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Radically Normal by Josh Kelley - REVIEWED

About the Book: (from Harvest House)
What if being a radical Christian didn’t have to mean selling everything and becoming a missionary to India? What if it could mean settling down and enjoying your normal, God-given life in extraordinary ways? It’s time to reexamine the Bible, put an end to the guilt, and get on with living the abundant life Jesus promised. Radically Normal: You Don't Have to Live Crazy to Follow Jesus is an invitation to do just that. Along the way it takes a new look at several old challenges:

• How to be a good Christian (and witness) with out being weird
  
• How to find greatness in your everyday life
• Why spiritual stuff isn’t innately better or holier than earthly stuff.
• How holiness leads to happiness and obedience is meant to increase joy.
• Why selling all your possessions is not necessarily holier than keeping them.
• How enjoying this life is meant to increase your desire for the next.

My Thoughts:

“We are destined to advance the kingdom of God and change the world, to bring healing and hope to the earth and its inhabitants.”  (p. 57)

“Can radically normal Christians be radically obedient without being obsessive?”  (p. 51)

Josh Kelley asks very thought provoking questions.  His questions give believers pause to consider that His plans for us, His very design of our talents and purposes is unique to what He alone has called us to do here on earth.  Being called to full-time ministry – or vocational ministry – isn’t any different from being called to be a teacher, a nursery worker, a builder or any other occupation.  God has equipped each of us in unique ways to serve Him and advance His kingdom here on earth.  His gospel is alive in each believer’s life through the Holy Spirit, and God speaks to us and calls us into ministry every day He gives us breath.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of reading Josh’s book.  I’ll be honest, I’m still digesting and ruminating.  I’ll be re-reading and getting new insights from his work.  What I’ve learned for certain is that God is calling me every day to do the work He has planned for me and my unique set of skills and talents.  I’ve also learned that God doesn’t love me any more or any less than He loves those He has called to serve Him on the mission field in a foreign land.  He just wants me to be obedient to what He has called me to do.

As humans, we tend to assign a skewed set of values to vocations and overlook God’s hand in every aspect of our life. Josh Kelley shares what he has learned through his own life experiences – good and bad – and has written a thought-provoking book that challenges believer’s on every stage of their faith-journey to examine their hearts and seek God no matter what occupation fills their days and lives.  I am thrilled to receive the message of this book, for it is a message that God has placed in my path over and over again lately.  I know He wants me to be radically normal – and I am very blessed to be able to walk in the truth of that calling!

This book has study questions for each chapter as well as suggested reading for those who want to go deeper in their pursuit of God’s calling in their lives.  This would make an awesome small group study and an excellent guide for one on one time with God.  Thank you Josh Kelley for writing this book!

About the Author:

Josh Kelley has been a pastor for 15 years and holds a BA in biblical studies from Pacific Life College. He lives in northwest Washington with his wife, Marilyn, and their two daughters.

Kim Dexter Embarks on National Media Tour in Support of New Album

(NASHVILLE, Tennessee) -- Christian singer-songwriter Kim Dexter hits the road this month for a national media tour in support of her brand new studio album, “Reaching,” which released in June via Elevate Entertainment and Syntax Creative. 

Dexter kicked off her media tour with live performances on LESEA Broadcasting’s The Harvest Show (Aug. 4) and Dove Broadcasting’s Niteline (Aug. 5). Upcoming appearances include Atlanta Live (Aug. 6), Babbie’s House (Aug. 7 taping–Air date TBD), Good Morning Arkansas (Aug. 19), TBN’s Praise the Lord (Aug. 19) with special guest Jason Dunn (formerly of Hawk Nelson), WREG-TV Memphis’ Live at 9 (Aug. 20) and Sirius/XM’s Elvis Radio (Aug. 20). In addition, Dexter is scheduled to make stops this month at KWAM’s Marybeth Conley Show (Memphis, TN), Life Lessons Radio, WDJC (Birmingham, AL),Faith Radio Network (Montgomery, AL), WPSM (Fort Walton Beach, FL), WoW FM(Pensacola, FL), WBHY (Mobile, AL), KBMQ (Monroe, LA), KVNE (Tyler, TX), KSWP (Lufkin, TX), KCBI (Dallas, TX), KLTY (Dallas, TX), KZKZ (Fort Smith, AR), KLRC (Siloam Springs, AR), KADI (Springfield, MO) and KWND (Springfield, MO).

