Rededication is passionate, humorous and most of all honest about the realities of the battle between faith and sexuality. Armond reveals himself in a most authentic manner in an effort to really connect with the reader. In each chapter, while the story is about Armond’s journey, the reader will be remiss if they aren’t convicted to recall their own relevant personal testimony. If you are a Christian, fighting against sexual sin yourself, this book will take you on a journey of restoration that you can apply in your own life.
Armond E. Mosley is the founder of Kingdom Workshops, LLC, a Christian-based organization focused on educating, motivating and activating individuals to fulfill their God-given purpose(s) in life. Through Kingdom Workshops, Armond has had the opportunity to work with many churches, universities and civic organizations to provide solutions to the issues facing their respective constituencies. Utilizing candor, transparency and humor, Armond challenges workshop attendees to yield to the voice of God in their own lives to secure the joy that has been promised to them. Some of the signature workshop offerings are: Finding Your Passion, Biblical Entrepreneurship and Dating God’s Way.
Born in Huntsville, AL, Armond now resides in Norristown, PA (a suburb of Philadelphia) with his wife Nneka. Currently, Armond is active promoting his first book publication entitled, Rededication: A Story of Sex, Repentance and Restoration, which will was released in May. In his spare time, Armond enjoys reading, watching sports (though he admits he doesn’t have a favorite team) and spending time with family and friends. For more information on Kingdom Workshops, visit www.kingdomworkshops.com. For more information on Rededication, please visit http://www.godzchildproductions.net/publications.html.
Get to Know the Author:
1. What is Rededication about?
Rededication is an honest account of one man’s struggle with faith and sexuality. Most who’ve grown up in the church have been in positions where what the Bible says and what the world says contradict one another. This reality has the potential to cause much anxiety and strife for a Christian seeking to live God’s way. If we’re honest about it, the church typically avoids the issue of fornication aside from admonishing it when evidenced by pregnancy or shacking up. It’s easy to deal with the outcomes or consequences of sexual impurity, but rarely do we deal with the origins in a preventative manner. Rededication takes an introspective look into my past and delves into the deeper motivations behind my desire to turn away from God and do things my way. Additionally, it walks the reader through my moment of sincere repentance and ultimately, my road to restoration.
2. Why did you write Rededication?
As I went through my journey of rededication and began to diligently seek out help to aide me in my efforts to become sexually pure, I realized that there wasn’t much content available from a male perspective (especially black). I looked and looked and what I found most common were books written by women or white males. Nothing against those authors and one in particular did help me, but I was looking to affirm my journey through the story of someone who looked like me. Unfortunately, I didn’t find much that I could relate to and so, as I began my journey God made it clear that I was to keep note of my own trials and tribulations as one day I would create the very content that I had longed for. So, I wrote it 1st out of obedience to God and 2nd to fill a gap that I believed (and still do) existed in the market for books on sexual purity written by black men.
3. What makes Rededication unique from other books that speak to celibacy/abstinence?
Of the books that exist that deal with the issue of celibacy/abstinence, most in my opinion are told from an existential viewpoint and seem to shield the author’s own indiscretions along the way. Rededication is transparent, authentic and personal. No punches are pulled and no stone is left unturned. Why? Because it wasn’t my story to keep to myself! God made it clear to me that I had to tell the WHOLE story…not just the parts that I was comfortable with. And so, I believe what you get with Rededication is a real account of a real person dealing with a real issue that many face everyday.
4. Do you think your message of celibacy until marriage is relevant in today’s society?
Absolutely! Society would have us believe that it’s a lost cause and that serial monogamy is the best that we can hope for. However, I think the number of “kids raising kids,” STDs and divorces in our country (especially within the black community) point to a more pervasive issue at hand. That said, I think if you bring this question under the context of the Christian faith, it becomes even more interesting. Part of the irony of my story is that while I was engaging in premarital sex, I was also proclaiming Christianity. So, I lived much of my young adult life in a “spiritually inconsistent” manner. So much so, that when I did rededicate my life to Christ, many who knew me pre-rededication would make comments like “Oh, you found Jesus, huh?” or “You’re on that church kick now?” This was a very shameful period for me because I had always known who He was…but obviously, my actions didn’t show it.
I say all of that to say, in writing Rededication I didn’t set out to convert the non-believer as a primary objective. I wrote it to speak to the hearts of the professing Christians who have found themselves in a “spiritually inconsistent” state and are looking for a way out…a window of opportunity for their own rededication to Christ. So, for this group, those who’ve felt the conviction (whether they acknowledge it or not) associated with being outside of the will of God, I feel that the message of celibacy until marriage is very relevant.
5. How have readers responded thus far to Rededication?
I praise God that readers have found the content within Rededication to be beneficial to them in their lives. This journey has really been a faith walk and I can’t say that I had any enormous expectations around reader response to start off with. That said, I’ve been blessed tremendously by their feedback. One in particular is the following:
“After I put this book down, the levees broke…the flood gates opened and all the issues of my past paraded through. I finally began to understand the sinful appetite I myself had conjured up as a result of my own struggles with carnality. Fortunately, there’s one thing that this book ultimately helped me realize…that God is and always will be in control. In the book Rededication, Mr. Mosley vividly recounts his struggles with sexual immorality as it relates to premarital sex. Even as he took the road less traveled (celibacy), he pulls the veil that so many Christians dare not to reveal as they take the “walk”: that you slip up, you have doubts, you may even become disappointed in God, and you can start all over again. I appreciated his rawness, his desire to tell it like it is and through his faithfulness, demonstrate how God orders our steps. I hope that this isn’t the end for Mr. Mosley’s writing career…that there are more books to come and guide us on a journey towards rededication!
FYI – I took the pledge and rededicated my life to Christ. Thanks Armond Mosley.”
6. What are the major themes in Rededication?
I’d say there are probably four major themes within Rededication.
The first would be Rebellion. Much of the first few chapters depict my
adolescent and early adult years where I fought to find a sense of
self. In this fight, I subconsciously (or consciously) bucked all
teachings instilled by my parents and upbringing in church. The second
theme is that of Repentance. I knew what I was supposed to do for much
of my adult life and yet, I didn’t do it. And it wasn’t until I arrived
in a most humbled state that I was able to see the “error in my ways.”
As I recognized where I had erred, I realized that I needed to repent
because the life I was living was not the life that God intended for
me. The third theme would be that of Forgiveness. Regardless of all
the “bad” things I did, God still forgave me. No matter how hard I
tried to ignore Him or be mad at Him at times for not giving me what I
wanted, God still remained God and in the end, welcomed me with open
arms as I sought His forgiveness. The fourth theme would be
Restoration. In the end, God restored me to a better place than that
which I had begun. The process of becoming celibate and wholly
submitted to God caused me to lose some people and things. And because
of that, there was some grieving that I experienced for their loss.
But, at the conclusion of the journey, God filled ALL the vacancies left
behind.7. What is the one thing that you would want our readers to know about you?
Find the author:
Author Site: http://www.kingdomworkshops.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/iammosley
Buy Book:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rededication-Story-Sex-Repentance-Restoration/dp/1937095002/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320706660&sr=8-1-spell/motowritnetw-20
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rededication-armond-e-mosley/1102047630?ean=9781937095000&itm=1&usri=rededication
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