Category: Books

Thoughts on Ralph Winter and His Life

“Of the three faculty members and those who would join them, Winter was the person most involved in new initiatives during his time at SWM. His ideas rarely sparked interest in or involvement from the greater Fuller community. There were just too many of them (ideas)!” (The Ralph Winter Story; location 1322; by Harold Fickett)

I still recall when Andy Andrews said, “Read as many biographies as possible.” What he meant, or what I interpreted from that, was how much you learn from history. In reading, The Ralph Winter Story, I am encouraged as a ministry leader with WorldVenture.

Ralph Winter used his creativity to make massive changes to global missions. He didn’t find his calling until late in life (like me!). While I don’t compare myself with someone of his stature, I do find encouragement in reading his life story. He is quoted a lot in the Perspectives course.

In trying to carve new roads to missions, I felt I needed to understand Ralph Winter’s life story.

A quote from his friend, Trotman is now on my Facebook profile:

“Don’t do what others can do or will do if there are things to be done that other can’t do or won’t do.” 

Winter’s struggles to establish new thought processes in missionary work wasn’t always welcome. In one situation, his wife, Roberta clashed with a fellow nurse, Ruth, in Guatamala. Ruth insisted that medically trained missionaries, “…should decide what medical work should include.” Winter and Roberta studied the culture and noticed how the tribal people went to Shaman’s for medical and spiritual advice. To this people group it was strange to separate medical advice from spiritual advice, and Winter or Roberta had observed how often they came to the medical clinic to get marriage advice. However, the author states that Ruth was more traditional and fought them. The book asserts Winter found a way around that obstacle.

Winter had so many ideas and this meant that his creativity had him serving in many different kinds of projects at the same time. In fact, the book suggests his parents may have worried about his constant so-called “lack of focus.”

Tony, my husband, worried for a time about this. Since becoming a believer in 2002, I wrote skits for Solid Rock Christian Fellowship, directed dramas from the stage, ran a women’s tea and coffee for four years (randomly inviting people from the directory to my house which oftentimes meant women meeting other women they didn’t know attended SRCF), a prayer ministry, and helping in set up and take downs of SRCF’s third service. I also had author aspirations and wrote two novels during this time. One received a partial manuscript request from an agent and the other wasn’t fully ready before it was submitted by request to a small publisher. All of this was training for where I am now. Winter had a weakness, too.

With so many ideas, he didn’t fully commit to learning the language the mission board asked him to learn. The downside to having so much creativity is spreading yourself too thin. Winter didn’t really have a job. He got his education through the GI Bill, lived at home, got married, served as a missionary, and had odd jobs. Again, I am not finished reading it yet so I have not learned his whole story. Steady employment may have come later. 

With a full time day job and working active online ministries, I am always careful not to do so much that the ministries I have worked hard to build fail due to lack of attention. This is why I read books about people from the past so I can learn from their mistakes and find encouragement in their struggles.

Would you consider financially partnering with me as I serve to empower the church to do more than market their programs, but reach their communities, even on a global scale? Click here to learn more. 

 

How We are a Citizen of Heaven #Christian

 

I’m on a social media fast today in a hotel somewhere in Phoenix. This means I fast from all social media so I can rest, study, and even write without distraction while I focus on God, worship Him, and focus on who I am in Him. I am reading, “How to Read The Bible For All It’s Worth,” by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart.

Page 109 through 110 brought me up short. So far, I had been reading about Hebrew narrative and how the Old Testament narratives implied things, definition of what is cultural and what is truth, and what something meant then and what it means now. As I read, Redefinition, I knew that this is the kind of truth that I am trying to share in my life with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in America:

“Redefinition. When the plain meaning of the text leaves people cold, producing no immediate spiritual delight, or says something other than what they wish it said, they are often tempted to redefine it to mean something else. An example is the use often made of God’s promise to Solomon as it is narrated in Chronicles (2 Chron. 7:14-15). The context of this narrative clearly relates the promise to “this place” (the temple in Jerusalem) and “their land” (Israel, the land of Solomon and the Israelites). Understandably, many modern Christians yearn for it to be true of their land wherever they live in the modern world–and so they tend to ignore the fact that God’s promise that he will “hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” was about the only earthly land God’s people could ever claim as “theirs,” the Old Testament land of Israel. In the new covenant, God’s people have no earthly country that is “their land” –despite the tendency of some American Christians to think otherwise about the world. The country all believers now most truly belong to is a heavenly one (Heb. 11:16). (emphasis mine)”

