Occasionally, I am asked, why do you write books? Or when do you find time to write books? That is an incredibly good question. First, I must say, I don’t have time to write books. However, I make time. Serving more than 100,000 children, families, and seniors along with leading and managing a ministry in its 14th decade with all that is required does not leave much time for writing.
I write books because I enjoy writing, and I may be gifted this way. However, that is for others, mainly readers, to determine. I also write because I am a lifelong learner. Dr. Rick Warren once said, “Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass form the lips through the fingertips.” Writing is another way of learning. Some write in journals, others write blogs (I do that too, occasionally), others write articles, and some write books. I recently attended a book launch by Peter Greer and coauthors introducing his newest book, Lead with Prayer.
Peter was asked the same question: Why do you write books and when do you have time to write? We all find time to do what matters, but I thought his answer for “why” was quite insightful. He said: “I write to learn, to answer a question.” The gist of what he was saying is that he writes to answer questions, to figure things out. When I thought about what he said, I reflected and decided that is the main motivation for my writing as well. I am writing to answer a question.
In my first book, The Jesus Agenda: How to become an Agent of Redemption, I sought to research and write about the mission of Jesus outlined in his first public sermon. My first question was “what was his mission?” Then I asked, “should we be doing the same mission or something else?”
In my second book, Hope Now: Peace, Healing, and Justice when the Kingdom comes near, the question I pursued was to solve the problem of a false dichotomy between the spiritual and physical focus of Jesus’s ministry and Christian ministries today. It was a question of philosophy of ministry. I found a biblical text that solved the issue for me and described Buckner ministry as exhibit A.
My next book is about family and its significance in the 21st century. The original working title was Family Hope. However, I have a new title and it is coming out in May of this year. I asked the question of the importance of families today and how we can learn from families in the Bible as well as Buckner models of ministry for families. I am so encouraged to have this project done and published this year. Writing a book is a way to solve a problem and point readers to ways Buckner ministry answers these questions every day as an expression of our faith and philosophy of ministry. Stay tuned.