Ever since evangelical Christians rose to national prominence, mainstream America has watched them with a nervous eye, but our understanding hasn't gone beyond the caricatures. Who are evangelicals, really? To find out, Gina Welch, a young secular Jew ("born atheist") from Berkeley, joined Jerry Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church. Over the course of nearly two years, Welch immersed herself in the life and language of the devout: she learned to interpret the world like an evangelical, weathered the death of Falwell, and embarked on a mission trip to Alaska. Alive to the meaning behind the music and the mind behind the slogans, Welch recognized the allure of evangelicalism, even for the godless, realizing that the congregation met needs and answered questions she didn't know she had. What emerges is a riveting account of a skeptic's transformation from uninformed cynicism to compassionate understanding, and a rare view of how evangelicals see themselves.--From publisher description.