Pastors periodically talk about examining ones spending habits on their checking account to see if God is a priority. What do we spend most of our money on? Are we investing in God’s Kingdom or in pleasure? The same should be said of auditing our own social media profiles. What is posted most often on your social media expresses the depth of your faith, your heart, whether it bleeds from pain and anger or oozes political angst. Do we wish death on our enemies even in a joking way?

“Sarcasm is anger gone underground and come back up in a clown suit,” says Patsy Clairmont, a Women of Faith writer and speaker. Our citizenship is in Heaven as believers. How can we reflect this in our postings and honor the country in which we live? 

Horror and the Bible: A Commentary

In our deeply divided country, Mike Duran is one of the few who can challenge our culture without being inflammatory or divisive. In reading his latest book, Christian Horror: On the Compatibility of a Biblical Worldview and the Horror Genre, the book goes beyond surface arguments and shows us how the church should embrace the horror genre.

The book delves into various horrific details of Bible stories, art history, and how some don’t believe a devil exists. The book also presents a compelling argument how Christians have white washed everything. “Thus, Christian art became an alternative to ‘worldly’ fare, often defined as much by what it didn’t have, as what it did,” the book says on page 53. My favorite story shared in the book was about Christopher Hitchen’s brother, Peter, who became a believer when he viewed Roger Van Der Weyden’s painting, Last Judgement.

The horrific images portrayed in the painting caused, “Peter to see himself, ‘among the damned.'” Peter Hitchens became a believer because a painter didn’t hold back about heaven or hell.  The book is a think-outside-the-box kind of thought process that inspires a Christian like myself to not put such narrow boundaries on how to reach the unreached, the unloved, and the unchurched. The book makes a strong case how horror should be an accepted genre among Christians.

 

Book Review: When Good Samaritans Get Mugged

Wounded warriors need a good support system. In, When Good Samaritans Get Mugged: Hope and Healing For Wounded Warriors by David R. Stokes, the book gets into Scriptural detail on how Good Samaritans can recover from their mugging and the steps to take for healing. The steps aren’t easy though. Some days it feels like a constant exercise, finding something new you have to forgive in someone else, or even in yourself.

“Making every effort to live at peace,” is often difficult when you consider that the church is a group of believers working through their individual journeys, sometimes reacting or responding out of wounds from their pasts, and once in a while arguing over petty things; mostly, on occasion, reacting when they are challenged to live outside of their normal activities. The book also makes a point to say how we could have contributed to the problems we face when mugged by other Christians. A heavy emphasis is placed on forgiveness.

The book takes us through the steps to grieve, forgive, and move forward with our lives, asking us to focus on the blessings rather than the negative self-talk and keeping our eyes on the future rather than the past. It talks about how suffering is part of the Christian life and the situations that wound us can become opportunities for growth as a leader and a Christian. This book is a warm blanket and a hot cup of cocoa for the hurting soul, designed to walk you through the steps towards healthier church relationships.

*Book given by publisher to review. 

Finding Love in a Book Shop

How to Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry is an interesting menagerie of stories written in third person from various points of view. The main story threaded throughout is from the point of view of Emelia, the daughter of a deceased bookstore owner, who loved his daughter, the books, and the town of Peasebrook.

Emilia’s mom died during her birth leaving Julius to raise her on his own. He wasn’t a savvy businessman as Emilia would discover following her father’s death. He gave away as much as he made in books that the debt left behind hung on Emilia’s heart like a millstone. The tension in the story comes from Ian Mendelip who sends his employee to seduce Emilia to sell the bookstore because the property would allow expansion. The charm of Emilia and the bookstore work its magic on Jackson. The books cause him to re-think his life.

How to Find Love in a Book Shop is You Got Mail meets Sleepless in Seattle. Love writes its own stories as the town of Peasebrook faces the past and the future, embraces change, and mends relationships. You can’t help, but smile in the end.

