Sacred Friendships Radio Interview on Church Insider

On Monday, November 30, 2009, I enjoyed my first-ever joint radio interview with my co-author Susan Ellis.

Together, we were interviewed for an hour by Shamielle Alston on her program Church Insider. Our topic was our book Sacred Friendships: Celebrating the Legacy of Women Heroes of the Faith.

Shamielle Alston

To listen to our interview, please visit here.

Be encouraged in your faith as Susan talks about the amazing life of Betsie ten Boom.

Learn how to hurdle doubts and handle persecution as I share about the first female martyr of the church, Vibia Perpetua.

Enjoy three-minute “readings” directly from Sacred Friendships.

If you’d like to read a free sample chapter (about women of the Reformation), please visit here.

You can also order your own autographed copy here at 40% off. Order by December 15, 2009 and I’ll include for free my e-book How to Care Like Christ.

Sacred Friendships

A Compelling Ride: A Review of Sacred Friendships

Reviewer: Aaron D. Taylor

Sacred Friendships is truly a unique book. On the one hand, the book serves as a celebration of little-known women heroes throughout church history. On the other hand, the book reads like an instruction manual for pastors, lay people, and Christian counselors.

The intersection of the two themes makes for an interesting read, although as an individual outside of the Christian counseling world, I found myself more interested in the lives of the women themselves than the lessons that they provide for counseling. Having said that . . . I think that the themes of soul care (which is comforting the suffering) and spiritual direction (which is confronting sin and leading people to a relationship with Christ) is applicable to all Christians—and the women profiled in this book are certainly instructive in this manner.

The authors did an excellent job of combating the notion that women should be silent and bury their talent. Amazingly, they did it without delving into the theological controversy surrounding the role of women in the Church. Rather, they chose to let the women’s stories speak for themselves.

Some of the women profiled in the book were wives of famous men (like Katherine Von Bora Luther, Idelette Calvin, Sarah Edwards, and Susannah Spurgeon) and fulfilled their ministries by being a strong support to their husbands. Other women were known for courageously speaking out against social evils (like Octavia Rogers and Laura Haviland). Still others had very strong evangelism and discipleship ministries in their own right—including teaching men. The examples of Susannah Wesley, Perpetua, and Argula Von Grumbrach come to mind.

This wasn’t a conscious theme of the book, but one of the things that struck me while reading the stories of the women profiled in Sacred Friendships was something that many of them had in common. Many of the women profiled were from prominent families and willfully renounced a lifestyle of privilege in order to identify with and serve the poor. I think that anyone reading Sacred Friendships should take some time to reflect on what these women might teach us today about living a Kingdom lifestyle.

Another positive aspect of Sacred Friendships is that the authors took great care not to just make it about celebrating the legacy of white Christian women. I was very pleased to see African American women, Hispanic women, and a Native American woman profiled. As a missionary, I was also delighted to see a profile on Ann Judson (a famous pioneer missionary to Burma).

The . . . book made for a compelling ride. I highly recommend this book to anybody and everybody.

To read a sample chapter please click here.

As the Sacred Friendships Blog Tour nears its halfway point, Rick Howerton over at Serendipityblog.com posted his review today. You can also link to him via this shortcut: http://bit.ly/2DlqSW

Among other insights, Rick calls Sacred Friendships “rock solid narrative.”

See what else Rick has to say at http://bit.ly/2DlqSW

If you’d like an autographed copy at 40% off, please visit: http://bit.ly/MG1l5

Professor Bill Higley and gradudate student Chelsea Huizing review chapters 1-2 and 10-12 of Sacred Friendships on the Sacred Friendships Blog Tour.

To visit Bill’s excellent and informative site and to read their review, you can go here: http://bit.ly/124G6n

Here’s a sampler, a taste, of what they had to say about Sacred Friendships:

“At the end of each description, you feel as though you have sat down and read a letter from the life of each woman; there is no disguising of words, no mincing of emotions. Many sources are used to give color to the stories, both facts from history books and quotes from personal letters; they serve to paint ever clearer pictures of how these women lived, loved and ministered within their friendships and companionships.”

To order your copy, please visit: http://bit.ly/MG1l5

Don’t miss out on the excitement. Join the journey this week as you learn the story behind the stories of over 50 remarkable women of the faith.

Learn More

To learn more about the blog tour, please visit: http://bit.ly/J7Tpt

To learn more about Sacred Friendships, please visit: http://bit.ly/1KqalI

To order your copy of Sacred Friendships, please visit: http://bit.ly/MG1l5

Week Three

Here’s what you can expect to discover this week and where you can find it.

*Monday, October 5, Joshua Young:
http://salvationsogreat.blogspot.com/

Josh writes a full review of Sacred Friendships

*Tuesday, October 6, Bill Higley:
http://3rdjohn8.blogspot.com/

Bill reviews chapters 1-2, and 10-12 of Sacred Friendships

*Wednesday, October 7, Rick Howerton:
http://serendipityblog.com/

Rick writes a full review of Sacred Friendships

*Thursday, October 8, Cynthia Russell Bailey:
http://word4women.wordpress.com/

Cindy writes a full review of Sacred Friendships

*Friday, October 9, Ian Jones:
http://bcsfn.aacc.net/?page_id=11

Ian writes a full review of Sacred Friendships

The Sacred Friendships Blog Tour continues today with Angela Dockter-Harris posting author Q/As from our interview with her.

Please visit Angela’s site at: http://bit.ly/gnE8L

Also, check out Angela’s excellent book on grieving: Dance in the Rain.

In Angela’s blog tour post, among other fascinating descriptions, you will learn how Susannah Spurgeon ministered to her discouraged and depressed husband, the famous Baptist preacher, C. H. Spurgeon.

For your own copy of Sacred Friendships, please visit: http://bit.ly/MG1l5