Sadly, the case remains unsolved after 63 years.

Deana Hamby Nall and Mike S. Allen. “The Abduction of Mrs. Ruby Lowery Stapleton.” Independently published. 2025. 264 pages. $14.95.

The prologue starts with a beautiful description of central Arkansas’ woods in October, with just enough suspense to encourage the reader to turn the page.

The picture was clear for me, a current Harding student, and elicited memories of fall days spent hiking at Petit Jean State Park or Sugarloaf Mountain 100 miles southwest of campus.

Nall and Allen’s storytelling immediately drew me in. As I dove further into the English teacher’s story, there were moments I forgot I was reading.

I researched the Stapleton case for Harding’s student newspaper, The Bison, in October 2025. But I was pleasantly surprised to read anecdotes in Nall and Allen’s book that I hadn’t discovered.

The authors did an excellent job of incorporating stories that described various aspects of all the characters in Stapleton’s story.

Two stories in particular were new to me: one about Ruby’s memories from Mother’s Day in 1963 and another about E.R. Stapleton, Ruby’s husband, during the 1942 cotton harvest.

I found the story about E.R. interesting because it revealed a lighthearted and competitive side of his character — depth that I had not seen during my own research.

Interview transcripts and comments from others in the book portray E.R. in a different manner — as a suspect.

Nall and Allen’s book is a thoroughly researched and extremely detailed account of Stapleton’s case.

They present a comprehensive timeline of the events connected with the abduction and investigation. One aspect I particularly appreciate about the timeline is the context for the time of Ruby Stapleton’s disappearance outside of the “Harding bubble.”

It’s easy to forget sometimes, but life goes on outside of campus. Big events were happening in 1963. Earlier in the fall semester, Harding President George Benson announced the school was desegregating.

Shortly after Stapleton’s body was found, local and national media focused on another tragedy: President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963. The news and federal law enforcement, as Nall and Allen describe, shifted their efforts away from the Stapleton case and toward the assassination.

There are two memorials for Stapleton on Harding’s campus: a portrait on the second floor of the Brackett Library and an engraved brick on the front lawn. The Writing Center inside the university’s library will also be renamed to honor Stapleton in August.

“The Abduction of Mrs. Ruby Lowery Stapleton” is a factual, engaging presentation of the Stapleton case.

All who read it — whether they are familiar with the story, are true crime fans or are reading Stapleton’s story for the first time — will close the book with a thorough knowledge of this complex case and the impact it still has today.

KENZIE JAMES is a senior multimedia journalism major at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. and returning Christian Chronicle intern. James grew up in Tallahassee, Fla., where she attended the Timberlane Church of Christ.

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Villegas, the son of immigrants and a Mennonite pastor in Durham, N.C., shows that migration is woven throughout the biblical story — from Adam and Eve leaving Eden to Abraham’s journey, Israel’s exile and ultimately the incarnation of Jesus.

Isaac S. Villegas. “Migrant God: A Christian Vision for Immigrant Justice.” Eerdmans. 2025. 167 pages. $22.99.

God moves, crosses boundaries and chooses to identify with the displaced. God cares for those who migrate, knows the names of those who die in the attempt and hears the cries of the bullied, persecuted, detained and deported already inside American boundaries.

Villegas writes from experience, close-at-hand encounters and the practice of presence; he has walked through the desert, frequented immigrant aid centers, visited prisons and transformed his own congregation into a sanctuary for immigrants.

For him, this topic is not political rhetoric. His concern for immigrant justice is born of his lived experience and hard theological work.

Villegas’ book resonated strongly with us as co-ministers in a multicultural, multiracial congregation in Chicago that welcomes native-born Americans and immigrants from four continents. He tells stories of people whom we recognize, sit with on Sundays and serve the Lord with throughout the week.

There is the church outside Dallas creating a pueblo of God by their communal meals, where “worship spills over into the kitchen” and everyone has a place at the table. There is Rosa, a Honduran refugee from domestic violence who lives and serves at Villegas’ church in order to have a chance at a new life with her children.

There is the church-run network of shelters in Mexico providing places for migrants to live and thrive. These are stories of peace, not violence: of human beings trying to live with their neighbors in faith, justice and dignity.

Villegas wants his readers to remember that God knows every name, every hair on the head of migrants, just as surely as he knows those who have lived in America for generations.To him, nationalist government policies are not a fight against migration, but rather a war against immigrants who cross borders equipped only with the hope of a more dignified life — a hope that dies with many of them in the desert.

Some will find Villegas’ book challenging, perhaps even occasionally offensive. He points out, for instance, laws that the federal government has passed since the 1950s to offload responsibility for border crossing deaths onto migrants themselves. Villegas challenges all who identify with Christ to cease waving the banner of nationalist theology and offer places at our tables for immigrants.

Ultimately, “Migrant God” is both theological reflection and call to action. It reminds us of biblical commands to love and protect the foreigner. For Villegas, welcoming immigrants is central to faithful Christian living. This book challenges and inspires readers to see migrants not as strangers, but as neighbors — and even as reflections of God himself.

PAUL CHAE, CARLOS ESTRADA and PATRICK ODUM are ministers for the Northwest Church of Christ in Chicago, which has worship services in Korean, Spanish and English.

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Just as significantly, these kinds of books have been accompanied by others which engage in historical study not simply to understand where we have been, whether for good or for ill, but also to guide our path going forward.

Paul Alan Smith. “A Burden Too Heavy: An Invitation to the Spiritual Discipline of Confession.” WestBow Press. 2025. 190 pages. $16.99.

In this vein, Jack Reese’s “At the Blue Hole: Elegy for a Church on the Edge” and, to a more specific end, Wes Crawford’s “Courage in the Sheer Silence: Challenging Racism in 20th-Century Churches of Christ,” offer historically informative and spiritually formative lessons from the past for our use in the present.

Still other studies go even deeper into the past, considering how Churches of Christ fit into the overall Christian story and what we might be able to glean from it. Notable here is Leonard Allen’s “In the Great Stream: Imagining Churches of Christ in the Christian Tradition.”

Paul Alan Smith’s “A Burden Too Heavy: An Invitation to the Spiritual Discipline of Confession,” a revision of his Fuller Theological Seminary dissertation, follows in this same trajectory. Smith, a minister and lifelong member of Churches of Christ, offers biblically minded readers no fewer than four Scriptural applications of confession.

Three of these are positive in nature, meaning that participants claim and affirm that which they confess: their faith in God, their beliefs about him and their trust in his faithfulness during seasons of lament and struggle.

A fourth biblical application, the confession of sin, is negative in that Christians acknowledge sin’s presence in order to seek forgiveness for it. (A fifth type of confession, Smith adds, is the use of formal creeds or statements of faith in certain Christian traditions.)

The second and third sections of “A Burden Too Heavy” are aimed at a general Christian audience. Part two overviews the biblical and historical evidence for confession in the Christian faith and includes a timely case study on German Confessing Church leader Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Having demonstrated the biblical warrant for the discipline, Smith turns his attention in part three to its effects, exploring confession’s blessings for individual Christians and church communities alike.

It is part one, however, where Smith makes his most direct appeal to readers within Churches of Christ. Across two chapters, he briefly overviews the history of our movement and its implications for our practice — or lack thereof — of confession.

Although there are some relevant, recent works missing from Smith’s bibliography, his overall interpretation of our backstory is convincing and his invitation to join him in confession compelling.

A discussion guide rounds out this volume and makes an already accessible work even more useful. Recommended for those who, as Smith puts it, “recognize that restoration necessarily demands an attachment to the past” as well as “a continual process of self-evaluation and growth.”

JOHN YOUNG is a professor in the Turner School of Theology and Curriculum and assessment coordinator at Amridge University.

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As an early childhood educator with a background in child development, I recognize that the benefits of reading aloud to our children are innumerable, and not just intellectually.

Reading books to our children helps foster familial connections, teaches important lessons and prepares them to be students of the best book, Scripture.

‘Zeke’s Sunday’

Chantelle Marie Swayne. “Zeke’s Sunday.” Independently published. 2025. 29 pages. $14.99.

“Zeke’s Sunday,” written and illustrated by Chantelle Marie Swayne — a member of the Northern Lights Church of Christ in Fairbanks, Alaska — portrays the rhythms of a Sunday morning as a parent and child prepare for and engage in worship.

Large-print words and sweet, simple illustrations allow for an easy read for the littlest of ears. While a few of the actions described may stretch the understanding of the intended audience, a visual step-by-step flow helps create a familiar routine.

Repeat readings of the book will open the door to discussing how we worship God on Sundays and every day of the week. “Zeke’s Sunday” is a wonderful selection for introducing our youngest children to the restfulness of Sundays.

‘When I Talk to God, I Talk About Feelings’

Chrissy Metz and Bradley Collins. “When I Talk to God, I Talk About Feelings.” Flamingo Books. 2025. 32 pages. $18.99.

“When I Talk to God, I Talk About Feelings” provides a beautiful springboard for understanding feelings and bringing them to God in prayer.

Written by Chrissy Metz and Bradley Collins, the book can help provide the words and descriptions many children lack to understand their emotional state.

The cadence of the text allows for a smooth read aloud. Additionally, the attractive forest scenes illustrated by Lisa Fields help bring to life the feelings discussed through cute woodland creatures and dramatic use of color.

Combining the message of “When I Talk to God, I Talk About Feelings” with other aspects of prayer will help to teach and encourage your children to pray to God daily.

‘Fail-a-bration!’

Brad Montague and Kristi Montague. “Fail-a-bration.” Dial Books. 2024. 40 pages. $18.99.

“Fail-a-bration!” by Brad and Kristi Montague — members of the Jacks Creek Church of Christ in Tennessee — is a story that shows us that everyone makes mistakes.

Everyone deals with disappointment. What matters more is how you respond and grow. The illustrations are fun and unique, offering a great background for this desperately needed message.

While this is not a Christian book per se, one could easily draw parallels and connections to our need for God’s love and forgiveness. The authors’ suggestion of throwing a party in the face of mistakes and disappointments may be over the top, but it does give the book a quirky charm.

The book even includes a list of ideas for your very own party. “Fail-a-bration!” is an amusing option to help older children learn the skill of rejoicing because we tried, even if we failed.

All three of these books are excellent choices to add to your children’s bookshelf. Use them to connect to your children, develop their love of reading and deepen their understanding of God and his world.

COURTNEY BRADFORD is an early childhood educator turned stay-at-home mom and minister’s wife. Her family worships at the Signal Mountain Church of Christ in Tennessee.

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C. Leonard Allen. “Faithful Defiance: Marshall Keeble’s Life and Legacy.” Abilene Christian University Press. 2025. 176 pages. $18.99.

Rather than merely recounting Keeble’s life story, Allen, Lipscomb University Bible dean, frames Keeble’s ministry as a lesson in conviction and resilience. He illustrates how the evangelist’s steadfast devotion to God transcended racial, educational and social barriers.

Allen’s writing captures both the spiritual and historical dimensions of Keeble’s life. He highlights not only Keeble’s preaching style and missionary zeal but also his personal humility and reliance on Scripture.

Allen skillfully weaves moments of faith with the broader context of the segregation era, showing how Keeble’s boldness in preaching the Gospel often placed him in dangerous and hostile environments. Yet, through every challenge, Keeble remained faithful: an embodiment of “defiance” rooted not in rebellion but in belief.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is its portrayal of Keeble’s growth as a student of God’s word. Although Keeble lacked formal education, he dedicated himself to study and reflection, often seeking guidance from those with greater biblical knowledge.

The partnership with his first wife — Minnie, an educator — until her death in 1932 adds depth to his story, revealing how family and faith worked together in his ministry. Allen’s emphasis here reminds readers that true wisdom is not measured by degrees but by devotion to learning and applying the truth of Scripture.

“Faithful Defiance” also underscores Keeble’s deep commitment to educating others. He wanted young men to study, learn and prepare for ministry, ensuring the preaching of God’s word would continue beyond his generation. Keeble helped found the Nashville Christian Institute in Tennessee and several other schools.

A new exhibit at the Jackson Street Church of Christ in Nashville, Tenn., showcases writing, sermons and other artifacts of the late Marshall Keeble. Read more about the exhibit.

The book movingly describes how Keeble personally recruited and supported students, fostering a legacy of Christian leadership that still resonates today. Allen presents these scenes with a sense of admiration, showing that Keeble’s investment in others may have been his greatest contribution to the church’s future.

Perhaps most inspiring are the accounts of Keeble’s outreach — the thousands he baptized and the unity he sought across racial lines. Allen illuminates the support Keeble received from White Christians during a time of deep division, illustrating how faith sometimes triumphed over prejudice. The author’s thoughtful narrative invites reflection on the ways Christian fellowship can overcome barriers of race, class and culture when grounded in shared faith.

“Faithful Defiance” is both a biography and a testimony of perseverance under pressure. Allen’s balanced storytelling reminds readers that conviction, humility and courage remain as vital today as they were in Keeble’s time.

The book is a powerful tribute to a man who allowed faith to lead his every step and to an author who brings that legacy vividly to life. It’s an informative and inspiring read.

CARTER ROSS JR. is an elder and associate minister for the Avondale Church of Christ in Birmingham, Ala. He was a longtime preacher for the Collegeville Church of Christ in Birmingham and vice chair of the ​​Alabama State Lectureship Committee.

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Children’s constant attachment to their screens — and how that behavior impacts their mental health and development — is an issue of much consternation for parents today, and one that’s virtually impossible to avoid or ignore.

Joe Wells.“Connected: Parenting Faithfully in the Digital Age.” Kaio Publications. 2024. 154 pages. $12.00.

“Connected: Parenting Faithfully in the Digital Age” looks to equip parents to combat the ill effects of unlimited digital access — centered around a God-seeking family life.

Author Joe Wells, a Gen X father of four, cites research that shows nearly half of 2- to 4-year-olds have their own tablet and that teenagers, on average, spend 9 hours on screens daily for entertainment alone — not including school activities.

He addresses not only screen time and addiction but also immediate physical and emotional threats and immoral content that young children and teens can face through their digital devices.

For example, Wells talks about bullying, sexting and the need for validation — even pornography and child predators.

Many of these dangers are not new, but with texting and social media, they are ever-present and can affect children even inside the apparent safety of their homes. Wells mentions specific apps parents should be on the lookout for.

He notes that God created us with an innate desire to be connected, but we sometimes fulfill that need in unhealthy ways.

To protect our children, Wells says, we must take a proactive and committed role in our children’s digital lives: “You cannot approach it with … laziness.”

The author offers seven guiding principles for parenting in the digital age: educate yourself, set boundaries, promote open communication, model responsible use, focus on the heart, stay informed and pray together.

“In parenting faithfully, it’s not just us making demands — it’s us trying to win the hearts of our children.”

I appreciate Wells’ holistic method: While he offers ways to monitor and block unwanted internet usage, he also describes the importance of instilling in our children a desire to do the right thing and building the kind of relationships where they feel comfortable coming to us for help.

A digital plan built solely on putting up roadblocks will fail. Children will find ways around them.

“In parenting faithfully, it’s not just us making demands — it’s us trying to win the hearts of our children,” Wells writes.

He also notes the importance of leadership and setting an example for technology use.

I find myself particularly convicted on that front, as I try to avoid screen time for my almost 2-year-old while struggling to put the phone down myself as a younger millennial.

“‘Connected’ is a valuable crash course on the challenges kids face through their screens and how we can help our children navigate them with godly leadership.”

The book is not without its faults. Wells seems to demonstrate flawed understandings of some apps and technical concepts, such as DNS. And I think some of his generational biases (which he admits can skew our perceptions) come through on topics like video games.

But overall, “Connected” is a valuable crash course on the challenges kids face through their screens and how we can help our children navigate them with godly leadership.

There are some thought-provoking ideas here for Christian parents of all ages and technology levels.

CALVIN COCKRELL is Managing Editor of The Christian Chronicle. Contact calvin@christianchronicle.org.

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You wake up on a train. At the station, you follow the crowd. You connect with your afterlife coordinator.

You have a week to decide where to spend eternity.

And, by the way, your wife of 65 years must choose between you and her first husband — a war hero who’s waited 67 years to see her again.

That’s the intriguing plot of “Eternity,” a new romantic comedy starring Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen and Callum Turner.

“The afterlife has always fascinated people,” Religion Unplugged’s Joseph Holmes noted in his recent film review.

“While organized religion is on the decline, more Americans believe in an afterlife today than they have since the 1970s,” Holmes wrote. “So it’s inevitable that we would start to see more creative interpretations of the death — and what happens after — in the stories we tell, unmoored by the need to be faithful to religious tradition.”

‘Nobody wanna go now’

Rated PG-13, “Eternity” is far from perfect, as Holmes’ review makes clear.

Still, I found the concept fun and entertaining, except for a few brief Hollywood cringeworthy moments.

