Throughout the writing of this textbook, Gloria Beech Jackson has felt a strong desire to help Christians, particularly ministers and other leaders, to actualize a biblical perspective on suffering as an integral component of their call to serve God, the body of Christ, and the world. As Dr. Jackson underlines, the biblical author of Luke and Acts demonstrates that just as it was necessary for Jesus to suffer, His followers, also, must suffer; however, the apostle Paul associates with this suffering a glory to which it is unworthy to be compared. It is on this glory that Dr. Jackson encourages us to “fix our eyes” (2 Cor. 4:18). This book will encourage and strengthen both Christians who are “going through the fire” and those who are “helping others through the fire.”
Gloria Beech Jackson, D. Min., served and taught as a missionary for many years with her late husband, Bob, first in West Africa (Benin, Ivory Coast, and Ghana), then in Belgium. She later worked at STAR Media Ministries, serving Latin America, before being assigned to Caring Connection, the member care team of Assemblies of God World Missions. She currently serves as a missionary-at-large, devoting her time to a writing and teaching ministry.
