Susan Angeline Collins: with a Hallelujah Heart


Book Description

Ten percent of book profits will go to the Susan Angeline Collins Scholarship at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa. Get ready to delve into a world of hardship, challenge, and fulfillment. Explore the life of African American Susan Angeline Collins and be inspired by her faith, pioneering attitude, missionary successes, unfailing courage, and belief in everyone’s right to an education. As Miss Collins’ life unfolds before you, relevant social issues affecting people of color are intertwined. Issues examined include economics, education, gender, race, religion, and Africa’s colonization from her 1851 birth in Illinois until her 1940 death in Iowa. Her resourcefulness in overcoming obstacles during her 33-year commitment to missionary service in the Congo Delta Region and Angola is compelling. Miss Collins’ story demonstrates the difference one person can make in the lives of an unknown number of women and children, some orphaned and homeless and others escaping early marriage and subservience. Her leadership is evidenced when starting a girls’ school in the northern Angolan high plateau region years before Mary Jane McLeod Bethune initiated her school for African-American girls in Florida. You will be gratified to discover how this diminutive bundle of energy achieved recognition as a stalwart missionary, leader, teacher, nurse, construction manager, and surrogate mother to “her girls.”




The Big Deal of Taking Small Steps to Move Closer to God


Book Description

THE BIG DEAL... shows how to develop a stronger relationship with God and more effective spiritual lifestyle by taking small steps that lead to big changes. Been running for Jesus a long time (I'm not tired yet) Been singing for Jesus a long time (I'm not tired yet) Been running by day and praying by night (I'm not tired yet) I've gotta get going, it's a mighty hard fight (No...I'm not tired yet) I've been serving God a long time (I'm not tired yet) I've been living for God a long time (I'm not tired yet) I've been praying to the Lord a long time (I'm not tired yet) It's an uphill journey but all I've got to say is (I'm not tired yet) The old spiritual song lifts you, but you are tired. Or maybe you're bored. You're still going to church. You're still praying. You're still serving. You're still giving. Deep within you, faith remains. But you feel a longing. You're not seeking fireworks. You're not a pew-sitter, safe in some spiritual comfort zone, looking for a thrill from the Lord. Your trust in God is secure. But you feel a longing for something more, deeper, fresher. If you've ignored these innermost feelings thinking they're no big deal, this basic yet dynamic program that Bishop Vashti McKenzie has implemented in more than two hundred churches with astounding results is for you. Individuals who have had many years of Christian life discovered a renewed sense of calling and purpose. Even new believers were invigorated in their faith-building process. Bishop McKenzie prescribes very small changes-such as adding a mere thirty seconds of prayer daily-that lead to radical closeness to God. And building an enjoyable, meaningful relationship with the Almighty doesn't mean striving for perfection. Small steps-but meaningful steps-collectively evolve into intimacy with God. And the big deal result is greater ability to biblically address life challenges. The big deal is that you're even more available to serve family, church, and community: truly in "no ways tired." Increasing spirituality is incremental, not monumental. Mustard-seed-like increases in positive actions (and corresponding decreases in negative ones) yield mountain-moving growth!




How the Woman at the Well Became the Well Woman


Book Description

This memoir is the story of an extraordinary ordinary life. It is is the poignant life story of a woman's desperate journey to find love. Inspired by the biblical account of the woman at the well, this book is a remarkable testament to God's faithfulness and the power of His redemption. For those who think their lives will never change and those who are afraid to hope again, this testimony is transformative.







Pieces of Grace


Book Description

Grace believed she went from losing it all to having it all. In a desperate attempt to put her life back together, Grace, divorced and jobless, leaves Tucson to return to Chicago-a place she never planned to call home again. She also never planned to fall for Benjamin Hayward. Drawn into the fairytale existence of his power and wealth, Grace is unable to see what her family and friends see, and ignores the warning signs of Dr. Benjamin Hayward's dark side. Benjamin's secrets-the death of his mentally ill wife and the disappearance of his daughter-push Grace into an abyss deeper than the one that brought her home in the first place, and she risks losing even more. Pieces of Grace is a complicated story of relationships confused by undercurrents of mental illness. Readers find themselves hoping family and friends can carry Grace through her most difficult moments.




The Land Is Not Empty


Book Description

White settlers saw land for the taking. They failed to consider the perspective of the people already here. In The Land Is Not Empty, author Sarah Augustine unpacks the harm of the Doctrine of Discovery—a set of laws rooted in the fifteenth century that gave Christian governments the moral and legal right to seize lands they “discovered” despite those lands already being populated by indigenous peoples. Legitimized by the church and justified by a misreading of Scripture, the Doctrine of Discovery says a land can be considered “empty” and therefore free for the taking if inhabited by “heathens, pagans, and infidels.” In this prophetic book, Augustine, a Pueblo woman, reframes the colonization of North America as she investigates ways that the Doctrine of Discovery continues to devastate indigenous cultures, and even the planet itself, as it justifies exploitation of both natural resources and people. This is a powerful call to reckon with the root causes of a legacy that continues to have devastating effects on indigenous peoples around the globe and a call to recognize how all of our lives and our choices are interwoven. ​ What was done in the name of Christ must be undone in the name of Christ, the author claims. The good news of Jesus means there is still hope for the righting of wrongs. Right relationship with God, others, and the earth requires no less.




The Zartman Family


Book Description




The Big Red Tractor and the Little Village


Book Description

This contemporary parable about spiritual empowerment shares a timeless truth: God has a special purpose for you which can be unlocked through the instruction manual for how you operate which he has left for you. You can fulfill that purpose through the help of His Spirit. A powerful lesson based on Acts 1:8 perfectly told for little hearts.




The Music Division


Book Description




Exploring American Folk Music


Book Description

The perfect introduction to the many strains of American-made music