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Foreword

I’ve known Tim Ferguson for 45 years. And there have only been a handful of people who have influenced my life more.

We first met in 1975. I had just returned home after graduating from college. He was leading a young adults Coffeehouse in the basement of the local Presbyterian church. Most of us who came to the Coffeehouse regularly saw it as a social organization—a place to have fun, make friends, maybe even meet someone special. (A lot of marriages, including my own, came out of that group.)

But Tim always envisioned it as something more. It was his way of doing God’s work and doing something to improve the community in which we lived.

That was still Tim’s mission a few decades later, when he started running the church’s Youth Group out of that same basement. I eventually became his assistant and got to witness firsthand how his vision was really bearing fruit. This, I could see, was what Tim was really born to do.

The fun was still there; that’s why the Youth Group attracted many kids from outside the Church. But now Tim had a chance to do more teaching. He was always trying to find new ways to bring the word of God to our youth. New ways, too, for our youth to do God’s work, especially feeding the hungry.

It was out of this quest that The Chest of Visions was born. It’s a highly imaginative mingling of Christian theology and modern scientific theory (something else that has always fascinated Tim.) It takes the story of Jesus and re-imagines it on a different world with a different set of characters. But it isn’t a simple retelling. Just when you think you know exactly where it’s going, it hits you with a surprise that packs a powerful emotional wallop.

Tim wants to give youth a fresh perspective on Christ’s message—and he succeeds.

Today, Tim and I are still friends. He is still dedicated to mission work and community outreach. And he is still teaching, this time one of our Confirmation classes. (He can’t stop. It’s in his blood.)

I’m teaching the other Confirmation class. In fact, I’m now chair of the Christian Education committee. But I wouldn’t be doing either if I hadn’t walked into that basement 45 years ago. Tim is still influencing my life. When you read and use The Chest of Visions, he may influence yours.

Frank Tangredi