Us Versus Us: A Q&A with Author Andrew Marin

June 9, 2016 By Deborah Arca

“I’m more concerned with working towards dialogue that actually promotes a shift in social engagement and relations than standing on one side yelling at the other to change. And if that means I am at times criticized on the internet by fundamentalist progressives the same as fundamentalist conservatives, so be it. There are a lot worse things that can happen in life than people who you have never met writing mean things about you behind a computer screen.”— Andrew Marin, author, Us Versus Us A provocative... Read more

The Pursuing God: A Video Q&A with Joshua Ryan Butler

May 16, 2016 By Deborah Arca

His first book was called The Skeletons In God’s Closet: The Mercy of Hell, The Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War. The Rev. Joshua Ryan Butler is one who clearly likes to wrestle with the tough questions of the faith and come out the other side with a new paradigm for seeing and understanding. In his newest book The Pursuing God: A Reckless, Irrational, Obsessed Love That’s Dying to Bring Us Home, Butler flips the notion of us... Read more

Called To Community: A Review

May 11, 2016 By David Swartz

Book publishers spend a lot of time and energy on subtitles. Sometimes titles don’t quite get it as far as letting prospective readers know what they’re getting inside the pages. So it is with Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People. It’s that word “community.” We have a hard time coming up with a word that describes the quality of life Christians can and should share together. “Community” has always rung stale and sterile to me. Fellowship? Too churchy, tied to potluck dinners.... Read more

Tasting God: A Q&A with Ginny Kubitz Moyer

April 29, 2016 By Deborah Arca

“Take a moment to run through the five senses: Where did you see God today? What have you heard that reveals God’s goodness? What did you smell that brought you joy? How, today, has touch brought you comfort? What have you tasted that has reminded you of God’s abundance? You can do this anytime and anywhere. Even on the most frustrating, I- got-stuck- in-traffic- and-my- job-is- awful sort of day, there are always little signs of God’s goodness, filling every one of our senses.” —... Read more

“Honestly”: Riffing on Messy Lives, Jesus, and Jazz

April 19, 2016 By David Swartz

Attitudes, especially bad ones, pop up at the most interesting moments. At a church we served, a woman frequently attend who was a nurse. We got along fine – except when I made any mention of anything medical in my sermons. She didn’t just frown or shake her head. She honked a brick out her left nostril and really took me to task. It was a turf thing for her and I was trespassing. So I awaited Honestly: Getting Real About... Read more

The Power of the Cross: A Review

April 18, 2016 By David Swartz

One might wonder why an established old school publisher like Moody Press would put out a book into a “felt need” market entitled The Power of the Cross: Putting It to Work in Your Life. The main reason (with which I find myself in agreement) lies in the fact that many who profess to believe in what the cross stands for simply have become numb to it, taking it very much for granted. The cross of Jesus Christ has become... Read more

Getting Real About Jesus and Our Messy Lives: A Q&A Daniel Fusco

April 1, 2016 By Deborah Arca

This month in the Patheos Book Club, we’re talking about the new book from NavPress, Honestly: Getting Real About Jesus and Our Messy Lives. The book’s author, Daniel Fusco, is lead pastor of the megachurch Crossroads Community Church in Vancouver, WA, and a three-time church planter, author, evangelist, and jazz musician. In this exclusive video interview with Fusco, we talk about the importance of acknowledging the messy places in life, why we should look for Jesus there, how jazz music is like life,... Read more

Tony Evans on the Power of the Cross

March 16, 2016 By Guest Contributor

“We need a right view of the cross. It is both a historical event that can take us to Heaven, and a current event that can bring Heaven to bear on Earth.” — Tony Evans, author, The Power of the Cross Just in time for Easter, popular author, radio host and pastor Tony Evans offers a new book on the cross called, appropriately, The Power of the Cross: Putting It to Work in Your Life. Evans is founder and senior... Read more

40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Lent Book

February 22, 2016 By David Swartz

Lent is a partisan animal. How much we pay attention to it largely depends on where we come down in the Body of Christ called the Church. Liturgical churches observing the annual church calendar all went for ashes on their foreheads a few weeks ago. Baptist, evangelical, charismatic, Pentecostal, non-denominational, etc mostly ignore it or do something else. Here in Detroit, with a significant Polish population, our choice is to pound down paczkis (poonch-keys) on Fat Tuesday. They’re a filled,... Read more