*Book given by publisher to review.

Finding Out What Really Matters

A book review of, We Stood Upon Stars by Roger W. Thompson

We Stood Upon Stars by Roger W. Thompson attracted me because of its cover of a VW van and a star-covered night sky. The advertisement of 32 maps was a bonus. I had never heard of the author, but an outdoor-themed devotional was attractive to this backpacker.

The book is a memoir of collected memories separated into quick chapters with a hand-drawn map of the areas the book describes in that particular chapter. It is a book that expresses worship in God, adventures in dating, marriage and fatherhood with humor, deep conviction, and a beautiful narrative. Threaded throughout the book are references of his grandfather and their motorcycle adventures. The book is a meditation of relaxation in the middle of a busy day, to get lost in the book’s narrative and dream of adventures yet to come.

Loss is especially poignant in the book. My eyes suspiciously watered a few times in which I blinked and tried to push down the knot in my throat. Some chapters hit too close to home like the loss of their dog and when the author said goodbye to his grandfather. The only drawback to the book was the lack of Scripture references. If there were any, I didn’t catch them. The maps are wonderful for decoration, travel tips, and reminiscing; or perhaps pieces of art that one could blow up into a print and frame.

My husband read the book first. He sped through the pages like a child eating his first cake. “Easy reading,” He mentioned to me. When I reached parts of the book that made me laugh, he would turn to look at me and ask me what part I was reading. The book was memorable to him. While not marketed to men (that I saw anyway), the book is ideal for men’s groups or young men. The wisdom in its pages are timeless. Whole families are difficult to find and young men need good mentors. Any young man might enjoy this book purely for the inspiration to get up from the couch and go somewhere.

*book given by the publisher to review.

 

Book Review: To The Farthest Shore

 

To The Farthest Shores by Elizabeth Camden brings out some notable themes: Forgiveness, betrayal, and complicated relationships not so easily solved by a few glib words.

Jenny sees Ryan and rehashes in her mind the hurt of his abrupt break up letter. Trust is broken, but she still loves him. She is compelled in spite of her reluctance to seek out answers to his long absence and his sudden loss of interest in her. What she discovers is a little Japanese girl and bitterness suppresses every ounce of compassion when she learns that he not only went to serve overseas, but found a wife and had a daughter. It’s not just a present hurt that keeps her from seeing clearly, but a secret from her past she can’t forgive.

Jenny is a complicated woman—A nurse during World War II who prides herself on running a tight ship as a nurse helping wounded warriors. She struggles with a distrust that goes back to her childhood, built on a foundation of guilt. What’s interesting are the secrets Ryan keeps as he attempts to restore the relationship.

People, in order to protect others, tend to hide pertinent information. We do the worst harm avoiding the uncomfortable to keep others from distress. Ryan’s attempt to avoid reality nearly gets him killed and sends Jenny away again. Jenny’s resentment towards Ryan’s small daughter causes the reader to get momentarily angry at Jenny. To The Farthest Shores is yet another example by Elizabeth Camden how one can write realistic characters in fiction to deviate from the predictable cookie cutter personalities found in some fiction.

*Book given by publisher to review

Book Review: The Roanoke Girls

Billed as creepy, The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel grossed me out. In spite of this reaction, I thought it was well-written and reflected a part of our culture the Christian world doesn’t always address (especially in their fiction).

This novel helps us understand what’s wrong with the Roanoke family and why the girls in the family keep disappearing or killing themselves by skillful manipulation of the chapters. The book takes us from now to then and to the different girls in the family history. The family lives in a small town in Kansas and it is as broken and dysfunctional as the Roanoke family. However, the Roanoke family have their own special brand of dysfunctional.

You discover this in the first few pages. Grandpa loves under age girls that are related to him. He’s an incestious pediphile. The book shows us how the girls and Laney (the main character) has bought into his kind of “love.” The book has many twists and turns, showing us how Laney and the other girls really had nowhere to go or any kind of help to escape the nightmare of the Roanoke family.

Laney’s own fatalistic point of view that she can’t escape her family history, succombing to repeating the cycle of her past, should bother you. We know our hope is in Christ and second chances can come by making different choices. So, why should a Christian read this book?

