3.6 "honest, earnest, behind the veil" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, Herald Press and the pastor/author for an ecopy. This is being released April 2025. I am providing an honest review.

I have some complicated and mixed feelings about this one.

Pastor Arndt comes across as a very intelligent, well read and genuine Pastor. I enjoyed his teachings about Christianity through the lens of the church calendar. Pastor Arndt pulls in scripture, passages from the humanities and his work to share his experiences and visions of Christ, God and the Holy Spirit. I found some of his vignettes spiritually comforting and emotionally moving. I found others naive but always well meaning. I also got a sense of his own struggles and his spiritual journey whilst learning about many different strands of Christian living. I wanted to learn so much more about his own journey and struggles. I also would encourage him to deepen his understanding of human psychology and family dynamics as some of the interactions he has had could have been much more helpful to his parishioners as well as exploring his own blind spots.

I believe that this book will be most relevant for those contemplating returning back to an Evangelical Chrarismatic practice (which is very far from my own spiritual practices) after lapsing or healing.

When I read more about New Life Ministries (after reading this book) and some of the controversies I became concerned that such a caring and bright man would work there. However, I tried to challenge myself that all institutions are problematic and have done harm. That is for me to pray and work on as well as being thankful that Pastor Arndt is doing the best he can in tending to his spiritual flock.