Whoever said "65 is the new 45" probably had a fat bank account, responsible adult kids, excellent health, and lives dripping with purpose. But most people don't have it all.
Meet seven lifelong friends -- Grant and Marie Renniger, Cal and June Sherman, Marcus and Ava Van Zant, and Elodie Ford -- who, lacking all these things in differing measures, resolve their challenges by combining their resources, skills, and wits.
Bound by their deep faith in Christ, the enterprising friends purchase a large, turn-of-the-20th-century house in fictional Faircourt, Kentucky, and are determined to live missionally among their new neighbors. Only, they have no idea of the hurts and secrets behind the walls of these homes, nor of the sorrows that will providentially afflict their own. How will their desire to serve God in their retirement years survive the painful challenges and spiteful opposition?
Join the lovable, spunky, relatable Faircourt Friends in their journey to be joyful servants, trusting God is at work in every difficult situation and redeeming the time.
Welcome back to Faircourt and your multigenerational friends on Cedar Street, where real life includes sanctifying conflict sprinkled with the happy and hilarious.
Ava is now the part-time secretary at Grace Fellowship Church and undertakes a project to purge the membership roll, yielding surprise and mystery.
Grant's lovable 94-year-old mother, known for lacking of a verbal filter, is joyfully welcomed for a holiday visit where she shares her sharp wit and disarming wisdom and flusters the neighborhood curmudgeon, Christine Williams.
Chase learns a hard lesson about choosing friends wisely when he doesn't. Cal's doctor prescribes a change in meds with a comical side effect. And new neighbor, 40-something Shelby Norman, finds the best and worst situations happen at the coffee shop, Latte Da.
Woven throughout this second book in the Faircourt Friends Series is the challenging call to count the cost of discipleship whether you're a new or mature believer.
Everyone is delighted to welcome you back to share their lives on Cedar Street – including a new permanent resident in the household of lifelong friends!
Grant and Elodie make diligent efforts to obey God and receive opposite outcomes. One is instantly rewarded, and one is seemingly punished and struggling to make sense of it.
DeShawn and Mariana have moved in with Bobby McBride and opened his eyes to the beauty of authentic Christianity in the face of opposition. Will it open his heart as well?
Will and Shelby make a friend and some plans at Latte Da. A farm pond baptism service seemed like a good idea, but comically wasn’t. And Christine Williams’ meddling spins out of her control with disastrous consequences. Will she ever learn?
In Steadfast Under Trial, you’ll be encouraged to see all of life’s twists and challenges as tools in the skillful hand of our sovereign God to grow us into Christ’s likeness.
Book Four in the
Faircourt Friends Series
COMING: February 2025!
from the Author's Preface
What would you say if you were handed a bullhorn and invited to speak to your city?
My "bullhorn" was a bi-weekly religious feature column I was privileged to write for the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald over four years. This media outlet offered access to approximately 30,000 local households, and I took the opportunity to present the gospel of Jesus Christ and to disciple His followers. I used personal circumstances and current events to demonstrate how Christians, supported by an informed, Biblical worldview, can exalt Christ.
I laughed that God would provide such an opening in secular media. All I did was send three sample articles, unsolicited, to the features editor and ask for the chance. The door swung wide open. But most incredible was the fact that He was using me to be a witness to my community. My only qualification was being the recipient of His steadfast love and unmerited grace.
This book is a collection of columns, in their published order, which I wrote for the people of Dubuque, Iowa, and the surrounding area. It is not all of them. Some columns have had minor modifications and edits for consistency within this volume.
I sincerely hope this collection will glorify God, edify saints, and encourage the women of Christ's church to look for the unlikely place to serve Him.
