Category Archives: Steel Chronicles
My Mother Wore Pants!
My mother was the greatest teacher I have ever known. She had an eleventh grade education from a small country school in Saline, Louisiana and married my father when she was 16, just a month away from her 17th birthday. She grew up on a share cropping farm with four sisters and a brother. My father and my mother lived on a farm until 1941 when my mother convinced my father they had to move to Shreveport, Louisiana and he had to find a “real” job or they would starve on the farm.
My mother drove a school bus most of my young life. Because of that, she preferred to wear pants. And she made those pants herself to save money. This is important to understand because a woman wearing pants in the church in the 1960s was forbidden. Why was this important? My father was a bi-vocational “choir director” and the entire family was at church every time the doors were open. (the photo is from our visit to Disney World in 1994 — A story for another day!)
Now my mother loved the Lord. She taught me to love God and to love others. She always told me, “Bruce, you may be better off than someone else, but you are no better than someone else. We are all the same in the eyes of God.” Maybe that kind of unconditional love is what her college kids saw when they drove a couple of hours from nearby colleges on Sunday morning to sit in her Sunday School class at Blanchard Baptist Church.
Read the rest of this entryBecoming Confidently Unique (In Christ) Summit
Check out my interview with Dr. Tim Blake.
Tim and I talked about being uniquely created by Christ with our spiritual gifts, our inborn talents, and our acquired skills. We talked about how God has a unique place of service for every person!
The Homecoming Feast
A long time ago, in a church far away . . .
In the late 1980s and early 1990s at Brookwood Baptist Church, Bruce Edwards, our associate pastor, formed a drama team. Bruce passed away recently and I have been thinking about all the dramas he pulled off.
One year, he handed me a script. It was a copy of a copy of a Mimeograph of the script, “The Living Last Supper”. The author’s name was obscure and the date on the script was 1953. Bruce assured me the author was dead and it was okay to update and modernize the script. His plan was to use the script not only as performance for Maundy Thursday, but to utilize our deacons as the actors.
Deacons? He actually thought that deacons could pull this off? We would need twelve deacons and, of course, the part of Jesus Christ. But, true to Bruce’s persuasive personality, he found 12 deacons who agreed to be a part of the performance.
The following weeks were unbelievable! As deacons, we all pulled together. We had devotions, prayer times, rehearsals and a special dinner with our wives. And the night of the performance was lightning in a bottle! The response was incredible.
“The Deacon Led Living Last Supper” continued for a few years until Bruce left Brookwood and I took over as the drama leader. Brookwood had entered the 21st century and the Living Last Supper had lost some of its unique quality. But our pastor, Mark Sutton, wanted us to perform an updated version in our new campus.
There had been an idea bouncing around inside my head. The original script ends with Jesus’ betrayal. The disciples all asked the question, “Is it I?” And Jesus tells the disciples he will not eat with them again until they are reunited in heaven.
Aha! I had an idea. I could do a “sequel” to the script. In this followup, the stage would not open with the disciples sitting at the upper room table as in the famous painting of the Last Supper. Rather, the table would be empty but replete with food and drink. Jesus appears and silently awaits as one by one, the apostles appear in heaven in the order in which they died.
Each apostle would tell the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. They would then talk of the birth of the church and complete the story begun in the original script. They would each share the price they paid for following Christ.
But what to do with Judas’ seat? I could put the apostle chosen to take his place but what if we allowed someone to have the empty seat who most deserved it? And so, Paul arrives and takes the seat.
The “Living Last Supper: The Homecoming Feast” was a success and we only performed it once. I moved on from drama and posted my dramas here on this website under the “Flip Side” tab.
To my amazement, every year I get multiple requests for the scripts for both “The Living Last Supper” and “The Homecoming Feast”. Several years ago I was contacted by someone who pointed out the author was still alive! I pulled the original script and put a disclaimer on my site. I never want to be accused of plagiarism.
However, “The Homecoming Feast” is original and my script. But I do not charge for using it. If it can enlarge the Kingdom, then go for it, I tell any one requesting the script.
