God made the first human by breathing into dirt.  Jesus healed a blind guy by picking up mud, spitting in it and wiping it on the man’s eyes.  Jesus interrupted a death penalty case by drawing in the sand as people dropped their stones, and he told a bunch of religious folks if they want to enter the Kingdom of God they need to play in the dirt with the kids.  The Scriptures are full of stories of a God who is not afraid of dirt, who is just as likely to show up in the sewers of the slums as in the polished halls of the temples.  Christine has felt the mud between her toes and has seen God at work in the dirt.  This is a book of dirty theology.  It’s about a God who is not scared of getting dirty, and invites us to join him in the mud. May we have the courage to roll up our pant-legs and follow.

Shane Claiborne, author, activist, recovering sinner

Here’s evidence that with God’s help all things are possible. These remarkable stories of South Africans who overcome economic, social and spiritual oppression through faith are testimonies that missionary efforts are bearing incredible fruit.  Two thumbs up for a great book.”

Tony Campolo, Ph.D.  Speaker, professor, author.

If Jesus loved to use story in order to teach the crowds, then it is clear that Christine Jeske is surly one of his disciples. Into the Mud sings in well-written narrative the glories of God in a context of hardship and joy, suffering and victory. It’s one of those books that beg for the page to turn in order to discover what happens next. Christine walks us through the South African dust in the dry season and the mud in rainy season and in the process we discover Christ and his coming kingdom – sometimes with great challenges but often with rewarding surprises. I urge you to journey with her into the mud and straight to the heart of God.

Scott A. Bessenecker, Associate Director
InterVarsity Missions

God is calling his people to a strange joy, the kind that comes only by borrowing the discomfort of others.  Some hear the call, many do not. Christine Jeske hears it and passes it on to us in Into the Mud:  Inspiration for Everyday Activists, Stories of Africa.  You don’t have to love Africa to hear the invitation.  Africa’s stories are like all stories in the hard places.  The invitation is to accompany one another in the pilgrimage of faith.”

Michele Rickett, Founder and President, Sisters In Service,

and co-author of Daughters of Hope and Forgotten Girls: Stories of Hope and Courage.

Beautifully and engagingly written, Christine Jeske brings us deep reflections and poses important questions from the front-lines of ministry to the poor in southern Africa.  Through a series of sensitively written, engaging and evocative stories of ordinary people, a mosaic of Africa as it is today emerges before our eyes — complex, deeply Christian, caring and humane.  The key issues of mission, poverty, development and justice surface through these compelling lives.  This is a book that you must read.

Bryant L. Myers, Ph.D., Professor of International Development, Fuller Theological Seminary

If Jesus loved to use story in order to teach the crowds, then it is clear that Christine Jeske is surly one of his disciples. Into the Mud sings in well-written narrative the glories of God in a context of hardship and joy, suffering and victory. It’s one of those books that beg for the page to turn in order to discover what happens next. Christine walks us through the South African dust in the dry season and the mud in rainy season and in the process we discover Christ and his coming kingdom – sometimes with great challenges but often with rewarding surprises. I urge you to journey with her into the mud and straight to the heart of God.

Scott A. Bessenecker, Associate Director, InterVarsity Missions, Author

Africa is a rich, harsh, diverse land not made for sissies!  In this riveting book Christine Jeske invites you to experience, and possibly wrestle with, many massive burdens encountered by authentic 21st Century Africans .  With few creature comforts and minimal Western luxuries, we are drawn to the reality of living out Christ in the midst of trials, tradition and tribulation.  The “mud” of each situation forces every reader to examine the impact of God’s Living Water to cleanse, clarify and cultivate.  This is a book we should all read, it expands the mind and softens the heart.

Rona Miller, Executive Editor Christian Living Today Magazine (South Africa)

Most of the success stories we Christians tell each other are inspirational tall tales.  Even when the facts are technically true, we ministry people generally edit ourselves in such a way as to dazzle – and raise money.  So then, both the good news and the bad news is that Christine Jeske’s collection of stories about the common, un-miraculous transformations of common, un-miraculous people is both rare and remarkable.  If you are looking for some honest hope in a world full of trouble, here it is.

Bart Campolo, Author, Speaker, and Leader of The Walnut Hills Fellowship

Through raw, honest, careful and dignified re-telling of still-in-process stories of people in South Africa, ”Into the Mud” shows how our Creator and Redeemer enters into the pain of people surrounded by injustice in order to provide comfort and strength as these everyday heroes encounter and embrace faith, hope and love. I was inspired and deeply moved.”

Benjamin Homan, President, Food for the Hungry

Into the Mud is an engaging picture of how to enter another culture from the position of a learner and a fallen human being but still with a view to bring about positive change.  Christine Jeske’s carefully chosen well-written stories all have lessons to be learned and are followed by questions for discussion and reflection.  I recommend this book highly for those thinking of cross-cultural ministry, be it short or long term.”

Jim Tebbe, Urbana Director, Vice President – Missions, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

Into the Mud is an adventure from cover to cover!  A young mother from Wisconsin rides her motorcycle across the South African countryside, searching for the Africa of which she had dreamed back on her college campus.  What she found instead was more than colorful folktales and exotic music – she found miracles of faith and God’s love at work in the “mud” of extreme poverty, violence, racism, and disease.  This book is full of love, hope and inspiration, and it is sure to launch a huge Christine Jeske fan club.  I’m already eager to see her next one!

Don Mosley, Jubilee Partners, Author

Jeske offers winsome, colorful exhibits of God’s grace and Kingdom movement in a landscape of globalized juxtapositions.  Into the Mud reminds us that indeed, every story is a travel story as the journey of becoming and hope are inextricably woven together in the face of everyday people.  One need not have traveled to the southern tip of Africa to appreciate a literary arousal of the senses as the author walks the reader through the social and physical topography of the Zulu nation.  Of course, if one has traveled to this mountainous region of South Africa, these stories ring with authentic detail and perspective.  A wonderful read for anyone who wishes to understand this nook of our planet or who just long to hear more evidence of God’s redemptive work in the muddy places of life.

Gary T. LaVanchy, Adjunct Instructor and Discipleship Coordinator, Wheaton College