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In Moderation
 Reflections From a Baptist Leader
By My Own Reckoning
By Cecil Sherman
Smyth & Helwys
Macon, Georgia
ISBN: 978-1-57312-502-4
288 pages, $224.00
helwys.com
"Who better than he can share a view from the inside of the Baptist
family in this country since the 1950s?" writes Dr. Randall Lolley, the
former president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, in the
foreword to this autobiography of Dr. Cecil Sherman '50.
In the book, Sherman reflects on his life as a pastor, family man, and
key moderate figure in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) political
controversy of the 1980s. It took several years of friends and editors
prodding him to write before his daughter, Eugenia, convinced him that
in a few years there would be no one living who could fill in pieces of
the Baptist story embedded in his memory--that he was a participant in
events and conversations that ought not be lost.
A longtime pastor, Sherman served in Georgia and New Jersey before a
twenty-year pastorate at First Baptist Church in Asheville, North
Carolina, and another seven at Fort Worth's Broadway Baptist. During
his later ministry, the SBC became embroiled in a struggle between
fundamentalists and moderates, and Sherman emerged as a prominent
moderate voice.
A leading church historian advised him to move quickly through the
pastor years, but to slow down for details of moderate politics, the
Peace Committee, and the start-up of the Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship, of which he was founding coordinator.
Sherman says the book also served a more personal purpose: "Writing
this story has let me know that I really am past that sad experience.
I'm at peace with those events and the consequences of them. But for
one thing I am glad: If I had tried to write my story in 1990, it would
have had an edge. Time has given me more balance. This is not an angry
story, nor have I tried to settle scores."
Much of the book is, in fact, a love story about his wife, Dot, and his
experience of caring for her during her descent into Alzheimer's. She
died shortly after the book was published, while Sherman himself was
undergoing treatment for cancer in Houston.
During the eighteen months while he was writing the book, Sherman also
taught pastoral ministries at the Baptist Theological Seminary in
Richmond, Virginia, continued his seventeen-year role of writing the
Formations Sunday School curriculum of Smyth & Helwys, and served
two interim pastorates.
 "My life has been more than the SBC controversy," Sherman writes.
"Controversy makes headlines; it does not make ministry. Controversy
makes for confrontation; the majority of my life has been about
reconciliation. And I'd like to be remembered so."
*****
She Won't Wait
Barbara Clark
Fort Collins, Colorado
bclarkmusic.com
The latest CD by 1982 Baylor graduate Barbara Clark includes a song
about faith ("Faith or fear, children, which will you choose?") and
some social commentary in songs like "Tryin' to Look Good." But mostly
Clark sings love songs.
Of the twelve cuts on the CD, nine are about love, spanning a wide
range of what loving is like--love wished for, found, enjoyed, and
lost--as well as good and not-so-good.
As a singer-songwriter, Clark portrays the satisfaction of loving and
being loved back, then delivers a twist on unrequited love in the title
song, "She Won't Wait." From the whimsical "Lyle, I Love It" to the
bittersweet "Memories of Mine" ("Why should I try to get you out of
mind? They say 'Time will do that just fine.' Yeah, I like these
memories of mine"), she engages her listeners' emotions and has them
humming along.
Clark says she "leans toward simplicity and emotion reflective of
ordinary human experience." However, one music critic has said, "Clark
can write circles round most singer-songwriters with superb
construction and emotional depth. Her elegant folk-country songs,
usually slow and sinuous, are mostly about personal feelings, but if
her crystal clear vocals make them sound simple, that's deeply
deceptive."
Now a resident of Fort Collins, Colorado, Clark previously lived in Austin, where she recorded an earlier CD,
 Wholehearted.
Samples of her songs (along with a chance to purchase them as MP3s) are
available on her website or at online music distributors.
*****
An Irishwoman's Tale
By Patti Lacy
Kregel Publications
Grand Rapids, Michigan
kregel.gospelcom.net
About her debut novel, Patti Qualls Lacy '77 says, "I've done my best
to fictionalize a gritty story told to me on my front porch in Terre
Haute, Indiana, by a woman whose first memories dogged at her and would
not let go despite her attempts to live a 'normal' life."
She tells the story of Mary Freeman, whose earliest memory is of an old
oaken table, bitter faces and bitter tea, and a heated discussion of
what’s to be done with her--the "little eejit." Now an American
entrepreneur, wife and mother, and Christian and community servant,
Mary is still a lonely and tormented woman. But a crisis in her
daughter's life sends her back to County Clare, Ireland, where she is
forced to come face to face with her past--and with God.
 The author is married to Alan Lacy, MSEd '73, a professor at Illinois State University. Her second novel, Unsettled Waters, will be published next spring.
*****
How Women Help Men Find God
By David Murrow
Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Nashville, Tennessee
thomasnelson.com
David Murrow '83 says he's not a pastor, professor, or theologian but
"just a guy in the pews who is tired of seeing churches blow it with
men." Murrow is also director of Church for Men, an organization to
help congregations reconnect with what he calls "the world's largest
unreached people group."
The book is written directly to women "to help them understand the real reasons men resist Christianity." His first book, Why Men Hate Going to Church, generated articles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Tribune, and appearances on PBS and NBC Nightly News.
Murrow lives in Chugiak, Alaska, with his wife, Gina Medaris Murrow, a 1984 Baylor graduate, and their three children.
Also of Note
Bernie Calaway '64 has written Oracles From Olivet: The Eschatological Jesus, released by PublishAmerica. [publishamerica.com]
Dr. Harry Fred Tibbals III '65 is the coauthor of Introduction to Nanoscience, published by NanoScienceWorks. [nanoscienceworks.org]
Jeanie Ball Miley '67 has written Joining Forces: Balancing Masculine and Feminine, published by Smyth & Helwys. [helwys.com]
Hannibal Books has released a book by Louis Moore '68, Witness to the Truth: Lessons Learned by a Veteran Journalist Through Four Decades of Watching the Church. [hannibalbooks.com]
Clifford Lane Mark '73 is the author of a novel, Ecumensus: The Next Vision, released by iUniverse. [iuniverse.com]
Judy Pace Christie '78 has written her fourth book, Goodbye, Murphy's Law: Whatever Can Go Wrong, God Can Make Right, published by Abingdon Press. [abingdonpress.com]
Cheryl-Kirk Duggan, PhD '92, has written Misbegotten Anguish: A Theology and Ethics of Violence, published by Chalice Press. [chalicepress.com]
Judson Press has published Those Preaching Women: A Multicultural Collection, co-edited by Valerie Bridgeman Davis, PhD '02. [judsonpress.com]
Regina Wilson Miller '06 has written Wisdom of a Woman (A Book of Poetry), released by Xlibris. [xlibris.com]
If you've recently had a book published, a CD released, or a video
produced, send a copy for consideration c/o "Under Review," Baylor
Line, One Bear Place #97116, Waco, TX 76798-7116.
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