EP 38: Summer Book Recommendations with Grace Church Staff

Welcome back to the Grace Church Members podcast.

I'm Whitney Maines and it is finally summer for me.

Summer is pretty synonymous with reading, so both my parents are

teachers and I remember going to the library at the start of

every summer growing up to get as many books as they would let

me check out. I made my way through The

Chronicles of Narnia, Artemis Fowl, Percy Jackson, and Harry

Potter like in the car on the way to the beach, and somehow

still managed not to get carsick.

And like most of us, I wish that I still read like I did in 3rd

grade. But every summer you'll still

find me with a Jane Austen classic, Magatha Christie

mystery, or a sci-fi saga like my current summer read, Dune.

So, in the nostalgic spirit of Scholastic Book Fairs and

Library Reading Contest, we wanted to give you a few

recommendations from our staff to round out your summer reading

list. In our last podcast, Episode 37,

we talked with Mike Chibero about how to be lifelong

learners, which often starts with being good readers.

We did our best to compile a wide variety of genres and

topics in this list, so I encourage you to pick a book

that piques your curiosity, or even one that you can read with

your whole family. We have some great Christian

reads to help you be intentional with your spiritual formation

this summer, and we have a few other genres represented to

explore how God reveals Himself through all of His creation.

And I'm excited for you to hear how our staff has gleaned

biblical themes from secular writers.

It is amazing how reading some fiction can stretch our

imaginations in new ways that then allows us to read Scripture

with a better imagination too. Obviously, we're not endorsing

everything from some of these secular choices, so do your own

research to discern the best options for you.

And now, dear readers, I hope you enjoy these recommendations

and are inspired by CS Lewis himself to find a cup of tea and

a book that suits you well this summer.

My name is Robert Lee Story, and I work at our Pelham campus as

our students director. So I lead our student ministry

here over at this campus, and I'm excited to share with you

guys a book that I just recently read that I was really excited

about. It's called Mary Called

Magdalene by Margaret George, and I actually picked up this

book because I had read another of Margaret's books recently,

historical fiction on the Roman Emperor Nero, and was just

curious to keep reading her stuff because I liked her style

a lot. And Mary Magdalene is a

character that I, if I'm honest, didn't know much about.

I'm just curious to learn a little bit more.

And the book was fascinating, far surpassed all my

expectations. And it's kind of broken up into

three parts, tracing you through the entire life story of Mary.

So the first part starts with her as a child and her

fascination with Pagan idols and how that actually leads to her

possession by multiple different demons.

And then about 1/3 into the book she actually meets Jesus and

Jesus casts out these demons. And then after that she begins

to follow him. And then the final part of the

book, the smallest section actually describes her as being

a significant figure in the early church and what building

God's Kingdom, building God's church actually looks like after

Jesus death and resurrection. And the book was fascinating.

Seriously, I cannot recommend it highly enough because it really

puts meat and flesh on the bones of some of these characters we

read about in the Bible. And it just captures our

imagination for what life in the Bible was actually like for

these people. That his followers were not just

these imaginary figures, but they were real people with

emotion, with personality, leading real lives.

And one of my favorite parts of the book, one of the parts that

captivated me most was after Jesus's death.

They just seeing all of them be so captured with emotion and

grief because for you and I, people who grew up in the

church, we go through Good Friday knowing that Sunday is

coming. But for all of those people,

they thought that was it. They thought, oh, this guy that

we thought was the Messiah. Nah, he was just another guy.

Like he wasn't actually who he said he was in this big movement

that we were getting caught up in.

Well, it's over. And so they were just so

overwhelmed with grief and all of these emotions.

And then a few chapters later, they meet Jesus again and

they're like, wait, no, this actually is the Messiah.

He really is God. He really is worth following.

Like, it was fascinating. And I'd never thought about that

before that for his followers, really.

Like, that's probably close to what those three days were like.

Like it actually was a scary, difficult time and a time of

grief. So the book, seriously, I cannot

recommend it highly enough. Like it really does help you

just imagine better what life for Jesus's followers were

probably like. So I love it a lot.

My name is Sarah Bailey and I am our staff writer and editor.

I also help give our other many of our other writers just

content advice as we develop curriculums.

My background is in teaching. I taught writing and literature

at North Greenville for years and so I love words.

