Books by Ben Mathes

Rev. Dr. Ben Mathes is one of the most engaging, thrilling, and articulate storytellers around today.  His words bring you into the story, and the story and its characters come off the page and into your livingroom as you read. For over 35 years, Ben has travelled the world loving people in the name of Jesus. For the past 20 years that has been through Rivers of the World (ROW) www.row.org, the organization he founded. To read the pages of this book is to walk alongside Ben in the jungles of places like Venezuela, Peru, and the Congo. You’ll ride with him in the boat as he travels the Amazon River, the Mamano, the Oroso, and many others. His stories will take you to places you will likely never have the opportunity to visit (and to some places you’d never want to visit either) as he has reached out to provide loving care for God’s people for 4 decades. To know Ben is to love him. For 18 years, I’ve had the privilege of calling Ben my friend. We’ve walked together through war, disease, and famine that you will likely never experience beyond the pages of this book. We’ve experienced great joy as lives have been transformed and hope has been restored where it had been lost for centuries. We’ve laughed, cried, and prayed together, and God has used Ben Mathes to literally change the world.Reading this book will be like sitting in a pew while Ben shares stories of his life in a sermon, or at a table with him over tea as he captivates you with the unfolding of his life’s experiences. By the end of the journey you’ll be different, and you’ll likely want to make a greater difference as well. ENJOY!

Books can do many things. They can inspire, share history, scare, thrill, inform- the list is long. As I look over the chapters on Iraq, Chiapas, Iran, Hezbollah, Zaire etc- I see the very real possibility that this book could become a new text for the International Society for Research on Impulsivity! Impulsivity is defined as the “tendency to act on a whim, displaying behavior characterized by little or no forethought, reflection, or consideration of the consequences.” I got that- I really do. Personally, I’ve tried to measure some life situations- and some decisions- by this axiom; “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”As of this writing, it’s been over 40 years since I had the privilege of working as a young chaplain at the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department in Memphis, Tennessee. The Senior Chaplain was Rev. Jimmy Whitlock, a complicated amalgamation of faith and fury. Under his care, I spent my days in the jail, and my nights on the streets of Memphis.