Casey Harrell, Director of Corporate Communications
Email: casey.harrell@harpercollins.com Phone: +1 (615) 902-1109
(Grand Rapids, MI) – Grief has blanketed the nation. As the community of Newtown, Conn. prays for peace and reason, best-selling author Philip Yancey visited a local church to speak about where God is in this emotional tragedy.
Last Friday December 28th through Sunday December 30th, Philip Yancey joined Walnut Hill Community Church, just outside the Newtown community, to speak at an open-to-the-public weekend event. Yancey addressed the question posed in the title of his book, “Where is God When It Hurts?”
Yancey and the church‟s senior pastor, Clive Calver, met with and listened to the community‟s families, teachers, first responders, parents and students who have been deeply affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.
“Healing and comfort—that‟s what I want most for those dear people,” said Yancey. “Words can only do so much, and certainly cannot take away the pain, yet I hope that this event could be a place of safety and honesty where people can bring their grief and come away with a new appreciation for why the gospel is good news— even now, especially now.”
The event also hosted a question and answer opportunity to address attendees’ individual questions.
Mark Schoenwald, President and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing commented, “I am humbled to know that a member of our Zondervan author family has been asked to help comfort the community of Newtown. Asking, "Where is God in all of this?‟ is something many people in our nation are currently doing. I pray that Philip Yancey‟s words will help these families heal.”
Zondervan, the publishers of “Where is God When It Hurts?” will be providing free copies of the book for the individuals who attend the region-wide weekend event. In addition, the “Where is God When It Hurts?” e-book is currently available to all for free download* on the Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Christian Book Distributors, Google and Kobo websites until January 2, 2013.
