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CBN News: Pastor Tells Congregation to Get Packing

October 14, 2014

CBN News featured Kerry and Chris Shook, authors of Be the Message and founders of The Woodlands Church near Houston, for cutting church services in half recently so the congregation could participate in an effort to package up food items to be shipped to West Africa.  The special Sunday packing session was a kick off to the nationwide “Be the Message Sunday” where churches around the country will shorten services on Sunday, November 16 to do service projects and be living examples of the Gospel  in their communities.  For more information or to sign up for “Be the Message Sunday,” visit Be the Message Sunday

 To view the CBN News story, go to here.

‘Be The Message’ Becomes New York Times Best-seller

October 14, 2014

Houston-based mega church pastors Kerry and Chris Shook’s latest book , Be the Message: Taking Your Faith Beyond Words to a Life of Action (Sept. 9, 2014/WaterBrook Press),  debuted at #18 on the Sept. 28,  2014, “Advice, How-To, Misc.,” New York Times Best-seller list and appeared again at #12 on the Oct. 5, 2014, list. It also has become a Publishers Weekly and Los Angeles Times best-seller. 

Be the Message encourages readers to move beyond sermons to take action in becoming the gospel in their homes, communities and the world. The Shook’s new best-seller was born out of the authors’ fatigue with sermons and the desire to make Jesus real to those around them. Be the Message shares their personal journey as they have changed the way they think about the gospel and live it out.  For more information, visit [ … ]

Runaway Teen, Christian Convert Rifqa Bary Tells Her Story of Escape and Life after the Headlines

September 15, 2014

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (September 15, 2014)—In 2009, a national news story broke of a teenage girl named Rifqa Bary, who had fled her Ohio home to find refuge in Florida, claiming her Muslim father had threatened to kill her for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. The media reporting and court case that ensued sparked a firestorm of coverage about Sharia law, parental rights and religious persecution. Now a 22-year-old college student—living in an undisclosed location, still convinced her life is under threat—Bary shares for the first time her own story of that decision to run away, the consequences and the faith that continues to fuel her in Hiding in the Light: Why I Risked Everything to Leave Islam and Follow Jesus (WaterBrook Press, May 5, 2015).

 Upon the discovery of her whereabouts, Bary’s parents fought to have their teenage [ … ]

Dannah Gresh Talks “Get Lost” on FamilyLife Today

January 2, 2014

 Dannah Gresh, author of Get Lost: Your Guide to Finding True Love, is a guest January 1-3, 2014, on the “FamilyLife Today” radio broadcast with Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine.  Dannah helps young women understand how to put God before guys. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in relationships that we forget about our first love, Jesus. Dannah discusses her personal experience with this and offers advice on returning to your first love.

To listen to all three broadcasts, click here.

Women of Christmas Radio Special

October 15, 2013

WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group and Westar Media Group are producing and distributing a 30-minute radio special featuring New York Times bestselling author and popular speaker Liz Curtis Higgs and her latest book The Women of Christmas: Experience the Season Afresh with Elizabeth, Mary and Anna .

 Hundreds of Christian radio stations around the country have signed up to air the 30-minute special or a series of 60-second vignettes, which offer a closer look at the three vital women in the story of the Christ child’s birth. Higgs, who is best known for her million-selling Bad Girls of the Bible, along with radio host Chris Fabry discuss a trio of the Bible’s good girls, Elizabeth, Mary and Anna, and why God chose them to fulfill his promise of a Messiah.

 “Christmas is so much more than a holiday,” says Higgs. [ … ]

Dannah Gresh on eHarmony Blog

May 29, 2013

Dannah Gresh, author of Get Lost: Your Guide to Finding True Love, has a guest blog post on eharmony.com, the popular online dating website. Gresh presents surprising research results on how spirituality positively impacts women’s sex lives.  According to Gresh, a spiritually satisfied woman in a committed marriage just might be among the most sexually satisfied.

For the single woman, Gresh writes, “What I’d rather see a woman work on during her dating years is her spiritual formation. That’s why I took a break from writing books on sex to simply write one about how women can get lost in God’s love. I believe that a woman who is lost in God’s love is the one most capable of enjoying a love relationship here on earth.”

To read the complete article, visit the eHarmony blog.

Dannah Gresh’s TED Talk on Tolererance on Campus

May 13, 2013

“Have you had sex with this man?” Dannah Gresh, author of Get Lost and What Are You Waiting For,”  asked that question of an audience staring at a big screen photo of NFL football player Tim Tebow during TEDxPSU this spring. The audience of 900, mostly Penn State University students, was challenged to consider if it was possibly intolerance of virginity that led the media to print the question along with the offer of a one million dollar ransom for anyone who could prove they’d taken Tebow’s virginity. She then used social science to debunk the myths that perpetuate the lie that those who embrace their virginity are doomed to have bad sex, proving not only that those who reserve sex for marriage have great sex but when you have sex with just anyone “your body makes a promise whether you do [ … ]

Ryan, Josh & Kerry Shook on “Family Talk”

May 6, 2013

 Ryan and Josh Shook, authors of Firsthand: Ditching Secondhand Religion for a Faith of  Your Own, are guests along with their father Pastor Kerry Shook on “Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk” radio broadcast on Monday, May 6 and Tuesday, May 7.  The Shook family discusses the difficulty young adults are having as they tranisition to a personal faith and not that of their parents or others.  Ryan and Josh advise parents and peers to ask the hard questions and to go directly to God with their doubts.

To hear more, click here:  http://www.drjamesdobson.org/Broadcasts/Archive

 

 

 

“Firsthand” Makes NY Times Bestseller List

April 1, 2013

 

Firsthand: Ditching Secondhand Religion for a Faith of Your Own (WaterBrook Press, March 19, 2013) by debut authors Ryan and Josh Shook has swept through the national bestseller lists during its first week on sale with the book ranking #4 on the New York  Times Hardcover How-to, Advice, Misc list (Apr. 7), #5 on the Publishers Weekly Hardcover Non-fiction list (Apr. 1), #8 on the Wall Street Journal Hardcover Non-fiction list (Mar. 29), and #107 on USA Today’s Top 150 (Mar. 28).

Brothers Ryan (24) and Josh (23) Shook, the oldest sons of mega-church pastor Kerry Shook of the Woodlands Church near Houston, joined forces to tell their experiences of leaving home and doubting their faith. The two discovered that each of them needed to develop a personal relationship with Christ instead of relying on the one passed [ … ]

Houston Post: Ryan & Josh Shook Rediscover ‘Firsthand’ Faith

March 15, 2013

 

Ryan and Josh Shook are profiled in the Houston Chronicle regarding their debut book Firsthand: Ditching Secondhand Religion for a Faith of Your Own (March 19, 2013) and their personal struggles as  pastor’s kids to find a personal faith instead of copying that of their parents.

“You don’t have to be a pastor’s kid to find the faith that you had – or faked – for years doesn’t feel real anymore, they say. Ask most 20-somethings raised in a Christian home: They’ve gone through struggles and left the church, or like the Shooks, been forced to find a deeper understanding of Christianity,” writes the Houston Post.

Ryan and Josh Shook, along with their father Kerry, pastor of the Woodlands Church, will appear together at Lakewood Church in Houston on Wednesday, March 20 at 7:30 PM.