All the Clutter You'd Ever Want

This portion of clutter's been here long enough. Let me add a bit of something new here in this space (if you're a corporate entity and would like to buy advertising space here, you can use the contact information and we'll start setting up that retirement account for me and the wife right now!)

Books I'm reading right now:

1. Cry of the Hawk by Terry Johnston (just completed, will post a review on 11.30)

2. A Praying Life by Paul Miller

3. Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray (reading as a collective group over at Challies.com)

4. 40 Loaves: Breaking Bread with Our Father by C. D. Baker (to be reviewed in December)

5. More Than A Match by Michael & Amy Smalley (to be reviewed in December)

6. 99 Ways to Stretch Your Home Budget by Cheri Gillard (to be reviewed in December)

7. Why We Love the Church by Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck

8. The Courage To Be Protestant by David Wells

9. The Gospel-Driven Life by Michael Horton

10. Gospel-Powered Parenting by William Farley


As you can see, I've my work cut out for me in reading, but put it all on a time table & it's a piece of cake! Really... it is.

What are you reading now?

Nov 25, 2009 4:20 AM

And the Shofar Blew - a book review

booklg_andtheshofar.gifAbout the Book - In the Old Testament, God called his people to action with the blast of the shofar, a ram's horn. God still calls his people today. In this relevant and timely contemporary novel, dynamic young preacher Paul Hudson is committed to building his church--but at what cost? As Paul's zeal and ambition build, he loses sight of the One who called him. As Paul and those around him struggle to discern what it truly means to live out their faith, they must ultimately choose between their own will or God's plan. 
  
About the Author – Francine Rivers began her literary career at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Journalism. From 1976 to 1985, she had a successful writing career in the general market and her books were awarded or nominated for numerous awards and prizes. Although raised in a religious home, Francine did not truly encounter Christ until later in life, when she was already a wife, mother of three, and an established romance novelist. Shortly after becoming a born-again Christian in 1986, Francine wrote Redeeming Love as her statement of faith. First published by Bantam Books, and then re-released by Multnomah Publishers in the mid- 1990s, this retelling of the biblical story of Gomer and Hosea set during the time of the California Gold Rush is now considered by many to be a classic work of Christian fiction. Redeeming Love continues to be one of the Christian Booksellers Association’s top-selling titles and it has held a spot on the Christian bestseller list for nearly a decade. 

 Since Redeeming Love, Francine has published numerous novels with Christian themes – all bestsellers-- and she has continued to win both industry acclaim and reader loyalty around the globe. Her Christian novels have been awarded or nominated for numerous awards including the Rita Award, the Christy Award, the ECPA Gold Medallion, and the Holt Medallion in Honor of Outstanding Literary Talent. In 1997, after winning her third Rita award for Inspirational Fiction, Francine was inducted into the Romance Writers’ of America Hall of Fame. Francine’s novels have been translated into over twenty different languages and she enjoys best-seller status in many foreign countries including Germany, The Netherlands, and South Africa. 

 Francine and her husband Rick live in Northern California and enjoy the time spent with their three grown children and every opportunity to spoil their four grandchildren. She uses her writing to draw closer to the Lord, and that through her work she might worship and praise Jesus for all He has done and is doing in her life. 

 My Review - In some ways, this book was very frustrating. As a pastor, it always pains me to read, even in fiction, of pastors who stumble and fall. In this case, Paul falls hard. Barely out of seminary, Paul and his wife, Eunice, and their young son, Tim, move to California to take over the ministry at a church that has all the appearances of dying a slow death. Paul has served as an associate pastor at a very large church in the midwest. He was also raised as a PK – pastor's kid. His father looms large in Paul's life, and sadly, there's nothing good about this shadow. He views the opportunity to take an old and dying church and build it into something God would be proud of (and yes, I mean those words, as much as it hurts to use them). He soon loses focus on the ownership of the church, the people of the church and even his own calling to lead the church. 

 Meanwhile, his wife, Eunice, and son, Tim, serve in his shadow, seeing him become more and more like his father. Eunice humbly serves and submits, not wanting to "rock the boat" and point out the obvious. In fact, this was one of the other things that really bothered me about this novel: no one wanted to "rock the boat" by way of biblical confrontation, pursuing biblical peace-making. No one. 

