RR Podcast 21: Douglas Bond and William Boekestein

My readers are broken people…children are sinners in need of grace….If I take some other posture to my writing, I’m not going to be authentically leading other sinners to the cross and the gospel. –Douglas Bond

Our Guests

My guests today are two authors keenly interested in bringing history alive for kids.  But not just any history–the history of the church, giving kids access to the personal sacrifice and political drama that has accompanied God’s redemptive work in the church age.  We’re so excited to talk to them about their new books, as well as our Library Month theme of how Christians ought to relate to literature.

Douglas Bond is the author of more than twenty books for kids and adults, with five new titles appearing just this year!  Janie reviewed his latest for kids, Hand of Vengeance, on our site yesterday, and we reviewed Duncan’s War here.  Douglas is not just an author, though.  He teaches literature to high school students, and he’s a husband and dad of course, so he brings a wealth of knowledge about kids to the table, including who kids are and what they need from parents and teachers.  He also happens to be a fantastic public speaker who has shared the stage with R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur.  And if you’d really like to get to know him better, I can’t recommend enough his upcoming Reformation Tour across Europe, where he’ll show you first hand where Calvin grew up, where Luther nailed his thesis on the church door and much more in a first-hand look at how the Reformation was born.  (Full disclosure: Douglas has occasionally supported our website via ads, so we are indebted to him.  But I hope you’ll see that as another reason to like him.)

William Boekestein is pastor of Covenant Reformed Church in Carbondale, PA, and he’s spent time teaching in a Christian school, as well.   He currently has three books out for children on church history, including his most recent book, The Glory of Grace: the Story of the Canons of Dort.  (We plan to review it tomorrow, but until then, here is Janie’s review of his previous two books.  Here’s his podcast interview with us from last year, too.) William is a husband and he’s the father of three children who occasionally help out on his book trailers… in an uber-cute way, I might add.  Hope you enjoy getting to hear both his insights as a pastor and an author as much as I have!

RR PODCAST 21: Douglas Bond and William Boekestein

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In the podcast, we answer questions like, how can we help our kids see themselves as part of Redemptive history?  How can kids’ books help do that?  Why is it so important for stories to grapple with sin and tough topics?  Douglas and William share from their experience as writers as well as dads and teachers about these things and more!

The Giveaway

We’re giving away one copy of each of Douglas Bond’s Hand of Vengeance and William Boekestein’s The Glory of Grace: the Story of the Canons of Dort.  (We’ll also give another copy away on November 5th during our online Bookshelf Giveaway, so don’t forget to sign up for that!)  Tell us below who’s your favorite church father (feel free to include any good kids’ bios you’ve seen) and you’ll be entered for a chance to win.