Blogger: Mary Keeley
In a recent New York Times interview Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, commented that reading is “one of the chief ways that I learn, and has been since I was a kid. These days, I also get to visit interesting places, meet with scientists and watch a lot of lectures online. But reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my understanding.” I’ll hazard a guess that this is a true statement for virtually all readers, whether we’re always conscious of it or not. Christian authors have an important role to be influential in 2016 through what you write.
Learning often takes place via nonfiction and fiction in an osmosis-like fashion. More diverse perspectives of thought are available today than just a decade ago. Take, for example, the non-duality spirituality movement, a mixture of ancient Sanskrit and Hindu traditions dedicated to spiritual practice without religious doctrine. Are you familiar with it? I’d never heard of this movement until I read the announcement on publishersweekly.com. New Harbinger Publications, a California-based self-help publisher, recently acquired UK-based Non-Duality Press and created a new imprint by that name. We’ll be seeing more of their titles in online and bricks and mortar bookstores here in the US.
So many beliefs are competing for an influential place in the minds of our generational audiences. New Harbinger is a small publisher but, pooled together with all the other influences luring readers away from biblical truth, its new imprint could exert influence effectually. The announcement reminds me of the urgency for Christian novelists to continue writing stories that captivate a broad audience with authentic characters, at least one of which stands out as a stabilizing example of God’s character, and nonfiction books with a Christian worldview message by authors who deliver a compelling message that meets the deepest needs of their target audience.
The written word endures as an effective means to influence thought and worldview.
In what ways will your characters be influential in 2016? How will your nonfiction message be influential in 2016? What is your plan to be influential in 2016 through blog posts, social media posts, and articles?
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Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Good morning for the first time in 2016, Mary! And what a question…
* To start out, influence has to begin with an extension of reach to be meaningful…and I don’t know how to do that. There seems to be some sort of ‘magic touch’, like popularity in high school, that leads to the ignited growth of a following. Whether it’s a Cute Coefficient or a Profound Phactor or the elusive Winsome Weighting Function…I don’t know. And I don’t know how extensive my reach is now.
* That said, in non-fiction I will push “Faith In The Night – Finding God When All Seems Lost” as hard as possible, because I want to get rich on the proceeds and retire to a country with no extradition treaty.
* Oh, wait. Sorry, wrong paradigm. I want to make a DIFFERENCE, that’s it…and help people to understand that when the God Of The Prosperity Gospel folds His tents and steals away, the Real God is sitting with them in The Suck, living out the most important passage of Scripture…”Jesus wept.”
* Next up in non-fiction is trying to place “PTSD And The Holidays” – Helping The Veteran You Love”…and I’d best do it before the next holidays as I rather doubt I will be here to see them. Such Is Life (attrib. to the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly – once portrayed in film by Mick Jagger – on the occasion of his hanging..Ned’s, not Mick’s).
* Following that (anyone still here?) will be “Unsung Heroes Of The Bible”, the people we overlook because who, after all, wants to use Uriah the Hittite as a role model? I have absolutely no qualifications to write it, so I’ll light some candles, bring in a goat and feed him beer, and in that seance-like atmosphere try to channel C.S. Lewis to write it for me.
* And, finally, this may be the serendipitous year to self-publish “Emerald Isle”, a story of lost and found love, and a young and dying mother’s determination to carry her baby to term, foregoing the abortion that could save her. In this political climate, with some of the big questions swirling around, “Emerald Isle” may be well-placed, if I can find the platform that gets it noticed.
Mary Keeley
Andrew, you influence us with your gritty, authentic godly character every day on this blog, and everyone who follows your own blog.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Thant means so much to me, Mary. Thank you.
Jeanne Takenaka
In a world where interacting via screens seems to take precedence, it’s reassuring to know people—really smart people—still look to reading and books to grow in knowledge. I love how you shared about the priority Bill Gates places on reading. And that new movement? I hadn’t heard about it, but what a great example of how Christian writers can be influential. In the world’s climate, I believe we need to work harder to get an accurate message about God out there. Many turn toward systems like the non-duality spirituality movement because it’s new, or it’s easier to swallow than the truth of the gospel. Christian writers need to share their stories and messages in a truthful, yet appealing way. Maybe a little like Paul did when he walked among the Greeks.
*That being said, I don’t believe I have a huge influence, but I think God is growing my influence through my blog. I don’t have a ton of followers, but I am seeing more people visit and leave comments.