The movie — which my 26-year-old daughter, Kendall, invited me to see with her — certainly made me think.

Elizabeth Olsen’s character must choose between her two dead husbands — Callum Turner and Miles Teller — in the “Eternity” movie.

As a Christian, I believe in heaven.

But like a lot of believers, I lack a clear idea of what to expect. And I’m in no hurry to go.

As Kenny Chesney sang in his 2008 No. 1 country hit, “Everybody wanna go to heaven. But nobody wanna go now.”

For theologians, N.T. Wright’s 2007 book “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church” sparked ongoing debate over the nature of heaven.

“If there is a new earth, what kind of bodies will we have?” my friend Jeremie Beller, The Christian Chronicle’s opinions editor and Bible dean at Oklahoma Christian University, said of the questions raised. “What is the implication on things like marriage?

“Interestingly,” Beller added, “the movie sounds like a modern spin on the question the Sadducees asked of Jesus in Matthew 22:23-33: ‘Whose wife will she be?’”

My friend Trey Morgan, lead minister for the Sunset Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas, said: “I personally don’t think my relationship with my wife will decrease in heaven, just change. It won’t be a marriage in heaven as it is on earth but somehow different.”

Morgan is OK with that.

“While I don’t understand what heaven will be like exactly,” he said, “I can find comfort knowing that God who designed the wonders of my marriage is who designed heaven as well.”

“I can find comfort knowing that God who designed the wonders of my marriage is who designed heaven as well.”

Heaven isn’t about being with earthly spouses, as my friend Bill Robinson, a domestic missionary in New York City, sees it.

It’s about being with Jesus.

“The glory of that world won’t be the resolution of all our earthly storylines but the joy of being fully healed, fully transformed and fully at home with the One who loved us first,” Robinson said.

A husband and wife — played by Miles Teller and Elizabeth Olsen — explore an afterlife in Beach World in the “Eternity” movie.

Inside the pearly gates

One of the fascinating aspects of “Eternity”: Each person picks the afterlife theme that fits them.

Options range from the Pearly Gates Classic Edition to Smokers World (because cigarettes can’t kill you twice).

Among others: America World. Beach World. Catholic World. Clown World. Corporate World. Infantile World. Medical World. Museum World. Muslim World. No Men World. Outdoor World. Paris World. Protestant World. Romance World. Space World. Weimar World (Without Nazis). Wine World.

But be careful: If you choose the wrong one, you can’t simply say “Oops!” and ask for a do-over.

“You’d probably pick Texas Rangers World,” my daughter suggested.

That sounds about right.

Bobby Ross Jr., far right, at a Texas Rangers game with his daughter Kendall, daughter-in-law Paige and son Keaton.

Others that might be fun to visit:

• Best Days World: I’d love to relive the day I met my wife, the day we got married and the days our children were born. I’d love to relive my first Texas Rangers game, my first time tasting the cheese sauce at my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant and my best Christmas with my parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins.

• Hallmark Christmas World: I already found my true love, but I’d love to help save a small-town cookie company from takeover by a big national corporation and welcome a snow-trapped royal family to an obscure village in New England. In fact, I’d love to enjoy a slightly different version of these same things year after year.

• Hound Dog World: I’d love to hear what my basset hound, Frannie, really thinks and learn more about what makes her droopy-eared breed so lazy and lovable.

Frannie enjoys time outside in her Oklahoma City neighborhood.

• Newspaper World: I’d love to go back to an era when Sunday newspapers were 4 inches thick and landed on nearly every driveway — and people actually read them. (Maybe in the afterlife, the ink wouldn’t leave black marks on your hands.)

• Role Play World: I’d love to enjoy a Hall of Fame baseball career. I’d love to be a famous country music singer and get invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. I’d love to write a best-selling novel renowned for its perfect prose.

I could go on, but I don’t have an “Eternity” to devote to this column.

If you’ve seen the movie, I’m curious to know what you thought and which afterlife you’d pick.

You die and go to … where?

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Ross writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged, where this piece originally appeared. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

With nearly 1 in 4 Americans suffering from a mental health issue, including among our congregants, a resource is critically needed to equip our fellowship with the skills necessary to meet the need.

David J. Pope. “How Can I Help You?: Basic Helping Skills for Christians.” Luminare Press. 2024. 166 pages. $14.99.

As an elder’s wife, I can attest that many, including myself, are struggling with such issues.

As Jack Wilkie recently wrote for his Church Reset Substack, elders “need to know what’s going on in the lives of their people and be in touch with the concerns that are on the members’ hearts.”

Thankfully, David J. Pope’s book “How Can I Help You? Basic Helping Skills for Christians” is a resource for those involved in pastoral care. Pope, a longtime member of the Prescott Church of Christ in Arizona, draws from over 40 years as a therapist addressing mental health and addiction.

He gives insight into situational and clinical mental health conditions — including grief, depression and disabilities — while freely sharing his own lived experience with addiction and journey toward mental wellness. Pope also shares his wife’s experience living with spina bifida.

The book is largely arranged by condition, with some general chapters, all concluding with some “dos and don’ts” and other suggestions.

There are discussions about resources, generally outside of our fellowship, but overall, the book offers much-needed insight to assist Christians struggling with complex issues.

Listen to Marie Stroughter discuss mental health and her MoMo634 Podcast on Episode 115 of The Christian Chronicle Podcast.

While the book’s conversational tone is generally one of “subject matter expert to layperson,” Pope sometimes strays into bias and oversimplification. For example, in the chapter “Depression/Anxiety,” he writes:

“Another way you can help is to recommend getting into some act of service. The number one assignment I have given to those stuck in depression is to do three nice things a day for someone else.”

It has been my experience that when the neurons in my brain are not firing correctly or the brain chemistry is out of balance, basic tasks like getting out of bed, showering, and even brushing teeth become Herculean, and not by choice.

In a section called “Entitlement,” Pope also devolves into unhelpful stereotypes regarding young adults living with their parents.

These generalizations are at odds with the author’s basic premise that mental health issues are legitimate medical conditions that cannot be turned off and on: “Don’t stigmatize.” “Don’t tell them to just get over it.” “Don’t base progress on feelings.” “Don’t be impatient.”

Pope underscores these points and, refreshingly, correlates mental health diagnoses with other medical conditions. His validation in the book counters the shame and stigma many struggling with these conditions feel, which contribute to delays in seeking treatment and/or medication.

Given the dearth of material on the subject, particularly from resources within our fellowship, brother Pope’s book is a beneficial addition to the arsenal of any church member on the front lines assisting others.

MARIE STROUGHTER is an elder’s wife who worships at the Westside Church of Christ in Killeen, Texas. She hosts a five-minute podcast called “Motivational Moments” at MoMo634.com.

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Unfortunately, Churches of Christ tend to be ahistorical, making it challenging for young people and adults in the Churches of Christ to appreciate their history.

Luke Dockery and Jared Pack. “Origin Story: Churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement.” Deeper Youth Ministry. 2025. 115 pages. $12.99.

But in “Origin Story: Churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement,” Luke Dockery and Jared Pack have combined their decades of experience in youth ministry and teaching to create a fun and entertaining way to learn the history of the Restoration Movement — comic book style.

What is our origin story? The authors believe that knowing our history is essential to understanding who we are. Their purpose in writing this book is to ensure that young people understand the Restoration Movement plea and to encourage them to follow it in their own lives.

Barton Stone and Thomas Campbell advocated for a unity among Christians that would center around “no creeds, but the Bible” only. Alexander Campbell encouraged the restoration of “the ancient order of things.”

But the “Origin Story” authors believe that churches descended from Stone and Campbell’s Restoration Movement — including modern Churches of Christ — have traded their original plea for either a sectarian or denominational view.

This was not the way that our spiritual forefathers thought. So, Dockery and Pack set out to show that movement leaders sought unity among people who wanted to be “Christians only” while intentionally following the Bible only.

They are honest about how unity and restoration are in tension with one another in the life of a Christian; however, that should never stop one from seeking to live in balance with these two biblical ideas.

Due to the struggle between the two ideas, the Restoration Movement has consistently favored one over the other throughout its history. The results have not always been pretty, but the authors do not shy away from the unpleasant aspects of the movement, such as the presence of controversial figures or issues like segregation.

This is one of the book’s most important features: We must learn from the past, so that the right plea can be taken up again.

Also important is the book’s examination of the Restoration Movement within the broader context of church history. Churches of Christ will often start in the first century and then skip to 19th century America. But this book reminds the reader that historical events and movements do not happen in a vacuum.

A 19th century print depicts leaders of the Restoration Movement: Clockwise from top, Thomas Campbell, Barton Stone, Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott.

This book is written and designed with young people in mind. But it can also be used for an adult Bible class or personal study for adults who want to learn more about their spiritual heritage and identity.

I am very thankful for Dockery and Pack and for this project. I hope that our fellowship supports this work not only because it is presented in an entertaining format, but also because it will help reshape Churches of Christ in the way of the true restoration plea.

ZACK MARTIN is an instructor of historical theology and dean of students at Heritage Christian University in Florence, Ala.

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With four children in the home, Brooks is in the trenches of motherhood. She navigates her daily life with hilarity and some tears.

Becky Brooks. “Navigating Motherhood: Finding Your Way by Following Jesus.” Bel Esprit Books. 2020. 274 pages. $19.99.

Her book “Navigating Motherhood: Finding Your Way by Following Jesus” is set up as a weekly study and discussion guide divided into Day 1 through Day 5 of the twelve weekly lessons.

Week 1, Day 2, I was texting my friend who schedules the women’s small group Bible studies at our congregation to tell her about this guide. “Navigating Motherhood” is designed to fit a weekly small group gathering of moms, though it can be read and worked through independently.

Brooks’ “tell-on-herself” humor pops out of the pages, while her deep faith and devotion are interwoven into every encounter she has with her children as she and her husband lead them in the direction of knowing and loving God.

The weekly design follows the theme of navigation. Most of the days begin with an anecdote from the family, followed by a “You-Are-Here Question,” a “Drop-a-Pin Verse,” a “Direction Question” and a “Prayer Prompt.”

The majority of the questions call for yes/no responses, such as, “Is there an area where you may be basing your self-esteem on something other than who you are in Christ?”

I encourage leaders and readers to turn all those yes/no questions into open-ended ones before answering. For example, “What are some ways you may be basing your self-esteem on something other than who you are in Christ?”

“Navigating Motherhood” is not a textual study and doesn’t direct readers to open their Bibles. But while the study could be completed without a Bible in hand, biblical events from the lives of Esther, Elijah and Peter (among others) are referenced and discussed.

Connie Penick and her son, Peyton, at Neema Village, a children’s home in Tanzania.

This would be a great time for study groups to read the entire event or chapter to dig deeper into Scripture. Verses are included in the text throughout. These would be great opportunities to have Bibles handy to compare wording, as Brooks frequently draws from more modern translations.

The prayer prompt is the last part of each day’s lesson and only has three blank lines provided. I encourage participants to see all that white space as an invitation to fill it up with prayers.

“‘Navigating Motherhood’ provides a guide and framework to turn … discussions into blessings, growth and encouragement with a constant reminder to turn it all over to Jesus and refocus the everyday occurrences of family life on him.”

Brooks’ insight into her children’s hearts and their relationship with God reminds us to see that God is in every moment of our lives and to guide our children in that direction as well. She gives specific examples of ways to parent children with love and grace and with forgiveness for them as well as for us.

I encourage Christian women to check out this resource to see whether it would be a fit for the moms in their congregation. Moms often get together to talk about the joys and difficulties of parenting already.

“Navigating Motherhood” provides a guide and framework to turn those discussions into blessings, growth and encouragement with a constant reminder to turn it all over to Jesus and refocus the everyday occurrences of family life on him.

CONNIE PENICK is the advertising director for The Christian Chronicle. She and her husband, Jay, worship with the Memorial Road Church of Christ in Oklahoma City. Contact connie@christianchronicle.org.

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On the other hand, you might not.

Brad East. “Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry.” Eerdmans. 2024. 288 pages. $24.99.

Brad East, an associate professor of theology at Abilene Christian University, has a personal practice of writing spiritually encouraging notes to young family members.

He has continued his “habit of writing short, accessible letters to young people about the hope we share in Christ,” and thus, his epistolary book “Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry” was born.

He is so serious about Christians counting the cost before enlisting their lives in service that he opens and closes the book with scenes of martyrdom. Many of his examples and images are of Catholic saints, martyrs and other figures.

East’s prose is warm and comforting (think C.S. Lewis), and his arguments for the cause of Christ are compelling.

The book is a collection of letters organized into twelve sections telling God’s story and purpose.

East presents a logically ordered walk through the Bible with headings from “God Brings Life through Death” and “God Calls a Special People” to “God Becomes a Human Being” and, finally, “God Makes All Things New.”

However, some of the paths he takes to get to his destination are trails I would not recommend to a seeker. Prayer beads, profanity and Presbyterian infant baptism are not condoned in the Scriptures but are included in this book.

East does not take the creation account of Genesis literally but does believe God raised Jesus from the dead.

Listen to Brad East discuss his book on Episode 103 of The Christian Chronicle Podcast.

East writes knowledgeably about fasting and self-denial. He supports a solid doctrinal position with Scripture but gushes about monastic life.

To say that this book is “ecumenical” is an understatement, and there, I think, is its power, but also its weakness.

I was hopeful that the supersized, universal Christian umbrella East was holding would bring everyone under its considerable shelter, while funneling down to a strong, single handle of scriptural truth. It was not so.

As he writes in closing, he has “not sought to tell the reader which tradition, movement, or denomination is the right one.”

An interesting exercise with this book would be to see whom East cites more frequently: Jesus and the Bible, or writers such as C.S. Lewis, Julian of Norwich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Irenaeus, St. Augustine and more.

All are fascinating and valuable reading, to be sure. However, for the purpose of guiding a seeker to truth, I would focus on the Bible.

“I could view the book almost as a survey of Christianity. But as a guide to finding the Jesus of the New Testament, it misses the mark.”

At the beginning, East stated the purpose for his correspondence was “to teach you what Christianity is, what Christians believe, and what it means to live as a Christian.”

If East instead had written “to teach you what some people believe Christianity is,” I could view the book almost as a survey of Christianity. But as a guide to finding the Jesus of the New Testament, it misses the mark.

LISA BREWER worships at the Wilkesboro Church of Christ in North Carolina, where her husband, Greg, serves as a deacon. She is the executive director of the Carolina Bible Camp Bluegrass Festival, an annual fundraising event scheduled this year for Sept. 13.

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I vividly remember my conversation with Gigi, my cousin, after Alejandro was born. Normally so bubbly and full of joy, she was devastated and heartbroken. Her voice was fragile, and I heard her quiet cries as we prayed over the phone.

Gigi Khonyongwa-Fernandez with her husband, Jesus Fernandez Munoz, and son, Alejandro Fernandez Khonyongwa.

During this period of angst and uncertainty, Gigi lost her joy and sense of purpose. But she rediscovered them by focusing on God, gratitude and the gift of her son.

On a recent Saturday nearly 20 years later, I opened my laptop to attend a hybrid launch party celebrating Gigi’s new book, “From Rollercoasters to Carousels: An Emotional Support Guide to Healing NICU, Bereaved, and Special Needs Parents.” 

Gigi Khonyongwa-Fernandez. “From Rollercoasters to Carousels: An Emotional Support Guide to Healing for NICU, Bereaved, and Special Needs Parents.” GKF Coaching and Consulting. 2025. 208 pages. $17.99.

While I expected a number of family, friends, colleagues and church members from the U.S. to join us, I was surprised by the steady uptick of Zoom participants from around the world and an in-person audience of almost 50 people.

They represented 22 countries and every continent except Antarctica. Those of us on Zoom commented on how awesome it was to see such rich diversity in real time.

Moments later, someone in the Zoom chat summed it up perfectly: Gigi brings the world together.

I then decided to nickname Cousin Gigi the “Connector-in-Chief.” Race, gender, ethnicity, geography, economic status and religion are nonfactors as people from all walks of life gravitate to Gigi and open up to her like no other.

Gigi is authentic, empathetic, and compassionate — she cares.

During the early part of her career, Gigi worked as a traveling neuro occupational therapist in the U.S. In 2000, Gigi took a huge leap of faith and moved to London to live and work. There, she found her husband, Jesus Fernandez Munoz of Madrid, and a new church family, the Wembley Church of Christ.

Gigi is now a professional coach and consultant specializing in holistic leadership and organizational development, trauma-informed coaching and the maternal-infant health space.

Gigi, Jesus and Alejandro have been on the rollercoaster ride of their lives, full of twists and turns — but God is forever faithful and has been with them the entire time, moving them closer to their carousels, as described in Gigi’s book.

Gigi Khonyongwa-Fernandez holds her book, “From Rollercoasters to Carousels.”

