Books published by Parson's Porch Books

James McReynolds has been my friend for more than 40 years. He and I first met when we were young staff members for our denominations-he a Southern Baptist, and I a Methodist. We were both working in communication-he a Southern Baptist and I for the Methodist Board of Evangelism. We were both pursuing doctoral studies at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee. He was born to be a communicator. More than this, he was born to be a preacher. --Harold BalesFor my friend, encourager, and colleague in Christ, Jim McReynolds About 15 years ago, I received my calling from God to become a preacher of the Word and it scared me to death. But like Isaiah, after the "Woe is me," I said, "Here am I, Lord." A few year later I was blessed to meet Jim, a very kind and compassionate man with a love for preaching the Word of God. --Catherine A. Stander

These are the poems of a grown man who has endeavored to gaze steadily at his subject(s): love (see "Peggy"!), lyrical arguments for tolerance of all kinds, sly humor, and every poem, every one, is infused with gratitude and joy.--Thomas Lux, Georgia Institute of Technology Eugene Bianchi's poems come from an extraordinarily rich spiritual and sensual life, one in which the poet moves beyond the "tamed divinity" of a highly material world . . .--Ronald Schuchard, Emory UniversityBianchi's poems put a tender, spiritual touch to suffering, aging, relationships, connections to animals, along with reminiscences of a life of profound movement of the spirit and soul. --Judy Clarence, California State University These poems are replete with the wisdom of age and the exuberance of youth. Bianchi celebrates "our common plight" with the mind of the philosopher and the eye of the poet. --Charlotte Barr, poet, The Text Beneath The occasional swat at favorite targets, Mother Church in particular, is an added feature of this well-written collection. -- James Torrens, S.J., author

Do you pray? A recent poll asked this question of a broad sampling of Americans. Most (some 78%) answered "yes". These included both those who attend some form of worship service regularly and those who do not.Are your prayers answered? Again, the poll revealed that most people who pray do find that at least some of their prayers are answered.When we look at the usual gauges of our culture-TV, movies, newspapers, and magazines-we would hardly expect these findings. The secular influences that surround us seem much more the norm than does the head bowed in prayer. Certainly devotees of practically all major religions are encouraged to pray. But finding that large numbers of people actually do so is both surprising and comforting.Are you comfortable with the way you pray? The Gallup poll did not address this question. Many people feel inadequate in their efforts to communicate with God. For some, this inadequacy has led them to abandon the practice entirely. Others persist, knowing all the while that their prayer life could be much better. If you are in either of these groups, this book is addressed to you. I certainly do not know all the answers to an effective prayer life, and make no pretense to even be an expert in the field. But I have sought for years to better understand prayer, to raise my prayers above the common, everyday levels. In this book I will share some things I have learned, and perhaps one or two of these will resonate within you and aid you in your search. If so, I will have succeeded.

"One thing about him, when he was there, he was all there." I was listening to Dr. Gibson Winter, then Professor for Christianity and Society at Princeton Theological Seminary. Dr. Winter had this wonderful way of sharing an aside--an "oh by the way" story--which would invariably have a meaning all to itself, staying in my mind long after the words of the lecture had been snuffed out by the stuffy air of Stuart Hall. On this particular occasion, he was describing a colleague, whose name I''ve forgotten. The man, the subject of Dr. Winter''s anecdote, was notorious for getting so immersed in his work that he would on occasion be a tad late for a faculty meeting or even his own lecture. He was the proverbial absent-minded professor: almost at times comical, yet respected and beloved. Upon arriving, he would light up the room, engaging others in lively conversation, making it easy for them to overlook his occasional tardiness. Then Dr. Winter capsulated his description of his colleague in that one phrase: "When he was there, he was all there."I could visualize this man; indeed, I felt as though I already knew him. You know him or her, too. These rare individuals are all there when they are there. They are the ones you wait on at the theater, or save a seat for at the restaurant, or strain your neck for as you anxiously anticipate their arrival at the ball game. "Where could he be?" you ask. "Do you think she remembered the address?" you wonder. "Did he get so immersed in his research that he forgot our engagement?" you question.And you want this person to be there.I could see Dr. Winter''s friend arriving with disheveled hair, wearing in his tweed coat, wrinkled shirt, and blue jeans. He opens his arms wide to embrace his friends, apologizes for being late, and smiles as he asks how they are. And he means it. And suddenly everyone''s little measure of agitation evaporates as they grin in return. He''s there now, all there. Wherever this person is, he lives that moment to the fullest. And like moths attracted to light, people naturally drift in his direction.I''ve often wanted to be more like that man, whoever he was. Unfortunately, I haven''t always been all there, once I was there. Too often I''ve been distracted by the place I had come from or the people I would see next. I''ve brought the problems of the past into the present or pre-played the worries of the future into the now. And in short, I wasn''t there.I''ve learned, ever so slowly, little by little, that life is lived in the moment, or it isn''t lived at all; if I''m not here, I''m either in the past--which is no more--or I''m in the future, which is not yet. If I''m still wandering around in the hallways of the past, lost in a maze of regret, or trying to catapult myself from the present into the next time zone, which can''t be entered until it arrives, it''s not simply that I''m not here: I''m actually nowhere. Like T.S. Eliot''s J. Alfred Prufrock--lingering on the outside looking in, fearful of the present, doubting, wondering, questioning whether he has "the strength to force the moment to its crises?" anxiously awaiting the future, mistakenly believing that, "There will be time, there will be time/To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet"--we miss the thrill and excitement, victories and defeats, struggles and accomplishments of the present when we aren''t fully alive in the moment, willing to risk ourselves in it.