 When an author draws you into the story enough to get good and mad at the main characters, I think she's done a pretty good job of writing. Francine Rivers has done just that. There may be some character development flaws, but I think their minor. I read one review of this book and the reviewer took Rivers to task for creating a cardboard cut-out of a pastor. Unfortunately, I've known a couple of men similar to Paul and while I think it's almost impossible for one man to destroy a church, that one man can do a tremendous amount of damage. Paul and Eunice have their own path to walk. God moves powerfully, sometimes even in His loving discipline, to work His will in His church. I'd highly recommend this work. 

 This book was loaned to me. I did not receive anything from the publishers for this review.
Dec 2, 2009 7:04 AM

Cry of the Hawk - a book review

Cry of the Hawk by Terry Johnston About the Book – Western potboiler that will stain the reader with grease, blood, and smoke. Jonah Hook, Confederate soldier, gains an early release from a befouled Union prison by signing up for a year as a ""galvanized Yankee"" to fight Indians on the frontier. Meanwhile, his wife and three children, waiting for him at home in backwoods Missouri, are abducted by the ""Avenging Angels"" of Brigham Young, out ...      More sweeping the land to rid it of threatening ""Gentiles"" but showing much more aptitude for raping, killing, and looting. The angels sell Hook's boys to Comancheros and save Hattie, the daughter, for future deflowering by a wealthy Mormon buyer. The crazed leader of the pack, Jubilee Usher, takes Gritta, the wife, as a concubine. While she and Hattie, both kept on a steady dose of laudanum, tour the countryside with the depraved Mormons, the depraved white men fight the depraved Indians, allowing Jonah to meet famous scouts and soldiers like Jim Bridger and George Custer. The Indians and soldiers skirmish, graphically slashing and scalping and creatively mutilating each other. Jonah finally gets his release, only to return home and find a vacant ruined homestead. He and cousin Artus set off to search for the family. Along the way, Jonah kills buffalo for the railroad, fights Indians again, and falls for Grass Singing, an Indian prostitute. He finally locates the Mormon angels and...some issues won't be resolved until the sequel. In his fast-paced but uneven latest, Johnston (Carry the Wind, 1982, etc.) magnifies the violence and stench of the Old West. 
  
About the Author – Terry C. Johnston was born on the plains of Kansas and immersed himself in the history of the early West. His first novel, Carry the Wind, won the Medicine Pipe Bearer's Award from the Western Writers of America, and his subsequent books, among them Cry of the Hawk, Dream Catcher, Buffalo Palace, Crack in the Sky, and the Son of the Plains trilogy, have appeared on bestseller lists throughout the country.   Terry C. Johnston lives and writes in Big Sky country near Billings, Montana. 
  
My Review –   Having read many of Johnston’s other novels, I knew what I might be getting as I picked this book up off the library shelf. Johnston captures life in the western frontier during the mid-1800s, right after the Civil War. He’s done a tremendous amount of research on this area, it’s history, it’s people and characters, it’s geography and life in general on the frontier. I think these novels would be classified as historical fiction since he works in historical characters – “Wild Bill” Hicock, General George Armstrong Custer, Roman Nose, and a host of others – historical places and battles, alongside his key fictional characters of Shad Sweete and Jonah Hook. The action moves along steadily, especially during any of Johnston’s fight scenes. As in all of Johnston’s novels, the violence is graphic. He holds nothing back in showing either the mutilation which the Indians inflicted upon the white man or the brutality with which the whites exerted against the Indians. It’s not pretty and it’s not for the faint of heart. 
 
Jonah’s plight is a pitiable one. Having been released from a Civil War prison camp to serve in the army in fighting and establishing the western frontier, he longs for home and family. When he is finally able to go home (about half way through this tome), he finds Gritta, his wife, and his children have been taken (he suspects this right from the start, although he entertains doubts about her simply leaving to go back east to her family). The remainder of the story follows his efforts to search for them. There are times that I grew impatient as it seemed his searching got put on the side burner while he continued working for the army. But I have to remember, they had no phones, no electronic means of searching at all. They barely had the telegraph (and the lines for these were continually cut by the Indians). So travel was slow (much of the first year was spent getting about by foot) and the searching even slower. The ending leaves you hanging for a sequel. 
 
If you’re a fan of historical fiction of the American frontier during the Indian Wars of the mid- to late-1800s, this might just be the book for you. If you have a queasy stomach over vividly descriptive depictions of violence, I’d leave this one on the shelf.
Dec 2, 2009 6:42 AM

Just a Few Quick Thoughts on a Monday

It's the Monday after Thanksgiving... Cyber Monday, according to some hack who thought that Black Friday wasn't sufficient to tap the greed and covetousness of the average American. I'm only going to be able to mention a few quick thoughts today. Tomorrow I'm hoping to have a couple of book reviews from a couple of "older" books.