“From Rollercoasters to Carousels” is a guide to emotional healing and offers hope, support, strategies and visibility for those dealing with trauma, particularly parents of children with disabilities or intensive care needs — or parents facing loss.

Every single guest at Gigi’s book launch party has been riding the rollercoaster with this family of three for 18 years. We are all too connected and invested to consider getting off, as we joyfully await what other carousels God has in store for them.

One of Gigi’s favorite quotes comes from John Lennon: “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.”

TRINDI G. MITCHELL is a member of Henry Street Church of Christ in Gadsden, Ala. and the mother of two children. She is the creator and author of the Substack publication, Life Beyond Lupus.

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Blair aims to demystify the complex symbolism of Revelation and debunk several popular interpretations. He provides hope and encouragement to modern Christians facing opposition in their faith journey, urging them to win the victory in Christ — just as the apostle John did when he wrote the letter to believers in his day who were persecuted.

Robert Blair. “Winning In Christ: Seeing Through Revelation.” Fairway Press. 2024. 287 pages. $29.95.

Blair highlights the original meaning of the Greek word “apocalypse,” which means “to reveal” or “unveil.” He contends that the key to grasping Revelation is having a keen understanding of both Old and New Testament writings.

Briefly ponder every win you’ve had in life, big or small, and what it took for victory. For everyone, there are endless setbacks, challenges, issues and obstacles that appear to leave no option but to give up on the Christian race.

But Blair argues that winning in Christ for believers lies not in retreat under attack, but in God’s promises and power over the enemy — a promise of victory to all Christians who faithfully follow Jesus.

A highlight of the book is its emphasis on decoding Revelation’s “secret language.” The author posits that the Holy Spirit intentionally employed covert terms and illustrations, using a “complex symbolic structure.”

Blair says that the Holy Spirit coded communications with challenging signs and symbols to comfort and convict believers yet confuse the Lamb’s enemies. He argues the message contained in Revelation is not a composition written to frighten the faithful.

The author draws comparisons between modern and first-century Christians who suffered and endured severe persecution, exploring how Revelation has served as a timeless manual for encouragement, perseverance and victory for all believers rather than a picture of terror.

One of Blair’s interpretations warrants closer examination. The author proposes that Jesus’ advice to “go the second mile and agree quickly with your adversary” signifies that disciples should not engage in efforts to change national governments but rather prioritize loving others and sharing the Good News.

However, the historical meaning of Jesus’ instruction to “go the second mile” followed the Roman Empire’s practice of angareuō — “to press into service” — which required civilians to travel one mile and carry messages, equipment and other items.

Christ told his disciples in Matthew 5:41 to go not one mile but two, urging a radical response: to willingly turn coercion from authorities into a witness of grace.

The central theme of “Winning in Christ” emphasizes that the book of Revelation offers guidance to believers as they navigate the trials, troubles and uncertainties of life.

It assures them of ultimate triumph and the reward of everlasting life, encouraging faithful living in a present-day world while they await the final trumpet for the promised resurrection to a victorious life everlasting.

CHARLES E. TEDDINGTON preaches for the Vintage Park Church of Christ in Elk Grove, Calif. He holds Bible degrees from Amridge University and Midwestern Christian Institute and has dedicated over 38 years of his life to proclaiming the Gospel.

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Its narrative is not merely a recounting of events. Rather, it’s a deep look into Coston’s personal growth and faith. It highlights the challenges that many face in ministry.

Casey Coston. “Made Competent: A Story about Life in Ministry.” Kharis Publishing. 2024. 252 pages. $19.99.

The book begins with Coston’s unexpected transition from the “comfort and certainty” of a chemical engineering career to theological studies at Abilene Christian University in Texas. The writer’s shift to a life in campus ministry shows how our human plans can be so different from God’s plan.

The realities Coston soon faced quenched his initial excitement: Challenges in his family life, especially concerning his wife’s health, trying unsuccessfully to please everyone and working harder but seeing fewer results.

Coston expresses his feelings of inadequacy in a way that is both refreshing and relatable. He reflects often on his personal struggles.

“At the peak of my perceived competence,” he notes, “I was hit with another season of suffering that would end in a death of sorts, but God brought new life out of it in a way I never could have imagined.”

“At the peak of my perceived competence, I was hit with another season of suffering that would end in a death of sorts, but God brought new life out of it in a way I never could have imagined.”

Such passages highlight the book’s central theme: True competence in ministry arises not from personal strength but from our willingness to embrace our weaknesses and rely on God’s guidance and grace.

Throughout the book, Coston intertwines his personal thoughts with reflections on ministry, offering readers both insights and truths that all ministers encounter.

His style of storytelling draws readers into the highs and lows of his life. One particular moment that really resonated was an opportunity to transition from a campus minister to a pulpit minister, which tested his faith.

Hear Casey Coston talk about some of the biggest ministry challenges and shortcomings he’s faced and how evangelism is changing and must change to connect with younger generations on The Christian Chronicle Podcast.

“Sometimes we go through seasons of struggle or ineffectiveness that cause us to wonder whether we are called to endure or if God is giving us a way out,” Coston writes. “Perhaps either option is ok under the right circumstances.”

This dilemma symbolizes the unpredictable paths that ministry can take and the perseverance required to navigate them “through prayer, wisdom and discernment with trusted mentors to know what God might be up to.”

Coston’s book also explores the challenges of balancing family and ministry.

He does not shy away from discussing the toll that ministry can take on personal relationships and health.

These honest, raw admissions provide a realistic portrayal of the sacrifices and struggles inherent in a life devoted to ministry of any kind but especially campus work.

The author encourages readers to examine their own walk and consider how God is working in their lives.

Coston’s honesty, combined with his storytelling ability, makes “Made Competent” a valuable read for anyone looking for balance in their faith, career and personal life.

RANDY LATNER is a firefighter and the Tide 4 Christ college minister for the Central Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

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The title of the book seems an oxymoron, and it immediately grabbed my attention. I thought, “Now how could chaos possibly be holy? Doesn’t the Bible teach that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace?”

Mark Edge. “Holy Chaos: How to Walk with God in a Frenzied World.” Edge Church Consulting. 2024. 172 pages. $5.99.

We know as Christians that God is never confused about anything, nor has he ever made one single mistake. But Edge asks the reader to rethink and reframe the chaos in our own lives through the lens of our Heavenly Father.

Edge’s style of writing is personable and authentic. He is scholarly and thorough in his use of scriptural references and beautifully weaves together the guidance of the subtitle, “How to Walk with God in a Frenzied World,” along with Scripture.

Although “Holy Chaos” has various layers, the tone of the book is as a relaxed one-on-one conversation over a cup of coffee — not a judgmental, wagging finger at the reader, who may not be acquainted with the concept of God’s holy chaos.

At first glance, I considered the book cover, which resembles a galaxy in an array of stunning colors, abstract and disorienting.

However, when I really began to focus on the image, I saw beauty. I was reassured that God Almighty is sovereign and in total control.

Mark Edge

The biblical stories used throughout the book illustrate God’s holy chaos in the stories of Hannah, Samuel, David and Saul. But the author also uses personal examples to demonstrate how holy chaos changed his perspective and his relationship with God.

The major theme throughout the book is the need for Christians to surrender to the perfect will of God — though we may not understand or accept it.

We face ongoing trials and battles on a constant basis: financial difficulty, job loss, physical and mental health issues, grief, marital conflicts, raising children and so much more.

No one goes through this life unscathed. The natural, human response to the ruckus and chaos that comes our way is to panic and worry.

We stress out when life seems unfair and doesn’t appear to be going our way. We ask, “God, why me? What did I do to deserve this? Is this some type of punishment?”

Edge challenges the reader to flip the script: Instead of attempting to escape the drama in our lives or seek answers on our own, we should embrace God’s holy chaos.

Yes, there are situations we find ourselves in that are of our own making (King Saul is referenced throughout the book due to his bad choices), but God knows our beginning and our ending.

He already has the solution to our problem. We have to seek him. We must trust him.

So the next time you encounter disappointment and difficulty in your life, remember to pause, redirect your mind toward God and trust in his holy chaos.

TRINDI G. MITCHELL is a member of The Christian Chronicle’s Editorial Board. She attends the Henry Street Church of Christ in Gadsden, Ala., and is a writer and mother of two children. Contact trindimitchell@gmail.com.

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Purchase a digital pass to hear the presentations at this year’s Teleios Conference at teleiosconference.com.

That’s why I was excited to attend the recent Teleios conference, “Spirituality in the Stone-Campbell Heritage, Past Present and Future.” This was my first experience with the conference, hosted by Teleios, a Journal to Promote Holistic Christian Spirituality in the beautiful chapel of Abilene Christian University.

Douglas Foster, a renowned church historian and an editor of “The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement,” was the first speaker. He opened by addressing the incorrect assumption that the Restoration Movement and its focus on rational thought were not conducive to promoting a relationship with the Holy Spirit. 

Douglas A. Foster

Foster’s belief was accurately based on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the very first landmark event of the Restoration, the Cane Ridge Revival, held in Cane Ridge, Ky., in 1801. That event so changed Barton Stone that he left the Presbyterian ministry and started the Christian Church. Foster spent most of his talk contrasting the ministries of two 20th century theologians who were influential among Churches of Christ — Foy E. Wallace Jr. and Leroy Garrett. I found the discussion brilliant and illuminating.

Lauren Smelser White

Next, we heard from Lauren Smelser White, a professor at Lipscomb University, on “Spirituality and Hermeneutics,” and the role of the Holy Spirit working in and through Scripture. Stanley Talbert of Pepperdine University followed, speaking on “Spirituality and Justice.” 

Randy Harris, a longtime Bible professor at Abilene Christian, led a plenary session on “Spirituality and Formation.” Harris spoke at length on the relationship of one’s view on soteriology and pneumatology to approaches to one’s spiritual life. During another session, we heard from Tera Harmon, an ACU professor, on “Spirituality and the Voices of Women.” 

Jerry Taylor, a professor of Bible at ACU and director of the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action, delivered the final address of the conference, “The Future of Spirituality in the Stone-Campbell Heritage.” His was an amazing speech — I might add, sermon — that was very inspirational. 

Next year’s Teleios Conference is scheduled for Feb. 26-28, 2026, at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas and online. I highly recommend it.

ROBERT L. HURLEY is a graduate of Abilene Christian University and former county judge for Atascosa County, Texas. He retired in 2022. He is the author of “Restoring the Restoration – the Christian Church: what went wrong?” and “The Life of the Apostle Philip,” a historical novel.

Associated with the Great Revival in the West (1797-1805), the Cane Ridge Meeting, Aug. 6-12, 1801, was the culmination of a wave of religious excitement that spread across northern Kentucky during the spring and summer of 1801. Beginning with the regularly scheduled four-day Presbyterian sacramental meeting at Fleming Creek, northeast of Lexington, the first weekend in May, attendance and the remarkable phenomena of “falling” increased at the regularly scheduled Presbyterian sacramental meetings that followed at Cabin Creek, Concord, Salem, Point Pleasant, Lexington, Indian Creek, and Paris. Methodists and Baptists joined in many of the meetings.

In “Touch of Kindness,” Rebecca Loomis, a music teacher and Oklahoma Christian University graduate, builds a world where there are gifts of kindness, elegance, healing and many more. There are parallels with biblical fruits of the Spirit and other spiritual gifts: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Rebecca Loomis. “Touch of Kindness.” Independently published (Previously 5310 Publishing). 2024. 302 pages. $24.86.

The young adult fantasy novel follows Dorcas, or Dori, as she discovers a place called the Otherworld, full of mythical creatures, magic and a bit of romance.

While Dori finds herself navigating this new world, her initial goal is to return home to her mother and finish the life she started in the Mortalworld. Despite her plan, she is faced with some difficult questions: Do I have a gift? Can I use this gift to help those in need? When I return to the Mortalworld, will my gift go away?

Dori has two options: Go home and lead the life she had planned, or remain in the Otherworld so she can help others with her gift.

Much like Dori, we as believers in Christ are faced with a decision: follow the plan that we created for ourselves, or follow the plan that our Creator is calling us to.

Authors like J.R.R. Tolkien are known for pages full of descriptors that can sometimes be tiring, but in contrast, Loomis’ world-building and pacing are consistent and captivating.

Critics might complain that “Touch of Kindness” is full of “romantasy” tropes and clichés. Beyond that, the world — with its far-fetched ideas — can be difficult to buy into.

However, the romantasy genre is on the rise for exactly those reasons. Such stories require readers to immerse ourselves in a fantastical world and suspend our disbelief — that’s part of the genre’s simple beauty.

Loomis let her imagination run free, and now we are blessed with her ideas.

“‘In what world would a double king-sized bed exist?‘ you might ask. A world that Loomis created! Thankfully, that world also has dancing flowers and a special fruit that tastes like candy.”

“In what world would a double king-sized bed exist?” you might ask. A world that Loomis created! Thankfully, that world also has dancing flowers and a special fruit that tastes like candy. You say it is too fantastical and cliché to believe, and I rebut with, “Your imagination isn’t good enough.”

While reading “Touch of Kindness,” I was reminded that as a writer myself, I can let my imagination run free as often as I please. If I want to create a world full of all my favorite ideas, I am allowed to.

Following an intriguing story full of love, twists and imaginative literary devices, Loomis ends her story with a cliffhanger. Readers can’t help but wonder what Dori will do while contemplating their own God-given purpose and gifts.

TIANE DAVIS is a former Christian Chronicle intern and Harding University graduate who now resides in Fayetteville, Ark., with two of her best friends and a cat. On the days she does not work at the public library, she spends her time with people, reading books or hobby jogging.

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Numerous faithful Christians have heard this statement poured from the lips of family, friends and colleagues.

Michael J. Clemens, a former elder and ministry leader within Churches of Christ, explores this phenomenon in his book titled, “Why Aren’t Christians More Like Jesus?”

Michael J. Clemens. “Why Aren’t Christians More Like Jesus?” Keledei Publications. 2024. 157 pages. $15.99.

His thesis is clear: Churches are neglecting the biblical mandate of discipleship.

Instead of “equipping the saints for works of service” (Ephesians 4:11-12), churches have become content filling their pews with “good” church attendees.

Clemens’ work is experiential, pragmatic and exegetically solid. The author presents his readers with a biblical framework of ecclesiology, church history from Constantine to Catholicism, and a call to both follow and live more like Jesus.

Chapters 3 through 5 make this book well worth reading, several times over. In these three chapters, Clemens explores the church’s transition from a disciple-making movement to modern-day “Churchianity” after the assent of Constantine and the growth of the Catholic Church.

Clemens does a masterful job of defining “Churchianity” as a focus on institutional goals, rather than the nurturing of spirituality among individual congregants. He is unapologetic in claiming that the branches (Western churches) have lost touch with the vine (Jesus).

Church leaders and faithful congregants will find themselves agreeing with many of the concerns Clemens illuminates in his writing. However, his passionate solutions to restoring the wayward church can almost feel dogmatic.

Growing up in Portland, Ore., and living most of his adult life in Juneau, Alaska, Clemens appears to write exclusively from a limited view of the broader Kingdom of God.

As a longstanding member of the Churches of Christ, he clearly articulates the problems plaguing churches within the Restoration Movement. However, he does acknowledge that all churches are made up of flawed people, with very similar church issues.

Unfortunately, Clemens spends little time reflecting upon the plethora of congregations in America that are conducting discipleship the right way. While this might not have been the goal of his work, it still would have been extremely useful for readers to conceptualize what “good” discipleship programs look like.

Indeed, the tone of his work seems hopeless at times, as if all congregations everywhere are failing miserably.

“Clemens does offer a glimmer of hope by reminding his readers that churches can change when the words of Jesus are taken seriously.”

But Clemens does offer a glimmer of hope by reminding his readers that churches can change when the words of Jesus are taken seriously. Clemens concludes his work by encouraging church members to consider leaving local congregations that are not taking the mission of discipleship earnestly.

Overall, the book is thought-provoking, and the author’s passion for the church is evident on every page.

This book can be used as an effective tool for church leaders who wish to refocus their congregation’s missional direction. Frustrated congregants who are burned out by “Churchianity” will find solace in Clemens’ work knowing they are not alone.

“Why Aren’t Christians More Like Jesus?” is an excellent read from an author who longs to see the church return to its missional identity.

JASON DARDEN is an assistant professor of New Testament at Harding University, U.S. Army Reserve chaplain and minister for the Searcy Church of Christ in Arkansas.

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Here, the church has been given a resource that explores people of faith and their work in racial justice.

Jemar Tisby. “The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance.” Zondervan. 2024. 267 pages. $29.99.

It is a book about what Tisby calls resistance and “resistance to the resistance.”

