The Countdown Continues: One Week Until Publication!

About one year ago Jeremy Myers approached me with the idea for this book. During the past twelve months there have been many hours of editing and writing. A few times I almost lost hope of completeing the project. But now the day is almost here!

One of the challenges of editing is changing only what needs to be changed. I attempted to make sure that each chapter did not become my own. Rather, they belong to the contributors. Doing this required quite a bit of time. It would have actually been faster to make more changes and just turn everything into exactly what I wanted. However, that would have made the book far less interesting. I'm glad it is as it stands.

You can order the book from Redeeming Press or Amazon.

Just Ten Days To Go!

Only ten more days until the publication of Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity!

Although I am the editor of this book, it is not my book. Rather, it's really a book owned by twenty-four different people. That's probably one of the reasons I'm so excited about it. This is not just my thoughts; it's much better than that. It is a compilation of what a diverse group of Christians believes about simple church life.

I'm also very pleased that this is not a homogeneous group. Although we all have Christ in common, we have many differences: backgrounds, locations, genders, occupations, races, and (gasp!) some doctrinal issues. We even chose a wide variety of bible translations to use in this book (eight total).

Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity has not been written from a narrow perspective. Rather, a bunch of Christ followers from all over the world (literally) have joined together to discuss some of the wonderful benefits of simple church life. I hope you are blessed by it.

Only Two Weeks Until Publication!

I am getting more and more excited about Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity as the publication date (Dec. 2nd) approaches. The more discussions I'm having with others about this book, the more I realize that the general message is resonating with many people. Christians with all sorts of church backgrounds are interested in what the contributors of this book have to say. I've been somewhat overwhelmed by the response so far.

Chuck McKnight, one of the contributors, made an interesting observation this week. He said, "I just skimmed through the contributor bios in the back of Simple Church. Looks like almost half of us are either foreign missionaries or missionary kids (myself included in the latter)." I knew we had a variety of people writing, but I didn't realize the overseas connection. This makes sense. Living overseas forces people out of comfort zones and often leads them into asking hard questions about all sorts of things - including church life.

You can pre-order the book by visiting Redeeming Press or Amazon. The Kindle version is available as well.

Happy reading!

Contributing Authors Blogging About "Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity"

Most of the twenty-four contributors to Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity are also bloggers. Several of them have written recent blog posts about the book. Click on any of the following names to see what they have to say about the upcoming publication:

Bobby Auner
Keith Giles
Chris Jefferies
Miguel Labrador
Chuck McKnight
Will Rochow
Steve Scott
Arthur Sido
Kathleen Ward


You can pre-order the book here or here. For the Kindle version, click here.

Now Available for Pre-Order!

Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity is now available! You can pre-order it through either Redeeming Press or Amazon.com. If you are the Kindle sort, the book is available for you as well.

I admit that it is sort of an odd experience seeing my name on the cover of a book. After all, I'm the editor but did not actually write most of the book (only two of the chapters to be exact). I'm thrilled that we have so many different contributors. The variety of writers makes the book more interesting and, I believe, more powerful. It is many voices speaking as one about the power and beauty of simple church life.

If you have any questions about the book, please contact me. Feel free to ask in the blog comments or send an email. Please also be in prayer that God will use this book to bring about increased dialogue, understanding, and unity within his body. Thank you.

THE BIG NEWS: The Book Nears Completion!

We're nearing the finish line. Praise the Lord!

Much like an engagement is not real until there is a ring, a book doesn't seem real until there is a cover. Well, we have a cover. What you see above is a first draft of the cover of the new book I'm editing. We may make some minor changes, but for the most part what you see above is what the cover will be.

The first thing that jumps off the cover is that the name of the book has changed. The original title was What We're For. However, Jeremy Myers (publisher) and I decided that we needed a title that more clearly describes what the book is all about. Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity points any interested readers to the general theme of the book.

I selected the icon on the front cover to emphasize the interaction between unity and diversity. Jeremy provided me with about thirty different possible icon choices. So far I've received positive feedback about this selection.

The back cover lists the contributors not in alphabetical order, but rather in the order their chapters appear in the book. The book contains 26 chapters; Jeremy and I each wrote two. The interesting thing about this book is that quite a bit of diversity actually exists among the various contributors. However, we all agree primarily that Jesus is Lord, and secondarily that simple church practices are the most effective pattern for church life.

We hope and pray that God will use this book to generate discussion, understanding, and unity within the broader body of Christ.

We are aiming for a publication date of later this month or early December. I'll post more about it as the date approaches.

"What We're For" to the Publisher!

I am thrilled to announce that I've sent my final edited copy of What We're For to Redeeming Press for publishing. This is both a joy and a relief. Editing twenty-five chapters is indeed a challenge. While the process was enjoyable, it was also taxing. Sometimes I felt as if I couldn't see straight.

The best part of editing this book was simply getting to read the chapters. It is fascinating to see what different Christ-followers believe about the church. While all of the contributors agreed on some basic principles (simplicity being one of them), the specifics varied widely. This book is a type of anthology; it is by no means monolithic.

Thank you so much for praying for me. I am very much looking forward to the final product.

Now the book is in Jeremy Myers' hands. His goal is to have it published sometime this fall.

I will give updates as What We're For nears completion.

