"Jim Gudsen is just a regular guy, newly returned from the killing fields of Vietnam - cynical about life in general and religion in particular. His older brother Herkimer is different - always has been. Jim is about to find out just how different. A Lutheran minister, Herkimer is defrocked by his Church for his refusal to expel a gay couple from his conservative congregation. In the process of reevaluating his beliefs, Gudsen claims that God has spoken directly to him, and told him he must "Gather the Twelve" - and do so before his wife Megan succumbs to the ravages of cancer. Jim is cynical at first, but he is willing to try anything to save his beloved sister-in-law, and as events proceed, Jim's understanding of the world is radically changed." "The brothers are aided in their search by a college professor who is convinced that the key to unraveling the mystery of the Twelve is the ancient Greek myth of the Labors of Hercules. In an astonishing process of discovery, the brothers find their lost father, a sister immersed in the seedy underworld of porn, a former pro football player turned drug addict, and others who will help them build a church of lost souls - an ecumenical church like no other."--BOOK JACKET.