Other Practices in The Books Store

That's Robbie Castleman's attitude about taking her children to church. Sunday morning isn't a success if we have only managed to keep the kids quiet. There's more to church for kids than trying out their new coloring books. Children are at church for the same reason as Mom and Dad: for the privilege of worshiping God.

Because we are created to praise God both now and forever, we must take our children's worship seriously. Worship, Robbie writes, is "the most important thing you can ever train your child to do." With infectious passion, nitty-gritty advice and a touch of humor, she shows us how we can help our children (from toddlers to teenagers) enter into worship.

This expanded edition includes two new appendixes on the important issues of hyperactive children in worship and children's church for seekers. It also provides a study guide for personal reflection or group discussion. More than ever, Parenting in the Pew is essential reading for parents and worship leaders who want to help children make joyful noises to the Lord.

With subject matter this lurid, Salvation on Sand Mountain could have been a Southern-fried curiosity and little more. Covington goes far deeper. Tracing the snake handlers' roots in regional history, in the deep spiritual alienation of mountain people from the secular modern world they have so recently joined, Covington is more than just sympathetic to the snake handlers; in a profound way, he considers himself one of them. His reasoning is sometimes flawed--when he attempts to find snake handlers in his own family's past, for instance, the result is belabored and unconvincing--but there's no doubt that Covington's heart is in the right place. He's also not without his own brand of sly gallows humor, as in this conversation with the elderly Gracie McAllister: "She'd swore she'd never handle rattlesnakes in July again. She'd been bit the previous two Julys. 'I decided I'd just handle fire and drink strychnine that night,' she said. Good idea, I thought. It always pays to be on the safe side."