Review
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Title: The Best of Jack Christianson
Author: Jack R Christianson
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Genre: Inspirational
Year Published: 2008
Length: 3 Hours
Format: 3 CD’s
ISBN: 13: 978-1-59811-514-7 or 10: 1-59811-514-6
Price: $17.95

Reviewed by Andrew Hamilton

Since the mid-Eighties Jack Christianson has been releasing youth oriented talk tapes and CD’s on a regular basis helping to pave the way for people like John Bytheway, Troy Dunn, Michael Wilcox and Brad Wilcox. This set brings together some of his most popular stories from the last twenty years.

Talks that are highlighted in this set include: “People Matter Most,” “Music: Apples or Onions,” “Surviving the Teen Scene,” “Temples of the Lord, The Bells of Hell, and Modern Man,” “You Were Born To Be A King,” “The Power of Being Good,” “Loving Neighbor, Self and God,” “It Takes Faith,” “True Friendship,” “Tolerance Without Compromise,” “The Book of Mormon and You,” “The Mortal Christ,” “Scripture Time,” “Choices,” “Trust in the Lord, No Matter What,” and “Women of Light.”

Many great lessons and stories are included in these excerpts. Brother Christianson tells of how he learned more about the true meaning of Christmas after crashing his best friend's bicycle. He shares a story about cheerleaders tricking some football players into eating caramel covered onions and how this taught him about the ways Satan tries to deceive us into taking inappropriate entertainment into our lives. He speaks of the lessons he learned while watching “The Wizard of Oz,” as well as the perspective he gained on life while nearly drowning in the Provo River. He tells of the time he spoke in the Prophet’s sacrament meeting and of the time he was “prompted” to play basketball and ended up saving a man’s life. He speaks of being led by the Lord to help people in as diverse of places as Cairo, Egypt and on an air plane bound for Los Angeles.

One fun little nugget occurs on disc two. One of the stories in this collection that Brother Christianson has told over the years concerns a friend of his who took a group of Boy Scouts to Lake Havasupai at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Due to some injuries that took place among his group, this man had to hike out of the canyon and back three times to get all of the injured scout leaders and their equipment out of the Canyon. On his third trip up his strength failed him and he collapsed on the trail. He prayed for help and then tried to get up and finish his hike out when he tripped and fell over a chilled watermelon. Eating the watermelon strengthened him to the point where he could finish his final hike out. For fifteen years he never knew where the watermelon came from, he even felt a little guilty wondering if maybe God took it out of some poor woman’s refrigerator to try and help him. Included on disc two is the “rest of the story,” as Brother Christianson tells of learning how the watermelon got there and the lessons this taught him.

Brother Christianson’s style of speaking is very engaging. He loves people and his caring nature shows in the included excerpts. The stories in this set are entertaining, interesting, often funny, and always have a spiritual side. This set would be a great choice for teens, especially for young men, due in part to Brother Christianson’s frequent use of sports stories and analogies. I think that they would be a good choice for teens who are struggling to find their place in the church or who are unsure if they have testimonies. The stories that Brother Christianson tells and his speaking style are “spiritual” enough that young people will learn from them, without being so “religious” that they will be turned off by them.