Perhaps churches need a canon of role models from which to learn. Christians of all races and ethnicities can benefit from knowing those who made a clear connection between their faith and justice and acted accordingly.

Tisby starts with the history of the construction of race and its impact on the church.

Then, beginning with slavery, Tisby talks about Black and White Christians who sacrificed their livelihood raising awareness and fighting for racial justice.

Such women and men include Richard Allen — a co-founder of the Mother Bethel church who, according to David Walker, will go down in history as one of the “greatest divines who have lived since the apostolic age.”

Tisby explains that prior to that, John Wesley, a Methodist, wrote about the fact that the institution of slavery had no place in Christianity in what was called the “General Rules.”

Tisby also discusses the role Black women of faith played during the Civil Rights Movement and how their grit and faith carried the movement onward.

These women are rarely discussed except in relation to their husbands. However, they were spiritual and racial leaders in their own right.

Although Harriet Tubman is taught broadly, what is often excluded from her narrative is the deep faith that enabled her to lead people to freedom during slavery and the Civil War.

Maximizing her influence, dressmaker Elizabeth Keckley roused a church to develop a relief association that raised money to support people recently freed.

In the early 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. attended an event in which a female member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee offered an invocation using the reframe, “I have a dream.” Following the event, that young woman, Prathia Hall, permitted King to make that powerful phrase his own.

Along with discussions about the faith traditions and organizations that impact racial justice, Tisby argues four thematic virtues existing in more than 40 individuals he presents: faith, courage, imagination and resilience — all virtues the church can practice today.

“Learning about racial justice heroes of our Christian history … can encourage, empower and enable the church to move past the discomfort of truth-telling and on to sustainable racial healing.”

For those interested in sharing this rich history with a younger audience, Tisby has written “Stories of the Spirit of Justice” for children; and teamed up with Malcolm Newsome and Nadia Fisher to present “I Am the Spirit of Justice” for young children.

Learning about racial justice heroes of our Christian history — even if they did not belong to the fellowship of Churches of Christ — can encourage, empower and enable the church to move past the discomfort of truth-telling and on to sustainable racial healing.

STEPHANIE HAMM is an associate professor of social work at Abilene Christian University in Texas.

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I know the importance of looking them directly in the eyes while listening with our hearts. I know the importance of loving them like Jesus.

Robert G. Marbut Jr. “No Address: An Interactive Study Guide.” David C Cook Publishing. 2024. 128 pages. $17.99.

Robert G. Marbut Jr.’s “No Address: An Interactive Study Guide,” a companion to the documentary “Americans with No Address,” is truly a blessing that can help churches and individual Christians gather and focus on loving outside the church.

Not everyone knows exactly how to approach our unhoused friends who may be struggling with substance abuse, mental health challenges, human trafficking, sex trafficking, domestic violence, child abuse, sexual exploitation, elder abuse or simply the loss of a family member.

These are all situations that we at Second Chances have seen bring our friends into a season that they are unprepared for — be they a real estate agent, a child who has aged out of foster care, a veteran, somebody being released from prison, a president of a large corporation, or maybe just someone who lost their job.

As a community, we must be boots on the ground, ready to serve our friends and love them like Jesus would!

As Paul writes in Galatians 5:13, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”

Marbut Jr., founder of Haven for Hope, guides readers of his study guide through four sessions on the causes of homelessness, how to engage with homeless people, collaboration with existing agencies and mobilizing churches to follow Jesus’ call to serve.

Luke Hartman and his sons, with Delisa Herbert-Jones, deliver pizzas to unhoused friends in hotel rooms during a cold snap.

I felt so connected to the book, having seen how anyone can be one day away from homelessness.

I myself lived in abandoned houses and camps (ditches) as a child. To see others tell the story of hope brings me such joy! When children or young adults are left to the streets to survive, it often means that they are selling their soul — without anyone paying attention to their trauma.

The lessons of “No Address” hit close to home for me as I try to share with the members of my church the importance of knowing how to best help each of my friends. I plan to use the guide to facilitate a class at my congregation.

I’m excited to use it to bring a group of believers together to learn how to love on our community as a whole. It’s a great start to understanding how and where to help — rather than hinder or enable — our friends.

At Second Chances, we go out into homeless camps with the intention of loving on our friends and getting to know them personally so that we can facilitate a housing plan for them. Housing doesn’t happen overnight, so meeting survival needs — such as camping supplies — is often life-saving.

Meanwhile, our store address has been used by thousands of friends. Offering the use of an address to those without one can be just the starting point they need!

DELISA HERBERT-JONES is the founder of the Second Chances thrift store in Oklahoma City, a Christian ministry that benefits those struggling with homelessness, addiction, recovery, and other difficult transitions. She’s a member of the Memorial Road Church of Christ.

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Perhaps you have been through difficult life experiences that put you in the shoes of the psalmists, or maybe those feelings of anger and abandonment are hard for you to imagine. In either event, a guide can be helpful as you read through the collection.

John E. Dobbs. “Lord, Hear My Prayer: Prayers & Prompts From the Psalms.” Independently published. 2024. 212 pages. $12.00.

Fortunately, in “Lord, Hear My Prayer,” John Dobbs serves as a faithful Virgil, leading the reader in prayer through the Psalms and grappling with their most difficult themes while also keeping God’s faithfulness in view. Dobbs ministers for the Forsythe Church of Christ in Monroe, La.

The subtitle of Dobbs’ book is “Prayers and Prompts from the Psalms,” and that is exactly what the reader will find in 15 of its 16 chapters. Chapter 2 covers the first nine Psalms, with each page-length entry including a scriptural quotation, a prayer inspired by the text, and a question or statement to prompt further consideration from the reader.

The sections are short and accessible, making the work ideal for the person attempting the Psalms for the first time or for someone seeking comfort during a difficult season of life. The following chapters each tackle 10 Psalms (10-19, 20-29 and so on) down through Psalm 149. Psalm 119, the lengthiest chapter of the Bible, receives six entries of its own as a subsection of Chapter 13.

The epilogue, double the length of a typical entry, takes as its subject Psalm 150 and gives the reader opportunity to think back through the previous weeks or months of study and prayer.

Before getting into the daily readings, however, Dobbs takes great care to familiarize his audience with the Psalms as a whole through the inclusion of an introduction and a prefatory “Before We Begin” first chapter.

In the introduction, Dobbs confesses his own past discomfort with the Psalms, a sentiment familiar to this reviewer. “There was a time when I didn’t like the Psalms,” he begins. “I didn’t like them because I was trying to read them in a way they were never meant to be read.”

A more complete understanding of their literary qualities and aims helped break down those barriers, but it was not until Dobbs “experienced some difficult days, painful times, and moments of life that left me with tears and questions” that the walls fell and the beauty and wisdom of the collection became visible to him.

Dobbs alerts the reader to some of the stumbling blocks they may encounter: the repetition of themes and emotions, the ways in which other biblical texts reach back into the Psalter for words and ideas, and the relations (sometimes direct, sometimes less so) between the individual reader and the perspective of the psalmist.

And he shares advice on how to view those potential difficulties as opportunities for further growth in biblical knowledge.

Best suited for use in private contemplation by the individual reader, “Lord, Hear My Prayer” will also bless those who read and pray through it during family devotional times and small group studies.

JOHN YOUNG is an associate professor in the Turner School of Theology at Amridge University.

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The film primarily shows his time as head coach with Texas A&M University (1965-1971) and the University of Alabama (1990-1996) and highlights the 1992 championship season, where Alabama defeated Miami to finish a perfect 13-0.

However, the film goes deeper than just football.

There’s plenty of game footage and interviews with former coaches, players and media personalities that are guaranteed to bring back memories for fans, but the spotlight is on Stallings, now 89, as a person. Although strict, Stallings’ leadership style helped his players on and off the field.

Producers Chandra Clark and Michael Bruce, University of Alabama journalism and creative media professors, delve into Stallings’ life through interviews with several family members and friends.

The documentary — which first took shape in 2016, during a reunion with former players — focuses on Stallings’ values, especially his mantra of “doing right.” It shows how that idea shaped everything in his life, from the way he coached his players to how he treated family.

“I originally didn’t set out to do this,” Clark said. “There were a lot of far-reaching connections, and I wasn’t sure if we could do it, but what I’m most proud of is helping people understand what these families go through.”

Gene Stallings promotes a RISE golf tournament with his son, John Mark, left, and other RISE Center students.

There’s a touching part of the documentary about Stallings’ relationship with his son, John Mark, who had Down syndrome. Stallings became more sensitive and understanding once his son was born and shaped who he became as a father and coach.

John Mark, who was known as “Johnny,” died in 2008 at 46 years old. His death left a void within Stallings, but the life John Mark lived transformed how his father and others saw people with disabilities.

A statue of Gene Stallings and late son John Mark stands in front of Faulkner University’s John Mark Stallings Field at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium in Montgomery, Ala. Faulkner University is associated with Churches of Christ.

Clark and Bruce go in-depth with RISE Centers across the southeast that primarily provide children with disabilities an education and tools they need to succeed. The RISE Center in Tuscaloosa is aptly located on Johnny Stallings Drive.

“I hope this raises awareness for children and adults with special needs,” Bruce said. “I hope this shows that their lives are just as worthy as everyone else. I feel privileged to be able to tell this story.”

The film is a tribute to a man who left a legacy not only on the field, but in the hearts of others. It’s easily shown through the interviews how much respect and admiration Stallings garnered. Even for non-sports fans, the stories about integrity, perseverance and friendship hit home.

Stallings is an active member within Churches of Christ, attending the Lamar Avenue congregation in Paris, Texas, and has always done his part to help. During his time in Tuscaloosa, Stallings attended University Church of Christ. When the April 2011 tornadoes struck the town, Stallings knew he had to help and donated time and energy toward the relief effort. A plaque recognizing Stallings for his efforts during that tragic time hangs in the rebuilt Central Church of Christ, where Clark is a member.

From left, Gene Stallings, Chandra Clark, Ruth Ann Stallings and Teressa and Michael Bruce outside the Lamar Avenue Church of Christ in Paris, Texas.

“Do Right: The Stallings Standard” is a feel-good tribute. Fans of football, especially the Crimson Tide, will enjoy the highlights shown throughout the film. But it also serves as a reminder that success is about more than just winning — it’s about “doing right” by others.

The documentary premieres Sept. 26 at the Bama Theatre in Tuscaloosa and has additional limited showings scheduled in Florence, Ala., and Paris, Texas. Check here for available showings.

JOHN MCWILLIAMS is a public relations professional with a background as an award-winning journalist. He is an active member within the North Tuscaloosa Church of Christ.

How do Christians stand for our faith without falling into the political fray?

Josh Ross. “Coreology: Six Principles for Navigating an Election Season Without Losing Our Witness.” Independently published. 2024. 129 pages. $13.99.

To answer that question, Josh Ross’ “Coreology” offers “Six Principles for Navigating an Election Season Without Losing Our Witness.”

Ross, minister for the Sycamore View Church of Christ in Memphis, Tenn., likens his book to rumble strips on the shoulder of the highway, gently but firmly reminding us to get back on track when we begin to drift off the path.

Importantly, he doesn’t advocate for Christians to isolate ourselves from politics and culture, to not care about important issues of our day — but rather to engage with them in a way that reflects Jesus.

To help Christians grappling with politics return to their core, he offers these mantras:

1: “I will daily confess that Jesus is the Lord of my life and nothing else is.”

“Sometimes it seems the way we talk reflects our politics and/or ideologies, more than our Savior and King,” Ross writes.

2: “I will create and honor regular spiritual practices that remind me of my devotion to Jesus.”

“You can’t give God a 3-minute devotional time in the morning, yet soak in cable news and podcasts for hours a day and think you can live a life devoted to Christ,” Ross says.

Related: Listen to Josh Ross’ interview on Episode 79 of The Christian Chronicle Podcast, recorded in front of a live audience in Memphis.

3: “I will resist allowing any media outlet to become the primary way I think about culture and the world.”

Media have a tendency to give us a black-and-white view of the world, and “when we give in to this kind of (binary) system, it makes unity, fellowship, and even evangelism extremely difficult,” Ross says.

4: “I will strive to become a peacemaker.”

“When you live in a world obsessed with winning, peacemaking doesn’t have a seat at the table,” Ross writes, while emphasizing that “peacemaking doesn’t mean you don’t have convictions.”

5: “I will practice hospitality as a way to learn, grow and invest in other people.”

“There is something about the dinner table, that opens up the heart to engage in meaningful dialogue,” Ross says. Meanwhile, “online comment sections are often where Christian-witness goes to die.”

6: “I will choose to regularly serve others.”

“Would pagan leaders, or non-Christians for that matter, observe the actions and behaviors of Christians and write, ‘That group of people love, serve, and care for others without limits,’” Ross wonders.

Josh Ross, minister for the Sycamore View Church of Christ in Memphis, Tenn., prays during chapel at York University.

The principles Ross lays out in “Coreology” are not specific to politics. They’re principles of everyday Christianity — which is kind of the point. Christians shouldn’t change who we are during an election season.

The challenge is to keep the political vitriol from dragging us off course and from hindering us in our mission of saving souls.

“It can take hours, weeks, months, maybe even years for people to trust the witness of a Jesus-follower, and that witness can be blown in a moment,” Ross writes.

Despite Ross’ (valid) criticism of some journalism and (joking) characterization of Alabama fans as “conceited and narcissistic,” this short book is worth a read for anyone who wants to ensure politics — or any other distractions of the day — aren’t pulling them away from Jesus.

CALVIN COCKRELL is the media editor for The Christian Chronicle and serves as the young adults minister for the North Tuscaloosa Church of Christ in Alabama. Reach him at calvin@christianchronicle.org.

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What these narratives have in common is that they are intensely personal yet oddly universal. Our lives in Christ are not exactly like theirs, but by sharing their life stories, we experience self-discovery.

Leonard Allen. “The Bookroom: Remembrance and Forgiveness ― A Memoir,” Leafwood Publishers. 2024. 176 pages. $17.99.

Many readers know the works of Leonard Allen that have shaped the faith of Churches of Christ for decades. From “The Cruciform Church” to “In the Great Stream” to “Poured Out,” Allen has written eloquently of our history, theology and spirituality.

His book “The Bookroom: Remembrance and Forgiveness ― A Memoir” is a departure from his usual themes since it is a deeply personal and candid reflection on his own spiritual journey.

As such, it shares in the same gift of the earlier classic Christian autobiographies, particularly for those in Churches of Christ. Allen focuses on three aspects of his spiritual journey — family, church and books.

He candidly recounts his struggles with a father who was both overbearing and distant. His father controlled the family in such a way to make them socially and culturally isolated. But by wrestling with the memories of that experience, Allen comes to forgiveness and appreciation for his father.

Like many of his contemporaries, Allen grew up in a sectarian and judgmental Church of Christ. While honest about the shortcomings of that upbringing, his story of how he and the church have changed through the years leads to homage for the good aspects of the past as well as hope for the future.

Hear Leonard Allen discuss his memoir, highlighting the twists and turns and lessons learned from decades of looking for answers to the questions he asked as a boy, in Episode 75 of The Christian Chronicle Podcast.

As Allen struggles for the approval of his earthly and heavenly fathers, he mentions three men in the flesh who sought him out in his spiritual desert. Equally significant are those men and women who shaped his life through books.

From within the books he discovered as a child in his dad’s library to those read in his years of schooling to those he has written and published himself, voices distant in time rescued him from adversity and opened vistas of hope.

In an age when people are reading fewer books, “The Bookroom” reminds us of the transforming power of words from those we may never meet. Engaging with this well-written and warm memoir can lead us to “remembrance and forgiveness” of those who shaped our lives.

GARY HOLLOWAY reads and writes books in Nashville, Tenn., where he previously taught spiritual formation at Lipscomb University. He now preaches for the Natchez Trace Church of Christ.

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Rick Krug and Jessica Knapp. “Tombstones to Cornerstones: Hope and Help for Churches in Stress and Decline.” Xulon Press. 2022. 192 pages. $23.99.

To kindle our interest, Rick Krug and Jessica Knapp first evoke fond memories from a golden age of church growth animated by singings, frequent meetings, evangelism, fellowship and Bible studies.

After skillfully compressing many precious recollections, the book contrasts this glorious past with confusion and hopelessness among churches confronting decline.

The authors use a life cycle model based on meaningful research applicable to thousands of organizations. Their frequent theme is to recognize warning signs and make corrections prior to decline.

A pivotal point involves sustained growth, after which potential decline can be averted by applying renewal strategies through resetting goals and future vision. That is, without critically timed intervention plans and anticipating pivotal points, a shocking decline is likely.

The authors frequently honor faithful members and leaders who struggle and are stressed when encountering loss. Sadly, however, the harsh truths of cultural change, membership decline and program defeat spool up in anger and misguided blame.