First, Ann & I returned from our short Thanksgiving trip to Iowa with the news on our answering machine that our credit card had been used by someone to purchase software from Luxembourg, Sweden (try finding that on Google Maps!). Obviously, not very smart "cyber thieves." They made three purchases from the same place for the same thing... kind of a tip off to the company who monitors our bank's card (we've had this same card for 25 years and while it's just a material item, all of a sudden Ann & I were feeling slight twinges of sentimentality about having to run it through the shredder). Fortunately, that was the only thing amiss. Now to go through the bank for a new card. There are many times Ann & I wish we were smart enough to know how to live without it, but haven't quite figured that out in this age we live in.


Second, we had a delightful time in Iowa over the Thanksgiving weekend. We went to Ann's parents first. Her father has Parkinsons and Alzeimer's; her mother had double bypass surgery about three weeks ago. This made for a very thankful, but difficult visit. Still, it was good to see them for a bit. We also spent time with my family. On Black Friday, while most of the household decided to be brave (or foolish, not sure which) and try shopping, I spent a couple of good hours talking with my parent's neighbor, answering some really good and hard questions about Christianity, the Bible, why catholics have priests called "Father" and others don't, how to interpret the Scriptures and a relationship with Jesus Christ. Time well spent! Then, I waxed nostalgic and drove around many of the places in which I grew up until I was 18 and left home. Simply a wonderful time of giving thanks for all that God has done to pour His grace out upon me.


Third, welcome to Grace Acres Press. I'll be reading/reviewing books for them, starting very soon. I just received Spiritual Maturity: The Road to Wonderland by Bruce Baker. It looks like a good read; I'll let you know.


See you tomorrow!

Nov 30, 2009 9:55 AM

We ought always to give thanks to God for you...

Last evening, Thanksgiving Eve, saw a small handful of the faithful gather at Cornerstone EFC to give thanks to God. We gather every  Wednesday to pray, but this night was different. I had taken every household's name and put it on a small slip of paper. Included on these slips were also every missionary family we support, every leader of our congregation, others in teaching positions, as well as service positions at Cornerstone. All these slips of paper were placed in a basket and stirred around a bit. Then, after I began leading us in prayer, we'd just pass the basket, take a slip and pray. Our prayers were short and concise – we simply wanted to thank God for each person/family/leader represented there. As we went on, it seemed the Spirit was pleased to work in us to produce such a sweet harmony of praying these notes of thanksgiving that no one was aware of the passage of time (a rare thing these days within the church). When we finished, we gave thanks to God for His many blessings upon us and our little church and headed off to our homes, in order that we might prepare to do the same again today.


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Nov 26, 2009 5:41 AM

Giving Us Cause to Be Thankful... and Prayerful

Children of the World

children03

Click the picture to see full-sized image

Tim Challies had a link to the Sacramento Bee's website on Monday. The article, along with the pictures were stunning... and not in a good way. You may wonder why I'd post this on the day before Thanksgiving. Well, I link to this so that tomorrow, when most of us will be sitting around a table over-laden with the bountiful blessings of food, rejoicing with family and friends, we would remember to be truly thankful for the incredibly rich blessings God has lavished upon us. At the same time, I hope that we'll be moved to pray for the world around us:

        • that God would extend His hand into these situations, touch lives there and preserve these little ones

        • that God would work in such a way among His people in places, like ours (that are so well off that we throw away enough food to feed such children for months at a time), that we would rise up out of our abundance and find ways to help

        • that Christ's name would be exalted through the work of the gospel because Christians are doing work that no one else will

Enjoy your day tomorrow. I don't want to take away from that. Yet be really thankful, won't you?

Nov 25, 2009 4:55 AM

The Family God Uses – a book review

Family God Uses.jpgAbout the Book The divide between generations has never been greater. In The Family God Uses, the Blackaby family provides churches and families with a tool to intentionally bring families back together by challenging them to creative involvement in ministry and missions. Through the stories of Christian families who have accepted God’s challenge to be involved in His kingdom work locally and around the world, your family will be inspired to work together and serve together with Christ in the center. Your family will see the possibilities of what can happen through them as you seek the Lord together. 



