Tonight's guest is Jennifer Kates, the contributing writer to Dave's just released book, Childish Things: A Memoir, and an English professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN.
Tonight's show will feature Dave reading some short excerpts from his book, along with a question and answer session with Dave and Jennifer about both the book and the process of writing a memoir. You can call in during the live show with your questions at 217-375-9933.
The host of "That GD Show," Dave Warnock, was caught up in the Jesus movement of the 1970's and ended up living the bulk of his life as a Charismatic Evangelical, serving as a pastor on three different church staff. Following several years of internal struggle, Dave came to the conclusion in 2011 that he no longer believed in a personal God, and shared with his family and friends that he was now an agnostic, although today he now describes himself as an atheist. The fall-out from this admission was devastating, costing Dave his relationship with most of his family members, including his two daughters via the fundamentalist practice of "shunning." Consequently, he also lost his relationship with all of his six grandchildren, and his own marriage to his still devout evangelical wife did not survive. In 2019, Dave was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), a progressive neurodegenerative disease with an average life expectancy of 3-5 years.
Dave's memoir, Childish Things, recounts with often humorous, and yet at times heart-wrenching, depictions of his "born again" conversion to fundamentalist Christianity as a naive 18 year old, his life experiences while deeply embedded in fundamental Christianity, the events that finally led to his faith "destruction," and how he lives his life now as an atheist with joy by capturing the special "moments" of this one life we do have, even while facing a physical debilitating terminal illness.
When Dave was first diagnosed with ALS, Dave's friends encouraged him to speak out to those struggling with their own faith questions and doubts, religious trauma, or even the fear of death or of an eternal hell. Dave's outreach grew into a platform called "Dying Out Loud," which led to numerous requests for a book, which Dave has spent the past two years writing.
To write his book Dave reached out to his good friend Jennifer Kates, who helped guide Dave in structuring and capturing an "in-the-moment" energy to his memoir.
Call in with your questions for Dave and Jennifer @ 217-375-9933 regarding Dave's book and/or the process of writing and publishing a memoir.
It's available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and Audible format @ https://tinyurl.com/ChildishThings
*Please note: The hardback is $29.99, but incorrectly priced on Amazon - We've been working for weeks now with no success to get this fixed.
It is however available at the correct price at any book retailer, i.e.: Barnes and Nobles @ tinyurl.com/ChildishThingsHardback.
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