Letting it Flow

Since April, 2008, when the Gems of Hope Book Club branched out of the Ebenezer Baptist women’s ministry, the ladies involved have read 15 Christian novels, had 5 guest authors speak (either in person or on conference call), and according to the book club’s facilitators Katie Swiney and Melissa Childs, have had lots of laughs and a few tears.  Katie and Melissa broke away from reading their current novel, The Novelist by Angela Hunt, to answer a few questions based on their book club experience.

1 – FOR NEARLY A YEAR AND A HALF THE GEMS OF HOPE WOMEN’S BOOK CLUB HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL, WHY DO YOU BELIEVE SUCH A MINISTRY HAS BEEN SO APPEALING?

KATIE – In the beginning, I think it was a draw to ladies because it was something different than their normal ladies’ get together.  There are several book clubs out there but we wanted our’s to have that inspirational twist where women could read a good work of fiction and come and talk about it in a fun, loving environment.  Ladies can relate to characters, their situations, or a certain theme in the book and then feel free to share that with other women, who, in turn might can relate and give advice for a particular situation.

MELISSA - So many women just love to read!  You combine reading and talking about the novel and that’s just what women love.

Meilissa, author Beth White, & Katie

2 – WHAT FOR YOU HAS BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OR MOST REWARDING PART OF HOSTING THE BOOK CLUB?

MELISSA - The most rewarding part has been seeing a woman come to know Christ through reading Fireworks by Elizabeth White.  The author presented the Gospel so clearly in her book. You just never know the power of something that you read and how it will affect your whole life – this woman received Christ and then her husband, daughter and sister did also. What a joy to know that God has used this book club to draw others into the kingdom!

KATIE - We’ve also had ladies who weren’t really involved in a local church get invited to book club by a friend or coworker and then join our church and become active members in the body of Christ.  On a different note, we’ve also been blessed to have authors Creston Mapes, Cindy Woodsmall and Elizabeth White come and lead discussions on their books, which is a HUGE deal and always an exciting time for the ladies.  The book club ladies get their novels autographed, have pictures made, and learn all about the Christian writing world.  We’ve also received autographed bookplates from Francine Rivers and had a conference call with Colleen Coble.

3 – WHICH NOVELS HAVE GENERATED THE BEST DISCUSSIONS AT YOUR MONTHLY MEETINGS?

KATIE - Each discussion is pretty unique and always seems to be exactly how the Holy Spirit wants it, but two memorable discussions we had involved The Scarlet Thread by Francine Rivers and The Gifted by Terri Hatcher.  The Scarlet Thread brought up the issue of divorce and it was heart-wrenching to hear some of our ladies’ stories about their own divorces and the pain they felt when their churches might not have reached out like they should or the feeling of being “labeled” and not allowed to serve in certain capacities in their church.  With The Gifted, we discussed spiritual gifts and questioned whether we were using them appropriately or even at all in our local church.  It was eye-opening to talk about the fact that as Christians we are blessed with gifts by God but we’re not tapping into them, or sometimes we’re just serving in the wrong area simply because somebody asked us to and we didn’t want to say no.

MELISSA - They’ve all been great and it’s hard to pick just one, but When the Heart Cries by Cindy Woodsmall was a great discussion. She told us all about her research into the Amish community and how she met with the Amish to discuss the details of Amish life so that she wouldn’t represent their life in an incorrect way.  As she spoke, she told us about growing up with a Mennonite best friend and how that played a role in her deciding to write Amish Christian Fiction.

4 – WITH SO MUCH CHRISTIAN FICTION ON THE MARKET GEARED FOR WOMEN, HOW DO YOU TWO GO ABOUT SELECTING THE GROUP’S NEXT NOVEL?

MELISSA – It’s something Katie and I do together as we look at different authors online or just from personal experience. A lot of the books we use are ones Katie and I have read already and know they will be good for the club meetings.

KATIE – We review alot of Christian book websites and see what other authors and readers are saying about Christian fiction.  It’s amazing how God will lay a certain book on my heart and Melissa will call and be thinking of the same book or the same author.

5 – WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE WANTING TO START A BOOK CLUB MINISTRY AT HER CHURCH OR IN HER LOCAL AREA?

KATIE -  I would say go for it!  We refer to ourselves or bookworms, or book nerds, so even if you have two other women who love to read you have a good starting point.  Christian fiction has come a long way in a short period of time, and while we stress that the best Christian book they’ll ever read is the Bible, why not substitute a TV show for some good Christian fiction reading time?

MELISSA – Try it and then wait and see what God does through the book club.  When we first felt led to begin the book club, we thought it would be awesome if we had five to ten ladies,  but the Lord has blessed us with more than we ever imagined.  God is so good and keeps blessing us and these ladies through this ministry.

Melissa, author Cindy Woodsmall, & Katie