Having written many of the church’s best-loved songs – including I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, Majesty and Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble? – Martin Smith remains rooted in the local church and is back with fresh new sounds.

Martin instinctively calls out for people to become a ‘voice’ for those who do not have a voice. For Martin Smith, endings aren’t all they seem. In 2009 he came to the closing stages of a two-decade career spent holding the microphone and cheering on the crowds with the genre-defining band Delirious.

With Dove awards, Grammy nominations and RIAA certified gold selling status behind him, it was an incredible journey. Today, what lies ahead is bold, fresh and exciting. Like we said: endings aren’t all they seem.

This is a story of devastating loss and an astonishing capacity for hope and peace.

The morning after his 16th birthday Jimmy Mizen, a popular lad and gentle giant at 6’4, went out to buy his first lottery ticket. A few minutes later, he was dead. Fatally wounded in an unprovoked assault in the local bakery, Jimmy bled to death in his brother’s arms as horrified friends and family gathered. This book, written by his parents, Margaret and Barry Mizen, tells the story of Jimmy’s death and the devastating effect on their large family. It also describes how this ordinary couple from an ordinary family embarked on a very extraordinary journey. Over three short years, the Mizens have made astonishing achievements in their son’s memory: through the Jimmy Mizen Foundation, the City Safe Havens scheme and Families United, they have embraced a powerful vocation, as peace ambassadors to broken communities.

Jimmy is available for £6.99 in Books Plus Gloucester.

For most of his ministry Canon Andrew White has been involved in reconciliation. In The Vicar of Baghdad he wrote, ‘The kind of people I spend my time engaging with are not usually very nice. On the whole, nice people do not cause wars.’ Until he left for Baghdad in 2005 Andrew was Director of the International Centre for Reconciliation in Coventry. The ICR is the centre of a network of over 250 ‘Cross of Nails’ centres around the world, particularly in the USA and Germany, which serve the cause of reconciliation. Andrew bases his chapters around the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation. Following the bombing of the mediaeval cathedral in 1940, the words ‘Father Forgive’ were inscribed behind the altar of the ruined building. The Litany concludes: ‘Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ.’

FOR seven years Books+ has been dishing out much more than reading material.

The area’s only Christian bookshop is based in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital has gives out daily support and prayers to patients and their families.

It marked it’s 7th birthday on Monday with party for customers and the 15 volunteers who work there.

The Right Reverend Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester, was also there to talk about his latest book Jesus and Peter.

Manager Andrew Gatt said: “We are the only Christian book shop left in Gloucester or Cheltenham.

“A lot of the people who come in are going through a difficult time and we are not just a retail outlet but are here to listen and talk and pray for them if they ask us to.

“Customers like that we are here rooting for them.”

It is open Monday to Friday 9.30am to 5pm.

The Source: 22 New Songs For The Church (2 x CDs) – £11.99 (save £3 on RRP £14.99)

Spring Harvest Praise 2013 (Songbook) – £11.99 save £5 on (RRP £16.99)

Kids Praise Party DVD – £8.99 (save £1 on RRP£9.99)

Spring Harvest Presents The Big Start 2 (CD) – £8.99 (save £1 on RRP £9.99)

The Rebel’s Guide To: The Good News DVD – £11.99 (save £3 on RRP £14.99)

1 John Workbook (Bible Study) – £2.99 (save £1 on RRP £3.99)

http://kingswayhub.com/ecards/bookshops/

If you enjoyed Daydream Believer by Mike Burke perhaps you might want to try his recently published second novel – Downturn.

Set in modern times its based on the Book of Job and explores what happens when bad things happen to good people.

Mike is a cleryman in the Church of England having previously worked in parishes in Sheffield and Gloucester.  He is married to Jacky and has two grown up children.

AN AMUSING LOOK AT CHRISTIAN DATING

IT’S an often daunting and complex world. That is the way many people see the Christian singles scene with its various dances, speed dating and dating websites. Well done to HopefulGirl (the identity of the author is anonymous – probably to protect the blokes she dates) for an accurate and sensitive portrayal of four years of ploughing through the Christian dating scene.

Based on a column from Woman Alive magazine, BRF have published this 156 page account of the highlights and cringe worthy low lights of a woman who has decided to commit herself to finding a Christian bloke.

It’s an easy, quick and amusing read. You can picture the various blokes; Beardyman, Techiman, Dimpleman and Countryman, as they arise. Don’t be put off by the pink on the front cover and the lighthearted tone. This book deals with some serious issues in an amusing way. It’s great for anyone single, in their 30s who has first hand experience of this scene. I was struck by HopefulGirl’s sensitivity towards some of the more dodgy blokes she meets. If you are in that demographic you are likely to find this book replicating the conversations you have with your mates in the pub after church.

If you don’t fit that category, it may well help you understand that particular demographic better and understand how to treat single people more sensitively. (Prolific match making is not always the best way forward.) HopefulGirl makes a really valid point about what she describes as the way churches ‘fetishise marriage and family life when it’s something many of the congregation will never experience.’

Later she makes more points about not assuming that a single person is desperate, or that they have loads of time to serve on committees, run the Sunday school etc – on one salary rather than two they often have to work harder to pay the bills. This slim book is perfect for a short haul flight or train journey. Don’t expect particularly deep descriptions that help you get to know the characters – these are caricatures of people we’ve all met at some point.

Jo Duckles
Editor
The Door
Oxford Diocese

Listen to an interview with the author on UCB:

http://www.brfonline.org.uk/downloads/9780857461520_part1.mp3

http://www.brfonline.org.uk/downloads/9780857461520_part2.mp3

http://www.brfonline.org.uk/downloads/9780857461520_part3.mp3

http://www.brfonline.org.uk/downloads/9780857461520_part4.mp3

Jeff Lucas turns his hallmark wit and candour on ten myths that hinder our prayer life. Describing his book as an ‘alternative prayer manual’, Jeff offers a wealth of practical suggestions to help Christians of all ages and stages to develop a stronger one-on-one relationship with the Almighty. He is open about his own struggles in this area, and writes with clarity and compassion about an aspect of the life of faith that many of us find difficult. First published in 2003, this book is now thoroughly revised and updated. Jeff says: ‘The core message is the same, but ten years on I am writing from a different part of the wood. I am not sure I am wiser, but I am certainly more experienced – and continue to believe that if we get our prayer habits right, the rest of life is more likely to fall into place.’