AN UNLIKELY ADVENT Extraordinary People of the Christmas Story
Expect the unexpected this Christmas.
This four-week Advent study focuses on the experiences of four sets of often overlooked characters in the Nativity story. During this Advent season, Rachel Billups guides readers through the themes of hope, love, joy, and peace by sharing the stories of Elizabeth and Zechariah, Herod, the Magi, and the shepherds. Each set of unexpected characters has something to teach about living faithfully on the journey to Christmas.
Additional components to use the book as a four-week small group study include a leader guide and DVD/Video Sessions featuring Rachel Billups.
Buy It Now
Book
144 pages that's great for personal reading and to be used as a four-week small group study.
Leader Guide
The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the four-week study, including session plans, activities, discussion questions, and multiple format options.
DVD featuring the author
These four video sessions feature Rachel guiding participants through the content. Video sessions are 10-12 minutes in length.
Meet Rachel.
Rachel Billups is a visionary, leader, speaker and author. Currently, she serves as pastor at New Albany United Methodist Church. She previously served as Senior Pastor at Ginghamsburg Church multi-campus ministry in Tipp City/Dayton Ohio. Rachel draws on her love of people and passion to explore new venues for ministry and mission.
Rachel is an ordained Elder within the United Methodist Church and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Bible/Religion and History from Anderson University and a Master of Divinity Degree from Duke Divinity School.
Most days you can find Rachel reaching out – praying online, hosting Open Table gatherings in her home or enjoying moments with husband Jon and their four loves: Adeline, Christopher, David and Sarah. She also might be cheering for those Duke Blue Devils and The OSU Buckeyes.
Rachel is a popular speaker for national gatherings and has recently authored BE BOLD: finding your fierce as well as co-authoring Down to Earth: Hopes and Fears of all the Year Are Met in Thee Tonight and Sent: Delivering the Gift of Hope at Christmas – all published by Abingdon Press. You can find her on social media at: @rlbillups.
Endorsements
"In An Unlikely Advent, Rachel Billups invites readers to see the unlikely and unexpected ways that God worked in the first Christmas and still works in our lives today. Faithful and inspiring, readers will be moved by this terrific Advent study!"
- Adam Hamilton, Senior Pastor of Resurrection, A United Methodist Church
"An Unlikely Advent will widen your view of the Christmas story to learn from characters that rarely take center stage. And with her deft storytelling and brilliant biblical insights, Rachel Billups will introduce you to the most unlikely nativity character of all: yourself. You will find your story in the birth narratives, and discover how Jesus can be born anew in you."
- Magrey R. deVega, Senior Pastor, Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa, Florida, and author of Questions Jesus Asked: A Six-Week Study in the Gospels and The Bible Year: A Journey through Scripture in 365 Days.
"In An Unlikely Advent, Rachel Billups offers a unique and unusual perspective on the traditional Christmas story. Through her pastoral and personal approach to the unlikely people of the nativity, she draws us into and helps us reflect on our own unlikely stories."
- Susan Robb, author of Angels of Christmas: Hearing God’s Voice in Advent
