- Hearts Minds Bookstore's Best Books of 2015, Memoir

Steve Hayner was serving as president of Columbia Seminary and was healthy and fit when he found out he had terminal pancreatic cancer. He and his wife Sharol embarked on a journey together with their children that soon included tens of thousands of visits from friends and acquaintances via the CaringBridge website. The overwhelming response to their posts on this website attested to the surprising and engaging way that they chose to live in the face of death. As a result they uncovered the remarkable truth that God, our good Shepherd, provides a feast for us when we are in the valley of the shadow of death as well as in the green pastures. Steve was always known for signing letters and emails, "joyfully." These pages, including reflections from some of those closest to Steve and Sharol, offer us a hope-filled glimpse into what it means to walk with God in honesty, with joy, even through great pain.



Sharol Hayner has been serving in ministry for over forty years with her husband Steve. She served as children?s music director at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle and as children?s music director and worship coordinator at Christ Presbyterian Church in Madison, Wisconsin. At age forty-eight, she began seminary and ultimately graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. Ordained in the PCUSA, she served as associate pastor for discipleship at Peachtree Presbyterian Church and now serves as parish associate at Kairos Church, both in Atlanta. Sharol and Steve have three children and five grandchildren, all of whom live in the South.



Mark Labberton is the former president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He previously served as Lloyd John Ogilvie chair for preaching and director of the Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute for Preaching. Prior to that, Labbertonwas senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, California. He has also served as chair of John Stott Ministries. Today he continues to contribute to the mission of the global church as a senior fellow of the International Justice Mission. He is the author of The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor and The Dangerous Act of Worship.



Steve Hayner was the president emeritus of Columbia Theological Seminary and an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA, as well as a professor, author and the former president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He held a PhD in Hebrewand Semitic Studies from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He served on the boards of World Vision and IJM, among others. [use photo of Steve and Sharol together]



Alex Gee is pastor of Fountain of Life Family Worship Center and president of the Nehemiah Community Development Corporation, both in Madison, Wisconsin. He also serves as an adjunct professor, lecturer and diversity consultant atSeattle Pacific University. Along with John Teter he authored Jesus the Hip-Hop Prophets.



Foreword by Mark Labberton



Foreword by Alex Gee



Daily Reflections



Epilogue: Journeying to Final Joy



God with Us: A Confession of Faith



Acknowledgments



Notes



Sidebar Contributors



"Throughout nine months of enduring terminal cancer, Steve and Sharol hide nothing of their struggle, and yet withhold nothing of their bold faith. This is a rare gift, to be invited into a journey so utterly full and overflowing with both the depth of pain and loss and yet the anchor of hope. I will always count it as one of my greatest treasures to have known Steve in both life and death."



"Steve Hayner has been first a hero and then a friend since I met him many years ago. He was a people magnet and an idea machine and an energy force. To follow the journey that he and Sharol traveled together through the valley of the shadow of death was a privilege and a heartbreak and an education in hope. I'm grateful their searing, aching, honest, inspiring words are now permanently available. I cannot imagine a human being who would not benefit from it."



"For nine months Steve Hayner fought a losing battle against an aggressive pancreatic cancer. During that time both he and his wife kept in touch with friends and relatives through the CaringBridge website. Their journals provide an intimate look at the struggles they faced together and individually—and what trusting God looks like. There's wisdom here for others facing illness, or befriending those who do. They write of hymns and the succor they receive from knowing that people are praying.Notes of encouragement bring 'hope and joy, not to mention distraction from some of the daily grind of this disease.'"



"With remarkable candor, Steve and Sharol Hayner teach us how to live in the face of dying. Over nine months of physical decline, they lay bare a wide range of emotions—faith and fear, grace and grief, poignancy and pain. The journey, though hellish at times, is punctuated by the Lord's presence, family love and proactive friends. Years ago, I followed Steve to InterVarsity. Someday, when my health fails, I will follow him to glory. When that happens, I want to emulate his journey of dignity, courage and joy."



"I first came to know Steve as a teacher when he was called to serve as professor of evangelism at Columbia Theological Seminary. . . . This book is an example of Steve as a teacher. It is real, honest and truthful. Like Steve, it inspires, challenges, encourages and changes us all as faithful followers of Jesus Christ. What Steve and Sharol Hayner both teach us through their amazing writing is how to trust, be vulnerable, grieve and, yes, be joyful even as one is dying. They teach us through their abiding faith, humility, sadness, frustration and candor."



"Steve and Sharol lived in and wrote about the victory they already had in Jesus. I found hope on every page."



"Seldom have I been as moved as in reading these epistles from Steve and Sharol Hayner—each ending 'Joyfully yours.' Through his life Steve helped so many to find life in all its fullness in Christ. Now, with his beloved Sharol, he guides us through the ending of life in fullness of hope. Thanks to InterVarsity Press for what I believe will become a classic."



"Joy in the Journey is a simple and yet profound testimony of a man of faith embracing life in death, and of a woman keeping faith and loving her husband all the way to the grave. It is a moving testimony of how it is that in the season of dying one comes to terms with what life is all about, the truths of the gospel and God's call today. It is amazing how it all becomes clearer in the darker seasons of life. In these pages we receive glimpses into that 'over all presence of God' that makes gratitude and joy possible all the time, even in suffering, grieving and dying!"



"Steve, Sharol, and friends all display a vision of looking ahead to the joyful life with Christ, and the hope that is brought through reflection on the Word of God. Interspersed throughout the book are poems and hymns, allusions to and quotes from the Bible, and more. These tidbits are not just insights into the hope found in Jesus, but also provide ways to reflect upon grief and joy in life. . . .Joy in the Journey is a hard read, but one that provides several helpful insights into living—and, sadly but necessarily, dying—well."



"Steve and Sharol Hayner spent their lives teaching everyone who knew them just what it means to truly live for Christ. Then during Steve's final months of life, they taught us how to truly die in Christ. They shared their experience with us through a series of remarkable journals chronicling how they found deep joy in Christ in the midst of acute suffering, dying and death. I had hoped that these beautiful and inspiring journals would be published so they could bless others who might be walking through their own valleys. This small book will now help countless others to find the still, small voice of God in the midst of their own tempest. He is risen indeed!"