CROSSVILLE, Tenn. (PRWEB) October 02, 2014
Author Mike Smathers tells the story of his father, a man who struggled to make it through the Depression while the hardships piled up. The book shows how he pursued a taxing job and found his true love before they became “Adventurers in Faith” (published by Xlibris) who dared to create their own Christian ministry.
Smathers’ father, Eugene Smathers, was told that he was “wasting his life” by following the path he chose for himself. It was during the Great Depression, when he could not find a position in his chosen field. At the same time, he was desperately trying to get the woman he had been courting by mail to marry him. Broke and in debt, he somehow got the money to travel five hundred miles to see her – their third meeting in the two years they have been writing to each other. After he convinced her to marry him, they embarked on a journey to the remote hills of Tennessee.
After they moved to an even more remote outpost, Eugene had a vision of creating something no one in his Presbyterian denomination, or any other comparable denomination, had ever achieved before – turning an existing natural community into a totally Christian community.
“Adventurers in Faith” is the story of a pioneering ministry in Southern Appalachia, which began when a minister and his extraordinary wife went to a remote outpost and work in relative obscurity for 35 years before he is suddenly and unexpectedly elected to the highest position in his church in a major upset.
“Adventurers in Faith”
By Mike Smathers
Hardcover | 6 x 9 in | 220 pages | ISBN 9781499060133
Softcover | 6 x 9 in | 220 pages | ISBN 9781499060140
E-Book | 220 pages | ISBN 9781499060157
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Appalachian born and bred, Mike Smathers is a retired pastor and nonprofit developer and administrator. He and his father before him pastored Calvary Church of Big Lick Presbyterian for a total of 46 years. He has degrees from the College of Wooster, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and the University of Kentucky. He was founding coordinator of the Southern Appalachian Leadership Training (SALT) program and is founder of Creative Compassion Inc., a low-income housing developer. He has previously published articles or chapters in Voices from the Mountains, Appalachia in Transition, Southern Exposure, and Mountain Life and Work.
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