Decline reactivity occurs in identifiable patterns of attitude:

1. Dumbfounded and worried (“weary and need help”).
2. Optimistic, work harder, only just a cycle (“the hurt but hopeful”).
3. Victimized, as in “we are under attack” (i.e., cultural shifts, social forces, etc.).

In further response, churches deny or pursue incomplete plans to forestall loss only to discover they missed the hidden causes.

Even sincere attitudes unknowingly foster platitudes blunting reality. The authors commend self-evaluation, reimagination and vision casting as grounding to avoid decline. The goal is action for congregational transition planning. It begins by reviewing successful history.

These powerful memories lead to the evocative “tombstone” metaphor galvanizing prayerful principles and converting loss into a future new form — a “cornerstone,” representing past threads living on in hope and “finishing God’s work.”

The authors empathize with any negative reactions regarding decline and its conversational awkwardness. They insist the discussion is not fatalistic but realistic, merging messages of warning and encouragement, sprinkled with effective directions into a helpful pathway.

This important book stimulates thoughts about future volumes, bolstering statistical data and case studies. It is a courageous text — a must read addressing an imminent need!

CARLEY H. DODD is professor emeritus in the Department of Communication and Sociology at Abilene Christian University. He has authored numerous academic articles and books and serves as an elder of the Southern Hills Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas.

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Of course, most who lead those groups have significant background in the study of Scriptures. Many, however, are much less familiar with the geography and history of most of the sites.

W. Scott Sager. “Bible Land Adventures: The Essential Travel Guide for Serious Disciples.” Marshal Press. 2023. 288 pages. $27.99.

W. Scott Sager, who serves as vice president for spiritual development at Lipscomb University, has over 30 years of experience traveling to those biblical sites and has produced a resource that will be of significant value to tour leaders and travelers to the Bible lands.

“Bible Land Adventures: The Essential Travel Guide for Serious Disciples” is composed of one-page descriptions of 85 different sites in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Sinai. These are arranged in alphabetical order for easy reference.

Each of these includes a short summary of the geographical location, the historical significance of the site and the connections to the biblical narrative, with Scripture references if appropriate.

There is space allotted on each page for travelers’ brief notations on the dates the sites were visited and other “quick facts.” The book also offers 18 maps and 70 captioned charts and illustrations, as well as a selected bibliography of other helpful resources.

The guide is organized logically and contains a wealth of information that a traveler could use to get the most out of a visit to this part of the world. The book is not designed to be read from cover to cover but to serve as a resource for the traveler.

Tour leaders or trip hosts could use it as a planning guide for developing an itinerary for a future trip to the Bible lands or as a resource for developing comments to be shared at stops along the way.

Tour participants could use this book to familiarize themselves with the sites before making the journey, as a companion volume while on the trip, or as a means of debriefing the trip after they get home.

Even those who never travel to the Bible lands would find this to be a great resource to aid in the study of Scripture due to the descriptive information about sites mentioned in the biblical narrative.

Scott Sager has produced a helpful and enjoyable resource for those who wish to maximize the impact of a visit to the lands of the Bible. The book is easy to read and understand and provides a significant amount of information without being overwhelming.

“Those who are fortunate enough to enjoy a trip to the Bible lands frequently remark that it has ‘made the Bible come to life.’”

It does a great job of exploring the geographical, historical and biblical intersections that one will encounter on a journey to these significant places without being too heavy or encyclopedic.

Those who are fortunate enough to enjoy a trip to the Bible lands frequently remark that it has “made the Bible come to life.” This book is a useful guide to help prepare travelers for that journey and provide supplemental content to increase the impact of that experience on their lives.

MARK A. BLACKWELDER is a professor of Bible and missions at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn. He has led groups on more than 15 trip to the Bible lands.

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“In his early twenties, he was too young to be a preacher,” French writes. “But the hiring criteria for country Church of Christ preachers was a car salesman’s enthusiasm, a firm handshake, and baptism by immersion. He preached at a rural church down the road but came to our church for midweek or evening services. His dad was an elder at our church, so he was like church royalty.”

French details how the preacher, whom she identifies only as Conrad, sexually assaulted her and changed the trajectory of her life.

Nancy French. “Ghosted: An American Story.” Zondervan. 2024. 288 pages. $29.99.

Churches of Christ figure prominently — and generally not positively — in the life story of French, a best-selling author and ghostwriter for celebrities and conservative politicians.

The book also recounts French’s less-than-perfect time at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn. 

Unresolved trauma from her abuse explains part of her negative experience at the Christian university. Theological differences play a role, too, as the writer favors a style of Christianity with a more direct manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

But Lipscomb provides one major blessing for French: The university connects her to her future husband, David French, a conservative lawyer who later earned a Bronze Star as an Army attorney and now works as a New York Times columnist.

“Ghosted” focuses on how the Frenches lost friends and colleagues alike when they became critics of Donald Trump, the twice-divorced billionaire who won the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and ascended to the White House. 

“I was a Christian Republican, too, after all,” Nancy French writes. “But why was the party of ‘family values’ rallying behind the guy who made a Playboy cameo? Hadn’t Trump bragged on video about doing to women what the preacher did to me so many years ago?”

Along with her serious exploration of sex abuse and Trump-era politics, French offers a few lighter moments — such as when the newly married couple, freshly arrived in New York City, ended up with the old phone number for David Lee Roth, lead singer for the rock band Van Halen.

“But why was the party of ‘family values’ rallying behind the guy who made a Playboy cameo? Hadn’t Trump bragged on video about doing to women what the preacher did to me so many years ago?”

Undoubtedly, not everyone will appreciate French’s book. 

Those easily triggered by theological or political ideas that might not match their own (based on my inbox, a fair number of such folks exists) probably should avoid it.

So should those who, like the leaders in French’s childhood congregation, favor protecting pedophiles and shunning victims of sex abuse over shining light on evil.

But for those open to learning better ways of dealing with predators in the pews — and for those willing to entertain the rationale behind the “Never Trump” movement, even if they disagree with it — French shares her perspective in a gripping, relatable way. 

I found “Ghosted” both haunting and helpful.

The Christian Chronicle’s Erik Tryggestad even makes two cameo appearances, as The Babbler student newspaper editor during French’s Lipscomb days.

BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.

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Her restlessness grows when, from the realm of humans she is observing, a young man catches her attention.

From the immortal life she leads in the Control Room to walking the human realm alongside the boy, she has to make a choice that will lead her down two distinct paths.

Will she do what’s asked of her? Or what is right?

Sara Watterson. “This Dreamer (The Chronicles of the Marked).” Inevah Press. 2022. 354 pages. $12.99.

Sara Watterson’s “This Dreamer” is a wonderful experience to live through and tells a rather daring story through its lovable and relatable characters.

While an easy read, the depth behind some of the writing is worth taking extra time to dive into!

The Maker offers a soft insight into the omnipotent being who created the book’s universe — and plays the role of the God we know in our reality.

While the story is an odd take on how heaven works — and definitely not an accurate description based off of biblical literature — the morals and lessons presented in the characters’ journeys are nothing short of what a parent would want their child to learn throughout life.

The hardships Evie, Adan and others go through are not overlooked by their Maker but are not as grand as they perceive them to be.

A gentle line in the beginning of the story sets the tone for the demeanor we can expect from the Maker: Evie arrives after some troubling events and is called to meet the Maker, whom she is extremely intimidated by, and is met with a simple statement: “Please don’t break my rules again.”

Listen to an interview with Sara Watterson in Episode 52 of The Christian Chronicle Podcast.

Similar to our Lord, the Maker is a kind, gentle, patient and forgiving being over all of the universe.

This is a good reminder of our God — the maker of our universe who sent his son for us. The entire story is about finding yourself in his work — “his” being the Maker’s, but also our God’s.

The overall question of “What is my purpose?” strikes both Evie and the young man she follows, Adan.

As their paths cross and separate, readers can relate to Evie’s attempt to regulate her new human emotions as well as understand Adan’s desire to find something greater within his current talents.

Struggles of sticking out, following impulsive decisions and fighting for and protecting the people you care about seep throughout the pages of this book.

It’s a wonderful read for anyone who experiences an out-of-place feeling at some point in their life.

This exciting adventure brings us to the revelation both characters have in finding their purpose and strength in their Maker’s universe.

I read this book with an optimistic and hopeful attitude that did not waiver thanks to the nature of the characters’ faith and strength through their trials.

Watterson’s tale brought out many wonderful emotions in me as a reader, and it is definitely on my reread list!

It will serve well those looking for a hope-filled adventure and is a perfectly fun, clean read for anyone — especially in the tween to teen years.

NINA BIGHAM is a member of the North Tuscaloosa Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and a sophomore marine science major at the University of Alabama.

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However, it is imperative for the health and future growth of our churches that leaders confidently take a stand on what Scripture says about what it means to be male and female.

Renée Webb Sproles and Bobby Harrington. “Five Conversations on Men and Women for Church Leaders.” Renew.org, 2023. 79 pages.

“Five Conversations on Men and Women for Church Leaders” by Renée Sproles and Bobby Harrington was created as a companion for the book “Male & Female: A Biblical Look at Gender,” edited by Sproles. But this workbook also is an incredibly helpful tool all on its own.

For church leaders who don’t have the time or inclination to delve into lengthy books on the subject, “Five Conversations” is an accessible resource. The short workbook seeks to equip church leaders to make biblically-based, informed decisions for themselves and those they lead.

Sproles and Harrington masterfully lead their readers through five challenging but necessary conversations, beginning with a question that the reader must eventually answer.

The authors help church leaders examine their beliefs on equality between genders, the pitfalls of traditional stereotypes and cultural influences, what it actually means to be male and female image-bearers of God, how churches can empower women and stay within biblical “guardrails,” what Scripture really says about what it means to be a leader at church and in the home and why gender roles matter.

Each of the five conversations offers three options for consideration. But prior to delving deeper into the options, Harrington and Sproles challenge readers to pause and take an honest self-assessment before moving into the study portion where they provide helpful tools to explore the influences of church tradition and secular culture on how we interpret Scripture.

Immediately following the study is a section specifically designed for church leaders to spend time in God’s Word working through each topic as they seek to faithfully interpret for themselves how God defines what it means to be male and female.

“Snapshots,” personal stories from everyday disciples of Jesus, appear at the end of each conversation, making the abstract more concrete. It’s a refreshing addition that brings the Word to life and shows Scripture in action.

Sproles and Harrington end every conversation with a brief review of the main points and provide thought-provoking questions to encourage self-reflection and group discussion among leadership.

“Study the Scriptures to make sure we are using all of the talents and gifts that God has given us without being hindered by old stereotypes or overly influenced by the egalitarian-at-all-costs thinking of our cultural moment.”

While written mainly to men, I found these conversations to be very helpful as a woman. Men and women should study the Scriptures to make sure we are using all of the talents and gifts that God has given us without being hindered by old stereotypes or overly influenced by the egalitarian-at-all-costs thinking of our cultural moment.

I recommend this workbook for those who would like to think more clearly about what it means to be male and female as well as for church leaders seeking to honor the clear teachings of Scripture.

LINDSEY RUSSELL has master’s degrees in education and is a former researcher at Vanderbilt University and social services assistant at Irwin Army Community Hospital in Fort Riley, Kan. She is a stay-at-home mom married to Seth and the mother of twin girls.

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Rubel Shelly. “Male and Female God Created Them: A Biblical Review of LGBTQ+ Claims.” College Press. 2023. 433 pages. $29.99

We may choose to accentuate one to the neglect of the other by leaning into unloving condemnation or compromising acceptance. Perhaps more often, the cultural complexities leave us paralyzed with fear and an inability to engage the conversation constructively.

A new book, “Male and Female God Created Them: A Biblical Review of LGBTQ+ Claims,” says there is a better way.

It is a way marked by clarity, wisdom, grace and truth.

Rubel Shelly writes with the heart of a scholar and a pastor. He writes with great sensitivity to others and a bold commitment to follow truth wherever it leads. He also writes comprehensively, attempting to address this minefield biblically, historically, culturally and practically.

Shelly writes to bring clarity to Christ-followers. He is not interested in joining the culture wars, pitting the church against the world or promoting some political agenda. He is interested in the church being the church, modeling God’s plan for sexuality and marriage, and being a transforming presence of grace and truth.

This book addresses many pertinent and pressing questions:

What was God’s original plan for sex, gender and marriage? Is that plan a prototype for the kingdom of God today? Have Christians consistently misread Old Testament texts all these centuries? Why did Jesus not talk explicitly about homosexuality — or did he?

Did the New Testament texts prohibiting homosexuality refer to abusive and exploitative behavior only? Did biblical writers not know about or address committed and loving same-sex relationships?

Rubel Shelly preaches to the Harpeth Hills Church of Christ in Brentwood, Tenn.

What did Paul really say on this subject? Can his letters be trusted as authoritative, or did he merely reflect the thought patterns of the time?

Do personal experiences take precedent over biblical teachings and commands? Should we update our ethical codes in light of modern sensitivities? If traditional Christian claims are true, how can we expect people to live up to the standard of holiness presented in Scripture?

How can people struggling with same-sex attraction find loving, supportive and transforming community?

Here are a few personal observations:

First, Shelly provides a very helpful cultural analysis.

Second, his treatment of Old and New Testament texts may be the best I have seen.

Third, his thorough research into the Greco-Roman World undermines key LBGTQ+ claims that committed homosexual relationships were unknown in New Testament times.

Fourth, the chapter on “Questions People Ask” is a great reference and summary for the average Christian to possess.

Chris Seidman, an Abilene Christian University alumnus and lead minister for The Branch Church of Christ in Farmers Branch, Texas, speaks during Holy Sexuality Week at ACU.

“Male and Female God Created Them” is written with a conviction that LGBTQ+ issues present a critical juncture for the church. It is urgent and critical, not because it is the most important topic for Christians per se but because how we respond to these questions will have such an enormous impact on our view of Scripture, authority and sexual questions and struggles of all kinds.

Shelly also writes to provide a positive alternative to our world of confusion. This book paints a beautiful picture of a kingdom community where there is welcoming love and healing transformation. He believes our world is weary and hungry for another way – a way that embraces both moral clarity and gracious love. Shelly calls us to model what it means to be God’s faithful people in our generation.

“This book paints a beautiful picture of a kingdom community where there is welcoming love and healing transformation. … Shelly calls us to model what it means to be God’s faithful people in our generation.”

Scholars will value the excellence of Shelly’s research and critical thinking, and the average Christian will value this book as a reference work to understand and respond to LBGTQ+ claims.

Shelly has also released a shorter and more popular-level version on this topic entitled “The Ink is Dry: God’s Distinctive Word on Marriage, Family, and Sexual Responsibility.”

JIMMY ADCOX has retired after 44 years as preaching minister for the Southwest Church of Christ in Jonesboro, Ark., where he now serves as discipleship minister. He is also a partner with Hope Network and a regional learning community director with Renew.org.

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Butts masterfully encourages a rethinking of how Scripture is approached, emphasizing the importance of engaging with the Bible not just as a text to be studied but as a dynamic narrative that invites active participation in God’s ongoing mission.

K. Rex Butts. “Gospel Portraits: Reading Scripture as Participants in the Mission of God.” Wipf and Stock. 2022. 172 pages. $25.00.

The book is organized into four parts, each addressing a different aspect of reading and understanding Scripture in the context of God’s mission.

In Part One, “What’s Up With the Bible?” Butts explores the often-overlooked centrality of Jesus in scriptural interpretation and highlights the risks of reading the Bible in ways that inadvertently hinder the mission of God.

This section sets the stage for the subsequent chapters by underlining the need for a missional hermeneutic – an interpretative approach that aligns with the overarching narrative of God’s mission as revealed in Scripture.

Part Two, “Discipleship and the Church,” delves into the concept of the church as the embodied story of the Gospel. Butts convincingly argues that the church, when correctly understood and practiced, becomes a living testament to the gospel message, dynamically engaging with the world in a Christ-centered manner.

This section reinforces the idea that the church is not just an institution but a community of believers actively living out the gospel narrative.

In Part Three, “A Missional Reading of Scripture,” Butts advocates for a narrative reading of the Bible, encouraging readers to see the Scriptures as a unified story that culminates in Jesus Christ.

This perspective is refreshing and empowers readers to find their place within the biblical narrative, thus participating in the mission of God in a more informed and authentic way.

Finally, Part Four, “Christ-Formed and Spirit-Filled,” focuses on the practical implications of a missional hermeneutic for the church. Butts discusses the transformation that occurs when a church aligns itself with the mission of God, emphasizing the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding and empowering believers for this task.

Throughout the book, Butts combines theological depth with practical insights, making the complex topic of hermeneutics accessible to a wide audience. His writing style is engaging and thought-provoking, often challenging readers to question their preconceptions and to reevaluate their approach to Scripture and mission.