Produced by Jerad Atherton, “Reaching” was recorded at Hollywood’s legendary EastWest Studios (Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Frank Sinatra) with an all-star cast of players that includes bassist Jonathan Ahrens (Jason Mraz, Jewel), drummer Aaron Sterling (Kelly Clarkson, John Mayer), and Dexter on keys. The album also includes a duet with fellow artist Jason Dunn (former Hawk Nelson frontman) on “Our Souls Cry Out.” The worship-infused project is the follow-up to Dexter’s debut solo album, “So This Is It,” which spawned international radio airplay, extensive touring and television appearances. 

Positive reviews of “Reaching” are pouring in, with JesusWired.com calling the album “Amazing” while CCM Magazine compares Dexter to a “young Amy Grant.”NewReleaseTuesday.com called the album “...a strong collection of Spirit-filled songs that can easily be taken straight from Kim Dexter's heart and into our own, bringing a quiet calm to personal worship times."

Dexter’s first major foray into artistry came in the late ‘90s when she fronted Christian rock band Mayfair Laundry, who toured nationally opening for the likes of Switchfoot, Steven Curtis Chapman and Third Day. Dexter subsequently found success as a songwriter, penning tracks for Bryan Duncan, Nicole C. Mullen, Avalon’s Jody McBrayer, and multiple missions organizations. She also wrote the theme song for the immensely popular children’s series, “Bibleman.” These days, Dexter resides in Orange County, California with her husband Paul (a Grammy-nominated producer, musician and fellow member of Mayfair Laundry) and their children Maggie and Hudson. The whole family frequently loads up the tour bus to experience adventures on the road together, while Kim shares her deeply personal songs and stories of survival, perseverance, courage and healing at various concert venues, churches, women’s conferences and retreats. 

A Heart to Heal by Allie Pleiter - REVIEWED

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing

About the Book:

The Courage To Hope 

Guidance counselor Heather Browning is desperate. She needs a mentor to help Simon, a disabled student who is struggling at Gordon Falls High School. Unfortunately, hotshot Max Jones is her only option. Confrontational and cavalier, Max uses his flashy persona to hide the bitterness he's felt since his life-changing accident. Perpetually cautious, Heather finds Max's bad-boy bravado as intriguing as it is infuriating. But as Heather and Max work together to build Simon's self-confidence, they begin to trust each other. Max has never been slow and careful with anything. Can he be gentle with Heather's heart? 

Gordon Falls: Hearts ablaze in a small town.

My Thoughts:

“You’ll have to shout loud to get through to Max Jones.”  (p. 156)

Heather Browing thinks that the Lord needs to shout loud to reach Max Jones, but He pretty much has to shout loud to reach most of the character in Allie Pleiter’s latest installment of Gordon Fall’s story, A Heart to Heal. Max’s heart has suffered more recently than Heather’s, but they both have a lot of healing to do.

Heather didn’t abandon her faith when tragedy struck her like, but she is still reeling from painful circumstance that makes her a bit uncertain in the face of Max’s hot wheels!  Pleiter uses a fifteen-year-old with unique challenges – both physical and emotional – as a pivot point that brings everyone together through conflict!  The plot in this novel builds in complexity until your heart begs for relief!  The conclusion remains uncertain – entertaining the possibility of failure – and that’s what makes the ending both believable and satisfying.

I admit that sometimes when I see Love Inspired on the cover, I usually go the other way.  I am SO GLAD I took the time to invest in this novel!  It was realistic, dealt with difficult challenges – physical, emotional and spiritual – and left me challenged in ways that helped me grow in my won walk with the Lord.  I highly recommend A Heart to Heal.

About the Author:

Enthusiastic but slightly untidy mother of two, Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and nonfiction. An avid knitter, harp player and non-reformed chocoholic, she spends her days writing books, doing laundry, running carpools and finding new ways to avoid housework. Allie grew up in Connecticut, holds a BS in speech from Northwestern University and currently lives in suburban Chicago, Illinois. The "dare from a friend" to begin writing eight years ago has blossomed into a career that includes numerous public speaking engagements, two books on parenting; Becoming a Chief Home Officer and Facing Every Mom's Fears and now novels for Steeple Hill Books. She is the mother of two children and, most recently, a Havanese dog named Bella.

