• Let's pass on the passion
• The Commentary
  Who is misleading who?
• Letter from America
  Haiti: what evangelicals say
• McAtheism
• Notes from the future: evangelical liberalism in the UK
• Kidnapped!
• Isn't conversion just psychological?
  An answer to a common criticism of Christian faith
• Behind closed doors
  On 2 Samuel 6.20-23 - living at home to the glory of God?
• Life's beginning and the incarnation
• Reading together
  A new way of getting people to get to grips with Scripture
• Watching the web
  Sermon vodcasts
• Monthly arts and media column
  Examining the role of journalists in disaster situations
• Stranger and pilgrim
  The real Van Gogh: the artist and his letters at the Royal Academy
• The Music Exchange
  Dealing positively with negative feedback
• Monthly youth leaders column
  Then there were none...
• Third Degree
  Led by students
• Rosemary Elizabeth Bird, 1933-2010
  Obituary

other articles

• Who made God?
• Invictus
• The children's book - Shelf life: Looking at secular books
• In God we trust
• Gospel-centred life - Third of a series of extracts
• Old paths - new shoes - The Westminster Conference 2008
• But is it real?
• Makers of Puritan history
• Crossing the divide
• On wings of prayer - Praying the ACTS way
• Unleashing the Word - Rediscovering the public reading of Scripture
• 100 fascinating Bible facts
• Made to be me
• The expectant prophet - Habakkuk simply explained
• Jesus - a serious beginner's guide
• Freedom in Christ for young people
• Reasons for the Christian hope
• 2 Peter and Jude
• Super Saviour
• God's people in the wilderness - The church in Hebrews
• Predestination - The American career of a contentious doctrine
• A guide to Christian living
• Travel through Egypt

More me than him

MADE TO BE ME
By Shell Perris
Authentic Media. 148 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978-1-86024-760-6

Shell is 25 years old and passionate about serving God. This book describes how her comparatively ordinary teenage life was transformed by an extraordinary God.

It is split into two sections: ‘The old me’ and ‘The new me’. In the former, she talks openly about her eating disorder and difficult time at school; in the latter, she describes her ‘calling’ to be a singer, songwriter, evangelist and author.
One of the strengths of Shell’s story is how easy she is to relate to. Shell has a clear zeal for sharing her relationship with God. It is aimed at teenagers and there is definitely a niche in the market for such an engaging and relevant testimony of God’s work.

However, I have two concerns. First, the cross is conspicuously absent. It would have been helpful to have linked the two sections of the book with a clear explanation of the gospel and how to become a Christian. I was left wondering what key points would reside in the minds of teenage readers.

Second, the book is very subjective and made me concerned that readers may feel disappointed if their experience of Christianity doesn’t match Shell’s — regardless of what the Bible says life in Christ should be like.

That said, her testimony inspires courage to follow God wholeheartedly and shows the excitement and joy possible with God at the centre of one’s life.

Vikki Manson,
West Street Baptist Church & Christian Centre, Dunstable