The Rev. Chris Brauns’ book, “The Way of Repentance: Embracing God’s Gift for a Transformed Life”, published with Crossway/Good News Publishers, will be released March 31.

Brauns is the pastor of the Red Brick Church and the church will host a book signing (and pizza) celebration at 4 p.m. April 12. All proceeds from the sale of books will go to the Red Brick Church.

“All of us need turnarounds in life. That is what repentance is all about,” Brauns said. “At the most basic level, ‘to repent’ means to turn from brokenness to joy. The most famous description of repentance is Jesus’s parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). After the rebellious son had blown his inheritance and was living with the pigs, he finally came to his senses and returned home. Going home for joy, that is repentance.”

Brauns approached this book as a sequel of sorts to his book “Unpacking Forgiveness” (Crossway, 2008).

“In my book on forgiveness I stressed that forgiveness only takes place properly when the offending party repents,” Brauns said. “This raises the question of what constitutes true repentance. Determining who is truly sorry is a big stakes question both for life and judgment day. There is an eternal difference between people who are only sorry they got caught and people who are truly repentant. My prayer is that readers will learn the biblical difference.”

Brauns is one of the longest-serving area pastors. He has led the Red Brick Church since 2005 and sees “The Way of Repentance” as an extension of the ministry of the church as a whole and not just himself individually.

“I’ve written this book across years even as I preached and dialogued with our flock about how people can see their lives turned around,” Brauns said.

In addition to the book signing event at the Red Brick Church, “The Way of Repentance” is also available through other major booksellers.