This past week I finished my first blatantly Christian novel – Blessed Child by Ted Dekker and Bill Bright. I say “blatantly Christian” because this is a whole other level than the Chronicles of Narnia allegory thing. I got the book as part of some swag from a ministry conference and I always inteded to read it because I was curious about what a novel that was influenced and shaped by Bill Bright, the founder and former President of the ministry I’ve worked for over the past 12 years, would look like. I’m probably about 6-7 years behind when a lot of the staff of my ministry would have read this.
I was surprised how much I liked some of the storyline – presidential nominees, intelligence community, leadership corruption. I was surprised at a love interest/romance theme throughout. It was a bit of a mind bender to try to picture Bill Bright giving input on scenes that involve kissing and passion, but I’m assuming he left those parts to Ted D. Actually, the romance was my favorite part of the book and I’m not ashamed to say it 
There were times I was surprised at how much I liked the storyline. There were times where I thought some of the spirituality got pretty wild – not necessarily in a bad way. And there were times where I was reminded that this is basically an evangelistic tool and Bill Bright was all over this book in terms of values, theology, and ministry distinctives. I thought this novel was a story form of every message I ever heard him give prior to his passing. I still don’t know how I feel about certain aspects of it and I can’t tell if it’s because they were cheesy or because I was having a hard time adjusting to reading a theologically informed novel. It’s important to remember just what the book is because I think I had to do a “genre” check from time to time to keep perspective about just where this novel is coming from.
Regardless of some of the approach they take in the novel and some of the writing, I did walk away very much convicted or challenged in many ways pertaining to what it means to live life in the Kingdom of God and that made the book worthwhile. I may even read the sequel since I’m trying to mix in a novel here and there since most of what I read is non-fiction, academic stuff.
I don’t anticipate anyone reading this to go get this book and read it, some of you got to it long before I did. If anything, this may have just been a confession that I did in fact read the book and actually liked parts of it (though there were parts I probably could have done without too).
I gave it to a neighbor I’ve been having a lot of spiritual conversations with and he’s totally in to it so we’ll see what he thinks.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I actually finally read it earlier this year. And like you, I found myself wondering throughout the entire book what Bill Bright’s input was on the romance aspects of the story line.
that’s awesome…did you like it?
I was hoping I’d cross paths with you at some point at CSU, but hope you’re enjoying Colorado. Sounds like things are starting to settle down a bit.
You know, I actually did enjoy it. There were definitely some cheesy parts. But I also found some parts that served as a gentle reminder of how I want to live a spirit directed, kingdom focused life. I say “gentle”, because I did slow my tv watching for a bit. But those crazy characters that move around inside the box have definitely sucked me back in.
Amber and I were just mentioning the other day that we were thinking we would cross paths with you at CSU, but we never did. Glad your home is back in order now!