Acknowledgments

My family and friends:

Mike, thank you for loving me and being my biggest supporter and cheerleader. You live out Ephesians 5:25 every single day. Mychael and Wyatt, thank you for accepting me into your family and letting me be a part of your lives. Your presence in my life has deepened me and taught me so much about love. Dyllan and Ayden, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. My greatest prayer is that you will love Jesus and walk with him all the days of your life. I love you all with my whole heart.

My sisters, Kristin, Cherie, and Nikki, thank you for being my growing-up pals, my closest friends, and the ones who understand me best. Thank you to my nieces and nephews, Lauren, Ryan, Kailyn, Leona, Ava, and Charlize, for bringing unimaginable joy to my life. Matthew, your very existence has been an indescribable gift. Our hearts are crushed in your absence, but we will see you again. In that, you have taught me what it means to have hope. Clyde, Thelma, Mark, and Ivey, thank you for your love.

Teasi Cannon, Carianne Long, Michelle Bagnasco, Chrissy Katina, Kristin Schweain, Amber Brandt, Elizabeth Stewart, and Tammy Trent, your friendships have meaningfully shaped my life at different times and in various seasons.

Diane Woerner, you’ve been in the trenches with me for the last few years, reading, editing, encouraging, pushing back, or smoothing out my blog posts. My editor and friend. (I left that last sentence purposely incomplete in honor of the hours we spent deciding whether incomplete sentences worked for a certain emphasis or were simply bad grammar.)

My apologetics community:

Frank Turek and J. Warner Wallace, you were the first “big time” apologists to encourage me to pursue this path. You believed I had something to bring to the table, and it was your mentorship, instruction, and wise counsel that helped lead me here.

Eric Gustafson, Adam Tucker, and everyone at Southern Evangelical Seminary, thank you for accepting me into your family although I didn’t even take my classes for credit! Your heart to help a stay-at-home mom with her doubts and questions is something I will never forget. I thank God for you.

Others who played an instrumental role in encouraging me throughout this process are Hillary Ferrer and all the other Mama Bears, David Young, Michael Goff, Jonathan Morrow, Mark Mittelberg, Greg Koukl, Brett Kunkle, Rebekah and Richard Howe, Scott Williamson, Jan Williamson, everyone at Women in Apologetics, Amy Hall, Tim Barnett, Jorge Gil, Sean McDowell, Bobby Conway, Jay Strother, and countless others whose books, blogs, and podcasts were like lifeboats when my faith was going under. Natasha Crain, if you hadn’t strongly encouraged me to write this book, it might not have happened. Thank you for the push. Mr. Weitzel, my seventh and twelfth grade English teacher, you caused me to love writing and somehow made me believe I could do it.

To all the scholars and smart friends who were available to review everything from single paragraphs to entire chapters for accuracy—Dr. Mel Winstead, Dr. Peter J. Williams, Dr. Peter Gurry, Dr. Patrick Sawyer, Clark Bates, Dr. R. Scott Smith, Clay Jones, Jean E. Jones, and Benjamin J. Nickodemus—I am deeply indebted to you.

The publishing team:

Ron Beers and everyone at Tyndale, thank you for believing in this book. Jon Farrar, thank you for your constant encouragement, support, editing, and feedback. Kim Miller and Annette Hayward, thank you for your steadfast attention to detail, relentless fact-checking, tireless research, and wholehearted investment in making this book everything it could be. Kara Leonino and Jillian Schlossberg, thanks for your help in shepherding this book through the publishing process. Eva Winters, I’m grateful for the artistry you brought to the design of the book’s cover and interior.

My agent, Bill Jensen: Almost no one is more responsible for making this happen than you. From talking with you on the phone for the first time while I was in Costco to fishing on the McKenzie River to embarrassing myself gorging on your irresistible grilled vegetables, you and Sheila have become family. Your fingerprints are all over this book, and I’m so grateful for your guidance (both spiritual and literary) and your unwavering commitment to providing the body of Christ with resources that help them discern the real gospel versus another gospel.