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Bio: Barbara Rainey and Susan Yates                                                                         

Biography of Barbara Rainey, Co-Author of

Barbara and Susan’s Guide to the Empty Nest

Barbara Rainey is a speaker and best-selling author.  As a wife, mother of six, and grandmother of twelve, she communicates intuitive wisdom and grace, acquired through years in the trenches, to women and families in every stage of life. 

After graduation from the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, Barbara became a staff member of Campus Crusade for Christ in 1971.  She married Dennis Rainey, now the president of FamilyLife (a subsidiary of Campus Crusade for Christ), in 1972, and together they began a personal and creative collaboration that is still ongoing more than 35 years later. 

Throughout their marriage, Barbara and Dennis have been strong advocates for families everywhere, and developed the HomeBuilders Couples Series® to help people throughout the world enrich their marriages through an exploration of scripture-based principles.  Barbara has been a frequent guest on FamilyLife Today, the ministry’s nationally syndicated, daily radio program.  She also speaks at the organization’s popular Weekend to Remember® marriage events. 

Barbara has also joined forces with her children to write books about parenting.  She coauthored A Mother’s Legacy with her daughter, Ashley Rainey Escue, and collaborated with Dennis and their children, Rebecca and Samuel, to write So You Are About to Be a Teenager.  She also authored the book, Thanksgiving: A Time to Remember, in celebration of this holiday.  In 2007, Barbara released a group of illustrated note cards featuring her watercolor art.

Barbara’s childhood dream of adoption was fulfilled in 1983 when the Raineys adopted a three-day-old baby girl.  “My heart has always been drawn to orphans and their sadness,” Rainey comments.  “As a result, adoption and orphan care will always be a part of my God-given mission in some way.”  The Raineys have translated their passion for the fatherless into FamilyLife’s “If You Were Mine” conferences that encourage Christian couples to prayerfully consider growing their families through adoption.

In her newest book, Barbara and Susan’s Guide to the Empty Nest, co-authored with her good friend Susan Yates, Barbara reflects on the newest phase of her role as wife and mother.  “I clearly remember deciding my mother was old the year she turned thirty-two,” she laughs.  “What was I thinking?!  Now that I’ve had six kids in ten years, done home-schooling and public schooling, sent them off to college, orchestrated four weddings, survived a prodigal’s years of rebellion, and welcomed a gaggle of grandkids into the expanding Rainey clan, I must finally admit that my own youth is a distant memory.  Our youngest child just graduated from college.  I’m still adjusting to my status as an ‘older’ (not old, mind you) woman whose kids are grown.” 

Barbara relishes her changing role as mother and grandmother and is enjoying the freedom of her empty nest.  In her recently acquired spare time, she can be found painting beautiful watercolors, making special efforts to visit her aging parents, enjoying spontaneous adventures with Dennis, and nurturing plants in her garden.  The Raineys live near Little Rock, Arkansas.

Bio: Susan Yates

Biography of Susan Yates, Co-Author of

Barbara and Susan’s Guide to the Empty Nest

Susan Yates is well respected for her light-hearted, yet instructive perspective on the challenges families face in a post-modern culture.  She has authored thirteen books, including And Then I Had Teenagers: Encouragement for Parents of Teens and Preteens, And Then I Had Kids: Encouragement for Mothers of Young Children, and 31 Days of Prayer for My Teen.  She also served as the parent-child columnist for Today’s Christian Woman magazine for ten years.  Susan speaks nationally and internationally on marriage and family and is a frequent guest on FamilyLife Today and other radio shows.    

After graduating from the University of North Carolina with a B.A. in political science, Susan served with Campus Crusade at the University of Georgia and then as Assistant Dean of Students at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ.  She married John Yates, also the author of many books, in 1969.  Since 1979, he has served as the senior pastor of The Falls Church in Falls Church, Virginia, a historic church in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. with approximately 4000 members.  John and Susan are speakers together at FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember® marriage conferences throughout the country.

Susan and John have also collaborated on several books, including Character Matters: Raising Kids with Values That Last and Building a Home Full of Grace, a work that drew on the insights of the entire Yates family.  Her work has elicited praise from a diverse group of prominent Christian figures including John Stott, Os Guinness, Joe White, Bill and Lynne Hybels, Gary Smalley, John Trent, Lisa Welchel, and also a host of everyday moms who have said simply, “She gets me!” 

In her newest book, Barbara and Susan’s Guide to the Empty Nest: Discovering New Purpose, Passion, and Your Next Great Adventure (April 2008), co-authored with her good friend Barbara Rainey, Susan contemplates the nature of her writing and speaking ministry.  “When I look back over my life and reflect on the group of people I have been consistently the most passionate about, a common theme emerges—the next generation,” she muses.

“John and I began our ministry working with junior and senior high students.  Then our kids came along,” Susan continues.  “When we had five babies—including a set of twins—in seven years, I was overwhelmed by sleep deprivation, feelings of inadequacy, and amazement at the intensity of my love for each child.  Later, as I graduated from diaper-changing, my heart went out to young mothers of babies.  After our kids moved through the teen years, I felt compelled to encourage parents of teenagers.  This passion for the next generation continues today as I focus on young families.”

John and Susan are the proud parents of five children and eleven grandchildren.  They are especially grateful for the five great kids their children have married.  The couple makes their home in Falls Church, Virginia.

For interview information contact

The B & B Media Group, Inc.

dmorrow@tbbmedia.com

800-927-0517 ext. 106 or 800-927-1517

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