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In His Steps: The Promise
"This is a short fictional story (200 pages or so) about a well-to-do pastor and church who are suddenly forced to look at what being a 'Christian' means when a homeless man busts into their church and asks them how they are following the footsteps of Jesus...and then subsequently dies."
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
9 people want to read
About the author
Joey O'Connor
30 books62 followersHey there Goodreads Friends!
Just in time for 2026, I just released my latest book, Living Fully Loved: Cultivating Curiosity, Creativity, and Wonder as the Beloved of God.
My book offers you the transformative and inspiring truth that God sees you, God knows you, and God loves you.
You are fully loved.
Join me as we explore soul-stirring questions to help you live as a beloved child of God. Through compelling stories, relevant scriptures, and a creative pathway to living as the Beloved of God, I invite you to imagine the life-transforming possibilities of living fully loved.
Cultivate your curiosity, creativity, and wonder by pursuing the full and abundant life promised by Jesus.
You can also purchase the Living Fully Loved Devotional Journal that offers new content and plenty of space to write guided questions, your prayers, and reflections.
Living Fully Loved is available on my website and all online retailers...if you'd like a FREE REVIEW copy please message me and I'd be happy to send you one!
Be sure to check out my romantic thriller, The Cobalt Curse.
The Cobalt Curse is a wild international ride through Dubai, Washington D.C., Brussels, Rwanda, and the Congo.
In visually stunning imagery, you'll follow human rights lawyer Dr. Kai Baldwin launch a daring search to rescue his former fiancée kidnapped in the Congo by a cryptocurrency titan set on controlling the world's cobalt resources.
My story is based on true events and my travels to the Eastern Congo, as well as heavy research into conflict minerals (cobalt), cryptocurrency, and technology.
If you read my previous historical fiction novel (AMONG KINGS), you'll discover mind-blowing information about the Congo, Central Africa, and the conflict minerals trade.
My story is timely and culturally relevant because your cell phones and mine need cobalt mined by children and families in the Congo (much of it illegally).
Here's a bit more about me...
I am an award-winning author and screenwriter of twenty-five books for couples, parents, and young adults. I'm also the founder of The Grove Center for the Arts & Media, an arts organization dedicated to cultivating the spiritual life and creative work of artists. I'm an Ironman athlete and live in San Clemente, California.
For entertaining and inspirational posts for your creative life, you can follow me on...
https://www.instagram.com/joeyoconnor3
https://www.tiktok.com/@joeyoc1
http://www.facebook.com/joeyaoconnor
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKaK...
https://www.x.com/JoeyTheGrove
To see all of my books, visit
https://joeyoc.myshopify.com
Just in time for 2026, I just released my latest book, Living Fully Loved: Cultivating Curiosity, Creativity, and Wonder as the Beloved of God.
My book offers you the transformative and inspiring truth that God sees you, God knows you, and God loves you.
You are fully loved.
Join me as we explore soul-stirring questions to help you live as a beloved child of God. Through compelling stories, relevant scriptures, and a creative pathway to living as the Beloved of God, I invite you to imagine the life-transforming possibilities of living fully loved.
Cultivate your curiosity, creativity, and wonder by pursuing the full and abundant life promised by Jesus.
You can also purchase the Living Fully Loved Devotional Journal that offers new content and plenty of space to write guided questions, your prayers, and reflections.
Living Fully Loved is available on my website and all online retailers...if you'd like a FREE REVIEW copy please message me and I'd be happy to send you one!
Be sure to check out my romantic thriller, The Cobalt Curse.
The Cobalt Curse is a wild international ride through Dubai, Washington D.C., Brussels, Rwanda, and the Congo.
In visually stunning imagery, you'll follow human rights lawyer Dr. Kai Baldwin launch a daring search to rescue his former fiancée kidnapped in the Congo by a cryptocurrency titan set on controlling the world's cobalt resources.
My story is based on true events and my travels to the Eastern Congo, as well as heavy research into conflict minerals (cobalt), cryptocurrency, and technology.
If you read my previous historical fiction novel (AMONG KINGS), you'll discover mind-blowing information about the Congo, Central Africa, and the conflict minerals trade.
My story is timely and culturally relevant because your cell phones and mine need cobalt mined by children and families in the Congo (much of it illegally).
Here's a bit more about me...
I am an award-winning author and screenwriter of twenty-five books for couples, parents, and young adults. I'm also the founder of The Grove Center for the Arts & Media, an arts organization dedicated to cultivating the spiritual life and creative work of artists. I'm an Ironman athlete and live in San Clemente, California.
For entertaining and inspirational posts for your creative life, you can follow me on...
https://www.instagram.com/joeyoconnor3
https://www.tiktok.com/@joeyoc1
http://www.facebook.com/joeyaoconnor
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKaK...
https://www.x.com/JoeyTheGrove
To see all of my books, visit
https://joeyoc.myshopify.com
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 22, 2019
This is a great book. Would be a great read for a Sunday School to read. It shows the potential of Christians who take following in Jesus’ footsteps seriously. It has given me a wake-up call!
September 24, 2016
Predictable, but good.
October 30, 2022
This book is a re-telling, and a re-telling of a story will always have something in the original that doesn't translate quite properly to the modern page. That being said, the characterization in this book was sorely lacking. The story felt plot-driven which wouldn't be a problem except that the original was very much character-driven and an exploration of what asking the question "what would Jesus do?" would really mean changing in one's life.
As it was, this book was very much taking the characters and giving them the modern equivalency of what the characters in In His Steps had, while, at the same time, stripping all the hard morality away.
This book tosses out the backpedaling of one character, the death of another, and the disowning of another for washed-out versions of these plots. None of the characters in this book walk away from their promise, the only death is a character introduced in the middle of the book and not mentioned until the chapter where he dies, and the disowned character simply finds somewhere else to lived without any of the emotion of the original.
As far as Christian books go, this wasn't badly written. Unfortunately, it didn't capture the spirit of the original and settled for a simple plot rehash in the modern day where all the moral quandaries of a spiritually dead life can be solved by the fixing up of a local shelter and throwing money at your problems if you're rich.
Additionally, the girl who's a singer gives up her career in this one to keep singing at the local church. No mention is made of her trying to do anything else with her talents and she's apparently happy to stick with the answer "give up a career" as the answer to the question, "what would Jesus do." I don't really get it.
As it was, this book was very much taking the characters and giving them the modern equivalency of what the characters in In His Steps had, while, at the same time, stripping all the hard morality away.
This book tosses out the backpedaling of one character, the death of another, and the disowning of another for washed-out versions of these plots. None of the characters in this book walk away from their promise, the only death is a character introduced in the middle of the book and not mentioned until the chapter where he dies, and the disowned character simply finds somewhere else to lived without any of the emotion of the original.
As far as Christian books go, this wasn't badly written. Unfortunately, it didn't capture the spirit of the original and settled for a simple plot rehash in the modern day where all the moral quandaries of a spiritually dead life can be solved by the fixing up of a local shelter and throwing money at your problems if you're rich.
Additionally, the girl who's a singer gives up her career in this one to keep singing at the local church. No mention is made of her trying to do anything else with her talents and she's apparently happy to stick with the answer "give up a career" as the answer to the question, "what would Jesus do." I don't really get it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews