All sorts of nice things are starting to happen with my new book, "Quitting Church." Monday was the official release date and Tuesday morning I was sitting at work when someone I didn't know emailed me to congratulate me on the nice review the Wall Street Journal had given my book. I dashed about the office looking for a hard copy and finally found one. Then found the online version here. What a trip! What fabulous press for me! First Publisher's Weekly, now this.
I also noticed that on the Baker Books site, "Quitting Church" has been moved up to a prime spot. I think the publishing folks were not sure how it was going to do but now my book is sitting beside that of Leanne Payne. And she is far better known than I. So it was a good day all around.
No Veeka photos at this point; my camera has been packed away and only recently found. Then I forgot to take it with me on the lovely weekend we just had in Ocean City, Md., where I was part of a singles retreat that allowed kids. Veeka loved splashing about in the water and getting sand simply everywhere. She loves her new daycare and generally is happy as a little clam.
4 comments:
Hello my name is Victoria Taylor. I am a college student majoring in Journalism. I have a Public Relations class tomorrow and I have to give a 5 min, current event before class with a PR twist. I attend California Bapist University. I printed out the review of your book Quitting Church on The Wall Street Journal website. I saw this article posted in the hallway of CBU by one of the professor, and I decided what a great current event. I don't know any information about you besides what's listed on wikipedia. Could you send me your autobiography, I just want to know a little about you and how you got to where you are today. My passion is for writing and I am following Gods lead. I have a blog victoria-writing4christ.blogspot.com. Please contact me, and my personal email is godsjournalist@live.com. Have a blessed day and congradulations!
Hi,
I couldn't find an email address for you so I am trying to contact you through your blog.
I too live in the DC area. I have also lived in Europe and the Middle East and have spent my entire working career in positions of development or administration in Christian non-profits. Now I do this from my own company, serving clients in Europe, the middle East and Asia/Pacific. My wife is a PhD Scientists and together we have seen our lives (and spiritual lives) change greatly over the last 10 years. We both have our undergrads from Liberty University and grew up in what we like to refer to as Christian Culture. As we began to grow and do our own ministry and travel the world we began to encounter many Christians who like us, found the institutional church lacking. We have left church, gone back, and left again. I read the wall street journal every day before starting work and your article jumped off the page. I immediately sent it to many friends in the USA and around the world, including a few pastors and ministry leaders of major organizations. We all felt like your book was taking our thoughts about the institutional church and putting them on paper. A very good friend is a pastor. In his church we found what we had been looking for, for 5 years in the DC area. Real, transparent teaching of the Bible. It was challenging. We then moved to Europe for a year and when we came back in 08 we have found nothing so far. We feel so much that the church is missing a big part of its Biblical purpose and is so focused on programs, seeker services, entertainment etc. I could go on for hours.
I just wanted to say, you took the words out of our mouth. I pray your book will stimulate thought, discussion and action.
Personally I believe we will see a much larger exodus from the church in our lifetime. This church is not what Jesus intended and since so much is a human institution... I see it as bankrupt.
Would love to help have your book published in other languages in Europe. Good friends in publishing there. Let me know if you are interested.
worldcitizen.wg@gmail.com
Julia,
I grabbed your book off the table at Barnes and Noble the instant I saw the cover. For the past 2 years, I have been living the life you describe in your book. It started with a sense of stagnation and discontent (not so much with my church as with myself). This led to research and deep discussions with a close friend of mine (one of the pastors at my former church--yes, former. I am one of those who quit). We started our exploration with books such as Revolution by George Barna, the Reveal Survy by Willow Creek, Confessions of a Reformission Rev by Mark Driscoll and many others, and have realized a burning desire to be and do more for Christ--not programs, or church campus-oriented activities, but community and people-focused activities.
My pastor friend has also now also left our former church and we are branching out on our own trying to redefine (or return to the original definition of) church. At this point, we keep it simple. We have a vision, we have a few people, and we meet to study every other week at my house in Bowie, Maryland. In between meeting, we focus on personal study, on real application of what we are learning, and on intentionally interacting with other members of our home study group (church?) and our community (ie the neighbors that half of us have never even met before).
I realize you receive a plethora of requests for interviews, visits, etc, but this may be the first time you've been invited to a home group. Our small group has a very large vision that lines up with what you have expressed in your book. What prompted me to write was your comment that you had not yet found a church home. Perhaps a traditional church home isn’t what God’s calling you to at this time.
Regardless, it would be fascinating to connect with you and my friend/ex-pastor to compare notes/philosophize. Let me know if either of these offers interests you. I'm hesitant to post my contact information on your blog, but I’m hoping there’s a way for blog administrators to contact their posters without them having to display their emails/phone numbers for the entire world to see.
This is Julia - to all you who are trying to contact me, best idea is to email me at work: jduin@washingtontimes.com - put something flashy in the header as I get 100-200 emails a day. Work phone (202) 636-3217.
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