MY SHIFT FROM PREACHING TO PUBLISHING

June 21, 2025

MY SHIFT FROM PREACHING TO PUBLISHING

Writing for preaching is not the same as writing for reading.

I was listening to a podcast recently—an interview with a screenwriter who works in film. He reflected on how different it is to write a screenplay compared to writing a novel.

As he spoke, I found myself nodding.

“Yes. I feel the same way.”

For over fifty years, I’ve grown deeply comfortable writing for the spoken word—for preaching. In my early years, I would write full manuscripts, mark them up, and read from them in the pulpit. That’s what seminary taught me to do.

But over time—perhaps because I became lazy, or perhaps because I learned to trust the process—I stopped writing to read. I started writing to speak. That’s an entirely different thing.

Today, I still prepare. I still write. But I don’t preach what I write.

If that makes any sense.

More often than not, I carry no manuscript to the pulpit. Sometimes, not even a note card. I step up and I preach.

Now, as I write this book, I’m learning how different the written word can be. It’s meant to be read. Not heard. Not felt through tone or presence, but seen—absorbed through the page.

And I’m learning. Every day.

Writing a book is more like crafting a blog post, a newsletter article, or a letter to a friend—only it’s more permanent. More deliberate. The words land differently. They sit still. They stay.

I’m currently working on Chapters 3 and 4, and I feel the tension: how to bring the spirit of spoken truth into written form, while honoring the craft of good writing. It’s stretching me in all the best ways.

To those of you walking with me—thank you. Many of you have read and shared thoughtful feedback on Chapter 1. CLICK HERE

My goal is to finish a strong first draft by the end of August and then partner with a great developmental editor to shape it into something truly worth publishing.

This is a new kind of preaching for me. And I’m grateful to have you on the journey.