Making Love Last a Lifetime is a comprehensive program for reaching new people, creating excitement, launching new small groups, and strengthening existing classes. It includes sermon starters and illustrations, marketing materials, and outreach tools built around an eight-week study on a topic that holds great interest for singles and married persons, both inside and outside the church. Designed for use in 60-90-minute sessions. For group or individual study, the book can be used by class participants during the study group meeting or at home for additional reflection. Includes detailed content for the eight session topics. For more information about Adam Hamilton's studies, go to www.adamhamilton.cokesbury.com.

A guide to building a better, more intimate relationship with your significant other from the author of Coming Apart and The Future of Love. Whether your relationship is just beginning, or you are celebrating your twenty-fifth anniversary, A Lifetime of Love offers sixty-five prescriptions for helping you achieve lasting love. You will discover how to have deeper intimacy, transcendent moments, and a wonderful soul connection. Follow the light of love with your treasured one. Work on your relationship through self-improvement, whether you have just started dating or have been in a marriage for years. Author Daphne Rose Kingma provides tips and pointers on ways to keep the romance alive such as dinner conversation starters. She wants you to feel the fire but also learn how to commit fully and gladly. Learn about intimacy through vulnerability, and ways to trust and love your partner and encourage longevity in your relationship. Praise for A Lifetime of Love “In a series of brief and enchanting essays, Daphne Rose Kingma delineates the spiritual dimensions of an intimate relationship. The challenge is to cherish each other’s souls and to champion each other’s spiritual growth. This means attending to the unfolding of your relationship with heart; sharing transcendental moments; learning the language of intimacy; being gentle, patient, and kind; practicing the art of empathy; and integrating the divine erotic. Kingma believes that mutual spiritual growth involves grace, hope, and wisdom. A Lifetime of Love shines a light on the path to the spiritual possibilities of love.” —Spirituality & Practice

This small-group study provides the components to create a powerful small-group experience, including video presentations and a leader's guide with activities for class sessions and home use.

"One of the foremost relationship experts at work today offers creative insight on building trust and avoiding betrayal, helping readers to decode the mysteries of healthy love and relationships"--

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City. To the Green-eyed Lovebird: We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House. You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more. We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other. Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding… I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello. After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half? M

Adam Hamilton, named by PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly as one of the top “Ten People to Watch,” has created an inviting new series of video-and-book studies on love and marriage, life issues, world religions, and Christian denominations. Hamilton calls these small-group studies “fishing expeditions,” because they include tools for congregation wide and communitywide programs to draw in new members. Components include DVD, participant’s book, leader’s guide, and pastor’s guide with CD-ROM. 6-8 sessions / 60-90 minutes Christianity and World Religions: Wrestling With Questions People Ask is a video-based small-group study and outreach program that explores four major world religions- Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism – and compares the beliefs of each with those of Christianity. This six-week study deals openly and honestly with questions people ask about other religions, including why we should believe the claims of Christianity over those of other faiths. As part of the study, author and presenter Adam Hamilton interviews a religious leader from each tradition. He treats the world religions with great respect, recognizing the unique contributions of each. In examining these major world religions and the beliefs of their followers, the Reverend Hamilton urges us as Christians to build bridges with others so that we might grow in our faith, seek peace in our world, love our neighbor, and find positive ways to share the gospel. For group or individual study, the book can be used by class participants during the study group meeting or at home for additional reflection. Includes detailed content for the six sessions. For more information about Adam Hamilton's studies, go to www.adamhamilton.cokesbury.com.

Strengthen and deepen your relationships with this "much-needed" (Harville Hendrix, PhD) guide that has sold over one million copies, through revelatory practical exercises, seven profound conversations, and sage advice from “the best couple’s therapist in the world” (John Gottman, PhD, bestselling author) Are you looking to enrich a healthy relationship, revitalize a tired one, or rescue one gone awry? We all want a lifetime of love, support, and companionship. But sometimes we need a little help. Enter Dr. Sue Johnson, developer of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy and “the most original contributor to couple’s therapy to come along in the last thirty years,” according to Dr. William J. Doherty, PhD. In Hold Me Tight, Dr. Johnson shares her groundbreaking and remarkably successful program for creating stronger, more secure relationships. The message of Hold Me Tight is simple: Forget about learning how to argue better, analyzing your early childhood, making grand romantic gestures, or experimenting with new sexual positions. Instead, get to the emotional underpinnings of your relationship by recognizing that you are emotionally attached to and dependent on your partner in much the same way that a child is on a parent for nurturing, soothing, and protection. Dr. Johnson teaches that the way to enhance or save a relationship is to be open, attuned, and responsive to each other and to reestablish emotional connection. With this in mind, she focuses on key moments in a relationship and uses them as touch points for seven healing conversations, including: Recognizing the Demon Dialogues Finding the Raw Spots Revisiting a Rocky Moment Forgiving Injuries Keeping Your Love Alive These conversations give you insight into the defining moments in your relationship and guide you in reshaping these moments to create a secure and lasting bond. Through stories from Dr. Johnson’s practice, illuminating advice, and practical exercises, you will learn how to nurture, protect, and grow your relationship, ensuring a lifetime of love.

