Now a major motion picture starring Drew Barrymore, Ted Danson, Kristen Bell, Tim Blake Nelson, John Krasinski, and Vinessa Shaw—an account of the dramatic rescue of three gray whales trapped under the ice in Alaska in 1988. Set in Cold War–era 1988, Big Miracle tells the real story behind the remarkable, bizarre, and oftentimes uproarious event that mesmerized the world for weeks. On October 7, an Inuit hunter near Barrow, Alaska, found three California Gray whales imprisoned in the Arctic ice. In the past, as was nature's way, trapped whales always died. Not this time. Tom Rose, who was covering the event for a Japanese TV station, compellingly describes how oil company executives, environmental activists, Inupiat people, small business people, and the U.S. military boldly worked together to rescue the whales. He also tells the stories of some of the more than 150 international journalists who brought the story to the world's attention. The rescue was followed by millions of people around the world as Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev joined the forces of their two nations to help free the whales.

This all-in-one guide is designed to better equip clergy and the church leaders to meet their congregations' needs in a spiritually grounded and scientifically sound manner. Succinct, easy-to-read chapters summarize all a pastor needs to know about a given problem area, including its signs or symptoms, questions to ask, effective helping skills, and, most importantly, when to refer to a mental health professional. Synthesizing what research says about treatment approaches for mental health issues, this user-friendly reference is filled with guidelines, case scenarios, key points to remember, resources for further help, advice on integrating scripture and theology with the best available research, and tips on partnering with others to provide the best possible care for each church member. Each chapter is designed for quick lookup by problem area, empowering church leaders to understand and help meet the challenges facing the children, adults, families, and communities that they serve.

"The Journey will challenge you to ... find the kind of life you have always wanted to discover." -Tom Davis, President of Children's Hope Chest and author of Fields of the Fatherless, Scared and Priceless "The global orphan crisis is too serious to ignore, the biblical call is to plain to miss. I'm thrilled to see Journey to the Fatherless!" -Tony Merida, author of Orphanology, and Lead Pastor, Imago Dei Church and Associate Professor of Preaching, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary "The Journey will move a church from thinking to action in responding to the needs of fatherless children." -Jayne Schooler, author of Wounded Hearts, Healing Homes and The Whole Life Adoption Book "The Journey to the Fatherless is life-changing ..." -Paparao Yeluchuri, President, Missions to the Nations, India DOES THE CHURCH CARE FOR THE WORLD'S CHILDREN? The evidence on display tells a troubling story with an ever-increasing number of orphans in the world, kids aging out of foster care, AIDS babies in Africa, and toddlers in Haiti whose hair has turned orange from severe protein deficiencies. What makes this situation especially tragic is that given our wealth, talent, and resources, the Church can be a powerful agent of change-and we have the biblical mandate to do so. Do Christians have a responsibility to intercede for and sacrifice their resources for vulnerable children? What happens to the Church when we do? And when we don't? How do we begin? The Journey to the Fatherless is written by a former agnostic, corporate executive and inventor who was chased down by the Hound of Heaven. God then took him to the "fields of the fatherless" so he could experience what breaks the heart of God. What he discovered in serving the least of these has been captured for the Church to use to prepare others for their journey. The Journey takes the reader beyond Fields of the Fatherless and The Hole in Our Gospel into a deeper understanding of the problem and the biblical call to action.

The Porpoise with Purpose is a lighthearted rhyme that gently promotes the importance of making wise life choices. A sense of worth is gained in discovering the joy of living with a God-shaped purpose. The vivid, hand-painted illustrations capture the underwater meanderings of a loveable porpoise, his whimsical friends, and his entertaining quest to find purpose and meaning. Based on the Great Commandment of Matthew 22, this book is a delightful tool in building a rewarding sense of identity into young, imaginative lives. "Tragically, many adults meander through life without finding their God-given purpose. In her book A Porpoise with Purpose, Janice Behling lets little ones know that they are born with a destiny; they are born with God's dream inside them! She plants a seed in their hearts to pursue that purpose and live the adventure God has for them." --John Fornof, former writer/producer for Adventures in Odyssey, producer of Lamplighter Theatre audio series and The Extraordinary Adventures of G.A. Henty, author of Small Town, Big Miracle