I love making sense of them and words matter how we use the

matters. So this is an exciting podcast

for me. The first book that I wanted to

talk about today is called 1 Foot in Eden by Ron Rash.

And this book was recommended to me by a fellow English teacher,

a Co worker who had studied Appalachian literature

intensely. And I have come to love Ron Rash

as one of my favorite local authors.

He grew up in Boiling Springs and attended Gardner Webb.

He went to Clemson and he now teaches at Western Carolina.

So this is a contemporary author whose stories are all set in the

foothills of South Carolina, North Carolina.

So some really cool things about One Foot in Eden is the backdrop

of this story. It is set in the 70s, is in the

foothills of South Carolina right before Joe Cassie Valley

was filled by Duke Power in 1973.

So the state of South Carolina and Duke Power came together to

purchase that land to create hydroelectricity.

And so many people were displaced in that decision.

And so this story showcases the voices, the stories of those who

lived there. It is told in the Southern

Gothic tradition, which is a little darker.

It is a murder mystery, but there are some really

interesting parallels. We see themes of barrenness

versus fruitfulness. Particularly, there are some

interesting parallels to the story of Abraham and Sarah and

their quest to have a child and fulfillment of God's promise.

And we also see alongside that the nature of generational sin

and how in their quest for legacy, in their quest for

fruitfulness on their own terms, they are met with barrenness and

some really dark consequences. So it is told through different

voices. It's one of those multi

perspective narratives which as a reader gives you a really

interesting viewpoint. Another great thing I love about

this story is just the rich poetic language of Appalachia.

They use words like reckon and glimpsin and words that we just

don't use anymore and it's just really beautiful.

So if you are interested in local history, if you're

interested in the culture of Appalachia and the foothills of

really where we are in the 60s and 70s, this is a great, it's a

great read. I will give a disclaimer that it

is a thoroughly secular book. It's a murder mystery.

It does contain explicit references to sex.

So use your discernment and what is appropriate for you.

And I will, just to give you a feel for the language, I'll read

a quote that is, This book has a really strong sense of place,

which is one of the reasons I love it.

Just the local color. So here's a quote from the book.

When the deep summer comes and the dog star raises with the

morning sun, the land can scab up and a man watches spring crop

wrinkle brown like something on fire.

It's the season. Snakes go blind.

Their eyeballs coat over like pearls and they get mean.

A rattlesnake allows no warning, and a milk snake that would have

cut the dust to the tall grass in June quiles up and strikes at

anything that steps its way. It's a time when foxes and dogs

go mad. They'll come shackling towards

you, their lips snarly and chins white with slobber.

You'll raise your gun and they'll come on like they just

want to get it done with. So that just gives you a feel

for that local color. It's such a different time in a

different place than our current culture.

And there's just something beautiful about stepping outside

yourself. And I feel like if I can put on

my English teacher hat, we can grow so much in our

understanding of humanity, growing our empathy, growing our

understanding of how the world works by reading stories that

take us outside ourselves. So we're going to take a hard

turn. The other book that I wanted to

talk about today is by Beth Moore.

Many of you are familiar with her Bible studies for women, so

she released her memoir last year called All My Knotted Up

Life. And when I found out that she

had released her biography, I knew I had to read it because I

had just benefited from many of her studies, especially in my

early journey of faith. And when you're reading this

book, it just feels like you are sitting on the porch with Beth

with a glass of iced tea, and she is just inviting you to hear

how God changed her through highs and lows.

And she's a master to storyteller.

She will make you laugh. She will make you cry.

I do highly recommend the audio book because she reads it

herself and there's just no beating her telling her own

story. Some things I loved about this

book is that she wrestles honestly with the struggles of

growing up and then working in a religious culture.

Her relationship with the local church was complicated.

And many of us who grew up in church also have wounds because

the church is made-up of broken people.

It's made-up of humans, but Moore is able to balance that

tension with just boundless empathy for the brokenness of

others. She's able to step outside

herself, to be curious, to ask questions, and to be open about

why, why those things have come to be.

She is a very public figure, a very public voice, but there's

so much about her personal life that may surprise you.

So I recommend finding that audio book.

And you know, maybe you're traveling this summer.

And like I said, you'll laugh, you will cry.

And it is just a really sweet testament to God's faithfulness

and his grace. So my name is Daniel Black.

