There’s a great article in Christianity Today this month by Karl Vaters about “Walmart Churches.”

The following was shared by Dawn Reed in a Facebook post. It is a powerful reflection on the church as the bride of Christ, and our need to love her deeply. Dawn was a involved in the campus ministry I led. She and her husband Stacy are dear friends. Dawn serves now as the BCM Campus Minister at Lyon College, and Stacy is the pastor at First Baptist Church of Batesville, Arkansas.

God’s bride (the church aka the body of believers) is God’s design. It is His plan for every believer to be connected to each other. You have a purpose. This is not about US. I think back to my friends Jeff Noble’s book Super Center Savior. We are not to be consumers of church we are to serve the church. 

We had the opportunity to go to Fordyce First Baptist Church (where Hannah and Hudson spent their formative years) this weekend. Stacy worked a DiscipleNow, and Hudson was a participant. The church has helped mold and shape my children, my husband and myself. Where would I be without the family of God? It has restored me, encouraged me, discipled me. God’s BRIDE! You can’t love God and not love His bride! Imagine that I tell you I love you but don’t love your spouse. Would you want to be my friend? Would we grow in our walk? No! Emphatically no!

Saw this on Twitter recently and had to include here:

Do you ever wonder if you chose the right line at the store? http://t.co/XVnDdh6z0A

— Helena (@Helena_LB) July 17, 2014

I wrote a blog entry recently about how it feels being a self-published author. Short answer: at times, great; at times, terrible. I encourage you to swing by and read the entry.

In the meantime, your digital influence really does matter. Take 5 seconds today to post the following on your social media account if you’ve read the book:

I’ve read and recommend Super Center Savior – http://t.co/zGoX6d3y

Thanks!

Amy Lawson reviewed the book on her blog, Snoodlings, and said:

I think what I love most about this book is its practical application supported by God’s Word. But this isn’t stuffy, over-your-head theology. Even if you’ve never met Jeff, if you read this book you would feel like you were sitting across a table from him at a Starbucks, talking about living life between Sundays in the places God put us to represent Him. I certainly didn’t feel like Jeff was preaching at me, but in several chapters I identified ways that I’m missing out on living out my relationship with Jesus.

Jeremy Woodall said on his Twitter account:
Becca’s and my first book study of the year. I love the conversations we are having regarding the truths in this book.

I grew up in the South, just to left of the buckle of the Bible Belt. My family was faithful to be “at church” every time the doors were open. Both my parents were active in serving. In college and on my own, I too found myself heavily involved in church life. After sensing a call to ministry and later graduating from seminary and beginning full-time ministry, these many years of church involvement and service were rungs upon which I climbed to get a better view of what I now call “churchianity.” What I saw disturbed me and led me to write Super Center Savior.

I saw thousands of people attending church semi-regularly, but very few of them being the church, much less enjoying their relationship with the God of the church. These ideas coalesced into a conviction that not only does God deserve our whole-hearted devotion (which results in our joy), but our world desperately needs Christ-followers who live a God-saturated life 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The world doesn’t need to see our church-building gatherings. It needs to see our love.

Because Wal-Mart is a commercial and social staple of many of these Bible-Belt communities, I took a familiar cultural icon and hopefully have used it and its practices in a way to both challenge and encourage Christians and church leaders to experience the joy of 24/7 Christian living. This happens when we allow our Savior to be center of lives.

First of all, what an amazing and surreal day yesterday was. Friends, family, acquaintances and even a few strangers participated in the BUY LAUNCH of Super Center Savior yesterday and the results are below. By the end of the day on Amazon (EST):

For Best Sellers:
#5 under Inspiration
#86 under Spirituality
#31 Kindle Inspiration

For Hot New Releases:
#2 under Inspiration
#8 under Spirituality
#27 under Religion & Spirituality
#88 under ALL books
#17 Kindle Spirituality
#87 Kindle Religion & Spirituality

From texts and a cornucopia (sorry, Katniss) of social media, friends, family, acquaintances and even a few strangers participated in the BUY LAUNCH of the book. I spent quite a bit of time on the Facebook page, and I told Carolyn by the end of the day that I probably need to recant some of the nasty things I’ve said about Facebook. It does have uses, and yesterday in particular, it was truly phenomenal to receive hundreds of those little translucent window updates in real-time, announcing “likes,” comments or shares. Thank you all.

I’m surprised I have any Twitter followers after yesterday’s incessant book updates. Thanks for those of you who didn’t unfriend, unfollow or otherwise sh-un me.

The hold-your-breath part of it all is this period of time. Books are in the mail, and some of you are already reading Kindle versions. It’s not the buying of a book that impacts someone, but the reading of it. In the days and weeks to come, we’ll see if the words I’ve put on paper go beyond the eyeballs to your thoughts and from there to your heart. We’ll see if the book was only a catharsis for me – getting a project completed – or if it resonate with people – and perhaps encourage, shape and beautify our world a little.

So here are a few beyond-this-point instructions for those of you willing to hang in there with me for the next month or so:

• After you read the book, please post a review on one (or preferably copy and paste to all) of the following sites: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, CrossBooks, GoodReads, LibraryThing, etc. If you HATE the book, just be vague about it. 😉
• Finally, if you will, please post an occasional digital update on the book THIS WEEK to keep it in front of people’s eyes.

Any other ideas? Share on the book site http://www.supercentersavior.com/ or on facebook.com/supercentersavior.

It’s snowing and massive, blustery winds as winter descends on Blacksburg in force. We have a wedding to go to today of a great couple in our church, and it is scheduled to be outdoors. Brrrr.

In the meantime, I’d really appreciate you stopping by Amazon today and buying a copy or three of Super Center Savior. Just in time for the launch and the holidays, the Kindle version of the book also went live overnight, so it’s available as well.

Links:

• Book
• Ebook

As I said in a previous post, here are some action items to help with:

1. I’d appreciate reviews left on Amazon, B&N and CrossBooks. Anything that you leave will be helpful in generating interest.
2. If you’re on Facebook, please like the Book Page. Leave a comment there if you’d like! I’ll be responding to as many as I can keep up with.
3. If you’re on Google+, do the same there.
4. Please use your digital influence to spread the word.
   1. Facebook page for the book
5. I’d also welcome your ideas for how to promote it in different venues.

Also, the book’s main website is also live! It’s at www.supercentersavior.com. Swing by and check it out. If you send me a quick review via email at [jeff at supercentersavior.com], I’ll post it there. I’m working on trying to create a comment box on the site.

We’re setting the “BUY LAUNCH” for Super Center Savior at this Saturday on Amazon.com. It’s available on other sites (including Barnes & Noble and CrossBooks), but we’re asking folks to buy it from Amazon this Saturday to help create a buzz about it and generate more interest outside our influence circles.

I’d sure appreciate your help, and I apologize for the “last minuteness” of it. I only found out that it was live in online stores yesterday! I’m new at this, can you tell?

A few other things:

• I’d appreciate reviews left on Amazon, B&N and CrossBooks. Anything that you leave will be helpful in generating interest.
• If you’re on Facebook, please like the Book Page. Leave a comment there if you’d like! I’ll be responding to as many as I can keep up with.
• If you’re on Google+, do the same there.
• Please use your digital influence to spread the word.
• I’d also welcome your ideas for how to promote it in different venues.

Thanks, everyone, for joining me on this journey! I’d love to hear your feedback and thoughts in the comments on this blog!