Vibrant Bible Story Book Draws Children In

Feb. 27, 2012 - PRLog -- An Interview with Marty Machowski, author of The Gospel Story Bible

Marty Machowski has written The Gospel Story Bible (New Growth Press) as a way for families to share Bible stories together, meet Jesus and learn together a new, life-changing way of recognizing him as the hero of every story. Based on the ESV Bible, this unique, illustrated Bible storybook uses 156 stories to present God’s plan of salvation in Christ from its opening narrative in Genesis to its finale in Revelation. The Gospel Story Bible is one of the many products now available in the Gospel Story for Kids series.

Q: What age groups do you think will benefit the most by reading The Gospel Story Bible?

The Gospel Story Bible was written for parents to read to their children. Children as young as two-years-old will enjoy listing to the stories and children as old as 5th grade still enjoy hearing a story read to them.  Rather than produce an early reader Bible that children can learn to read through, we wanted to preserve the more sophisticated details in the stories.  As a result, older children can benefit from the Gospel Story Bible too!

The last paragraph of each story is a short commentary on the story, helping the reader connect the story to God’s larger plan of redemption.  So, even teens can learn a basic biblical theology by reading through the Gospel Story Bible.

Q: How can readers learn to recognize Jesus as the hero of their own personal stories, no matter how mundane or ordinary?

Everyone, both young and old, needs the salvation that only Jesus can provide.  We are all lost in our sin like the Israelites.  We all need a Savior.  Reading through the Gospel Story Bible helps you to recognize and understand how the Gospel is interwoven through the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.  Knowing the scope of God’s plan of redemption helps you see how your life connects to that plan as well.

Q: In what ways does the Old Testament point forward to God’s story of salvation through Jesus Christ?

Every Old Testament Story is pointing forward to God’s plan of redemption in some way.  From God sacrificing an animal to make clothes to cover Adam and Eve, through the last prophecy of a coming redeemer, each story points us to Jesus.

Too often these same Bible stories are moralized.  So many children grew up thinking the story of David and Goliath, for example, is in the Bible to help us conquer the giants in our own lives.  But really that is not why God put that story in the Bible.  David steps in as a deliverer when all of Israel sinfully refused to do what God called them to do, fight the Philistines.

David accepts Goliath’s challenge and so becomes Israel’s representative head to fight Goliath.  If David wins, all of Israel wins, and the Philistines become their slaves.  In that role David is a picture of Jesus who came as our representative head to deliver us from our enemies, sin and death.  Jesus came in the family line of David and Jesus came as a king in the royal line of King David.  The story of David and Goliath is meant to point us to God’s future plan to send a Davidic King to deliver us from our great enemies.

Every lamb sacrificed points us to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who died on the cross for our sins.  Every deliverer points us to Jesus our Savior.  Every undeserved blessing toward Israel points to the grace of God in bringing us a salvation we don’t deserve.

Q: How important are the colorful illustrations in drawing children to read the stories?

Ann Macha has done a fabulous job in concert with the art direction of the New Growth Press team.  The Gospel Story Bible has the most colorful illustrations I have ever seen in any children’s book period!  Children are drawn to the illustrations.  Parents reading the Gospel Story Bible to their children can expect children to stay focused on the page because the illustrations draw their eye.

In addition to the illustrations each story has a “Let’s talk about it” section which gives parents three questions they can ask their children for every story.  These questions turn the Gospel Story Bible into a family devotional tool.


The Gospel Story Bible: Discovering Jesus in the Old and New Testaments by Marty Machowski
New Growth Press/November 2011
ISBN 978-1-936768-12-7/328 pages/hardcover/$24.99
www.newgrowthpress.com

http://gospelstoryforkids.com/

# # #

The B&B Media Group is a full-service publicity, media and consulting firm. Our team works diligently to provide each client with publicity and marketing campaigns tailor-made to his or her individual needs.