Family Ministry

Adopting or fostering a child brings its own unique set of challenges only another parent facing the same uphill climb could possibly understand. From parenting children with traumatic pasts, to dealing with attachment issues, to raising a children with special needs, it can sometimes be a struggle just getting through the day. Mike Berry knows the loneliness and isolation you can easily feel in your particular parenting role - because he's been there.

Do you ever wonder if your efforts as a mom make any difference? Take heart. Whether you're struggling through sleepless nights with your toddler or endless battles with your teen, September McCarthy's story offers practical insights and powerful inspiration to encourage you on your own mothering journey. As a mom for 25 years who continues to raise young children and love her young adults, September imparts words of wisdom and grace in key areas of Christian parenting.

Adoption is one of the most radically inclusive aspects of God's kingdom. All of us belong to God's family - Jesus as God's son and the rest of us as his adopted children. In Adopted Kelley Nikondeha explores how the Christian concept of adoption into God's family can broaden our sense of belonging. Drawing on her own story as both an adopted child and an adoptive mother, Nikondeha invites listeners to a rich, biblically grounded understanding of adoption that reframes the way we perceive family, friends, and those in need of rescue.

These are the faces that call me "mom", the three children who made me a mother. When I started my journey into parenthood I never thought it would look like this. I never planned on having three adopted children, and I certainly never imagined that two of them would have Down syndrome. But like most of the things God does, once we stepped into the craziness and confusion of the unknown and unplanned, we quickly realized that we were indeed among the lucky few.

Partner with your Heavenly Father to bring up faithful kids…If your husband or ex-husband doesn't share your faith, you probably pray and stress over how to raise faith-filled children. Your spiritually mismatched home may feel like the wilderness where the children of Israel wandered on their way to the Promised Land. Will they ever make it? What about God's promises? Now the authors of Winning Him Without Words and founders of Spiritually Unequal Marriage offer ten faith principles you can pass on to your kids. In Not Alone, you'll find encouragement and inspiration from Scripture and true-life stories from other spiritually mismatched moms.

When the reality of your pain doesn't line up with what you've been taught in church, then what? While many abandon their faith or embrace hopelessness, it is possible to discover the God who heals your heart in the midst of the pain. Matt Bays has been where you are. His unforgettable stories of loss and healing will usher you into a life where gratitude overpowers anger, hope overcomes despair, and hunger for God replaces indifference to God.

Lasting Marriage is an encouraging and insightful book that will help your marriage grow and strengthen in love and service to each other. You will learn how your marriage can become one of those success stories you hear about. You will be more in love with your spouse at your 50th wedding anniversary than on your wedding day. By knowing and applying God's meaning and purpose of marriage into your relationship, you will have a lasting marriage.

The Prayer is the inspirational true story of one woman who discovers an extraordinary secret to living a life filled with miracles, unconditional love, and answered prayers. The journey begins with a divine promise, continues with the struggle of unforeseen life challenges, and eventually leads her to Jerusalem. Inside the Old City, a prayer will unlock the key to a life full of miracles. This journey is proof that heaven is real and its gifts are available to you now.

A good marriage is a strong and sacred foundation upon which a God-loving family may be built. It is between a man and a woman; it is a permanent union; and it is blessed by God. Unfortunately, modern marriage laws no longer reflect true marriage - in fact, today's legal definition of "marriage" bears little resemblance to the institution of traditional marriage many of us still hold dear.

Many of us have been hurt and must endure emotional pain and suffering every day. But there is a path of healing. This story is one of heroic recovery. Darcy is a classically trained violinist who, soon after graduating from the Boston Conservatory, connects with her dream to play bluegrass and old-time fiddle music, much to the dismay of her parents. Her sights are firmly set on winning the National Oldtime Fiddle Contest in Weiser, Idaho. She barely gains traction with her quest when tragedy strikes.

Josh lost his parents in a drunk-driving accident and lost track of his two brothers after a tragic fire. By age eighteen, he is an angry young man who only wants a job, an apartment, and to be left alone. Instead, he meets Mike and Anna, an unusual son-and-mother team who draw him into their lives. For the first time, Josh receives unconditional love and something every human being craves, the gift of “the blessing.”

Life can be hard, cold and painful, or it can be pleasant, warm, and rewarding. The consequences of the choices we make in life determine which way it will be. We can't control many of life's events, but we can control how we deal with them. Our responsibility is to build a successful life in a world of confusion, pain, and disorientation. The book of Proverbs instructs us how to do just that by partnering with God in our choices using his wisdom. We don't have to travel the road of life alone.

On the football field NFL great Jim Kelly was a strong-armed passer, leading his team to victory after victory. In The Playbook for Dads he passes principles instead of footballs, still using his talent to lead men, but now he leads them to greatness as fathers, in his view the world's most important job. With an emphasis on preparation, hard work, and perseverance, Kelly tackles such essential issues as respect, character, accountability, and spiritual discipline.

A generation is rising up to care for the hurting and oppressed. Committed to changing the world, they are passionate about justice and willing to fight for it. But what would that same justice look like if we lived it in our private lives - close to home, with our family and friends? In Chivalry, Zach Hunter dares young men and women to view their lives as a quest, challenging them to develop their own personal code that will prepare them to defend others and live with civility and integrity. Zach reframes chivalry in a modern context.

You may feel lonely, abandoned, overwhelmed, and ill-equipped in your life as a single mother, but you are not alone on this journey. God is with you, and if you are willing, he will help you build a strong home and legacy for your family. As a former single mother, Michelle Lynn Senters understands you could use a little soul nourishment. In The Unseen Companion, she explores the 10 needs every single mother has and asks, "God, where are you in this?"

Lorilyn Roberts' hopes of motherhood came to a devastating end when her husband left her for his pregnant girlfriend. Eight years later, Children of Dreams reveals God's restoration of her dreams through the international adoption of her two daughters. Written as creative nonfiction, an analogy is drawn between the physical adoption of children and God's spiritual adoption as recounted in the Bible.

Pastor (Dr.) Fadele has authored an audiobook to change the society. Your 4 Fathers: And Their Kingdoms is a strategic message to a nation in need. It is a book authored to bring order at a prophetic level into the fabrics of the nations. It seeks to redress the challenge that Pastor John Hagee succinctly describes in the foreword, "Our society is crumbling from within because the role of the father as priest, prophet, provider and protector has been removed."

Rachel Price’s one happy memory from her childhood is of playing outside with her father, Mitch, on a cold and snowy day. In that moment he took her hands in his and called her his angel. She felt safe, loved, and protected. Rachel’s mother dies in a car crash a few years later - a sudden and unresolved ending to a complicated relationship. Mitch’s reaction to certain realities surrounding the death pushes Rachel away and confirms her fear that Mitch never truly loved her at all. Years later, Rachel’s daughter, Lily, is the only light in her dark life.

The movies and TV make it look easy. Matchmaking websites have it down to a science. Two people connect—love at first sight—and the relationship is magical from then on. But the truth is, strong, deep relationships that last a lifetime aren’t based on the mysterious chemistry of two personalities. Real love in relationships—friends, married couples, siblings, parents—isn’t a magic act. It’s a journey. A great relationship grows from an investment of time and effort.

The single father is often considered a mythical creature, found only in sitcoms as an object of humor or pity. Where does that leave real single dads? Too often, it makes them susceptible to overcompensation or apathy. This is guidebook for the rocky road of single fatherhood, extending encouragement, confidence, and challenges, using specific examples from dads who've survived parenting and have hope to offer.