I serve as the campus pastor at our Spartanburg campus and I

want to tell all of you about a book that I've read that I think

whether you care about money or not, you should read because it

is not a big book. It is also a very different book

because in my opinion it is the most biblical book from a non

Christian writer. It is called Die with Zero by a

man named Bill Perkins who was a an investor from the energy

sector, made a ton of money and moved to Hollywood, became a big

deal. I actually never heard of him,

but I heard about the book from a podcast that I listened to

about Peter Atiya. He does a podcast called the

drive, does all kind of different health things and

different sectors of health. And he just referenced this book

as one of the four books that his most shaped how he thinks.

So I was just curious about it. I was, I wonder what he, he

would be saying about money. And anyway, so as I, as I got

into it, it was so fascinating because I, I have never read a

book which I, I care about money.

I, I admit that and I'm a saver and I like to invest and all

that is, is very, it brings out a curiosity in me.

And after reading it, in a lot of ways I was very convicted

about the way in which I overvalue saving just for

saving's sake and not being strategic about the ways in

which my money is being deployed as a resource to benefit the

Kingdom here and now. And so Bill's take, is he part

of it, is his story, Part of it is him studying how people spend

money over the course of their lives.

And so one of the things he talks about is how most people,

when they retire, if they've been financially responsible,

they retire in the 60 to 70 year old range.

They start spending money, but they're so scared to run out of

money that they don't actually spend anything into their

principal. They get into their 80s if

they're still alive and they're like, oh, no, I've got all this

money and I have no more energy to spend it.

And what do I do? And so they start frantically

giving money away to their kids or to charitable organizations.

And he's like, that is not a good way to live.

And so in my opinion, it's convicting for us as the church

to hear this perspective and say, what would it look like for

us to actually be generous here and now and actually give money

away to the church, to organizations we care about, to

people in need. And so personally, I was very

convicted because at the end of the book, you can fill out all

this information on an app and you can see how you're tracking

on are you on track to die with zero whenever you think you you

might die. And it just was, it created a

lot of good conversations in my family.

So whether you care about money or not, I would just recommend

take a listen or read of this book that was zero Bill Perkins.

And I think that it'll create some good conversations for you.

Hi, my name is Jordan Trippa and I am our Communication

Strategist in our COM department and I chose the book Every

moment, Holy New Liturgies for Daily Life by Douglas Kane

Mcelvey. So friends of mine recommended

him to me in this book specifically volume one a Co

worker of mine gave to me and I've just really enjoyed using

it in my personal prayer and reflection time as well as

certain moments of life. I think there's three volumes

now, but if you're unfamiliar with what a liturgy is in the

Christian context, liturgy is usually a public, prayerful kind

of ritual of worship. It's used to refocus, set

intention, Orient a gathering, and often times uses the same

devices of metaphor or analogy, repetition or rhyme that we see

in poetry, similar to how the Psalms are.

And so liturgies in volume one specifically are written for

moments of daily life. And they just help me recognize

beauty and simple things and to kind of stop in my day-to-day

and see that God is moving even in the small ways.

And so some specific examples of liturgies that are included in

volume one are for the ritual of morning coffee, for the paying

of bills, for the death of a dream, for feasting with

friends, for setting up a Christmas tree, for gardening,

for the enjoyment of bonfires, for medical providers, for home

repairs, for the changing of diapers, for those facing the

slow loss of memory. So there's so many I could list,

but these are just a few that show there's something here for

everyone. And I thought it might make

sense for me to read one of these.

So I actually chose one from volume to because I thought it

was just beautifully written and I think everyone couldn't relate

to these words. And it's a liturgy for embracing

both joy and sorrow. So here's a short excerpt.

Let me neither ignore my pain, pretending all is OK when it

isn't, nor coddle and magnify my pain so that I dull my capacity

to experience all that remains good in this life.

For joy that denies sorrow is neither hard won, nor true, nor

eternal. It is not real joy at all.

And sorrow that refuses to make space for the return of joy and

hope, in the end becomes nothing more than a temple for the

worship of my own woundedness. I'm Ty Burke.

I am, I'm new to staff. I've, I'm on the downtown staff

doing discipleship in groups and care and recovery.

So I come out of a, a corporate environment.

