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EEW Magazine gives OWN’s ‘The Book of John Gray’
four stars and calls it ‘must-see TV’
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Article By Sybil Rhodes // Entertainment
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Posted March 15, 2017
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Photo Credit: OWN
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A new show is joining the OWN Network lineup beginning April 15 called “The Book of John Gray,”
featuring associate pastor of Joel Osteen's world-famous Lakewood Church, John Gray and his wife
Aventer.
The sneak peek of the full premiere episode will make you laugh, cry and praise, all while proving
that this reality show is most certainly must-see TV.
“It is ministry personified, with a twist,” says Empowering Everyday Women (EEW) Online
Magazine’s editorial director Rebecca Johnson, who previewed the full episode with her staff, made
available by OWN, The Oprah Winfrey Network.
“It’s like a church service, therapy session, comedy show, flavored with practical biblical application,
all rolled into a feel-good package the whole family can enjoy. It’s the kind of show Christians have
been waiting and longing to see,” she added. “EEW Magazine gives it four stars.”
In the first episode, you’ll meet a woman named Aldreamer, originally from Baton Rouge, who now
lives in Houston after the Louisiana floods forced her out. The single mother lost everything—her
house, car and job –after 3 feet of water stormed her home, her block and the city, damaging
everything.
Aldreamer, who has three children, was living in a hotel, feeling numb, barely hanging onto her faith.
Pastor Gray went to see her.
“When we found out about your story, I wanted to come meet you myself,” he told Aldreamer. “If I’m
really going to understand what you’re walking through, I wanted to come and see.”
The former Macy’s human resources administrative support employee told the popular preacher,
“We had to walk out the actual neighborhood and the water was up to my thighs. I had to carry my
daughter and my oldest son had to carry my middle son.”
At the time of taping one of her eldest was just shy of his fourteenth birthday. Aldreamer also has
an 8-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter.
She was weary from carrying the financial load with no help from her children’s fathers. Worse yet,
her time of relying on assistance from FEMA, The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which
helped Aldreamer’s family relocate and pay for lodging expenses, was just days away from coming
to a close.
“I’m a preacher’s daughter, so I grew up in church, but my faith has wavered. Growing up as a
preacher’s daughter I’ve learned so much about church, but I was never taught anything about the
real world,” the struggling mother tearfully admitted to Pastor John.
The compassionate minister empathized with Aldreamer while sitting on a sofa in the compact hotel
room, telling her, “You’re not alone. Life happens. And sometimes you’re asking, what kind of God
would let this happen?”
“I get to the point where I feel like God has forgotten about me,” Aldreamer said.
“God hasn’t forgotten you,” Pastor John countered.
“I know you had to walk through the water, but I believe you’re about to walk on the water,” he told
her, drawing a smile out of the emotionally vulnerable mom.
He then instructed her to do something unconventional.
“I want you to pay it forward. The greatest gift that you could receive right now is perspective,
because there are people who would trade places with you in a heartbeat. Your homework is to
bless somebody else with what you have right now, because even though you’re in this hotel, there’
s somebody sleeping under a bridge. And when you see that somebody else is battling and they
don’t even have what you have, it gives you hope that you’re not at the lowest point,” he said.
After the conversation, Pastor John wondered in what practical ways he could help Aldreamer out.
At the suggestion of his wife Aventer, he called upon two of his friends, Pastor Jeremy Foster,
senior pastor of Hope City Church and Pastor Ray Bady, a youth pastor at Windsor Village Church
in Houston.
The three brainstormed at a basketball game.
“I don’t just want to look at people and say, ‘I’m praying for you,’” said Pastor Jeremy. “I want to be
the answer to the prayer they’ve been praying already.”
Later in the episode it was revealed that Aldreamer indeed offered help to a homeless man at the
hotel where she was staying. Her children packed a snack bag for him and Aldreamer took water for
the stranger.
“What you did is, you validated his humanity. Out of what little you had, you gave,” Pastor John said
when the two met up again. “That’s God giving you a greater platform. That’s seeing good in the
worst of times,” he said.
Aldreamer revealed that, the same night John met with her, she got a call from FEMA saying they
were extending the hotel stays.
“God has not forgotten about you and if you think that was something, this was just the first act.
Baby, God’s got a whole lot more coming your way!” Pastor John assured her.
He was right.
Hope City committed to taking care of an additional month of Aldreamer’s living expenses while
Pastor Ray set Aldreamer up with a woman who could help her find gainful employment.
“I believe that Aldreamer was an assignment and I could’ve passed on the assignment,” Pastor
John said. “I feel her hope. I feel her faith reemerging.”
Watch the full inspiring episode for yourself below.
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