Facing The Giants - A Novel Order Printed Copy

Author: Eric Wilson
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About the Book

"Facing the Giants" follows the story of a high school football coach who must overcome personal and professional challenges in order to lead his team to victory. Through faith and perseverance, he learns valuable lessons about love, forgiveness, and the power of believing in oneself.

Lecrae Moore

Lecrae Devaughn Moore, or simply Lecrae, is an American Christian rapper, songwriter, and record producer who performs both as a solo artist and as the leader of a group named ‘116 Clique’. He had a troubled beginning in life but all that changed after he found his faith at 19. Heavily influenced by 2Pac Shakur, and motivated by his new found faith, he ventured into a musical career. He and his friend Ben Washer set up their own independent record label ‘Reach Records’ and through it, he released his debut album ‘Real Talk’ in 2004. In the following years, he brought out six more studio albums, three mix tapes, and two EPs as a solo artist and three studio albums, one remix album, and one EP with his group. He has received six ‘GMA Dove Awards’, two Grammys, two ‘BET Awards’ and more. Lecrae is very active in the community and in 2005, he established ‘ReachLife Ministries’, the mission of which was to “bridge the gap between biblical truth and the urban context”. He is a vocal supporter of the preservation of responsibility and believes that fatherhood should be considered as a value to be installed among men in the United States. He has authored several op-ed articles on race relations in the modern-day America which were published by ‘Billboard’. Childhood & Early Life Lecrae Devaughn Moore was born on October 9, 1979, in Houston, Texas, USA. His father had always been absent from his life and later became a drug addict. He was raised by his poor but hardworking mother and grandmother. He attended services with them at their local church but the initial response to religion was indifferent at best. Growing up, he lived in San Diego, Denver, and Dallas. He suffered sexual molestation at the hands of a female baby sitter when he was eight, and according to Lecrae, it left a long-term negative impact on his views on sexuality. In a life full of abuse and violence, hip hop provided him with a refuge. Besides 2Pac who he admired for his rapping skills, he also looked up to his uncle who introduced him to a life of crime. He began doing drugs at 16 and soon started dealing as well. He kept a Bible with him that his grandmother had given him as a good luck charm. The turning point in his life came when he was arrested for drug possession. The officer let him go upon Lecrae’s promising that he would read and follow the Bible. He thus started visiting the church again. Upon an invitation from a friend, he also started attending Bible studies. He was once involved in an accident where he wrecked his car but he himself came out unscathed. This incident further strengthened his belief in Christ and he devoted his life fully to his faith. He returned to his college, the ‘University of North Texas’ and volunteered and sang at a juvenile detention centre. Career Six years after his conversion, Lecrae Moore released the album ‘Real Talk’ (2004) through ‘Reach Records’, a label he had founded with his friend Ben Washer. It reached #29 spot on the ‘Billboard Gospel Album’ chart after being re-released in 2005 by ‘Cross Movement Records’. In 2005, he formed ‘116 Clique’ with other artists who had signed with ‘Reach Records’. The group owes its name to the Bible Verse ‘Romans 1:16’. They debuted with ‘The Compilation Album’ in the same year. They have since released three more albums, ‘The Compilation Album: Chopped & Screwed’ (remix, 2006), ‘13 Letters’ (2007), and ‘Man Up’ (2011), and one EP, ‘Amped’ (2007). He was nominated for a ‘Stellar Award’ for the ‘Rap/Hip-Hop/Gospel CD of the Year’ for his second solo album ‘After the Music