God is Near: Book Discussion #1

Maybe I’ll come up with a more clever series title but let’s try this out. If you haven’t read the book don’t worry, there should be enough discussion of scripture and of the Christian life in general to give these posts merit. If you don’t know what book I’m talking about it read this page. 

The process of writing God as Near as it exists in its final published form took place over a 2 year period of time, more or less. The first 4 or 5 chapters in particular have been around a while. Chapter 1 deals extensively with the creation story recorded in Genesis and Chapter 2 begins with a quick summary of the Noah story. As publication drew near I decided to leave those chapters alone and ignore certain recent events which are more suited for blogging anyway.

2 New Reviews of God is Near

Paul Wilkinson is no stranger to The Master’s Table. In addition to blogging at Thinking Out Loud and Christianity 201, his Wednesday Link List appears weekly at the Parse Leadership Journal of Christianity Today. He is on our blog roll and has been our guest blogger a time or two. Read his review that ran Monday on Thinking Out Loud.

Denise Spencer is the “first lady” of Internet Monk. Her late husband Michael Spencer was my friend and mentor in real life and the original Internet Monk, creating, writing, posting and managing the blog from 2001 until 2010. Mike Mercer and others continue the online work Michael started. Denise continues to work on the mission field in south-eastern Kentucky where the Bunches and Spencers once served together. Read her review, posted Thursday at Internet Monk.

• Links to other reviews and ordering information are on the God is Near page of this blog. Please share this link, order a copy of the book if you have not yet done so, and join us for a series of discussions that will begin soon!

 

 

 

 

Did You See Me in the Times?

It’s the Calhoun Times, the local paper of Calhoun, Georgia. What were you thinking?

Profiles in Faith: Clark Bunch

By Karli Land, Religion Correspondent

Book Review: God is Near

No, I do not presume to write a review of my own book. Below is the review and recommendation of Steve May, a pastor friend in eastern Kentucky. I also look forward to Denise Spencer’s review next week on Internet Monk. 

Clark Bunch is a Baptist preacher with a passion for writing and teaching. This is his first book but he writes daily for his blog The Masters Table (themasterstable.wordpress.com).

Clark is a graduate of Shorter University holding a Bachelors of Science degree in both history and political science. He has been the lead pastor to one church and was on the teaching faculty of the Oneida Baptist Institute (a private Baptist Boarding School with over a 100 year history in southeastern Kentucky). Presently Clark is the Director of Men’s Ministry and works with the youth ministries of the Trinity Baptist Church in Calhoun, GA.

Fourth Man in the Fire

When King Nebuchadnezzar decreed that only his image should be worshiped in Babylon three of his Hebrew subjects, Shadrach, Mechach and Abednego continued praying to the only true God. When called before him they boldly had this to say:

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18

God is Near on Kindle

The estimates I’ve been giving for e-book availability were apparently worse case scenarios. God is Near: His Promise to His People is now for sale on Amazon’s Kindle. Barnes and Noble .com says that title is not available from their site but the NOOK version should be within the next 72 hours. The e-book download is $4.99 and you can preview the introduction and a chunk of Chapter One on the Kindle page.

Check out God is Near for Kindle. As soon as somebody reads it return to Amazon.com and write a review. You could be the first!

God is Near: His Promise to His People

God is Near is now on sale! The book’s website is here with links to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Kindle and NOOK e-reader versions now available as well.

“Self Published” is No Longer a Dirty Word

Self publishing used to be problematic for many reasons. The quality of self-published works would immediately be suspect. If the manuscript was any good, why did all traditional publishing houses pass on it? Sometimes the quality of the physical book itself left something to be desired, from the materials used to the manufacturing process, not to mention the lack of quality graphics on the cover and potentially poor self-editing.

What if the manuscript was fantastic but no traditional publisher wanted to take a change on it? If a writer believed in his work he might pay out of pocket to have a few thousand copies printed, but then what?

Update on God is Near

UPDATE: Book details, review summaries, ordering information and more here. 

A few weeks ago I announced a forthcoming book. There is not an official release date but right now it looks more like June 1st than July 1st. Clicking the thumbnail at left will open a full size image of the front cover.

143 Facebook users like The Master’s Table Facebook page. There is now a God is Near Facebook page as well, for those so interested. You can view the front and back cover, read the Wholesaler’s Summary and get more frequent updates. Twitter users can follow @Godisnearbook for announcements and teasers.

God is Near: Spoiler Alert!

Spoiler Alert

Earlier this week I revealed a book in the works that should roll off the press in the next 10 -12 weeks. This has been a long time coming. In January 2011 I posted Where is God? I actually thought about deleting this post before the book came out; a good poker player doesn’t show his hand. But we’re not talking about poker, we’re talking about sharing the Gospel.