About the Authors 

Tom_Blackaby.jpgTom Blackaby – Tom Blackaby was born in California but grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada where his father Henry T. Blackaby pastored Faith Baptist Church and developed the material for Experiencing God. He holds a bachelor of education degree from the University of Saskatchewan, an master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a doctor of ministries degree from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. Tom has served as associate pastor of music/youth/education in four churches and most recently for seven years as senior pastor of North Sea Baptist Church in Stavanger, Norway. He served four years as national worship consultant for the Canadian National Baptist Convention and currently serves as director of international ministries for Blackaby Ministries International. Tom has coauthored The Man God Uses, Anointed to Be God’s Servants, The Blackaby Study Bible, Encounters with God Daily Bible; has written four years of devotional articles for Home Life magazine; and most recently authored The Family God Uses together with his wife, Kim.


Kim_Blackaby.jpgKim Blackaby's commitment to God has taken her from church planting in a small Saskatchewan community to pastor's wife of three churches, from working with children's and music ministries to developing women's ministry, leading Bible studies, and sharing what the Lord has taught her with others. It has taken her from Canada to an international church in norway and from small assignments to larger ones. With each step she has fallen more in love with and in awe of the One who first called her to Him as a teenager.


Tom and Kim have three children and currently live near Vancouver, Canada.


My Review


I'll have to admit that when this book arrived I was skeptical. I didn't enjoy Experiencing God, by the author's father (yes, out of the umpteen millions, I was one of the very few). However, once I sat down and started reading The Family God Uses: Leaving a Legacy of Influence, I was impressed. Tom & Kim Blackaby do a fine job of providing immensely practical advice to families – parents – on how to leave a lasting legacy of godliness to those who come after them. After exploring God's design for families and how God uses the family to build the church, this husband and wife team get to the hands-on material. Drawing upon their own experience growing up (especially Tom's life as a pastor's kid), they provide many vignettes to illustrate the principles laid out to each family. The aim of the book is to help families be far more intentional in fulfilling God's purpose for families: to pass on the Gospel.

I appreciated the fact that the Blackabys challenged families to involve themselves in the life of their local church and in missions efforts around the world. They provide lots of practical resources (both organizations and projects) for families to use. As a pastor, I can tell you, when I read a book that challenges families today to get involved in the life of their local church, rather than staying at home and "doing church" on your own, I want to stand up and cheer.

If I had any negative critique of the book it would be threefold:

1. The authors talk about the family as God's pattern for the Church.

While I understand what they're saying, I'm troubled theologically by their understanding. As I read Ephesians 5, regarding husbands and wives, I see that Christ and His bride, the Church, are the pattern for marriages everywhere. Carry this out logically, and the same should be true for families: Christ & His Church are our pattern to follow (even as Paul shows in the context which flows on into Ephesians 6.1–4). When anyone begins to switch this pattern around, even in as positive a light as the Blackabys do in this work, I get nervous. It's too tempting to put us first – man ahead of Christ. And this has always led to trouble later on, in subsequent generations. So, this is a caution.

2. I'm currently reading a book on family: Gospel-Powered Parenting by William P. Farley. It's an excellent book precisely because it has the gospel at the center of all that family is to be about. I wish that the Blackabys could have done this more. It's not that they don't include Scripture and the gospel in their presentation; I just had to keep telling myself "This is the gospel here, isn't it?" Maybe I'm dull and simple and just like it on the page in a more blatant fashion, but this would have raised this book even higher in my esteem for it.

3. I wish there weren't as many references to the family upbringing as there were here. As a pastor, I almost wondered how a non-pastorally raised family would perceive some of the vignettes and anecdotes. I thought that many of the examples narrowed that target audience down to just families in ministry. However, I have to remember that my perspective is skewed somewhat because of my role in ministry. How much better would it have been for the authors to gather other insights from other families not in ministry.

I don't think these three marks are anything to keep someone from purchasing this book (which may be done through New Hope Publishers). The large load of practical advice will help make this a worthwhile read and tool in the hands of families.

This book was provided for review purposes by New Hope Publishers.
Nov 23, 2009 10:24 AM

Some Thoughts On Prayer

93E6B3F5-AE77-4AA0-8ECE-89AC94E794B2.jpgI'm reading a wonderful book entitled, A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller. I'm not reading this book because a publisher asked me to review it (although I'd be glad to do so). I'm not reading this book because a group of pastors is reading it together and going to discuss it in so many days (although this would be a very worthwhile exercise and a wise use of time). I'm reading this book because I need to. 

