Rosell's new book and Balmer's fascinating panel

One quick addition to my summer reading list:  Garth Rosell's The Surprising Work of God:  Harold John Ockenga, Billy Graham, and the Rebirth of Evangelicalism.  Ockenga was in the first graduating class of Westminster, among the faculty and student exiles from Princeton.  Eventually he became pastor of Boston's Park Street church, then president of Fuller, while still living in Boston, then president of Gordon Conwell, the first president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and board chair of Christianity Today.  This is a great look at American evangelicalism's coming of age.

Rosell's father, Merv Rosell, was himself a prominent evangelist with Youth for Christ and frequently in the Graham/Ockenga orbit.  This gives Rosell, in the words of Doug Sweeney's endorsement, "a front row seat." 

Speaking of sons, Randy Balmer has put together what looks to be a fascinating panel at the American Academy of Religion national meeting, Nov 1-3, in Chicago.  Entitled "Fathers and Sons," Balmer has assembled a fascinating constellation of sons, all holding academic posts, of famous evangelists.  The sons include Paul Maier son of Walter Maier, Dan Crawford son of Percy Crawford, Garth Rosell son of Merv Rosell, Don Wyrtzen son of Jack Wyrtzen, and John Woodbridge son of Charles Woodbridge.   Let's hope somebody's going to publish it.