So, to my utter amazement, I received this email from Doug McCallum
Director of Senior Adult Ministries from St. Mark’s Methodist Church this past week:
Bruce: I can’t thank you enough. The production was a hit. A bases loaded bottom of the ninth homer over the fence. People were literally moved to tears. Jesus and the disciples received hugs, hand shakes and accolades for at least 30 minutes after the production out in the hallway from strangers. I have received e-mails, letters and personal notes on how great it was – even the Sr. Pastor came up to me and said “UNBELIEVABLE – WOW!.
Well Bruce – With Gods help I found 12 men who were perfect. Who had never acted before but were devout Christians and couldn’t say NO to me even though 5 wanted to I found out later. I hired a theater major to play Jesus who just happens to be a minister in another denomination. See pictures. He was unbelievable.
All I can tell you – It was the most incredible thing we have ever done in the Methodist Church. People are still raving about it weeks later.
So to you Sir. Thank you for allowing me and our crew to do your works. We did you proud and God said, “Well Done Good and Faithful Servants!
I was stunned and amazed at how God continues to work with those things we have forgotten or put aside. His Word will NEVER return to Him void! Well done, Doug and all of the cast and crew that made this possible. Perhaps, one day, we will appear at that feast in heaven and hear those words! I can only hope!
“You Saved My Life”
The story of our book continues to baffle and amaze me. Back in 2019, we learned that the second version of our book was no longer in print. B&H Publishing never let us know and I was trying to order copies for a seminar. That day, I realized our two books had an amazing run since the first book, “Conquering Depression” came out in February 2001. I spoke with Mark and concluded that maybe it was time to put the book to rest. An hour after our conversation, I checked my email and got this:
“Thank you for changing my life and for the tools provided to continue life. I was very close to giving up, your book made [me] change my mind and fight the darkness, with God’s help, forever. Thank you, thank you, thank you L*****e M****s, South Africa
May 17, 2019 5:34 AM”
South Africa! Somehow our book had made it into the hands of someone in South Africa. And, according to them, it “saved my life”! I immediately sent the email on to Mark Sutton and called him up. The result of that conversation was to proceed with a third edition of the book with about 40% new content published by our little independent publishing company.
Read the rest of this entryUniquely Created in Christ!
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!
It is my pleasure to share that I am participating in a Free-online Summit: Becoming Confidently Unique (In Christ). More on this shortly, let me ask you a few things first.
Different
Odd
Special
Weird
Off-beat
Crazy
Have you felt those words apply to you at any time?
Do you feel like you just do not fit in and fit the cliche of being a round peg in a square hole?
Do you find yourself keeping things to yourself at Church because they just will not ‘Get it’?
Maybe you just do not darken the door of the church, because…
Would you like to hear from people who have felt the same way at some point in their life?
Would you like to hear from individuals who recognize they are unique and as such exceptional, rather than flawed, broken, or cursed?
I want to introduce you to my friend Dr. Tim Blake, a unique man of God I have had the privilege to meet. He cares about people who experience being and living in ways different than what is considered “normal.” He believes the answer to confidence if found in Christ—moving from shame, isolation, and loneliness to true peace, connection, and happiness. Wonderful to think of and even more when you have experienced such!
So here is the deal, he put together the free online summit that will air from 5/8/2023 to 5/22/2023.
He has 28 inspired unique individuals who gained confidence in Christ and embraced their exceptionality.
Come join us here: www.becomingconfidentlyunqiue.com.
I will be participating in a special interview online. Available soon!
Beating the Holiday Blues
Recently, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Dr. Scott Zentner and Dr. Scott Shelby of Family Solutions Counseling in Monroe, Louisiana. The first interview in October covered information about our book, “Hope Again: A Lifetime Plan for Conquering Depression” by Mark Sutton and Bruce Hennigan. Much to my surprise, they asked me back for an interview in early December. We talked at length about depression and anxiety during the holidays.
We had a lively and wide ranging discussion.
Here is the link to the page with both interviews at our hopeagainbooks.com website.
If you are suffering from depression and anxiety and need help, check out our book at hopeagainbooks.com and more in depth information at conqueringdepression.com for help during and after the holidays. We have a special on conqueringdepression.com where you can order a copy of the book and a set of deluxe LifeFilters for only $20.
