If you've ever approached dating with the panicked, "What on earth should we do?" question blocking your creativity-and perhaps dampening your dating enthusiasm-this handy guide is the answer. With 213 inventive ideas, Not Just Dinner- and-a-Movie vaults dating from standard to stellar, offering: dates for mates dates in thirty minutes or less special occasions dates long-distance dates dates with the family and more Special features include romance reminders, "value" dating ideas, and pointers on online information, plus Biblical guidance and inspiration for re-focusing the heart on what truly matters-a lasting relationship with God.
Michael Ross is an award-winning writer and former editor of Breakaway, a national magazine for teen guys published by Focus on the Family. He is also the author, co-author, and collaborator of more than 30 books for Christian families, including the Gold Medallion winner BOOM: A Guy's Guide to Growing Up (Tyndale), a best-selling devotional for women Faith that Breathes (Barbour), and his current release What Your Son Isn't Telling You (Bethany House). Michael and his wife Tiffany live in Lincoln, Nebraska, with their young son, Christopher, and two cats. Today, he oversees Back to the Bible's book publishing efforts.
Michael studied journalism and art at Humboldt State University. After college, he began his writing career in Los Angeles--where he spent countless hours working with inner-city youth and their families. These experiences sparked in him a heart for disadvantaged teens. In 1990, he co-founded Breakaway (a national magazine for teenage boys). In 2002, he and a team of wilderness guides began taking readers on summer backpacking excursions near Yosemite National Park. And three years later, Michael launched Breakaway's Father-Son Adventures in Colorado. Under the guidance of Noah's Ark Whitewater Rafting Co., these backcountry trips were designed to strengthen relationships between dads and their teenage sons.
When Michael isn't writing or speaking to teens and their parents, he and his family love adventure travel. Their most memorable trip is a safari through Zimbabwe by motorcycle (with a bunch of teens, of course), and then by boat down the Zambezi River. The author and his wife and son are currently dreaming up a fiction series that will take young readers deep into African jungles and zigzagging down churning mountain rivers--adventures they will research together!
During Michael's publishing career, he has written and edited thousands of articles and has interviewed hundreds of athletes, musicians, actors, as well as amazing people from all walks of life. Some of his most memorable interviews include: actors Sylvester Stallone and Stephen Baldwin, director Catherine Hardewicke (Twilight, Lords of Dogtown), teen superstars Jonas Brothers, CCM artists Kirk Franklin, Skillet, and Steven Curtis Chapman, country music band Sawyer Brown, Indianapolis Colts' Hunter Smith, and UFC fighter Nathan "Rock" Quarry.