*As for other social media, I need to sit down and think through a plan on how to be more purposeful in my interactions there . . . figure out which social media are most effective and how I can post more things that touch others, or at least make them think. 🙂
*Great post today, Mary!
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
Jeanne! You don’t believe you have a huge influence?? Girlfriend, you are WRONG!!
Whenever I speak your name? People sigh and say things like “Isn’t she just the NICEST person! I wish I was as calm and serene and NICE as her. Wow. She’s just so sweet and kind.”
No, noooooo influence at all.
Teresa Tysinger
Jeanne, great thoughts. I think you make a good point about partnering with God and being intentional to do your part in growing your possible influence by planning and brainstorming. It’s an element that maybe feels a bit technical or pragmatic when I like to usually think of the partnership with God as romantic and organic (“It’ll happen if it’s meant to.”) But being proactive and intentional is a big part of the puzzle of influence.
Mary Keeley
Amen, Jeanne. And I have no doubt your characters are a reflection of your perspective here.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
I agree with Jennifer, Jeanne. You have a bigger influence that you know. I do read all of the comments on your blog, and your responses, and I can see the turning and enlightening of hearts. We all look up to you.
Shelli Littleton
You have had a huge influence on me. You have loved me. I can’t tell you what that means to me.
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
(Rubs hands together and sits up with a jolt of energy…)
Will my words and my work be influential in 2016? will my characters be influential?
Well…I sure hope so!
My goals with my writing include quite a few hard things. Sit back, kids, Jennifer is brave this morning.
It’s a hard thing to get me riled up, but today? For various reasons, I am. It’s a rare day in Jennifer’s life that she is so touchy, staying home is best.
So, what and why will I hope to sway readers with my work?
-teaching my readers that for every person who has walked this earth, whether that person is dark skinned, as pasty as me, or some shade in between, Jesus hung on a cross. Died, for them. AND rose again.
-there is no, NO, nary a single one, no exact and proper way to express one’s theologically sound Christian belief. A respected tradition of worship in one culture may not be accepted in another.That doesn’t make it wrong, it makes it different. Singing out in worship may include drums and dancing. David did that. Anglo North Americans do that. Why can’t an African or Native American worshipper do that?
Hearing “I have decided to follow Jesus” sung in Quechua, in a courtyard of a school in the dark of night, at 13,000 feet, by 4 Quechua believers? That will send chills down your spine. Knowing that these women and their families faced persecution for their faith? Crank up the chills.
-centuries old cultural pain does not go away because the dominant culture says it should. There may be peace, and a sense of normalcy, but lingering unanswered pain doesn’t go poof because we want it to. To say to someone who is part of a family or culture steeped in loss, “why can’t you just get over it?” is tremendously insulting and unBiblical. As far as I know, Jesus never said “Hey, get over it” to anyone who came to Him seeking wisdom and love. I have personal experience with a culture absolutely soaked in loss and pain. And I will, oh yes I will, haul off and nail someone who stares down my family members and says what happened was because their kind deserved it. I am a diplomatic person, I loathe confrontation, but I’ll ride point and carry the flag of those who seek justice.
-my main characters are men who are plunged into one kind of battle or another and do their best to survive in a world that sees them as no more than vermin. One is a bold and fierce warrior, ready to fight at all times. One is a quiet craftsman, bringing beauty to those around him. The soldier becomes a gentle, solitary warrior in a war with no enemy. The soft-spoken silversmith becoming a beast of a man with no framework for the violence and horrors all around him.
What happens to each man as he is forced to walk unfamiliar roads has happened to people all over as they are thrust from light into darkness. Life for the vast majority of the world is usually unkind, painful and catastrophically unfair. What a person of faith does with that knowledge is how people see Jesus. We don’t win converts through being nice, we bring people to Jesus by standing firm when hell is raining down around us and all we have is our faith, and we live out that faith by serving those who have nothing. THAT is when people see the gold in the fire. Look up The Vicar of Bagdad. He is truly Godly in the face of the enemy.
-my desire for 2016 is to step a little further away from my comfort zone and be a little bolder in speaking up for those who are just too worn out to keep going. I want to influence those who feel that to be a Christian, one must fit a certain mold.
I shall end with this…I had an interesting conversation in Bible college with a man who truly and honestly believed that EVERY SINGLE CHRISTIAN must read only the King James Bible. I asked him “so, if some tribal leader in Irian Jaya comes to Christ, he can only read the KJV?”
“Yes.”