In sum, “Gospel Portraits” is a must-read for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of Scripture and its role in the Christian life.

“Butts offers a compelling vision of how engaging with the Bible can transform not only individual believers but also entire church communities, aligning them more closely with God’s mission.”

Butts offers a compelling vision of how engaging with the Bible can transform not only individual believers but also entire church communities, aligning them more closely with God’s mission.

This book is a valuable resource for preachers, church leaders and all Christians, providing a fresh and challenging perspective on the enduring relevance of Scripture in today’s world.

ORPHEUS J. HEYWARD is the minister for the Renaissance Church of Christ in Atlanta.

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Allisa Charles-Findley. “After Botham: Healing From My Brother’s Murder by a Police Officer.” Chalice Press. 2023. 195 pages. $19.99.

It symbolizes their flight into a fateful future marked by Botham’s absence and the holding pattern they had to maintain as they sought the runway of healing before they could be cleared for safe landing. Allisa’s writing skillfully invites readers aboard, allowing them to witness the various exchanges she and her mother had with flight attendants, even down to the simple choice of whether or not to add sugar to her tea.

As the narrative unfolds, it prompts the reader to ponder whether she will ever taste the sweetness of life again after being thrust into such a bitter event. The recollection of Botham’s joyful smile raises the question of whether she will ever find happiness to ever show her own smile again.

The book excels in providing readers with a first-class seat to witness the raw and painful outpouring of a heart shattered by a senseless tragedy. Allisa’s evocative storytelling transports readers into the depths of her grief, inviting empathy and understanding of the profound impact of loss.

She describes this horrific event as the most formidable trial she had ever encountered. She reflects on how it relentlessly probed her faith, her sanity and the very essence of her existence.

In the midst of it all, she came to acknowledge that this would be an enduring, lifelong examination with no discernible conclusion in this mortal existence.

This realization stirred within her a profound contemplation of whether it was indeed the will of God and if she possessed the inner strength required to confront this unending ordeal.

Allisa vividly recalls the deep love that her beloved Botham held for singing and how he ardently sought to share the boundless joy of music with her and countless others. She reminisces about those cherished moments of singing and dancing at joyous occasions like weddings, moments that opened a window into the genuine treasure that an off-duty police officer cruelly stole from Botham’s family and from the entire world.

In a world starved for positive voices, yearning for the kind of jubilation that music and dance bring, Allisa invites the reader to step into that festive moment. Through her words, she allows us to feel the raw pain and heartache, to witness the devastating loss that silenced the sweet melody of Botham’s life far too soon.

It is a haunting reminder of a young man who deserved to let his life’s song play on but whose tune was tragically cut short, leaving an indelible void in our hearts and a lament for a world robbed of his joyous spirit.

JERRY TAYLOR is director of Abilene Christian University’s Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action. Reach him at drtaylor@carlspaincenter.org.

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A longtime African American minister, Shabazz has served churches in Memphis, Tenn., Detroit, and currently, the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

O.J. Shabazz. “Excellence in Ministry: A Guide to Protocols and Etiquette for Church Leaders.” O.J. Shabazz Ministries. 2023. 153 pages. $19.97

To assist in mentoring younger ministers, Shabazz has compiled this book of practical guidance for ministry based on his extensive experience, including 23 years at the Harlem Church of Christ. While not a lengthy piece, the book contains numerous helpful tidbits, particularly for a minister starting out in a new church setting.

Shabazz frames the book using the words “etiquette” and “protocols.”

Etiquettes would be ministry principles that are expressed or inferred from Scripture, while protocols would be the appropriate practices or norms that a minister should follow.

Both frameworks are needed if a minister is going to do his work in excellence, Shabazz suggests.

Various ministry topics are discussed, including determining the best context for ministry, the first year of ministry, navigating relations with the previous minister, dealing with change, leadership dynamics, guest speakers and even officiating weddings and funerals.

For each subject, Shabazz presents guiding principles and proper practices to follow — if the minister desires excellence in his ministry.

Throughout these chapters, helpful snippets abound. For example, do not make changes during your first year of ministry, manage the relationship with the previous minister cordially and respectfully, and beware of passive-aggressive leaders who do not oppose you publicly but sabotage you privately.

O.J. Shabbaz

One favorite highlight was Shabazz’s description of the “spend down.” When a new minister arrives at a new church, he has a honeymoon period. Then, as the minister begins to make changes, the leadership will go along, at first. But the minister is spending down his favors.

If he continues to make changes too quickly, eventually the honeymoon will be over because he has spent all his goodwill and the relationship between the minister and the church leaders is now rocky. Do not move too fast as a young preacher, urges Shabazz.

Administrative matters are touched on as well: navigating IRS regulations for churches, delegating as a leader, upholding sexual integrity and handling criticism. Shabazz cautions about controversy.

People often avoid worship assemblies when negativity is present, so rather than create controversy, seek to cultivate stability, as stability is important for growth, Shabazz advises.

The book offers time-tested tips for a young minister who is starting a successful ministry. I was particularly pleased to see this book because few ministry books exist from an African American perspective.

Shabazz has done the church a great service by capturing key lessons that he has learned from a lifetime of ministry, organizing them and writing them down for the next generation. Hopefully, that means more churches will be experiencing excellence in ministry.

STEVE CLOER directs the Doctor of Ministry program for Harding Graduate School of Theology in Memphis, Tenn. Cloer preached for 15 years for the Southside Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas.

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Following the life of Phil Robertson (Aron Von Andrian) and his relationship with Miss Kay (Amelia Eve), the film tells the story of the Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ elder and the challenges he faced before founding his successful business Duck Commander in 1972.

The movie opens in a duck blind in a Louisiana swamp, a scene familiar to audiences used to seeing how members of the Robertson family unwind since their rise to fame in 2012 on the hit A&E show “Duck Dynasty.”

But the story that follows is far from the familiar family that drinks sweet tea over shared meals viewers may be used to seeing on TV.

Home troubles and alcohol abuse are quickly introduced as a young Phil takes to the woods to escape his tumultuous childhood. Duck hunting wasn’t just a passion — it was a means of providing for his family despite poverty.

Setting the story up initially as a rags to riches tale, the film quickly pivots to the foundation for a faith testimony as Phil finds himself led astray by bad company.

Marital fights, uncontrollable rage and drunken spirals dominate the majority of the movie, with repetitive bar scenes as he quickly succumbs to alcoholism as a young adult.

The film doesn’t shy away from putting his struggles fully on display – or “what happens when Satan controls a man,” as Phil says later in the film.

Aron Von Andrian and Amelia Eve play Phil and Marsha “Miss Kay” Robertson in “The Blind.”

“It’s embarrassing and shocking,” he adds. “Y’all saw the initial me.”

Narration — the voice of a future, sober Phil — reconstructs events and provides the audience with direction as drinking scenes blur together.

Unfortunately, the same narration that provides clarity also hinders many of the characters’ development on screen.

Phil’s siblings, who play a crucial role in his eventual decision to come to Christ, are largely absent from the film except when appearing to make emotional pleas. Other moments fall flat as the audience is left to connect with secondary characters and lackluster acting.

However, the overall story holds the audience’s attention despite the production quality detracting from the film in certain scenes. While it may not connect with all audiences, the film serves as a powerful testimony for families who have members struggling with alcoholism and addiction.

The film is ultimately a realistic and triumphant story of Robertson’s past struggles with a compelling plot.

However, the response has too often been an overreaction, treating the entire gender as a disease. The Washington Post ran an opinion piece in 2018 simply titled “Why can’t we hate men?”

Into this fray, Nancy Pearcey, professor at Houston Christian University, offers her case for a healthy, Christian masculinity in her new book, “The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes.” 

Nancy R. Pearcey. “The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes.” Baker Books. 2023. 334 pages. $24.99.

Pearcey, heralded by The Economist as “America’s preeminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual,” is also the author of “Love Thy Body” (2018), which addressed a variety of issues including gender identity. 

More important than her publishing credentials, Pearcey comes equipped with the experience of masculinity at its worst. In the book’s introduction, she recounts the physical abuse she received from her Lutheran father and how it drove her to become an agnostic feminist early in life. She does not need to be told that masculinity can go horribly wrong, even in a perceived Christian environment.

Pearcey disarms her readers by acknowledging concerns on all sides of the topic of masculinity. Her main argument from the start is that there are two scripts for masculinity in our culture. 

The “good man” is a compassionate protector, a sacrificial giver and a servant-hearted leader. But when our culture speaks of “the real man,” we refer to brute strength, silent endurance, stubborn resolve, competitive fire and assertiveness. In short, one of these looks like Jesus, and the other looks like an action hero.

Pearcey argues that the nominally Christian man who follows the “real man” script actually becomes worse than his secular counterpart. Armed with just enough male headship language to be dangerous and no gospel-informed character to shape it, this sort of man is statistically the most destructive man in our society.

However, anywhere the “good man” script is followed, healthy masculinity follows. Christian men following this script see Jesus as their model, and statistically, Pearcey shows that the engaged Christian husband/father is one of the brightest spots on the otherwise dismal masculine landscape. 

“Research has found that evangelical Protestant men who attend church regularly are the least likely of any group in America to commit domestic violence,” she notes.

The remainder of the book is a historic study of how these two scripts came into existence. Pearcey begins in the Industrial Revolution, when men left the home for the factory and mothers began raising children alone. 

Her work is thought provoking and thorough, examining the literature on masculine norms in various eras of history to paint a full picture.

Her work is thought-provoking and thorough, examining the literature on masculine norms in various eras of history to paint a full picture. 

Her conclusion is that men — especially Christian men — have an opportunity to rewrite the narratives by returning to the Christ-shaped template for masculinity, one where virtue is of greater importance than virility and self-sacrifice is cherished above social success.

BENJAMIN J. WILLIAMS is the senior minister for the Central Church of Christ in Ada, Okla. He is a contributor for So We Speak ministries and specializes in Christian worldview, apologetics and faith-science dialogue.

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Loretta Lynn and Kim McLean. “A Song and a Prayer: 30 Devotions Inspired by My Favorite Songs” Worthy Books. 2023. 208 pages. $24.00.

The late singer of hits like “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and the Conway Twitty duet “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man” had, not long before her death in October 2022, worked with Nashville-area pastor and musician Kim McLean to create a set of devotional readings “inspired,” as the book’s subtitle indicates, “by my favorite songs.”

The entries in “A Song and a Prayer: 30 Devotions Inspired by My Favorite Songs” follow a consistent format, making the volume readily accessible and easy to use as the basis for a solo, family or group daily devotional practice. Each chapter includes a selection from Scripture, a brief (roughly two pages long) devotional thought, a prayer and the song lyrics that inspired the day’s message.

McLean notes in the introduction that “a sad country song is its own kind of prayer,” and a number of the selections do fall into that category. But there is more variety here than one might expect.

Sixteen of the songs come from Lynn’s back catalog, while eight originated with the songwriting sessions that helped lead to the book’s creation. Five of the other six entries spotlight classic hymns, and one takes as its subject the Lord’s Prayer.

Loretta Lynn discusses her decision to be baptized in her 1976 autobiography “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” which became the basis for an Oscar-winning film.

A few key themes run through the month’s worth of devotionals — the presence of God during times of difficulty and the importance of prayer among them — though the thoughts range across many different topics, including patriotism and country music culture.

The book as a whole is credited to both women, but Lynn’s voice is the more apparent in the devotional messages themselves. She speaks in several places of her friendships and collaborations with other country musicians, as well as of her nearly 50-year marriage to Oliver “Doo” Lynn.

“Me and Doo got married young and we both had so much to learn about life, ourselves, and each other,” Lynn reminisces in a devotional on Ephesians 5:28. “Marriage is about serving one another. It’s about love and respect for each other.”

Some songs lend themselves to spiritual insights more readily than others, and there are several Lynn fan favorites that did not make the cut — the itinerary does not include a trip to “Fist City,” for instance.

Most of the songs co-written by Lynn and McLean were previously unreleased — 10 of them are included in McLean’s recent album also called “A Song and a Prayer,” which came out Aug. 25 — meaning that readers will not have any prior connection to a number of the featured tracks.

Still, Christians looking for spiritual encouragement, country music fans eager for a final word from one of the all-time greats, and members of Churches of Christ with an interest in their fellowship’s pop culture connections will enjoy the book and benefit from its wisdom.

JOHN YOUNG is an associate professor in the Turner School of Theology at Amridge University and runs the “Church of Christ Celebrities” blog.

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Holly Catterton Allen, professor of family studies and Christian ministries at Lipscomb University, provides helpful guidance in doing just this in her newest book “Forming Resilient Children: The Role of Spiritual Formation for Healthy Development.”

Holly Catterton Allen. “Forming Resilient Children: The Role of Spiritual Formation for Healthy Development.” InterVarsity Press. 2021. 200 pages. $24.00.

Children’s well-being is constantly threatened by upheavals and trauma around them. They need to develop resilience to handle these difficulties. This book seeks to prove that nurturing the spiritual life of a child is the key to developing resilience.

First, Allen defines spiritual formation as “the lifelong, intentional, communal process of growing more aware of God’s presence and becoming more like Christ, through the Spirit, in order to live in restored relationship with God, ourselves, and others, in every dimension of life.”

Allen proposes that when children have a healthy spiritual understanding of self, their relationships with others and their relationship with God, they will become resilient.

The book provides a section for both churches and parents with examples of how each can foster spiritual resilience in children. For parents and grandparents, Allen explores the ideas of fostering religious conversation, participating in religious activities with children, modeling spiritual life and parenting firmly, yet lovingly.

Allen then moves from families fostering spiritual formation in children to the church’s role. This section would be highly beneficial for all children’s ministers and those teaching youth Bible classes. Allen highlights ways to craft Bible studies that are intentional about developing spiritual resilience in children. While not every example will work in every congregation, there is much to be taken from the suggestions.

The book has a good balance of scientific data, biblical concepts and practical application. Each chapter includes an illustration of what this looks like or why the concept is needed for spiritual formation and resilience.

Allen also includes a section that addresses children who have gone through severe trauma and grief. Even if the children in your youth program have not faced such trauma, these chapters would be helpful in preparing you and your children’s program for if and when such trauma happens.

The book is written at a popular level and is accessible to everyone. Those looking for a more scientific study in children’s resilience will desire more data and less illustrations. Yet, Holly Allen has provided a useful book that could be read by church staff, small groups or parents of children.

Children listen to a Bible lesson during a Vacation Bible School hosted by the East End Church of Christ on the island of Grand Cayman. The Pawlit family — Jousha, Jessica, Jackson, Addison and Emerson — coordinated the event.

Everyone will walk away with a better understanding of the importance of spiritual formation in children and feel better equipped to help develop resilient children.

CHRIS KEARNEY is the preaching minister at the Windsong Church of Christ in North Little Rock, Ark., and is married with two small children. He has earned a Master of Divinity from Harding School of Theology and is currently a doctoral student in preaching at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary.

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What a blessing it would be to have a guide who has been through the messiness of sin-induced pain and brokenness and has found the way to reconciliation.

Steve Ridgell. “Wounds Into Scars: Turning Your Sin Wounds into Spiritual Scars.” 21st Century Christian. 2022. 152 pages. $14.99.

You don’t want someone who has never been through hard times and certainly not someone who thinks sin isn’t a big deal. You want someone who has fallen and found their way back again to walk alongside you.

Steve Ridgell is exactly that person because he has some deep-seated and (apparently) self-induced spiritual wounds from which he was able to recover.

In “Wounds Into Scars: Turning Your Sin Wounds Into Spiritual Scars,” Ridgell never tells you exactly what he did, but he does demonstrate that he has been through the hard work he recommends in the book and has come out on the other side.

Ridgell has helped many others go through healing the wounds of sin to produce the spiritual scars that characterize the healed. Here is the good news: He can help you too!

Who would find this book useful? Three groups come to mind: First are those who have unresolved sin (addiction, past sin that never got addressed, etc.).

The second group are those who are trying to understand the sinful choices of a loved one — maybe a spouse or a friend at church. This book can help put into words what you may be struggling to understand and articulate.

The third group are those who are actively helping people resolve the mess of their sin. Each chapter ends with a section called “A Word to the Helpers” to give advice on aiding those who are trying to find reconciliation.

This book is scripturally informed and highly practical. Many books are good at one or the other — this one is exceptionally good at both. There are Scriptures and stories from the Bible used throughout to help us understand what the Bible has to say about resolving the impact of our bad decisions and sins and finding healthy resolution.

Last, there are lots of stories of people in the book to help you connect with the principles being shared. These real, raw stories show what is being taught lived out. You will begin to see that no matter what you have done, you aren’t the first, and there is always hope!

“You will find yourself in this book. There were many times I thought to myself, ‘That is exactly what I needed to hear today.’”

You will find yourself in this book. There were many times I thought to myself, “That is exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you God for this book and for Steve!”

