In , D. Larry Gregg applies his years of studying the nature and significance of the Christian community- ecclesiology-to his experience as a woodworker, seeing the potential in flawed, broken pieces of wood to become beautiful, useful works of art. Though humans are not discarded wood and have a choice regarding their participation in God's loving and redemptive purpose through Jesus Christ, Gregg mines both the craft of turning bowls and his decades of work in ministry and education to explore how God gathers up the "ugly fragments of sin, suffering, and social alienation so they might be transformed into a 'new creation,' redeemed and restored to its original place and purpose. . . ." is a retired Christian minister and university and divinity school professor. In retirement he has pursued a third career as an author of both fiction and nonfiction. A native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Gregg is married to the former Peggy Franks of Birmingham, Alabama. They have two adult sons and three grandchildren. The Greggs currently live near Rutherfordton, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.