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Julie Lyons was working as a crime reporter when she followed a hunch into the South Dallas ghetto. She wasn’t hunting drug dealers, but drug addicts who had been supernaturally healed of their addictions. Was there a church in the most violent part of the city that prayed for addicts and got results?

At The Body of Christ Assembly, a rundown church on an out-of-the-way street, Lyons found the story she was looking for. The minister welcomed criminals, prostitutes, and street people–anyone who needed God. He prayed for the sick, the addicted, and the demon-possessed, and people were supernaturally healed.

Lyons’s story landed on the front page of the Dallas Times Herald. But she got much more than just a great story, she found an unlikely spiritual home. Though the parishioners at The Body of Christ Assembly are black and Pentecostal, and Lyons is white and from a traditional church background, she embraced their spirituality–that of “the Holy Ghost and fire.”

It’s all here in Holy Roller–the stories of people desperate for God’s help. And the actions of a God who doesn’t forget the people who need His power.
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Customer Reviews (13)

Growing from the inside out
Thank-you, Julie, for writing a first-person truth and fact filled account of how one is transformed by the Holy Spirit. And, how the world becomes transformed as we unite within a believing comminity. As the book progresses, the author skillfully demonstrates her maturing breadth and expanse to describe external events through the Holy Spirit's revelaton knowledge. What a journey! I could not put the book down and now in it's wake, I am on a spiritual "high" having experienced not just sisterhood with a dear friend through her life, but also a devinely inspired praise and worship service, a feast for the soul and spirit, and most of all, a confirmation of many shared signs and wonders which witness to the resident power of God within our yielded selves.

Uncompromising consciousness coupled with the peace that passes understanding.

Get this book. Read it. Share it. Be thankful! Very, very thankful!!

An interesting book
I did like this book, and enjoy the author's courage. This book definitely got me thinking about the influence of religion in my life. You'll want to read it until the end.

Not for me...
Although I was very excited to receive this book, it didn't catch my interest. I read through the first 5 chapters or so before deciding to give up. The subject matter was interesting, but the writing style didn't appeal to me. Even as the author was revealing her own, very personal issues and doubts with Christianity, it felt very impersonal. Others might disagree, but this book was just not for me.

Very enlightening into Pentecostalism
I saw this book in the library and since I was reared in the deep south where Pentecostals were derisively called 'Holy Rollers' quite often, I thought I would see what people meant when they called someone a 'Holy Roller'.This book was an eye opener and hard to put down, especially after the first 3 or 4 chapters.

I was reared in a Christian church and have periodically been to church but have not witnessed what Ms. Lyons writes about.The greatest things, in my opinion, about this book are its candidness and first person accounts of events.It is also very touching in the descriptions of persons cured miraculously of addictions and disease by the prayers of a minister and his wife who do not preach, teach or exhort for money or fame or sexual liaisons.

Ms. Lyons confessions of battles with depression and lesbianism and her ultimate deliverance is amazing.With her firsthand accounts, one is inspired to seek truth and holiness in the truest sense - not the legalism imposed on people in the church in which I was brought up.A relationship with God, a true love of Jesus, and the infilling of God's spirit (called the Holy Ghost in the book) is said to bring peace and comfort to the believer and is exemplified by the joy she received when filled with the Holy Ghost.

If Ms. Lyons' story is believed, then the reader will certainly be uplifted and imbued with a desire to improve his or her relationship with a `real' God.It did me and I believe her story is true!Thank you so very much Julie Lyons from a former university professor who has wanted to believe but who has struggled with serious doubts about God.In a sense, this book was an answer to my prayers for something contemporary that presents evidence of truth of the Bible.I am an old man now and would certainly have liked to have had this book as a young man for its power to instill faith.

