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WORK TITLE: Play with Fire
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.biancaolthoff.com/
CITY: Irvine
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married, husband’s name Matt.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, ministry worker, speaker, and educator. A-21 Campaign, chief storyteller; Propel Women, creative director.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Bianca Juárez Olthoff has been a church ministry worker for fifteen years focusing on inspiring women. She is the chief storyteller for the A-21 Campaign, a global anti-human-trafficking organization, and the creative director for Propel Women. She has worked alongside her husband Matt, executive director at Mariners Church in Irvine, California. Olthoff’s 2016 debut book, Play with Fire: Discovering Fierce Faith, Unquenchable Passion, and a Life-Giving God is written with characteristic humor and honesty as it reminds women that God has huge dreams for them. Olthoff is also a writer who advocates for justice, a teacher, and a blogger.
Part memoir and part spiritual guide, Play with Fire reminds people that God is not waiting until they have more resources or a spouse or a job so he can use them. He is ready to use them now and wants them to know him personally. Olthoff explains that the book’s title comes from the way God uses fire in the Bible to reveal his presence to his people, lead them, refine them, and empower them. That same fire burns away things in people’s lives that get in the way of his purposes.
Olthoff likens experiences in her own life to the story of the Israelites as she overcomes an obsession with perfection and grief over her mother’s battle with cancer to bring herself closer to God. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly praised Olthoff for her natural transparency as she describes her life growing up in Los Angeles, having a crisis of faith, and tying biblical principles into her discussions and transformation. “Olthoff encourages readers to allow the Holy Spirit to transform them from the inside out,” noted the reviewer.
Aimed at women, the book offers a Bible-infused message that that will help women to move forward, discover the powerful nature of the Holy Spirit, and find their own unique calling and purpose in life. In an interview with Jonathan Petersen on the Bible Gate Web site, Olthoff declared: “This book is for the person who wants God to awaken and transform them. Perhaps they’re in a season of loss, confusion, pain, or simply surviving the doldrums of life. … I want to provide language and simple theological handles for people to see how God works.” In this powerful and inspiring book, according to a writer online at Create with Joy, “as Bianca walks us through the places of heartbreak, grief and desolation in her life … we’ll learn how to grow and stretch our faith.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Olthoff, Bianca Juárez, Play with Fire: Discovering Fierce Faith, Unquenchable Passion, and a Life-Giving God, Zondervan (Grand Rapids, MI), 2016.
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, June 13, 2016, review of Play with Fire, p. 92.
ONLINE
Bianca Juárez Olthoff Home Page, http://www.biancaolthoff.com (April 1, 2017).
Bible Gateway, https://www.biblegateway.com/ (August 29, 2016), Jonathan Petersen, author interview.
Create with Joy, http://www.create-with-joy.com/ (September 21, 2016), review of Play with Fire.
I’M A WRITER AND TEACHER IN LOVE WITH TWO MEN: JESUS AND MY HUSBAND, MATT. [YOU MIGHT NOT FIND THIS FUNNY, BUT I LAUGH AT MYSELF, SO IT ALL BALANCES OUT.]
I didn’t learn how to read until I was eleven, but now I can’t put down books. I ask questions, but most times I don’t want the answer unless it’s something I want to hear. I believe in a faithful God, even when I’m faithless. I’m a woman who loves God and is committed to speaking truth when it hurts, loving when it’s hard, and living life out loud.
I spend most of my time working as Chief Storyteller for The A21 Campaign, a global anti-human trafficking organization. By day I’m a freedom writer who advocates for justice, but at night I’m a step-mom who loves to have dance parties with Parker, Ryen, and Ricci [aka The Cutest Dog In The World].
Passionate about God’s word, I teach around the globe and blog about life, love, and the pursuit of Jesus.
Whether discussing topics from justice to pop culture, I’ve spent ten years building the Church and mobilizing God’s people to action alongside Matt, Lead Outreach Pastor at Mariners Church in Irvine, California. I am so excited about the publication of my first book, Play With Fire, which you can pre-order today!