 My prayer life isn't very good right now. This is due, in part, to my pouty behavior (yes, I pout; when things don't go well or someone says something that crushes a large part of my spirit, I pout; it's sinful, I know and believe me, it's been confessed repeatedly... I need to fully repent, however; God give me the grace to do so). A few weeks ago, someone, right after finishing a time of prayer together, said that our times were in need of something. To use his exact words, he said "We just don't seem to pray 'in the Spirit'." 

 Now, I think I know what it means to pray in the Spirit. This past Sunday, in preaching my next to the last message in a lengthy series from Ephesians, I was dealing with prayer. Ephesians 6.18 says, "...praying at all times in the Spirit..." I think I did the passage justice in expounding what that phrase means. Yet, I'm still haunted by the statement, "We just don't seem to pray in the Spirit." 

How does he know? How can he tell? How can I tell? It's stuck in my theological craw right now. I'm working on it. But am I letting God work on it within me? That's probably the better, yet more difficult question. I'm holding out hope that God will just send me a letter, an email or a text message saying, "Here's what it's all about." But that would be way too much like Gideon and his polar fleece jacket testing of God in Judges 6 (even if I'm not actually asking for this kind of sign, I'm still expecting it). 

 So, I'm reading a book on prayer and praying. I'm hoping it will answer my question, "How do I know if I'm praying 'in the Spirit'?" So far it has not answered my question. What it has done is stir up lots of other, different thoughts. It's also very humbling. 

In the section on praying like a child, Miller shares anecdotes from his own life with a daughter who is autistic. From these experiences, he's learned what it is to be helpless – both as a parent and as a child. This is how we're to come to God in prayer: helpless and needy. I must confess that too often I want to come in my own strength, on my own terms and in my own way. In other words, I want to talk to me, not to God. So now, in my acts of repentance, I must embrace weakness. I must grab on to my helpless state and come running immediately to God. He's not asking me to clean myself up before I come to Him. How could I do that and to whom else could I go? 

You'd think I'd know this by now, but somehow, in the sinful stubbornness of my heart, weakness is not something I want to glam onto. I'd rather avoid it. No one else should know that I have them (ha! that's laughable; when I think about it, it's really all too apparent to them that I have glaring weaknesses). So, I'll keep reading. I'll seek to understand and learn experimentally what it means to come as a helpless but trusting little child to my heavenly Father. Maybe, just maybe, in the midst of all this, God will show me what praying 'in the Spirit' is really all about. 



Nov 18, 2009 6:47 AM

"Happy Anniversary"

Yesterday was my anniversary.

Not my wedding anniversary (that's in August).

cornerstoneefc01No, this was the 12th anniversary of my very first Sunday as the pastor of Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church. Back in 1997, I'd been waiting for a call to pastor a church for over 16 months. Cornerstone had been working at calling a pastor for just about the same length of time. God saw fit to bring us both together. Fascinating is His sovereignty.

When Cornerstone was first without a pastor (back early in 1996), they put together a search committee to find their new pastor. It didn't take them very long until they had a man they thought would work out. He came, he met, he interviewed & was interviewed, and he preached. He wasn't called here. So, back to that proverbial drawing board. Another man was selected. As the weekend drew near for him to come & candidate, he called, saying he was withdrawing his name. Another setback. The search committee then committed themselves to seeking God's face through prayer and asking Him to truly lead them along in this process. (I'm sure they'd prayed previously, but not as earnestly as now.)

The church plant I'd pastored in central Iowa had closed in July of '96. (It's a long story; maybe it'll show up here sometime; maybe not.) The one other time I'd been in between churches, I thought the process would probably go quickly. It didn't. Yet here I was, without a church and thinking that it might only take 3-6 months for a church to call me. It didn't.

When CEFC first sent me a packet of information about their church, I read it and said, "Nope. No way would they want me and my doctrinal beliefs. And I'm pretty sure I'm not going to want to pastor them." Yet they persisted. The committee chair called me and talked to me at length. I asked a lot of questions of them and they of me. They really wanted a face-to-face interview and Ann said that we might as well go. So away we went. Following the interview with the search committee, Ann and I drove home to Iowa, talking all the way and both of us thinking, "Well, that wasn't too bad; but God can't really want us there (because we didn't really want to be there)."

