"animate. Faith": What People Are Saying

Now Featured at the Patheos Book Club
animate. Faith
From Sparkhouse

Yesterday I received the animate. curriculum. It's beautiful! Simple. Feels good. Draws me toward its pages. Then gives me good stuff when I get there. Such a gift to churches and people who want to follow Jesus! GREAT work!
—Rev. Dr. Allen R. Hilton, Minister of Faith and Learning, Wayzata Community Church, Wayzata, MN

The animate. journals are breathtaking.
—Rev. Chad Herring, Southminster Presbyterian, Prairie Village, KS

For months we've been searching for a resource to use in our faith formation work with College students. We had hoped to find something that was theologically rich, ecumenically appropriate, and engaging for young adults. Animate exceeded our expectations in every respect. It is so rare to find a resource that doesn't require theological tweaking or translation for this often neglected age group. Sparkhouse hit a home run with the animate. series, and we highly recommend it to anyone who accompanies young adults on their faith journeys!
—Pastors Ramona Bouzard and Brian Beckstrom from Wartburg College

I think people will use [the animate.]  journal and take notes, doodle, draw, jot things down and actually find that instead of just having an adult ed experience, they're encountering God in a new way.
—Lauren Winner, Priest Associate, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Durham, NC

...with animate., it really draws people into the conversation rather than saying here's what you're supposed to think...
—Bruce Reyes-Chow, pastor, church planter, speaker

[animate.] will suck people out of any kind of boredom, bring them to the edge of their seats, and get them ready for discussion.
—Brian McLaren, speaker, pastor, author

I'm amazed by the ways that the graphics take words and make them visual and create special connection for visual things and give them space to think deeply.
—Brian McLaren, speaker, pastor, author

I think when people use animate., they'll say, "I've had those same questions."
—Bruce Reyes-Chow, pastor, church planter, speaker, and writer

In my church, the Episcopal church, we often ask the pulpit and the sermon to do too much, to bear too much of the load of adult formation and I think we are searching for ways to reinvigorate adult forums, to create other conversational learning spaces that are not just the pulpit.
—Lauren Winner, Priest Associate, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Durham, NC

A good friend of mine says "Why are we forced to choose between intelligence on ice and ignorance on fire."  What we're aiming for with animate. is intelligence on fire. Passion, energy, enthusiasm, interest, and no holds barred on being able to ask questions and think deeply about theological concepts.
—Brian McLaren, pastor, speaker, author

In some ways, we [the contributors] were a model for what we hope happens in a great animate. conversation—you walk in one way and leave changed because of the conversations you've had with the people in the room.
—Lillian Daniel, Senior Minister at First Congregational Church, Glen Ellyn, IL

It was absolutely genius that Sparkhouse decided to get all of the writers around a table together. We packed a lot of fun and creativity in one room to produce animate. so that it would be the best it could be.
—Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastor at House for All Sinners and Saints, Denver, CO