I recently saw someone on Twitter ask for non-fiction book recommendations. I promptly made a list of some of my favorite non-fiction books; however, since I’m generally hesitant to jump into Twitter conversations, I decided to share my list here. Bottom line: I love reading non-fiction, and as you will see from this list, I gravitate […]
Twin Bells?
The second bell that Noël Piper and I found in China was at a church in Ya’an, Sichuan Province. Like the bell we had found the day before, this one was cast in a foundry in Cincinnati, Ohio. The pastor didn’t know what had happened to the bell during the Cultural Revolution, and how it had survived. […]
Bell Talk and Book Signing
I have two “Bell Talk and Book Signing” events coming up in the Twin Cities this weekend and next weekend. Here are the details: Saturday, February 4 @ Bethlehem Baptist Church (downtown campus) 720 8th Ave. S. Minneapolis Time: 7:15PM (following the evening service) Saturday, February 11 @ Bethlehem Baptist Church (north campus) 5151 Program […]
Recommended: “The Dust of Kandahar”
On a mid-April day in 2013, I heard a news report about an attack on US State Department personnel in Afghanistan in which 5 Americans were killed. I held my breath and said a prayer because a friend of mine from childhood, Jonathan Addleton, was at the time a diplomat in Afghanistan. In due time […]
Friday Photo: Xishiku Catholic Church
This is one of the churches that I write about in my book The Bells Are Not Silent: Stories of Church Bells in China. The Xishiku Catholic Church was founded in 1703 and was originally christened The Church of Our Savior. My fellow bell-hunters and I somehow convinced the priest to let his assistant take […]
Published: “The Bells Are Not Silent”
For a long time, friends and colleagues of mine have urged me to write a book about China. “You lived in China for nearly three decades,” they say. “Surely you have something to say.” My standard reply has been that there are so many books written about China each year; I don’t want to write […]
