PG drama shows 'God at work' as community unites to find missing boy

The day he faced every parent's greatest fear—a child gone missing—brought faith and family firmly back into focus for Ray Simpkins and has been recreated in a drama sharing his lessons of hope and misplaced priorities.

Former TV Superman Dean Cain portrays the helpless, distraught father in The Way Home (0-31398-12452-8, $19.98) from Red Five Entertainment, released on DVD last month.

Filmed on location in Georgia where the events occurred in 2000, the movie recalls how 2-year-old Joe Simpkins went missing while being watched by his father, who gets distracted. The disappearance prompted a search joined by hundreds of local residents and provoked Ray Simpkins to reevaluate what was really important in his life and rediscover the power of prayer.

Close Up: Sharon A. Hersh

Latest project: Begin Again, Believe Again: Embracing the Courage to Love With Abandon (Zondervan).

Resides in: Lone Tree, Colo.

You have addressed women in this book, but who in that group were you particularly writing for? "For women who have dreamed and hoped and prayed and believed in relationships and have experienced the inevitable disappointment, difficulty and even heartbreak that can come as we live and love in relationships, and we get discouraged. We have conflicts that we can't resolve. We have children who go different directions than we originally dream of. We get lonely and we give up. This book is to encourage women to begin again and believe again."

You observe that relationships are often the source of our pain. What is the place of pain in our lives? "I do think it is in relationships, as we encounter difficulties or dreams that are shattered or a heartbreak that comes because we do want too much in relationships. And where we get into trouble is we begin to believe that this ache for more is only to be experienced in human relationships rather than understanding that this beautiful ache for more is really intended to take us from the human relationship to the divine relationship."

Music journalist and biographer Steve Turner moves beyond gospel's stereotypic robed choirs to offer a history of music that has given voice to African-Americans—and shaped musical forms such as blues and rock 'n' roll—in An Illustrated History of Gospel: Gospel Music From Early Spirituals to Contemporary Urban (978-0-745-95339-7, $29.95, Lion Books/Kregel Publications).

Illustrated throughout with photographs and memorabilia, the 208-page hardcover volume tells the story of gospel in a period when social and economic changes were taking place in America. Surveying the development of gospel over a century and a half, from slave plantations in the 19th century to segregation in the 20th century to the public arenas of the 21st, Turner seeks to provide "a good and easily readable introduction" to the genre.

Accessible guide addresses questions Christians most fear being asked

Known for his Contagious Christian series, apologist and best-selling author Mark Mittelberg aims to help believers stop avoiding hard questions in their witness for Christ, in The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask (With Answers).

Encouraging his fellow Christians to "do some extra reading, do some extra study," Mittelberg reminds readers of I Peter 3:15, which "commands all of us as believers to be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks for the reason for the hope that we have"—and he sets out to help.

Working with David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, and Tyndale House Publishers, 1,000 Christians were asked what issues they were most afraid non-Christians would raise in conversation about faith. Knowing that they might encounter these questions, Mittelberg says, means that Christians often avoid addressing faith issues out of fear.

Your new album is simply titled—Move. How did you come up with the name?
(Tai Anderson) We were answering the question from "Revelation" (the title track from our last album), which says, "Tell me, should I stay here or do I need to move?" and we really liked the idea of go, move-put your faith into action.

It may take a village to raise a child, but it took a town to make Rust, a drama about lost faith and grace, being distributed to Christian retail by Provident-Integrity Distribution.

Though the 95-minute mystery stars TV actor Corbin Bernsen—who also wrote and directed it—Rust (0-43396-35750-1, $24.96) was produced and financed by the residents of Kipling in Saskatchewan, Canada, some of whom also appear on screen.