Have you ever dreamed of writing a book?
I have. All my life.
Scores of titles have flowed through my brain. I can’t recall any offhand, but I rejected them all out-of-hand.
Because most of the time, one question haunted me:
Why would anyone be interested in anything I had to say?
If I was a celebrity, I could sit down with a ghost writer and a dictaphone, and when the manuscript was finished, someone would be assigned to edit it.
If I was a big-name pastor, I could preach a sermon series and turn it into book form a la Chuck Swindoll or Andy Stanley.
If I had an inspirational tale to tell – a shark took off my arm, I went to heaven as a little kid – publishers would approach me asking for the rights to my story.
But I’m not an A-lister, no publisher has requested any of my sermons, and I haven’t been in the ocean in ages.
Besides, I’ve always been concerned that if I did write a book, I’d walk by Barnes & Noble several months later and find it in the bargain section with a remainder mark on it.
In spite of all my doubts, I have authored a book anyway.
In fact, I’m committed: I’ve already made a down payment with the publisher.
Thank God for self-publishing, because my book wouldn’t see the light of day if I had to submit a manuscript to a major Christian publishing house. You have to be a televangelist, a mega-church pastor, or a perennial bestselling author to get published these days. Publishers want a certain return on their investment, and in this economy, who can blame them?
In fact, a Christian author told me several months ago that he once worked for a major Christian publisher. Another author with a proven track record – whom I have met – proposed writing a book about the same issue I’m writing about.
The publisher declined to pursue the idea.
However, I’m praying that my book will gain some attention. Five words describe it:
*It’s narrative. I write about a major church conflict that my wife and I experienced firsthand – and let church conflict experts make comments all through the book. My hope is that lay people especially will read the book because it’s in story form.
*It’s timely. There are 1,800 pastors leaving churches every month in our country, 1,300 of them involuntarily. When I share these statistics with people, they are blown away. We Christians (leaders and lay people alike) can do more to address and resolve this issue – but first we have to shine a light on it.
*It’s long. My original manuscript was 450 pages in length. I’ve cut it down to 400 and I’m still trying to pare it down. When you self-publish, you can pay for an editor or do your own editing. I’m doing my own, so it takes time – and I don’t want any misspellings or syntactical errors. But if the book is too long, it will cost more, which will cut down on sales – so I’m taking the knife to it. It’s just that the knife is dull.
*It’s authentic. The book describes a real conflict from a behind-the-scenes perspective. And I have a whole chapter on mistakes that I made. However, I have changed the names of nearly everyone except for family members. I don’t even identify the church or the city or state it’s in.
*It’s redemptive. While I honestly report what happened – and with emotion at times – my overall objective is for Christian leaders and congregations to learn how to handle these situations better. Shockingly, there is little written for lay people on the subject of church conflict.
So even if I end up number 2,374,981 on Amazon, I still plan on publishing the book.
When?
I thought it would be done last winter … then last spring … then this past summer … and now I’m hoping for two weeks from now. I’m going through it page by page: sharpening wording, clarifying statements, rearranging material – and deleting stuff.
My publishing agent told me she could print the book in 45 days from the day of submission. If so, it will be ready by Christmas. If not, then it will be ready in early 2012. You’ll be the first to know.
So please pray for God to prompt me to finish the book – and for Him to prepare the hearts of potential readers.
When I was at Fuller Seminary, I took a class with Dr. Archibald Hart. I wrote a long paper for him, and he encouraged me to write for publication. He was one of my few heroes before the class, so you can imagine how I feel about him today!
I lack a venue for teaching publicly right now. Hopefully the Lord will rectify that in the near future.
But I can always write – as long as I have wonderful readers like you.
Pastor Meyer, I just wanted to say thank you for having the courage and determination to see this book through. I am excited to purchase my own copy and will recommend it to every Pastor I have worked under for the past 15 years. I believe that your efforts in writing this book will affect more lives than you could ever realize. I have really enjoyed reading your blogs and look forward to each new post. Praying for blessings for yiu and your family!
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Thanks for your encouragement, Adam. I’m working on the book right now! Let’s see … I’m on page 172 of my next-to-final edit and only have 235 pages left to go! Hope you’re doing well!
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I have also dreamed about writing a book, and have also discarded many ideas. Maybe one day…
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