Best Books

How You Act Matters. Many churches struggle with the impact of the dramatic and sweeping changes that mark our time. People identify as nones (no religious affiliation) or dones (formerly churched but now dechurched). So how do we reach people and disciple believers in this cultural shift? How does the church have a positive impact for Christ in a broken world? The answer is found in history!

Go back to what the early church did: show kindness to a broken world- the Great Commandment. Go back to the church’s mission: share the good news of Jesus Christ- the Great Commission. Filled with practical applications and stories of real impact, Sharing Jesus, Showing Kindness will encourage and equip you and others to get out of the church building and into the community. You’ll be inspired to make an impact with the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Author Alvin “Doc” Reid is the Director of Life Bible Study, an imprint of Iron Stream Media. A popular author, teacher, coach, and speaker, Reid has written over 20 books and has spoken or taught on four continents. He loves to encourage and add value to leaders. You can connect with him at www.docreidcoaching.com.

Sharing Jesus, Showing Kindness releases on March 5, 2024, and is available for pre-order wherever books are sold. †

Best Books

Every year, I watch for a new children’s Christmas book to recommend for our guests. I am looking for not only a well written and meaningful narrative, but also a book that has pretty or interesting illustrations. This year, after reviewing several new releases, I’ve decided on  ‘Twas the Night (Tyndale Kids Publishing), written by William Dean and illustrated by Sarah Lowe.

‘Twas the Night shares the story of the night in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. It stays true to the biblical narrative, without any extra-biblical characters or plot developments. The story begins with Mary and Joseph’s arrival in Bethlehem, followed by their lodging in the stable and the birth of Jesus. The angels appear to nearby shepherds and proclaim the news of the new-born savior. The illustrations by Lowe are realistic rather than cartoonish, and the style is soft and lovely. Young children will be attracted to the artwork as they encounter the story of the birth of Jesus.

Here is an excerpt from a ‘Twas the Night, featuring Mary and the shepherds. Enjoy!

Mary, now resting, was happy to share all that took place under God’s tender care – 

How this miracle happened, how the die had been cast, a virgin with Child, foretold in the past.

She said, “Call Him Jesus. He’ll save us from sin.”

Then silence befell them as awe settled in.

May God’s peace and joy be with us as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the savior of the world.

-Darrel Holcombe, Owner

Sanctuary Christian Books and Gifts

Colonial Promenade, Alabaster 

www.sanctuarychristianbooksandgifts.com 

205-663-2370

Best Books

Death tried to snatch her life as the battle between good and evil shook her world.

Kuna Peou, born in 1954, lived most of her first twenty-one years in a life of luxury in 1970s Cambodia. She attended royal palace events, was chauffeured to her college classes, and even entertained the thought of marrying the crown prince instead of her arranged fiancé. Her life was on a wonderful track for success.

A Communist coup in 1970, however, would eventually upend her plans. Her father’s position as a senator placed the family in danger. They left behind everything they owned to try to survive. Over the next several years, Kuna went from rubbing elbows with royalty to eating rats and harvesting rice for her oppressors. Three times she was taken to be killed, and three times a miracle saved her. Eventually, the “Killing Fields” would claim her husband, parents, two of her brothers, and many other relatives. Kuna, now the widowed mother of two children, escaped to the US. Life in the States, though, proved to be just as difficult in some ways as her life in Cambodia had been. Kuna, now called Vera, faced numerous setbacks in education, business, finance, and her personal life. After her children ran away, she turned to God for help. Until the Day Dawns, by Vera Peou Crenshaw, is the incredible story of how Vera cheated death in Cambodia, struggled to build a life in the US, and then found love, healing, and God.

Crenshaw has gone through several careers and now owns a small, successful real estate business in addition to being an author. Her new release, Until the Day Dawns, is available wherever books are sold. †

Best Books

The season of Advent is upon us. It is a time in which many Christians throughout the world observe a period of waiting for the coming of Christ. In her new book, Advent – The Season of Hope (IVP Press), Tish Harrison Warren offers us a wise and thoughtful guide through this season of longing, reflection, and hopefulness.

In Advent, the coming of our Messiah is observed in the past, present, and future. We celebrate the past coming of Christ in the Incarnation, ending the season on Christmas. It is a time of preparing our hearts for the celebration of God’s in-breaking kingdom through the life and ministry of Jesus almost two thousand years ago. Advent is also a time of anticipating Christ’s future return and what His return means for us now, in the present. The birth of Jesus in ancient Israel profoundly changes everything, for all generations. Likewise, the promise of the future return of Jesus changes everything, not just for the last generation of humanity but for every Christian of the past and present. 

In Advent- The Season of Hope, Warren reminds us that the return of Jesus is “God’s definitive response to the deepest longings of the human soul. It is our hope that truth, beauty, and goodness will last, and that evil, sorrow, and death will not. It is the promise that we and all the cosmos are not doomed to fate and left on our own, but that we will all be made whole and new…all our longings meet their end in Christ coming again, bringing healing, peace, joy, and an unimaginable wholeness in his wake.”

