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Bo's Café: A Novel Paperback – September 25, 2009
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWindblown Media
- Publication dateSeptember 25, 2009
- Dimensions5.2 x 0.9 x 7.95 inches
- ISBN-10193517004X
- ISBN-13978-1935170044
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Bill Thrall serves as vice-chair of Leadership Catalyst, mentor, and coauthor of the bestselling TrueFaced resources (www.truefaced.com), The Ascent of a Leader, and Beyond Your Best.
John Lynch is a national conference speaker and writer for LCI, holds a master's of theoology from Talbot Seminary, and has twenty years' experience as a teaching pastor of Open Door Fellowship. He's also cofounder and playwright of a theater troupe in Phoenix.
Product details
- Publisher : Windblown Media; 1st edition (September 25, 2009)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 193517004X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1935170044
- Item Weight : 7.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.2 x 0.9 x 7.95 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #285,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #524 in Contemporary Christian Fiction (Books)
- #2,793 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #16,336 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
For over 25 years the team at Trueface has been writing, speaking, consulting and dreaming about how to help leaders trust God and others with themselves. We are still doing this, while we passionately grow the diversity of voices who are bringing this freedom to the world. To see more about the team on these books go to www.trueface.org
God has used the teaching wisdom, global vision, and business skills of founding partner and President Emeritus, Dr. Bruce McNicol, to help Trueface offer break-through experiences of grace for many thousands around the world. Leaders in all spheres of influence have found God's lasting resolution for their life issues and key relationships as they have journeyed with Bruce.
With degrees in finance law, theology, leadership and organizational development, Bruce’s gifting to write to diverse readers and leaders has proved true in the best-sellers he has co-authored: The Cure, The Ascent of a Leader, Bo’s Café, Behind The Mask, The Kingdom Life, The Cure & Parents, Trust For Today and others. Audiences in various countries continue discovering hope and freedom from Bruce's story-driven, biblically-anchored teaching.
Having lived in Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, and Phoenix, Bruce has gained a variety of interests through the years, including addressing international cultural needs, music, hiking, reading, comedy, and sports. His constant interest is his wife Janet, who is a home-maker, nurse, and mentor. Bruce and Janet have received extensive tutoring from their three wonderful children and spouses, Nicole, married to Kory, with grandchildren Willo and Elliott; Chad married to Erica with grandchildren, Elias and Everleigh; and Ryan married to Kalyn.
As co-founder of Trueface in 1995, Bill’s wisdom has been penned throughout The Cure, The Ascent of a Leader, Bo’s Café, Behind The Mask, and High Trust Cultures.
Bill’s gifts and experience also shine as he helps leaders establish trust in all their key relationships and nurtures grace-based environments. CEO’s of international companies to heads of mission organizations and universities have repeatedly discovered a life-long gratitude for spending time with Bill.
Prior to joining Trueface, Bill founded and pastored the influential faith-community, Open Door Fellowship, for over 20 years. While there he developed an effective character development training program, which nurtured visionaries such as Kit Danley, founder of Neighborhood Ministries.
In his spare time, Bill can be found fishing, golfing, crafting furniture for his family in his woodshop, and cultivating fruits, herbs, and vegetables in his fertile backyard garden. Bill and his wife, Grace have three grown children, Wende married to Jim, Bill married to Charlotte, and Joy married to Joe, and nine grandchildren.
As a world-class communicator, John is a vital Trueface staff member. In addition to speaking internationally with the Trueface team since 1997, John has co-authored The Cure, Bo’s Café, Behind The Mask, and his own story, On My Worst Day. John also powerfully delivered the classic Two Roads Two Rooms allegory, which the co-authors created for The Cure. This message can be heard or seen on the internet.
John served for 27 years as teaching pastor at Open Door Fellowship in Phoenix, Arizona. The authenticity, longevity, and playfulness of these two communities, Trueface and Open Door, bring real-world reality and potency to the message of Trueface. John used his love for theater as a playwright and actor in Sharkey Productions, a troupe focused on gospel-anchored theater productions for those still seeking Jesus.
John and his wife Stacey often create inviting environments on their backyard patio and elsewhere for people to enjoy authentic community. They are passionate parents to their three children, Caleb married to Kali, with granddaughters Maci and Payton; Amy married to Cody, with grandchildren Ridge and Navy; and Carly.
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Warning. If you read this book on an airplane, you'll have to explain to your seatmates why your eyes get teary-eyed toward the back of this can't-put-it-down novel. (Fortunately, the middle seat was empty on my flight.)
