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Andrea Fortenberry

A Fresh Start: Bible Review and Giveaway

December 26, 2019 By Andrea Fortenberry

26 Dec

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! I love the week between Christmas and the new year. I use it as a time for reflecting on the past year and praying, hoping, and dreaming for the year ahead.

Today I’m going to share a tool that might be helpful to you or someone you know as we enter a new year: The Fresh Start Bible.

I have one linen softcover copy to give away, read to the end for details!

The Fresh Start Bible was recently released and created by Gateway Church, a megachurch in Texas. They have multiple campuses and an average weekly attendance of 30,000. Wow!

Here’s what I love about The Fresh Start Bible:

  • Fresh layout: Clean design, easy-to-read fonts, and color palette. The gray linen cover looks and feels classy.
  • Fundamentals: This Bible has very helpful information on fundamentals of the Christian faith, called The Fresh Start Journey, located at the beginning. Topics include salvation, the importance of church, communion, why to read the Bible, and more. Whether you’re a new believer or have been following Jesus for years, I think you’ll really enjoy this section. I did!
  • Book Background: Before each book of the Bible, you’ll find helpful contextual information, like who wrote the book, world affairs, and cultural details of the time it was written.
  • Commentaries: Additional commentaries are included throughout the Bible and help the reader gain more insight to apply Scripture to our daily lives. While commentaries never replace God’s Word, they can help us to understand it better.
  • Gospel Details: I’ve taught Bible studies for several years and I find that there’s confusion about the stories we read in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John because some of them overlap and others don’t. In this Bible, you’ll find helpful charts about the miracles, teachings, and parables of Jesus listed out by Gospel in a side-by-side comparison.
  • New Living Translation: When I teach Bible study, I often use the NLT because I find it easier for readers to understand this paraphrased translation of the Bible in modern English.
  • The One-Year Reading Plan: Such a helpful tool to guide readers through Scripture in one year.
  • Profiles: There are 59 profiles of people from the Bible, called Intersections, located at the back of the Bible.
  • Color Maps and Charts: I love when Bibles have maps in the back so that we can look up and see important places and journeys of biblical figures.

A few notes:

  • While I love the Fundamentals section, there are a few specific readings on baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, topics that have been debated between denominations for years. In the Fresh Start Bible, the authors assume all believers will receive the gift of speaking in tongues.
  • While I like the look and feel of the linen softbound cover, I don’t know how well it’s going to wear. If I were purchasing, I would probably opt for the hardbound version or the imitation leather cover.

Want to win a copy of The Fresh Start Bible? I have one linen softcover that I’ll be giving away to one of you! To enter, simply share your favorite Bible verse in the comments below.

Giveaway ends Wednesday January 1st 2020 and will be announced on Friday, January 3rd.

Want to go ahead and purchase a copy? You can purchase on Amazon* or directly through Fresh Start Bible.

Disclosure: I received The Fresh Start Bible in return for my honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not influenced or required, in any way, to write a positive review.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission for your purchase at absolutely no cost to you.

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Filed Under: books, God's Word

« What to Give Yourself for Christmas
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Comments

  1. Andrea Barnes says

    December 28, 2019 at 1:31 pm

    “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

  2. Jessica Adams says

    December 30, 2019 at 6:28 am

    For God is within her, she will not fall. Psalms 46:5

Meet Andrea


Hi! I’m Andrea Fortenberry. I write and speak on marriage, motherhood, friendship and faith. I love to help women seek and see God in their everyday life. Being a wife and mother of two gives me lots of material and teaches me oh so many things.

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