Holy Roller: Finding Redemption and the Holy Ghost in a Forgotten Texas Church [Hardcover]

Julie Lyons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2009

Julie Lyons was working as a crime reporter when she followed a hunch into the South Dallas ghetto. She wasn’t hunting drug dealers, but drug addicts who had been supernaturally healed of their addictions. Was there a church in the most violent part of the city that prayed for addicts and got results?

At The Body of Christ Assembly, a rundown church on an out-of-the-way street, Lyons found the story she was looking for. The minister welcomed criminals, prostitutes, and street people–anyone who needed God. He prayed for the sick, the addicted, and the demon-possessed, and people were supernaturally healed.

Lyons’s story landed on the front page of the Dallas Times Herald. But she got much more than just a great story, she found an unlikely spiritual home. Though the parishioners at The Body of Christ Assembly are black and Pentecostal, and Lyons is white and from a traditional church background, she embraced their spirituality–that of “the Holy Ghost and fire.”

It’s all here in Holy Roller–the stories of people desperate for God’s help. And the actions of a God who doesn’t forget the people who need His power.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The former editor for the alternative weekly Dallas Observer, Lyons writes about her membership of nearly two decades in a poor South Dallas African-American Pentecostal church, the Body of Christ Assembly. Though she found the church as a reporter in search of a story about supernatural healing from crack cocaine addiction, she arrived a fully formed believer in search of her own healing from her attraction to women and her depression. The book tracks the lives of the founding pastor, Fredrick Eddington Sr., a onetime drug addict with schizophrenic tendencies who overcame his problems through faith, and his wife and co-pastor, Diane, a legally blind, captious woman for whom life is a tightrope between holiness and hell. Lyons writes searing and sympathetic portraits of the down-and-out black residents of South Dallas. But this slim memoir is short on historical, political and economic analysis and long on descriptions of moral sins, from the sexual to the selfish. The book's overwhelming emphasis on deliverance often runs up against the realities of poverty and exploitation. Lyons briefly acknowledges this during a church mission trip to Botswana, but never fully examines it. Readers looking for an intimate peek at black Pentecostal religiosity, in its successes and shortcomings, will appreciate the book. (June 16)
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About the Author

Julie Lyons is an award-winning writer, editor, and investigative reporter who for more than eleven years was editor-in-chief of the Dallas Observer, an alternative weekly newspaper owned by Village Voice Media. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a B.A. in English from Seattle Pacific University. She and her husband, Larry Lyons Jr., live in Dallas with their son.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook Press (June 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400074959
• ISBN-13: 978-1400074952
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,337,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be careful, this book will change you, June 27, 2009

By 

Anita Ashland (Madison, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holy Roller: Finding Redemption and the Holy Ghost in a Forgotten Texas Church (Hardcover)

Many of us who belong to a church have chosen churches where we feel comfortable.

In this timely and timeless book, Julie shows us how she chose a different way.

When you read her stories of her pastor and the people who attend her black Pentecostal church, and the ways crack and extreme poverty ravaged the South Dallas neighborhods where her church resides, you will realize that Christianity is bigger than you have imagined.

You'll understand a bit better the power of the Holy Spirit and the necessity of interacting with people who are different from you.

Julie is honest about her own flaws and the failings of black Pentecostalism, even as she fully embraces her church.

Even though she is so transparent she doesn't marinate in gloom; you hear joy in her voice, so you don't feel dragged down. In that way, this book is helpful to anyone who has attended a church for many years and struggles with the inevitable disappointments along the way.

Too often we overlook or dismiss what we might learn from believers in other traditions because we have a superiority complex about our own church. Holy Roller is a deep book, one one you'll want to share with other believers or even non-believers who are interested black culture, because it's not a preachy book.

I hope you'll suspend any biases you may have against Pentecostalism just long enough to read this book. I should note that I'm not a Pentecostal; I'm white and my church tradition is far different from Pentecostalism. But this book changed me and I think it will change you, too, for the better.

Thank you, Julie.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for me..., October 16, 2009

By 

Trisha (Indiana, U.S.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holy Roller: Finding Redemption and the Holy Ghost in a Forgotten Texas Church (Hardcover)

Although I was very excited to receive this book, it didn't catch my interest. I read through the first 5 chapters or so before deciding to give up. The subject matter was interesting, but the writing style didn't appeal to me. Even as the author was revealing her own, very personal issues and doubts with Christianity, it felt very impersonal. Others might disagree, but this book was just not for me.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holy Roller, by Julie Lyons, July 10, 2009

By 

James Sweeney (WI, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Holy Roller: Finding Redemption and the Holy Ghost in a Forgotten Texas Church (Hardcover)

"Holy Roller", is one of those great,rare books that you won't want to put down; then will be disappointed with, that it had to come to an end with the last page. Of course, the story must continue...a next book maybe?
This is a beautifully written journey about discovering truth. It's honest, transparent,took courage to write, and is important to read. The truth isn't always easy to swallow, but it is what it is. Real Truth is found in the Bible and will support everything you will find written on these pages of, "Holy Roller". The Holy Spirit is working in miraculous ways TODAY, and spiriual warfare is REAL and through Christ we are victorious! Glory to God!
Thank you, Julie for telling your story, and for sharing the truth of God's Holiness. The world, especially Christians today, need to be awaken to the truths held in this book. A MUST READ for anyone who seeks real truth about the power, love, deliverance and redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have encouraged me greatly. Thank you! Cindy Sweeney