Thursday, May 26, 2011

Rewards of Writing

It was always nice to receive compliments from students during those years that I was a college and seminary professor, but I never knew for sure whether the student might be contemplating a higher grade or a better reference.  But the comments I frequently get on books have no strings attached and they can fill with sunshine an otherwise gloomy day.  Here is one such email I got this morning:

I am the pastor of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, a left behind congregation on the East Side of St. Paul, Minnesota.  As I near my fifth anniversary with Our Saviour’s I have just finished re-reading your book “Left Behind in a Mega Church World.”   Your book has been a literal God-send to me.  I wanted to thank you for writing it and for giving left behind churches and pastors encouragement and hope.  I appreciate the sincerity and honesty of your writing style, which I first noted years ago as a college student reading  “From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions”.