A little note to my subscribers
It's a free subscription, yes, but you'll have to deal with a little promotional work for my new publications.
I have no Holland Sentinel or Reformed Journal columns to post here this month, but I do want to let you know about some personal news, mostly in connection with the publication of my new book. Overall the reviews have been wonderful, and I’m very grateful for the thoughtful comments.
One reviewer—on Goodreads—gave the book two stars (out of five) and wrote, “This book is for pastors, and I’m not a pastor.” To make it worse, she received her book free as part of a “giveaway” promotion. Amazon, on the other hand, gives the book between four and five stars and, well, obviously. It’s that good.
I told myself I wouldn’t read any reviews, but I tell myself that I won’t do a lot of things. As the apostle Paul once put it, in a similar situation of self-loathing: “Wretched man that I am” (Romans 7:24).
I’ve done a lot of podcasts and radio interviews to promote the book. On a Sunday morning in May, for example, I was on “Jazzy 99,” a radio station related to Fisk University in Nashville (one of those historically black colleges and universities), and the conversation was fun and interesting and memorable—because it was almost completely off the topic of my book.
One conversation that stayed pretty much on topic was with the Reformed Journal. The host of the podcast was, happily, my niece, Kate Van Noord Kooyman, a Reformed Church in America pastor, and joining the conversation at my suggestion was my older daughter, Sarah Brouwer, a Presbyterian Church (USA) pastor, currently on loan to the United Church of Christ in St. Paul, Minnesota. The podcast is a good reflection, along with some warm family feelings, on the church as it was and it now is. Click on the icon below to listen:
Just for fun, here are a couple of completely random links to recent reviews. One appeared recently in the Presbyterian Outlook, and the other was in The Banner, the denominational magazine of the Christian Reformed Church, where I spent the first 25 years of my life. I was pleased with both. My book was even reviewed on a site called Golf Blogger (because the reviewer is a member of a church I once served).
The editor of the Holland Sentinel, Sarah Leach, seems keen to continue my monthly column while I live in Den Haag (for the next nine months or so). I’ll post them as always right here on my Substack newsletter.
Speaking of Den Haag, the church there streams its services on YouTube, so you’re invited to worship along with my new congregation. Also, if you’re planning a visit to Europe in the coming year (after the current heat wave and lost-luggage crisis), please let me know. I’d love to say hi and welcome you. And if you’re tired of museums and cathedrals by that point in your visit, you can always visit the International Criminal Court and watch a trial in progress. What fun.
So that’s the news. I hope you are all enjoying summer.