A book of this size (152 pages) would be a pretty quick read for many people, but it will most likely cause you to slow down, take in what is being said and reflect on areas of your life of unresolved conflict and brokenness.

If you need help putting your sin in perspective or helping others do the same, I hope you will pick up a copy of this book to read and share with others. It will undoubtedly save someone’s life, marriage and ministry.

MATT DABBS is a disciple maker and church planter at Backyard Church in Auburn, Ala. His mission is moving people to prayer, making disciples and planting house churches.

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Gary Holloway identified some outliers in his 1989 work “Saints, Demons, and Asses: Southern Preacher Anecdotes”; one might also point to Gary Freeman’s 1969 novel “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven” or his “Balaam’s Friend” column in Mission as prominent examples of how humor has shaped our history. But still, these are exceptions proving the rule.

Perry C. Cotham. “Everyday Christianity: Theology with Common Sense, Practicality, and a Touch of Humor.” AuthorHouse. 2022. 370 pages. $20.99.

Fortunately for us, Perry C. Cotham’s numerous interests include the relationship between the comic and the Churches of Christ, as shown most clearly in his 2020 book “Please Don’t Revive Us Again! The Human Side of the Church of Christ.”

In the wider-ranging “Everyday Christianity: Theology with Common Sense, Practicality, and a Touch of Humor,” wit is only part of the equation, but readers will still recognize Cotham’s sense of humor amid the often- serious topics of the book.

Inspired, in a sense, by his reading of the late 1990s doorstop “The Complete Book of Everyday Christianity,” Cotham has set a more manageable target here: “taking a select number of biblical and theological topics and then interpreting and applying them in a way that makes sense in both our thinking and in our everyday life.”

Cotham has largely succeeded in this endeavor.

He acknowledges that readers will likely disagree with some of his conclusions (which was the case for this reviewer), but the journey remains a valuable one all the same.

Addressed along the way are subjects as varied as the purpose of prayer, the relationship between the testaments, aging and the interchange between theology and philosophy.

What ties the topics together is Cotham’s consistent approach to asking tough questions despite the possibility of finding even tougher answers.

“Doubting can be a sign of strength instead of weakness,” he observes in the introduction, “a sign that we are willing to probe and ask questions rather than simply accept what’s been pre-packaged and handed to us as unquestionable.”

Where the book is somewhat less successful is in the technical execution.

“Everyday Christianity” checks in at roughly 350 pages, which might undercut the book’s effectiveness in providing encouragement to some readers. Numerous typographical and minor factual errors also have the unfortunate cumulative effect of drawing the reader’s focus away from the content.

Page 9, for instance, both describes Aaron as Moses’ cousin (they were brothers) and lists Cecile (actually, Cecil) B. DeMille as the director of “The Ten Commandments.” These kinds of small mistakes continue throughout.

Even so, “Everyday Christianity” is a valuable read, precisely because it is so wide ranging.

One might not agree with everything Cotham says or find every topic equally relevant, but there is likely something here for everyone, and we could all do worse than to follow Cotham’s lead in thinking critically — and, yes, comedically — about our common convictions.

JOHN YOUNG is an associate professor in the Turner School of Theology at Amridge University.

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And whether you’re looking for Bible study aids, ministry advice or just wholesome entertainment, you can find podcasts hosted by members of Churches of Christ. Once you’re caught up on the new Christian Chronicle Podcast, here are six more podcasts you can tune into to keep you connected with our fellowship and faith.

1. Dear Church

Chris McCurley, the preaching minister for the Walnut Street Church of Christ in Dickson, Tenn., addresses the whole body of Christ, not just his congregation, to discuss “deeper questions” facing all Christians, from mental health and marriage to church culture and faith and politics. In this down-to-earth podcast, McCurley also dissects familiar passages to offer practical applications and talks with preachers across the country about their lives and experiences.

2. The Authentic Christian

In this podcast overseen by the well-known Gospel Broadcasting Network in Olive Branch, Miss., hosts Aaron Gallagher, Scott Ingram and Tucker Wallace cover a range of topics on everyday Christian life, from simple-but-tough subjects like sharing Jesus at a coffee shop and dealing with criticism to controversial subjects like homosexuality and abortion to more in-the-weeds subjects like legalism and Armageddon.

3. Sunday Lunch

Three friends and members of the Brentwood Hills Church of Christ in Nashville, Tenn. — Katie Culberson, Kerry Stiles and Amy Bowman — look to create human connections among themselves, their guests and their audience as you would around a Sunday lunch table. While this is not a directly Christianity-focused podcast, the trio often bring on guests from our fellowship and touch on faith and Christian life.

4. The B-Team

John Young, a Restoration Movement historian and professor based in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and producer Jordan Campbell host this podcast aimed at bivocational, part-time and volunteer ministers. Leaning on their own experiences with ministry and those of a swath of guests — from backgrounds including interim, youth, college, young adult, pulpit and other ministry roles — they offer insights for the many Christians engaged in ministry on the side.

5. Life on the West Side

Nathan Guy, preaching minister for the West Side Church of Christ in Searcy, Ark., and former president of Mars Hill Bible School in Florence, Ala., shares some of his sermons from the pulpit, interviews and study/research resources meant to inspire spiritual formation. Topics covered in the podcast range from Christian identity and the presence of the Holy Spirit to the depth of the Gospel and the worthiness of faith.

6. Minister in the Making

B.T. Irwin, who now hosts our own podcast and is a member of the Rochester Church of Christ in Michigan, interviews one man over 37 episodes — his father, Travis — on his experiences as a Christian and preacher of nearly 50 years. The life story of this podcast begins with Travis’ childhood in the 1950s and continues until his death last year. While it’s no longer in production, the life lessons shared here are still well worth a listen.

CALVIN COCKRELL is media editor for The Christian Chronicle and the young adult minister for the North Tuscaloosa Church of Christ in Alabama. Contact calvin@christianchronicle.org.

The detailed book merges the style and substance of memoir, academic treatise and, at times, self-effacing story-telling. More than half of its nine chapters are written as case studies describing Casey’s work as the founding director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs, an appointment he began under former Secretary of State John Kerry.

Shaun Casey. “Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom: The Future of Religion in American Diplomacy.” Eerdmans. 2023. 269 pages. $30.

The office was shuttered under the Trump administration and has not been reestablished under the Biden White House. But the mission remains one the theologian and diplomat is committed to and a primary motivation for writing the book.

In it, Casey builds his thesis around three questions: Why is it important for American diplomacy to have a capacity to understand global religious dynamics? How does one do this sort of work? And how do you institutionalize and expand innovation in a change-resistant bureaucracy like the State Department?

He argues that to be effective, American diplomacy must “have the capacity to interpret religion” and that ignorance of religion can be costly. And he believes that through repeated policy failures, the cost in both dollars and lives has been enormous.

Casey built the office on a set of values both surprising and attractive to his team members: Find joy in your work. Treat others with dignity. Continue learning. Support a flexible workplace. Do collaborative, creative work. Drive out fear.

Accommodating personal and family obligations was not the department’s norm, Casey told his audience, but over four years working with 40 different people, “life happened.” And he sought to recognize that.

That human touch extended to the style of diplomacy Casey describes in chapters that detail work with the Vatican, the global refugee crisis, armed conflicts on several continents — including deep involvement in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy — and a chapter called “Responding to the Universe,” which he says could have been called “Surprises.” Its stories include 36 hours in Havana and in-depth conversations with religious leaders in Nigeria in an effort to fight corruption.

A diplomatic conversation with a Palestinian theologian took a productive turn because Casey knew the man had attended Hardin-Simmons University, a Baptist school located in Abilene, Texas. Casey told him he had attended Abilene Christian University.

“He told me that in 1958 the best soccer game in Abilene was on Saturday afternoons at Abilene Christian,” Casey writes. “It scrambled my brain to imagine a Palestinian Anglican playing soccer there back in the day.”

Shaun Casey

If the depth of knowledge in theology and public policy can be attributed to his intellect and education, Casey’s personal, pastoral touch finds root in his family background and early years spent in local ministry. Casey grew up in the bootheel of Missouri and in Paducah, Ky., attending the local Churches of Christ, which he describes as playing an “outsized role” in his childhood.

“I grew up in a family with parents who were first generation college grads — five kids, loud dinner table conversations,” Casey said, describing his family. “We read two newspapers every day — there was a premium for learning what was going on in the world.”

That hunger for learning led him to a Bible degree at ACU and eventually a doctorate in theology at Harvard University.

Along the way were years spent preaching at local congregations in Mississippi and Massachusetts and 13 years on the faculty of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

In a chapter titled “Male, Pale and Not Quite Yale,” a reference to the State Department demographics, Casey recounts his upbringing against a backdrop of the civil rights movement and Vietnam War, including a moving retelling of registering for the draft. Casey’s Southern, lower middle class roots and undergraduate degree from a small Christian college in West Texas were atypical in the sprawling bureaucracy of the State Department.

So who is the devil of Foggy Bottom? He explains that in the final chapter. For now, suffice it to say he draws on his Hebrew training to explain it.

Devil aside, he concludes that by nature he is both hopeful and realistic — realistic in his fear that the State Department “will go back to its ill-educated reticence” about religion but hopeful that “we made a compelling case in our short tenure” for greater recognition of the critical role of religion in global diplomacy.

CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact cheryl@christianchronicle.org.

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The Lionsgate movie juggles the story of three men — Chuck Smith, Lonnie Frisbee and Greg Laurie — and their involvement with the Jesus movement, which captivated the nation in the late 1960s and early 1970s as hippies converted to Christianity and proclaimed Christ as the truth they’d sought in substances and spiritual philosophy.

Listen to our podcast: We talk to ‘Jesus Revolution’ filmmaker Brent McCorkle

A cinematic retelling of the book co-authored by Laurie, the movie emphasizes themes of acceptance and love, encouraging Christians to reach across the aisle to welcome people who both outwardly look different while internally having a different worldview. 

With a tagline espousing, “When you open your heart, there’s room for everyone,” the film follows Laurie (played by Joel Courtney) as he avoids an unstable home life by seeking “truth” — first in drugs and later in his newfound faith at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, Calif., under the guidance of Smith and Frisbee. 

Relying heavily on pathos, viewers are likely to feel moved by the end of the two-hour film — but may find themselves disappointed when learning the reality of Smith and Frisbee’s stories later. For a film that preaches “truth,” it is disappointing that the plot ends up raising more questions about the reality of the Jesus movement than it answers. 

Certain conflicts are alluded to — power struggles between Smith and Frisbee, marital issues between Frisbee and his wife, disgruntled church leadership at Calvary Chapel — without fully addressing the facts or outcome. 

The poster for the film “Jesus Revolution.”

Rather than engaging with topics that are equally prevalent in the religious environment of today, the producers chose to skirt around these themes, watering down what might have been a compelling example of the challenges and struggles faced by religious leadership.

Instead the movie focuses on the positive drama, which is ultimately resolved in an uplifting way, like Laurie’s ministry and his relationship with his girlfriend, Cathe.

It is an effective public relations piece for Christianity, illustrating the ideal form of faith without addressing the societal criticisms that often follow churches. 

While likely to inspire Christians in need of encouragement, the film sanitizes the complex reality of the movement, shying away from theology and human fallibility to make the overall message more palatable.

To listen to an interview with Brent McCorkle, filmmaker and director of “Jesus Revolution,” tune in to The Christian Chronicle podcast.

AUDREY JACKSON is The Christian Chronicle’s associate editor and a 2021 graduate of Harding University. Contact audrey@christianchronicle.org.

We may feel that reaching others with the Gospel is a hill too steep, like the one in Watty Piper’s classic story of the little train engine pulling a heavy load.

Mark Mittelberg. “Contagious Faith: Discover Your Natural Style for Sharing Jesus with Others.” Zondervan. 2021. 256 pages. $18.99.

We may tell ourselves, “I think I can’t, I think I can’t,” and abandon Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost and give up on his commission to make disciples.

Perhaps it is time to look for help, like the little engine did. This is where Mark Mittelberg’s book, “Contagious Faith,” comes along to help us see how God can use our own personal style to share the Good News of Jesus.

It might just be the help you need to conquer the hill.

“Contagious Faith” provides tools, examples and motivation to move from “I think I can’t” to “I think I can” by strengthening our trust that God can use us to spread his Good News with the gifts, personality and faith we already have.

“Contagious Faith” describes five personal styles for sharing the Good News, presents biblical illustrations of each, looks to Jesus as an example and caps each style with key skills that can apply to anyone.

This consistent format makes the book very readable and easy to follow. It guides us throughout to identify our own personal styles for sharing the Good News of Jesus, reminds us of resources God uses to move people toward Jesus and presents a variety of ways to reach out so that we can be our authentic selves as we share Jesus with others.

The book seems to lean heavily on inviting people to church events as a means toward introducing them to Christ. Given our current post-Christian culture, a more helpful approach might address how to reach skeptics and former church adherents — groups who are not likely to attend a church event.

Perhaps a chapter or so on how to offer a simple invitation to a personal Bible study or what discipleship looks like on a day-to-day basis would have been beneficial.

Also concerning for us, Mittelberg does not include baptism as part of the response of believers toward salvation. However, his book does provide simple ways to make connections so that the Good News of Jesus can be shared.

When all is said and done, “Contagious Faith” does a good job of describing specific ways to use our own giftedness to share the good news of Jesus.

If you are in the mode of “I think I can’t, I think I can’t” when it comes to sharing the Good News of Jesus, “Contagious Faith” may be the help you need to shift to “I think I can, I think I can” and become “The Little Engine That Could” to scale the hill and allow God to use you to spread his Good News with the gifts, personality and faith you already possess.

ANDY AND ROSLYN MILLER are co-leaders of Reclaimed missional community in Orlando, Fla., where Roslyn is also an instructional designer for the University of Central Florida. Reclaimed is supported by the North Boulevard Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

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He ends with a call to a different, and unexpected, option.

Michael F. Bird. “Religious Freedom in a Secular Age: A Christian Case for Liberty, Equality, and Secular Government.” Zondervan, 2022. 224 pages. $18.99.

That’s a great deal for a relatively short book to tackle, but Bird provides a concise guide to the problem and some intriguing solutions.

On the first point, an embrace of secularism might seem off-putting to religious readers. But Bird’s concept of secularism is closer to what I would call “confident pluralism,” to quote John Inazu.

To Bird, secularism is “not antagonism toward religion … but a place where everyone could cooperate and work together on this-worldly concerns.”

Bird’s vision is a government that is not controlled by any one church but gives people of different faiths a place to come together.

Bird contrasts this beneficial secularism with “militant secularism,” which seeks to vanquish religious ideals and is probably what most believers have in mind when they hear “secularism.”

On this point, Bird is a sharp observer of current events, noting that militant secularism is not so much a rejection of religion as the embrace of politics and ideology in the place of church: “In a godless age, there will still be gods.”

As an academic dean in Australia, Bird brings an intriguing perspective on the current American political situation.

His stories from Australia are a bracing reminder of the importance of defending religious freedom and the value of our constitutional protections.

If you’d like to know where militant secularism in the United States could go in the short term, Bird’s discussion of current events there is a useful guide. As an outsider to the American political system, Bird has strong words for both religious conservatives and secular progressives and is sure to ruffle feathers on both sides.

Read “Court expands religious freedom”: Kenneth Pybus analyzes four cases involving expressions of faith that came before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.

On issues of religion and LGBTQ rights, Bird summarizes current political debates in both the U.S. and Australia and makes a strong argument for the importance of allowing religious people and institutions to live out their faith. He also highlights the importance of Christian love and service.

While I believe some of his legal proposals would be problematic in practice, I appreciate his overall approach to explaining to outsiders just why religious freedom matters.

The book’s final section sketches out a “Thessalonian strategy” for relating to an often-hostile world.

Bird argues for a “grand age of apologetics,” encouraging believers to make their case.

“We need good arguments, good character, and good manners. Our business is not to score points in debates, but to win people to Christ,” he writes.

Here, Bird’s book is at its best, responding to common modern critiques of Christianity and arguing for a version of apologetics that is less focused upon proving the historical accuracy of Scripture and more upon defending Christianity against its cultural critiques.

His call to have a “a ready answer” will resonate with many believers, and it adds an oft-ignored component to discussions over how we handle issues of religious freedom.

Bird’s book is a brief, engaging discussion of current religious freedom issues. It will be valuable to those who are interested in seeing a new perspective on American religious liberty debates and thinking about both the legal and cultural responses.

LORI WINDHAM is a constitutional lawyer in Washington, D.C., who specializes in religious freedom cases. She is a member of the Fairfax Church of Christ in Virginia.

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Hughes, now in his late 70s, weaves essays, blog posts and a lecture from a lifetime of scholarship into the story of what it means for him to live as a disciple of Jesus. He calls his book an “intellectual memoir.”