Journalist's memoir of Black Pentecostal Christians exposes sins in the church
Holy Roller by Julie Lyons is an intriguing look at Black Pentecostal Christians by a woman who calls herself one in everything except one small factor: she's white. Lyons was working as reporter for a newspaper in Dallas when she promised her editors a story about churches in the ghetto who were claiming to heal crack users of their addiction. The story led her onto a personal journey of faith and recovery from her own sin, including that of same-sex attraction. The book tracks her membership at a small church in South Dallas through its battles with the city council, countering demons in Botswana, and seeing their community changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lyons' story suffers from a lack of continuity, the story didn't seem to flow smoothly, jumping from subject from chapter to chapter, and readers looking for the miracles promised on the dust jacket will be a bit disappointed because the focus is more on Lyons and her church than those who were changed by it. It's still a compelling story about how God can use the least of those to change the world. The transformation of Lyons is incredible, and her stories of demon oppression will unsettle those Christians who deny the forces of evil at work in the world. It's definitely a great read that will make readers think hard about their own faith and church. ... Read more

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A Practical, Comprehensive Guide to Methodism in Texas through the Last Two CenturiesThe Historical Atlas of Texas Methodism is a superb exposition of how the Methodist faith came to Texas and how that faith shaped and was shaped by historic movements in the Lone State State and nation.Denominations with Methodist roots and addressed inside include:African Methodist Episcopal ChurchAfrican Methodist Episcopal, Zion ChurchChristian Methodist Episcopal ChurchChristian Methodist Episcopal ChurchChurch of the NazareneColored Methodist Episcopal ChurchCongregational Methodist ChurchEvangelical AssociationEvangelical Methodist ChurchEvangelical United BrethrenFree Methodist ChurchMethodist ChurchMethodist Episcopal ChurchMethodist Episcopal Church, SouthMethodist Protestant ChurchSouthern Congregational Methodist ChurchSouthern Methodist ChurchUnited Methodist ChurchUnited Brethren in ChristWesleyan Methodist ChurchThe Historical Atlas of Texas Methodism is an excellent reference, containing more than 40 maps and two dozen charts that bring clarity to the relationships between the denominations created by the Methodist Movement. An index with more than 2,000 entries attests to its thoroughness. Its scope extends from missionary visits to immigrants in Spanish Texas to the beginning of the 21st century. The Atlas devotes special attention to Methodism among Spanish, German, and Swedish linguistic minorities and the African-American Methodist denominations. ... Read more

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From the days of Z. N. Morrell and James Huckins to Bill Pinson and Charles Wade, Baptists have played and continue to play an important role in the religious, secular, and political life of Texas. Over the previous one hundred and fifty years several Texas Baptist histories have been written, but not until now have the documents used in the development of these texts been made available in one resource.

In A Texas Baptist History Sourcebook, Joseph E. Early, Jr., has provided the most complete collection of Texas Baptist sources ever issued in one volume. This work consists of church minutes, state and association convention records, denominational newspaper articles, records of Baptist universities, and myriads of other resources. Included in this work are George Washington Truett's sermon "Baptists and Religious Liberty" delivered on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.; James Milton Carroll's Trail of Blood; J. Frank Norris's railings against the Baptist General Convention of Texas; and countless other sources depicting the many years of Texas Baptist history.

This book is designed as a complementary work to Harry Leon McBeth's Texas Baptists: A Sesquicentennial History. Students can follow McBeth's chapter divisions, headings, and subheadings for greater ease in studying the documents. Whether used independently or as a companion to McBeth's work, A Texas Baptist History Sourcebook is a must for an in-depth study of Baptists in Texas. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

First-rate companion volume to McBeth's history
Early is a professor of religion at Cumberland College and the author of two previous books on the history of the Baptist denomination in Texas. This one is meant as a complementary volume to Harry McBeth's _Texas Baptists: a Sesquicentennial History_ (1999), currently the standard historical survey. The Baptists have had a prominent role in Texas's history since the Revolution, both as individuals and as an organized body, and a number of histories have been published in the past century and a half, but this volume is the first attempt to bring together in one place all the sources they used. It includes church minutes, state convention records, articles from Baptist newspapers and other publications, speeches delivered in public, debates carried on in private, excerpts from missionaries' logbooks and memoirs, correspondence to and from Baptist leaders, and extended quotations from published histories of churches and universities. And, of course, there's a great deal of material on the issue of slavery and the range of Baptist responses to it. (There is rather less on today's parallel divisive issue of homosexuality.) And throughout all of this, there are names. Many, many names, all of which appear in the index. Researchers in Texas history and genealogy are aware that throughout the state's history, if you were an Anglo, there's a strong chance you were either a Baptist or a Methodist. That being the case, anyone with Texas connections needs to take a close look at this book. And then perhaps follow its footnotes to additional sources.