In the first year following college I wrecked a car twice, blew out the engine of the same car, began and quit several jobs, lost too much weight, gained too much weight, was cheated on by my girlfriend and didn't end the relationship until she dropped me, was totally pitiful, found my calling, fell in love with one of my former girlfriend's best friends (whom I married), and adopted a dog, among other things. It was quite a year and this list doesn't begin to tell the whole story. All of that happened nearly thirty years ago, yet that year following my graduation has perhaps been the most significant in my entire fifty years. It is not significant for its triumphs but rather for its struggles, challenges, opportunities and all that I learned. You are preparing to enter your own year(s) following college. In my experience and in the twenty years of experience working with those still in and recently out of college, I have discovered that for many this time period following graduation is often among the most significant times one will live. For the first time you are making choices and decisions that are truly and fully yours to make. Certainly you may have chosen your college or university, you decided a major, and you hopefully chose who would be your significant relationships, but many if not all of these decisions were to some degree influenced by others, especially your family. This influence most often comes in the form of expectations. In completing college you have now fulfilled a significant expectation which has influenced your decisions and choices. You have now or soon will finish a significant portion of what, in this book, I term "the script". Now it is your responsibility, your turn to write your own script for your own life. However there is a problem that commonly emerges following college. You have no idea how to do this; you have not been trained to write your script. Through all your years of education, you have primarily been trained to follow the script that others have given you. Now you are entering the unscripted time of life. It has been my great privilege and blessing to work with and/or be around students and young adults in one way or another for nearly my entire life. As a child and youth my friends were the counselors and staff at the camps that my parents directed. Then I found myself journeying through those years myself. Following seminary I directed my own camp where I served as employer, mentor, minister and friend for the students and young adults who worked on my staff. For a few years I focused in youth ministry, but also mentored college interns and followed the youth who were going off to college. Then for the past ten years I have specialized in campus ministry, serving the students here at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina as Presbyterian campus minister. In sharing the journey with these hundreds of wonderful people, I have witnessed, comforted, and guided many through struggles that echo my own challenges in those years during and following college. I have also cheered, coached and celebrated triumphs, accomplishments and discoveries in these same lives. Through each struggle or triumph I have and continue to pray that there will be reflection, learning, growth and the realization of grace.

A little boy asked his mother one day if she knew what Goliath said when David hit him in the head with a stone. "Well, I didn't know Goliath said anything," she replied. The little boy nodded his head knowingly and said, "Yep, he sure did. When David put that stone in his slingshot and swung it around and around, and let it go and hit ol' Goliath right between the eyes, Goliath said, 'Hmmmmm, nothing like that has ever entered my mind before." That is the aim of this sermon: to offer some new ideas and insights related to the kingdom of God that have never entered your mind before. Perhaps, I'll also be able to answer some of your questions and dispel some of your confusion about God's kingdom. That's certainly my hope and it's been my prayer in the preparation of the message. There are several good reasons why we all need a better understanding of the New Testament teaching about the kingdom of God. To begin, both Matthew(4:17) and Mark(1:14) agree that the kingdom was the subject Jesus addressed first, as well as most frequently and consistently during his ministry. It clearly was his all-consuming passion. The kingdom is mentioned no fewer than 49 times in Matthew's gospel and 16 times in the Gospel of Mark. There are also 38 occurrences in Luke. Something so important to Jesus ought to be understood and ought also to be the primary object of his followers' concern. A second reason to come to grips with the kingdom of God is that occasionally a critic of contemporary preaching will "wish out loud" that modern-day preachers would "just preach more like Jesus used to preach." Well, if their wish comes true, preaching will indeed undergo a transformation. However, it will not suddenly become the "old-fashioned, hell-fire and brimstone" variety they expect. Instead, it will be preaching almost entirely consumed with the kingdom of God. Therefore, a return to biblical preaching and teaching requires a better understanding of our Lord's favorite subject.

In 1995, while living in Kingsport, Tennessee, I was contacted by Becky Whitlock inquiring if I might be interested in writing a regular religious column for the Kingsport Times News. Becky is an editor for the paper and had evidently come across some of my writings from my local church newsletter. I agreed to do so and have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the paper and the larger East Tennessee community ever since. There have been seasons in which I have taken an editorial "breather" but, for the most part, I have been writing regularly since that time. One of the things I determined early on in my writing for the paper is that I would predominately write about things of which I was familiar and that was the life and ministry of the church. I have doggedly avoided partisan politics, both religious and secular, through the years and I have attempted, at least, to be an encouraging voice for those whom I served through the print media.