God wouldn't let us alone about Cornerstone, however. We continued on, praying and seeking His guidance in this. When Dennis called to talk about coming for a candidating weekend, we simply "had" to say we would. And we did. And here we are.

God knew this is where I needed to be with my family. God knew I was the pastor this congregation needed (I say this with all humility; there really isn't anything special about me that could have helped bring this congregation around, other than a whole-hearted trust in a completely sovereign God who uses some pretty weak vessels to accomplish His will). And I'm still here and so are they. Twelve years. It seems to have gone by quickly (well, there was that one stretch in '01-'02 that dragged on for a bit). How much longer does God want me here? I'm not about to try to guess that one. If He grants my heart's desire, I'll never leave. These are great people. This is a wonderful opportunity to serve and see what God can do. May He see all the glory go to Him however He sees fit.

Thanks, Lord. Thanks, Cornerstone.

Nov 18, 2009 5:41 AM

Touched By A Vampire – a book review

About This Book


Touched By a Vampire – Examing Twilight Through a Biblical Lens


People around the world are asking the same question, enraptured with Edward and Bella’s forbidden romance in the Twilight Saga, a four-book serial phenomenon written by Stephenie Meyer. The bestsellers tell the story of a regular girl’s relationship with a vampire who has chosen to follow his “good” side. But the Saga isn’t just another fantasy–it’s teaching girls about love, sex, and purpose. With 48 million copies in print and a succession of upcoming blockbuster films, now is the time to ask the important question: Can vampires teach us about God’s plan for love?


Touched by a Vampire is the first book to investigate the themes of the Twilight Saga from a Biblical perspective. Some Christian readers have praised moral principles illustrated in the story, such as premarital sexual abstinence, which align with Meyer’s Mormon beliefs. But ultimately, Beth Felker Jones examines whether the story’s redemptive qualities outshine its darkness.


Cautionary, thoughtful, and challenging, Touched by a Vampire is written for Twilight fans, parents, teachers, and pop culture enthusiasts. It includes an overview of the series for those unfamiliar with the storyline and a discussion guide for small groups.


About the Author


Beth Felker Jones is assistant professor of theology at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. She is the author of The Marks of His Wounds: Gender Politics and Bodily Resurrection, as well as numerous articles and reviews. Beth is a mother and a pastor’s wife.



My Review


I have a teenaged daughter, who just about a year ago, was causing me, as her father, quite a bit of consternation because her best friend was reading the Twilight books, talking about the Twilight books, dreaming about the Twilight books, influencing Elizabeth to read the Twilight books and Elizabeth just couldn’t understand why I forbade her to read them (I had already read a considerable number of reviews of the books, both in a positive light and a negative light – funny, now that I think back upon it, most of the honest & fair critiques that ended up saying “Don’t read this book” were written by the Christians I love & respect).


With Beth Felker Jones’ new book, I’ve told my daughter (who long ago “cooled her heels” about wanting to read the books), “If you want to read Twilight or even see the movies, you have to read this book first.” And she did… and she hasn’t. She did read Touched By a Vampire and, at the present time, she no longer has an interest in reading Twilight.


I think Ms. Jones has done many Christian parents a great service in providing this book. It will help provide a guide for developing and using biblical discernment in how we examine a phenomenon such as Twilight. Teenagers getting caught up in a frenzy over a fad that will pass all too quickly (not quickly enough in this blogger’s opinion, but that’s another post) is nothing new. Christian teens getting caught up in a worldly fad such as Twilight is sadly, nothing new either. Christian parents of those teens, wondering what to do, wringing their hands in anxiety- and fear-driven befuddlement is woefully nothing new, yet again. Touched will arm parents with Scripture, not to beat their kids over the head with, but in order to engage their hearts and minds, causing them to think of their own fantasies in the light of Christ & His cross.


There is a discussion guide provided with the book. The questions are thought-provoking. I think they will give teens and their parents something to think long and hard about. Without having read Twilight yet having read this book, my teen-aged daughter and I had an excellent, lengthy talk about relationships, fads and fashion trends, trying to think Christianly and father-daughter stuff. It was great. There is a leader’s guide .pdf available for download here. There is also a movie watching guide provided here as well.


I can highly commend this book to parents and teens alike. Open up your Bible and see wisdom work.


The book may be purchased from WaterBrook Multnomah or from RandomHouse. You may read an excerpt (chapter one) here.



This book was provided by WaterBrookMultnomah free of charge for my reading and reviewing.

