Young, whose latest faith-inspired book “Cross Roads” is on the New York Times best sellers list, will give a presentation at the Mabee Center on the campus of Oral Roberts University, 7777 S Lewis.

All proceeds from the event will benefit the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) in northeast Oklahoma.

I had an opportunity to interview Young right before his last visit to Tulsa in 2009. We talked about the phenomenal popularity — and controversy — that followed  that his best-selling book “The Shack.”

That same year, I interviewed Christians who loved the book as well as those who had some serious concerns about the way some aspects of Christian theology were represented in the book. Either way, lots of people were talking about “The Shack” for a long, long time.

According to advance information about Young’s visit, the author will share stories about “Cross Roads” and “The Shack” with  the Tulsa audience.

For more information and tickets, go to www.mabeecenter.com.

Young is the author of the bestselling fiction book “The Shack.”

Hachette Book Group, the book’s publisher, says the book is set for Nov. 13 release. They are launching an extensive marketing campaign for the book that will include national print, television, radio and online advertising, plus outreach to churches.

The publisher’s recent news release said ”Crossroads” tells the story of a driven man who falls into a coma and experiences relational entanglements that allow him to revisit choices he made during his life. 

Young’s previous book “The Shack” resonated with many Oklahomans a few years ago. I talked to church groups both here in the metro and in the Tulsa area that were using the book as a focal point for sermon series, book club and Bible study gatherings. Young visited the state to speak about the book — attending a special event in Tulsa and one a Southern Baptist church in Enid.

As popular as the book was, I have to meantion that it also drew sharp criticism from some folks, including some in Oklahoma, who said the theology within its pages wasn’t sound.

I plan to start reading it tonight. It will be interesting to see how it compares to Young’s “Shack” and whether it also will draw both people who love it and people who feel just the opposite.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor   

The Globe and Mail: “Hotel replaces Bible with Fifty Shades of Grey” 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

Groeschel is founder and senior pastor of Edmond-based LifeChurch.tv. He and I recently discussed his latest book “Soul Detox” and he was candid about the book’s premise and some of his own life situations.

“Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World (Zondervan, $19.99) hit bookstore shelves on May 1.

I’ve included more of our interview in this posting, in question-and-answer format:

Q: In “Soul Detox,” you say that the challenge to live clean goes out to all Christians, even those who obey the rules of the faith. Why do you think it’s hard for Christians to recognize their own spiritual toxins?

A: Well, I think we have a limitless capacity for self deception. Someone said “We don’t know what we don’t know” and just like I’m colorblind and so I have a real hard time with certain colors. Just because I can’t see them, doesn’t mean that there’s not a difference or a truth to it. I think just because we can’t see that there’s something hurting us, doesn’t mean that there’s not something hurting us. And so as Christians, I think we can blend into what’s going on in the world and in culture sometimes without even realizing it and just because everyone else says “Hey, this isn’t a big deal,” I’m trying to raise the question “Is this a big deal?” Sometimes the answer is “Yes, it is” and we need to deal with the things that are harmful.

Q: You make an argument that we accept as normal things that our harmful to our souls. One example of that is when you call worry a sin. I think a lot of people will be interested in that. Can you talk about that?

A: Someone said “Worry is distrusting the promises and power of God” and I think that is a good definition of it. One of the things I’m trying to help readers realize is that what we worry about or what we fear really reveals two things. First of all, it reveals what we value the most. For example if we’re worried about our kids’ safety, we value our kids. If we worry about financial stability, we value financial stability. But on a deeper level, what we fear reveals what we value the most and, too, it reveals where we trust God the least. If I’m always worried about my kids, I’m not trusting God with my kids. If I’m always worried about financial stability, I’m not trusting God to provide for me. And so what I try to do is get beyond the surface of “Hey, everybody worries” to say that worry is a sign of a deeper spiritual problem that we need to take to God and let Him cleanse. 

Q: As a parent, how do you and your wife keep your children away from these toxins, short of locking them away? As a parent myself, I’ve had that thought. You can’t really do that.

A: No. That’s a great question and a little bit complicated one as well. One, we have to realize there’s so many things in the world that are considered acceptable that in God’s eyes probably aren’t acceptable and so I think it’s about giving our children the wisdom to know and make wise decisions in this world. I think there are some basics that we need to watch out for: help them choose the right friends. Help protect them from the wrong types of influence — wrong movies or going to wrong websites and listening to the wrong types of music. At the same time, we can’t protect them from everything. We can arm them with the ability to say “no” to something that is harmful and then if they are exposed, to learn how to cleanse their mind with God’s word and to think on things that are pure and helpful rather than to dwell on things that are harmful.

Q: Where can “Soul Detox” be purchased?

A: “Soul Detox” is pretty much available at book stores and online. 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

She talked about her new book ”Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War” in which she shares that she was raised Roman Catholic but found out that her family is Jewish and many of her family members died during the Holocaust.

See the segment here:  “Madeleine Albright Reflects on a Childhood During Wartime” 

By the way, I’m reading “A Wrinkle in Time” again as this is the book’s 50th anniversary. How did I not catch all the religious symbolism before? As a kid, maybe I just wasn’t able to put it all in context.

