Kevin O’Brien, Actor Extraordinaire, writes

This is all about how Eric Kaiser Johnson saved my ragged butt. It’s worth looking at if only for the picture of Ashley.

Nota bene: Ashley is Dale Ahlquist’s daughter and Eric is her husband-to-be. They played Rosamund Hunt and Michael Moon in Manalive, a film that is rushing toward a theatre near you with ruthless Chestertonian efficiency. (Kevin was the hapless Professor Eames, whom Innocent Smith threatens with the pistol in the trailer. When I find out more, I will alert you, gentle reader, sometime in this decade. 🙂

Also, my actors and I saw Dale last week and listened to the CDs from the conference in the van on the way home. Your speech is really incredible. Especially considering how you wrote it in the lunch room an hour before you gave it! You might want to let your readers know that Dale is selling the CDs (finally) and yours is the best of the conference.

What a tremendous and incredible thing the ACS Conference is. I’ll work on getting an endowed Mark Shea Chair (a seat in coach) to get you there each year.

Also, this is a good article on Joseph Pearce’s conversion – in solitary confinement reading Chesterton:

Anyway, your speech got us from the middle of nowhere in Iowa to the outskirts of nowhere in Iowa – painlessly!

And now I must run as I’m on “Deep in Scripture” with Marcus Grodi on EWTN radio Wednesday, discussing my favorite Scripture verses – which means I’ve got to get busy and finally read that book “The Bible” which I’ve heard so much about.

Kevin is way too generous. Actually, I thought it was a horse race between the inimitable Kevin and the inimitable Rod Bennett for the most interesting talk of the 2009 Chesterton Conference. However, what I really suggest is that you get the CD set and compare and contrast all the speakers. Personally, I was gratified to be able to steal this scene in order to introduce my talk:

I said other stuff too, none of it nearly as funny, but hopefully of some benefit to somebody.

Check thou out Kevin on Deep in Scripture today! Also, speaking of Kevin and Rod, by a pure serendipity, Rod writes me today:

Just thought I’d drop you a note about the audiobook version of FOUR WITNESSES that has just come available for download at Ignatius Press. You may recall that Kevin O’Brien and I conceived this project at last year’s GKC Conference in Seattle. Well, it has come to fruition at last and turned out pretty darn good if I do say so. Just follow this link to my blog and my post there will direct you further…

So there’s glory for you!

Oh! And Joseph Pearce is a great guy for those of you who are not familiar with him. A testimony to the transformative power of Christ’s grace. Lovely man.