Life as an Omega is a hard one.It is full of duties and desires that are never truly fulfilled.I was one of them, yet I refuse to live my life only to breed for Alpha shifters.I am not going to let them steal or buy me away from my family, all for the sake of some ancient duty I was supposed to have.I wasn’t going to let it happen.Then it did happen.I was bought at an auction, while simultaneously saved from a clan of shifters that wanted to breed me and take my children for their new soldiers.Isaac was an outlier, someone that just showed up out of the blue.I was afraid of Isaac at first, even as I owed him my life.Things changed when I went into my very first heat.My desire for my new mate was undeniable and I was begging him for something I thought I would never want.Need turned into pleasure that I’d never felt before.And maybe even something else.Maybe even love.Or it was all just too good to be true and my life was going to take a turn for the worst.Nothing this good ever lasted too long....

    But I couldn't care less about which kind of magic is better. All I want to do is keep my head down and get on with my new job as an investigator at the Hunted Witch Agency.... A recent, shall we say, mistake, has put me in place to inherit the leadership of the warlocks. Which means only one thing. I have a choice to make: Leave behind my life of witchery to become a warlock... Or lose my warlock magic forever! Complicating my choice is the fact that someone is trying to destroy the warlock coven. If I don't stop them, the warlocks will be annihilated. The task seems impossible until Gerard Freshwater, a distractingly handsome witch, explodes into my life. He's determined to make me see that being a witch isn't just the best option, but the only option! Magically Bonded (Hunted Witch Agency #2) If magic could kill, it would! Or, at least it would kill Devon Jinx... Half warlock, half... well, it used to be half witch, but I’m not so sure anymore. Ever since I defeated a powerful witch, my magic isn’t what it used to be. And, yet, I still hunt the ring leaders of the witch slave trade... Until a more unsavoury plot appears. Gerard, my handsome agent partner, works with me to unravel the mystery of the warlock and witch gatherings. Apparently, they want to do a lot more than party. They’re prepared to create half-breeds, like me, to keep the warlock coven safe from the witches who threaten it... And yet, from my own experience, being a half witch, half warlock, isn’t all fun and games. If I don’t stop the rogue supernaturals, the poor beings that are born into the world will face the same ultimatum as me: To choose just one type of magic… or die! Magically Betrayed (Hunted Witch Agency #3) Betrayal runs in the family… The Hunted Witch Agency is hot on the heels of the leader of the witch slave trade. I’m determined to bring them down, even though they’re closer to home than I realise. Gerard, the only male keeping me sane, is ready to put them down for good. Until I’m kidnapped! The witch who takes me has a personal vendetta. She can torture me all she likes, but she’ll never make me give up my mission to end her enterprise. And her! I’m witch royalty, I’m a warlock disgrace. And now, I’m kidnapped. However, my magic is under control. For now. How long can I keep avoiding the inevitable? Magically Banished (Hunted Witch Agency #4) Betrayed... Banished... Bothered? Since inheriting the link to the main source of warlock magic, the bounty on my head has quadrupled. If I don’t find a way to disconnect from the powerful source, the warlocks will hunt me down! Banished to the city of Edinburgh for protection, I throw myself into a new case. Magic drugs are on the rise, and the agency is tasked in bringing down the coven responsible for pushing contaminated batches! But with a powerful witch mob leader protecting our culprit, we may run out of time. In an effort to prevent further deaths, I use my magic... and bring the warlocks back onto my trail. Will I be able to stop the massacre before the warlocks find an excuse to end me for good? Magically Blended (Hunted Witch Agency #5) Case closed? Maybe not... I’m a protector of the ley lines, and I’m also the direct link to warlock magic. No wonder I’m amazingly amazing right now. Although, this amount of magic is making me shaky. Is any paranormal creature built to hold so much? Fighting the urge to use my magic every waking hour, I throw myself into the unfinished case of the Scottish mob coven and their poisoned drugs. My ignorance led me to believe that I’d wrapped everything up with a bow. And, yet, when our original culprit throws blame on the mob leader, we have to find evidence. Do we release our enemy to get our proof? Even at the risk of losing him? Either way, his fate, and mine, will be decided on the day of the solstice. Will I be magically blended or magically broken? This is the final book in the Hunted Witch Agency series. Devon is going to miss you.

    However, most books focus on the introduction of techniques themselves, and contain very little or no discussion on application in actual combat situations. This seizing art has thus been confined to stage performances instead of real combat use.Although Dr. Yang has published other Chin Na books, both fundamental and advanced texts, he believes this work is necessary in order to make this art more complete and alive. Therefore, in addition to introducing many new techniques, this book is also laid out according to actual combat scenarios - for example, application of Chin Na when your opponent punches, grabs, kicks or attacks with a knife.

    Confident that seminary equipped them with the tools they need for the journey ahead, they find themselves discouraged when the realities of their first call don't line up with what they came to expect from assigned readings and classroom discussions. This book, with contributions from fifteen veteran pastors, including Daniel L. Akin, Juan Sanchez, Phil A. Newton, Scott Sauls, offers real-world advice about the joys and challenges of the first five years of pastoral ministry--bridging the gap between seminary training and life in a local church. Armed with wisdom from those who have gone before them, young pastors will find encouragement to stand firm in the thick of the realities and rigors of pastoral ministry.