Jeremy's and my hope is that God will use this book to bring about understanding, conversation, and increased unity within His body.

Thanks for Praying! / "What We're For" Update

Over the past four days I have finished editing twenty-two chapters for What We're For. I also just completed writing my own two chapters - one on the topic of forgiveness and one on suffering. That makes twenty-four chapters down, and only two to go (I just have to receive them from the authors and finish a little editing).

Thank you so much for praying. I've felt mentally alert this week. Some of that has to do with getting enough sleep, but I'm sure it's also related to your prayers. I appreciate it a great deal.

Fairly soon I'll be sending the finished manuscript off to Jeremy Myers. At that point his work as publisher begins. We hope to have the book completed by sometime this autumn.

Editing "What We're For" / PLEASE PRAY

Back in January I announced that Jeremy Myers and I are working on a book entitled What We're For. This book stems from a blog post I wrote that simply lists twenty-five things I'm for in the life of the church. I'm the book's editor while Jeremy is the publisher.

Many of you know that my job requires me to work 60-70 hours most weeks. Because of this, I haven't had much time recently to work on the book. However, I have this next week off. Also, my entire family is in New York State on vacation. Therefore, I have a quiet house with not much to do for the next seven days except work on What We're For.

I have two primary tasks related to the book. First, I need to finish editing about twenty chapters. These are in various stages of readiness for publishing. Second, I need to write two chapters myself, one on forgiveness and one on suffering. While I've given these quite a bit of thought, I have yet to compose them.

Please pray for me that I will have clarity of thought and consistent motivation this week. I need both.

Thanks!

Working and Editing

I haven't blogged much lately simply for lack of time. My job has me working about 70 hours per week right now. When there's any free time, I'm editing chapters in What We're For. The book is coming along nicely; almost all the contributors have sent me their chapters. After I spend time with my family and sleep a little, there just isn't time for much blogging. I want to scratch out some time to write about Christian unity, edification, and missions. I'm just not sure when this will happen. Thanks for reading!

The Biggest Task in Editing

I'm currently smack in the middle of editing multiple chapters for Jeremy Myers' and my book entitled What We're For. The most overarching part of editing is making sure that the writing is both correct grammatically and pleasant to read. I've had to edit some chapters quite a bit, while others have needed little change whatsoever.

As I entered this venture I wondered what specific thing I'd be spending the most time doing. I quickly learned the answer. The biggest task I'm facing is dealing with sentences are are too long. While these sentences may be grammatically acceptable, they are unpleasant to read. My task amounts to breaking the sentences down into two or three shorter ones that read much smoother and easier. I've been reminded that complicated writing is not necessarily better writing.

Overall the writing for What We're For has been very good. It's exciting to read various perspectives on a wide variety of issues related to simple church life. The editing process, while tiring at times, has been altogether positive. I'm about one-half done with the first series of edits. I've got until July to turn in the final copy to Jeremy Myers.

I look forward to the publication of the book this autumn some time. An now, the editing continues...

Editing, Editing, Editing

A few weeks ago I announced on this blog that I'm going to be editing a book about simple church life entitled What We're For. Jeremy Myers and I have teamed up on this project. Our goal is to put together a positive book that encourages dialogue within the body of Christ. We have twenty-five different contributors taking part.

January 31st was the submission deadline. I'm happy to say that most of the authors sent in their chapters on time.

As editor this is the time when my task begins in earnest. I've already edited a few of the chapters. It is enjoyable and difficult at the same time. I get to read excellent thoughts, but at the same time I have to think critically about how those thoughts have been written. It requires quite a bit of time.

An additional difficulty is that my real job at JCB has me working 60-70 hours per week. It's tough to edit when time is at a premium. Therefore, I probably won't be blogging much over the next few weeks. My time will be spent at work, with my family, sleeping, and editing.

I appreciate your prayers for this book project. I believe it has potential to bring about unity and understanding within the church. Pray that it does. Thanks.

The Big News: "What We're For"

My big news is that Jeremy Myers and I are putting together a book entitled What We're For.

The book idea was originally Jeremy's and is based on a blog post I wrote a while back. Our purpose is to compose a decidedly positive book about simple church life. We hope What We're For generates discussion and understanding among the broader body of Christ. I will serve as the editor while Jeremy is the publisher.

We're using the structure of the original blog post as a basis for the table of contents (the book will have 25-30 chapters). Jeremy and I are excited about the list of contributors. Most contributors will be writing one chapter each; a few will write two. This is our list so far (in alphabetical order by last name):

Edwin Aldrich
Bobby Auner
Stephanie Bennett
Alice Carpenter
Eric Carpenter
Bonar Crump
Christopher Dryden
Kathy Escobar
Keith Giles
Chris Jefferies
J. Michael Jones
Travis Klassen
Alan Knox
Miguel Labrador
Chuck McKnight
Guy Muse
Jeremy Myers
Sam Riviera
Will Rochow
Steve Scott
Steve Sensenig
Arthur Sido
Brian Swan
Kathleen Ward

This is quite an eclectic group of writers. Most are bloggers, but not all. We don't all agree with one another on everything (who does?). However, we all love Jesus and his church.

The book is still in the early stages. It should be published sometime this autumn. I'll have much more to say about it as we near that time. Thanks to all those contributing to this project!