Some Fun News from My Own Life...

Get Ready!

Hi Friends,

Last week I missed posting for the first time in a while. That’s because I’ve been sorting through a big change in life, which I’m excited to share with you.

Last December, I floated my book project, “The Light in Our Eyes”, to about twenty literary agents. I had zero clue what I was doing. I’ve written about this project a bit in the past, but here’s the premise: according to recent studies, there are millions of “dechurched, but not deconstructed” Christians in the U.S. The major books published for this audience are: A. Affirming all of their critiques and cynicism about the evangelical church B. Defending the white evangelical church by throwing lobs at the outside forces C. Inviting evangelicals into a “new evangelicalism” which abandons orthodoxy for a very niche kind of white liberalism.

These books have their place. But I felt a huge space was missing in this conversation: a book that could critique the American evangelical church, while also inviting people into orthodoxy. Because I “deconstructed” my own faith in college, before it was a thing, I feel comfortable in this space. I’ve also had hundreds of conversations with college students and young adults where I’ve learned to navigate lots of their issues.

And here’s where it starts: they need to hear that their critiques of American evangelicalism are, in large part, right.

At breakfast just this past Saturday, one of my neighbors was lamenting their experience in the church growing up. Just for context: this man has not only left the church, but he’s openly hostile to it. He knows I’m a pastor. We meet occasionally to talk about these things. This last Saturday was the first time I’d said anything about considering Christianity from another angle. He was friendly to it, and sent me a kind text afterward saying he was really going to think about some of the things we talked about. I consider that a huge win.

But here’s the key: that was after several conversations in which my neighbor lamented his evangelical experience, and I said, time and again: “I agree with you. I went through that same thing. Yes, those are big problems.” Occasionally I did say, “I wouldn’t quite frame things that way, but I understand what you’re saying.” Here’s what I can tell you for sure: if I’d doubled down and defended evangelicalism when my friend was lamenting it, I would have lost him on day one.

Instead, this Saturday, I told him my own story. I shared my own wounds. And then I told him about discovering a Christianity that was bigger than the American evangelical experience.

And that’s the book that hasn’t been written. A book that affirms the critiques of the American evangelical church, while inviting people - in as raw, vulnerable way as I can - into a much larger, more global, more historic, more hope-filled vision of what the gospel is meant to be.

So that’s the idea for “The Light in Our Eyes: Deconstruction, Hope and the Evangelical Future”.

Now, back to December 2022.

So after floating my book project to 20ish agents, and hearing back from exactly one of them who said “I’m not that interested in this,” I received a curious reply from Wolgemuth and Associates. Again, let me reiterate: I had zero clue what I was doing. I have no connections. I just knew I had a project I’d been working on for five years that I thought was going to fill a massive void.

One of Wolgemuth’s agents, Austin Wilson, reached out for a phone call. Here’s what he said: “Hey. We don’t usually take unsolicited manuscripts. But I started reading this book, and I couldn’t put it down. I laughed reading through your first couple of chapters. You write with tenderness, humor and thoughtfulness. We don’t normally do this sort of thing, but if I can get approval from the company, I’d like to take this project on.”

A week later, we signed a deal.

Notice…we’re still in December 2022.

So, here’s what happened next.

Austin told me we were going to send the book to his top 15 choices for publishers, and give them a deadline of May 2023 to reply. He asked me what my top choices would be. I mentioned two I’d enjoy. Then I floated this out there:

“I mean, Penguin would be amazing. So Waterbrook/Multnomah or one of their divisions would be the dream. But I know that’s a long shot.”

Fast forward to May 2023.

At this point, about half of the publishers had politely declined. The line always seemed to be the same: “We love the writing. He just needs to work on his platform. Marketing won’t jump on board with this.”

Austin told me this was a good thing. Editors don’t usually write back with kind words, he said. So he still felt encouraged. I did not feel the same way. But that is why I hired him.

But as May 2023 passed, one by one over the summer, we heard much the same thing. “Love the project. He’s not famous enough.” Soon we were down to five publishers remaining.

Then four.

Then three, who said they were still weighing things.

Then, one day out of the blue, we received an email. It was from one of Penguin’s editors. She said she happened to be in the Indianapolis area, and wondered if I’d be up for getting together to chat about the book.

So in one of the most nerve-wracking meetings of my life, I met Estee at a local coffee shop, and we talked for a good long afternoon about writing, audience, market, but mostly my heart behind the book. The next week, I met with the marketing and editing team at Multnomah/Waterbrook. They casually mentioned working with some authors who’ve truly changed my life through their writing. But best of all, I could tell throughout the meeting: they understood exactly what the book was, exactly why it needed to exist, and exactly how to market it to my target audience. I was floored. They really got it. And they were as excited about it as I was.

So, last week, we just signed a contract: “The Light in Our Eyes” is officially being published by Penguin’s Multnomah division.

I couldn’t be more pleased.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a very short deadline to meet.