Catherine Parks writes from home in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband, Erik, and their two young children. She has sung some terribly cheesy songs in weddings over the years, and gave one of the worst rehearsal dinner speeches in history to her college roommate. She blogs at catherinestrodeparks.com. Linda Strode is a pastor's wife and has been involved in multiple aspects of wedding planning over the years. She survived the bridesmaid fashion horrors of the 70's and 80's and has quite a few photo souvenirs to prove it. Linda and her husband, Tom, live in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
It's your big day, at last! This is the day you've waited for, the
moment you've dreamed about. But what if you're not meant to be the
star of the show? This book will prove to you that Jesus Christ is
meant to be the center of your wedding, and, best of all, it will
help you put him there.Tim Challies, Blogger and Author of The Next
Story and The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment
In America, weddings have become a combination of a circus, a
spectacle, and a spending frenzy. Into this confusion step Linda
Strode and Catherine Parks, a mother-and-daughter team bringing
genuine biblical insight and Christian clarity that will help us
all think more rightly, more biblically, and more faithfully about
weddings. This is a timely and important book.Dr. R. Albert Mohler,
Jr., President of The Southern Baptist Theological SeminaryGrounded
in the gospel and chock-full of practical advice, Strode and Parks
give brides-to-be much to consider for planning a wedding in light
of eternity. In a season where it is easy to feel overwhelmed by
centerpieces and changing relationships, this book centers a
bride's thoughts and affections on the God who never changes.Gloria
Furman, author of Glimpses of Grace and Treasuring Christ When Your
Hands Are FullWe know the wedding day is all about the bride,
right? Catherine Parks and her mother, Linda Strode, collaborate in
A Christ-Centered Wedding to help you find the answer; and that
answer is no. The duo share compelling reasons why engaged couples
should center their pre-wedding days on the gospel. Suggestions
such as receiving mentoring and pre-marital counseling, to
considering a budget in light of God's word, will assist the
blushing bride and starry-eyed groom well past their wedding date.
Practical, honest, and grounded in truth, A Christ-Centered Wedding
is the perfect book for anyone thinking about saying those five
important words: Till death do us part.Trillia Newbell, author of
United: Captured by God's Vision for DiversityCatherine Parks and
her mother, Linda, have created an unexpectedly necessary tool for
pastors and counselors or anyone entering into the planning of a
wedding. The beautiful truth that the gospel informs and changes
everything from how to plan a wedding to your standing before God
is brilliantly displayed in A Christ-Centered Wedding. We hope you
pick up this book and are as pleasantly surprised as we were by the
holistic view that the gospel is for all of life. Jessica Thompson
and Elyse Fitzpatrick, co-authors of Give Them GraceThe Church has
been waiting way too long for this book. How many of us have sat
through, or officiated at, train-wreck weddings, wondering how the
glory of Christ came to be eclipsed in all this circus? This book,
by a wise mother and daughter team, offers guidance and counsel
about how to plan a wedding where Jesus is the focus, not an
afterthought. I commend this beautiful book to couples pondering
marriage, to families planning weddings, and to pastors seeking to
navigate through the morass of the modern wedding-industrial
complex. This book liberates us to see the wedding as the means to
the marriage, and not the other way around.Russell D. Moore, Ph.D.,
President, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Southern Baptist
ConventionMany other wedding books we read seemed to add to our
stress by telling us how to make our wedding "perfect." A
Christ-Centered Wedding replaced that feeling with the constant
reminder that our wedding will be about bringing glory to God, not
about making us look good. Every time we opened this book we felt
more excited for our wedding--not just to start our lives together
in the way that God intended, but for the opportunity to glorify
Christ and make Him known. Jacob and Rachel Dellinger, newlyweds
There are books that need to be written and there are uniquely
qualified authors who need to write them. It's a special moment
when book and author meet. An idea, hidden in the wide open of our
experiences is finally seen. It's always obvious once it's seen.
"Someone should write a book about that." Reluctantly, the observer
becomes the author. Their fate is to give the idea life. The result
is not simply words and paragraphs and grammar and knowledge. It's
a gift. A singular undeniable notion brought to light. A
contribution to the collective awareness of men. An audience that
languished unknowingly in the absence of this wisdom is set free by
that original convergence of book and author. That's a book worth
reading. The book you're holding in your hand is such a gift.A
Christ-Centered Wedding should have been written a long time ago.
The need is so obvious. Engaged couples, even Christian ones, can
struggle to keep the true significance of the wedding ceremony
front and center. By the time the wedding day arrives brides are
exhausted people. Having planned, made reservations, scheduled
events, invited friends and family, hired photographers and chased
down countless little tasks the concept of worship gets lost. More
importantly, Christ, the true honored guest, gets relegated to a
back seat. No one intends this to happen. But, it will unless you
are intentional. This is why A Christ-Centered Wedding is such a
brilliant help. From the gospel to finances - and every thing in
between - Catherine Parks and her mother, Linda Strode, will get
you to the altar with your sanity and a heart of praise. This book
is destined to become required reading for any Christian couple
planning a wedding.Byron Yawn, Lead Pastor, Community Bible Church
(Nashville, TN), Author of What Every Man Wishes His Father Had
Told Him & SuburbianityThis inspiring but practical stage by stage
book will keep believers' minds on Christ. Attractive and practical
ideas concerning every aspect of the wedding process are in this
book, but its main design is to make your wedding turn eyes to
Christ.Jim Elliff, Christian Communicators WorldwideWedding
planning too often centers on issues like flowers and the color of
the bridesmaids' dresses, with little thought given to how God will
be exalted and how the gospel will be proclaimed on the wedding
day. Here is a resource that puts the most important part of every
wedding ceremony back where it belongs, front and center.Bob
Lepine, cohost, Family Life Today
"Too many Christian couples buy into a worldly perspective about
weddings. That's why I'm exited to commend A Christ-Centered
Wedding to the couples in my church. There are plenty of good books
on marriage, but I don't know of any that helps a couple sort
through engagement with a radically gospel-centered perspective. A
Christ-centered Wedding does that, and much more."
Deepak Reju, Pastor of Biblical Counseling and Families, Capitol
Hill Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.
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