Thunder by Bonnie S. Calhoun - REVIEWED

This book is scheduled to release from Revell publishing October 7th!!  You can get the prequel to Thunder Free on Amazon Tuesday, August 5th (today)!  Go HERE to get your copy!

About the Book:  (from Revell publishing)
In post-apocalyptic America, Selah Chavez is crouched in long grass on a shore littered with the rusted metal remnants of a once-great city. It is the day before her eighteenth Born Remembrance, and she is hunting, though many people refuse to eat animal flesh, tainted by radiation during the Time of Sorrows. What Selah's really after are Landers, mysterious people from a land across the big water who survive the delirium-inducing passage in small boats that occasionally crash against the shoreline. She knows she should leave the capture to the men, but Landers bring a good price from the Company and are especially prized if they keep the markings they arrive with.

Everything falls to pieces when the Lander Selah catches is stolen by her brothers--and Selah wakes up the next morning to find the Lander's distinctive mark has suddenly appeared on her own flesh. Once the hunter, Selah is now one of the hunted, and she knows only one person who can help her--Bohdi Locke, the Lander her brothers hope to sell.

With evocative descriptions of a strange new world that combines elements of scientific advances, political intrigue, and wilderness survival, Bonnie S. Calhoun weaves a captivating tale of a world more like our own than we may want to admit.

My Thoughts:

“Short-term discomfort for long-term gain.”  (p.316)

Selah learns her true identity only after her actions enable her brothers to steal Bodhi Locke – her first effective capture of a Lander.  Selah’s brothers, Cleon and Raza, follow the leadership of the only father they’ve ever known, and begin to move immediately toward The Mountain where they will be able to receive financial reward for Bodhi’s capture.

These actions lead to much pain and discomfort for Selah.  She discovers that her course of action was determined long before she encounters Bodhi.  The long-term gain of Selah’s short-term discomfort becomes a conceivable vision only after traversing many dangerous and deadly paths that lead her into the heart of a world filled with illusion and deceit of the most evil sort.

Bonnie Calhoun has created a dystopian society that mirrors the timeless depravity of the world we inhabit today. She has created medical, political, physical and emotional scenes that resonate with the trials we have all faced from time to time.  Her characters must make sacrificial and dangerous choices time and time again for their survival – and the survival of others whom they know nothing about.  All they know for certain is that the Landers have been mercilessly hunted for decades, and the time has come to seek their freedom.

Thunder is a book to be experienced.  Traditionally, this has been a genre I’ve had difficulty understanding and being drawn to.  However, this is a book I couldn’t put down.  The characters are strong and compelling, and the challenges they face are equally complex and intriguing!  If you enjoy a book with lots of action, danger, intrigue and uncertainty, then pick up your copy of Thunder today! You will enjoy a thrill ride of adventure from cover to cover!

About the Author:

Bonnie S. Calhoun teaches workshops on Facebook, Twitter, HTML, and social media at writers conferences. In her everyday life she is a seamstress and clothing designer. Bonnie and her husband live in a log home in upstate New York with a dog and two cats who think she's wait staff. Thunder is her first YA novel. Learn more at www.bonniescalhoun.com.

A View from Marcus Brotherton's Window - Feast for Thieves

Marcus Brotherton has been writing non-fiction for some time (his oral history We Who Are Alive and Remain put him on the NY Times bestseller's list!), but Feast for Thieves is his first foray into the world of fiction.

He has created a host of very strong, memorable characters who inhabit the town of Cut Eye, Texas.  Rowdy Slater is the main character, and his journey is very unique!  His life is a testimony of God's ability to take a broken vessel and use it in a mighty - and very unexpected - way!  Please join me as I discuss Feast For Thieves with Marcus Brotherton!  You can read my review of his novel, HERE.

Rowdy Slater – such a unique character!! You share your inspiration behind the character at the end of the novel – which is fascinating! I want to know how this character surprised you as you were creating the story line? (I know there has to be something he did to keep you guessing!)