Curl up and escape to three charming small towns with this box set of bestselling reads! Three heartwarming stories to start your next binge-read, together for the first time. Featuring Snow Angel Cove, The Shop on Blossom Street and Sweet Dreams on Center Street (previously published as Better Than Chocolate). Snow Angel Cove, the first story in RaeAnne Thayne’s Haven Point Series Nothing short of a miracle can restore Eliza Hayward’s Christmas cheer. The job she pinned her dreams on has gone up in smoke—literally—and now she’s stuck in an unfamiliar, if breathtaking, small town. Rescuing Eliza is pure instinct for tech genius Aidan Cain and putting the renovation of his lakeside guest lodge in Eliza’s hands assuages his guilt—until he sees how quickly he could fall for her. Having focused solely on his business for years, he never knew what his life was missing before Eliza, but now he’s willing to risk his heart on a yuletide romance that could lead to forever. The Shop on Blossom Street, the start of Debbie Macomber’s Blossom Street series There’s a little yarn store in Seattle called A Good Yarn. For the owner, Lydia Hoffman, it represents her dream of a new start—life after cancer. Lydia teaches knitting to beginners, and three very different women join the first class. The lesson is to each make a baby blanket, though separately, creating this craft is a chore to be tackled, a gesture of reconciliation, or an act of hope. As the lives of these four women knit together, they make unexpected discoveries—about themselves and each other. Discoveries that lead to understanding and acceptance, to laughter and friendship. Sweet Dreams on Center Street, the first novel in Sheila Roberts’ Life in Icicle Falls series (Previously published as Better Than Chocolate.) Sweet Dreams Chocolate Company has been in the Sterling family for generations, ever since Great-Grandma Rose literally dreamed up her first fabulous recipe. But now it looks as if they’re about to lose Sweet Dreams to the bank—and that would be a disaster, not only for the family but for the small town of Icicle Falls, Washington. Can Samantha, the oldest daughter and new head of the company, come up with a way to save it? After some brainstorming, inspiration strikes. They’ll have a chocolate festival! Time’s running out, but the Sterling women are determined and the town’s behind them, so everything’s bound to go smoothly… Discover your next favorite series, and enjoy a break to small towns where everyone helps out and love is just around the corner.

When Jessie Hawkins' adopted daughter told her she had another mom back in Ethiopia, Jessie didn't, at first, know what to think. She'd wanted her adoption to be great story about a child who needed a home and got one, and a family led by God to adopt. Instead, she felt like she'd done something wrong. Adoption has long been enmeshed in the politics of reproductive rights, pitched as a "win-win" compromise in the never-ending abortion debate. But as Kathryn Joyce makes clear in The Child Catchers, adoption has lately become even more entangled in the conservative Christian agenda. To tens of millions of evangelicals, adoption is a new front in the culture wars: a test of "pro-life" bona fides, a way for born again Christians to reinvent compassionate conservatism on the global stage, and a means to fulfill the "Great Commission" mandate to evangelize the nations. Influential leaders fervently promote a new "orphan theology," urging followers to adopt en masse, with little thought for the families these "orphans" may already have. Conservative evangelicals control much of that industry through an infrastructure of adoption agencies, ministries, political lobbying groups, and publicly-supported "crisis pregnancy centers," which convince women not just to "choose life," but to choose adoption. Overseas, conservative Christians preside over a spiraling boom-bust adoption market in countries where people are poor and regulations weak, and where hefty adoption fees provide lots of incentive to increase the "supply" of adoptable children, recruiting "orphans" from intact but vulnerable families. The Child Catchers is a shocking exposéf what the adoption industry has become and how it got there, told through deep investigative reporting and the heartbreaking stories of individuals who became collateral damage in a market driven by profit and, now, pulpit command. Anyone who seeks to adopt -- of whatever faith or no faith, and however well-meaning -- is affected by the evangelical adoption movement, whether they know it or not. The movement has shaped the way we think about adoption, the language we use to discuss it, the places we seek to adopt from, and the policies and laws that govern the process. In The Child Catchers, Kathryn Joyce reveals with great sensitivity and empathy why, if we truly care for children, we need to see more clearly.

Illustrates the hidden challenges embedded within the evangelical adoption movement. For over a decade, prominent leaders and organizations among American Evangelicals have spent a substantial amount of time and money in an effort to address what they believe to be the “Orphan Crisis” of the United States. Yet, despite an expansive commitment of resources, there is no reliable evidence that these efforts have been successful. Adoptions are declining across the board, and both foster parenting and foster-adoptions remain steady. Why have evangelical mobilization efforts been so ineffective? To answer this question, Samuel L. Perry draws on interviews with over 220 movement leaders and grassroots families, as well as national data on adoption and fostering, to show that the problem goes beyond orphan care. Perry argues that evangelical social engagement is fundamentally self-limiting and difficult to sustain because their subcultural commitments lock them into an approach that does not work on a practical level. Growing God’s Family ultimately reveals this peculiar irony within American evangelicalism by exposing how certain aspects of the evangelical subculture may stimulate activism to address social problems, even while these same subcultural characteristics undermine their own strategic effectiveness. It provides the most recent analysis of dominant elements within the evangelical subculture and how that subculture shapes the engagement strategies of evangelicals as a group.