Play with Fire
Publishers Weekly. 263.24 (June 13, 2016): p92.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Listen
Full Text:
Play with Fire
Bianca Juarez Olthoff. Zondervan, $16.99 trade paper (192p) ISBN 978-0-310-34524-4
Part memoir and part spiritual growth guide, Olthoff's debut reminds readers of the idea that God's biggest desire for their lives is to know him personally. Olthoff, who is chief storyteller for the A-21 Campaign and creative director for Propel Women, parallels the story of the Israelites with a season of her own life when she struggled to hear God amid the voices of her own perfectionism and the pain of watching her mother battle cancer. Her voice comes alive as she tells of growing up in Los Angeles and moving through seasons of faith and doubt as she reached her 20s with dreams of the life she wanted. Drawing on her own story and scripture, Olthoff encourages readers to allow the Holy Spirit to transform them from the inside out, replacing hopelessness with an awareness of all that God can do through a life surrendered to his desires. Olthoff's transparency is natural, and her ability to tie in Biblical principles that undergird her discussion of transformation and the Holy Spirit make this work deeply rooted and engaging. (Aug.)
Play With Fire – Book Review
Published by Create With Joy on September 21, 2016 · 1 Comment
play-with-fire
Play With Fire by Bianca Juarez Olthoff – Book Review
Each of us has a story to tell. The Bible is filled with story after story about people who encountered God at some point in their lives and experienced the transformative power of God. As you read their stories, do you ever long to read about someone who is experiencing the redemptive work of God in their lives right now – someone who can bring the Bible to life by showing how the stories of old apply to the things they are experiencing right now?
If you, then you are going to want to move Play With Fire – Discovering Fierce Faith, Unquenchable Passion, And A Life-Giving God by Bianca Juarex Olthoff to the top of your reading list!
In Play With Fire, Bianca explores how God has worked the miracle of redemption and transformation in her own life. She does this by studying how fire is used thematically throughout the Bible to represent God and His ability to refine us through fire, to deliver us from fire, and to transform us by fire.
As Bianca walks us through the places of heartbreak, grief and desolation in her life – and takes us on a biblical journey with the Israelites, with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and with Jesus and His followers – we’ll learn how to grow and stretch our faith when we find ourselves in the dark places and seasons in our lives.
Bianca writes:
If you find yourself in the wilderness, realize that though you may not feel like it at the moment, you are in the very place where true worship can happen. Like the Israelites, you are on the edge of a very promising place.
How do I know? I experienced it.
Play With Fire is a powerful and inspiring book. Read it with a highlighter in hand.
I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.
Play With Fire – Book Trailer
About Bianca Juarez Olthoff
bianca-juarez-olthoff
Bianca is a writer and teacher who’s in love with two men: Jesus and her husband, Matt. She spends most of her time working as the Chief Storyteller for The A21 Campaign, a global anti-human trafficking organization. She’s a freedom writer who advocates for justice, a church-builder, and a step-mom who loves dance parties with Parker, Ryen, and Ricci, the Cutest Dog In The World!
August 29, 2016
Discovering Fierce Faith: An Interview with Bianca Juarez Olthoff
Jonathan Petersen
Manager of marketing for Bible Gateway.
God has huge dreams for you! How can you gain insight into his character and understand the unique fire he’s placed inside you to fulfill your calling and kingdom purpose?
The Bible says that God isn’t waiting until you have more resources or a spouse or a job so he can use you. He’s ready to use you now. The mythical creature, the Phoenix, was referenced by early church leaders highlighting the beauty of reinvention with fire as both the impetus and the method for change. We serve a God who is redemptive, and can take the worst situations and use them for his glory.
Bible Gateway interviewed Bianca Juarez Olthoff (@biancaolthoff) about her book, Play with Fire: Discovering Fierce Faith, Unquenchable Passion, and a Life-Giving God (Zondervan, 2016).
Why is your book titled Play with Fire?
Bianca Juarez Olthoff: My whole life I wanted to be safe. I didn’t do things that pushed me out of my boundaries or made me uncomfortable. What I didn’t realize was that my desire for safe had crept into my theology. Safety precluded me from living a bold and daring life of following fiercely after Jesus.
I started reading Scripture and discovered every time fire is mentioned, God’s presence is revealed and people’s lives are transformed. In the season I was in, I was in desperate need of change and transformation. So I went on a journey to discover God in great ways and explore what it meant to enter in the fire of transformation.
What’s the “fierce faith” you want readers to discover?
