Together For Good: Lessons from Fifty-Five Years of Marriage

"Friendship is far more important to love and marriage than we had any idea at the time we married. Friendship grows in the fertile soil of common values and interests. . . the place each of us grows as a person and a mate. We've grown far beyond anything either of us had in mind 55 years ago, and we know it's because God blessed our friendship with a spark that set it all aflame in joy and fruitfulness," writes Rev. Drs. Henry H. and Ella Pearson Mitchell, who share the secret to lasting love and friendship in Together for Good. This memoir chronicles the Mitchell's 55-year relationship, beginning with when they first met at Union Theological Seminary, and follows them throughout their lives. Filled with anecdotes and the couple's down-to-earth candor, Together for Good tells how the Mitchells coped with the first year of marriage, financial problems, the birth and adoption of their children, switching jobs, and moving. The Mitchells, who've served in various ministry capacities together, talk about their "golden" years and how staying together has been an endless source of strength and joy-even through losing a child and the long healing process afterward. Anyone who's endured a relationship-whether successful or not-will find encouragement and support from the Mitchell's "golden" insight.

Rev. Drs. Henry H. Mitchell and Ella Pearson Mitchell are visiting professors at Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, where they have been team-teaching for more than ten years. Henry is the author of Black Preaching, Soul Theology, Celebration and Experience in Preaching, and Preaching for Black Self-Esteem. Ella edited three volumes of Those Preaching Women, and Women: To Preach or Not to Preach.