So, but I've been in Grace Church for a long time and the

book, the books, I guess I should say that I chose to read

10. Actually, they're both

children's books, one maybe for younger children and one maybe

for children late in elementary school age.

But I love them both personally. So the first one is called the

creator in you and it it's for young children.

I read it to my kids now who are four and two.

And really I, I chose to read this book because I think there

is just this discrepancy between like what you do on Sunday as a

believer and what you do the rest of the week.

And just the reality of me wanting to help my children

understand that, that, that God is not just on Sunday.

And so the reality of whatever you do, whether you eat or

whether you drink, do all to the glory of God, that there's good

in it, there's worship in it that God made us to create.

And so that wherever we go, if we're in Christ, then what we

are doing has this, this, this holy peace to it.

And so this book, I think, takes this maybe larger theological

piece that I think we as adults even struggle with and puts it

in just this very tangible, fun children's book that you can

read with your kids to talk about the idea of why do you

like to build build Legos? Like, well, you're made in the

image of a God who loves to create.

And so it's just conversation that we can have with with my

children. And so that that's why I chose

to read it. He's got great content for

adults too, around that very idea.

So that's, that's that book. The next book I have is popular

artist in Christian spheres, CS Lewis.

So this the silver chair, it's it's part of the The Chronicles

of Narnia series. It's probably one of the lesser

known books. It, it kind of strays maybe a

little bit from the the large Lion Witch and the wardrobe.

But the main piece of this book is the witch.

And so it's, it's the idea of the, the story is two children

are dropped off into Aslan's world and they have to go,

they're, they're on a mission. I mean, they encounter this dark

witch. And so I read it because

personally, I just think in being a believer, you read books

like Revelation or Daniel. I think we need a better

imagination to follow Jesus. And so I just, it was a

challenge in my own life to read more fiction.

That's why I read it. That's why I read the whole

series. But this is one of my favorites.

Just because the imagery and I think how it applies to us as

believers in, in today's age, I, I, I encourage you to read and

check these both, both of these books out.

I think there is a reality to a, a, a good simple childlike

faith. And I think both these books

bring those out even even to me. So if you if you want to see how

this book ends, I would I would encourage you to do that.

Hi, I'm Natalie Richard and I'm the SER Espanol lead.

I'm excited to be here and talk about a book that I really

enjoyed reading. Someone recommended the book

about George Mueller's life. It's called Delighted in God by

Roger Steer, and it's about George Mueller's life.

He lived in England in the 1800s, and the Lord just gave

him a strong vision to have orphanages for the many kids

that were in the streets during this time.

And so he began with one orphanage and then he built many

because he had thousands of kids just coming and he provided

meals and a place to sleep, but also education.

And so I just really enjoyed how he did this because it was

completely dependent upon the Lord.

Anything he need, he prayed for and the Lord answered.

And one of the stories is there were thousands of kids and he

was praying, how am I going to feed all these kids in the

morning? And every morning milk and bread

came and he could feed the kids. And so it I recommend this book

just 'cause it convicted me on my prayer life.

And also am I listening to the Lord and the Holy Spirit

prompting and guidance? Because maybe if I listened and

acted on what He guides me, I could be also an answered prayer

for someone else. So this example was really good

for my life. It moved me closer to him and I

realized how much more I could pray and depend and just enjoy

His presence. So yeah, I would recommend this

book. I enjoyed it.

I hope if you grab it and read it you would enjoy it as much as

I did. Hey Grace Church, this is

Schofield Foster. I serve as our downtown campus

pastor and got invited to be a part of this conversation about

about recommended books. And so mine is Live no Lies by

John Mark Comer. And the subtitle is Recognize

and resist the three enemies that sabotage Your peace.

So for me, this started because I was meeting with a guy in our

church who was going through a lot of difficult things around

sin and repentance and frankly what it meant to even believe in

God at all. And I'll never forget because

I've been meeting with him for the better part of a year, and

this meeting I expected to be just a little bit more of the

same, where we weren't making as much progress as I wished.

And prayed until he starts talking and all of a sudden, the

way this guy sounds feels radically different.

You could just feel it. And he, I think, was really

experiencing the Holy Spirit for the first time, or at least in a

very new and fresh way. And but he had all this

different language for what what's happening and what it

meant for him to believe truth and follow Jesus and get free

from sin. And I just had to say, hey, like

all the things you're saying. Where did you learn that?

