Author Interview ~ Randy Alcorn Part II

Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM), and the best-selling author of twenty-seven books (over three million in print), including fourteen non-fiction works, and the novels Deadline, Dominion, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, the Gold Medallion winner Safely Home, and Wait Until Then.



Tell Me About Heaven (picture book illustrated by Ron DiCianni) will be released in July 2007.

Randy has written for many magazines and produces the popular periodical Eternal Perspectives. He’s been a guest on over 500 radio and television programs.

The father of two married daughters, Randy lives in Gresham, Oregon, with his wife and best friend, Nanci. They are the proud grandparents of three grandsons, Jacob, Matthew and Tyler and expecting their fourth grandchild in August. Randy enjoys hanging out with his family, biking, tennis, research and reading.



Describe what you believe is the role of writing and reading in the Christian life.

God is an author. The universe itself is His book. Each person is a chapter. History really is His story. Christ is the Word, the very essence of God, and expression of God. We are created in God's image, and made to be sub-creators, authors who create and weave together both non-fiction and marvelous stories on which our imaginations can soar. When we write and read such works, He is pleased.

As an author, I’m very aware that I'm a steward of words, and I labor to get them right.

Books and bookstores have had an enormous influence on my own life. My first youth pastor did me a huge favor—he gave me a key to his office, so I could go in any time and read his books, hundreds of them. I read everything I could get my hands on. There was an elderly couple in our church, named Bill and Martha Kuntz. They had a Christian bookstore in their house in Gresham, Oregon, my hometown. I would go there several days a week, for hours at a time. They would point out books for me to read. They introduced me to Lewis, Schaeffer, and Tozer, and books such as Tortured for Christ, God's Smuggler, Through Gates of Splendor, and The Cross and the Switchblade.

Over the years I’ve bought and read thousands of good books, many of which are now in our church library. I can’t divorce God's works of grace in my life from good books. In my book Heaven, I talk about books the Bible says are now in Heaven, and I present reasons for believing that other books will be written and read on the New Earth.

What’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

The most valuable lesson I've learned about writing is that it's hard work. Writing is both energizing and draining, something I love to do and sometimes hate to do. Sometimes it’s a joy. Sometimes it’s like the tenth hour of chopping wood: you just want to be done. It's never done, but eventually it has to be turned in.

I've learned that what's easy to read is hard to write, and what's easy to write is hard to read. I'm a steward of words, and I'm accountable to God for how I arrange them.

That's the best reason for working hard at rewriting: "work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men" (Colossians 3:23).

I’ve learned I need honest critics and careful editors. But above all I need
Christ, who said, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

When I work this hard at something, I don't want it to amount to nothing. I want it to last forever. I want to hear the Audience of One say, "Well done." No payoff could be bigger than that!

What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

Nonfiction: The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer, Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, Knowing God by J. I. Packer, Desiring God and The Pleasures of God by John Piper, He Is There And He Is Not Silent by Francis Schaeffer.

Fiction: The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis; The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien; C. S. Lewis's Space trilogy, especially Perelandra; The Singer trilogy (including The Song and The Finale) by Calvin Miller.

Those who read my new novel Deception will see that I have a special love for Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories—every chapter begins with a Holmes quote. In Deception, I also pay tribute to the Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout. I've read or listened to most of the forty-seven Nero Wolfe books.

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

I hate ghostwriting. That’s where the names of the actual writers of books aren’t put on the cover, and instead a celebrity name is put on it, even though the celebrity invested almost nothing in the book. This is done to sell more books, but I fail to see how it differs from lying.

If you set back the odometer on a car it will sell for more money, but it’s still dishonest. Years ago the secular world condemned Milli Vanilli for lip-synching, pretending someone else’s voices were their own. How can Christians and Christian agents and publishers tolerate misleading the public by pretending well-known pastors or public figures wrote books they didn’t write? How can they give interviews pretending to have actually written the books? How can they receive awards for books they didn’t write?

This problem is being dealt with as more authors and publishers are standing up against it. But it still happens, and when it does I think it brings disgrace to the name of Christ.

My single biggest concern is the way that successful authors tend to lose perspective and become demanding and prideful. This dishonors Christ, ruins character, and undermines ministries. Materialism and the celebrity culture have poisoned the church, and we have put ourselves under God’s judgment.

I Peter 5 says, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

The same rules apply to Christian authors and musicians as apply to Christian shopkeepers and mill workers and farmers. Every day, every hour, we choose either to humble ourselves, in which case God promises to give us grace, or to be proud, in which case God promises to oppose us.

Acting pridefully is like wearing a sign that says “kick me” or “strike me down.”

Most writers won’t sell a lot of books. I encourage those who do to give away most or all of the royalties to God’s kingdom. Recognize they belong to Him, not to you. Because all the royalties from my books go to missions work and other kingdom causes, I’m not tempted to spend on myself the millions of dollars God has graciously entrusted to me. Instead, my wife and I get to give them away and to rejoice as we make eternal investments in God’s powerful work around the world.

Do you feel writing is a calling?

My calling is first to find my purpose and joy in Christ, and second to transfer that purpose and joy to others. I want my life and writing to be full of what Jesus came full of—grace and truth. My desire is that He would so permeate my life as to flow over to others and draw them toward Him.

My life calling and my calling as a writer are the same. I want my imagination to be baptized by and grounded in God's Word, which has a power and authority my own words don't have. (He says His Word won't return to Him without accomplishing its intended purpose—if my words are to make an eternal impact, they must conform to His.)

My writing is a ministry, because ministry is service, and every aspect of our lives is to be a service that glorifies our Lord:
"Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31).

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:17)

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men...It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Col. 3:23-24).

Is writing included in the "whatever" I do? Yes. And I do it with all my heart, to the glory of God, as a service to the Lord first and to others second, aware that I must seek to please the Audience of One. His judgment seat is the only one I'll stand before, and His opinion of my life is the only one that matters.
Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

In Heaven, I want to meet people whose lives were touched by my books, and hear their stories. And I want to thank all the people whose writing touched my life.
On Earth, I want to be remembered as one of God’s grateful errand boys. I want my life and my writing to have said, “It’s all about Jesus, not about me.” I won’t leave behind much of an inheritance to my children and grandchildren, but I hope to leave that kind of heritage.