Holy Roller

Here's a book I've just finished reading called Holy Roller by Julie Lyons. It was very interesting. It's about a woman who is white who starts attending a black pentacostal church and what she learns along the way. Although I disagree with some of her theological views I can relate to her on many levels. I remember feeling some of the same things she felt being an outsider in the black community when I was teaching in Chicago. I really liked what she said about the proof of salvation being in the evidence of a changed life. She really hits home the point that many evangelical churches don't reach the heart of a hurting person. I have found this to be the case sometimes. On the other hand I don't think that hyper emotionalism is the answer either.

Regardless of your views, it's a facinating book and one that I'm recommending. I have a copy to give away. Leave a comment on my blog and then I will pick from those who do. If you have trouble leaving comments then email me and I will copy and paste them!

Happy reading!


Summary
Julie Lyons was working as a crime reporter when she followed a hunch into the South Dallas ghetto. She wasn’t hunting drug dealers, but drug addicts who had been supernaturally healed of their addictions. Was there a church in the most violent part of the city that prayed for addicts and got results?At The Body of Christ Assembly, a rundown church on an out-of-the-way street, Lyons found the story she was looking for. The minister welcomed criminals, prostitutes, and street people–anyone who needed God. He prayed for the sick, the addicted, and the demon-possessed, and people were supernaturally healed. Lyons ’s story landed on the front page of the Dallas Times Herald. But she got much more than just a great story, she found an unlikely spiritual home. Though the parishioners at The Body of Christ Assembly are black and Pentecostal, and Lyons is white and from a traditional church background, she embraced their spirituality–that of “the Holy Ghost and fire.” It’s all here in Holy Roller–the stories of people desperate for God’s help. And the actions of a God who doesn’t forget the people who need His power.