Prior to writing the novel, I’d interviewed World War II veterans steadily for six years while working on nonfiction book projects, so I learned a lot about the mannerisms and traits of elite ex-paratroopers, the group I focused on most.

Rowdy came alive gradually. When I started writing the book, I knew his vital information, his birthdate, his full name, what happened to his parents, things like that, and I outlined an extensive backstory that I never used in the book.

What I didn’t know until Rowdy began living within the pages of the story was the totality of his personality, his unique speech patterns, and all the actions he would eventually take.

The biggest surprise for me emerged about halfway through writing the book. On page one, Rowdy robs a bank, but I didn’t know why until much later. I knew he needed complex, altruistic motives that readers would see as nearly justifying his criminal actions. But that was as far as Rowdy had revealed his reasons to me until later in the process.

Sheriff Halligan Barker reminds me a bit of Andy Tylor in the way he handles law in the area! No spoilers now, but who inspired this character and his way of handling law-breakers? (almost expected an Aunt Bea to show up! – maybe that was Mert!)

Ah, I love the old Andy Griffith shows. Halligan certainly shares some personality traits with Andy Taylor, yet Halligan is rougher around the edges. He’d shoot to kill if needed.

I wanted a resilient and wise mentor who had a mind like a chess player, always thinking several moves ahead. Halligan acts firsts and doesn’t explain himself. He’s an assembling of several people and personality traits I knew and had seen in real life.

He’s layered, too, a man of sorrows who has kept on living. Halligan has lost his wife, and his son-in-law was a rotter, but Halligan has kept his eye on what’s truly important. He lost any pretension along the way. He’s a bottom-line man who wants his town to succeed and thrive, and he’s well aware of the serious forces that threaten it.

Bobbie Barker is another strong, spit-fire of a character that really keeps readers on their toes! She doesn’t let Rowdy get away with anything! It seems to me she learns more about day-to-day faith from Rowdy than in all of her study and hard work until they meet. Have you ever had a Bobbie-like character in real life that challenged and questioned you at every turn? How did Rowdy know how to handle her?

Bobbie Barker is one of my most favorite characters. She’s a composite of people I’ve met. I knew I wanted a strong heroine, almost surprisingly strong, which Bobbie certainly is.

I also wanted the book’s heroine to have one or two flaws, which felt truer to real life. Bobbie is a wonderful idealist who wants to save the world, and she does some remarkable things toward that aim such as keeping a church together while the bulk of the men in her town are away at war.

But her idealism can emerge in the worst ways. Bobbie is the world’s worst poet. She keeps reciting her poems and demanding that everyone appreciates them, which Rowdy just puts up with.

She and Rowdy also struggle in their communication with one another, which most couples definitely experience. Sometimes you just want to shake the two of them and say, look—will you just sit down and talk this out!

Cut Eye is a town filled with problems, and Rowdy takes them on – literally! The first month of fighting was very telling about his strength and determination. What inspired this hands-on way of getting things done?

I had that scene in mind for about two years, long before I outlined the book. Rowdy walks into a bar full of roughhewn men and must beat them in a series of fistfights before they will come to church.

Later on, one of my early readers read this scene and said, “Wow, that’s a real metaphor for ministry, isn’t it? A pastor just needs to keep fighting for what he believes in.”

Rowdy was a man of secrets, and he faced secrets in the lives of others. Did the fact he had secrets of his own give him compassion for others that he wouldn’t have had otherwise?

Absolutely. Rowdy understands what it means to be broken, to have a past life that’s full of mistakes. He enters his new job with a humility for the frailty of humanity. He’s compassionate for the underdog, for the person who’s made desperate choices.

Rowdy’s antithesis is Deputy Roy, who lives only in a world of black and white. Deputy Roy is only about the law, all the law, all the time.

Which character has taught you something unexpected about your personal walk with the Lord?

Certainly the character of Bobbie Barker and her actions is a layered picture of what it means to receive grace. Without giving too much of the book’s ending away, Rowdy eventually must accept what Bobbie does for him.

For all his brawny strength and skilled capability, Rowdy is helpless without Bobbie along. Rowdy must come to grips with this other great strength, and what it holds forth for him.

Up until Feast For Thieves, you have written non-fiction. How does writing fiction differ from writing non-fiction? Which is easier for you personally?

