I love to read. In fact I have a bookshelf full of stuff that I plan to read, but just don’t have the time for! Apparently, I am not alone. And this is one of the big reasons that the Goodman’s started an exciting new resource that they like to call the Solomon Summaries.

Heather and Chris Goodman buy more books than they have time to read. Chris is a business and ministry entrepreneur who has a heart to connect Christians with culture, specifically through the Internet. Heather, a graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary, is a writer and speaker on the intersection of Christianity, culture and the arts.

Passionate about books and how Christianity interacts with life issues, they started Solomon Summaries. They desire to encourage people to read and talk more about issues facing everyday people, help people prioritize their reading time, and incite business and lay leaders to read about subjects they ordinarily wouldn’t. Check out what Heather and Chris have to say about this cool new resource…

Tell me about your relationship with reading over your life. How have books shaped you? Any one in particular?

LOL. We probably could not have two more polar answers to this question. I (Heather) love reading and engaging with the stories of life and meaning. In fact, I relish long lines at the grocery store, post office, and red lights when I can whip out a book and catch a few more paragraphs. Some of my closest friends are characters in books–Anne of Green Gables and Jo March, for example. I learn and understand Truth (i.e. ideas such as sacrifice, redemption, love, faith, humanity, corruption, creativity) through stories. Some of my favorites include Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler, Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo, The Living End by Lisa Samson, and The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

There have been some key theological books as well that have resonated with me and challenged me to think in a different way, such as The Character of Theology by John Franke, Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright, and currently The Beauty of God, a collection of essays about art and Christianity from a conference in Wheaton.

I (Chris) see reading as a bridge that unfortunately has to be crossed to assess the wisdom I seeks – I love to learn but hate to read (he says with an antagonistic smile). I’ve been strongly influenced by books like Good To Great by Jim Collins, 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Trout and Reese in addition to Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson and Choose the Life by Bill Hull. Choose the Life has been a joyful, painful experience that challenges me to ponder living in submission to Christ daily and authentically.

We have one thing in common–the books we pile around the house, Chris because he wants to learn as much as possible, and Heather because she can’t be in a room without a book.

What inspired you to begin a business like this? Why did you want to start it?

I (Chris) found a growing chasm between the amount of books I want to absorb and the amount of time available to read them (not so much due to time shrinking, but because there are so many amazing books). In the business world, I had access to executive book summary services for years to glean the latest business wisdom and I dreamed of something similar for Christian books.

I (Heather) am passionate about all things books. I love the idea of raising awareness of what’s out there.

In a culture that has adopted “I’m busy” as a standard response to the question “how are you?”, there seems to be an interesting opportunity to engage people in bite size chunks with the key points from a book on Christian living. Hopefully, this will help readers triage which books they want to look at further. Also, we want to help lay leaders choose good materials and resources for Sunday school classes, small groups, mentoring relationships, and leadership training and help pastors stay in touch with what’s out there and what their congregations are reading.

What is your vision for Solomon Summaries?

Well that is an interesting question. As future-thinking people, we have great interest in seeing Solomon Summaries become a platform for engagement and growth. Based on the initial reaction and how passionately people share the idea with their friends (and we’re hoping people will be very excited and share it with lots of friends), we are in discussion on a number of additional pieces of the puzzle (what Chris calls the blueprint) to offer value to book readers and small group book discussions. We’d also like to get the authors of the books more involved in the discussion. We’ll be paying close attention to subscribers and their interests and ultimately it will grow into what people want and need to help them in their lives.

Personally, I think that this is a great resource for every busy Christian. You can easily pack some of the best in modern and classic Christian literature into any busy schedule. In addition to that, the summaries make great study guides for small group discussion. So here’s what I recommend…

• Join the Solomon Summaries group on Facebook! We can discuss books there!
• Get the BibleDude discount! Mention that you heard about the service from BibleDude.net, and you will only pay $100 for one year of these amazing summaries (normally $120).
• Not sure yet? Take advantage of a free trial! Register now, and get the service for absolutely free through Decmber 1st!
• Check out what other folks have to say about it! I’m not the only fan of this awesome service. Check out the reviews from other bloggers:

Check out this cool new service! I’d love to tell you more, but I’ve got to go catch up on my reading…   But, if you check them out, make sure that you let them know that BibleDude sent you!