In His Place

Griffith’s (A Gift of Light) novel challenges readers to consider a deeper meaning within Charles Sheldon’s message of “What would Jesus do?” as found in In His Steps. Steve Long is the pastor of Incarnation Baptist Church in Belvedere, Ga., where he lives with his loving wife, Jayne, and two children, Brandon and Hannah. When Otis, a faithful church member, commits suicide from being lonely, Pastor Long feels the need to challenge his church members with the message that as Christians they need to take on the mission of Christ for others. Unfortunately, the congregation feels blamed for Otis’s death. Because of the unrest, and some angry yet influential board members, Long starts wondering if his time is up at Incarnation. Before he has time to act on his decision to leave however, a massive shooting at the Belvedere high school upsets the church community. The death of a beloved church member in the shooting and the congregation’s growing anger toward the shooter’s mother brings the community into a self-destructive spiral of blame. In the face of such trials, Pastor Long must guide his congregation to the truth that Christians should “be Jesus to the world around us.” Griffith’s weighty, cloistered novel will appeal to readers of the Christian faith interested in the salvation that comes out of survival. (May)