May hope, joy, peace, and love fill all our hearts this Advent season.

-Darrel Holcombe, Owner

Sanctuary Christian Books and Gifts

Colonial Promenade, Alabaster 

www.sanctuarychristianbooksandgifts.com 

205-663-2370

Best Books

The weight of pain, resentment, and anger can easily overwhelm you. In Beyond the Scars, Amy K. Collier shares her story of depression, mental and physical abuse, and multiple suicide attempts. But the worst part was that she felt abandoned and punished by God.

Collier’s inspiring transformation didn’t happen overnight. She struggled on her road to recovery with fear, doubt, and loneliness. She says, “Ten years ago, I began putting my story, the secrets that I buried inside myself to paper as part of my healing process. During that process, it became clear to me that I was meant to share my testimony. I was not alone in what I went through and how I felt. If my story could make a difference in someone’s life, then it wasn’t all for nothing. If God can do it for me, He can do it for them.”

We all carry scars. We all have broken parts. And we all have a chance at redemption and a new life. Just like Collier. She adds, “In sharing my journey, my goal is to give hope that you, too, can find peace. I want you to feel encouraged that you’ll also be able to see, hear, and feel the hand of God on your life and know you are not alone. I also want to show readers there is healing in forgiveness and hope you can use some of the tools that helped me begin the healing process.” Collier has been a guest speaker on radio, on podcasts, and in magazines. She owns a cleaning business and a small farm in Huddleston, Virginia, where she resides with her husband, Charlie. 

Beyond the Scars is available wherever books are sold. †

Best Books

The stories in the Bible reflect humans as we truly are, not as we aspire to be. Human nature being what it is, the Bible is filled with men and women who were noble, kind, and gracious. It is also saturated with sordid tales of greed, lust, violence, and hatred. We are a selfish and corrupt species, and the Scriptures reflect humanity as such. That’s why the grace of God is so astounding. That’s why Jesus came to save us. We are, all of us, in desperate need of transforming grace.

In his new book, God Never Gives Up On You (Thomas Nelson Publishing), Max Lucado expounds on the story of Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham. Jacob was one of the great patriarchs, the man whom God renames as Israel and who fathers the twelve tribes that eventually became a nation. Sounds impressive, right? Sadly, Jacob was also a scoundrel. As Lucado points out, Jacob married two sisters but only loved one. He fathered a child with a servant girl. His family worshiped idols. His sons were prone to violence and adultery. He showered favoritism to a son who was sold into slavery by jealous brothers. He tricked his father, robbed his brother, and fled for his life from his own family. In a transaction that we would now define as sex trafficking, he bought two women as wives. He fought with everyone, and when he had an encounter with God, Jacob even fought with Him. In spite of all his failures, however, God offered grace to Jacob. Jacob, like all of us, was a person in need of God’s mercy and love.

The story of Jacob is one that teaches us not only about the flaws of humanity but of the grandeur of God. At no point in Jacob’s life did his failings and mistakes remove him from God’s love and mercy. Most of us, thankfully, do not live as scandalously as Jacob. He was a walking tornado of conflict and bad drama. But our distinction from Jacob is one of degree, not of substance. His story reminds us that we too are flawed and in need of God’s mercy. God never gave up on Jacob. Thankfully, God never gives up on us either.

-Darrel Holcombe, Owner

Sanctuary Christian Books and Gifts

Colonial Promenade, Alabaster 

www.sanctuarychristianbooksandgifts.com 

205-663-2370

Best Books

Rita Runninghorse is about to marry the wrong guy. She has to get away from him. Now. She flees to a guest ranch in Eastern Washington State that offers a safe haven for women in need only to find the owner on a month-long speaking tour. Robert Elliot has one thing on his mind: bronc riding. The Indian National Finals Rodeo is within reach, and he’s not about to let anything ruin his chances of going pro. Not even the woman he finds asleep in the stall of their rankest horse. When Rita’s fiancé discovers where she’s hiding out, she takes Robert’s offer to go with him on the road and prays her fiancé gives up the hunt. Saddled together, Rita and Robert must rely on each other as they go on the road to keep her alive.

Carmen Peone’s latest novel about domestic violence and abuse strikes close to her heart. Her niece’s death at the hands of her husband in Indian Country inspired Peone to craft Broken Bondage “to let women know they are not alone, that there is help, hope in God’s love and guidance, and hope in second chances of love within a healthy relationship. Women need to know they can break the bondage of domestic violence and abuse.” 

While the story of Rita Runninghorse in Broken Bondage is fictional, the theme of domestic violence and abuse toward indigenous women is very real and happens at a rate far exceeding the national average. In fact, in 2021, President Joe Biden signed the “Executive Order on Improving Public Safety and Criminal Justice for Native Americans and Addressing the Crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People” (MMIP). Broken Bondage releases on October 3, 2023 and is available wherever books are sold. Learn more at shop.ironstreammedia.com. †

Best Books

Defying Fear by Dr. Nancy Meyer is a fictional story, inspired by a compilation of true events, that will inspire people to defy fear in their own lives by embracing their true value through a focus on spiritual, emotional, and physical practices. 

