When faith meets fiction; Good Girl[TM] Book Club. (books N clubs).

Anyone who has a relationship with Christ is not only special, but extra special," says Monica Lloyd. "Peter 2:9 tells us that. But church shouldn't consume all of you, or all of your time. God even rested on the seventh day."

When Lloyd discovered that many of her friends rarely engaged in activities outside of those related to their church, her personal mission became finding another type of good, clean entertainment that also offered stimulating conversation. She called on church affiliates, gathered her personal friends and relied on word of mouth to establish Extra Special Women Book Club, a reading group of Christian women based in Illinois.

"You go to church to get God's word to carry you on and help you grow. You join a Christian book club to help you grow in knowing your sisters and brothers on a personal level. Christians are finding that it is okay to read material other than the Bible without messing up their mind-set."

The group's first title, Naked and Not Ashamed by Bishop T.D. Jakes, was followed by an assortment of motivational books on how to be virtuous. Club members found these books interesting but repetitive. Then Lloyd came across a Christian novel. "I didn't even know they existed," she confesses. "We found that there were fiction books out there that we could read and relate to, and they put life back into our reading group."

Most Christian fiction deals with real-life problems that families cope with in their daily lives. When discussing Victoria Christopher Murray's Temptation, the group touched on infidelity and the power of forgiveness. With Nobody's Perfect by Patricia Haley-Brown, they examined premarital sex and issues relating to finding Mr. Right.

"When the husband cheated in Temptation, we could visualize the scene. But it didn't bother us," says Lloyd. "One can relate to a cheating husband and a girlfriend sleeping with your man and not wanting to trust God completely. These situations are real whether you are in church or not."

Not all of Lloyd's friends and associates are Christians, and their conversations aren't always holy, much like the characters she encounters in some novels where not everyone embraces Christian values. Profanity, therefore, is a very real issue.

"It is important that readers know themselves and know what they can handle" Lloyd points out. "The reason for reading Christian fiction is to get "clean" reading. Sex and profanity are everywhere. But if I want that kind of reading, I would buy those kinds of books. We need more Christian writers and novelists," she continues. "There are groups of readers out here waiting to show their support."

Lloyd will soon publish her own spiritual book entitled It All Begins With You: Seven Things Women Need to Know. "If women could realize how extra special they are, men would come to them instead of us searching them out. I want to encourage my sisters that they deserve better than what they are settling for."

The Makings of A Good Girl

In search of spiritual growth and development, Marina Woods started the Good Girl Book Club (www.GoodGirlBookClubOnline.com), an online reading group with over 1,000 members. "As a Christian, I was striving daily to refrain from the things that were not positive and be obedient to God," says Woods. "The fiction books that I was reading did not reinforce the lifestyle I was living and striving to maintain. Many books that I read contained vulgar language and explicit sex."

When Woods came across Christian books that were page-turners and led her back to the word of God, she wanted other women to read and discuss Christian books together, glean their message, and apply it to their own lives. "I realized there had to be thousands of other women who were seeking truth in fiction and who loved to read and discuss books," she says. "I wanted to reach them, and the Internet was one of the most efficient and effective ways to do this."

As more people turn to God for strength, members of Christian book clubs like Good Girl read and respond to books where characters see obvious answers to their prayers, make decisions based on scripture, and witness the power of God working under difficult circumstances.

"These books deliver a clear message of God's hope and offer a perspective of a world that includes spiritual vision, order and moral resolution," says Woods. "They help readers who may have given up hope, or who feel really lost or alone.

"When a book club member who has been feeling lonely or empty or troubled reads a Christian book with characters that may be experiencing something similar, hope is restored and the reader is led back to the word of God through the text and also through the book discussion."

Want your club mentioned? E-mail [e-mail].

Book Club Event

Join the Extra Special Women Book Club for its annual literary event from 12 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 24, 2002, at the Hilton Oak Law Hotel, 9333 S. Cicero Avenue, Oak Lawn, Illinois. Special guest author: Victoria Christopher Murray, author of Temptation and Joy. Groups of ten people or more receive a $5.00 discount off of the $30 admittance price. Email Monica Lloyd at [e-mail] for further information.

A Sample of fiction for Christian Book Clubs

Ain't No River
by Sharon Ewell Foster
Multnomah Publishers
February 2001, $11.99
ISBN 1-576-73628-8

Awakening Mercy
by Angela Benson
Tyndale House
August 2000, $9.99
ISBN 0-842-31939-5

Church Folk
by Michele Andrea Bowen
Warner Books
June 2001, $21.95
ISBN 0-446-52799-8

Joy
by Victoria Christopher Murray
Walk Worthy Press
November 2001, $23.95
ISBN 0-446-52875-7

Nobody's Perfect
by Patricia Haley-Brown
Anointed Vision
July 1998
ISBN 0-966-31741-6

Passing by Samaria
by Sharon Ewell Foster
Multnomah Publishers
January 2000, $11.99
ISBN 1-576-73615-6

Promises to Keep
by Aisha Ford, Cecilia Dowdy
and Lillian Meredith
Guild America Book
November 2001, $12.99
ISBN 0-7394-2236-7

Singsation
by Jacquelin Thomas
Walk Worthy Press, April 2001
$21.95, ISBN 0-446-52798-X

Temptation
by Victoria Christopher Murray
Walk Worthy Press
September 2000, $19.95
ISBN 0-446-52792-0

That Faith, That Trust,
That Love
by Jamellah Ellis
All the While Reconcile
Publishing, June 2001, $12.95
ISBN 0-970-91500-4

The Prodigal Husband
by Jacquelin Thomas
New Spirit/BET Books
April 2002, $15.00
ISBN 1-583-14254-1

To Whom Much is Given
by Maurice M. Gray Jr.
Write the Vision Publishing
$12.95, ISBN 0-970-05140-9