Anyway, I’m enjoying it again. I do plan to pick up “Prague Winter” and read it as well.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

It was given to me by Masie Bross, director of Whiz Kids, a faith-based tutoring and mentoring program sponsored by City Care. Through the program, inner-city and suburban churches join together to offering free tutoring and mentoring for children attending inner city schools in the Oklahoma City area. 

The author of “The Other Wes Moore” is Wes Moore. He will be keynote speaker at the Whiz Kids’ annual charity event Seeds of Hope set for 6 p.m. March 27 at the Cox Convention Center.

I had not heard of the book but I could not put it down last weekend until I finished it. It’s both captivating and heartbreaking and I’m not surprised that it was a New York Times bestseller.

The book tells the author’s own story and that of another young man with the same name. Both men grew up under challenging circumstances.

Wes Moore, the book’s author, grew up to become a Rhodes Scholar, White House fellow and youth advocate. The other Wes Moore is serving a life sentence for his role in an armed robbery in which a police officer was killed. 

The author shares both their stories in a way that readers can come to their own conclusion about how they took such different paths.     

Compelling stuff.

For more information about Whiz Kids and the Seeds of Hope event, call 602-2815 or go to www.whizkidsok.org. 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

To do that, Young (pictured) and his spouse are staging a 24-hour “bed-in” on the roof of his Grapevine, Texas, church, Fellowship Church, right now.

People can tune-in for Young’s commentary and to see the bed-in, which started at 6 a.m. today at “Bed-in.”    

Young said the event is a tie-in to  a new book written by him and his wife “Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy With Your Spouse.”  Actually, the bed-in is being streamed live on a website about the new book. “Sexperiment” was released on Tuesday.

I often watch Young’s TV show and enjoy his preaching on a variety of topics. He’s not afraid to tackle some heavy-hitting topics so I”m not surprised at his latest adventure.

I once saw him preach a sermon series about sex with a bed on the stage area of the church. He’s upped the ante with the bed on the roof, for sure. 

For a story about the bed-in, read on:  “Pastor-wife to spend 24 hours in bed on church roof to teach sex lessons”

Incidentally, according to the Christian Post’s story on the bed-in, Craig Groeschel, pastor of Edmond-based LifeChurch.tv, and his wife Amy, are among pastors who have endorsed the Youngs’ new book.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor   

The Barna Group is a Ventura, Calif.-based research company whose research often focuses on the ways faith and culture intersect.

Kinnaman is best-selling co-author of the book “unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About  Christianity” (2008). During our brief  interview Kinnaman talked about why he wrote the book and some of the lessons Christian churches can glean from it.

Somewhere along the way, I think my “parent” hat and my “reporter” hat meshed together because I began asking him questions from a parent’s viewpoint. At that point, I think our conversation became more indepth than just the typical interview and I came away with some lessons learned about what today’s youths are saying about the Church and the adults who have helped guide their way thus far.

Really interesting information.

If you haven’t already done so, get that book. 

I also got to sit in on a youth ministers’ luncheon hosted by OC’s Dudley Chancey, associate professor of youth ministry. At the luncheon, Kinnaman talked about his latest book “You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving the Church … and Rethinking Faith.”

Kinnaman expounded some on the research findings detailed in “You Lost Me” and I think it is quite interesting material for anyone who is a parent or church leader or simply someone who loves young people and wants to see them grow in the Christian faith.

I’ll have a story this Saturday about Kinnaman, his research compiled in “unChristian” and how the Church can use this important research data.  My story will also include his thoughts on the controversy that arose over the part of the book that dealt with how young people see the Church as anti-gay.

And if you haven’t already heard, Kinnamon will be speaking tonight at 7 p.m. in the Hardeman Auditorium on the OC campus, 2501 E Memorial Road. He’ll be talking about research compiled in “You Lost Me.” 

The presentation is free and open to the public.  

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor 

Before the interview, I got a copy of “Unbroken,” the book chronicling Zamperini’s amazing life but I wasn’t able to finish it before his visit.

I’m finishing it up now and I have been amazed at how many people have read the book or are in the middle of reading it. Everywhere I go, people are talking about the book. When I have it with me, which I frequently do, someone stops me to say that they have read it and it is a great book.

It is a best-seller by Laura Hillenbrand who earned accolades from Zamperini about how well she captured his story, which includes the account of how he came to give his life to the Lord.

Anyway, it just blows my mind about the many ways the book has served as a connecting point for me and so many people.

I guess that’s what good books are supposed to do.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor    

Incidentally, I don’t believe in happenstance. I believe that many of our encounters are divinely orchestrated. Another way to look at it is seeing each encounter through a spiritual lense.  It is in that context that I say that I was so touched by Mr. Zamperini and what he had to say about his faith journey. There were lots of spiritual lessons gleaned from that interview.

I wondered if the controversy surrounding the “Harry Potter” books and subsequent movies would pop up again, but it hasn’t – at least not to the degree that it did when the first books made it to the big screen.

Some people in the faith community have lambasted the books over the years, saying that they encourage children to become wizards and witches.

Read Terry Mattingly’s commentary about the controversy and whether or not it will end now that the final “Harry Potter” movie installment is out: “Final Gasp of the ‘Harry Potter’ wars?”

Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. In his commentary, he says that the popular books/movies about the fictional boy wizard produced various criticisms from the faith arena including that author J.K. Rowling intentionally wrote the books as doorways to the occult.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor