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Tired of materialistic, me-first culture Pete Gall leaves a well-paying job in advertising to go serve the poor and homeless. Raw, honest and edgy, Gall doesn't spare the details of his own struggles with faith and culture. What emerges is one man's discovery of God's amazing love in the messiness and unanswered questions of life.

The author of My Beautiful Idol is on a quest to be successful---in a lucrative job at an advertising agency, in ministry work, even in his relationships. And in a futile attempt to control the sources of love and security, he has turned these things into idols he can keep in his soul's back pocket. He pulls the idols out when he feels vulnerable and defenseless, and hides them again when things are going well. But the idols keep failing---even when he turns to his own Christian faith. In a creative narrative style rooted in raw honesty, My Beautiful Idol invites readers to identify with the young would-be Christian hero as he seeks God, and as he hides from God. Far from reducing complex matters to simplistic formulas, Pete Gall weaves together stories both sublime and wretched, ego-building and humbling, humorous and painful, and successfully celebrates the messiness of faith, the importance of validating truth, and the unscripted nature of experiencing a God who is intimately involved in all of life.

Pete Gall is an author, speaker, freelance copywriter, brand strategist, and passion-driven gadfly whose clients range from Fortune 50 corporations to national denominations, tech start-ups, nonprofit organizations, and local churches. Pete and his amazing wife, Christine, live in Indianapolis with their two dogs.

“St. Augustine invented the confessional memoir. Modern examples are shorter and funnier (think Anne Lamott and Donald Miller). Now comes Pete Gall, who somehow gathers the messiness of his life into an enduring account, one both poignant and whimsical.” - Philip Yancey, author of What’s So Amazing about Grace?

“My Beautiful Idol is a delicate reminder to denounce all that dazzles that does not look like Jesus. It is an invitation to say no to all other lovers and counterfeit hopes, and to put our faith in the God that is blessing the most downtrodden people of this world, the God whose gospel is good news to the poor.” - Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution

At age 23 Gall walked away from a lucrative advertising job, determined to uphold his ethical standards while revolutionizing the world and the church. Five years later, after dropping out of seminary and quitting jobs with a rehab program, a community center, a home for developmentally disabled men, Bud's Warehouse and a plumbing distributor, he returned to his Midwestern family, musing, "What do you call someone who leaves the ordinary world on a hero's journey, but fails?" Like Rob Bell (Velvet Elvis) and Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz), Gall is edgy the evangelical way: he keeps sex and swearing mostly offstage, but, like other good guys, drinks, doubts and unleashes scathing sarcasm at the conservative Christian subculture.Now in his mid-30s, Gall mocks his younger self throughout: a "fat blond guy" with "no car, no cash, no direction, no prospects, no discipline." Relentlessly ironic, he may invite misunderstanding: do his harsh criticisms reflect his present view of evangelical reality, or are they meant to show his postadolescent pomposity?Nevertheless, his themes are clear: God doesn't need an image consultant; it is better to be authentic than great; and to achieve authenticity we must forsake "our deepest sin and our love for our most beautiful idol: to be our own god." (May) - Copyright © 1997-2005 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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