Stops’ (2006). In 2008, he put out his third studio album ‘Rebel’. In his fourth studio album, ‘Rehab’ (2010), Lecrae talks about freedom from inhibiting addictions and habits. Both Lecrae and his album received accolades in the 2010 ‘Rapzilla.com staff picks’, being hailed as the ‘Artist of the Year’ and the ‘Album of the Year’, respectively. His fifth studio album, ‘Rehab: The Overdose’ (2011) was a direct follow-up to ‘Rehab’, both being highly conceptual works. While ‘Rehab’ was about the victory over addiction, ‘Rehab: The Overdose’ focused on attaining "grace, love, peace and hope" in Jesus. He won his first two Doves because of this album, one for the ‘Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year’ and the other for the ‘Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year’ for the track, ‘Hallelujah’. ’Gravity’, released on September 4, 2012, was his sixth studio album and had 15 songs with a total runtime of 57 minutes. It peaked on the ‘Rap Albums’, ‘Christian Albums’, ‘Gospel Albums’, and ‘Independent Albums’ charts. Lecrae released his first mixtape ‘Church Clothes’ on May 10, 2012, through digital download for free. It was followed by ‘Church Clothes 2’ (November 7, 2013), and ‘Church Clothes 3’ (January 15, 2016). He has also released two Extended Plays till date, the EP version of ‘Church Clothes’, and ‘Gravity: The Remix EP’, both released in 2012. He has collaborated with the likes of Trip Lee, Tedashii, Canon, Mali Music, and Ty Dolla Sign. ‘Columbia Records’ signed him in May 2016, in a contract between them and his label. His most recent work, a track named ‘Hammer Time’, which is a collaborative effort with 1k Phew, was released on June 23, 2017. On May 3, 2016, he published his memoir titled ‘Unashamed’ through ‘Broadman & Holman Publishers’. It debuted at #19 spot on the ‘New York Times Best Sellers’ list. Philanthropic Works In 2011, Lecrae, through ‘116 Clique’ and the ‘ReachLife Ministries’, instigated the campaign ‘Man Up’, focused on providing guidance to young urban males on fatherhood and Biblical manhood. In March 2015, ReachLife was deactivated and ‘116 Clique’ shifted its attention to contribute to ‘Peace Preparatory Academy’, a Christian school in Atlanta. In May 2013, he worked alongside several other celebrities on a media initiative named ‘This is Fatherhood’. Jay Z, Barack Obama, Joshua DuBois, Lecrae himself, and others have appeared in the initiative’s promotional public service announcement videos. Major Works In a career marked by successful artistic ventures and awards, Lecrae’s greatest musical achievement is unarguably his seventh and the latest studio album ‘Anomaly’, released on September 9, 2014. It was the first album in history to debut at #1 on both ‘Billboard 200’ and ‘Top Gospel Albums’ charts. It was also certified Gold by the RIAA. Awards & Achievements Lecrae Moore received a Grammy in 2013 for the ‘Best Gospel Album’ for his sixth studio album ‘Gravity’. He won his second Grammy in 2015 for the ‘Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song’ for the track ‘Messengers’ which also featured the Christian pop band ‘For King & Country’. He was named the best gospel artist at the ‘2015 BET Awards’. In 2017, he was the recipient of the ‘BET Best Gospel/ Inspirational Award’ for the song ‘Can’t Stop Me Now (Destination)’. On March 14, 2016, he was conferred with an honorary doctorate from ‘Canada Christian College’. Personal Life & Legacy Lecrae Moore met his wife Darragh at a Bible study when they were both teenagers. They have three children together, two sons and a daughter. The family resides in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2002, he was informed by his then girlfriend that she was pregnant with his child. The couple had an abortion, a decision which he has regretted since. The incident was the subject of the song ‘Good, Bad, Ugly’ from ‘Anomaly’. Trivia Lecrae portrayed the character Dr. Darnall Malmquist in the 2014 independent film ‘Believe Me’.

