Free at Amazon Friday, February 13-16.
BLURB
An aging Baptist preacher in small-town Kansas. The members of a band who play contemporary Christian music in Los Angeles. Beyond their love for the Lord Jesus and His people, they have only their struggles with failure and success in common—until tragedy brings them together on Christmas Eve.
When Paul Knight joins the members of Olive U, the group instantly jumps from local cover band to sought-after opener at concerts across the nation. The problem is Paul may not know the Lord as well as he claims.
After a tornado of historic proportions rips through Kansas, an elderly Baptist preacher, Ron Best, faces challenges to his doctrinal beliefs and failure after failure in his ministry. But the Holy Spirit keeps pushing him forward. Olive U is the story of how God brings these men together for Christmas Eve on the wind-swept Kansas Plains.
David L. Johnston has been in prison in California for nearly 30 years. He is an elder and assistant pastor (administration) to Dino Cardelli at the Church on the Yard at D Facility, Valley State Prison, outside Chowchilla. He is currently in his fourth year with Harvest Bible University School of Correspondence, Los Angeles, California, where he is studying for his bachelor of ministry degree. OLIVE U is an adaptation of a play Johnston wrote and directed while a prisoner at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison at Corcoran. Johnston is a native of Dallas, Texas, and a veteran of the US Navy. He is 50 years old.
When Paul Knight joins the members of Olive U, the group instantly jumps from local cover band to sought-after opener at concerts across the nation. The problem is Paul may not know the Lord as well as he claims.
After a tornado of historic proportions rips through Kansas, an elderly Baptist preacher, Ron Best, faces challenges to his doctrinal beliefs and failure after failure in his ministry. But the Holy Spirit keeps pushing him forward. Olive U is the story of how God brings these men together for Christmas Eve on the wind-swept Kansas Plains.
David L. Johnston has been in prison in California for nearly 30 years. He is an elder and assistant pastor (administration) to Dino Cardelli at the Church on the Yard at D Facility, Valley State Prison, outside Chowchilla. He is currently in his fourth year with Harvest Bible University School of Correspondence, Los Angeles, California, where he is studying for his bachelor of ministry degree. OLIVE U is an adaptation of a play Johnston wrote and directed while a prisoner at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison at Corcoran. Johnston is a native of Dallas, Texas, and a veteran of the US Navy. He is 50 years old.
What none of that sales copy tells you is that David Johnston is my cousin. When I was growing up, my grandmother and mother often had family gatherings on Easter and New Year's Eve, and I spent time with David at many of those, watching him hunt Easter eggs, shoot off fireworks, and generally horse around with me and my brothers and the rest of our cousins. He was always a bright, imaginative kid, and it doesn't surprise me a bit that he turned out to be a writer.
Bad choices landed David behind bars early in life, but he's been able to overcome that to change his life and become one of the leading figures in California's prison ministry. Now he's written an excellent novel in OLIVE U that's not only an inspirational story of people changing their lives with the Lord's help, but also a fine tale of the music business and its challenges and opportunities.
Prayers and Promises Publications published OLIVE U to help David share his vision with the world and also because it's a compelling, vividly written novel with a great story. OLIVE U is free for the next four days on Amazon and could really use some reviews. If you're a reader of inspirational fiction, please help us get the word out about this outstanding novel.
