Neta Jackson
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Snowmageddon
$15.99Add to cartSnowmageddon takes us back into the Bentley household as Estelle crusades for a group home to move into the neighborhood in hopes that her mentally challenged son can become one of the residents. But the tenuous relationships the Bentleys have developed since they moved to the neighborhood, risk coming apart as opposition to the group home uncovers age-old prejudices and fears, as well as simmering tensions between the two Jewish and Iranian families. Harry Bentley faces his own demons when he risks losing custody of his only grandson and when the young woman he promised to protect from a vengeful drug mule flees the safety of the neighborhood. After so much progress, Beecham Street faces another blizzard The fifth in the Windy City Neighbors series, Snowmageddon brings the Beecham Street neighbors full circle during a historic snowstorm that whiteouts a wedding, threatens the life of a mother and unborn child, and challenges just how much neighbors can count on each other when push comes to shove. Welcome to Beecham Street-a typical, isolated American neighborhood that was beginning to come out of its shell . . . but is about to be snowed under.
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Pound Foolish
$15.99Add to cartPOUND FOOLISH Greg Singer coordinates consumer sports shows for powerboats, four wheelers, snowmobiles, and jet skis-macho toys for outdoor men like himself. But the job puts tremendous stress on his marriage with Nicole, who for the first time notices the handsome lawyer at the end of the block. “Greener pastures?” When the recession hits Greg’s industry, he thinks the crisis is merely an opportunity for God to bless him with unmatched prosperity, a promise he hears preached each Sunday, and he steps out in bold faith . . . But is he being “pound foolish”? The fourth in the Windy City Neighbors series, POUND FOOLISH explores the economic upheaval and uncertainties challenging every family. Intersecting with PENNY WISE (book three), the Jacksons employ the innovating storytelling technique of “parallel novels.” Though each book follows its own drama and story arc, the characters’ lives become intertwined and affect one another. Pound Foolish returns us to Beecham Street-a typical American neighborhood . . . where a growing friendship brings new meaning to prosperity.
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Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Decked Out
$17.99Add to cartFrom Thanksgiving and Christmas to rolling in the New Year, the Yada Yadas are “decked out” to celebrate the holidays!
Turkey dinners, tree trimming, and decking the halls-it’s that time of year again! And I, Jodi Baxter, can’t wait to celebrate. My kids are coming home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then all of us Yadas are getting decked out for a big New Year’s party.
But God’s idea of “decked out” might just change the nature of our party plans. A perplexing encounter with a former student, a crime that literally knocks me off my feet, a hurry-up wedding, and a child who will forever change our family . . . it’s times like these that I really need my prayer sisters.
This holiday season, we Yada Yadas are learning that no one can out-celebrate God. So let’s get this party started!
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Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Rolling
$17.99Add to cartA devastating fire wakes up the Yadas to a new reality: God is on the move.
What I’d like to know is, why does God keep rearranging my comfort zone? It could have something to do with my Yada Yada prayer sisters, who aren’t afraid to get in each other’s faces and tend to expect big things from God.
But to move forward, sometimes we have to let go of what’s behind. In spite of the loss of two dear friends. In spite of the breakup of a teenage love. In spite of the curse of HIV. In spite of prison time hanging over the head of a beloved child. In spite of fire consuming the hopes of those who have nothing.
Yet out of the ashes, God is doing a new thing! It’s time for the Yadas to press on, pray on, and get rolling!
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Penny Wise
$15.99Add to cartPENNY WISE (Book 3 in the Windy City Neighbors series) introduces us to yet another family in “the neighborhood”-the Jaspers, busy with demanding jobs, busy with church, busy volunteering, parents of three active teenagers, juggling sometimes crazy schedules. All good things. Until all those “good things” feed into a series of crises that affects the whole family. Something’s gotta change! PENNY WISE is a contemporary peek at an urban family wrestling with the spiritual and practical challenges of real life. The series employs the innovating storytelling technique of “parallel novels,” each with its own drama and story arc, but whose characters’ lives become intertwined with their neighbors and affect one another. Welcome to Beecham Street-a typical, isolated American neighborhood that is beginning to come out of its shell . . . for better or worse.
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Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught
$17.99Add to cartFor the Yada Yadas, gettin’ caught up in troubles isn’t the problem-it’s how to get free.
