churched

I wanted to share with you a book I recently read. It's by Matthew Paul Turner and it's called churched. I think this review says it all...

"He spend his childhood trapped within the confines of countless bizarre, strict rules. And lived to tell about it.

In this first-hand account, author Matthew Paul Turner shares amusing-something cringe-worthy-and poignant stories about growing up in a fundamentalist household, where even well-intentioned contemporary Christian music was proclaimed to be 'of the devil'.

churched is a collection of stories that detail an American boy's experiences growing up in a culture where men weren't allowed to let their hair grow to touch their ears ('an abomination!'), women wouldn't have been caught dead in a pair of pants (unless swimming), and the pastor couldn't preach a sermon without a healthy dose of hellfire and brimstone. Matthew grapples with the absurdity of a Sunday School Barbie burning, the passionate annual boxing match between the pastor and Satan, and the holiness of being baptized a fifth time-while growing into a young man who, amidst the chaotic mess of religion, falls in love with Jesus."

I just recently finished this book and wanted to encourage you to buy it (you can get it here). churched is written by a local, Matthew Paul Turner (some might follow his wife Jessica's blog). The story is Matthew's first-hand account about his life. I didn't really know much about the fundamentalist faith, but I learned alot reading this book and actually related to some of his musings to experiences I had growing up in a super-conservative Southern Baptist church! I literally laughed out loud at times while reading!

And for one lucky person, I have an additional copy to give away!!! If you are interested in getting a free copy of churched, leave me a comment or email me. I will draw a name from all those interested and send (or hand-deliver) a copy of it to you. I'll give you a week...so let me know if you are interested before Wednesday, October 22.

That's all folks!