Debie Thomas

Church Camp

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“I spent many childhood summers in the colorful, complicated world Cara Meredith describes so deftly in this thoughtful and searingly honest book. I remember the gooey s'mores, the starlit hikes, the cheesy skits--and the powerful, quietly insidious culture of white evangelicalism that undergirded the whole experience, especially for those of us who attended church camp as children of color. Meredith doesn't shy away from this insidiousness; she exposes and dismantles it. She describes a religious subculture bent on priming and converting children to the cultural norms, beliefs, and assumptions of white American evangelicalism. Most importantly, she shares her own journey of an evolving and nuanced spirituality--one that allows her to remember church camp as a sacred place that formed her in so many beautiful ways, even as she also grieves over the God it misrepresented, the culture it perpetuated, and the children it harmed. This is a searching and necessary book--a testimony to the power of telling hard, healing truths about the places we have loved.”

The Gift of Restlessness

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“How can restlessness serve as a 'skilled leader' for my spiritual journey? What can I learn from the Lord's Prayer if I approach it as a 'prayer of the restless nomad'? Tygrett delves into these transformative questions with honesty, rigor, and grace. Drawing on both his own life experience and the richness of Scripture, Tygrett reimagines each line of the Lord's Prayer as a holy container, revealing the surprising ways in which restlessness, unsettledness, and even irritation can open us up to deep and lasting spiritual maturity. Rather than resisting restlessness, or judging it as unholy, Tygrett invites us to listen to our dissatisfactions with curiosity, patience, and wonder.”