This is the Truth Network. Could there be a page-turning novel out there written by a pastor who was an amazing ball player—football, baseball, basketball—that brings healing to the heart and is just a compelling read?
Well, I'm looking at it right now, and the book is called Sleeves. And I'm having lunch with this pastor, and it's a beautiful October day. I don't know when we're going to play this podcast, but Pastor Jonathan Bowman, man, I've known you for years. We've competed, man. Absolutely, we've been out there, brother.
Absolutely, absolutely, man. Good times, good times.
Well, you're wearing the shirt like that's on the cover of the book. It's got a scripture on the back. You're going to tell us about that. Absolutely, it's got the name of the book on the front sleeves, and the Scar Works, which is. Just powerful when you think about the scars that you have.
Listening to my voice right now in your life, maybe it's a father wound. Maybe you just lost a close grandparent to cancer. Maybe you got a awful prodigal son or daughter out there. You're praying hard to come home. There's a lot of scars out there.
This right here, this book, is that there's a lot of your life. Reality in this thing, and I heard you preach at a mutual friend's funeral recently, and you just let it out, brother. Yes, you know I pastored for several years, feeling like that I was speaking another language, and simply because you know if you go to another country, you have to have a translator. And that translator helps you to speak the language and understand the language. But until I was forty years old, as a pastor, I didn't understand the language of pain because I'd never really had anything that had happened to me.
And then at age forty-one, I lost my sister to pancreatic cancer. Just a few years later, my brother-in-law he passed away at forty years old. Just fell over at the YMCA with a heart attack. And then I lost my father to pancreatic cancer. And so since being forty, I'm fifty-six now.
Believe it or not. Stew, that's how old we are, man. It's hard to believe it. We're getting old. We used to talk about old people.
I think we're them. I don't know about getting old. I think we're already there, man. But yeah, sure enough, man, I started just really thinking about the language of pain, and so I wanted to write a book about it, and I wanted to write a novel.
So I put it in a story form. I built in truths, and you know, one of the keys to this book, as it's on my sleeve right here, scar works. And so, you know, the idea of the book is that Jesus put his Cars to work for us, so we should be putting our cars to work for him.
So I want to get into why you wrote this book because you and I had had a little fun thing happen. You and I independently, even though we kind of both we both kind of talked to each other about our books. You ordered my book on Amazon. Thanks, Living. I ordered your book on Amazon.
You're sending me encouraging text. I'm I'm shooting them right back. I'm giving it right back to you because I'm reading about this amazing left-handed kid named Joey and his story, which is just remarkable. Which he didn't even want to talk about.
So traumatizing. And but I'm sitting here thinking you're reading my book, which is a little more didactic, a little more of a breakdown of scripture and this and that. I start reading your book. I'm like, oh my soul. I'm not doing a theological, like, you know, pick apart or diagnostic on this book.
Like, this is an enjoyable read. Like, this is figures and people, and muscle cars and in sports and public schools and bullying and this big old monster of a fella who follow who you know was a gangbanger but followed Jesus. Talk to me about this is this is like a this is fiction, but it's Christian fiction, so it's clean, but it's really compelling. Why this book? Why this particular genre?
Well, I chose to write a story, and the reason I chose to write a story is because a lot of people they'll pick up up a book that is didactic. Which I want to say this: your book might be didactic, but it's fantastic, and I have enjoyed it. I'm reading it for the second time now. But what I wanted to do is I wanted to write a book that was a story, a narrative, because a lot of people, you know, they'll pick up a book that is somewhat didactic, and then they'll just put it down. But you get them caught up in a story, you know, and then they'll stay.
With it, and then what I did was I I built in truths within it, even to the point of most people when they look at the cover of this book, they're not going to say, "Oh well, there's apologetics in this book." But I did write in a character for that very reason, and you'll love this character. I had a guy tell me the other day. He said, "You ain't gonna believe who the the character I love the most is." This is a seventy two year old man from Nashville, Tennessee, and I said, "It's probably Ben," and he said, "It is exactly Ben." He said, "I love that guy," but he's a lovable character. It's an unlikely friendship between the main character and him. But what I did is I wrote him in.
