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R.J. Halbert’s ‘Architect’: Faith, Hope & Supernatural

R.J. Halbert’s ‘Architect’: Faith, Hope & Supernatural

Last updated on: July 30, 2026 at 11:35 pm by DeWayne Hamby

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R.J. Halbert’s ‘Architect’: Faith, Hope & Supernatural 2026-07-30T23:35:45-04:00 DeWayne Hamby

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R.J. Halbert’s “Caretaker” introduced readers to a family caught between ordinary life and ancient, spiritual forces. Now, with “Architect” arriving as the final installment in The Goodpasture Chronicles trilogy, co-authors Jason and Rhonda Halbert close a story that began as a personal journey through grief and emerged as an award-winning exploration of faith, healing and generational consequence.

RJ Halbert and Architect cover image courtesy of The M Collective

The trilogy — which launched with the nine-time award-winning, No. 1 bestselling “Caretaker” and continued with seven-time award-winning “Servant,” which debuted at No. 1 on Amazon — culminates in “Architect,” a volume that “answers long-held questions but also invites reflection on destiny, healing, and the lasting impact of choices made across generations,” the authors said. “Caretaker” itself received the 2025 Bill Fischer Silver Award, and Servant earned a Blue Star from Kirkus Reviews.

“We were very fortunate that when we started the trilogy, we knew how the ending was going to be,” Rhonda Halbert said. “It wasn’t something that we were waiting for, searching for, waiting for lightning to strike. We actually had it from the very beginning, so it was really more about finishing up the storylines, revealing all the mysteries, but also leaving some of the mysteries.”

That balance has been central to the books’ reception. A recent major reviewer praised the series for its ability to hold both the supernatural and the domestic in equal measure, noting the books’ shift from “generational curses, artifacts, gods and spiritual powers” to quieter, human moments of family friction and breakfast-table struggles.

“To marry those two worlds side by side,” Jason Halbert said, “I’m really proud that we were able to carry the weight and the fun of a family together in the same story.”

The Halberts, who have written together under the pen name R.J. Halbert, say the trilogy emerged from a darker season in their lives and functioned as a means of spiritual processing.

“The creation of The Goodpasture Chronicles was our way of processing a long journey of grief,” the couple wrote in a release announcing Architect. “We never could have imagined the attention and accolades received for a story so personal.”

For Rhonda, the writing process helped recover something vital.

“I actually found my joy again. I found my hope again,” she said. She described the season that prompted the series as “so dark and so heavy. In full honesty, it was so dark I didn’t know how we were going to make it out.”

That testimony threads through the books, which couple supernatural stakes with redemptive arcs aimed at delivering hope rather than mere spectacle.

Readers say the approach resonates. Jason noted the range of responses: a three-year book club made up of readers from college age to retirees, emails from fans moved by the narrative, and fathers seeing their autistic sons reflected in characters crafted with care.

“’Thank you so much for writing, Zach, my autistic son has started reading this and he’s seeing himself in that and identifying’,” Jason recounted. “’We take Zach on a journey where his autism is his superpower’.”

The Halberts also point to the abiding presence of faith as both theme and moral compass. “The beauty of truth, the beauty of God’s truth,” Rhonda said, “it’s consistent, it’s faithful, and so I think when we’ve received that kind of truth that we can apply to our lives that brings healing, the hope is that we’ve got enough skill. I’m hoping that we’ve written that into the book.”

Architect closes the immediate narrative, but the Halberts are already imagining new avenues for the world they created. With the end of a major era in television — Jason wrapped seven years and more than 1,200 episodes with “The Kelly Clarkson Show “— the couple are pursuing adaptations and spin-offs. They are developing a TV series and a young adult spinoff focused on Akolo, a central character introduced early in the trilogy.

“We put a little teaser at the back of the third book of Architect,” Rhonda said, describing plans for “The Adventures of Akolo,” which they envision as a youthful, Indiana Jones–style adventure.

“Jason’s already dreamt up the next adventure,” she added. The couple are writing scripts and shopping the series to potential showrunners and actors, mindful that the transition from page to screen requires patience and perseverance. “It’s a process,” Jason said. “I don’t know how long it’s gonna take, but we’re having so much fun in the process.”

Even as they look ahead, the Halberts insist that the core of their work remains spiritual and relational. The books’ acclaim — books one and two have accumulated multiple awards — has not diluted their original purpose.

“We wrote this book for ourselves,” Rhonda said, “but we want people to see themselves in this book, because we found healing through this process.”

That the trilogy has connected with readers in such intimate ways is, to the Halberts, the truest measure of success. From award plaques to emotional emails from those who found solace in the characters’ journeys, the series has become both art and ministry — an interplay between story and salvation that the authors hope will continue to bear fruit as their world expands to new formats.

“There actually can be hope at the end of a dark road,” Rhonda said, reflecting a hope she and Jason now aim to pass along in new stories, on screens and on bookshelves alike.

General Christian

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