Book Review-- Holy Roller by: Julie Lyons

This is a different kind of book, and I do mean different. It's not every day that you read a reporter's personal account of finding the Holy Spirit and Spiritual Awakening, and all in the course of doing her job. This book is about people's lives--the good, the bad, and the outright ugly---and also Hope. You may not believe in all, some, or any of the spiritual beliefs that Julie discusses in this book.

But, here is what it got me thinking about:

• People often act in ways that are religious and yet, look nothing like Christ's demonstration.
• Love is an action not a word.
• Some people take God seriously, Faith to them means believing and expecting that God will show up. (He may not answer their prayers the way they want, but He will comfort, He cares, and He just might answer in miraculous ways!)
• God is omnipotent, that's a pretty big deal!

This book is a sometimes slow, a bit unique in it's chronology and yet, a good read and worth it. This book will get you thinking, especially if you have been confused, apathetic, searching, stagnant, excited, content, educated, frustrated, or challenged about faith.

***So, get a copy, or BETTER YET, WIN ONE here. Leave a comment here on the blog or on Facebook to enter a drawing to win a free copy of the book. (I will mail it to you.)

Book Summary: Julie Lyons was working as a crime reporter when she followed a hunch into the South Dallas ghetto. She wasn’t hunting drug dealers, but drug addicts who had been supernaturally healed of their addictions. Was there a church in the most violent part of the city that prayed for addicts and got results.

At The Body of Christ Assembly, a rundown church on an out-of-the-way street, Lyons found the story she was looking for. The minister welcomed criminals, prostitutes, and street people–anyone who needed God. He prayed for the sick, the addicted, and the demon-possessed, and people were supernaturally healed.

Lyons’s story landed on the front page of the Dallas Times Herald. But she got much more than just a great story, she found an unlikely spiritual home. Though the parishioners at The Body of Christ Assembly are black and Pentecostal, and Lyons is white and from a traditional church background, she embraced their spirituality–that of “the Holy Ghost and fire.”

It’s all here in Holy Roller–the stories of people desperate for God’s help. And the actions of a God who doesn’t forget the people who need His power.

Author Bio: Julie Lyons is an award-winning writer, editor and investigative reporter who for more than 11 years served as editor-in-chief of the Dallas Observer, an alternative weekly newspaper owned by Village Voice Media. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a B.A. in English from Seattle Pacific University. She and her husband, Larry Lyons Jr., live in Dallas with their son.