"Why do you enjoy making everything I say sound stupid?" Steven Kerner asks his Southern California out-of-the-box mentor. The loud Hawaiian-shirted, 1970 Buick Electra-driving, cigar-smoking, becoming-a-trusted-friend responds, "I don't. I only enjoy making the stupid things you say sound stupid."
"Will grace finally win?" is the big question in this life-changing, profound first-person story. It's a novel, but don't let that fool you. It's in-the-trenches real life. Uncomfortably so. It's for Christ-followers who don't and it's for Christ-seekers who might.
Andy, the Beach Boys-era sage (with his own warts) comments, "Nothing defines religion quite as well as a bunch of people trying to do impossible tasks with limited power while bluffing to themselves that it's working."
Bo's Café is the Pacific Ocean view hangout. The assembled cast is part Cheers (where everybody knows your name) and part sit-com accountability group. Carlos (who used to fake it as a pastor) guts it out about the environment of grace that is the gang at Bo's Café:
"Listen, we don't need places like this to become more like church. We need churches to become more like this place. You know?"
But don't think that this is about church or Cheers. Fast-track marketing exec Steven (age 34, married, one daughter) has blown it. Married. Marriage problems. Angry. Anger problems. Serious mask problems. All the past fixes don't fix it. "Lies picked up when we're young can stay with us for a lifetime."
And so enters grace. An environment of grace. I won't spoil the story. But let me say this. I read a book-a-week. I have three more months of books to review this year. I can announce already that Bo's Café is on my Annual Top-5 list. It's that important. You'll hear from God and want to share it with many, many others.
I'm so grateful for John Lynch, Bill Thrall and Bruce McNicol--and the whole TrueFaced team--for this gift to God's people. William Paul Young, the author of The Shack, writes, "Bo's Café is a treasure for all of us who harbor a longing to be authentic." Treasure indeed.
The book has a clear message, pointed right at the heart of the bulk of a Christian society that seems to be focused on trying to peddle the bike as hard as they can themselves, wrapping themselves in their own works for someone to look at and see those works as a sign of their own worth, all while calling themselves `Christian' and believing in forgiveness--except for themselves. The authors gently touch on the fact the God these people are trying to impress, has no care for that type of self-flagellation. The God they are trying to show their worth to, only cares about their hearts. Their worth, as the book subtlety depicts, has already been established. They are already the sons and daughters of this God that loves them beyond their imagination. The book takes us to Steven's dark side--then it gets darker. The story is cleverly presented to us in Steven's first person perspective as he interacts with a guy named `Andy' and a group of people acting out what the message of grace might look like, taking place in a café named Bo's. This underlying message could take place anywhere, a home, a church, a bar, a break room at the foundry, where people who dare to believe in an identity of a god calling them `his kids' can look at each others stuff and not run from it, but to it. Just when you think you have hit the climax of the book, there's more--right to the end.
I guess if you are trying measure a book's reading value, whether it is good or great, you ask yourself this question: `Do I talk about it later to my friends and if so, am I talking plot or setting. Or, do I talk about it and what it is saying--to me, what it meant, how is it possible--is it possible, to achieve what the book portrays? I think that, to me, is the difference between a good book and a great book, not necessarily the writing and the prose, but when I go to sleep at night, as I drive in my car, am I wondering what it would be like to have a fifteen year old scotch with a plate of shrimp on a deck of a place like Bo's with some friends I could truly share my ups and downs with. Hmm, what if?
On the negative side, when the writers wanted to drive home the important points made via the vehicle of dialogue between characters, the book frequently became repetitive. Repeating the salient points is a bit insulting to the reader's intelligence, as though we can't get the gist the first time around. It seemed that realistic dialogue was sacrificed in order to preach the writers' agenda. While it is an important agenda, I felt that it needed some editing to sound more natural and less preachy.
In general, it was a great concept and a good book.
Top reviews from other countries
If you haven’t read it yet- do it!
I found this book good in the sense that it took me further along the journey of understanding that God likes me for who I am, not for what I do or don't do. I hardly know what good literature is any more - I love reading the classics and assume that they're good, but I rarely read a book these days unless I'm going to learn something by reading it, and most modern books, especially Christian books, seem to me to unbearably trite and shallow.
Ok, this isn't necessarily a classic, (I even found it a bit irritating at first, yes, even somewhat clichéed - I suppose it's the overabundance of American culture which permeates the globe - but so what? the authors are American) but the writers didn't write it to be great literature - they wrote it to help others along the journey of discovering 'the life and freedom in Christ that living in His grace affords us." I think that this parable does that.
I am desperate to know God more and to learn to walk in His truth. I realise more than ever that I don't have all the answers, but He does, and I am grateful that there are some who are further along that path than I am who can help me. I can think of at least a hundred people in Germany alone I'd like to give this book to.