I think about all these people floating around in the world who aren't gonna walk into a regular church – for whatever reason. When I started asking, “What are those reasons?”, there were so many answers that sounded like: “I found this thing that is meaningful, but someone said you can’t do it that way.” And the throughline became me saying: “Why? Why not?”

But really, it means a revealing, the revelation of Jesus. So ultimately, this book shows us who Jesus was in ancient times against the Roman Empire and might invite us into something about what the world is now.

Together, their stories paint a portrait of a religiously and culturally diverse corner of the Middle East disappearing, and the people saving it with their stories. Each voice puts us in front of an essential question: What is the deepest part of ourselves, the one thing that can never be taken from us?

I found in [these letters] stories of men working hard to be countercultural to our training. We wished to leave behind the more arid and shallow masculinity of traditional male friendships.

In the midst of declines in attendance and donations, many congregations find themselves at a crossroad: How do they live out God's mission in this time and place when they seem to have less and less assets to do so?

To teach the Bible today is... to teach a different way of reading than what our culture is comfortable with.

I wrote this book because I wanted to change the narrative [on immigration] and help people be more informed about this complex issue.