CONFESSIONS OF A CONVERT:
A PREACHER AS WRITER
My wife started this whole crazy course we’re on. I was a pastor, content to form my little sermons week after week, to a local throng of flesh and blood people. Janet, meantime, attended conferences at Mt. Hermon in California and returned home to her typewriter and files at the end of her bedroom. She did her thing; I did mine. But one day she told me, "You know, some of what you say is pretty good. I’d like to put it down on paper, clean it up some, rephrase a word here and there, and send your articles and stories to editors."
"Sure," I said. "As long as it doesn’t involve me. I have no interest in being a writer."
But the day came when it did involve me and we both took up the mantle. And now came the crunch—my church ministry needed a conversion to accommodate this added thing. I faced several immediate problems in the beginning that many speakers face.
1.) How to convert my sermons. My oral storytelling and teaching rambled when splattered into prose on a page. Janet helped immensely. She’s a gifted editor. She helped me learn how to self-edit, to convert spacious speeches into tight tales for readers. What resonates in an auditorium full of live, responsive folks can die on paper held by one bored, busy reader. It’s got to look good, grab their attention quick, with no musical interlude, friendship factor or eye contact advantage.
2.) How to write for an audience larger than the locals. Each idea’s scope had to be evaluated. Did it resonate with more than the potluck crowd and the nursery attendant? Did more than my mother appreciate it?
3.) How to find the time. I got up earlier and stayed up later. I learned to combine my study time. The research for sermons became resources for articles and themes for short stories and later novels. Staying alert to life had double meaning now—not only to have something to give to my congregation, but to stir creativity for characters and plot ideas.
4.) How to assess my energy priorities. How much should I give for readers I did not know while taking away from family and friends and the fellowship close to me? Trials and tests refined my motives, helping me determine whether writing was a God-given desire or a diversion.
I’m still a pastor, though in a much smaller community. My writing’s become my ‘tent making’ ministry, so that I can serve a tiny church and pay the bills. But the same conversion challenge remains—showing, rather than telling; making contact on Sunday as well as to far-flung fans; stretching each day’s working hours for more than one ministry; and making sure that God’s my daily priority guide.
"Sure," I said. "As long as it doesn’t involve me. I have no interest in being a writer."
But the day came when it did involve me and we both took up the mantle. And now came the crunch—my church ministry needed a conversion to accommodate this added thing. I faced several immediate problems in the beginning that many speakers face.
1.) How to convert my sermons. My oral storytelling and teaching rambled when splattered into prose on a page. Janet helped immensely. She’s a gifted editor. She helped me learn how to self-edit, to convert spacious speeches into tight tales for readers. What resonates in an auditorium full of live, responsive folks can die on paper held by one bored, busy reader. It’s got to look good, grab their attention quick, with no musical interlude, friendship factor or eye contact advantage.
2.) How to write for an audience larger than the locals. Each idea’s scope had to be evaluated. Did it resonate with more than the potluck crowd and the nursery attendant? Did more than my mother appreciate it?
3.) How to find the time. I got up earlier and stayed up later. I learned to combine my study time. The research for sermons became resources for articles and themes for short stories and later novels. Staying alert to life had double meaning now—not only to have something to give to my congregation, but to stir creativity for characters and plot ideas.
4.) How to assess my energy priorities. How much should I give for readers I did not know while taking away from family and friends and the fellowship close to me? Trials and tests refined my motives, helping me determine whether writing was a God-given desire or a diversion.
I’m still a pastor, though in a much smaller community. My writing’s become my ‘tent making’ ministry, so that I can serve a tiny church and pay the bills. But the same conversion challenge remains—showing, rather than telling; making contact on Sunday as well as to far-flung fans; stretching each day’s working hours for more than one ministry; and making sure that God’s my daily priority guide.
I heard Stephen Bly tell the WHOLE tale of his path to publication at an Oregon Christian Writers conference last year. If anyone, anywhere, gets a chance to hear this guy in person, GO! You'll laugh while you learn.
ReplyDeleteGood to see you on here, Stephen!
Steve, thanks SO much for sharing all this! #3 and 4 and especially relevant right now ... you are a great encouragement to many of us!
ReplyDeleteLove & blessings to you and Janet!