Only weeks ago, we Yadas toughened our prayer knees when one of our own was the victim of a vicious racial attack. Now it seems each household is being thrown into even worse circumstances. It especially worries me, Jodi Baxter, because I’m a fixer by nature, and the prayer list is getting out of control . . .Ruth and Ben are caught up in an unplanned pregnancy-in their fifties! Chanda is deluded by the glitter of her lottery dream come true. Florida wants to move her family, hoping to leave trouble behind, but it looks like it may catch up to her anyway. And I’m finding that even good things like prayer group can consume me in no time flat.
If there is an upside, it’s that all this trouble is revealing the subtle lies we Yadas believe about God, ourselves, each other, and life. Maybe our best hope is to catch on to what God’s doing-and catch on quick-before the enemy can take any prisoners. That’d be a freedom worth celebrating. And celebrating is what my spiritual sisters and I do best.
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Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Tough
$17.99Add to cartThe Yada Yadas got tight in the past year, but they’re about to learn the real meaning of togetherness.
We’d done it: we’d taken a mismatched, diverse group of women and cobbled together a prayer group that really worked for all of us. Now that spring was here, we were celebrating our one-year anniversary-and a wedding, an early parole, and two baptisms in the lake! Everything was feeling pretty great.
But it’s when we’re in our comfort zone that we’re most likely to let our guard down. Without warning, lots of little things seemed to become big problems. With a white supremacy hate group targeting a local university, our very diversity almost became a liability. It took a vicious attack on Nony’s husband to make us see that we had to get tough-and fight back together.
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Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Real
$17.99Add to cartThe Yada Yadas thought they had a handle on forgiveness, but it seems God has them on a crash-course to an even deeper level.
After everything the Yada Yadas had been through in the past eight months, I told God I could sure use a little “dull and boring” in the new year! But that was before Leslie “Stu” Stuart moved in upstairs. Ms. Perfect herself and me-Jodi Baxter-living in the same two-flat? A recipe for collision. Then Delores Enriquez’s son Jose wanted to throw my Amanda a quinceaera-a coming-out party, Mexican style-and they’re only fifteen!
At least Bandana Woman, who held up our Yada Yada Prayer Group at knife-point last fall, was safely locked up in prison . . . or so I thought. We visited her, like the Bible says; even sent her something for Christmas. But then she ends up back in our face. I mean, how far is forgiveness supposed to go?
I guess I should have realized that with eleven Yada Yada sisters as diverse as a bag of Jelly Bellies, life would always be unpredictable. All I know is that the longer we Yada Yadas pray together, the more “real” things are getting, not only with each other but with God. Dull and boring? Not a chance.
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Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down
$17.99Add to cartA robbery, a lynching, and a mourning mother shake up the Yada Yadas.
I had never felt so violated! The Yada Yada Prayer Group was “gettin’ down” with God in prayer and praise one night when a heroin-crazed woman barged into my house, demanded our valuables, and threatened us with a 10-inch knife-a knife that drew blood.
We wondered if we’d ever get back to normal after this terrifying experience. I assumed we would. After all, we’d started praying together at the Chicago Women’s Conference last spring, and we’d been through a lot already as spiritual sisters. This was just one more hurdle to conquer, right?
But then a well-meaning gesture suddenly incited a backlash of anger in the group, forcing us to confront generations of racial division, pain, and distrust-and stretching our friendship to the limit. And a shocking confrontation in my third-grade classroom forced me to face my own accountability and learn what true forgiveness really is.
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Yada Yada Prayer Group
$9.99Add to cartA group of 12 very different women, assigned to a prayer group at a women’s conference, become the best of friends as they support each other through the challenges and crises in their lives.
What do an ex-con, a former drug addict, a real estate broker, a college student, and a married mother of two have in common?
Nothing, or so I thought. Who would have imagined that God would make a prayer group as mismatched as ours the closest of friends? I almost didn’t even go to the Chicago Women’s Conference-after all, being thrown together with five hundred strangers wasn’t exactly my “comfort zone.”
But something happened that weekend to make us realize we had to hang together, and the “Yada Yada Prayer Group” was born! When I faced the biggest crisis of my life, God used my newfound Sisters to show me what it means to be just a sinner saved by grace.