He said, well, actually, I just picked up a book by a guy named

John Mark Comer and it's called Live No Lies.

And frankly, he was a living testimony the way that his life

had been changed. I just had to go read the book.

And so the basic point of the book is that the world, the

flesh and the devil, if you look at Ephesians 2, Paul talks about

that as like the unholy Trinity, these forces, this one force,

the flesh within us, the world, this current of broken people

that we're all a part of and how that pulls us away from God.

And then this real spiritual being and these spiritual beings

and forces that are against God and God's people all trying to

steal you from God's purposes for your life.

And so understanding how all three of those things work, how

real they are and how to combat them.

And one of the images that John Mark Kommer gives in the book is

that lies are not just glaringly obvious.

Don't think about warfare is in the old British warfare where

you line up across from one another and everybody's shooting

and sees who they're shooting it.

He goes, no, it's more like, you know, World War Two spy

espionage where you're sending secret codes and trying to

depict things and throw off people's messages and mess up

their understanding of what's even real or accurate.

That's more the nature of spiritual warfare.

And so it's a book on spiritual warfare.

And honestly, I think he's a great writer.

I've read a couple of his things recently that I really liked, so

highly recommend it. Hey, I'm Bob Cook.

I'm one of the discipleship and groups pastors at Pelham, and my

choice for a summer book recommendation is Les Miserables

by Victor Hugo. Obviously you'd want to read the

unabridged version. I don't know why anyone would

want to read a shorter version and I've been through it twice.

I have read the translation by Lee Fonstock.

In terms of why I chose the book, I actually don't recall

why I picked the book up in the 1st place.

It was either because I'd seen the musical and heard the book

was better or, or likely I'd already read The Hunchback of

Notre Dame and wanted to read more by Hugo.

And since then he really has become one of my favorite

authors. I've read one of his other books

in English. And then actually his

contemporary Alexander Dumas also has written a number of

great books. So I've read some of those.

So when it's time to recommend a book, I had to recommend this

one is my favorite book. It's probably my favorite book

apart from the Bible. And so there's a couple reasons

for that. First and I think foremost is

really how Hugo develops the characters in his story.

He does an amazing job of intertwining the lives of the

characters throughout the book in ways you just can't even

anticipate. And then his language is is also

very colorful and it's helpful. But really, with respect to

characters, really the most significant is how he lays out

the life. The main character, Jean

Valjean, who you meet at the beginning as prisoner 246 O1,

who's been put in a prison camp for stealing a loaf of bread,

trying to feed the starving children of his sister.

And so after he's released from 19 years in prison, the kindness

of one priest puts Jean on a path of redemption that sees him

go to extraordinary lengths to care for the others in his life,

a particularly a great cost. He has no children of his own,

and yet he cares for the child of one of his employees.

And it is just amazing how Hugo develops those characters.

But then really the other reason not to love the book is really

the historical context that it's wrapped up.

And I enjoy French history. I love the art and architecture

that it produced, places like Versailles and St.

Chappelle and the Louvre. You think of Rodin and Monet and

Renoir and the art that they created, and so that is all

fascinating to me. And so this book is set in the

chaos that surrounded the French Revolution.

In fact, the title in English translates to the Wretches, and

you get to see just how difficult life was for those in

the late 18th and 19th centuries in France.

And yet you have the context of places like Versailles that are

opulent and really beyond imagination even for today.

And so even through that, Hugo spends 100 pages talking about a

Napoleon's defeat at the better of Waterloo.

And so all that, all the characters and the history just

make it a fascinating, a fascinating read.

And so I would say it is well worth the time.

The copy I have in my hand is 14163 pages, but it is one of

those classics that you just have to read.

I'm Sarah Lacourse. I work in the communications

department. I am a project manager, but I

love to read and the book that I picked as a potential summer

read for anybody who's interested is Watership Down.

And it is like a it's a classic of adventure, folklore,

companionship, but it features rabbits.

So I think of The Hobbit, it's kind of in the same literary

vein. You have two writers who were

inspired by stories that they told their children when they

were kids and developed into a novel that's great for kids or

great for adults. So Watership Down is an

adventure story starts with this Warren of rabbits that it, it's

The Maine rabbit, Hazel and his brother Fiver and fiber it kind

of prophetic and he sees doom coming.