Mark and I hope and pray you have a peaceful, joyful and hopeful holiday! Be sure and listen to the interviews, especially the second interview about the “Holiday Blues”.
Check Out These Books for Christmas!
For the holiday season I have some suggestions of books that might fill the stocking, or at least, the memory on your reading device.
First up, one of my favorite books I have written. If you like sentimental nostalgic stories like “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “Miracle on 34th Street” or “White Christmas” you would enjoy my novel, “The Homecoming Tree”. In 2005 I wrote and directed a play based on my parents’ lives at the beginning of World War II. The play was well received and told the story of a family running a boarding house in Shreveport, Louisiana. The story begins on Thanksgiving and ends on Christmas Eve, 1941. After the play, I decided to rewrite the story a bit and a new version of the play has never been performed. Instead, I took the story into novel format and the main character is a modern businessman who finds himself sent back to 1941. Suffering from amnesia, he learns powerful lessons from “The Greatest Generation”. Reviews for the book have been very positive and I just uploaded a newly edited version that took care of some minor typos. I hope you enjoy, “The Homecoming Tree”.
Secondly, my two latest books take place at Christmas.
“Shadow Merchant” is a very different story for me to tell but it hits close to home. The main character is a radiologist who finds himself the target of a homicide investigation. To clear his name he becomes a consultant to the local medical examiner as a “forensic radiologist”. As the story unfolds, his problems worsen when he finds himself entangled in an international conspiracy and the target of an assassin. Tense and fast moving, “The Shadow Merchant” brings the world of radiology out of the “shadows”.
The 9th book in “The Chronicles of Jonathan Steel” will be a crowd pleaser for my readers who have followed Jonathan’s story from the prequel, “Death By Darwin” through the subsequent eight books. We finally learn most of Jonathan’s hidden secrets when he recovers his memory and relives the most painful time in his life, when he was put on trial for murdering a loved one. Featuring two demons, “The 4th Demon: The Trial of the 3rd Demon” begins the finale of Jonathan Steel’s story just in time for Christmas. And, I promise the final chapter will please my readers as Jonathan will finally find happiness. Well, sort of!
By the way, “Death By Darwin” also takes place at Christmas. Ruth Martinez, a rising star in a major Dallas, Texas law firm must defend someone caught in the act of murdering his boss over a conflict fueled by religion versus science. She must work with the mysterious Jonathan Steel as she investigates the death of Dr. Darwyn, head of a paleontology institute where a deadly creature from the distant past threatens her life. The book culminates in a tense courtroom battle when God and creation are put on trial! This is officially a prequel to “The Chronicles of Jonathan Steel” and introduces characters who show up in the last two books. A must read for anyone who has enjoyed the journey of Jonathan Steel.
My final suggestion is a book I spent about twenty years putting together. Based on many of the short dramas I wrote during my days as drama minister of Brookwood Baptist Church, “Our Darkness, His Light” shares the stories of the ordinary individuals surrounding the life of Jesus Christ. The book begins at the manger and ends on the road to Emmaus. This compilation was almost published long ago by a major publisher. My book went up against another book by a little known author of time, Max Lucado. Max won that contest and I couldn’t have been more please that I made it that far. Now, with new stories I have added over the years, I hope you will enjoy the tales of ordinary people in the most Extraordinary Story of all time.
All books are available through major outlets and you can learn more by going to hopeagainbooks.com .
Merry Christmas
Free Books!
Three weeks until Christmas!
THE 4TH DEMON: THE TRIAL OF THE 3RD DEMON
First, there was some delay in the availability of my newest book on Amazon and other portals. The books are now available and if you cannot find them by doing a search for “The 4th Demon: The Trial of the 3rd Demon” then search under my name. Also, you can go to hopeagainbooks.com for links to the book. And you can go to my Author Central Page on Amazon to find the books, https://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Hennigan/e/B0055JCM3O/ref=aufs_dp_fta_dsk .
