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Help The Anthology Get Into The Top Ten!

9/30/2014

Last night The Crossover Alliance Anthology was #4 in Christian Fiction Anthology on Amazon (not terribly impressive), and #39 in Christian Science Fiction!

This is a great start to our small, little independent project.

If you can, please consider helping us get into the top ten on Amazon by purchasing the Kindle edition of the book. It's only $0.99 .

Also, help us promote the book via social media by sharing this post, the kindle link, or The Crossover Alliance page.

Here's the direct link to the Kindle edition.

Why help out with this project?
1. All funds are going toward promoting Edgy Christian Speculative Fiction
2. The involved authors will have their other works promoted
3. It will go a long way toward impressing my wife (she's not easily impressed)
4. It will promote Christian storytelling
5. There's nine great stories
6. If this anthology is successful, it will open the door to more stories by more authors in more mediums!

If Kindle isn't your thing, or you want to check out the entire book for free before supporting it (via smashwords), you can find all ordering options here (including paperback version).

Please help us get to the top ten on Amazon!

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The Crossover Alliance Anthology - Available Now

9/26/2014

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The day has finally come!

The first Crossover Alliance Anthology is now available!

Here's the rundown of stories:

Snow and Ash by Nathan James Norman
Doors of Babel by David N. Alderman
Broken by Travis Morrill
If it Causes You to Sin by Jess Hanna
Blood Ace by Allan and Aaron Reini
Sanguinem Inimicum by Mark Carver
Spellbound by Jess Hanna
Proverbs - A Fairy Tale by Nathan James Norman
The Spigot by David N. Alderman

In the days ahead I will share my thoughts on my own stories, as well as this entire project.

You can get the digital version for free from Smashwords. Or you can throw some modest funds toward the organization and purchase a physical copy (under $7) from Amazon!

Head over to The Crossover Alliance for all purchasing options!

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The Pulpit of the Culture and the Church

9/24/2014

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The culture has a pulpit. A place where it preaches and proclaims its message.

The pulpit of the culture is Hollywood.
It is sometimes subversive, sneaking its morality into the lips of the heroes. Other times it is overt, as the actors take on the role of modern-day prophets, touting their beliefs on Twitter and Facebook and interview shows.
The culture has an effective pulpit. It preaches in commercials. It preaches in ads. It preaches in news programs. It tells stories every week in our favorite shows (preaching in the subtext of the protagonists' actions). It guides our minds in film.
The culture spends billions of dollars to preach.
And we spend billions of dollars to hear it.

What, then, should be the response of the Church? Certainly some of what the culture says we would support. But not all. Never all.

So, what do we do? Make counter-cultural films? Start a Christian news network? Blog? Write fiction from a Christian worldview?

No.
I think not.

The pulpit of the culture is indeed powerful. Yet the Church has something much greater: Incarnational Preaching of the Word of God.

I know.
On the face of it, this simply doesn't make sense. Films are more entertaining. TV shows have a bigger budget than your local church. Commercials often make us cry more than our pastor's sermons.
So how can incarnational preaching compete?
The Avengers is fun.
The Hunger Games is challenging.
Game of Thrones features attractive people.
Fox News is culturally relevant.

Yet, preaching wins. Preaching is more powerful. Preaching has a greater impact. Preaching is more effective at transforming hearts, minds and souls.
It's true that the Hollywood-pulpit has more money, prettier faces, and better distribution. But preaching has the living and active Word of God. Preaching is empowered by the Spirit of the Living God. Preaching carries with it a promise to always have an effect.

The preacher who preaches from the text will have a bigger impact in the lives of the congregation than Guardians of the Galaxy, Frozen, and Modern Family.

The pulpit of the Church, that is - preaching, is more powerful than the pulpit of the culture - Hollywood.
This reality will, of course, confound the culture.

This isn't to say that Hollywood is not effective. It is very effective. And I think we Christians often feel like we need to compete by making similar ideological films and shows that communicate our worldview.

But this is condescending. This is trading in a tactical nuke for a rocket launcher. It's a downgrade.

Nothing, nothing, nothing will transform lives more than the Word of God. And nothing, nothing, nothing unleashes the Word of God more than preaching it. (And preaching it live, in person, face to face, in the presence of the congregation.)

So does that mean we should abandon all Christian film making and pursuits in the arts? Absolutely not. But it should free content creators from feeling they need to leverage their stories to change people. Instead, they can tell deeper stories, where the worldview is embedding in the scenes, and dripping from the subtext. The message moment doesn't need to be pressed. Better products can emerge.

On the surface, the Church-pulpit is rather unimpressive. A man with an old book talking for an hour.
On the surface, the culture-pulpit is utterly incredible. Actors, sets, design, CGI, explosions, drama, and a soundtrack!

And yet, for all these centuries... from the days of Noah, through the prophets, to now, preaching endures. It will endure, until the glorious appearance of The One Who Dwells in Unapproachable Light.

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An Interview on Action Figures

9/16/2014

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The cat is out of the bag.

I collect action figures.

It shouldn't shock anybody. After all, various action figures have appeared for almost two years in my book reviews. And if you've ever stopped by my church office, you've seen at least a dozen figures hiding out on my desk (up high so the little ones don't touch them)!

But! For the first time I actually talk about my collecting habits. Paeter Frandsen over at the Spirit Blade Underground Podcast interviewed me on this topic a few weeks ago.

We talked about my collection, the philosophy behind collecting, and the appeal of such a hobby.

Listen to the interview here.

And be sure to file this blog post under: "Things That Will Get Nathan Fired."
(Cross index: "Things The Orchard Church Tolerates")

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Weekend Book-Run!

9/4/2014

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Last weekend I officiated a wedding in Grand Rapids. Between the rehearsal and ceremony I hunted down some amazing theology book deals!

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Watch "Sing Over Me" Free

9/1/2014

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Back in April I reviewed the Dennis Jernigan documentary "Sing Over Me".

The filmmakers have released this very personal film about the songwriter's struggles with sexuality and identity for free.

From now, through September 30th, the entire film can be streamed over the Internet in its entirety.

Head over there now!

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Nathan James Norman

Help The Anthology Get Into The Top Ten!

The Crossover Alliance Anthology - Available Now

The Pulpit of the Culture and the Church

An Interview on Action Figures

Weekend Book-Run!

Watch "Sing Over Me" Free

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