From the outside, Lila Frost seems to have it all together: she is smart, educated, and accomplished. But behind closed doors, she endures consistent abuse from her husband, although she doesn’t fully recognize that abuse is part of her story. Anxiety and fear are unwelcome familiars in Lila’s daily life.

For years, she believes the lies as well as the blatant and veiled threats her husband continually throws at her. But as Lila rekindles her faith, with the support of friends, she learns to defy her fear, take courageous steps, and embrace her own value. The question is, can she sustain her newfound transformation, or will old patterns once again drive her into a pit of depression and despair? Lila’s future depends on one thing: choosing courage and acting in faith, again and again.

Dr. Meyer inspires healing and strength for people battling fear and anxiety. She shares stories from some of her most vulnerable moments, sprinkling humor amid the sometimes horrific. She knows from experience that, when you’re battered by life, you have the option to stay beat down or rise to victory. Today, as an accomplished midlife Ironman triathlete, she helps people of all ages face their fears, overcome their anxieties, and discover the beauty of a victorious life. †

Best Books

We all agree that our society is in a state of crisis. What we do not agree on involves two questions. Why we are in such awful state? How do we change things? Perhaps the scriptures can be helpful with answers to both questions. When ancient Israel and Judah were asking the same two questions, the prophets offered the following message. Israel is in an awful state because the people of God are in a spiritual crisis. The national crisis will be over only when the people of God repent.

Maybe we need a prophetic voice for the church of this generation. Maybe we need Russell Moore. He is a conservative theologian and an ordained minister. Known for his ability to thoughtfully articulate his views, he served for many years in the upper levels of the nation’s second largest Christian denomination. Moore has been in the middle of the conservative, evangelical culture for decades. In his latest book, Losing Our Religion- An Altar Call for Evangelical America (Sentinel), Moore has a message for a community in spiritual crisis, and it’s the same message offered by the ancient Hebrew prophets and of Jesus Christ. It’s time for the people of God to repent.

Losing Our Religion offers a way forward for a church in deep crisis. His old-fashioned altar call is not to the unbelieving world outside the church, but to the church itself. We are the ones who need to change, who need to feel contrition, turn around, and start our walk with Christ afresh. We have lost our way, but God is calling us to come home. Our sins are deep, but God’s mercy and transforming power are greater still. There is hope for the evangelical church, but it is a hope based on, as he asserts, “letting go of the distorted, politicized Christianity that got us here and throwing ourselves on the mercy of God. Only when we see how lost we are can we find our way again. Only when we lose the kind of religion we’ve known for so long can we be amazed by grace again.” Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling his church, just as we are and without one plea, to raise our hand, walk down the aisle, and be washed afresh in God’s amazing grace. Will we come home? The choice belongs to us.

-Darrel Holcombe, Owner

Sanctuary Christian Books and Gifts

Colonial Promenade, Alabaster 

www.sanctuarychristianbooksandgifts.com 

205-663-2370

Best Books

‘For a long time now, I’ve been trying’ to figure out this ole rigamarole…’ (one of my favorite Chris LeDoux lines). That rigamarole being how to bond and connect with my girls as their father. They were locked into “Girl Meets World” and Taylor Swift. Then, add to that YouTube, bloggers, and apps, and I was lost, and beat. I had been robbed of too much of the influence over my children. Maybe I wasn’t assertive enough. Maybe this… maybe that… maybe, the Lord was leading me down a path because, one day… and for a story for another day… I bought a kayak. Not for the girls, but for me. I paddled. And paddled. And like Forrest Gump, I just “kept on going” until one day… one of the girls wanted to go with me. And we paddled. And paddled. 

I was not raised to be an outdoorsman. Fact is, I am a regular guy, who happens to kayak across the Everglades and cross the Mobile River Delta with his daughters. The more I paddled with the girls, the more I realized I was regaining some of my influence over them. Then, the Lord started working on me. He opened my eyes to see that I could use the natural media he provides… nature’s interweb… as common ground with my girls. But I was scared. I’d never camped much. I silently refused His lead. Thankfully, He never gave up on me. He won’t give up on you either… ever. And, so, it began… our first few trips were simple and easy. We tore plenty of stuff up. Set a few things on fire. But we smiled and laughed the whole way through it, and we have some great stories. Now, we are a little more adventurous and a little more experienced, but we are still not experts. 

I now feel burdened to help other men and women do the same with their kids. We must regain the influence we’ve lost to modern distractions. I don’t command my kids to put down the iPod. I take them to a place where it won’t work because there is no electricity… that is half the battle won. The other half comes with a lot of help from the good Lord and some good practical advice from some of my buddies. So, through Shepherding Outdoors: Three Dog Days, I want to encourage you to get outside with your kids. Regain your God-ordained influence in your kids’ lives. I am not an expert outdoorsman or father… but I sure don’t mind sharing my experiences… the good, the bad, and the ugly… with the hope that it might help some other dad fare better than I. God bless… now let’s go, shepherding outdoors.

-Walt Merrell 

www.shepherdingoutdoors.com