Say Amen

Reverend Simon Jackson has always felt destined to lead and he's done a good job of it, transforming his small Houston church into one of the most respected and renowned in the region. But while the good Reverend's been busy tending his flock, his family's gone astray. His nineteen-year-old daughter, Rachel, gives new meaning to "baby mama drama." Crazy in love with her son's father, she's wreaking havoc on the man's life, even though he's about to marry another woman. David, Simon's oldest at twenty-seven, has been spiraling downward ever since a knee injury ended a promising football career. These days he's seeking solace in drugs-even feeding his habit by stealing church offerings. Blessedly, twenty-three-year-old Jonathan, a college graduate and the apple of Simon's eye, is poised to take his father's side as associate pastor-or so everyone thinks. Loretta has been a devoted wife to Simon, but she's beginning to realize that enabling him to give more to the church than to his children was her biggest mistake. As things begin to fall apart and secrets are revealed, will Loretta be able to help her husband reunite their tattered family before it's too late?

Gold Pen Award-winning author ReShonda Tate Billingsley returns to the Houston congregation of her #1 Essence magazine bestseller, Let the Church Say Amen, in this warm and powerful sequel. When her husband hears God's call to become a preacher, Rachel Jackson Adams is distressed-she grew up a preacher's daughter, and knows how difficult life under the microscope can be for a reverend's family. But hot-headed Rachel has toned down her wild ways, and for the sake of her marriage and her two children, she is now the reluctant first lady of Zion Hill, unafraid to rock the boat with her unconventional ideas for revitalizing the church. When her son, Jordan, begins fighting at school, Rachel turns to the boy's father, Bobby-Rachel's first love from years ago. Married now himself, there should be nothing between them except their concern for Jordan-so why does seeing Bobby again feel so distractingly tempting? With her brothers facing dramas of their own, and her father, Reverend Simon Jackson, recovering from illness, Rachel must listen carefully to discover what God truly wants for her-and to decide if Bobby is the lover of her dreams or the devil in disguise.

The spirited Houston congregation featured in ReShonda Tate Billingsley's Let the Church Say Amen and Everybody Say Amen has a major scandal unfolding-and, as always, the outspoken Rachel Jackson Adams is at the heart of the drama. As the First Lady of Zion Hill, Rachel is not only Pastor Lester Adams's wife-she's currently his eight-months-pregnant wife, who's going toe-to-toe with Lester's onetime mistress, congregant Mary Richardson, also pregnant. Her baby may or may not be Lester's, but Mary's doing all she can to win sympathy and turn her fellow churchgoers against Rachel-even threatening to blackmail Pastor Adams with a paternity agreement. After all, where can an unmarried mother-to-be go but to the Lord? Rachel has a few choice answers for exactly where Mary can go . . . but as these expectant moms do battle, hostilities erupt into a drama unlike anything Zion Hill has ever seen. Something has to give, and while Rachel contemplates everything from transferring her lifelong church membership to packing up and leaving Lester, she knows deep down God is calling her to forgiveness. Will the arrival of the new babies bring a new understanding? Or harden forever the anger that's dividing them?