Nov 16, 2009 11:28 AM

Thirsty – a book review

About This Book

There's no place like home, they say.

"Hello, I'm Nina Parker…and I'm an alcoholic." 

For Nina, it's not the weighty admission but the first steps toward recovery that prove most difficult. She must face her ex-husband, Hunt, with little hope of making amends, and try to rebuild a relationship with her angry teenage daughter, Meagan. Hardest of all, she is forced to return to Abbey Hills, Missouri, the hometown she abruptly abandoned nearly two decades earlier–and her unexpected arrival in the sleepy Ozark town catches the attention of someone–or something–igniting a two-hundred-fifty-year-old desire that rages like a wildfire.

Unaware of the darkness stalking her, Nina is confronted with a series of events that threaten to unhinge her sobriety. Her daughter wants to spend time with the parents Nina left behind. A terrifying event that has haunted Nina for almost twenty years begins to surface. And an alluring neighbor initiates an unusual friendship with Nina, but is Markus truly a kindred spirit or a man guarding dangerous secrets?

As everything she loves hangs in the balance, will Nina's feeble grasp on her demons be broken, leaving her powerless against the thirst? The battle between redemption and obsession unfold to its startling, unforgettable end.

An excerpt may be found over at WaterBrookMultnomah.



About the Author

With close to one million books in print, Tracey Bateman is the award-winning author of more than thirty titles. Fan favorites include the popular kansas Home historial series: Color of the Soul, a tale of race and prejudice; and her many intriguing Heartsong Presents romantic novels. Tracey resides in Missouri with her husband and four children.


My Review

I’ll admit, I’m new to the whole vampire genre, especially in the Christian fiction field. As for the book as a whole, I thought it okay. There is something about reading a book with characters like Nina, and her daughter Meg, that make it very difficult for me to continue reading it. I have to understand that an author seeks to pack a lot of information and life into a very short period of time, so when characters like these two make really foolish decisions, flat out stupid decisions, there are probably extenuating circumstances shaping those decisions that I’m just not getting. Right? Maybe that’s the sign of a good writer’s ability to draw the reader into the characters themselves, but I’ll admit these two drove me crazy with the uncanny ability to time and time again make decisions without engaging their brains at all. I realize people in real life do this… but this many times in this short a span of time (the time span of the book covers a period of a couple weeks, along with flashbacks)? So, while frustrating to this man/husband/father/pastor to read, it was still pretty good.

Bateman, in introducing vampirism as a biologically inherited trait treads a little dangerously since she is clearly making this a parallel with the main character’s addiction to alcohol. To be fair, however, using flashbacks of Nina’s life growing up, the reader can see that her addiction came largely from really bad choices. True, these choices were influenced in a major way by her alcoholic father, but using parallelism with Markus’ addiction as a vampire “who was born that way” and his struggle to control his urges makes it seem as if there will always be that excuse “I can’t help it; I was born this way” rather than “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

I will comment on one further topic that is, at the moment, left unanswered – by me and a host of others, I’m told by another author I know. What makes a Christian novel Christian? Is it simply because it’s written by a Christian author and published by a Christian publishing house (even if that publisher is owned by a large, secular publishing firm)? Or, does it receive that moniker due to Jesus’ name being mentioned a few times, along with vague references to the crucifixion with no ties to how that affects anyone’s life? Or does a Christian fiction book need to speak to how sinful man’s broken relationship with God can only be dealt with through trusting Jesus Christ alone because God’s grace alone works through the Scriptures to bring that sinful character to a point of redemption? (Read a few of my posts from the archives and I think you’ll get to the answer I would provide without much hesitation.) Obviously, Thirsty falls into the very first two categories raised by my questions. While setting forth an intriguing notion regarding vampirism, I could not honestly call this a Christian novel; a novel, yes; a decent one at that, but not Christian in the sense in which I’ve described it. I’ve just finished reading a book by Francine Rivers (The Shofar Blew) and the gospel of grace was woven throughout this fictional work in a very welcome manner.

Can I recommend Thirsty? Only if one brings a good bit of discernment to the table with it. I’m wondering if this genre in the Christian book publishing field would have even been on the radar were it not for the incredibly popular Twilight Saga?

If you do wish to see more or purchase this book, you may do so at WaterBrookMultnomah or RandomHouse.

This book was provided free of charge and for review purposes only by WaterBrookMulnomah Publishing

Nov 16, 2009 11:14 AM

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