A Room With A Pew

Lucille Mazzarella is back, and this time she’s investigating the murder of her own poor cousin Louis. Tracking down a killer might lead the fifty-something housewife into the clutches of a Godfather she never wanted to meet. When Lucille discovers the body of her cousin Louis in the church parking lot, her first thought is that he may have skipped one service too many, but when the cops shock her with the news that Louis was killed by a professional hit man, she realizes the Almighty had nothing to do with the deed. Even more shocking is the discovery that the victim, who never had a penny to his name, had socked away a huge wad of cash. As Lucille and her best friend Flo follow the money trail, it leads them from a seedy strip joint to a high-stakes gambling ring and all the way to the mob. As the thugs close in and threaten to end Lucille’s detecting days for good, she’s tempted to give in to the most dangerous crooks she’s ever faced, but then she remembers she’s got a little family thing of her own that means more. “If you want a very funny murder mystery, then this book is for you. I've never laughed so hard while reading before.” —Goodreads, on Unholy Matrimony, Book 2 in the Lucille Mystery Series

An offbeat and entertaining account of a journey through Spain – staying only in ancient monasteries.

On June 18, 2003, at two thirty in the morning, my eldest son, Billy, fell through the tile ceiling of a church, crashing into a hard, wooden pew thirty feet below. At the time, he was temporarily staying in the shuttered convent of this Catholic church located just outside Pittsburgh and was attending a late-night party in the church rectory with a few of his University of Pittsburgh football teammates and the parish priest. The priest hosted the event and provided the alcohol. Every one of the football players in attendance, including my son, was underage. Tragically, later the same day, Billy was pronounced brain dead at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. He was nineteen years old. Billy Gaines was a gifted athlete and promising wide receiver on the University of Pittsburgh football team. His untimely death shook his father, Bill Gaines, to the core. He felt grief as any parent would after the loss of a child. He also felt anger, not just toward the priest who provided alcohol to Billy that tragic night, but also toward God for letting Billy die. As the details surrounding his son's death surfaced, Bill faced some tough questions: What was Billy doing in a church crawlspace at two thirty in the morning? Who was responsible for Billy's death? What could he as a father have done to prevent Billy's death? Why did God allow Billy to die? As Bill Gaines puts the pieces together and tries to find answers to his questions, he finds himself on a spiritual journey. Join him as he finds healing and forgiveness in his faith and learns what led to Blood on a Pew.

A down-to-earth, practical introduction to the ins and outs of preaching for lay preachers, bivocational pastors, and others newly arrived in the pulpit. Recent years have seen a considerable increase in the amount of financial resources required to support a full-time pastor in the local congregation. In addition, large numbers of full-time, seminary trained clergy are retiring, without commensurate numbers of new clergy able to take their place. As a result of these trends, a large number of lay preachers and bivocational pastors have assumed the principal responsibility for filling the pulpit week by week in local churches. Most of these individuals, observes Clifton Guthrie, can draw on a wealth of life experiences, as well as strong intuitive skills in knowing what makes a good sermon, having listened to them much of their lives. What they often don't bring to the pulpit, however, is specific, detailed instruction in the how-tos of preaching. That is precisely what this brief, practical guide to preaching has to offer. Written with the needs of those for whom preaching is not their sole or primary occupation in mind, it begins by emphasizing what every preacher brings to the pulpit: an idea of what makes a sermon particularly moving or memorable to them. From there the book moves into short chapters on choosing an appropriate biblical text or sermon topic, learning how to listen to one's first impressions of what a text means, moving from text or topic to the sermon itself while keeping the listeners needs firmly in mind, making thorough and engaging use of stories in the sermon, and delivering with passion and conviction. The book concludes with helpful suggestions for resources, including Bibles, commentaries, other print resources and websites.

A View from the Pew is a compilation of Bible mysteries that the author was compelled to research and interpret himself, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, due to his mistrust in individual church doctrines, personalities, and their misguided Bible interpretations. The reader will discover everything the Bible really says about the tribulation, what truly was the thorn that tormented Paul, the true name of God, the exact location of the kingdom of God, and many other topics not normally discussed in church. A View from the Pew comprises over forty individual Bible topic studies written by a Spirit-filled recovered alcoholic and drug addict with thirty-two years of sobriety. After reading A View from the Pew and applying the principles held within, it is the sincere hope of the author that you find the power within yourself that he found, which allowed him to walk away from cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol. The author was forced into early retirement and was told he had three to five years to live in 2003. Thirteen years later after two strokes, two heart attacks, and then being diagnosed with diabetes, Steven has found a useable power that heals, guides, and protects his life to this very day. A View from the Pew is written from the skeptical viewpoint of a member of the congregation and not a seminary student or doctor of theology. To the author, it is not true unless you can show him Bible and verse. Your burning questions about prophecy (does God test man, and is America found in the Bible?) will be shown to you in A View from a Pew.