The Death and Resurrection of Liberty Island Books
A new beginning is coming…
By David M. Swindle
For the last six months Liberty Island Books has been on hiatus while the editorial team and I developed plans for a relaunch. This has taken longer than the initial weeks anticipated because on September 16, 2021 I was the victim of criminal violence which has resulted in often debilitating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms. Efforts to heal and pursue justice for the crimes committed against me have slowed down plans to begin publishing new titles. However, at this point I am ready to announce how we will move forward and the new team who will be aiding us in doing so.
Finding Your Purpose
Discovering God wants you to do helps you flourish, no matter what specific tasks you’re doing.
By Chris Queen
I’ve known Mitchell Thompson just about his whole life. He’s the son of one of our pastors at Eastridge; in fact, his dad Gary was my youth minister through most of my middle and high school years.
Mitchell was a good kid growing up, and he still is. He’s always been witty and personable, and he became a championship wrestler who still wrestles in college. Above all, he has answered the call into ministry.
Not Your Average Faith-Based Entertainment
‘The Chosen’ is unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
By Chris Queen
If I told you I had a Christian television series to recommend to you, I wouldn’t blame you for bristling. After all, the phrase “faith-based entertainment” conjures up images of the two dozen God’s Not Dead films or the endless Left Behind reboots.
Christian movies and series have a bad reputation for a reason. They’re terrible because they sacrifice storytelling and artistry for earnest, over-simplified portrayals of faith. Shoestring budgets are the norm as well, which doesn’t help.
Memorizing Scripture
Committing God’s word to memory can help us in multiple ways.
By Chris Queen
We’re in the midst of a series at Eastridge Church called “Lies We Believe,” where we’re looking at the common lies that we tell ourselves – or that Satan tells us – that we fall for and how to combat them.
Reconciling Creation and Evolution?
One scientist makes a compelling case for both.
By Chris Queen
I’ve been pretty firm in most of my beliefs as long as I can remember. Even when it comes to some hot button issues, it takes a lot to change my mind. Take the origins of the earth, for example. I would say that I’ve classified my belief in the creation story from Genesis as that of an old-earth creationist as long as I’ve been able to think about it.
Desist
Sometimes surrendering to God requires stopping.
By Chris Queen
A couple of Sundays ago, our Creative Arts pastor Scott England preached a sermon based on Psalm 46 and one of his songs entitled “Let Go.” Scott shared his powerful testimony of how God healed him after a terrible car accident and how he came to faith in Jesus.
The Heart of Jesus
Sometimes we need to reframe the way we think about our Savior.
By Chris Queen
I get people telling me all the time, “You should read such-and-such book.” I don’t always give in when someone recommends a book to me. I’m not opposed to book recommendations, but I know what I like and I’m not going to read something unless it fits within the bounds of what I like. (There’s also a good chance that I’ll forget the book title and never follow up, but that’s a whole different issue for another day.)
Finding Treasures in the Bible
Sometimes the greatest rewards in God’s word are beyond the obvious.
By Chris Queen
I’ve written before about the blueberries at my mom’s house. My late father transplanted a few blueberry bushes from the North Georgia mountains over 30 years ago, and they’ve thrived ever since.
We get huge, tasty blueberries off these bushes nearly every summer, and other than some pruning and getting rid of briars, we haven’t done much to cultivate them. The berries we pick are better than anything you can find at a store.
The Quality We Miss the Most
We have a severe lack of kindness in our culture today.
By Chris Queen
In a Facebook group, I saw a young woman ask a question that was elementary. It’s a question that, with just a little research, she could have answered on her own in about five minutes. But she asked the group anyway.
Another woman commented, answering curtly, but following up with something to the effect of, “People ask this question all the time, so all you needed to do was conduct a little research.” The tone of her comment wasn’t followed by “you idiot,” but it might has well have been.
Faith or Moralism?
Is your spiritual life based on genuine faith in God, or are you coasting on believing you’re a good person?
By Chris Queen
I’m going through the book of Romans with a friend of mine, and the first two chapters offer an interesting contrast. The second half of the first chapter talks about people who wallow in their sins and deny their need for repentance and salvation – and God – while chapter two talks about how religious people need the Gospel too.
The first half of the chapter warns against judging others. This isn’t in the sense that the world claims – that we don’t have the right to call out sin. It’s judgment in the sense of looking down on others whom we don’t perceive as being as “good” as we think we are. It’s an easy human tendency, and not just in religious and moral circles, to give the side-eye to people we deem as less worthy of love and attention as we think we are.
