You can teach the craft, but you must first form the heart. Many preachers want to preach better, but they don't always know how to go about improving, and most books on preaching focus on the mechanics of the craft. But preaching involves more than the steps from a text to a sermon, because every time a preacher stands up to preach, their character shines through -- for better or for worse. In The Heart of the Preacher, Rick Reed focuses on the personal...

When a killer plays mind games with a cop, THERE ARE NO RULES. The first victim is attacked in her home. Tied to her bed. Forced to watch every unspeakable act of cruelty-but unable to scream. The second murder is even more twisted. Signed, sealed, and delivered with a message for the police, stuffed in the victim's throat. A fractured nursery rhyme that ends with a warning: "There will be more." For detective Jack Murphy, it's more than a threat....

JACK MURPHY DELIVERS JUSTICE Detective Jack Murphy can read a crime scene like a book. When the naked, brutalized corpse of a narcotics cop is found, it's not the body that tells him a sick killer is on the loose, but the monkey figurine-of the "see no evil" kind-shoved down his throat. It's a message, not a clue. Then a high-profile judge is set on fire. Another figurine left behind. Murphy has a guess what's next. But it's not what he expects....

In rural Indiana, the underground mines that once held coal and iron ore have become killing grounds. In two counties, five corpses have been discovered. Their deaths appear accidental, from drowning or suffocating in flooded and abandoned mines. But local authorities, including Chief Shaunda Lynch, have uncovered evidence suggesting they've all been murdered. Assigned to the case as Federal Agents, Detectives Jack Murphy and Liddell Blanchard take...

JACK MURPHY WON'T BACK DOWN The headlines scream the ghastly news of an abandoned truck filled with murdered immigrants. Detective Jack Murphy and his partner Liddell Blanchard are on the case. They've got a lone survivor, rumors of a witness, and the feds getting in their way. Jack's gut tells him there's a connection with a local killing-and the bloodshed is far from over. He's going up against a butcher who commits the unspeakable in the name...

What if your first love was abducted and presumed dead-but then returned twenty years later? That's the dilemma Cole Weston faces. Now happily married to Tommy D'Amico, he's suddenly thrown into a surreal world when his first love, Rory Schneidmiller, unexpectedly reappears. Rory has no memory of those years. For him, it's as though only a day or two has passed. He still loves Cole with the passion unique to young first love. But Cole has so many...

Three great stories. One great love. VGL Male Seeks Same Poor Ethan Schwartz. It seems like he will never find that special someone. At age forty-two, he's still alone, his bed still empty, and his 42-inch HDTV overworked. He's tried the bars and other places where gay men are supposed to find one another, but for Ethan, it never works out. He wonders if it ever will. Should he get a cat? But all of that is about to change… NEG UB2 Poor Ethan Schwartz....

Randy Kay has the perfect life with his beautiful wife and adorable son. But Randy's living a lie, untrue to himself and everyone who knows him. He's gay.Marriage and fatherhood, which he thought could change him, have failed. He doubts if anyone can love him for who he really is-especially himself.With his wife's blessing, he sets out to explore the gay world he's hidden from all his life.John Walsh, a paramedic with the Chicago Fire Department,...

Jeremy Booth leads a simple life, scraping by in the gay neighborhood of Seattle, never letting his lack of material things get him down. But the one thing he really wants-someone to love-seems elusive. Until the couple next door moves in and Jeremy sees the man of his dreams, Shane McCallister, pushed down the stairs by a brute named Cole. Jeremy would never go after another man's boyfriend, so he reaches out to Shane in friendship while suppressing...

Step out for a Saturday night at The Q-the small town gay bar in Appalachia where the locals congregate. Whose secret love is revealed? What long-term relationship comes to a crossroad? What revelations come to light? The DJ mixes a soundtrack to inspire dancing, drinking, singing, and falling in (or out) of love. This pivotal Saturday night at The Q is one its regulars will never forget. Lives irrevocably change. Laugh, shed a tear, and root for...