THE 13TH DEMON AND THE 12TH DEMON
So here’s the deal. Charisma Media has ended their Realms imprint and returned the bulk of printed copies of “The 13th Demon” and “The 12th Demon” to me. Right now you can only buy used copies on Amazon so don’t do that! They will charge too much. And the ebooks are not available. I am working on combining these two books into the first volume of “The Chronicles of Jonathan Steel” with new, additional material I was forced to eliminate by Charisma’s draconian editorial process. But that will be after the first of the year.
So I am giving away the first two books for free! That’s right! I have about 40 copies of each and I am bundling them together and will ship you both books for free. All you have to do is pay for shipping and handling fee of $10! This is a good way to introduce others to the world of Jonathan Steel. And, you can start ordering right now. Just go to this PayPal link and place your order. Note that I will be shipping BOTH books, not one or the other. If you already have a book, just give the other away. Again, I only have about 40 copies of each book so don’t delay. Note that the price will be listed as $1 because I have to put a price on the invoice and the shipping will be listed as $9
https://py.pl/m555K — link for purchasing the two books.
CASEY’S SPARROW TEE SHIRT FOR EPILEPSY AWARENESS
Now, to the other issue, my daughter’s tee shirts. If you have read my blog posts in the past, you are familiar with Casey and her life long battle with epilepsy. She has designed an “Epilepsy Warrior” tee shirt to raise money for epilepsy awareness and she will give the proceeds to the Epilepsy Foundation. We have sold about half of the minimal 50 shirts so far and have eight days left in the campaign. Go to https://www.bonfire.com/caseys-sparrow/ and order a tee shirt, a hoodie, or a long sleeve tee shirt.
Thank you for supporting my writing and thank especially for supporting Casey’s efforts to raise epilepsy awareness!
Weigh Your Heart!
I was very depressed trying to watch a Hulu show, “The Patient”. If you made it through the entire series you know why. Dark, depressing, hopeless, filled with despair and the most subtly violent murders I’ve ever witnessed. I wanted to chain myself to a dark, basement bedroom floor by the end of the thing!
And watching the first part of that series changed my approach to writing. I’ve been working on the next two demons in my Chronicles of Jonathan Steel trying my best to keep them in separate books. That didn’t happen. The story of the 4th demon is so intertwined with the 3rd demon I had to combine the books for one LONG book. It will cost a bit more but that is because of the added cost of printing and producing the book by my distributor, Ingram.
Read the rest of this entryAnother Long Year has Passed!
It’s been a while.
I swear, each year HAS to be better than the year preceding and that illusion lasts about a couple of weeks into the new year. I haven’t posted in FOREVER! Why?
My daughter, Casey, dozen’t mind me giving you an update. In February of 2022, she was evaluated at UT Houston Neurosurgery department for her epilepsy. She spent eight days in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit with some of the most phenomenal health care people in the world! The purpose was to wean her off her medication and to record via 24/7 EEG readings the location and nature of her seizures. It was very difficult for Casey and she ended up having multiple seizures on the last day. But the doctors saw what they needed.
After a couple of weeks of conference presentations the recommendation was for Casey to have deep brain stimulator lead placement. This consists of putting two wires on either side of the base of her brain and attaching them to a stimulating generator.
After watching a video of patients who had remarkable results Casey decided to proceed.
March came around and she had her surgery. We’re talking BRAIN surgery. You never want to think your child will have to have brain surgery! And I’m a doctor. I know too much!
But, she did remarkably well and had to wait six weeks of healing before turning the generator on.
May rolled around and the generator was turned on. The first week, she went five days without a seizure. She had been averaging about four to six a day. Of course, that did not last but she has had remarkable response so far.
July saw the second adjustment and then August and then October. With each adjustment she have seen tremendous improvement. But the intervening weeks saw us having to be more vigilant to document each seizure with a special cell phone and program. So our family has been very busy and I have been very preoccupied.
Casey has designed a tee shirt to raise money for the Epilepsy Foundation and you can check it out at https://www.bonfire.com/caseys-sparrow/ .
But this post is not about the past few months. It’s about the next book in the Jonathan Steel Series and the following post will give you all the details along with a new website featuring my books and the books of the other two authors published by Hope Again Books!
Bruce Hennigan 
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