    From Gold Pen Award-winner and master storyteller Brandon Massey come fourteen darker-than-night tales of sheer terror that will make your blood run cold...A man driving home from a Halloween costume party suddenly comes face to face with an evil that's all too real...An elderly woman, obsessed with obituaries, finds herself intimately connected with the dead in the most unlikely of ways...A lifelong racist is plunged into his ultimate nightmare...An unfaithful husband discovers to his horror that his attractive new neighbor has in mind seduction of the wickedest kind....Prepare to be petrified by this chilling collection, certain to send you spiraling into a dark realm of imagination where the once-familiar becomes menacingly twisted...

    Combining biblical, historical, and cultural analysis, this comprehensive text explores the church as a Trinitarian, eschatological, worshiping, sacramental, serving, ordered, cultural, and missional community. It also offers practical application, addressing contemporary church life issues such as women in ministry, evangelism, social action, consumerism in church growth trends, ecumenism, and the church in postmodern culture. The book will appeal to all who are interested in church doctrine, particularly undergraduates and seminarians.

    He takes you inside a typical interview by exploring the various types of case questions, and he shares with you the acclaimed Ivy Case System. It will give you the confidence to answer even the most sophisticated cases. The book includes dozens of strategy cases, with case starts exercises, 21 ways to cut costs -- plus a special section on Federal and nonprofit cases.!

    And more is better. This is the new equation for church development, a new equation with eternal results.Rejecting the “bigger is better” model of the complex, corporate megachurch, church innovator Dave Browning embraced deliberate simplicity. The result was Christ the King Community Church, International (CTK), an expanding multisite community church that Outreach magazine named among America’s Fastest Growing Churches and America’s Most Innovative Churches. Members of the CTK network in a number of cities, countries, and continents are empowered for maximum impact by Browning’s “less is more” approach. In Deliberate Simplicity, Browning discusses the six elements of this streamlined model:• Minimality: Keep it simple• Intentionality: Keep it missional• Reality: Keep it real• Multility: Keep it cellular• Velocity: Keep it moving• Scalability: Keep it expandingAs part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series, Deliberate Simplicity is a guide for church leaders seeking new strategies for more effective ministry.

    So where should full-time ministry begin?In The Path to Being a Pastor, Bobby Jamieson explains why it's better to emphasize "aspiration" over "calling" as men pursue the office of elder and encourages readers to make sure they are pastorally gifted before considering the role. He shares from his own eleven-year experience preparing to be a pastor by walking potential leaders through different stages of ministry training, from practical steps--such as cultivating godly ambition and leadership, observing healthy churches, and mastering Scripture--to personal advice on building a strong family and succeeding in seminary. Emphasizing the importance of prayer, godly counsel, and immersion in the local church, Jamieson encourages men to ask Am I qualified? instead of Am I called? when considering a life in ministry.

    Each chapter includes practical "Try this" suggestions and ends with a quick checklist for preachers to consider when preaching from each of the six genres. Readers will learn how to expand their repertoire of creative, interesting, and relevant sermons.

    Being dead isn’t all it’s cracked up to be... Hank Merrick was a pretty unremarkable guy — until the world went and got itself destroyed. Unspeakable horrors now wander around ruined cities, claiming what little is left of the old world, and only the dead and forgotten are left to tell the tales. Freshly expired himself, Hank’s spirit begins a mysterious misadventure — finding purpose in the afterlife. Using guile, a bit of iron, and his shambling corpse companion named Maw, Hank sarcastically slogs through the nightmare landscape. Monsters leap out from every dark corner, while an unstoppable entity of evil slowly creeps across the earth, destroying everyone in its path. What’s a ghost gotta do to catch a break?

    The basic premise is simple: We need to stop intentionally to be with God more than once a day so that "the practice of the presence of God" becomes a real possibility. Each day offers two Daily Offices—Morning/Midday and Midday/Evening.

    Hungry for the World is the story of how an intelligent and passionate young woman, yearning for an understanding of the world beyond her insular family life, found her way.On the day of her 1976 high school graduation in Lewiston, Idaho, Kim Barnes decided she could no longer abide the patriarchal domination of family and church. After a disagreement with her father–a logger and fervent adherent to the Pentecostal Christian faith–she gathered her few belongings and struck out on her own. She had no skills and no funds, but she had the courage and psychological sturdiness to make her way, and to eventually survive the influence of a man whose dominance was of a different and more menacing sort. Hungry for the World is a classic story of the search for knowledge and its consequences, both dire and beautiful.

    Angelic, devilish, immoral, charming, self-destructive, given to alcoholic binges, he was not what the sober world of American academe had expected. Students loved him—although after his first few encounters with them, the girls had to be protected. And he made quick friends with countless American writers, journalists, and barflies, instantly creating a pop-culture mythology of the doomed artist for the late 20th century. The man who was Thomas’ patron and guide was the young poet John Malcolm Brinnin, who watched horrified—though utterly beguiled by the poet’s charm and genius—at Thomas’ slow descent into hell. This is his harrowing account of the poet’s tragic last years.

    This practical introduction illuminates new features and capabilities, with scenarios demonstrating how the platform can meet the needs of your business.Based on beta software, this book provides the early, high-level information you need to begin preparing now for deployment and management. Topics include:Virtualization and cloud solutions Availability Provisioning and storage management Security and scalability Infrastructure options Server administration