This book is a wonderfully clear, precise, and compassionate look at the grace of God and His love for mankind. Hughes draws the reader into the lives of real people from the New Testament, allowing the reader to experience the grace of God through their eyes. For those who have never heard the message of the Gospel clearly, this is a wonderful source. For those Christians who need a reminder of the greatness of the Lord they serve, again this is the right source. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a fresh look at the truth, grace, and love of God and His work of redemption through Jesus Christ.

The Soul of Tomorrow's Church: Weaving Spiritual Practices in Ministry Together by Kent Ira Groff, (Nashville, TN: Upper Room Books, 2000), 181 pp.

Reviewed by David Nash

Kent Groff gives us the book that many of us parish pastors have been looking for. He offers us not a new program but an ancient calling to recover the soul of the church, and, in the process, to find a renewal of our own calling to ministry.

I recommend the book highly, though it is not an easy book to live and work with, for the reader is called into self-examination and commitment while at the same time receiving encouragement and hope. Groff calls the pastoral leader and the believing community to the contemplative life style of practicing the presence of God in order to love God, others and self, especially as it works itself out in the functions of ministry. The aim is to recover the integrity, passion and wholeness of Christ within the believing community in order to re-present Christ to the world. To answer such a call means a long-term commitment and serious soul work.

What moves Groff to write this book is his deep concern for the spiritual life of the pastoral leader; the need for clergy and laity to be joined together, especially to work through crises; and how the common ventures of ministry and church life can become the opening for God's presence . this book is for laypersons and clergy together. It "is written for (our) interactive learning, reflection, prayer, and retreat" together in a contemplative spiritual journey.

Groff functions as a spiritual director for those who choose the contemplative path. He sees the vital ministries of worshipping, administering, educating, caring, and reaching out being woven together with the "spiritual aptitudes" of prayer, discernment, faith stories, silence-presence, and hospitality all for the purpose of Christ being formed in the believer and believing community for the sake of the world.

The creative image of weaving suggests possibilities of a variety of patterns of minsitry. It is a powerful image which could have been made stronger for us by a brief description of the weaver at work to help us see the loom and feel the excitement of the movement of the shuttle back and forth carrying the variety of threads to create a pattern. Still, the image comes through with careful reading.

Not a book of theology or theory, but building on both, the focus is on practicing the presence of God. In five chapters, Groff briefly describes the "soul" of the church and suggests how to weave the contemplative attitudes throughout each ministry of the church. Groff offers a variety of "leavening the liturgies" spiritual exercises for each function of ministry. And there are "resources" of spiritual practice included in the appendix.

The spiritual exercise are not gimmicks, techniques, or quick fixes. They are, however, interactive and participatory and suggestive. The intention is to make deeper connections with God and with one another. Indeed, Groff encourages the reader to create one's own exercises. The purpose is to place one's soul and the soul of the believing community before God and to be open to where God's Spirit leads. Each congregation, obviously, will be led into different expressions of God's love of the world through the functions of ministry.

Groff writes our of his rich experience of contemplative practice. In particular, I like the way in which each of the first two chapters on "The Soul of Tomorrow's Church" are enriched by a meditation on 1 Corinthians 13 as is also the next five chapters on "Weaving Spiritual Practices in Ministry together" are each nurtured by a meditation on Romans 12. Groff begins each chapter with an original Taize-like chant. And he includes his own poetry throughout the book. I found these gifts of his soul opening my own spiritual awareness as I read the book. And I felt our souls touching in sharing common concerns.

I've read almost every book in the America the beautiful seiries. They're great for Reports and papers. They give you so much information thats really intureting; not just facts. It is such a shame that Children's press is taking this wonderful seiries out of print. Buy these books now before they run out, belive me

Originally published in hardcover, the paperback will be worth the wait. Kent has clearly defined methods and pertinent applications for "wanna-be" public speakers, MC's, after-dinner speakers, and those of us who wondered if we really could speak in public. Chapters are well organized, concise and very readable for anyone from university level to people who want to improve their skills. Kent has a Master's degree in speech/communication and certainly applies her knowledge with humour, insight and skill

I read Carol's book before I met her at a retreat where she spoke. I can affirm that she is an exemplary speaker. She practices what she preaches. The book provided practical wisdom plus numorous asides on the art of communicating while still upholding the integrity of both the message and the message-giver. I've adapted many of her suggestions to my own speaking outreach.

This is a beautiful book as well as very interesting and educational. The author includes a glossary, index, maps, a bibliography, and a list of online sites where one can find out more about this place.

Children will enjoy learning about the customs and everyday life of people in Russia. The colorful photos of people and places bring a far away place closer to us, and make it clear that we are different in some ways, but the very much the same in others.

I was at the Smithsonian Institute many years ago waiting for some people to show up when suddenly "The Star-Spangled Banner" started playing and a gigantic wall started coming down revealing the flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Talk about having a chill go down your back (there is a photography of that flag from 1873). In this Cornerstones of Freedom volume, Deborah Kent tells the story of not only how Francis Scott Key came to write the lyrics for the song, but how that song eventually became our national anthem. The great thing about the these Cornerstones of Freedom volumes is that they are of great benefit to teachers and students alike because they go well beyond what little information on key topics is going to be found in your standard American History textbook. Young readers will learn all about the British invasion of Washington, D.C., the bombardment of Ft. McHenry in Baltimore, and the history of Key's poem. This volume is illustrated with historic paintings and drawings, including a reproduction of Key's original manuscript. In the back of the book we find all four verses of Key's poem, which will certainly surprise many young readers (No, I have never heard the entire thing sung either). Students assigned or interested in researching this topic will find a lot of useful information in this volume.

Engagingly written, with clear (and usually relevant) anecdotes, the book succeeds in the attempt to present statistics as a subject available to the amateur. I especially enjoyed the examples at the end of the book, where I could check out how well I had grasped the concepts earlier presented. So many experts barrage us with statistics that attempt to influence our viewpoints, actions, activities and votes, that it is important to be able to know whether or not the information is valid and complete. With the analysis tools provided by the author, one can more effectively decide whether or not the facts presented are valid or accurate.

Helvie's color photos, tying illustrations of the best of steelhead flies make this a useful tying desk reference.