Customer Reviews

Church Boy

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CHURCH BOY by Connie G. Barrett is a coming-of-age story of a young man caught in the mean streets of East St. Louis. Cordell, the product of a hard working mother and a missing father, decides to try marijuana one day. Later, when he attempts to pay the drug dealer for the dope, he is attacked by the dealer and his friends and told that he 'owes' them. Cordell runs away through alleys, backyards and abandoned houses and fortunately runs up on the church van. He quickly jumps aboard, goes to church and that night he gets saved. Cordell spends a great deal of time in church after that. He is good at music, joins the choir and also masterminds a musical for the church. The choir director is a rather mean and angry woman and Cordell does have some rough spots but he doesn't give up.

Meanwhile, at home, his little brother is heading down the same path he had gone; his older sister won't have anything to do with the church and his younger sister just may be straying also. Tossed into the mix is his best friend, Westside, another fatherless young man with a judgmental family who attends the same church. Both Cordell and Westside are having the growing pains of all teenage boys and they handle some situations well and mess others up. Finally Westside makes a move that gets the gang members trying to kill him and the action picks up dramatically. Will Westside survive the most vicious gang in East St. Louis? Will Cordell find him in time to save his life?

Barrett's book is an interesting look at the church of today. Her conclusions about how to handle the church members are exceptional. I wish I had seen this book earlier. The writing is smooth, non-preachy and interesting but there could be more tension in the various conflicts that Cordell and Westside face. The novel had a nice, even pace but would have been more captivating if the action had been quicker. The main characters were well developed and it was easy to identify with them and their issues. I would recommend this book to a wide audience, especially young, black men and church folks.

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Church Boy deals eloquently with a subject that people don't normally discuss openly - attending church. Attending church and choosing a belief is a very personal choice, so dealing with the wide range of emotion that comes with being a church member in good standing hasn't really been tackled in the fiction world. It is also refreshing to know that Church Boy centers on a man's experiences in church. Many woman who attend church Sunday after Sunday often bemoan the fact that men aren't in attendance- church lacks the strong male presence outside of the married pastor. True enough we may be going to church for the wrong reasons if taking a head count of the single men is the primary objective, but there is a disparity in the numbers between the sexes. Cordell Armstrong is the man who has found the courage in his convictions and admittedly found the strength to attend church while making a getaway to save his life. To escape from thugs who clearly mean to do more harm than good, he hops on the church van on its way to revival. Constricted because he vowed that church just wasn't his thing, and realizing that there was no way to escape the final destination, he thought that at least he would please his mother by making an appearance. Teased unmercifully on the van, because he had such profound stuttering, he couldn't wait for the van to arrive at church and for church to be over but something happened during the revival that would forever change the course of Cordell's life, he was saved. If that wasn't enough, he was also delivered from stuttering.

Life changed for Cordell after he found that God loved him and cared enough about him to change the way he talked. His deliverance so impressed his friend Westside, that he joined church and accepted Christ as well. His mother was proud of her son, for she taught all of her children that peace abided within the church, but clearly left the choice for pursuit to them. Life for these two young men, who were raised in the midst of chaos and turmoil changed with the addition of church and its wide variety of events and services designed to keep those that belonged to church, in church. As the story progresses we find that Church Boy has all the elements of a story that will keep you reading: an innocent romance; scandal in the church; rejection of an absent parent; siblings coming to terms with who they are; struggle; triumph; and defeat. Cordell and his family-his mother, two sisters, younger brother and Westside - transcend the pages of Church Boy to make a subject that isn't discussed, very interesting. This novel says a lot of things that people think but don't verbalize-keeping it real, and that is a refreshing tone. The frank discussions that the family has, the independence that the mother allows her children when it comes to their personal relationship with God and the church are insightful. I appreciate a book that is well written, devoid of grammatical errors and full of interesting views on subjects that I normally take for granted.

The child of a God-fearing mother, Cordell Armstrong and his siblings were raised in the church. But unlike his mother, Melissa, Cordell has never had any reason to believe in the God that she serves. That is, until trouble on the streets finds Cordell hitching a ride on the church bus. In a temporary effort to seek sanctuary from the mean streets and a chap named Ivan, Cordell's life is about to be dramatically altered.

A stutterer all of his life, Cordell's chance visit to church turns into a life-changing experience. Surely God is speaking to him through the visiting pastor. With the Holy Spirit wooing him Cordell finds himself at the front of the Wednesday night service having hands laid on him. Once Cordell comes to, his old life as he knew it, will never be the same again. God has performed a miracle. Cordell's stutter is gone!

Cordell's transformation sends shock waves throughout the school and his community. Cordell freely shares his newfound gift of salvation with his best friend, Westside, who is in need of some spiritual healing of his own.

Initially the two young men find solace in their burgeoning relationship with the church. But like many new converts, Cordell and Westside have made a serious error in judgment. Going to church is one thing, but cultivating a relationship with God is an entirely different ball of wax.

As Cordell and Westside learn how to juggle the demands of life, jobs, and new love interests, they also must deal with the reality outside of the church walls. Simply going to church will not garner you automatic admittance into the Kingdom, Cordell and Westside must enter into the church without walls. It is there that they will find the missing pieces, the commitment to God resides in the soul, not in brick and mortar.

Rosalind Stormer, author of "Healing The Breach"
Flavah Reviewers

Connie Barrett has written the side of the church that people usually omit to mention. There is definitely a distinctive difference for people who go to church and people who live for the Lord. Cordell Jr & his family are a typical struggling inner city family. His father (Cordell Sr) left them and his mother has been doing the best she can to provide for them and teach them the right way. Cordell is in a delimna when he runs & gets on the church van to escape a situation that could be very harmful. He arrives at church & is presented with a sermon that affects him personally. A miracle is performed and it changes his life & touches others around him. The struggles continue and more are presented as he walks in the light of the Lord. He learns that all things in church are not what they seem and there are issues even with the Pastor and leaders of the church. Everyone needs prayer. There is a lot going on in this story and every character is important, you find anger in the family, anger at the church, anger at God. This story shows that even though you turn your life over and you are on the right path, people even in church will try to suppress you. Even Mama has some lessons to learn and has to go back and correct some things from her past. I rate this story between "3 1/2 - 4 stars" because there is a lot, but Connie Barrett does not lose you, she wraps it up nicely also. Very well done.

Reviewer: Jackie M (also reviews written under jaibeem on amazon.com)

Living the life and walking the walk is not easy for Cordell Armstrong and his best friend, Westside, in Connie Barrett's book, Church Boy. One day while running away from drug dealers, who were trying to harm him, Cordell jumps on the Church van. He goes to service that night and his life is changed. When he goes to the altar to give his life to Christ, a miracle is performed and he is healed of his stuttering. Filled with the spirit, Cordell witnesses to everyone about his experience. Soon Westside becomes saved also. As young people and babes in Christ, Cordell and Westside have a lot to learn about the politics of the church and the antics of the "saints". They also have problems just being young black men facing unemployment, family issues and relationships. The two brothers in Christ had different but very common reactions to their lives as Christians.

Barrett deals with quite a few issues and problems that young Christians face everyday. This reader would have liked to have seen the author just deal with a few of the issues and fully develop them instead of glossing over them and then several chapters later surprising the reader with a conclusion. There were a few problems with transitions where the author dove into the past or changed subjects without warning. With good editing and a more developed storyline, this could have been a real good book. I commend the author for writing this book on young Christians and I look forward to more work by Ms. Barrett as her writing matures.

Jeanette
APOOO BookClub