There Is a Name

In a world of tolerance and pluralism, few truth claims taste as sour as this one: Jesus is the only way to God. Or as the apostle Peter so boldly says, There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) Just one name for eight billion people? Just one Savior for almost seven thousand people groups? Just one heavenward path for men and women, young and old, urban and rural, Asian and American and African and European? Peter, apparently, felt unashamed of the claim. “Let it be known to all of you,” he began (Acts 4:10). But what Peter proclaimed, many of us whisper, especially among those who take offense. “No other name” may sound fine in small group, but our voices can crack at a neighbor’s kitchen table. Embarrassment, not boldness, might mark even the lovers of Jesus’s name. “Into this world of curse and sin, where half our house hangs over the cliff edge of judgment, God has given a name.” Perhaps, then, we need help feeling the wonder that there is any name at all. Into this world of curse and sin, where half our house hangs over the cliff edge of judgment, God has given a name. World with No Name By all just reckonings, we ought to live in a world with no name. We ought to walk east of Eden, with no promise of a coming son. We ought to toil under Pharaoh, with no outstretched arm to rescue. We ought to tremble before Goliath, with no David to sling his stones. We ought to hang our harps in Babylon, with no hope of a future song. On our own, of course, we struggle to consent to such dismal oughts. We feel, even if we do not speak, not that we ought to perish, but that God ought to save. We sense that heaven, not hell, is humanity’s default destination. We talk of a hundred paths up the mountain because we assume, deep down, that most (if not all) deserve to reach the top. Yet we feel, sense, and assume like this only when we feel, sense, and assume that our sin is smaller than God says. To those with slight views of sin, little could be more offensive than there being only one name. But for those who, like Job (Job 42:6), or Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5), or Peter (Luke 5:8), or John (Revelation 1:17), have found themselves thrust into the presence of the Holy One, little could be more wonderfully surprising. Why should God send a sunrise to pierce our chosen darkness? Why should the Father rise and race to meet his wayward son? Why should Christ become our Hosea to redeem us from the brothel? Why should heaven’s blood be shed to win back heaven’s haters? Why should Jesus give his name to rescue crucifiers? Only because the reckonings of heaven reach beyond mere justice. There Is a Name Now, hear again the words that so often offend or embarrass: There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) The exclusivity of Jesus Christ does indeed sit at the center of Peter’s words, like a stone of stumbling or a rock of offense (Acts 4:11; Romans 9:33). Yet strewn around that stone are jewels so beautiful that Peter’s claim, so far from offending or embarrassing, ought to break the hearts of sinners and unloose the tongues of saints. NAME GIVEN There is . . . [a] name . . . given. When the Son of God was born in Bethlehem, he was born into a world without a saving name. No name among Greece’s wise philosophers could save. No name in Rome’s expansive pantheon could save. Israel, of course, had long taken refuge in the name of Yahweh (Exodus 34:6–7). Yet even Yahweh waited for the day when he would give his name in a new way — and through it, a salvation far beyond the Jews’ imagination (Jeremiah 23:5–6; Joel 2:32). Then on that lonely night, the God of heaven gave a name to lost and dying sinners. Unto us was born that day in the city of David a Savior, named Jesus Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11). Take heart, exiles of Eden. Have courage, slaves of Pharaoh. Lift up your heads, soldiers of Israel. Play your harps, prisoners of Babylon. Your God has come, and he has given you a name. UNDER HEAVEN There is . . . [a] name under heaven given among men. God could have given this name to the Caesars and Herods of the world. He could have handed it to the wise and powerful. Or most likely of all, he could have entrusted it to the Jews alone. Instead, he gave a name under (all) heaven, among (all) men. “Jesus’s name will meet the eastern sunrise. Jesus’s name will watch the western sunset.” Wherever men and women live under heaven, however far the image of God has wandered, there this name must go. It must run beyond Jerusalem; it must reach past Judea; it must fly outside Samaria to find the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). As the psalmist sings, “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!” (Psalm 113:3). So it is and will be in Jesus. His name will meet the eastern sunrise. His name will watch the western sunset. And everywhere in between, all people “will be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed” (Psalm 72:17). FOR SALVATION There is . . . [a] name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. God has given a name. This name is for everyone under heaven. And here is God’s purpose, God’s desire, in giving that universal name: my people must be saved (Acts 2:21). God saw fit to wrap salvation in the syllables of this name. “You shall call his name Jesus,” the angel told Mary, “for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). “God sees,” “God sympathizes,” “God strengthens” — any of these names would have been wonderful. But Jesus, “God saves” — or more literally, “Yahweh saves”? No wonder Mary marveled (Luke 1:46–55). God did not send this name into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through it (John 3:17). What a Glorious Name So then, in Jesus, we hear the only name that saves. We can, if we want, nurture offense or embarrassment about God’s giving only one name. Or we can thank God for that name, treasure that name, and join God himself in spreading that name wherever it is not sung. If we do, we join a mission that cannot fail. Hear God Almighty take up the longing of Psalm 113:3 and turn it into a prophetic promise, sealed twice over: From the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 1:11) His name will be great: in Zambia and New Zealand, in India and Iceland, in China and Colombia, and in the darkened streets of our own cities. And to that end, God has made us stewards of his sacred name. In Christ, we can shine the light that splits the darkness (Luke 1:78–79), lower the hand that lifts the fallen (Psalm 40:2), raise the snake that heals the bitten (John 3:14–15), and say the name that saves the sinner. There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved. And oh what a glorious name it is. Article by Scott Hubbard