. Don’t stay in a job that is the wrong fit. Go! shows you how to listen to your gut and make a thoughtful and savvy plan toward a truly fulfilling career.

Ditch negative thought patterns and comparisons, and step into God’s promises with these 10-minute devotions for teens and young adults. With more pressure than ever to have it all and curate the perfect life, it’s a daily challenge to preserve our happiness and inner peace. Embracing Imperfect contains a year’s worth of assurances that God loves you, exactly as you are.

In May of 1976, twenty-four-year-old Carol Menaker was impaneled with eleven others on a jury in the trial of Freddy Burton, a young Black prison inmate charged with the grisly murders of two white wardens inside Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison. After being sequestered for twenty-one days, the jury voted to convict Mr. Burton, who was then sentenced to life in prison without parole.