Mary

About the Book

Mary is about the mother of Jesus and the arc of her development from a peasant teenager to an icon in the church, to a bold witness of the of the Gospel who journeys from Jerusalem to Samaria, to the mostly Gentile church in Antioch of Syria, and finally to Ephesus, a major metropolitan city of Asia Minor. This book tells the story of Mary in the style as a memoir while still being faithful to the canon of scripture in the hopes that women who seek to have their voices heard in a male-dominated society will find inspiration and strength. Also, that all readers will gain a new appreciation for the challenges and fears of Mary, her own need for a savior, and her development into an eyewitness for God's love through his Son Jesus Christ. Mary shows how one woman can start out simply and yet become a giant of faith and model of womanhood.

About the Author

Louis McCall was born in Chicago, Illinois, and attended Northwestern University, where he received a Ph.D. in political science. Later, he also attended the National War College of the National Defense University. Louis was an assistant professor at the Ohio State University in the Department of Political Science prior to a thirty-six-year career in the U.S. Department of State, first as a Foreign Service officer and then as a foreign affairs Civil Service employee where he served as Consul General in Florence, Italy, Chargé d'Affaires in Brunei, U.S. Representative to the Republic of San Marino, and Assistant Inspector General. He lived in or worked in, at least temporarily, more than sixty countries on six continents.

Whether in academia or as a diplomat, Louis found opportunities to live his faith, including part-time ministry of the good news in word and in song, including co-laboring with missionaries, national church leaders, and the underground church. When ministering early in his diplomatic career from the pulpit of a great church in Calcutta, India, Louis said to those in attendance that he had determined not to be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. That has been a commitment he has endeavored to keep over the years. In his final two years at the Department of State, he organized and led the national day of prayer observances in the Department.

Now, in his new career as an author, he has the pleasure of greater freedom in sharing what God has placed in his heart. Louis is active simultaneously in two churches in Washington, DC. One is a multi-site non-denominational church, and the other is a Catholic church where he is a regular cantor, though not a Catholic himself. He has managed this with the blessing and full knowledge of pastors and priests. This has been an outgrowth of his early association with a mixed protestant-Catholic charismatic house-based worship group, his association with the late Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, his charismatic Catholic wife, Lenora, and guest ministry in churches and bible schools of various denominations while living in or working in other countries.