Lost, Hidden, Small

“I loved this book for its wisdom, message and welcome, its depth and its many charms, especially the clear and deeply human voice of the author, Pastor Kate. –Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author

“I have had the pleasure of being Kate Murphy’s friend for nearly a quarter century. A conversation with Kate always makes me feel selfish. I know that I am not the only person who needs her deep pastoral and scriptural wisdom, wicked humor, and poetic sensibility. You have in your hands the gift of a conversation with one of our finest pastors. She means to change your mind about whom to value and what to value if you have cast your lot with that strange healer, exorcist, and preacher we call Jesus. Our world is being turned upside down before us. Kate means to do the same, but in the interest of beauty, humanity, and the fulfillment of God’s dream for creation. May it be so.” –Rev. Dr. William H. Lamar IV, pastor of Metropolitan AME Church and author of Ancestors

“Kate Haynes Murphy is a kind shepherd–and she is also a storyteller who kindles flames that fan into fire, burning down the illusions we’ve built around our faith, our lives, and God. With reckless abandon, she enchants us to reimagine the way we see Christ, the way we see others, and–especially–the way we see ourselves. In Lost, Hidden, Small, she dares us to forsake all we ever thought we knew for the sake of facing the truth of our lostness … and finding the One we can never lose.” –Rachel Marie Kang, author of Let There Be Art and The Matter of Little Losses and founder of The Fallow House

“Walter Brueggemann has written about how the true work of ministry is rejecting the dominant cultural script–what he calls therapeutic, technological, consumeristic militarism–and living by the counter-script of God. Kate Haynes Murphy casts a similar vision and invites us to embrace an appropriately uncomfortable counter-script that challenges typical American ways of viewing church. Murphy vulnerably recounts her own faith and leadership journey; the temptation to desire a church that is large, in charge, and the talk of the town; and the humbling discovery that the way of Jesus often leads in the opposite direction. This book is an honest and encouraging saga of how someone who feels like a train wreck can participate in the subversive script and ministry of God. It’s an invitation to find kinship and delight in the league of holy losers.” –Wesley Vander Lugt, theologian and author of Beauty Is Oxygen: Finding a Faith That Breathes

Kate Haynes Murphy is the pastor of The Grove Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. She grew up in Kentucky and holds undergraduate degrees in music and biology from DePauw University and a master of divinity and masters of sacred theology from the School of Theology at Boston University. Murphy and her husband have three daughters, and she is an avid runner and reader who writes regularly about the intersection of faith and politics for the Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh News & Observer. Her podcast about life in a healthy and holy multiethnic church is called 2 Pastors Take a Walk and Make a Podcast.