How Do Working Parents Juggle Church Activities?

In homes throughout the United States, both husbands and wives hold outside jobs. This includes Christians as well as non-Christian families. How do these families manage to balance their work, home, and church responsibilities? How do they continue to include the church in their hectic schedules? How do church leaders minister to the stresses involved in two-paycheck families? How can they best utilize these church members who constantly are short on time?

Journalists Louis and Kay Moore interviewed numerous other Christian, two-paycheck couples to see how these were coping with such conflicts. In this book, When You Both Go to Work: How Two-Paycheck Families Can Stay Active in the Church the Moores share what they have learned from these couples and from their own experiences about setting priorities, budgeting time, learning when to say no (and when to say yes), and dealing lovingly with criticism.

When You Both Go to Work answers questions such as:

* What does the Bible say about women working outside the home?

* Does being a two-paycheck family go against God's plan for men and women?

* How can I decided which church activities to attend and which to give up when my time is limited?

* How do I deal with disagreements with fellow Christians about this important issue?

* How can I as a church leader make my programs more responsive to the needs of two-paycheck families?

* How can I plan wisely so that heavy demands on my time don't endanger my spiritual life?

Become One in Marriage Through Oneness in Christ

As we focus another day on the health of our families during Family Wellness Month, we want to continue with a second book on marriage.

God's goal for marriage is oneness:

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh" (Eph. 5:31).

God's standard for relationship with Him is the mystery of oneness as well:
"I in them and You in me . . ." (John 17:23).
"The mystery, Christ in you . . ." (Col. 1:27).

Sadly, many Christians never even come close to either of these desires that God has for us.
Without oneness with God, oneness in marriage remains an illusive quest. Learning to be spiritually empowered in the pursuit of both of these goals is the key.

The Miracle of Oneness: Becoming One in Marriage Through Oneness with God, by Ed Malone, seeks to be your guide as you allow God to fulfill His great desire for you and your marriage.

Author Ed Malone is pastor of Christ's Community Church in Cookeville, Tennessee, with 35 years experience as pastor and counselor. He and his wife, Gale, have been married for 40 years and enjoy life together on their farm. They have two children and eight grandchildren. Ed holds an M.Div. degree from Southern Seminary.

Focus on Your Marriage for Your Family's Benefit

We now move from focusing on your kids and keeping them safe, to improving your relationship as a couple. The first book we'll highlight, Sex 101: Over 350 Creative Ways to a Godly, Loving, Pleasurable Marriage, is about the enjoyment of the physical union that God created between man and woman. What husband and wife don't, at some point, want their physical relationship invigorated?

Authors John and Cathy Gries believe the God who created hormones and sexual impulses and put them within our physical framework, intended for marriage partners to enjoy each others' bodies. They wrote Sex 101 to help couples be better stewards of God's good gift of sex, within the confines of monogamous marriage.

In clean, non-academic, specific language, the Grieses outline more than 350 imaginative ways that members of a married duo can reframe the art of lovemaking. Without even leaving the perimeters of home, a couple can rekindle the spark--sometimes through no more than a mere word, touch, or slight change of the environment.

New Dad Sees God in Different Light after Fatherhood

Three degrees in theology, years in the pastorate, daily immersion in the Scriptures: they all taught Greg Ammons head knowledge of God. But not until he and his wife, Lisa, became late-in-life, first-time parents with the birth of their son, Camden, did Greg truly "see"--experience the matchless understanding of--the God he had worshiped and served for decades.

After years of barrenness ended with his son's miracle birth, Greg suddenly began to experience love from the role of a father personally. His book, Now My Eye Sees You, draws comparisons between his relationship with his son and that of his God in such areas as obedience and disobedience, spending time together, parental pain, teaching a child to walk, the sinful nature, and a father's unconditional love.

Readers will emerge with a fresh understanding of God's boundless love for them and how His heart delights in intimate fellowship with his sons and daughters.

How to Prevent Addiction by Kids, Endorsed by Dr. Laura

All parents want to know how to keep their children from becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol. But in this day and age when common substances like prescription drugs are being used to get a high, how do parents protect their kids?

The answers may lie in this book that was endorsed by Dr. Laura. Written by Louisiana's family doctor of the year for 2007 and the father of four, John C. Fleming, MD, Preventing Addiction: What Parents Must Do to Immunize Their Kids Against Alcohol and Drug Addiction provides answers to questions that continue to perplex many parents:
* Why can't our kids "just say no" to alcohol and drugs?
* What do we need to know to immunize our kids against addiction?
* What do we need to do to prevent addiction?

Combining the latest scientific research with the important principles involved in building moral character in young people, Dr. Fleming provides:
* Indisputable facts about the consequences of early first use of addicting substances on the developing brain. * Critical information about depression, attention-span disorders, and other conditions that contribute to addiction.
* Tools and techniques to help parents prevent early first use, at all costs!
* A "blueprint" for rearing a non-addicted child.

Choose God's Prescription for Your Health

According to this doctor-author, a direct relationship exists between our spiritual health and our physical health. In Holyisitc Attitudes: God's Prescription for Your Good Health, Dr. Adolph examines how attitudes such as hatred, guilt, fear, and discontent can wreak havoc on a person's body. Parents can use this book to help direct the attitudes and ultimately, the health, of their family.

