Faithful Over A Few Things (published by Orman Press - Lithonia, Georgia) was written by Rev. Dr. George McCalep, Jr., pastor of the Greenforest Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga., former university professor and present faculty member at Luther Rice Seminary in Atlanta.

In Faithful Over A Few Things, Dr. McCalep attempts to give the reader the ingredients, based on his research and experiences, which are necessary to start and maintain the growth of a church. Dr. McCalep cites seven (7) things that pastors and church leaders must do in order to produce a growing church.

The focus of the book is on relationships and the significance of relationships to church growth. Beneath this main idea, however, is the underlying theme that, at some point, every "new" member, idea and/or group will eventually become "old" - thus producing a very constant need for evangelism to maintain the life of the church.

Having studied psychology and served as a people manager and minister, I am deeply aware of and agree with Dr. McCalep as to the importance of and differences in relationships.The author's purpose for writing this book has clearly been achieved. As a minister who constantly asks God for the tools to be a good shepherd, I will attempt to employ many of the ideas contained in Faithful Over A Few Things.

A great way to see all George's paintings in one place.

George Baxt has carved out an interesting niche in the mystery world, from the gay-themed Pharaoh Love series to the Celebrity series, which takes names like Dorothy Parker, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis and, of course, Alfred Hitchcock, and weaves them into mystery plots as amateur detectives.

Because I like fictional versions of real people in my books, I was bound to come across Baxt at some point. For the most part, I can say I'm glad I did. His mysteries are usually entertaining and very funny, which works with an original character, like Pharaoh Love, or even with a character like Dorothy Parker, who you expect to be funny.

But here we have Alfred Hitchcock, who had a wicked on-set sense of humor. But Baxt's portrayal here seems false somehow - Hitch and his wife Alma become embroiled in a plot that seems to come directly from one of Hitchcock's movies. It's complex and wry and gives one the impression that everyone knows what's going on but the hero (a staple of several of Hitch's spy movies). Many people die throughout the story and Alma & Hitch giggle through it all as though they were Nick and Nora Charles. But that isn't the problem.

I'm okay with humorous mysteries. I'm okay with detectives who laugh in the face of death. But I'm afraid I wasn't prepared for Alfred Hitchcock laughing in the face of death. I suspect this is a failing of my own, but I didn't get the feeling that the characters were well-researched or portrayed effectively.

One thing I did like was the "Dain Curse"-like plotting that stretched the story over several years.

This was the swan song of Samuel Driver, the greatest Bible scholar of his generation. His commentaries on Samuel and Deuteronomy are still well worth reading; indeed, they are still unsurpassed in some aspects. Why is this book different? Firstly, Driver died before finishing it; most of the general commentary, and much of the "philological notes" (which occupy half the book), were by G B Gray. While he was a fine scholar, he was not quite in Driver's league. Secondly, Job is probably by far the most difficult book in the Bible to deal with. It is written in complex, allusive poetry which even Driver could not understand. In the last 80 years, a flood of new light has been cast on the Old Testament by archaeology, comparative linguistics and other disciplines. This has improved the understanding of every book, but Job has benefited far more than Deuteronomy and Samuel. Thus, while this book is by no means worthless, it has been superseded by more recent commentaries (notably "The Book of Job" and "The Book of God and Man" by Robert Gordis).