2009 October » Hot Apple Cider Books

Eleanor Shepherd’s article, "Living Outside Our Comfort Zones," is on page 120 of Hot Apple Cider. This article, based on Eleanor’s personal experiences, including her son’s life-changing accident, received The Word Guild Award of Merit for a Profile or Human Interest Article in June, 2009.

Eleanor Shepherd spent 30 years in ministry after ordination as an officer of The Salvation Army. While giving leadership in pastoral ministry and administration, she contributed over 85 articles, mainly to Salvation Army publications. These were distributed in a variety of periodicals in Canada, the USA, France, Germany and New Zealand.

Prayer has played an important part in Eleanor’s life. For 15 years, she has been a member of the Intercessors, an international prayer ministry begun by Catherine Marshall. Besides leading workshops and seminars on prayer, she applied her teaching by creating a personal prayer support network for the ministry of her husband and herself. This network proved particularly valuable to the Shepherds six years ago when their 30-year-old son, John, who was attending Harvard Business School, broke his neck in a car accident and became a quadriplegic.

Read our interview with Eleanor

See Eleanor’s Simple Slow Cooker Hot Apple Cider recipe

Dr. Brad Burke’s personal essay, "What Was God Thinking?," is on page 93 of Hot Apple Cider. It contains excerpts from his book An MD Examines: Why Does God Allow Suffering?

Brad Burke, MD, is a Christian medical specialist, speaker, and author who took a five-year sabbatical from practicing medicine to research and write the compelling book series, An MD Examines. This four-book series is packed with creative illustrations and stories that share God’s character through the eyes of a medical doctor. Titles in the series include, Is God Obsolete?, Why Doesn’t God Stop Evil?, Does God Still Do Miracles?, and Why Does God Allow Suffering?

Dr. Brad has been a guest on several radio and TV shows including “100 Huntley Street” and Janet Parshall’s syndicated show, “America.”

Read our interview with Dr. Brad

Eric E. Wright has two pieces in Hot Apple Cider. The first, on page 61, is "The Neatness Wars," a short personal experience story from the viewpoint of a husband who likes his things visible while his wife prefers everything neatly put away. The second, "The Pink Blossom," on page 230, is a short story about an elderly man who is wondering if he may have made a mistake in judgment years earlier.

Eric E. Wright studied forestry at the University of Toronto. Following his conversion, however, the Lord called him into missionary service. While at Columbia International University in South Carolina, he met and married Mary Helen. Together they served in Pakistan for 16 years with International Christian Fellowship, an SIM affiliated mission. In Pakistan, he was the co-founder of the Open Theological Seminary, an extension training school now serving well over 1000 students.

Upon return to Canada, he pastored Long Branch Baptist Church in Toronto for nine years and taught missions at Toronto Baptist Seminary. In 1991, they moved to a country home. Since then he has served as interim pastor of a number of churches and focused on writing. He is the editor of the Fellowship LINK magazine. Eight of his books have been published, including Church—No Spectator Sport, Revolutionary Forgiveness, a novel The Lightning File, and his recent devotional book, Down a Country Road. Eric and Mary Helen have three married children, all active in their churches, and nine grandchildren.