buzzz worthy. . .
A hookah bar in Saudi
Arabia. Gay friends in Durango. A forest fire sweeping toward a Colorado
youth camp. All three can help improve on Christian love?
A hookah bar in Saudi
Arabia. Gay friends in Durango. A forest fire sweeping toward a Colorado
youth camp. All three can help improve on Christian love?
Yes, and all three
feature prominently in Andy Braner’s new book—No Fear In
Love—Loving Others the Way God Loves Us. Available May 19,
this uncommon book from the bracingly uncommon youth leader
challenges readers to love people God’s way—brokenness
and all—and to trust that God stays in control.
“It’s in
our unlikely encounters that God shows love boldly and without
reservation,” Braner said. “And my only conclusion is to love
his way too—based not on the other person’s performance or
familiarity to me but simply because God created and loves that
person.”
Braner is founder of
Ahava Ministries, helping young people see the world through Jesus’
eyes. In a typical year Andy speaks to more than 100,000 students, parents
and teachers around the world—and works with hundreds of young people
at Ahava’s Camp Kivu in Colorado. In No Fear In Love,
he traces his personal journey through 21st-century cultures and to loving
people nothing like him.
“We
Christians, myself included, lock onto the appearances, blind to the core
fears common to every person,” Andy says. “So what if, just for
a moment, we forgot about our own safety, security and sense of normalcy?
What if we looked past the obvious to connect for real?”
Braner’s story
takes readers to a hookah bar in Saudi Arabia and a meeting with a Muslim
imam—a man he reflexively feared. And yet that meeting opened a
conversation about how Jesus is viewed from differing perspectives. With a
group of gay friends, Braner learned to listen without prejudice: to
understand as he wished to be understood. As for the forest fire raging
straight for Camp Kivu, and all he and his wife, Jamie Jo, had poured their
lives into . . . it passed them by in a way even local firefighters called
miraculous. And it taught Andy about trust.
In a world connected
but contentious, Braner says, Christians are too well known for all
they’re against. But to an unbelieving world, is that the best way to
show God’s love?
With deep insight
and compelling storytelling, No Fear In Love hands readers
new glasses to see a world in flux through God’s timeless
perspective.
Advance praise pours
in:
"Braner nails
it with No Fear in Love. No simple platitudes, just real-life
stories soaked in truth that will set you free."Carl Medearis,
author of Adventures in Saying Yes: A Journey from Fear to
Faith
"The pathway
of authentic love has led Andy past fear and into that wonderful,
adventurous place where 'the other' becomes a friend. Like Andy, I'm
learning that's often where Jesus does his best work in and through us."Lynne Hybels, advocate for global engagement, Willow Creek
Community Church
"A critical
and timely book that demands serious attention and reflection."Bob Roberts Jr., author of Bold as Love and senior pastor
of Northwood Church
No Fear In
Love is available online now for preorder and for sale in stores
and online May 19.