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Come To The Table
$17.99Add to cartKat is new in her faith and she’s embraced the more radical implications of Christianity with reckless abandon. She invited Rochelle, a homeless mother, and her son to move into the apartment she shares with two other housemates. An unexpected reunion takes place and life grows more complicated in every direction with Kat’s vibrant spirit. From getting the brain child to start a new food pantry at Souledout Community church to her budding feelings for her roommate, Nick, an intern pastor at Souledout, Kat life is a whirlwind of ups and downs, as she tries to listen to God and find the path He has directed for her.
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Stand By Me
$17.99Add to cartSometimes you learn the most from the person least like you. Avis Douglass and her husband, Peter, have dreamed of selling his software business to finance a two-year mission effort to South Africa. But when the economy crashes, they’re suddenly faced with the real possibility of bankruptcy. When one of the co-pastors of SouledOut Community Church passes away suddenly, Avis and Peter are asked to step in and assist with the leadership of the church in the interim. But that creates an all-black leadership, fanning some subtle racial issues in their multi-cultural church. As tensions mount, they wrestle with returning to a traditional church where things would be easier.
Meanwhile, Kate Blanchard arrives in urban Chicago with three friends. Their vision of radically following Jesus-from dressing in second-hand clothing to trying to live green-only adds to the unrest at SouledOut Community Church. When Kate attaches herself to Avis as a mentor, her good heart but lack of wisdom drives Avis nuts. Before long, though, they’ll both realize that the body of Christ needs all parts-and Avis will see that she needs Kate’s joy in following Jesus as much as Kate needs Avis’s wisdom.
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Who Is My Shelter
$17.99Add to cartThe tables have turned and Gabby’s estranged husband–who threw her out when she didn’t live up to his image of a “corporate wife”–needs her in a way neither ever expected. He’s begging for reconciliation,but Gabby has moved on, finding purpose and a future in the House of Hope. Not only has she found shelter for herself and her sons there,but she’s able to help provide shelter for homeless moms and their kids.
And yet . . . there’s a hole in her life. Is God leading Gabby down a new path and giving her something–and someone–new? Or is He redeeming what she thought was gone forever?
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Who Do I Talk To
$17.99Add to cartGabby Fairbanks’s husband locks her out and disappears with her sons, leaving her homeless and stunned. With her frail mother and a mutt named Dandy, Gabby must take refuge at the women’s shelter where she works, trying to salvage the shattered pieces of her life. There, her new friends-including Lucy the bag lady and sisters from the Yada Yada Prayer Group-prop her up.
But a midnight intruder brings unwanted media attention to the shelter and threatens to undermine Gabby’s chances of getting her sons back. Still hoping to put her family together again, Gabby puzzles over what to do with the warm attentions of a sympathetic lawyer who rebuilds her confidence and soothes her wounded spirit.
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Where Do I Go
$15.99Add to cartA story of seeking-and finding-God’s will in unlikely places.
Gabrielle Fairbanks has nearly lost touch with the carefree, spirited young woman she was when she married her husband twenty years ago. But when the couple moves to Chicago to accommodate Philip’s promotion, Gabby finds the chance to make herself useful. It’s there she meets the women of Manna House; they need a Service Director-and she has a degree in social work. She’s in her element, feeling God’s call on her life at last, even though Philip doesn’t like the changes he sees in her. But things get rough when Philip gives Gabby an ultimatum: quit her job at the shelter or risk divorce and losing custody of their sons. Gabby must take refuge, as in the song they sing at Sunday night worship: “Where do I go when there’s no one else to turn to? . . . I go to the Rock I know that’s able, I go to the Rock.”
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On Fire For Christ
$13.99Add to cartThe stories of 15 Anabaptist martyrs are retold by Dave and Neta Jackson from Martyrs Mirror. These stories, including those of Michael Sattler, Elizabeth Dirks, and Dirk Willems, reflect a cross section of the thousands of men and women who lost their lives because of their faith during the 16th century. The storytelling perspective varies: sometimes from the martyr’s point of view or that of a friend or relative, sometimes that of a child or bystander or even the executioner or betrayer. The maryrs come alive through these stories and their witness for Christ inspires us. Discussion questions focus on presentday meaning making this a valuable tool for study groups