Because I do feel like there's a lot of people out there looking for apologetics and looking for something that can wrap their head around something to sink their teeth into. As far as just the the resurrection of Jesus is what we deal with for the most part. I don't want to ruin the storyline. I want. I don't want to give anyone a you know tell them the ending.
I want. I want them to get this book and read it. It's called Sleeves. Your kid will love you. Got a teenage kid?
They'll eat this up. They need to be reading. Readers are leaders. But Pastor Jonathan Bowman, even Pastor in Peace Haven Baptist Church, Yaconville, North Carolina. You love pastoring, you love feeding the flock, the Word of God.
You've done a lot of the community, you've done a lot of events. You and I have kind of grown up together, and in some some fun, different stuff. A lot of stories there. We probably can't get into those scarworks right now, but we're on this patio. It is cool.
A restaurant in North Carolina, Rooster's. The great folks. We got some. You had the wings. I had some delicious soup.
And I don't always get sweet tea, but there's sweet tea here's off the charts. Jimmy Noble, who's been on the show, great great man of God, great chef, and they always give back to. Ministry, all their restaurants do. This book sleeves, the subtitle: "A Season of Crisis, A Lifetime of Credibility." So, without giving away the the ending and kind of how this thing, you know, happens, and it is a powerful ending. Wow, reconciliation, healing, all that.
What is it that your life? This is a very incarnational book because there's a the heart of the author comes out of this thing. You know, you really. You're writing from the heart as you're as you're telling this story. It's like a modern day kind of parable.
What what is it you want to connect people out there? People listening right now are hurting. They're in a ton of pain. They got some scars. What do you say to them in terms of your modus operandi with this book sleeves?
I do a degroup Bible study at my house every other Sunday night, and there's a couple that comes. They're a little younger than I am. They're in their forties. And one night, we were talking, and this couple has been through maybe one of the worst things. I would say that me ministering to them was on the worst day of my ministry.
I've never had anything like that to happen before, and it had to be the it was definitely the worst day of their lives. Wow. One of those—it's one of those things, you know—you don't think somebody's going to survive, honestly. But years after the fact, she was sitting in our living room, along with all of the other people, and I was talking—I was alluding to their situation. But she just spoke up, and without giving away a lot of details, she just said, "Our situation gave us credibility." And I called her name.
Her name's Sarah, and I said, "Sarah, what do you mean by that?" She said, "What we went through made us credible to be able to minister to people in a capacity that very few people can, and that we never could before." And so, their season of crisis became their lifetime of credibility. That's where I got my subtitle from. And so, what I have done with this main character, Joy Bateman. Is I have brought us, you know, into this story with the understanding of what he's gone through, and he had two two crises that he went through, as the reader will understand. But what I wanted to bring out is this: is that no matter what you go through, God can take that crisis or those crises, and He can give you credibility to minister in a Second Corinthians chapter one way, where you are bringing comfort to others because God has given you comfort in your crisis.
And so that's kind of the point of the story. And again, not to give it all away, but there is a lot of exciting stuff, a lot of twists, a lot of turns. I think that it's good for all ages. It's good for all ages. When the sill of us becomes a real of us, and this thing hits home, my old coach used to say to me, "Stu, nothing comes to you of a difficult nature, of a crisis nature, that hasn't first gone through Jesus." Now, Pastor Bowman, talk about the cross connected to crisis.
Will you, real quick, for folks listening, folks that have no hope right now, folks that maybe. Want to take their own life? They're struggling. They're trying to connect to a teenager who just shuts them out and has the headsets in all the time. Key verse in this book, and you know, I kind of punctuated with this verse is Isaiah fifty-three five.
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace is upon him, and with his scars and with his wounds, with his stripes, we are healed. And so the I guess I guess the punch to the book is simply this: is that at the end of the day, Jesus Christ, He went to the cross, and He He He of course you know employed His scars for us, and so now we're employing our scars for Him, and we have the best model ever to follow after, and so. But the main character, he he of course is a Christian, but He's not living it out, but then Christ uses his scars to help him to help others around him to become believers and then to live it out in their own lives. Wow!
