THE BIG NEWS: The Book Nears Completion!

We're nearing the finish line. Praise the Lord!

Much like an engagement is not real until there is a ring, a book doesn't seem real until there is a cover. Well, we have a cover. What you see above is a first draft of the cover of the new book I'm editing. We may make some minor changes, but for the most part what you see above is what the cover will be.

The first thing that jumps off the cover is that the name of the book has changed. The original title was What We're For. However, Jeremy Myers (publisher) and I decided that we needed a title that more clearly describes what the book is all about. Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity points any interested readers to the general theme of the book.

I selected the icon on the front cover to emphasize the interaction between unity and diversity. Jeremy provided me with about thirty different possible icon choices. So far I've received positive feedback about this selection.

The back cover lists the contributors not in alphabetical order, but rather in the order their chapters appear in the book. The book contains 26 chapters; Jeremy and I each wrote two. The interesting thing about this book is that quite a bit of diversity actually exists among the various contributors. However, we all agree primarily that Jesus is Lord, and secondarily that simple church practices are the most effective pattern for church life.

We hope and pray that God will use this book to generate discussion, understanding, and unity within the broader body of Christ.

We are aiming for a publication date of later this month or early December. I'll post more about it as the date approaches.