Pam Gibbs
LifeWay Press, 2012, 240 pp., $12.95
The signs are there. The teen girls in your youth group are developing study skills, complex relationships and prayer lives of their own. They no longer dot there “I”s with hearts and smiley faces. They are ready for a workbook study that is bold in design and content, calling for some serious stamina. Pam Gibbs wrote James: Faith Under Pressure to correspond with Beth Moore’s intensive, 8-week James study; but this youth version comes off as more hard-core with its red and black color scheme, tightly packed text, rudely angled response boxes and five-day-a-week assignments. The study’s greatest strength is the author’s commitment to context. Each week involves reading and relating to the Book of James in its entirety while honing in thematically on a shorter segment (20 verses or less) and related passages of Scripture. Gibbs works in a basic, accessible history of Israel and first-century Palestine along with practical connections and applications to real life as a young Christian today, from imagining the “stinky boy funk” of Jacob’s testosterone-rich household to reflecting on godly wisdom and the power of words. Leader’s guide included.
