FRANKLIN SPRINGS, GA — A veteran Christian author dedicating his life to campus ministry has written a new book that confronts our social media generation who suffers from loneliness but fears intimacy and makes digital connections that offer an illusion of authentic friendship.

Chris Maxwell, a best-selling author and college pastor, contracted a near-fatal case of encephalitis in 1996 that gifted him with a new lens through which to see life and relationships.

In Things We’ve Handed Down: Twelve Letters I Leave for You, Maxwell shares an up-close and personal collection of letters and stories reflecting lessons learned from influential books that “authors handed down to me,” he said.

“My personal grief, my own wounds, my tears, have taught me more about what I want to hand down to others,” said Maxwell, a “wounded healer” who ministers to others while living with epilepsy.

“Hope during the storm-like the calming eye of a hurricane. Assurance when nothing indicates good news-like wearing glasses of faith that provide a different view,” he said.

In Things We’ve Handed Down, Maxwell passes along to his readers powerful memories from his life about death, grief, love, acceptance, forgiveness, disappointment, joy, taking long walks with grandpa, meeting new friends, and even leading a funeral service.

“This is life. When the good and the bad mingle. When the laughter and the tears sit together. When the rejoicing and the weeping hold hands,” Maxwell said.

“In these stories I seek to continue sending thoughts I’ve learned, thoughts I wish I had applied better, thoughts I believe others can apply better than I have,” he said.

In a chapter titled, “Wounded Healer,” Maxwell offers a salve for harmful words passed down through parents, siblings, grandparents, classmates, neighbors, preachers, teachers, coaches and strangers that still play in the minds of people, young and old alike. “Those statements continue to wound your deep self–I’m sorry.”

“Saying, ‘I am sorry,’ isn’t a cliché. That word is a significant part of this letter. I feel bad about your wounds, your scars, your limps,” he said.

Legacy of Alarming Dangers Handed to Social Media Generation

Publishing October 1, the book highlights the appalling dangers facing the social media generation — often lonely children and young teens unknowingly befriending predators online.

According to father-of-three Maxwell, alarming trends being “handed down” to the next generation in America include:

• 4 million cases of child abuse and neglect every year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics
• Almost 800,000 12 to 17-year-olds use illegal drugs
• An estimated 500,000 online predators target children for sexual exploitation, with more than half of those children ages 12–15

In closing, Maxwell empowers readers to “notice your wounds and resist any tendency to deny, ignore, or avoid them…Wounds are where the light enters.”

About the Author

Chris Maxwell joined Emmanuel College as Director of Spiritual Life and Campus Pastor after pastoring a church in Orlando, Fla., for 19 years. His best-selling book, Underwater: When Encephalitis, Brain Damage, and Epilepsy Change Everything, explores how encephalitis almost claimed his life. The scar tissue in his brain and epilepsy made him–and his family–face permanent change. Maxwell speaks at churches, retreats, conferences, and medical conventions worldwide. He and his wife, Debbie, have three sons.

CONTACT: Gregg Wooding, 972-567-7660, gregg@iampronline.com

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