But who is right? The nationally known evangelist or the nonbelieving cop? And, more important, whom can Claire trust with her heart?
AVAILABLE AUGUST 2006
AN EXCERPT FROM
A Sounding Brass
“I’d like to present Mr. Luke Fisher,” Owen said, “evangelist from our very own KGHM Radio, right here in Hamilton Falls.”
What?
People turned in their seats to stare at one another and gaped at Owen as if they couldn’t believe their ears. A worldly evangelist? To speak to them? Someone who wasn’t even Elect?
“Is he completely mad?” Rebecca said aloud, forgetting to whisper.
No one heard her. Everyone was busy talking, speculating, wondering the same thing.
“Please, folks, listen to me.” Owen’s voice rose above the noise, and out of habit, the congregation quieted enough that he could be heard. “We’ve all been praying without ceasing that God would save us in our hour of need. And I believe the reason he hasn’t is because we’ve strayed away from him. We’ve put our trust in our leadership—in man, in human frailty—and the result has been disaster. We’ve looked inward to ourselves instead of looking outward at what God is doing in the world.”
People murmured, and Claire nibbled her lower lip, wondering where on earth this was going.
“Folks,” Owen said, “let’s listen to Mr. Fisher’s message and then do what Paul exhorted us to do—try the spirit and see if it’s of God.”
He yielded the microphone to Luke Fisher and returned to his seat. Every eye in the auditorium was riveted to the front.
Claire drew in a breath as Luke Fisher spoke. That melodious voice that had sounded in her car—announcing songs, exhorting people to come to God, talking with people who called in—filled their humble auditorium with his particular brand of music.
“Those of you who listen to the radio,” he said, “may have heard a number of your hymns being played and wondered how it could be that worldly artists could sing the music and words that mean so much to you.”
He paused, and all the young people in Claire’s row looked at each other, eyebrows raised. Obviously they’d thought the very thing she had. Maybe some of them had even been listening to the radio on the way to Mission and had heard “Just As I Am.”
“Well, here’s the thing.” He paused, then said, “I grew up in the Elect.”
An audible gasp swept through the room.
“I did, and I lived a life of sin and suffering brought on by my own headstrong will. But God had a plan for me, and you know what that was?”
Claire found herself shaking her head, as though he had spoken directly to her. She wished he would. She wished those eyes would seek her out in the midst of this crowd and see that there was a mature, reasonably attractive woman who was currently single and very much available, right here in the seventh row.
“God’s plan was for me to preach the gospel, but not as a Shepherd. No, his plan for my life reaches further than that. Radio isn’t a sin, my friends. It’s a way of reaching the heart of the sick, the shut in, those who aren’t as fortunate as we are in this hall tonight. It’s a way of bringing cheer to your soul as you drive to the supermarket, of focusing your mind on Christ while you work in the office. It’s a way to reach the soul on the other side of the cube divider who doesn’t know which way to turn in a life that looks like a maze.”
The crowd was utterly silent.
“God gives us all our talents, my friends. And what have we been doing with them? Have we been burying them in the backyard of our own little group? Or have we been lending them out to others, and participating in the body of Christ?”
“Backyard,” Claire heard someone say.
“Nonsense,” snapped Elizabeth McNeill, Julia’s mother, and then blushed scarlet at having actually spoken aloud in a Gathering, where it was forbidden for women to raise their voices except in song.
Luke Fisher smiled at Elizabeth, and Claire lost her ability to breathe.
If only someone would smile at me that way.
ALSO FROM WARNER FAITH-BUILDING FICTION
Remember Me
Deborah Bedford
Pastor Sam Tibbits has everything he wants or needs. But when his brother unexpectedly dies, he finds himself questioning God, searching for the meaning in it all. In an effort to work through his doubts he takes his nephew on a road trip to Piddock Beach, the small coastal Oregon town where he spent his childhood summers. In those innocent, adventurous years, he’d lived every waking moment with his close friend Aubrey. They knew each other as only young kids can, sharing confidences year after year as they explored the coast and sea. Until the summer Aubrey’s family unexpectedly moved away with no forwarding address.
Sam returns to Piddock Beach in an effort to reach out to his nephew and to untangle his own emotional turmoil as he reflects on those long-ago joyful days. How like God, then, to return Aubrey there the very same week, as she seeks to work through her own personal problems. Together Sam and Aubrey face their inner demons and in the end each finds a way to peace on their own terms.
COMING NOVEMBER 2005
Pocketful of Pearls Page 26