"Uncommon Christian" Audio Sermon and Biography (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)

The audio sermon "The 5 Characteristics of Uncommon Christianity" is now available online (see July 6, 2008) via an MP3 download. The sermon was preached at Calvary Grace Church in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Also available online is the audio of a biographical sketch I gave on James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) during Sunday School at the same church (see Sunday School lesson for July 6, 2008).

Calvary Grace Church was founded in 2007 by a friend and former classmate at Canada's Prairie Bible College and Toronto Baptist Seminary. A former Professor of New Testament Greek at TBS, Clint Humfrey (pictured with hat) is a husband/father, cowboy/businessman, blogger and tentmaking pastor/church planter in his native Alberta. Clint authored the essay, "Of Common Ilk: Spiritual Friendship as a Means of Grace in the Lives of Robert Murray M'Cheyne [1813-1843] and His Companions" (1998).

Book 2 Released - Of Intense Brightness

Alas, Book 2--Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor--is released.

168 pages. 41 photos/halftones. Map. Index. Historical chronology and select bibliography (James Brainerd Taylor). Recommended reading list (Evangelical Protestant spirituality). 17 international endorsements.

Foreword by Canada's James M. Houston (M.A., Edinburgh; D.Phil., Oxford). Epilogue ("A special word to university and seminary students") by Australia's Peter Adam (Ph.D., Durham).

From the UCM website, you can read excerpts, a summary of its contents and its 17 international endorsements.

To view the book's page on the publisher's website (University Press of America [Lanham, Maryland]), click here.

For purchase options in U.S., Canada or overseas, click here.

A special THANKS to all those who partnered with me in this second publishing effort to preserve and reintroduce the Princeton University and Yale Seminary student-evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829) and his Bible-based Uncommon Christianity--"eminently holy, self-denying, cross-bearing, Bible, everyday" Christianity--to the 21st-century global church, seminary and university.

Canada's James Houston . . . Book Tour Update

Along with James Houston--author of the Foreword to Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor (read excerpt here)--a book signing and PowerPoint presentation is set for Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. I am a current, non-residential Doctor of Ministry student at Western and Dr. Houston has spoken there once before. Western Seminary's new/12th president, Dr. Randall Roberts, will introduce us both.

I will give a presentation on my two James Brainerd Taylor books and Dr. Houston will speak on his latest book Joyful Exiles: Life in Christ on the Dangerous Edge of Things (IVP, 2006), winner of the World Guild Best Leadership/Theoretical Book. Read here a review of Joyful Exiles in "Christianity Today" magazine.

Dr. Houston (M.A., Edinburgh; D.Phil., Oxford) is the founding principal of Regent College: An International Graduate School of Christian Studies (est. 1968) in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He has authored or edited over 40 books on evangelical Protestant spirituality and currently serves as the Board of Governors' Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent. It was the British-born Houston who was the primary instrument in influencing his fellow Englishman, theologian, and Knowing God (1973) author, J. I. Packer (D.Phil., Oxford), to come to Canada and teach at Regent (1979- ). Bruce Hindmarsh (D.Phil., Oxford) is the current James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent.

As of now, this October 7 date is the only scheduled book signing/presentation event for 2008. My ambitious idea of a November mini-book tour to entities associated with James Brainerd Taylor (in Conn., N.J., N.Y., Virg.) is postponed due to time and financial factors. However, if my submitted paper is accepted, then I hope to give a talk on Taylor at the 60th annual Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) meeting in Providence, R.I., November 19-21. Stay tuned.

UPDATE (Sept. 15, 2008): The October 7 event with Dr. Houston in Portland, Ore., has been cancelled. I am set to deliver a paper/talk on J. B. Taylor on November 20 at the national ETS meeting in R.I.

UCM Website Revision/Expansion, PHP

The UCM website has revised/expanded from 19 to a more user-friendly 25 pages, and has switched from html to php format.

The site's "Francis Kyle--Resources" . . . "Francis Kyle--Photo Albums" . . . "Author Q & A" . . . and "James Brainerd Taylor--Photo Albums" pages are the last remaining projects to complete. This summer or fall '08 is the target date to upload the audio . . . video (via YouTube.com or GodTube.com) . . . written (via Google Documents) . . . and photo album (via Flickr.com) documents. Stay tuned.

Library Purchases, Book #1 (An Uncommon Christian)

Via the international WorldCat database--the world's largest network of library content and services--click here to view public, university, seminary and historical society libraries that have purchased An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist In America's Second Great Awakening.

So far, and among others, the university libraries at Baylor, Chicago, Drew, Duke, Emory, Fordham, Furman, Georgetown, George Mason, Georgia, Haverford, Indiana, McMaster (Ontario, Canada), North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Notre Dame, Nova Southeastern (Florida), Pennsylvania (UPenn), Samford, Southern Methodist (SMU), Winthrop, and others . . . Andover-Newtown Theological Seminary, Calvin College and Theological Seminary, Dallas Theological Seminary, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, Lancaster Bible College and Graduate School, The Master's Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School, Berlin State Library (est. 1661, Germany), Connecticut Historical Society, and New York Historical Society . . . have purchased the book.

Also, after it is released in June '08, patrons will be able to locate libraries that hold Book #2--Of Intense Brightness: The Spirituality of Uncommon Christian James Brainerd Taylor--via the WorldCat database. Click here.

New (second) map on James Brainerd Taylor

The Global and Cross-Cultural Impact of the American Evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801–1829) and His Two Memoirs (1833, 1838).

Click here to view the map on UCM's web site. Special thanks to Topaz Maps, Inc. of Massachusetts.

In addition to online, this second map will be used in future books and PowerPoint presentations on J. B. Taylor.

Scroll down to see some pictures.

New UCM web site launched today (Jan. 15, 2008) . . . regular blogging to begin soon

Alas, Uncommon Christian Ministries' new web site is launched: www.uncommonchristian.com. Mark the date--January 15, 2008. After a several year wait and much work, a new era has begun. Exciting! (Among other domain names, the UCM web site will also work when clicking on http://www.franciskyle.com/ and http://www.jamesbrainerdtaylor.com/)

*NOTE: The 19-page web site is about 65% complete. Written documents (via Google Documents), photo albums (via Flickr), audio (via a yet-to-be-determined online provider) and video (via You Tube) still need to be added. For now, the site's foundation is complete.

I will begin regular blogging in the coming weeks or months. Stay tuned. Viewers of the UCM web site can access this Google Blog from the site.

Scroll down to see some pictures.