Books by Bill Wood

An engaging story of life and death, An Odd Undertaking features Bill Wood‿s memories of his career as an undertaker in London during the 1990s.

"The Peacemakers" is the third book in "The Circuit Rider" series and continues the every day struggles of the ministry of Jesse Lane and Tom McKelroy. This story picks up about 11 years after the close of "The Defenders" and is set mostly in central Texas. Many new characters are introduced and are forced to react to a maturing frontier during the Gilded Age, a time of great prosperity and unplanned economic panic. Violence was still a concern as was survival during the hard times before the turn of the century.  It was also a time that saw the rise of many cults that infected the most spiritually vulnerable, causing hundreds of folks to blindly follow "new messiahs". As with the other novels in the series, "The Peacemakers" contains lots of action, humor, romance, adventure, and suspense.    The central theme emphasizes the faith and courage of the main and minor characters and allows readers to identify with the problems and decisions faced by the Lanes and the McKelroys and their friends in their determination to be a witness in the fictious town of Miller''s Blluff, Texas.  Bill Wood was born and raised in a small town in Texas.  He grew up watching classic Westerns on television during the 1950''s and 1960''s and developed a love for Western stories, art, and culture.  Bro. Bill, as he is known by the folks at Central Baptist Church in Stamford, Texas, taught US history in public and private schools over a period of 31 years in Texas, Louisiana, and California, sometimes while pastoring small Baptist churches. When not preaching or studying or writing, he enjoys visiting antique stores, festivals, and historic places.  This Texas pastor has been known to pick and grin some in church, too."The Peacemakers" is the author''s fourth book to be published through Xulon Press.

"The Defenders" is the second book in "The Circuit Rider" series and chronicles the struggles of the ministry of Jesse Lane and Tom McKelroy as they fulfill what they believe to be God's will for them despite the hardships created by unknown forces including a mysterious fire and an attack on the home of the church-planters. The novel contains lots of action, humor, romance, suspense, and a murder mystery all set during 1880 in the Panhandle of Texas. The central theme emphasizes the faith and courage of the main and minor characters and allows readers to identify with the problems and decisions faced by the Lanes and the McKelroys and their friends in their determination to bring the Gospel to the "most cussed hell-hole in Texas". Author Profile [Edit] Bill Wood was born and raised in a small town in Texas. He grew up watching classic Westerns on television during the 1950's and 1960's and developed a love for Western stories, art, and culture. Bro. Bill, as he is known by the folks at Central Baptist Church in Stamford, Texas, taught US history in public and private schools over a period of 31 years in Texas, Louisiana, and California, sometimes while pastoring small Baptist churches. When not preaching or studying or writing, he enjoys visiting antique stores, festivals, and historic places. This Texas pastor has been known to pick and grin some in church. "The Defenders" is Bill Wood's third book to be published through Xulon Press.

As America began to expand westward, a group of itinerant preachers rode across the plains and mountains to spread the Christian faith. They endured heat and cold, rain and drought, despair and loneliness to fulfill their calling They traveled from town to farm to stage-stop to anywhere people had settled, preaching the Gospel. These saddlebag-preachers spoke to anyone who would listen. They were rugged individuals who allowed neither rough terrain nor menacing weather to sway them from their appointed areas of service. These unsung heroes of the West helped bring true civilization to the American frontier. There would be little or no reward beyond the spiritual. This book is a fictionalized story of three such country preachers on the frontier of Texas and the problems they faced bringing the message of Christ to wilderness areas. Bill Wood was born and raised in a small town in Texas. Since 1975, he has pastored ten country churches in either Texas, Louisiana, or California or taught in a small Christian school... or both at the same time. When not preaching or studying or writing, Bro. Bill enjoys visiting antique stores, festivals, and historical places. He's been known to pick and grin some in church and is partial to anything having to do with the Old West (movies, artwork, decor, clothes, rodeos). Dr. Wood has been described by friends as "an old-fashioned, Southern gentleman with just a touch of John Wayne". In May of 2012, he became the pastor at Central Baptist Church in Stamford, Texas. A graduate of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and Baptist Christian University in Shreveport, Louisiana, this is Bill's second book to be published through Xulon Press... the first being a fictional account of the birth of Jesus entitled "And Nothing's Been the Same Since".