This book is excellent for individual reading or can be used as the small group study book for the Christianity's Family Tree DVD based study. Adam Hamilton is, in my opinion, a national treasure. He embodies the kind of generous orthodoxy so many of us have been dreaming of and praying for. This book provides something truly unique—a kind of orientation to Christianity in its wide array of forms that not only educates but inspires. It’s one of the few books I wish every single Christian would read and share with their friends. - Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christian In this wise and practical book, Adam Hamilton serves as a trusted guide to some of the rich diversity of Christian belief and practice. It is a rare feat to acknowledge differences and distinctiveness appreciatively, and Hamilton does it with exceptional grace and insight. - L. Gregory Jones, Dean and Professor of Theology, Duke Divinity School I love this book. Adam Hamilton teaches us that we are far richer than we know, because the beauty and the fullness of the whole church is ours. Read, learn, and be happy. - John Ortberg, author of God Is Closer Than You Think In this book, Adam Hamilton presents a welcoming, inspiring vision of eight Christian denominations and faith traditions. Comparing the Christian family to our own extended families, he contends that each denomination has a unique, valuable perspective to offer on the Christian faith. The traditions he examines are Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Anglicanism, Baptists, Pentecostalism, and Methodism. For each group, Hamilton gives a brief history, outlines major beliefs, and describes some things we can learn from that tradition to strengthen our own Christian faith. Also available is the planning kit for this video-based small-group study Christianity’s Family Tree: What Other Christians Believe and Why. Adam Hamilton is pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, one of the fastest growing, most highly visible churches in the country. Named by PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly as one of the top “Ten People to Watch,” Hamilton is the author of numerous video based small group studies and books from Abingdon Press.

How does the heart understand grief when it is broken by the death of a loved one? To survive and live forward, those who grieve must find answers. Beyond the Broken Heart is an eight-week support and ministry program for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one. Author Julie Yarbrough chronicles her personal experience combined with a deep love of Scripture and years of leading grief support groups to create an authentic and deeply personal exploration of the grief journey. The Participant Book provides eight chapters plus two supplemental chapters that include: · Personal stories/reflections from the author’s own journey through grief · Spiritual and practical help for navigating the emotions, experiences, and questions of grief · Scriptures and biblical material appropriate to the themes and topics of each chapter? · Questions for personal reflection with space for recording responses · Readers will transform their experience of grief into a life lived in gratitude for the steadfast love and faithfulness of God and a life that honors the memory of their loved one. "Julie Yarbrough has walked through the valley of the shadow of death and experienced the pain and anguish of great grief, and she knows firsthand the comfort and strength that only God can provide. I commend this remarkable grief ministry program to you highly." James W. Moore, Pastor in Residence, Highland Park United Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas "With wisdom informed by her own experience and a warm regard for those who grieve, Julie Yarbrough guides the brokenhearted on an honest journey toward acceptance and hope. A refreshingly excellent resource for grief support." Stephan Bauman, Senior Minister, Christ Church New York City "Julie Yarbrough weaves understanding, care, and comfort together in such a way that the seemingly intolerable becomes tolerable, one breath at a time. This resource provides everything you need to promote, establish, and conduct grief groups throughout the year." Judith Bone, Director of Adult Discipleship, Brentwood United Methodist Church, Nashville, Tennessee "A gift to those who face the difficult journey through the grieving process. I highly recommend this program, not only for those who have lost, but also for those in the helping professions who offer guidance and counsel to the grieving." Ann Reese, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Many people think that you must put in a lot of time to develop and maintain a relationship, but Dr. Daniel Amen says that taking just two minutes out of each day to really focus on what is important can keep a relationship healthy and happy. Amen shows couples how to communicate, negotiate, set goals together and achieve those goals with candid and easy-to-follow advice.