The Conversion of Rudy

The Conversion of Rudy is a contemporary character novel with lots of action. It throws a bright, wealthy, jaded, New York teenager, Rudy, into a conservative Christian youth group with surprising results. While Rudy finds this group initially almost laughably simple and backward, he sees something authentic, unspoiled about them. He stays in touch with them long enough to make some friendships, but then goes off to college. Almost in reaction to this brush with a Christian influence, Rudy finds himself behaving more wildly, recklessly during his first year in college.

In spite of these excesses, he cannot say that he is having a good time. There is something phony, competitive, even nasty about his friendships. He does not know how to describe it yet, but it is the selfishness of these friendships that fail to satisfy him, in contrast to the love he saw in the friendships of this Christian group.

Paul L. Weingartner is married with three college-aged sons. He and his wife have been members of a Christian denomination much like the one described in this book for thirty-two years. All three of their sons also embrace this faith. He edited an international monthly publication for this denomination for twenty years.

Paul lives in Ohio where he works as a school psychologist in both a public and private setting. He has published books and numerous articles in the fields of Psychology and Religion. He has conducted workshops in: parenting, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and pastoral counseling. He is a member of the National and Ohio School Psychology Associations, he chairs the private practice committee for Ohio, as well as serves on the School Psychology examination committee for the Ohio Board of Psychology.

His philosophy about writing is that all writing should direct people to the knowledge of that greatest of all writers, THE WORD, Jesus Christ.