Author Meet and Greet

It's podcast Tuesday, and this week, Ryan takes the spotlight, though I have a feeling he never intended to do so. That fine line between thinking things and accidentally saying them out loud was run over a few times, and it made for great stories. :) ENJOY!

 Listen here

The whole reason for our getaway to Michigan this past weekend was so I could (finally!) meet in person one of my favorite Bible study authors, Erica Wiggenhorn.

I've talked about her often here on the blog, so her name shouldn't be entirely new to you (if you've been hanging around very long).

I first learned about her three years ago when I did her first Bible study, An Unexplainable Life. (My review of it is at the end of this post.) That study is on the first half of the book of Acts, and I devoured it. I learned so much about the early church that I'd never known before! I also had the privilege of interviewing her about that study, and you can hear it here if you didn't catch it back when I first shared it.

Erica went on to write a companion study called The Unexplainable Church, and I was able to be on her launch team for that release! This book is on the remainder of the book of Acts - and again - she did a great job teaching about Scripture. I had the privilege of interviewing her about that book too, and here is that podcast, if you'd like to hear it.

So this year, she released her third study, and it's called Unexplainable Jesus. It was born from her visit to Israel a couple of years ago, and I am so eager to dive into this study! (It's based on the book of Luke, and right around the start of July, I should be entering the book of Luke in my study-my-way-through-the-Gospels adventure this year, so I plan to study it in conjunction with my commentary reading!)

As part of her book launch, she paid a visit to the Midwest and that was how I found out she'd be in St. Joseph, Michigan - a mere two hours from our home! And that was also how I decided to make the trip up to meet her in person for the very first time.

She was at the Parable Christian store in St. Joseph, and we arrived a few minutes before her scheduled speaking/sharing/meeting/greeting time. Ryan and I were looking at some merchandise when I heard a voice say, "I know these people!" And I looked up and there she was! She was absolutely delightful in person and felt like a longtime friend we just happened to catch up with on a Friday night!

There were several other ladies there (also from Indiana!) who brought armloads of books for her to sign, so I caught a quick picture of her busy at work:

She was so gracious to talk to all of us who had come to meet her, and a little after five, they had her share an informal talk with us - mostly about her testimony and her writing journey. Some of the things she shared were things I'd heard her talk about when I interviewed her, but other things were brand new for me, and I really enjoyed hearing the new and the familiar alike!

She also did some Q and A with us - and I learned all kinds of fun things from that!

Right before we left town, my copy of her brand new study arrived, and that reminded me (DUH!) that I should grab my already-done studies to take with me too! So there I was, traipsing into a bookstore with a purse stuffed with books. Yeah, that's not suspicious at ALL!!!

So after the official part of the meet and greet had ended, she did pictures with all of us, and I just treasure these so much.

And then Ryan captured these while she was signing my books and talking to me.

What a perfect evening it was. Totally worth the trip to meet her. I absolutely recommend her studies (and the last two also have teaching DVDs to accompany if you want to lead a group through it but aren't wild about doing your own teaching).

Thanks, Erica, for making a trip to the Midwest, for meeting the Shaffers (and making us feel so loved) and for sharing your knowledge of Scripture with us. We are richer for it!