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Mike S. Allen writes book on “Growing Up Church of Christ” Mike S. Allen, youngest son of a well-known Church of Christ preacher — Jimmy Allen, has written a book about what it meant to grow up in the Church of Christ. His lighthearted and sincere approach — which incorporates other people’s stories and recollections — offers readers an opportunity to reflect on their own experiences while connecting to stories that are universal among this conservative evangelical tradition. Allen currently resides in Northern Virginia with his wife, Cheryl, and their two children. He works as a senior analyst for a government agency in Washington, D.C. Other “Church of Christ credentials” include a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Harding University, teaching and coaching at Central Arkansas Christian High School in Little Rock, and ministering at the Hartford Church of Christ in Connecticut. “I began writing this sort-of memoir in the winter of 2009, but it really existed long before that,” Allen explains. “It sat in journals and in photo albums and on random pieces of paper in shoeboxes. I wanted to pull together the bits and pieces of my story — of growing up in the Church of Christ, and I wanted to hear other people’s stories as well. So I asked some old friends and friends-of-old friends for their two cents, and many obliged." “By the time you make it to ‘The End,’ I hope you’ll have found a connection to some thought or story, and in that connection, I hope you will have been helped a little in your own journey.” Highly-esteemed Kirkus Reviews has described the book as “a narrative with funny, poignant memories.” Dr. Joe Alexander, associate dean of The Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont University in Nashville, says this: “Speaking as one who ‘grew up Church of Christ,’ author Mike Allen has crafted a written time capsule that literally transported me back to childhood in a single evening. His superb collection of personal vignettes is delivered in a heartwarming and vulnerable style that taps into a wide range of emotions from laughter to tears — at times in but a single page. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed every minute.” Steve Lake, regional director of advancement at Harding University in Searcy, says, “In Growing Up Church of Christ, Mike Allen strikes a unique balance. He manages to give us a fun and nostalgic trip back to our youth, while at the same time provoking thought on some weighty matters.” The book is available for sale at Amazon.com. For more information on the author, visit growingupcofc.blogspot.com. |