CartBest-Selling Author Creates "Curriculum for Christlikeness"
For Immediate Release (May 2009)
James Bryan Smith, best-selling author of Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven, Embracing the Love of God and Room of Marvels, as well as one of the founding board members (with Richard Foster) of the spiritual formation ministry Renovaré, will publish a multi-book series with InterVarsity Press. Leading spiritual formation author Dallas Willard ("The Divine Conspiracy") has praised the series as "the best practice I have seen in Christian spiritual formation." More than just small group guides or devotionals, these books are mini courses in discipleship, teaching people what it means to be like Christ.
The Apprentice Series aims to help Christians experience life change through spiritual formation, and begin with The Good and Beautiful God (July 2009), to be followed by "The Good and Beautiful Life" (Jan 2010) and "The Good and Beautiful Community" (Jan 2011). Smith is no stranger to being an apprentice himself. His mentoring relationships with Foster and Willard, as well as friendships with recording artist Rich Mullins, and authors Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel) and Henri Nouwen (The Return of the Prodigal Son), supplied him with biblical insight and spiritual wisdom as he crafted each book.
The multi-book series, with group guides included in each volume, is a first for IVP. Although the Formatio imprint has been in existence for several years, The Apprentice Series will, according to Senior Editor Cindy Bunch, "reach people who don't even know what 'spiritual formation' is—they just know that their current faith life isn't working." Associate Publisher Jeff Crosby added, "Jim is tilling new ground as he tutors readers in the ways in which they can re-write the core narratives that distort their view of God, themselves and their world. I've seen first-hand how these resources have shaped the spiritual lives of men and women. And transformation is at the heart of IVP's mission and values."
Smith (M.Div., Yale University Divinity School, Ph.D., Fuller Seminary) is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, KS and sought after writer and speaker in the area of Christian spiritual formation. An ordained United Methodist Church minister, he has served in various capacities in local churches. His experience in using a similar format with groups in his own church formed the beginnings of what would eventually become The Apprentice Series. "These are the most extensively field-tested manuscripts I have ever helped to place with a publisher," said Kathryn Helmers, who agented the book through Creative Trust, Inc. in Brentwood, TN. "I expect these books will be agents of transformation for decades to come."
InterVarsity Press will be working collaboratively with Renovaré, mobilizing and equipping churches throughout the world to use The Apprentice Series as cornerstone tools that will cultivate the spiritual growth of their congregations in small groups, adult Christian education programs or via a whole-church initiative. IVP's vision is to see 100 churches using the resources by 2010, 500 by 2012 and 1,000 by 2015. Crosby indicated that IVP will be conducting a marketing campaign in spiritual formation journals, magazines and conferences with an integrated web and print direct-to-church effort in partnership with Renovaré. The first book will premiere at the dRenovaré conference in San Antonio June 21 -24, 2009.