Bianca Juarez Olthoff: Our faith is tried and tested through trials and tribulation. Plain and simple: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. My fav passage that demonstrates this is out of Daniel 3 when my Hebrew homies are thrown into a furnace because they refuse to compromise and bow down to any other god.
What they thought was going to kill them actually caused them to experience the presence of God in the fire with them. Not only did they live (Hello?!), but they were a testament to others of the saving power of God (Daniel 3:25).
When we survive the “refiner’s fire” we experience the transformation and saving nature of a God who is able to use all trials for his glory.
You refer to certain Bible passages in your book and you say, “Scripture gives us an open invitation to shout aloud, to ask God to respond.” For the verses listed here, explain your feelings toward them and how you want readers of your book to apply them into their lives:
Bianca Juarez Olthoff: John 15:16—Ugh. I just LOVE this verse. And most people just focus on the latter part (“…so that whatever you ask in my name the father will give you”). But I don’t even care about that! I’m wildly obsessed with the idea that God CHOSE me and CHOSE you as his children. Can you believe that?
Growing up an obese minority living in the ‘hood, I never felt chosen. Not chosen in kickball, not chosen in the spelling bee, not chosen to sit with. The idea of God Almighty choosing me to be his favorite just blows my mind! (And yes, I feel like I’m his favorite.)
Exodus 2:23; 3:7—These verses (and many others) are PROOF that our God sees us, hears our prayers, and is concerned for us. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had moments when I feel alone, forgotten, and unheard by God. Even worse, I’ve questioned if God even cared about me.
But his Word is PROOF that he hears our pain, knows our trauma, and is concerned for us. Not only that, other Scripture will back up that our God is ABLE to save, ABLE to heal, and ABLE to repair even the deepest of wounds.
If God did it for the Israelites, he’ll do the same for us!
Haggai 2:5—Ok, come on! This is GOLD. As God promised the Israelites on their exodus out of Egypt, he still makes promises today. And what did God promise them? HIS SPIRIT.
Friends, what did Jesus promise us before his crucifixion? He promised us an advocate! He said he wouldn’t leave us as orphans. Nope. No way, Jose! Our God made a promise to the Israelites, just like Jesus made us a promise before he ascended to heaven. And what was the promise? The Holy Spirit.
For the love, friends?! Do you see it? As Paul states, the power that raised Christ from the dead is alive in you. GAHHHH! I could drool. This is bananas!
Who is your book written for and how do you want it to change them?
Bianca Juarez Olthoff: This book is for the person who wants God to awaken and transform them. Perhaps they’re in a season of loss, confusion, pain, or simply surviving the doldrums of life with safety as their first priority. I want to provide language and simple theological handles for people to see how God works.
This book is also for people who’d like to support the FEED THE OLTHOFF CHILDREN FUND. I’m joking! (Well, I’m half joking. Don’t judge.)
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?
Bianca Juarez Olthoff: This is going to sound SO cheesy, but I just love Bible Gateway. Hand to heaven, I use it daily just to Google Scriptures. The WordNerd in me geeks out over how quick it is to find a verse to check out a commentary. Yup, I [heart] you guys!
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Bianca Juarez Olthoff: Yes, and I’ll make it brief. I grew up afraid of theological arguments and questioning things like sovereignty and gifts of the Spirit, and why the fruits of the Spirit weren’t actually fruits. As I step into adulthood and discover greater depths of faith, I no longer fear getting to know God more. One of the greatest adventures I’ve been on is discovering the limitless, all-powerful, all-consuming fire God claims to be.
God loves us so much he gave us the presence of his Spirit to do greater things than Jesus Christ did on earth. Does that blow your mind? It shouldn’t. We should simply take God at his word and start doing what he said we can do.
Bio: Bianca Juarez Olthoff is the Chief Storyteller for The A-21 Campaign and the Creative Director for Propel Women. Bianca is a step-mom to Parker and Ryen and has spent the last ten years mobilizing God’s people to action alongside her husband Matt, the Executive Director and Pastor for Project Europe.
Bianca has been in church ministry for 15 years inspiring women to live with unquenchable passion. With Bianca’s trademark humor and honesty, Play with Fire reminds women that God has huge dreams for each of his children. “He’s whispering in the wind and speaking through the fire and shouting in silence the extraordinary dream.”