|
CONTACT:
Jill Hendrix
Fiction Addiction
864-675-0540
info@fiction-addiction.com
http://www.fiction-addiction.com
Launch Events for South Carolina Pastor & Author Deb Richardson-Moore
 Greenville, SC, September 20, 2012 - South Carolina pastor and author Deb Richardson-Moore will be signing copies of her new book, The Weight of Mercy (Monarch Books, paperback, $13.99), at Triune Mercy Center (222 Rutherford St.) in downtown Greenville on Saturday, October 13th, from 2-4pm, and at Fiction Addiction's new location (1175 Woods Crossing Rd.) at 6:00pm. Both events are free and open to the public, and we will be serving light refreshments.
Ministry can be messy, complicated, and bewildering. Whether responding to the church alarm mysteriously and repeatedly going off in the middle of the night, firing a kitchen assistant with a habit of buying drugs from parishioners, or interacting with the Chicken-Eatin' Preacher from West Greenville, pastor Deb Richardson-Moore quickly admits that there is a great deal they do not teach you in seminary.
In this frank and engaging account of answering a call later in life, Richardson-Moore brings the reader into the world of her work at the Triune Mercy Center in Greenville, South Carolina. The result is an honest look at the complications and difficulties surrounding her first years of ministry to homeless men and women suffering from mental illness, crack addictions, and alcoholism. At the same time, it is a humorous and deeply touching account of God's grace manifested in the most remarkable of ways, whether in the inadvertent befriending of a mugger, or in the unexpected witnessing of an addict tenderly washing another's wounded foot.
In The Weight of Mercy, Richardson-Moore weaves a story that is difficult to forget, due both to its engaging characters and also its radical vision of what the Christian church could look like if it truly lived out Christ's command to welcome the stranger.
.jpg) Deb Richardson-Moore is pastor of the non-denominational Triune Mercy Center -- a mission church that ministers to and alongside the homeless in Greenville, South Carolina. Her congregation consists of street people who live in Greenville's "homeless triangle," as well as city dwellers and suburbanites who believe that the kingdom of God is widely and wildly inclusive.She is a native South Carolinian and a graduate of Wake Forest University and Erskine Theological Seminary. Prior to becoming a pastor, she was an award-winning writer for The Greenville News, covering art, theater, religion, and unconventional features. Her stories on a losing soccer team and on the lost art of clothes ironing won national awards, as did her body of work on religion. Under Deb's leadership, Triune has been transformed from a dying church and crowded soup kitchen into a vibrant worship community whose parishioners mingle freely across socioeconomic lines. She has introduced international opera and Broadway stars to the homeless, and in return, introduced homeless musicians and visual artists to the Greenville community. Using art, music, drama, and gardening along with more traditional programming such as mental health counseling, computer training, employment help, and drug rehabilitation, Triune has become known as a ministry that practices and preaches. Deb believes that living in solidarity with the impoverished, homeless, and mentally ill who make their way to Triune doesn't have to be grim. Nor ugly. Therefore, all comers are invited to share their gifts and to serve each other -- from running the laundry room to serving communion to leading tours in which they are the experts on homelessness. Many of their efforts have gone into beautifying the building and grounds and making the inner-city church a sunny, cheerful place to be. But it wasn't always so. When Deb stepped into the Triune pastorate as an inexperienced, middle-aged seminary graduate, she was overwhelmed by the need and the grime, the demands and the dirt, the hidden horrors of a population she didn't know existed. She was determined not to forget those early years, and out of that determination came The Weight of Mercy. Deb is married to Vince Moore, who is director of media relations for Furman University. They have three grown children. The Weight of Mercy is her first book.
If you cannot make the signing, you can reserve a personalized copy of The Weight of Mercy by contacting Fiction Addiction in advance at 864-675-0540 or at info@fiction-addiction.com.
ABOUT FICTION ADDICTION - Fiction Addiction is a local, woman-owned, independent bookstore established in 2001. The store carries a mixture of new and used fiction and nonfiction, including children's books, as well as gift items. We have recently moved to a new location at 1175 Woods Crossing Road (in the shopping center with Five Guys and Fried Green Tomatoes).
- END -
|
