It's always a thrilling moment when a new book arrives in the office from the printer. Thrilling but tense. After a huge amount of effort has been put into editing, crafting, shaping and designing, the book gets passed around the office. What happens next is an interesting exercise in testing our professionalism as a publisher.
As a book get's passed round people who have not been part of the process they react to it in the same way that anyone does when they pick up a book in a bookshop. They ask the following questions:
And of course...
When it is a product I have overseen, I usually finish this process by taking a "selfie" with the book, and sending it to the author.
Then the whole process starts again...
We picked up the rights to publish and promote Tim Chester's excellent book, Ordinary Hero, in the US, which will be launching in a few weeks' time - have a look at the UK version HERE - it's terrific!
Below is an engaging book review from our friends at the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood on Sam Allberry's, "Is God Anti-Gay?" The original review appeared on their blog here and is written by Chris Sarver.
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On campuses across the United States, the number of believing college students who have confided with their friends, pastors, and campus ministers that they struggle with same-sex attraction (SSA) is on the rise. For instance, on a 2013 summer missions project, nearly one in five male and female college students anonymously indicated that they had in the past engaged in “some sort of sexual activity with a person of the same gender.” Likewise, over the course of the last decade, I have seen a distinct rise in the number of students who have cyber-sexed with others of the same gender or viewed homosexual-themed pornography.... continue reading
Last week I watched two mums exploring the Bible with their sons. They were fulfilling their biblical responsibility for the spiritual education of their children – and it was great fun!
Bekah and Susie have two children each. They knew they wanted to read the Bible with their children from a young age, and also to help them grasp the big picture of the Bible storyline. But they couldn’t find anything to help them do this. So they wrote it themselves. The result is Bake through the Bible – a 20-story Bible overview for toddlers, supported by cooking activities.
The idea is simple, but also brilliant. There’s a retelling of the Bible story – carefully written at the right level for pre-schoolers, while also staying biblically accurate – followed by a prayer. Then there’s a fun (often messy!) baking activity to do together. While you bake, there are some simple discussion questions to reinforce the meaning of the story. And when it’s time to eat, there’s one final question to pull it all together.
Susie and Bekah made Creation Cookies with their sons Joshua and Simeon. Watching the boys with their hands in the bowl mixing the dough was brilliant – they obviously loved it – then rolling the dough, pressing in the cutters and decorating the final cookies. And quite a lot of eating of the dough. All the way through they chatted about the wonderful things God made, as they cut out trees, stars, ducks, people, cows…
We filmed them doing all of this, with Joshua and Simeon turning out to be natural film stars. It was so great that I kept wanting to join in rather than stay behind the camera.
So was it just fun? Or did it help these young boys grasp something of the wonder of the creation account? I’ll leave the last word to Joshua (aged 2):
Susie: “What must God be like if He made all these wonderful things?”
Joshua: “Amazing”
Job done.
Judges for You is flying off the shelves and it has been exciting to hear how Christians across the globe are using it to get to know God better.
Today, on the Gospel Coalition website, there's a great interview with author, Tim Keller. Click HERE to read more.
And to buy a copy, click HERE.
There's no getting away from it - it doesn't matter how much you love your job - the first day back at work after the summer holidays is a nightmare. The sudden gear-shift from sloth to productivity; the overflowing inbox; the mini-crises (and sometimes not so mini ones) that have crept on to your desk - they all seem to conspire to make day 1 a pressure-cooker of despair. It might be nice to see your colleagues again but few people skip home that first day back ...
Some of that is tiredness, pure and simple. But mixed up in there, all too often, is our inability to divorce ourselves from the world's way of thinking. We get our identity from what we do rather than who we know ourselves to be in Christ. Or we forget who we are really working for and what our true purpose is. And so, when what we do is hard, we feel rubbish.
If that sounds like you, why not dip into Tim Chester's, Gospel Centred Work and refresh your view of work today ...... continue reading
There are a lot of books about! And it can be hard to know what to pop in your suitcase or download onto your Kindle as you prepare to relax on holiday. So we thought we’d share with you what the blog team here are reading this summer – Christian and secular:
Carl Laferton
“Wolf Hall”, by Hilary Mantel because I love history; it's won loads of prizes; my wife loved it; and because reading good, character-based fiction that's fantastically written stretches my brain in ways that non-fiction stuff doesn't.... continue reading
We live and work among a great variety of gods—not only those of other formal religions, but also the gods of wealth, celebrity, pleasure, ideology, achievement. Our era can be characterized by the phrase which sums up the book of Judges: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25, ESV).
So despite the gap of over three millennia, there are many parallels between our situation and the time of the book of Judges, which recounts the history of God’s people, Israel, between the time of Moses and Joshua, and that of the first kings—around 1200BC. This was a time of spiritual pluralism. The society of Canaan—the land God had promised to give his people, and where they were now living intermingled with other nations—was a mixture of believing and pagan people. It was a time when God’s people daily faced the choice between looking to God as their Lord, or following the spirit and preferences of their age. It is mainly the story of how they failed in this task—of how they constantly turned from knowing, loving and obeying God to do “what was right in [their] own eyes.”... continue reading
You've seen the trailer. You may have ordered the book. You might have even read it. Is God anti-gay? is flying off the shelves! So, now, why not find out more about the author and the thinking behind the book? Watch an interview with author, Sam Allberry:
This is an extract from Is God Anti-Gay? by Sam Allberry - launching today at The Good Book Company.
One of the arguments commonly made today in favour of same-sex partnerships is that what must surely count above all else is faithfulness and commitment. Shouldn’t faithfulness within a relationship be what determines its moral goodness rather than the gender of those involved in it? A promiscuous gay lifestyle with multiple partners and one-night stands might be wrong, but two people who love each other and are faithful to whatever promises they have made—surely that’s OK?
It can seem a compelling argument, and it is increasingly common to find Christians allowing for this kind of expression of homosexual practice. But a number of important things need to be said in response.... continue reading
It's a question that's on many lips at the moment: If the Bible genuinely does teach that sex is only for heterosexual marriage, then doesn't that mean that God is anti-gay?
It's a good question. A great question. A question that, in the current climate, needs a good answer. And so, today, we are thrilled to be launching the latest in our Questions Christians Ask series - Is God anti-gay?
This short, sensitive book, written by Sam Allberry, takes readers on a journey into the key biblical issues at stake in this hotly debated area. But it's no dry academic, text - it also gives helpful hints on dealing with any personal struggles with homosexuality; pointers on how we can lovingly support those who are experiencing same-sex attraction and encouragement to engage, faithfully, with an increasingly liberal society.
Described as "truly marvellous" by Carl Trueman, this clear, but never strident, little book is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to be better equipped to live faithfully and humbly in today's confusing climate. Click here to order Is God anti-gay?
Once you've got it, why not join us in tweeting the sentences that you find most helpful using #IsGodAntiGay.
And if you want to encourage others in your congregation to be reading it too, you can download our video trailer.