From from the heart and the mouth of a pastor, Pastor Jonathan Bowman, the book is sleeves. A season of Christ is a lifetime of credibility. Really, a great book. Like this is, I want to take this to the beach with me because you know you and I kept turning the chapters. Like I got to put it down.
I'll pick it up tomorrow, and I read through it. I really enjoyed it. You've got Isaiah fifty three five on the back of your shirt. Y'all should see him. I'm gonna put a picture when I when I post this podcast.
I'm gonna put a picture of us at this restaurant. You've got the. I mean, you look like the cover. I mean, that's you, man. It's like you're the model for this whole thing.
I'm like, wait, what's he wearing? Like, you look like you're ready to take the mound or grab the bat and get in there and slug one out. You know, I mean, just like you know, you're consummate athlete. You know, this all came out. You know, in a really interesting time for both of us.
You and I share a mutual friend. And I call her Mama Warren. You know Darren's mom. And Daddy, Daddy Bear Warren, Gene is in heaven. Was there a sweeter man on the planet than Gene Warren?
I mean, people don't people listen to what we're saying here. Oh yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Darren had a great dad, and Darren just recently passed away. I did his funeral here a while back, and you know, something interesting though is that Darren was living in Florida, and his sister went down, and she saw actually my book was on his coffee table. He was reading the book, and.
So I wanted it to be an encouragement to him, but I'm glad that Darren's with the Lord, and you know I do pray for his mom, for his sister, for his boys. I know that they're going through a tough time.
Well, you and I share this this little. Kind of cool thing. We both played ball with Darren. Yes, and he was a lot better at baseball than he was at basketball, right, or soccer. That's exactly right.
Darren was not a basketball player, and he was not a soccer player. But he was a he was a great left handed pitcher, left handed batter. Yeah, yeah. We we we reconnected here a few years back, and so we've been talking, you know. But I I just rejoice, absent from the body, for the believers to be present with the Lord.
Darren went through a few times, you know, where You know he's straightaway, and he was very transparent about that. That's what I loved about Daren. He was just flat out honest about it. But you know the one thing that he held solid to was that he was saved by grace through faith. Yeah, and his boys are great, you know, kids.
And you gave the gospel at that service. It was a real celebration, and Mama Warren was there. And you know the crazy thing is, is we had just been vandalized at our radio station. And I and I posted it on Facebook. You know, we attacked hard on our Charlotte facility.
And you know, Pastor Jonathan, by golly, I'm going through that receiving line. You're always like, what do I say? What don't I say? Or just be there, hug them, love them, and just try to love the boys and her and Dawn and all the family. You know.
And before I could even tell her how much I'm praying for, she said, "Hey, I'm praying for you for your radio station getting vandalized." And here she just lost her son and just was at the funeral for her son. I mean, that shows a heart. Just of of her, you know, and her passion for the Lord too. Is that encouraging? Yeah, Sharon is a class act.
I've known her for years, and you know, she's a godly woman and she's a praying woman. And so, you know, but that's the kind of person she is. You know, it's kind of like a lot of times as pastors, we go to people's homes and we go through the receiving line, and we we are thinking, okay, what are we going to say? And I want to be a blessing to them, and before you can say the first word, they're a blessing to you. And that's so fantastic.
Well, you blessed a lot of us with that message. I know, and on. Our friend Aaron, honor Christ and encourage him. And also, I want to tell you this book, "Sleeves." I really is going to bless a lot of people. I really believe it is.
What's the best way to get this book by Jonathan Bowman? "Sleeves," great book. If you're a sports fan, a muscle car fan, if you just want a good story about kids, if your kids going through something, get them this book. You got a prodigal, get them this book. You're stuck, you got scars.
You'll love this book. It takes you to Jesus, but it's got a great, compelling story. A lot of narratives, a lot of meta narratives. What's the best way to get it, Pastor?
Well, first of all, I will say this for the ladies: there is a romantic thread that is weaved into it, and so you'll appreciate that as well. But the best way to get it is just to go to Amazon and just look up "Sleep" by Jonathan Bowman. It'll pop up, and you can order it right there. Sixteen ninety nine.
