Book Release Day!!

Today's an exciting day! My new book, Abiding in Amen, is out today, which means you can go give it a review on Amazon or wherever.

I wrote this book because I truly wanted to help people pray. As a pastor, I hear it in people's voices; prayer is difficult. Prayer has become, for too many of us, a source of anxiety and even guilt, rather than a source of joy and freedom. I want to do more than say, "try harder." Of course, that's counter-productive, after all, because prayer isn't the kind of thing you can do by trying harder. Instead, I want to attend to the various and valid reasons that prayer is difficult for people, and I want to release some of the pressure and invite people into a position to receive prayer as a gift of grace and a source of joy.

This book is a practical theology of prayer that places the primary responsibility for prayer on the Holy Spirit, rather than on the shoulders of the individual. Prayer is a register of grace and we are always in the position of recipients. Prayer is not a "discipline" or another skill to be mastered (on top of all the other skills society expects us to master). Prayer is a gift and my hope for this book is that it helps people receive prayer as a gift. I am grateful to the good people at Fortress Press, my various readers who provided excellent feedback (Linda Johnston Hogue Jim Hogue Dolores Hastings Mortier Michael Paul Cartledge Alison V. Philip and Erin Raffety), and all the other wonderful people in my life who helped me get this book into the world (especially my brilliant and incredible wife, Amanda Ellis).

The book is dedicated to my church family at First Congregational Church of Ramona, the church that has nurtured me since birth and done an excellent job of fulfilling their baptismal vows and teaching me to pray.

I also want to thank John Swinton, Andrew Root, and Marti Reed Hazelrigg for endorsing the book! I hope you all enjoy it!