“But, that means he’d have to learn to read and write English?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“That might take 5 years!”
“If he wants to be a Christian, he has to read the King James.”
I vividly recall, at this point, how my hands hurt from clenching them.
“So, if he has accepted Christ as his Saviour, and has a few books of the Bible translated into his own language, and call effectively tell people the Gospel, that is NOT enough?”
“Right! The King James is the only ordained version of the Bible. Everything else is sinful.”
“Even the Greek?”
“Yes.”
“Aramaic?”
“Yes.”
“You sir, are an…you’re wrong. Besides, Jesus never spoke a word of King James English.”
He looked at me and turned all red and blotchy. I’m pretty sure that look involved him biting back unkind words.
Cut to New Mexico, September 2015. A missionary was telling me that a new, wet behind the ears colleague was extremely troubled that the team was not using the King James Bible to share the Gospel with the Navajo, but were using…wait for it…a Navajo Bible.
The seasoned missionary said “I give him a few more months. He won’t last.”
So, why wouldn’t this newbie last? He was imposing his mindset on a culture that has so little trust and respect for Christians, it would break your heart.
When a person wants to study the French Impressionist masters, he or she immerses him/her self in all things French Impressionist. Some would even go to France to eat, sleep, and breathe amongst the paint and canvas of the greats.
But, they do not get there and walk around, stomping and indignant that no one is paying homage to Japanese culture. That to truly know French Impressionism, one must only study Japanese culture. Speak Japanese. Become Japanese.
I intend to take on the challenges of Native American and Anglo American history. I don’t have the spine to become a political activist, besides, I’m Canadian.
I do have the spine to tell stories. I can have my characters say the hard things, speak the pain, and fight the injustice.
A friend of mine told me “Jennifer, when it comes to storytelling, you’re good. But you need to be prepared for the pain. You need to know that people who read this will be angry, be hurt and a few will be mad that you dare say these things. Navajo people are hurting. They carry the pain of their ancestors. Can you handle the heartache? Can you handle the anger? Because some of them will let you have it, at some point.”
I told her the story of my father, who grew up in a war zone and who lives each day as a man marked and judged by his colour and cultural background. I’ve spent almost 40 years dealing with pain.
Her next words were almost a commission. “Then, you get it. Good…tell their story and don’t back down.”
***
My apologies for the length of this. I’m a bit of a fireball today.
Teresa Tysinger
AMEN! […slow clap…] Whew, Jennifer….let me catch my breath while the upturned corners of my mouth relax. I so thoroughly enjoyed reading your thoughts. Brings a proud sister in Christ puff to my chest. Kingdom work requires those willing to tap into their inner fireball. No apologies needed. Thanks for sharing these wise insights. HUGS!
Mary Keeley
Jennifer, all this passion is packed into your authentic characters and stories.
Shelli Littleton
I love your passion, Jennifer. Every ounce of pain you’ve ever felt since childhood has paved the way to prepare your heart for this moment. Every ounce. For this moment. God doesn’t waste a single thing. Praise Him!
Jeanne Takenaka
Jennifer, I love seeing your passion for helping others to see and live out their relationships with Jesus. 🙂 And I couldn’t agree with you more on the stories you shared. 🙂
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
I’ve heard that opinion on the KJV as the only ‘ordained’ version of the Bible, as well, and it’s one of the factors that drives people to nondualism and similar ‘belief systems’. It makes Christianity look silly, a crude put-up job.
Carol Ashby
Love your post! Maybe it actually too short.
Do the KJV fanatics not realize the only version of the Bible that is perfect is Hebrew and Aramaic for the OT and Greek for the NT? Everything else is a translation trying to present the perfect truth of the original in the heart language of a group of people. Anyone who has tried to pick the correct preposition for a foreign language translation knows how hard it can be to get it even close to right. Good thing the Holy Spirit guides the translation into EVERY language.
Norma Brumbaugh
So true, Mary. Words are influencers. Part of our purpose as Christian writers is to give people something to think about whether they agree with us or not. It may be just a seed. I’ve been reading some works written by atheists as a way to better understand their logic. In some ways, this practice has helped me sort out my own beliefs in a more succinct way. They don’t convince me, but I understand their logic and their beef with religion. (Some of it is deserved.) There is one critical aspect in all of this. As Christians, we don’t want to sound like noisy gongs, brash and loud. We want to have the spirit of Christ. It behooves us to keep our own walk joined closely to the Source so the mind of Christ flows through our words or influences the choices of words. The light shines in the darkness. Our world view speaks in megaphone when we write. At least, I think so.
