How to Pick Up a Stripper and Other Acts of Kindness

Serving People Just as They Are

By Todd Stevens and Erin Stevens

About the book:

The starting and ending points for all outreach have to be love. The most effective way to reach people for Jesus is through servant evangelism—showing God’s love in practical ways. This type of outreach is what Jesus modeled, is culturally relevant, and values people. The goal should be to invite people to take the next step from where they are. 

Friendship Community Church, led by Pastor Todd Stevens, has experienced tremendous growth through acts of kindness. The church’s most radical servant evangelism project is Nashville Strip Church, founded by Erin Stevens. Erin’s life changed when God told her to “go feed the strippers.” With home-cooked meals and gift bags, Erin shows dancers that God loves them. How to Pick Up a Stripper and Other Acts of Kindness includes the story of a dancer who has come to know Christ, left the strip club industry through Erin’s ministry, and is now serving with Erin to reach other strippers. 

From feeding the homeless, to Easter egg hunts for special needs children, to ministering in a strip club,How to Pick Up a Stripper and Other Acts of Kindness provides exciting ideas for showing God’s love in practical ways. 

Last week, my fam and I went on a little vacation to the beach.  If there is one thing this Mama loves, it’s reading a book by the pool or the ocean.  And I did just that every. single. day.  This was my book of choice.

Let me start out by saying this…I knew within the first 3 pages of this book that God was going to use it to change my life.  How’s that for a review?

This book was a fun, down-to-earth read.  Todd definitely has a sense of humor and I can so appreciate that!  And I so love that he used normal, every day words.  Goodness, I hate feeling like I need a dictionary beside me when I’m reading a book.

If you are like me and you want to know how to reach your neighborhood with the love of Jesus, this book is for you. If you feel God is telling you to just go love on people right where they are, then this book is for you. If you feel like we need to SHOW people Jesus love rather than just telling them {although telling them is important too}, then this book is for you.

In nine chapters, Todd and Erin challenge the reader to think about how their acts of kindness can make a difference for the Kingdom of God. This is because, as they point out: What we’ve found over and over is that by doing a simple act of kindness, which may not meet any obvious need, we often end up connecting with people on a much deeper level.

Time and time again I found myself saying “Shut up, I’ve felt this same way!”. I would read a page, get super excited and tell Joe he HAD to read it. My mind would fill with tons of ideas and my mouth would ramble on and on.  So many ideas that I will be putting into effect.  

Read this book and you will be encouraged and motivated to think differently about how to share God’s love with others in your neighborhood, workplace and maybe even family!

This book was provided to me free of charge by Book Look in return for my honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Parenting for the Launch

By Dennis Trittin and Arlyn Lawrence

Why yes, you did read that right. A sex book review up in here, woo! Before you start blushing, remember God created sex for husbands and wives to enjoy together. And that, my dear sisters, isn’t shameful at all!!!

We live in a society that is so super focused on sex and sexuality. TV, movies and books address this topic openly and even sometimes forcefully. I mean, hello, they are even using sex to sell Liquid Plumber! Yet the topic of true intimacy is often NOT a part of the picture.

This book is built as a bible study, which I love. This girl is a slow learner so when you break it down for me into a study format, I can focus and learn so much quicker. You can read it alone, with a friend or in a small group of women. It is designed to get you thinking (and talking) about intimacy in marriage. No worries, the book comes with rules already set about discussing these topics with others. The rules allow for boundaries about privacy while still creating a safe guide to use in interacting with others on the topic of intimacy. It is broken down into 10 weeks and each week has 5 days of study. Each day has a devotion, scripture and guiding questions with room to write out your answers.

This book is not just about sex. It is about respect, integrity, truth, forgiveness, temptations and faith. All of these are really important aspects of intimacy as well. The book is packed with scripture, taking a look about what God says about sex in marriage and addressing some of the misconceptions about sex that churches have held for centuries.

I was given this book by Moody Publishers for the purpose of this review.