Indispensible Resource
If you are a Texas historian, a Baptist historian, or a Texas Baptist historian of any variety--scholastic, ministerial, or armchair--this book should be items 1-10 on your wish list. Don't wait to buy it for Christmas; buy it for Bastille Day!

Early's meticulous work springboards from the strengths of McBeth's companion volume without inheriting the weaknesses of the primary volume. It is well worth the money for the included sources alone, and Early's cogent introductions are worth paying the purchase price again.

Within a year this will be on the shelf of every serious student of Texas Baptist history. ... Read more

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In a story that spans from the founding of immigrant parishes in the early twentieth century to the rise of the Chicano civil rights movement in the early 1970s, Roberto Trevino discusses how an intertwining of ethnic identity and Catholic faith equipped Mexican Americans in Houston to overcome adversity and find a place for themselves in the Bayou City.

Houston's native-born and immigrant Mexicans alike found solidarity and sustenance in their Catholicism, a distinctive style that evolved from the blending of the religious sensibilities and practices of Spanish Christians and New World indigenous peoples. Employing church records, newspapers, family letters, mementos, and oral histories, Trevino reconstructs the history of several predominately Mexican American parishes in Houston. He explores Mexican American Catholic life from the most private and mundane, such as home altar worship and everyday speech and behavior, to the most public and dramatic, such as neighborhood processions and civil rights protest marches. He demonstrates how Mexican Americans' religious faith helped to mold and preserve their identity, structured family and community relationships and institutions, provided both spiritual and material sustenance, and girded their long quest for social justice. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

A Life-Affirming Scorsese Movie Waiting to Be Made From This Story
The underlying story in the book is the stuff that Scorsese movies are made of and would be of interest to World War II history buffs, West Texans, Italian-Americans, and anyone liking a story with a life-affirming ending.Italian prisoners from World War II were brought from the European theater of war and held in POW camps in West Texas.Many of the prisoners were Mussolini supporters, and stayed loyal to him even after he was ousted and the Italians joined the Allies. After the war ended in Europe, the word got out that American POWs in Nazi POW camps were poorly treated and malnourished.In apparent retaliation, the food rations to the Italian POWs were reduced to near-starvation levels.

The Italian POWs called this treatment "La Fame" or "The Hunger." As a way for the Italians to get more food and also to help his church, the local Catholic priest, who had been visiting the camp, realized that the Italians were an artistically talented group and persuaded the camp commander to let them out during the day to paint murals at his church.These murals of the Assumption, Annunciation, and Visitation are still visible in their full glory at St Mary's Church in Umbarger 65 years later.While working, the Italians were given additional food, thus ending La Fame for those who worked on the murals.

To make the story even better, after the Italians returned home in 1946, some maintained their contact with West Texas.One of the Italians, the dashing Franco Di Bello, became a general in the Italian army and eventually returned to West Texas several times to a warm "homecoming" to visit Americans who were now considered his friends. In addition to the artists, the famous Italian novelist Guiseppe Berto was a POW in Texas at the same time.While serving as a POW, he wrote "The Sky is Red" (Il Cielo e' Rosso), perhaps his most famous work and one of the best Italian novels about the war experience.

The books shows that even between enemies of the most savage war in human history, there is a commonality among people in the form of kindness, friendship, and spirituality. If hidden, it can be revealed with the right catalyst. By the way, what are the chances that a random group of Italian POWs would have this array of talents?Perhaps higher than one might think given the rich accomplishments of the Italian people.
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An informative, chronological history of the first 100 years of the First Presbyterian Church from its Charter Meeting in 1909 to its 100-year celebration in August 2009. ... Read more