Teresa Tysinger
Well said, Norma!
Mary Keeley
Norma, you communicated many important points here. Your comment is worth printing out and posting as a reminder when we write.
Teresa Tysinger
Mary, happy New Year! What a great, thought-provoking post.
The notion of my words influencing others sparks the fire inside my belly to write. It’s the thing I can’t ignore, can’t snuff out. I believe our spiritual gifts are directly related to the means by which God crafts us to influence others. For those of us who frequent this blog, I’d venture to say one of our gifts is exhortation through written word. A sweet and savory concoction, if you will, of pleasure mixed with pressure. Ah, maybe not pressure…rather expectation or maybe anticipation?
I can’t declare with certainty how my writing will influence others. Yet, I do often pray that my writing will do so. As a not yet published fiction writer, my blog is where I can share with readers. I began writing posts about the writing process, my characters and story elements, etc. Before long, though, I found myself compelled to share about my daily faith journey. Unexpected places where I see God. Challenges I face, and ways scripture arms me with the tools I need. How I fall short of deserving God’s grace, yet find it around every corner.
My fiction writing may never be published, and while that’s an earthly dream I greatly hope for, it’d be okay. I’m content to know God uses us any time we step forward and say “Here, I am Lord.” So, I don’t know how God WILL use my writing influentially, but I pray He does. And, if I see the harvest of that influence in even a small way, I’ll count myself doubly blessed.
Shelli Littleton
Teresa, I’m always reminded through this blog … the sweetness of people here … to pray for each of us. At ACFW … seeing you … and you being so happy to see me … makes me so grateful to be a part of this group. Just the love and acceptance … it greatly influences me to keep pressing on … thank you, sweet friend. 🙂
Teresa Tysinger
Aw, I totally agree. Can’t wait to hug you again!
Mary Keeley
Teresa, it’s encouraging for anyone here to read how your influence increased organically in your blogging. Your characters and story are influential in the same way.
Teresa Tysinger
Thanks, Mary. I guess we can only keep hoping that we evolve alongside God’s plans for us.
Jeanne Takenaka
Teresa, I think when we commit our writing to God, and we trust Him to bring about the results He intends, we can write with confidence. We can know that He’s using the words He gives us to influence/minister to those who read them. There’s comfort in that, isn’t there? 🙂
Teresa Tysinger
So true, Jeanne!
Shelli Littleton
I pray God uses me this year. I’ve never been too intentional about being influential, or hoping to be, or trying to be …other than with my girls … you’ve definitely given me some things to think about. And my characters … I’m working out their intentions, plotting, and writing. But I’m seeing influence on my girls … my oldest just came back from Passion, an arena full of college-aged and high school seniors … and seeing her tear-up sharing how God spoke to her heart while she was there … blessed my heart. She got excited that Beth Moore was sitting in the audience … “just right there.” I know that one is definitely my influence. 🙂 Listening to her share how Christine Caine touched her heart … and explaining how she started out at the bottom, and now she’s speaking to large audiences, and seeing the hope in my daughter’s eyes that one day, too, God might use her in a mighty way. And seeing her want to journal her experiences from there. Then having her ask me how many words usually comprise a chapter … and her saying to me, “I wrote 1,000 words last night.” 🙂 I miss her baby days, but this is sweet.
Mary Keeley
Intentional. Good word, Shelli. Not hitting readers over the head, but using words that develop characters who reflect God-honoring qualities. I think the world is starving for this, don’t you?
Jeanne Takenaka
Shelli, your words on your blog, and I’m guessing in the articles you write, influence your readers. You have a sweet, genuine way of sharing how God draws you closer to Himself. It challenges me to seek Him more.
Shirlee Abbott
As a writer of inspirational non-fiction, influence is the goal. I see it as crack the door open, penlight in the darkness influence. I hope to create a tiny opening–and pray that the Spirit slips in and changes everything.
Mary Keeley
Good point, Shirlee.
Jenny Leo
Beautiful image, Shirlee!
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
The rise of nondualism may actually be a hopeful sign; it does have precedent in early Christian thought,through the early mystics (and made more accessible in “The Cloud Of Unknowing”). It represents a hunger for the transcendent, that ‘God-sized hole in the heart’ whose existence can be an open door for Christ.
* That said, its modern incarnation is at best a heresy, similar to Gnosticism, but we can exert the greatest influence if we treat the need with sympathy and understanding.
