Faster Pastor

When a NY Times best-selling author and a NASCAR driver team up to write a Southern novel, the result is a literary match made in heaven. She has skills in description and characterization. He has life experience and the technical knowledge of racing. When aspiring NASCAR driver Camber Berkley wrecks his car and --literally-- crashes a funeral in the small town of Judas Grove, the locals consider him an answer to prayer. The deceased was an elderly NASCAR fan with no living relatives, and his will stipulates that the money be given to one of the village churches--to the one with the faster pastor. The ministers are to borrow stock cars from regular drivers at the county speedway, and race for the $2 million legacy. There's a problem. None of the ministers knows how to race. But when a real, live NASCAR driver turns up in the county jail, charged with reckless driving, their problem is solved. Camber is sentenced to community service, teaching ten middle-aged ministers how to race stock cars. For Camber, the cynical sophisticate, this sojourn in a small town will repay his teaching with life lessons in faith, trust and friendship. The ministers find that racing is a test of skill as well as faith, and, when Camber's life is suddenly in jeopardy, they are required to produce a small miracle--with the help of another jail inmate, a mysterious Mexican named Jèsus. Will the best man win? Only God knows. Sharyn McCrumb and Adam Edwards have written a wise and wonderful novel about faith, small town values, and the miracle of friendship. Filled with humor, affectionate portraits of Southern characters, and the breakneck suspense of stock car racing, Faster Pastor is a blessing to readers of Southern literature.