Any Day A Beautiful Change: About the Book & Author

Now Featured at the Patheos Book Club
Any Day A Beautiful Change
A Story of Faith and Family
By Katherine Willis Pershey

Endorsements

"With theological depth and insight, Pershey struggles with the passions of life, the heartbreaks of relationship, the worries of parenting, and the truths of vocation. Through all the twists and turns of her emerging marriage, ministry, and motherhood, she leads us to glimpses of reconciliation and wholeness."
—Carol Howard Merritt, pastor and author of Tribal Church

"I expect a good memoir to be wise and funny. A good pastoral memoir should bear witness to God's goodness. I don't normally expect one chapter to force me to read another, or to care so passionately about characters. the glory of this one, in particular, is its incarnationally shaped bodiliness. We have a new writer to whom we must pay attention."
—Jason Byassee, pastor and author of The Gifts of the Small Church

"Pershey writes beautifully about hard things. This is not so much a book about ministry as it is about life. Pershey examines her motherhood, her marriage and her ministry as they are all unfolding, in their tender beginnings, all three, works in progress. Despite being a memoir of faith, this honest book is a sanctimony- free zone."
—Lillian Daniel, pastor and coauthor of This Odd and Wondrous Calling

 "In Any Day A Beautiful Change, Pershey shows us with candor and grace how motherhood, the chaos and delights of family, marriage, and our bodies enrich our interpretations of ministry, scripture and liturgy. I'm especially grateful for this memoir as a woman who has experienced pregnancy in the pulpit, but it is a gift for anyone who longs to reflect deeply on life and the church. It's funny and honest and wise."
—Debbie Blue, pastor and author of Sensual Orthodoxy

Reviews

"The struggles Pershey reveals, both in becoming a mother and in repairing a marriage, could come off as sensational, but instead are the backdrop for a good story about God acting in people's lives. It's not a tell-all book. It's not a confession. It's testimony.

And while it's a very personal story, it is also universal. This is a book for ministers, and for church people. For married people, partnered people, and single people. Sometimes memoirs resonate with us because of some way in which we identify with the author. Sometimes we are fascinated because the story and experience are so unique. The strength of this memoir is in it's place as testimony, though. It's a model of incarnational Christian living. As Pershey writes in the introduction:

'Ultimately, I am not merely telling my story. I am participating in the timeworn tradition of testimony, pointing to God's work in the world, starting with God's work in my life.' "
—Excerpt from review by Erica Schemper,Fidelia's Sisters blog

"Pershey's prose is a mix of elegant and colloquial at the same time, and this approach keeps her pastoral musings earthy and intelligible for the layperson. Throughout the book, she proves herself to be a grounded pastor whose beliefs find traction in everyday life. She is not in the business of inflating theological hot-air balloons and floating away on abstract, academic voyages. She is a human being, and she is well-acquainted with her faults, but also with her triumphs. Above all, she is grateful for who she is and who she is becoming. At times, her realizations are downright revelatory. In the chapter, 'Sending the Love Inward,' she realizes that the difficulty she experiences in attempting to bond with her indwelling, unseen baby is not unlike the difficulty she experiences in attempting to develop intimacy with her indwelling, unseen Lord."
—Excerpt from review by Chad Thomas Johnson