By Carrie Brown McWhorter
The Alabama Baptist
The mission of the Church is to reach the lost. But who steps in to help when the local church is losing its way?
That question is at the heart of “Set Your Fields on Fire,” a novel by Alabama author William Thornton that was recently awarded Grand Prize in the Aspiring Author’s Contest from WestBow Press and the Parable Group.
After reading an article about mystery church worshippers, Thornton was inspired to explore the business through a fictional team of evaluators.
“I was kind of flabbergasted that that kind of thing was going on, but it kind of made sense. I thought it would be interesting to write a story from the perspective of those who do this kind of work, to turn these characters loose in a church and let them do their stuff,” Thornton said.
The novel follows a team of undercover church evaluators who take on a job that turns out to be more than any of them expected.
Thornton always saw the story as a comedy, using names like “Alterman” for the change-inspiring leader of the team and “Templeton” for his partner.
Humorous situations
The characters also find themselves in many humorous situations as they investigate the church’s facilities and get to know the ins and outs of the church’s ministries. However, the characters are zealous about faith and the mission of the church, as evidenced in a speech Alterman gives his team before sending them out to do their job.
“The average worshipper isn’t a worshipper,” Alterman says. “He’s got time to binge watch whole TV series on Netflix, but no time to read ahead in the Sunday School book. … He’s got a closet full of clothes, the best car, and he’s planning his vacation, but he’s got no money for missions because he’s maxed out on three credit cards. … Part of our job is reminding them of what (worship) should be.”
The title of the book, inspired by a gospel song written by bluegrass legend Bill Monroe, parallels the significance the characters place on the church’s mission, Thornton said.
“It’s a fire and brimstone sort of hymn that says, ‘If you don’t from sin retire, He will set your fields on fire.’ The idea is that you better get right (with Jesus), now is the time, which dovetails with these characters. The Church today doesn’t talk a lot about Jesus with His winnowing fork in His hand, burning up the chaff. This group, though, they believe worship is serious business.”
Examining worship
Thornton, who teaches the 70 and older adult men’s Sunday School class at Southside Baptist Church in Etowah Baptist Association, believes that as well. He hopes the book challenges readers to examine their approach to worship.
“If you grew up in church and go every Sunday, the routine of it all may overwhelm why you’re doing it. In the book Alterman reminds his team that we were created to worship, created to glorify God. I hope people find the book entertaining, but I also want to get across that glorifying God is serious and too often we don’t take it seriously enough.”
“Set Your Fields on Fire” is Thornton’s third novel. In all his books the main characters are Christians. Thornton said that while he sees believers as a big audience for his books, he hopes that people of other faiths or of no faith also will be amused by his stories while also learning a little more about what Christians believe and what goes on in the life of the church.
“If someone comes to the book and has no idea about any of this, hopefully it will lead them in this direction (toward faith) or at least help them see people who go to church as more than caricatures.”
For Thornton, who works as an East Alabama reporter for Alabama Media Group, which includes The Birmingham News and al.com, writing fiction is a way to talk about issues of faith in a different way. The publishing world is not an easy one to break into, but Thornton said the future of his fiction-writing career is in bigger hands.
“I trust the Lord that He’s going to make a way,” Thornton said. “He’s already opened a lot of avenues that I did not see coming.”
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