REVIEW: Journey to Jesus DVD Curriculum

Journey to Jesus: Building Christ-centered Friendships with Muslims is a six episode DVD curriculum appropriate for small group teaching. Interspersed with teaching sessions that illustrate the faith of Islam and the different approaches we can take to sharing the gospel are three role play dramas. One mini-drama shows us a Christian woman befriending a Muslim woman, one shows a Christian and a Muslim man, the final one involves two male college students--you guessed it, one Christian and one Muslim.

I found the curriculum interesting. To me, the takeaway on the course is the importance of building relationships with Muslims, finding common life ground from which to begin an eventual sharing of the gospel. The teaching session about the similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam was most instructive to me, because now I know more about what Muslims believe about Jesus. The session that describes the different types of Islam and the way these types break down across the Muslim world was helpful as well.

Although as a woman I found the drama about the two women to be the best role play for me personally, the one between the two college students got my attention because of my involvement in youth ministry. The young Christian man was clearly unable to articulate his faith, a fact which made the Muslim student (who knew his Koran inside out and upside down) openly contemptuous. We are always praying that our youth will have sustainable, defendable faith when they enter college, and to that end I will share this curriculum with our youth pastor.

I think this curriculum would work well for churches seeking to better understand the Muslims in their communities and reach out to them in friendship, love, and the gospel of Jesus.

I received this curriculum for free from Tyndale Publishing in exchange for this review.

BOOK REVIEW: Willie's Redneck Time Machine

Once again, the Duck Dynasty does not disappoint! And that's a fact, Jack--to quote Uncle Si.

Willie's Redneck Time Machine is the first of four choose-your-own-adventure books by John Luke Robertson (with Travis Thrasher), the other three being Phil and the Ghost of Camp Ch-Yo-Ca, Si in Space, and Jase and the Deadliest Hunt. This book is pretty much as many books as the reader wants it to be, all in one. Let me explain.

You are Willie Robertson, discovering an odd outhouse in the back yard. At the same time, you realize John Luke is nowhere to be seen. Upon closer inspection, you realize the outhouse is actually a time machine, and at that point the choices begin: do you step inside, or wait outside to see what happens? Depending on your choice, you are directed to turn to different pages...and at the end of that chapter, you have two more choices (occasionally, there is only just one). The fun just multiplies as you go on to have adventure after adventure. There are even different endings possible to the story--but once you've ended, you can always go back to any point in the book and make a different choice than you did the first time, ending up somewhere completely different. Sound like fun? It is!

On top of that, all the Duck Dynasty characters are to be found in the adventures, saying and doing pretty much all the things you would expect them to. I found that I heard their voices in my head as I read the (very believable) dialogue. It was like hanging out with people I already "know."

My 10 year old son, who isn't a big reading fan, really enjoyed this book. He said it was "full of adventure" and carried it around everywhere he went, even reading in the car on the way to church or football practice. I can see this being a great book to have on hand for times when young ones are sick with the flu, or if you have a kiddo down with a broken leg; using their imaginations and choosing where to go next in the story could definitely alleviate times of boredom or get their minds off feeling crummy.

I received this book for free for review purposes from Tyndale Publishing.

Enjoy!