Thank You!

Acknowledgments for Resisting Gossip Together.

I am a grateful man because I am a blessed man.

Thank you, Heather Joy, for your steadfast love through the ups and downs and twists and turns of this “book thing.” I am a blessed husband. I love you.

Thank you, Robin, Andrew, Peter, and Isaac for being such cheerleaders for Daddy’s book. I am a blessed father.

Thank you, Chuck and Anita Mitchell, for your listening ears, earnest counsel, and overwhelming support. I am a blessed son.

Thank you, Lanse Free Church Family, for praying me through this process and for letting me set aside time to write this guide and to produce the videos. We, as a church, are resisting gossip together! I am a blessed pastor.

Thanks, Gary Foster, for ably representing me once again as my intrepid agent. And thank you, David Almack and your growing team at CLC Publications. It’s a humbling joy to see these resources come into existence and help people around the world. Thanks for giving the videos away online! I am a blessed author.

Thank you, Laurel Eriksen, for the webdesign of matt-mitchell.blogspot.com, especially adding the new page with resources for Resisting Gossip Together. And thank you, Elizabeth Nelson, Dennis Wadsworth, and Dan Ledford for some on-the-spot editing at just the right moment. I am blessed to have you as my friends.

Thank you, David Platt, for the idea of adding “together” to the name of the study guide. When I first read Radical Together, I loved the concept of building community around this teaching. That’s what it’s all about!

Thank you, Spencer Folmar of Third Brother Films, for producing the Resisting Gossip Video Series with such high quality. I wouldn’t have believed that it could be so much fun!

I’m really grateful for those folks who opened up their homes, businesses, or other sites for us to shoot the videos “on location.” Thank you, Cody & Holly Crumrine, Jerome Nevling, Tom & Leesa Folmar, Maxine Orwick of the West Branch Dairy Diner (a.k.a. “The Pumpkin House”), Jeff Spanogle and the Clearfield Alliance Christian School, Bob Selfridge of TMM Data, Joe Greenland and the board of the Oak Hill Memorial Cemetery, and Lanse Evangelical Free Church.

Thank you, Susan Stallings, for being my biggest collaborator on this project. Thanks for sharing all of your notes with me from your women’s Bible studies and giving me permission to freely use your ideas for digging deeper–especially those helpful charts. You’ve taught this material on resisting gossip more than anyone but me! I love your commitment to inductive Bible study and not just fluffy storytelling. Thanks also for your lighting-fast and eagle-eyed editing of the first drafts. This little book may not have ever been finished without you, and it certainly wouldn’t have been as good. I am a blessed nephew.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for these people who have blessed me in so many ways. You are the greatest giver and the best gift of all. May you and your Father get all the glory.