I have a strong respect for nonfiction and the process it takes to research a true story and produce a winning book based on that story. Undoubtedly I’ll continue to write nonfiction, particularly collaboratively. Yet the opportunity to write a novel held out strong allure to me. I knew I needed to head that direction to see if I could make it.

With a novel, I found I needed to bring alive everything. The characters. The story. The world they live in. The conflicts and challenges that arise. How the characters overcome those obstacles. How everything resolves satisfyingly at the end.

Fiction offered me a big blank canvas that allowed me to be as creative as I could be.

How long has Rowdy’s story been “brewing” in your heart and mind? What was the process like to get this novel published?

Years. When I first started writing fiction, I was already an established writer and newspaper journalist. I figured that since I was a capable writer, all I needed to do was sit down at the keyboard, and the next “Moby Dick” would flow out of me. I wrote three and a half novels that needed to be thrown away. All had strengths, but none were good enough to be published.

After I’d written a few novels that didn’t find publishers, I wised up and started studying books on the specific craft of fiction writing. I read book after book after book. Story structure. Plotting. Dialogue. Character creation. How to write the first thirty pages, which is key. It felt like getting a university education all over again.

That kind of new, targeted learning needs to happen frequently within the writing industries, I learned. A person can write a good clear declarative sentence, for instance, but he or she might not yet know the specifics of a field to break into—high level blogging, or magazine journalism, or screenwriting, or novel writing, or whatever. Each specific field of writing holds secrets to unlock.

I also started to intentionally study novels to see what made them work. Lots and lots of novels. Books that I liked reading. Books I devoured.

When can we look forward to another Rowdy Slater novel? Can you give us a sneak peek without giving away any plot spoilers?

At the end of Feast for Thieves, Rowdy has come to love and respect the town of Cut Eye, this dusty wayside community that has embraced him in big ways. So it feels now like he will need to fight for the town on a greater level than he’s done before. In book 2, something will threaten to divide the town, perhaps even destroy it.

There’s also the big question of when and how the love story between Rowdy and Bobbie will finally come together. At the end of Feast for Thieves, we know it’s going to happen eventually, but we don’t know the details yet. Bobbie is still fired up to go to Haiti and needs to do her language study at a university first.

More surprises will emerge with these characters for sure.

What does a day of writing look like for you?

Writing Feast for Thieves was a process like none other, but on a normal day I get up early and check email first since I live on the West coast and many of my contacts are on the East coast. I either take a run or a walk, depending on the day, then come back home, shower and change and get ready for the day.

My wife and I have three children, so I try to keep fairly normal office hours for their sake, 8 to 5:30, that type of thing. It’s hard to write at an intensely creative level for that long in a day, so I write in mornings and early afternoons then do errands and non creative work later in the afternoons. Rarely do I work nights or weekends, but I’ll sometimes work a half day on Saturday morning if I need to catch up.

I know other writers who work best in coffee shops or public places, but I work best in silence. I have a home office and spend most of my day working there. I never work with music on, either. I need focused quiet to work best. I travel by plane on research trips or to promotional events about four to six times a year, so the travel is quite manageable.

Writing full time is a job that involves multiple stages: pitching, outlining, researching, writing, editing and revising both with yourself and the publisher’s team, and promoting. Out of necessity I’m always working on several projects at once, though each will be at a different stage of the process. By the time you’re promoting a book, you’re already well into the next.

What would you say to encourage someone who wants to get their story published?

I always try to be both realistic and encouraging at the same time.

Reality says it’s a steep climb to break into the publishing world. Think of book publishing as a process that takes years to break into and succeed at, rather than months or weeks. It’s a tricky, highly competitive industry. You need to do your homework and remained determined.

The encouraging part is that it definitely can be done. People publish books all the time. You have skills and creativity. Why not you?

If you want to get your story published, then enter the industry with humility. Make the right contacts. Be polite to everybody you meet. Study the craft. Financially invest in your career path of writing like you’d invest in anything else worth obtaining—travel to writing conferences and pay for outside editing and buy books and resources that teach you more. Pour your heart into your work-in-progress and bleed onto the page. Then drive hard for your story to be published.

It can be done. It definitely can be done.

THE GIVER - Opens in Theaters August 15th!!