And it turns out that these humans come in and like ruin the

Warren because they're making way for a new property.

And so it sends this group of rabbits on a journey to find

their new home. And they have to like figure out

when it's time to stop. Like they, they come across

another Warren, but there's weird stuff going on there and

they have to decide if they're just going to integrate into the

new Warren or go on. So it's their journey to find

their new home. And that's, that's the plot.

I first heard about it in college, I think.

And it actually took me a couple reads, like a couple starts to

get into it. I think it was about three

times. I kind of started because like

similar to Tolkien, he has his own language for the rabbits.

And that like kind of tripped me up a little bit.

But once I got into it, like it's my favorite book I read

every year. This will be my sixth time

reading it this year. So it's just a really magical

story and I think it will, some people will probably hear the

name get turned off 'cause there was a really bad animated

rendition in the 70s, which I have never seen, but I've seen

like screenshots and it is truly horrific.

But the book is fantastic. And I haven't watched any

adaptations of the book because the the images that are in the

book, like just live in my head and are so dear to me.

I love all the characters. Just the development is great.

But yeah, it's an adventure story.

Richard Adams is the writer and he anthropomorphizes the rabbits

so they they have human characteristics, but they're

still very much rabbits. Like they do normal rabbit

things. And one of the things that I

love about the story is that you get to see normal, like everyday

activities or objects through different lenses.

So like climbing a hill is very different for a human and a

rabbit. Like the horizon line is

different. A cigarette is very different.

Like coming to a road is very different.

And it's like one of the coolest images in the book when they

come to a road for the first time and they think it's like a

river. So it's just a fascinating way

to see the world. But it also has like a lot of

spiritual components that have really resonated with me.

And every time I read, I feel like I see a new one.

There's like a God who ordains everything and isn't in control

of everything. And then there's an adversary.

There's kind of a kind of the Angel of death character.

There's references to the flood and creation and and then you

have this larger than life like mythical rabbit that they all

reference. And he's like, at times he's

like when like the fall of Adam, he's Adam.

And at times he's like David, real brave and doing everything

he can for his people. And then you have like self

sacrificial love of Christ. So he kind of embodies all three

of those figures in the Bible for me.

And then the ending is just my favorite ending of anything I've

ever read. Like it's, it's what I want my

life to look like when I come to the end.

Like it's just this beautiful picture and I don't, I don't

want to spoil it, but it's like it's, you know, you're sad when

it ends because it's over. But it's also like there's

nothing more needs to be said because it's just the perfect

ending. So I highly recommend it.

All right, So my name is Richie Blanton.

I'm on our staff in Anderson with our discipleship and Groups

team, and then I also work with our Central worship staff as

well. I the book I picked for summer

reading that I'd recommend to you is The Hobbit.

And I don't, I don't fully remember the first thing that

made me pick it up. I just, I'm assuming some of my

friends talked about it. And so I read it and for some

reason for the past few years, really since college, I read it

most every summer or some portion of it.

If you don't know the story of The Hobbit, it is about a

creature that is a Hobbit who has to save the entire, Oh, not

the the Shire. It's not the Shire, all of

Middle Earth from from evil. And this tiny little creature

has to undo all of this evil and somehow deep in him is the

courage and the ability to do it.

And for some reason I read that book every summer for a few

different reasons. One is I'm lazy and don't want

to have to go pick some other book that I don't know if it's

going to be good or not. The second one is it does it, it

stirs my imagination in a really unique way that I'm not sure

other books would do. And every time I just find

something new about it. So it's this comforting thing

that I know when I go to the beach, I'm not going to be

disappointed in it, but that I'm going to get something new out

of it every time. And it's kind of just a comfort

thing that I do just about every summer, and it sparks my

imagination in a really unique way.

Hi, my name is Colin Atkins. I'm an AV technician on our

staff, and the book I chose is The Comeback Effect by Jason

Young and Jonathan Malm. So I decided to read the book.

Over the last year, we as an AV staff have just been super

intentional around processing and developing our team's

identity around leadership. And so we've been to a few

conferences related to production.