Richard Hughes. “The Grace of Troublesome Questions: Vocation, Restoration, and Race.” Abilene Christian University Press. 2022. 352 pages. $24.99.

At age 16, Hughes decided to host his West Texas high school buddies — good Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians — to watch evangelistic filmstrips. His mom was supportive but sensed a teachable moment.

“If you want to convert your friends to our church, that is entirely up to you,” she told him. “But if you discover that they are right but you are wrong, then you must be the one who is willing to make the change.”

That encouragement led him to seek answers to “troublesome” questions that would emerge as a student at Harding University and Abilene Christian University and through the rest of his life.

At Abilene, a book recommended by renowned early church historian Everett Ferguson brought questions surrounding a pillar of Church of Christ belief: restoring the New Testament church.

“The Anabaptist View of the Church” introduced Hughes to a Christian tradition that sought to restore not the worship and organization of the early church but the first Christians’ nonviolent ethics and sense of discipleship.

“What, after all, should be restored?” Hughes asked himself. That question would take him deeper. How do we view history itself? Did Churches of Christ “spring full-blown from the biblical text”? Or do they have a human history we must acknowledge and understand?

Turning to the origins of Churches of Christ, Hughes stresses the countercultural dimensions of Barton W. Stone’s “apocalyptic” worldview emphasizing “a radical sense of estrangement and separation from the world … and a keen allegiance to ‘the kingdom of God.’” The ethical values of that transcendent kingdom, Stone believed, could unite believers.

Stone’s countercultural vision supports Hughes’ view that Churches of Christ are fundamentally at odds with the individualistic theology and political aspirations of American evangelicals.

Reading the Bible through the lens of culture rather than culture through the lens of the Bible, we “allow the American nation, its values, and its dominant culture to take the place of … the biblical vision of the kingdom of God.”

Hughes’ critique is pointed. By reading the Bible through the lens of culture rather than culture through the lens of the Bible, Hughes says, evangelicals “allow the American nation, its values, and its dominant culture to take the place of the only reality to which, as Christians, they should pledge their allegiance: the biblical vision of the kingdom of God.”

This misplaced focus enables a malaise that becomes a key theme in the book: America’s struggle with racism.

Hughes recalls a pivotal moment that changed the direction of his life and scholarship at a 2012 conference where he had spoken about “Myths America Lives By,” his 2004 book about five fundamental ideas that shape American identity.

Afterward, a fellow panelist and scholar of African American Christianity leaned over and whispered, “You left out the most important of all the American myths — White supremacy.”

Hughes was taken aback. But, like his mother had told him, he paid attention. The result was a second edition of his book, the 2018 “Myths America Lives By: White Supremacy and the Stories That Give Us Meaning.”

Hughes concludes with some of the most tender autobiographical reflections of the volume: How he met his wife, Jan, in the Harding cafeteria line. Visiting renowned historian and friend Sidney Mead just four months before Mead died. And his Black friend and mentor, Charles Wayne Baxter, who taught him “it’s all about relationships.”

“The King of the Universe gathers together the people of earth and divides the sheep from the goats. … The King is concerned about one thing — how we treat our neighbors.”

The personal stories cap readers’ journey with Hughes during a lifetime devoted to difficult but authentic questions about who God calls Churches of Christ to be.

“There is only one passage in the entire biblical text that paints a panoramic view of both the final judgment and the meaning of the kingdom of God,” Hughes writes. “There, the King of the Universe gathers together the people of earth and divides the sheep from the goats. … The King is concerned about one thing — how we treat our neighbors.”

TED PARKS is a Christian Chronicle correspondent. A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., he is a graduate of Lipscomb University, Harding School of Theology and the University of Texas at Austin. Before moving to Nashville, Tenn., in 2004, Parks taught at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., for 12 years.

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McDonald — the late poet laureate of Texas, Air Force pilot, rancher, professor, and disciple of Jesus — has bequeathed to us a remarkable work: a collection of over 500 poems, lovingly selected and arranged by the author himself.

Walt McDonald. “The Essential Walt McDonald.” Texas Tech University Press. 2022. 608 pages. $39.95.

In McDonald’s poems, the sacred is seldom overtly named, but rest assured, Christ is near. “The foundation of all my work is Christ,” he once declared. “Not one poem would have come without that rock.”

McDonald’s mission is similar to C.S. Lewis’ — to do one’s best to pay attention, to see what is squarely set before us and discover a world crowded with God’s presence. “Keep your eyes wide,” he counsels in one poem. “Find what’s in the skies.”

Religious verse is notorious for sometimes turning cloyingly sweet or maudlin, for putting on airs. McDonald travels a more direct, warts-and-all path devoid of obscurity and pretention. He is honest about humanity’s flawed and fallen state.

Whether the subject is a near-bankrupt farmer pleading for rain, a grandfather praying for a dying granddaughter, a cowboy fixing fences, a couple savoring their morning coffee or a father waiting on news from the war front where his son serves — grief, desperation, hope and joy are treated with equal candor and compassion.

Even when answers aren’t forthcoming, McDonald reassures that God’s grace is sufficient: “Nights, / you turn for me to hold you, faith and hope / and love, if not the answers, enough for us.”

McDonald is a love poet, enamored of the Word and words, of natural beauty and people, his ordinary saints. “Those who overcome the everyday with simple faith are my heroes,” McDonald said. In memorable scenes of graceful realism, ordinary folk perform simple acts of goodness — without fanfare or expectation of reward.

He especially delights in family and friendships. Scenes of parents and children, aunts and uncles, rural neighbors and war buddies appear often. But he is at his finest celebrating married love.

Like the singer in the Song of Solomon, McDonald soars when he recalls time spent with Carol, his beloved wife (an Abilene Christian University honor graduate and graphic artist). “The blaze of lavish hours together … the swift and playful nights like wild / hosannas dangling on a string. I love the halo / of your hair, the simple mystery of your eyes.”

The psalmist used ordinary material things — a starry sky, a shadowy valley, a green pasture, a deer seeking water — to convey spiritual realities. McDonald similarly finds truth, beauty and the sacred in human relationships, nature, and the smallest of things.

Few poets from Churches of Christ have ever achieved national recognition for their literary excellence. Walt McDonald is the exception, authoring over 20 books and 2,000 poems and receiving numerous awards. We owe him and his memory a great debt for leaving us his last, best work — a masterwork overflowing with hope, love, wisdom and beautiful, honest faith.

DARRYL TIPPENS is a retired University Distinguished Scholar of Faith, Learning and Literature at Abilene Christian University and former chief academic officer at Pepperdine University.

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Andy Stanley. “Not in It to Win It: Why Choosing Sides Sidelines the Church.” Zondervan Reflective. 2022. 256

In “Not in It to Win It: Why Choosing Sides Sidelines the Church,” Andy Stanley discusses how this attitude is damaging to effectively demonstrating the love and unity we should have toward fellow believers. Stanley, an author and minister of an eight-church network in the Atlanta area, provides Scripture-based evidence showing how Jesus’ ministry and actions run counter to what many Christians today believe should be the focus of their time and energy.

The idea of “needing to win” too often guides our attitude toward people with whom we disagree. Such an attitude is also diametrically opposed to Jesus’ approach to reaching the lost and making disciples. Stanley writes, “The Gospels and Epistles are unmistakably clear. We are not in it to win anything. Jesus already won it. Jesus will win it again. In the meantime, we are to love one another and the people around us in such a way that we are winsome whether we win anything or not.”

“Not In It to Win It” discusses how an attitude of winning demonstrates itself in national culture wars. Taking sides on cultural issues is viewed as essential to “save America” from some perceived evil or threat. Stanley suggests that engaging in a fight over such issues never produces winners, only casualties.

“Any admonition that declares that we must rule should be checked with the immediate reminder that Christ did not.”

Saving America is not the mission of the church; saving Americans is. Quoting David French, Stanley writes, “Any admonition that declares that we must rule should be checked with the immediate reminder that Christ did not. It is the cross — not the boardroom, not the Oval Office and not the box office — that is the absolute center of the Kingdom of God.”

“Saving America is not the mission of the church; saving Americans is.”

Jesus was aware of cultural problems and challenges impacting the people of his day, yet he often refused to publicly support one view over another. Why? Stanley suggests that Jesus’ purpose and his focus precluded him from doing so. Addressing such issues was not why he came to live among mankind.

Stanley believes the true enemy of the church is division resulting from Christians dividing along political or cultural sides. According to Stanley, “Unity is not a ‘nice to have’ — it is ‘mission critical.’” We cannot truly love each other and be effective in reaching the lost if we allow division to weaken our efforts.

What should be our focus as Christians? Jesus said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Stanley suggests this command should inform our consciences and “govern our responses, actions, reactions and priorities.”

Stanley holds nothing back and clearly shows how our need to win — politically or culturally — casts the church in a negative light. He concludes by saying, “Our responses and reactions say more about the sincerity and authenticity of our faith than anything else, certainly more than our sermons, songs and creeds.” In moments when you are uncertain how to respond, “ask what love requires of you.”

DAN ARNOLD is a graduate of Lipscomb University. He worships with the Church of Christ on Fishinger Road in Columbus, Ohio, along with his wife, Lori, and daughter.

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Are we Catholic? No, but we believe in one apostolic church.

Are we Protestants? Not exactly, but that seems closer to the mark.

Are we the first-century church restored after a 17-century hiatus? We often say so, but it feels like amnesia to pretend the intervening years never happened.

Leonard Allen. In the Great Stream: Imagining Churches of Christ in the Christian Tradition. Abilene Christian Press. 2021. 240 pages. $17.99.

This question is the riddle Leonard Allen tackles in his latest book, “In the Great Stream: Imagining Churches of Christ in the Christian Tradition.”

Allen, dean of the College of Bible and Ministry at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., brings his extensive knowledge of church history to the task of articulating a historically meaningful identity for the Churches of Christ. He began this discussion in “Discovering our Roots: The Ancestry of the Church of Christ” (1988).

Allen’s repertoire is deep and wide. “In the Great Stream” draws from church historians such as Jaroslav Pelikan, Thomas Oden and Everett Ferguson as well as philosophers like Charles Taylor.

The result is three nuanced conclusions: First, Churches of Christ do not neatly fit into the historical Protestant category. Second, we cannot ignore the historical context of our identity. And third, we must embrace our larger Christian heritage to maintain any identity.

Allen portrays “tradition” as a living voice rather than an iron shackle. Christian tradition (or orthodoxy) is equally threatening to both conservative and progressive voices among Churches of Christ.

For conservatives, Christian history reminds us that the status quo developed a few decades ago is merely a blip in the two millennia story of Christianity. It is hard to insist on “the way we have always done it” when “always” accounts for only 3 percent of the total.

For progressives, history reminds us that orthodoxy has stood largely unchanged in its core tenets until now. Thus it is hubris to redefine Christian thought radically and cancel the faithful voices of the past.

Check out this related series for articles on the identity of Churches of Christ.

By way of critique, I would mention that Allen is narrowly focusing on the earliest centuries of church history. Like the old motto Anglican theologians often recite, Allen is influenced by one canon, two testaments, three creeds, four general councils and five centuries.

Medieval Christianity is a difficult period, but it seems unfair to root our heritage in Irenaeus and Tertullian (“near the head of the stream”) without hearing Aquinas, Anselm and Francis.

That said, I wholeheartedly recommend “In the Great Stream” to anyone wanting a better grasp of the shape our identity might take. Taking a look at our past will give us courage and insight into the murky future of Christianity, specifically Churches of Christ.

As Allen explains, our churches must learn to be confessors of the ancient faith. “Such confession, in a culture of lightness where truth is mostly private and personal,” he writes, “is deeply counter to the dominant spirit of our times and deeply formative to our faith.”

BENJAMIN J. WILLIAMS is the senior minister for the Central Church of Christ in Ada, Okla. A contributor for So We Speak ministries, he specializes in Christian worldview, apologetics and faith-science dialogue.

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Rudy Taylor. A Kind Remembrance. Independently published. 2022. 67 pages. $7.

“A Kind Remembrance — Stories about a small church in the Oklahoma hills where a brush arbor meeting touched the hearts of future generations,” gives a century-old history of the Timber Hill Church of Christ, located four miles west of Bluejacket.

The book is only 67 pages in length but tells the story of a young, self-taught evangelist, A.C. Williams, who came to the farming and mining community in 1921 to hold a gospel meeting in a country school yard. There were no members of the Church of Christ in the community, so the 21-year-old Williams saw the fields as white unto harvest.

At the end of two weeks, dozens of people had made the 2-mile trek to the Big Cabin Creek where baptisms were performed. Williams’ teenage brother, Lawrence, helped by leading singing and doing his share of immersions.

After A.C. Williams left the community to preach in congregations throughout Oklahoma and Kansas, Lawrence stayed at Timber Hill and became the preacher. Two of the converts, Les Taylor and Charles Walker, constructed a small building that was the meeting place for the congregation until lightning set it ablaze in 1962 and burned it to the ground.

A new building was constructed a mile away, and it remains today. Services are held weekly, led by various part-time ministers.

But the story that Taylor tells in his book is one that leads to legends in the Church of Christ fellowship. The two carpenters, Charles Walker and Les Taylor, were parents to Ross and Grace (Walker) Taylor, who sent their children to Central Christian College and Oklahoma Christian College.

With those spiritual roots, their children sent their children to Harding University, Abilene Christian University, Pepperdine University, Freed-Hardeman University, Bethel College and many other colleges where they branched into many avenues of church leadership, missions and other elements of the Lord’s work around the world.

Had the brush arbor experience at Timber Hill not happened, then Ross and Grace Taylor might never have become Christians — nor Donna (Taylor) Mitchell, Terrel Taylor, Rudy Taylor, Shirley (Taylor) Helms and Karen (Taylor) Harmon.

Rudy Taylor

Add their childrens’ names to the church ancestors, and the list surely numbers into the hundreds.

Author Rudy Taylor’s reason for penning the book was to help celebrate the congregation’s 100th anniversary, and to give younger members of his family, and many other church members, a dot on their timeline for spiritual and family reference.

Although he kept a few of the books for personal distribution, they are not for sale. Taylor gives them to anyone who might point back to this hilly community of northeast Oklahoma as their spiritual basis: where their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents were baptized after hearing the gospel preached in a 1921 brush arbor gospel meeting.

Taylor is a former OC student from the 1960s, as is his wife, Kathy. They now reside in Caney, Kan., where they publish newspapers with two of their adult children. They can be reached at rudykathy@cox.net.

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Benny Tabalujan. Renewal Through Restoration, An Uncommon Call to Christian Discipleship. Klesis Press. 2021. 246 pages. $10.99.

Two thousand years later, cultural transplants from three different continents have been called by God to live as spiritual exiles. “Renewal Through Restoration: An Uncommon Call to Christian Discipleship” shares the common commitment of these men to restore, not just the letter, but the spirit of early Christianity.

The contributors are Benny Tabalujan, an Asian Australian who lives in Melbourne; Steve Wilson, who grew up in Sydney, Australia, met his wife in Florida, worked with churches in Tasmania and lives in Brisbane; and Allen McNicol, a Queenslander who studied at Abilene Christian University, Yale and Vanderbilt and is a longtime resident of Austin, Texas. Each of these Australians has served as an elder of a Church of Christ and knows what it means to be “sojourners and exiles.”

The book ponders “what returning to the habits and ethos of Jesus and His earliest followers may look like in our day,” the authors write. Their primary topics are renewal through restoration, being in Christ, living as God’s people and engaging the world. The book calls us to restore the spirit of the early church by restoring a Christlike spirit of discipleship in our personal relationships, in our spiritual communities and in our relationships in the world.

Tabalujan writes two chapters on each of the four topics, followed by responses by McNicol and Wilson. Part three concludes with a thoughtful discussion by biblical scholar Everett Ferguson on the identity of Churches of Christ, extending the discussion of the communal aspect of disciples living as God’s people.

The book is well written and easy to read, flowing like a spiritual, Socratic dialogue among friends from three different generations. Each writer contributes thoughts on the four discipleship topics from their distinctive spiritual and cultural perspective.

One of the unique storylines of this book is the reflections of spiritual and cultural transplants who have lived on three different continents. Each author shares a common commitment to answer Jesus’ invitation to “follow me” in our generation.

Peter would be pleased to know that, 2,000 years later, these sojourners would write in a kindred spirit of his book. Each of these writers is calling spiritual exiles to the true spirit of discipleship. They challenge their readers to truly “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts” (1 Peter 3:15).

DALE HARTMAN and his family spent twelve years as missionaries in Sydney, Australia, before returning to Oklahoma to serve as minister for the Eastside Church of Christ in Midwest City, Okla., in 1991. He now serves on staff for the North MacArthur Church of Christ in Oklahoma City.

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