All Saints by Michael Spurlock and Jeanette Windle

All Saints by Michael Spurlock and Jeanette Windle the surprising true story of how refugees from Burma brought life to a dying church.  This is how a rich white church in Smyrna Tennessee have an argument among themselves then split taking away the most influential part of their congregation away along with the majority of the money find success in God's arms and planning.  This white church is dying and most of the congregation has left along with their money.  The beautiful church building surrounded by beautiful grounds has a huge debt.  Their new pastor, Michael, has recently graduated from seminary.  Slowly Michael in rebuilding the congregation but the new income is not in keeping with the debt and now they are looking at foreclosure.  There is a community of Karen refugees from Burma three of whom meet with Michael and ask him if the church believes in Jesus.  Michael says yes and then begins Michael's step in truly believing and trusting that God would provide his every need.  The refugees are John and Daisy Kunoo the elderly parents of Ye Win.  Ye Win who speaks English explains that they are looking for a church for their group of 70 refugees.  Ye Win every Sunday tirelessly brought van load after van load of refugees more than doubling their church attendance.  These new refugees began attending regularly even though they did not speak English.  Some of the few remaining white congregants quit coming to church but the remaining few learned to accept these new strangers into their midst, love them and help them to thrive in this new land of America.  Working with the church the two groups learned from each other and managed to save this church from bankruptcy.  The Karen though most were professionals knew how to farm and so they did.  The congregation worked together to sell the farm products that they didn't need for their own use and helped to pay down the debts. 
This book is a great read for all those our there seeking to find a closer relationship with God.  This book is about desperate refugees in Tennessee just seeking to survive.  They needed the necessities of life--food, a roof over their head and a place to worship.  What they found was a church that was financially drowning in debt who had extra land to sell.  When the two got together the refugees taught the church how to more profitably use the land for a farm and the church taught them English and how to survive in this new land and the two together learned to love and trust each other and to become more close to the God that both served. 
I received this book from BethanyHouse for this review. 

The Only Negotiating Guide You'll Ever Need by Peter B. Stark and Jane Flaherty

The Only Negotiating Guide You'll Ever Need by Peter B. Stark and Jane Flaherty is a book that I didn't expect to enjoy.  I thought it would be a helpful self help book to increase my ability to negotiate.  These two authors have been employed as consultants for very large companies such as Sony and Paramount Studios.  This is an easy to follow guidebook for your own personal use.  I had no idea of the amount of times that everyone negotiates with others in their daily life.  These things can be a simple process of buying a bed to the more complex buying of a car or a home.  Then there are the things that one thinks of when thinking of negotiating such a asking for a raise or even negotiating deals at your job.  This book suggests that if you are planning to continue having a good relationship with the person with whom you are negotiating that you should plan for a win-win solution.  You should not plan to win the argument but rather negotiate the deal so that both people are happy with the deal.  This book suggests that you don't want people to cringe when they see you coming but rather the person that they are happy to return to when they next need to negotiate with you. 
When I picked this book I was thinking it would come in handy for requesting a raise from my boss but I had no idea of the negotiating that everyone does just as they go through life.  For instance negotiating with your child about why he can't have the latest toy that everyone has.  You know that child, Everyone, with the perfect parents and endless bank account.  And don't forget the negotiating with your spouse regarding where or what to eat for supper or what movie to pick for viewing.  The authors have named the various techniques names which are easy to remember and also describe what the technique is at the same time.  One such technique is the Puppy Dog which is the technique of letting the buyer play with the object whether the puppy, the car or something extravagant like a boat for the day or the weekend so that they have the opportunity to fall in love with it before negotiating the price.  This book is priceless in the amount of information contained in it.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.