We’ve been out of touch too long!

This week I recognized my lapse when I was with a friend and we were discussing the McBride Lecture for Faith & Literature. I mentioned our guest this fall will be National Book Award winner Alice McDermott. I commented to this alumna and writer that our “series” really didn’t begin 7 years ago, when the McBride Lecture was named for Bailey and Joyce McBride. Really, I said, it began 10 years ago with the visit of Jeff Berryman and his novel Leaving Ruin, his performance on our stage, and his “blessing for Artists” in chapel.

This alumna told me she has read and re-read Leaving Ruin nearly every year since and that she thinks the book gets better every time she reads it.

So…how’s that for a testimonial to your work? I hope it is as gratifying to hear as it is for me to recall your generosity, creativity, and energy on our campus 10 years ago and since! You helped us begin something significant.

Best,
Scott

I’m reading “Leaving Ruin” and can’t put it down. It is so refreshing, so thought-provoking, especially for those of us in ministry, and so right on, and you have such a gift with prose. Thank you for writing this book…

Becca Turner