"God is the silent partner in all great enterprises." -- Abraham Lincoln "In the months before our wedding, I searched the shelves of my favorite bookstores for a wedding book that I never found: A book that would celebrate my joy and acknowledge my fears. A book that would be a silent friend that wouldn't overwhelm me with week-by-week checklists and endless pictures of table settings. . . . I knew that before I began organizing the most important event of my life, I needed to organize my heart." Inviting God to Your Wedding is not just about planning for an event. It's about preparing for a miracle. Written with honesty, wisdom, and humor by Touched By An Angel Executive Producer Martha Williamson, with a special chapter for men by her husband and Co-Executive Producer Jon Andersen, this inspiring book is a "wedding handbook" for your spirit and your soul. Funny, thought-provoking, and thoroughly useful, it is filled with ideas, suggestions, and commonsense advice that focus on the most important aspect of every wedding: the coming together of a man and a woman "in the sight of God." From wedding showers to the wedding night, this personal workbook will help create a three-way partnership with God from the start, one that will sustain couples in times of crisis as well as triumph and joy. Inviting God to Your Wedding will become an encouraging handbook of comfort, and celebration in the weeks and months before your wedding, and a treasured book of memories throughout your marriage. From the Hardcover edition.

"God is the silent partner in all great enterprises." -- Abraham Lincoln "In the months before our wedding, I searched the shelves of my favorite bookstores for a wedding book that I never found: A book that would celebrate my joy and acknowledge my fears. A book that would be a silent friend that wouldn't overwhelm me with week-by-week checklists and endless pictures of table settings. . . . I knew that before I began organizing the most important event of my life, I needed to organize my heart." Inviting God to Your Wedding is not just about planning for an event. It's about preparing for a miracle. Written with honesty, wisdom, and humor by Touched By An Angel Executive Producer Martha Williamson, with a special chapter for men by her husband and Co-Executive Producer Jon Andersen, this inspiring book is a "wedding handbook" for your spirit and your soul. Funny, thought-provoking, and thoroughly useful, it is filled with ideas, suggestions, and commonsense advice that focus on the most important aspect of every wedding: the coming together of a man and a woman "in the sight of God." From wedding showers to the wedding night, this personal workbook will help create a three-way partnership with God from the start, one that will sustain couples in times of crisis as well as triumph and joy. Inviting God to Your Wedding will become an encouraging handbook of comfort, and celebration in the weeks and months before your wedding, and a treasured book of memories throughout your marriage. From the Hardcover edition.

Leadership in Small Churches inspires and equips men and women who are called to serve in churches of less than 100 people, which are the majority of churches in the United States. Small churches in the United States suffer from a lack of leadership. On the one hand, there is a shortage of leaders. On the other hand, leaders who serve faithfully sometimes feel ill-equipped to carry out their calling due to inadequate training, especially a lack of training specific to small churches. This volume provides guidance from scholars and practitioners with experience in small churches. Because of their experience in and commitment to ministry in small churches, these writers are well qualified to discuss the breadth of topics in this book. These topics include developing vision, handling conflict, pastoral care, preaching, discipleship, ministry to youth and children, missions, and identifying and training leaders.

Christian Marriage Companion is one of the most comprehensive and authoritative books on the biblical model of marriage and family. It is a blueprint on what an ideal Christian marriage is and how to achieve it. It exhaustively explains the ordinance and covenant of marriage, its central and peripheral purposes, role relationships of man and wife, how to push beyond intimacy into marital unity, hindrances to a happy marriage, how to resolve confl icts, and how to achieve a blissful Christian marriage. It fully examines issues such as same-sex marriage, oral sex, use of sex toys, pornography, masturbation, divorce, remarriage, effective communication, forgiveness, adultery, and active listening. With over 300 Bible references and real-life examples from marital counselling sessions, the book covers virtually all the knowledge and skills for making a Christian marriage a true success. It is a manual covering all that a person needs to know to bring full healing to their marriage, making the book a veritable alternative to face-to-face counselling. It reveals striking truths about Christian marriage that will be extremely hard to fi nd elsewhere. These include an in-depth analysis of the marriage proclamation, the idea that emotional and spiritual education is the central purpose of marriage, the idea of spiritual divorce, and the idea that Christian marriages aim at a deeper-than-intimate relationship. Christian Marriage Companion is the kind of book you simply place on the shelf for your spouse to read in their own time. They will fi nd it absolutely compelling to read. As they do so, only the stone-hearted will resist being reformed by it. Newlywed couples and those looking to improve their marriage would fi nd this book most useful. Although it was written specifi cally for Christian couples of all denominations, it has great potentials for positively impacting the marriages of non-Christians who read it with open minds. The Christian marriage ideals it teaches are unsurpassable and altruistic.

What exactly does it take to make marriage strong? Ron and Jody Zappia were on the brink of divorce. It was their first year of marriage and already things were falling apart. They desperately searched for anything that would help. And then, suddenly, everything changed. Today, the Zappias lead The Knot Marriage Conference where they present seven transformative principles that saved their marriage. The Marriage Knot teaches these same principles to new audiences. Full of wisdom, humor, and refreshing transparency, The Marriage Knot unpacks the choices successful couples make. Marriage, like a knot, has to be kept tight. Left to itself, it loosens over time and can completely unravel. This highly practical book focuses on the everyday decisions you can make to rejuvenate and restore your marriage. Delving into topics like communication, sex, conflict resolution, and more, it offers the tools you need for life-long marriage health. Whether you’re engaged, newlyweds, or seasoned marriage veterans, this book will help make your marriage strong, no matter what pressures attempt to unravel it.

Many Christian books talk about sexual issues within broader works on marriage, but few resources comprehensively and biblically guide couples specifically on sexual intimacy. God, Sex, and Your Marriage challenges the common assumptions couples have about sexuality and presents the richer biblical narrative of sex as a metaphor of God’s covenant love. Dr. Juli Slattery applies that biblical framework to the practical challenges in sexual intimacy. Godly sexuality extends far beyond sexual purity and calls us to sexual integrity. God invites every couple to view their sexual relationship, including their greatest struggles, as an avenue to learn about the nature of His covenant love. It’s God desire to make us more like Himself and sex within marriage is often a powerful training ground for godly character. That desire gives purpose and context to addressing pornography, healing from past wounds, sexual incompatibility, pursuing pleasure together, and forgiveness.

Every couple has a restless aching, not just to know God individually but to experience God together. Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts Devotional gives you a road map for cultivating rich spiritual intimacy in your relationship. Written by the creators of the most widely used pre-marriage program in the world, this devotional includes fifty-two weekly meditations help the two of you grow closer than you've ever imagined. Each week you'll find: An insightful devotion focusing on real-life issues A key passage of Scripture Questions that spark meaningful discussions Stories from well-known couples, including Jefferson & Alyssa Bethke, Gary & Karolyn Chapman, Dave & Sharon Ramsey, Francis & Lisa Chan, and Keith & Beth Moore A brief prayer that will help you both draw closer together and to God This book will guide you on your marriage journey to make it all God intends it to be. Start building on the closeness you've got today – and reap the rewards of a more satisfying relationship as you enjoy the intimacy of lifelong love together.