"True physical wholeness . . . is dependent on the state of one's spiritual life," declares Dr. Adolph, who provides spiritual prescriptions that can revitalize your body. Here is a book that is jammed with stories of people from Dr. Adolph's international practice who found this to be true. It is a book by a veteran missionary physician who tells you how to lay hold of God's healing power and add quality years to your life.

Author Harold Paul Adolph, M.D., is one of the world's most colorful missionary doctors. Born to missionary parents, he has had many exciting adventures while he served in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, the Niger Republic, and many other places. He has performed more than 16,500 operations in the U.S. and abroad and has helped thousands of recovering patients find both physical and spiritual health.

Keep Your Family Happy with Dr. Crawford's Books

Dr. Dan Crawford, seminary professor and pastor, has released two books that focus on staying happy throughout life. The first is God's Formula for Genuine Happines and the second is the newly released Mud Hen in a Peacock Parade: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven.

Rick Warren, author of the best-selling The Purpose Driven Life, says about God's Formula for Genuine Happiness, "This little book is a gem!"

Have you ever wondered about how happy you and your family really are? Questioned what it means to be genuinely happy? Or thought about exactly what you and your family would need in order to feel that way?

Whatever you think of your and your family's current degree of happiness, you'll be encouraged by the simple, profound truths waiting within this book. Inside, Dr. Dan Crawford reveals the three clear-cut, scriptural ingredients to being happy.

But he doesn't just list what it is you'll need; he illustrates each ingredient with the collected wisdom of philosophers plus extraordinary stories from ordinary people. Each reading of this little book will probably find you an immediately happier person.

And yet, long after laying it down, you shouldn't be surprised to find its deep truths still at work, bringing you and your family a bit closer to living, yes, happily ever after.

Go ahead and laugh. Jesus did.

That’s what you will do while reading Dan Crawford’s Mud Hen in a Peacock Parade: A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Heaven. He tells about church events, church people, and church leaders in a way that helps you see the humor instead of all the seriousness. Dr. Crawford believes Jesus enjoyed life. He imagines Jesus laughing with His disciples—or even at them. The author wants you to laugh, too. And you will laugh as you turn every page of this sparkling, hilarious book.

"'The Swan' joins 'The Mud Hen' in the Comedy of Life’s Parade!! And you need to jump into the line-up with us! So here’s what you do: Grab a cup of dark-roast coffee—doctor it up a tad—and find your favorite chair and consume some GREAT comedic commentaries on life provided by Dr. Mud Hen himself—Dr. Reverend 'not so holy' Professor Dan Crawford. Dan gives us 'laughter' with plenty of 'life' on it! Matter of fact, it might be just the Medicine you need for what ails ya! So put the channel changer up…you won’t need it—MUD HEN IN A PEACOCK PARADE will replace the 'one eyed monster'!
--Dr. Dennis “The Swan” Swanberg, America’s Minister of Encouragement

Don't Forget Your Family's Physical Health

To continue our books for Family Wellness Month, we'll feature Fit to Serve, a six-week Bible study that melds physical fitness and spiritual wellness.

Most Christian families would love to do more for God--be His feet for His work in the world--but sometimes our physical "temples" hold us back. Excess weight and food that fattens us and clogs our arteries but doesn't fuel keeps us from being all God intends for us to be. Often the result is sluggishness, ill health, and inertia. We simply don't feel like being on mission for Him, so we take the path of least resistance and stay home. The goal of Fit to Serve is to build up the church so it can fulfill its purpose in the world.

This six-week Bible study by Christian health expert and dietitian Stephanie Dean focuses on helping each individual member of the Body of Christ to function at optimum capacity, which means each person strives to be spiritually and physically fit to serve. Use this study to strengthen your family and grow closer together, either through study as a family or individual study to implement the healthy principles in the book.

This interactive study combines spiritual disciplines such as prayer, worship, and Bible study with nutrition and exercise tips leading to physical wellness. Daily Bible studies help participants develop more in-depth spiritual lives, while daily "health bites" contributed by nutrition and exercise specialists help people examine their food choices and set goals, such as additional walking times and push-ups each day, for themselves. At group sessions members share about what God taught them during their weekly study and share the journey toward being healthier people. A leader guide provides help for conducting group meetings.

Stephanie Dean is a dietitian, author, and speaker. She earned a B.S. in nutrition sciences from Baylor University, completed the dietetic internship at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, and completed a certificate in adult weight management by the American Dietetic Association. She works in Dallas as a registered and licensed dietitian and is completing a master's degree from Dallas Theological Seminary.

Great Books for Family Wellness Month

May is Family Wellness Month. And while, at least subconsciously, you most likely work on keeping your family healthy all year long, May is a great time to re-examine your family before the busy days of summer are here. Through the rest of the month, we'll feature books that can help your family in one way or another.

Our first features is a Bible study called Proverbs and Principles for Parenting Practically Perfect Progeny by Jean Stockdale. Jean says, "Since I was a new mom, the reality of training a child in the way he should go and bringing him up in the fear and nurture of the Lord was an overwhelming prospect to me. I have not forgotten those angst-ridden early days of mothering. That crystal-clear memory is what drives me to write a Bible study geared toward mothers of children of all ages."

Join Jean Stockdale in a pithy pilgrimage through Proverbs as she shows moms of children from toddlers through teans how to impact their families for time and eternity through the art of Christian homemaking and child-rearing. The interactive workbook also contains a leader guide and helps for churches desiring to being this though-provoking seven-week study. And while this Bible study is geared toward moms, Proverbs and Principles could also be used as a devotional for husband and wife to study together.