A League of Dangerous Women: True Stories from the Road to Redemption

Reviewed By Robin Caldwell

Author: Mary Frances Bowley with James Lund

Mary Frances Bowley, the founder and executive director of Wellspring Living, a holistic recovery program for women in Georgia, is a dangerous woman. She is precisely the type of woman the enemy of God despises, and it is because she runs a ministry that focuses on connecting other “dangerous” Christian women with those who are often ignored in their churches and on the streets – an army of dangerous women waiting to happen. What makes Bowley and her colleagues even more dangerous is that they take on the challenge of winning, converting, and transforming former drug addicts, prostitutes, strippers, and even a few displaced homemakers into dangerous women who will in turn help many others in the name of Jesus.

With the assistance of James Lund, Bowley has authored, A League of Dangerous Women: True Stories from the Road to Redemption(Multnomah). League of Dangerous Women… contains the true-to-life stories, some extremely harrowing, of some of the women to have lived at Wellspring or who have come to residential program as staff and volunteers. One of the clearest points Bowley and the true stories make is that there is a trickle down effect when one human being reaches out to another – it’s difficult to be blessed without being a blessing. And in that one way, reading League of Dangerous Women… becomes less about the wonderful services provided by Wellspring and more about the redeeming power of God through this unique and much-needed ministry.

League of Dangerous Women… is a powerful book that is written simply and with little fanfare. It seeks not to toot Wellsprings own horn but God’s as the reason for their program’s success. Bowley’s tale is that of a woman who formed Wellspring Living in 2001 with 40 other women in an effort to hand deliver godly compassion in the forms of spiritual and practical assistance to hurting women who wanted to begin their lives over. Long before there was a Starting Over house on TV, there was Wellspring Living, which offers a six-month residential program at no-cost to the participants, followed by six months of supported transition. To date, more than seventy women have benefited from this ministry.