And in one of the breakouts I attended, I got to hear from

Jason Young, one of the authors of the book, the book is called

The Comeback Effect. And so really like what the book

starts talking about is, hey, how are we as members of the

church just week in, week out, engaging the guests and

ultimately creating a hospitable experience for them that lets

them feel welcome, lets them feel the love of Christ and just

be able to engage them, even if we don't know them.

And usually that's going to be the first time experience for

somebody is they're coming into a church not knowing anybody, or

maybe they have one connection. And so how can we as leaders and

members of our church actually start to be reaching out and

engaging people coming through the doors?

The book's content was outside of my comfort zone, which

usually means that there's going to be some challenging ideas for

me to grasp onto you and wrestle with.

The idea of engaging attendees and guests usually felt like

something that was outside of my job description, both personally

and for the scope of my job. However, that misconception has

been challenged and changed and a large part of that was through

this book. Getting to read and process how

the authors are approaching guests and attendees has made me

re evaluate my role in engaging the people of our church and

ultimately my hope is that this book is going to spark a similar

change for our readers. Hey, I am Mary Beth Span and I

am on staff as a Communications Project Manager, which I added

to my role back in the fall previously and currently I am

Chris Mcgowan's assistant. And the book I chose to talk

about is The Hiding Place by Coryton.

Boom. I first read this book, I

believe in high school, something 10th grade kind of

pops out in my head, but I've read it several times since

because this book is just it's really life changing.

It is set in Harlem, which is a small city in Holland back in

World War Two, and it's about a Christian family that sets out

to rescue Jews once the Nazis invade their small city.

And the book just first of all, I love anything history, but

especially just true stories of faithfulness of God's people.

And these these people went through a lot in their efforts

to save hundreds of people. I believe it was close to 800

people that they saved, which is incredible.

And the story takes a turn around midway through, and I'm

not going to spoil it, but basically the this family is

scattered and sent to concentration camp.

And just through, as you can imagine, just the horrific

conditions and the treatment, their faith, especially Corey's,

it's, you know, it's, it's challenged and she kind of

questions like what's what is, what's happening?

And do I trust God? And it, it really is an

encouragement and a challenge to my faith as well.

Like when I think about like, what if I was in that situation,

you know, what if I was locked somewhere with horrific

conditions and would I continue to follow Jesus?

Would I want to share the gospel?

What would I do? Would I run?

Would I be mad? Would I despair?

Or would I be faithful like they were?

And even though she does have her questioning and doubts,

ultimately she grows in her faith and continues to trust the

Lord and to share the good news with others.

And so that's why, you know, I've read it, you know, multiple

times, as well as wanted my children to read it early on.

My name is Nick Naderstad and I work as a finance processing

coordinator. I've always loved fiction and I

had some really close friends recommend this book as well as

others by the same author. So the book that I brought is

Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

It is about a world where they used to have heroic figures and

the heroic figures abandoned their oaths that they took to

keep fighting against evil and to keep protecting the innocent.

So the book, the main plot takes place hundreds of years later

after this and how the culture is developed in spite of that.

So there are a lot of different political figures that are all

involved in seizing power and trying to control power in the

midst of a war. And so we pick up with three

main characters and other ones where one of them is the lowest

to the low and he's put in a position where he doesn't have

much influence, but he is responsible for taking these

other people surrounding him and like giving them hope in the

midst of a really dark situation.

And one of the other characters, she is on her way to try and

save her family from financial destitution and.

To steal a very valuable object from a member of the royal

family. And then one of the final

characters is a former warlord that is really trying to do the

right thing in the midst of having to deal with his past and

also dealing with some PTSD. And so he has to really evaluate

what the right thing is and hold to that in the midst of all

these political powers that are at play.

I would recommend Way of Kings because the storytelling and the

character work really are just phenomenal.

The way that Brandon Sanderson builds the plot and develops the

characters so that they are exciting and satisfying as far

as the payouts go, like is just done incredibly well.

He uses the medium of epic fantasy to explore important

themes like mental health and the value of doing what is right

in the midst of trials and ambiguity.

It does have a high page count, but this book and the series

that it starts is one of the most well written stories I've

ever read. As you read it and reach the

ending, you start to understand that the author is carefully

crafted, each plot point and character so that it ultimately

reaches a thrilling and satisfying conclusion.

Thanks for listening, everyone. Be sure to check out the show

notes for our complete book recommendation list.

We'll see you next time on the Grace Church Members Podcast.