* It’s easy to see how it’s a lure to Christians, since the church is being manipulated by preachers with large platforms who misrepresent Scripture to their own ends; the heresies of the Prosperity Gospel (sometimes driven by ‘seed giving’, which is a blatant subversion of the parable of the Sower) and the various end-time movements (which use judgement and the whipping-up of hatred for Muslims and, lately, homosexuals) have done more, I think, to drive people away from Christ than any degree of governmental indoctrination could. A prominent pastor who recently claimed to live a holier life than 95% of his congregants destroyed his very pretension to holiness with those words. I mean, has he even HEARD of the deadliest sin, pride?
* People aren’t stupid, and if they see a church that in much of its public form ignores Jesus in preference of modern ‘prophets’ and self-proclaimed Apostles they will look elsewhere for the God for which their heart longs.
* These are people we can reach, We can witness to God’s presence in a hideous ‘now’ (like Kara Tippetts), or present a Scripturally authentic Lord (such as described through C.S. Lewis’ writings)…a God who does not promise ‘signs and wonders’ that will lead to temporal happiness, or a God who rewards loyalty with tangible ‘favour’ (remember Joel Osteen’s claim that having a convenient parking space open up for him during the Christmas rush was ‘the favour of God’?).
* We can tell them of the real God, the one who wept with Lazarus’ sisters, the Son who sweated blood in coming to accept His fate, the one who promises to strengthen our hearts to face the flames. And we can, in humility, accept our brothers and sisters who long for Christ yet who live lives whose specifics we abhor, rather than kicking them out of the tent, because in truth, we ALL deserve to be kicked out into the eternal night.
* God’s wrath is His alone, and we dare not usurp that prerogative. He has given us hearts that are to be used to extend His love. In that Love lies both our potential for influence, and our salvation.
Jeanne Takenaka
Andrew, there is such truth to your words. We do need to embrace people, and that doesn’t necessarily mean embrace their lifestyles, but show Jesus’ grace to those He brings across our paths. Sometimes it’s a quiet love and acceptance that draws people to Him. When they see Jesus in us through how we live, then they see what His true character is.
Jenny Leo
So timely! Just this morning I was feeling discouraged about something that happened on our local political scene and how hopeless it feels to try to influence anybody about anything. Your post reminded me of the power of words and the principle of not giving up. Thanks! 🙂
Mary Keeley
Jenny, I get it. Much is going on locally, nationally, and internationally that’s discouraging, from any angle people view things politically, socially, and theologically. Christian writers have a special opportunity this year to shine truth into dark places, not as a harsh glare, but as the inviting glow of a candle that isn’t hidden under a bushel basket.
Shelia Stovall
I write fiction because I want to share God’s plan for salvation in a “non-preachy” format. I know and love many people who don’t know Jesus, and they don’t want to listen to me or anyone talk about Him. But I also know that if my book is published, they might read it. Yesterday, I received a request from a local church to speak at a women’s event. I am thrilled that God is allowing me to be a part of His plan. I can think of no better use of my time than telling other’s about what Jesus has done for me and for them.
Mary Keeley
Shelia, that being your conscious purpose, your words, characters, and stories are sure to reflect it.
Carol Ashby
I hope my characters might have influence. Set in times of lethal persecution, at least one main character is so committed to Jesus that he/she is willing to sacrifice the dearest desire of his/her heart and maybe even life itself rather than deny the Lord. At least one other main character starts as a non-Christian, learns about what Jesus did for them, and then must decide whether they will choose to follow or not. There are strong parallels with the dilemmas faced by believers today, and I hope the novels will encourage deeper commitment to Jesus and sharing the faith with others. I hope they are exciting, romantic reads that someone would love to share with a friend, especially one who doesn’t normally read Christian fiction.
I don’t know how influential the website I’m designing for the novels will be. I’m going to pack it with accurate, unusual, and sometimes fun info related to my novels’ historical period that I hope homeschoolers will find useful and entertaining. I’m going to include a blog, but only time will show how that develops.
Mary Keeley
Carol, it sounds like you’ll have great examples in your book at varied stages of faith.
Janet Ann Collins
What a lot of profound posts! I’m so impressed with the wisdom and knowledge of the people who follow this blog and post here.
Kathy Cassel
I seem to be stalled in the girl’s devotions area, so I have been trying YA fiction which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but didn’t think I could. I’m loving it and working with a fiction coach to get my first manuscript ready to go to be considered at a publishing house.