Gospel music evolved in often surprising directions during the post-Civil Rights era. Claudrena N. Harold's in-depth look at late-century gospel focuses on musicians like Yolanda Adams, Andraé Crouch, the Clark Sisters, Al Green, Take 6, and the Winans, and on the network of black record shops, churches, and businesses that nurtured the music. Harold details the creative shifts, sonic innovations, theological tensions, and political assertions that transformed the music, and revisits the debates within the community over groundbreaking recordings and gospel's incorporation of rhythm and blues, funk, hip-hop, and other popular forms. At the same time, she details how sociopolitical and cultural developments like the Black Power Movement and the emergence of the Christian Right shaped both the art and attitudes of African American performers. Weaving insightful analysis into a collective biography of gospel icons, When Sunday Comes explores the music's essential place as an outlet for African Americans to express their spiritual and cultural selves.

After the death of her husband, Pastor Hezekiah Cleaveland, Samantha has been installed as the interim pastor of New Testament Cathedral. She's also become the head of the international television ministry, but not everyone is happy about it. Danny St. John was having an affair with Samantha's husband before he was assassinated in the pulpit one Sunday. Danny is convinced that Samantha had her husband murdered, and he wants revenge. Cynthia Pryce, the wife of the church's assistant pastor, Reverend Percy Pryce, wants to see her husband become the church's permanent pastor. She's working behind the scenes to see that Samantha is removed from the position. Gideon Truman, a well-known investigative reporter, believes that solving the murder of Pastor Cleaveland will establish his career as the black Anderson Cooper. He starts rummaging through the skeletons in Samantha's closet in his quest for the truth. Danny, Cynthia, and Gideon all desire to take Samantha down for different reasons. They might be underestimating the cunning and dangerous nature of their prey, though. Samantha has a secret that she's willing to go to any length to protect, and she doesn't care who she has to destroy in the process.

9 new chapters and 6 more updated.It's been nearly 10 years since the first edition of Sunday's Coming was published. Prophecy is being fulfilled at an ever increasing pace. The whole book has been updated and is applicible for today.Inside you'll read:The significance of the John Paul II funeral,The Religious Right's policical power,The latest ecumenical movements,How "the church" changed the day of worship

The post-Christian West is in decline, revived Islam is on the rise, and Mesopotamia (Syria-Iraq), the cradle of civilization, has become ground zero in a battle for civilization. Despised as infidels (unbelievers) and kafir (unclean), Mesopotamia's indigenous Christian peoples are targeted by fundamentalist Muslims and jihadists for subjugation, exploitation, and elimination. Pushed deep into the fog of war, buried under a mountain of propaganda, and rendered invisible by a shroud of silence, they are betrayed and abandoned by the West's "progressive" political, academic, and media elites who cling to utopian fantasies about Islam while nurturing deep-seated hostility towards Christianity. If they are to survive as a people in their historic homeland, the Christians of Mesopotamia will need all the help they can get. If Western civilization is to survive as a force in its historic heartland (Europe), then we had better start seeing, hearing, and believing the Christians of the Middle East, for their plight prefigures our own.

Author Tony Campolo has a reputation for delivering a profound message with sharp wit, unbridled passion, and complete honesty. This classic book, expanded from the film of the same title, brings you face to face with Dr. Campolo to hear just such a message: an unashamed proclamation that the Gospel of Christ, when taken seriously, is able to meet every human need-the need for psychological health, emotional well-being, self worth and value, love, purpose in life, miracles, and hope. With passion and humor Campolo challenges us to face life's problems with the hope of the resurrection and shout, "It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'!"

Starting with the biographical story of a 92 year old Chaldean woman from northern Iraq and a biography of a Kurdish Jewish woman now living in Israel, Adelman writes about the history of Christians and Jews in the Middle East. Their languages, dialects of the 3000 year old Aramaic language, are under threat, and their homelands continuously threatened by war.

From Africa through the spirituals, from minstrel music through jubilee, and from traditional to contemporary gospel, "People Get Ready!" provides, for the first time, an accessible overview of this musical genre.

In A City Called Heaven, Robert M. Marovich follows gospel music from early hymns and camp meetings through its growth into the sanctified soundtrack of the city's mainline black Protestant churches. Marovich mines print media, ephemera, and hours of interviews with artists, ministers, and historians--as well as relatives and friends of gospel pioneers--to recover forgotten singers, musicians, songwriters, and industry leaders. He also examines the entrepreneurial spirit that fueled gospel music's rise to popularity and granted social mobility to a number of its practitioners. As Marovich shows, the music expressed a yearning for freedom from earthly pains, racial prejudice, and life's hardships. Yet it also helped give voice to a people--and lift a nation. A City Called Heaven celebrates a sound too mighty and too joyous for even church walls to hold.

On Tuesdays, when the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is closed to the public, the museum's founder Alice Walton brings her dog, Friday, who spends time with several characters from works in the museum's collection that come to life.

Ernestine, the young heroine of Back Home, and her great-aunt Odessa often ride the trolley to the railroad station to watch the trains from North Carolina come in. When Ernestine finally travels on a train to the place of her birth, everyone in her family sacrifices something to make her trip possible. Gloria Jean and Jerry Pinkney together depict family warmth as bright as sunshine. Full color.