First, it’s a fascintating book, truly getting mysterious as Laney is the only one concerned with her cousin/sister’s disappearance. Allegra leaves clues. Other plot twists begin to happen including an ex-boyfriend who has changed. We find out the psychological trauma Laney is suffering from and how it affects her other relationships.

Second, while this book is peppered liberally with swear words, this is the language of the culture and world we live in. White washing reality is not the answer to raising intentional adults to work in an environment that is troubling to say the least.

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel was well-written with a twist you can’t see coming at the end. The end is a happy ending in the language of our world, but as a Christian, I wondered if they got married or were shacking up with each other?

Rating: 4 Stars

*Book given by publisher to review

Book Review: No More Faking Fine @EstherFleece

fineTwo kinds of crowds exist in the Christian world: the peace makers who believe that forgiveness means reconciliation no matter what the situation or the danger, and people like me who understand that forgiveness is more important and reconciliation is not always possible. Esther Fleece wrote, No More Faking Fine, and it is a clarion call to the church to understand and learn how to lament.

“A lament saves us from staying stuck in grief and rescues us from a faith based on falsehoods. It was a false belief that led me to believe I was the reason for my parent’s divorce. It was a false belief that told me I would never find my way out of despair. These false beliefs, combined with my inability to lament, caused a deep wedge between me and God. God was not angry with me about this. He understands the complexity of human emotions. But I had to be willing to communicate with Him to see what I needed and what He was doing and to uncover the fake beliefs prohibiting my intimacy with Him. (pg. 38)” 

Unlike other memoirs, No More Faking Fine honors her parents and the situation by focusing on the events and what God did through those events and her own psyche. It’s rife with Scripture, pointing her suffering and her recovery back towards an intimacy with God. The book became more than just a review for a publicist company; it became an act of worship, re-visitation of the past, and a lament. People who come from our similar, but varied backgrounds, can relate to this emotion-filled book. It is not written from hurt or revenge, but from a heart in healing and lament. In my experience, lament is not practiced in church because we are busy looking like we have everything together.

Even our Facebook pages are filled with happy, wish-you-were-me posts and pictures of happy families, healthy relationships, and people who, because they are busy, have no time to listen to someone else’s lament. No More Faking Fine goes into talking about how coping mechanisms fail and how pain has a purpose if it leads us back to God. She weaves her own story thinly throughout the book, but mostly gives us a theological look at her emotional and spiritual journey as she worked at coping with coming from an abusive and traumatic past.

What stood out to me was the fearlessness she learned as her faith grew in the Lord. I recall how I was trying to share with someone how a person can go to church all their life and not know Christ or have a relationship with Him in spite of hearing the same verses every week. It is through the relationships of the people that come around us during our time of lament that help us understand intimacy with God. Fellowship is tricky for some of us.

“Some of us need to be told that good people are still out there–and they are. But even when Jason and Tamy showed me in numerous ways that they were there for me, my heart still anticipated their abandonment. I didn’t want to keep them at a distance, but my self-sufficiency had turned against me, and I had no idea how to reverse it. (pg. 176; emphasis mine)” 

I resonated with everything written in, No More Faking Fine. We even share some of the same struggles as I am sure some of you whom read it will identify with, too. People I minister to or meet that come from similar but different situations or backgrounds and are damaged have discovered that we share the same emotional struggles. Grief has many stages and that grief needs to be heard in safe places. While I love most of the books that I read on the subjects of grief and forgiveness, I can say with absolute confidence, No More Faking Fine needs to be read by others who struggle with lamenting. Isolation is our worst enemy.

We need the fellowship of non-judgmental believers to come around us with, “hugs and tissues,” instead of Job-like friends who only sit with us for a time until they try to “solve” or blame us for our problems. We need a fellowship of faith so we can recover, and mentors or loving families willing to come around us for gentle and timely correction or encouragement.  Like Esther, we need to move forward in obedience to Christ in spite of our fears, real or imagined.

In quoting her namesake,

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

You’re doing a great job, Esther.

Keep speaking to those of us who need to understand how to lament and draw closer to Jesus. 

Help us become fearless by pointing us to Scripture.

READ ESTHER FLEECE’s WEBSITE

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