The 9 Core Values That Will Drive What I Produce
On the heels of completing the manuscript and art for my book (which will be published by Harvest House), I’ve been hard at work developing an overall strategy that will, with God’s help, enable me to pursue my calling as an author more effectively. I won’t bore you with all of the details at once, but I wanted to share one of the key components that will help guide content creation—the core values. A lot of time, prayer, and consideration went into their development and I’m excited to share them with you. I’ve posted them below. I’d love to hear what you think. Which core value do you feel is most needed?
Make the complex simple.
This is a topic with tremendous depth. It takes personal study, time, effort, and guidance from the Holy Spirit to form solid personal convictions. By making complex things simple, readers will be less intimidated, more interested, and more confident that truth in this space can be known. Passion-sparking simplicity will send readers on a journey of their own personal study to form convictions and come to solid conclusions.
Make the scary tame.
We live in challenging times and the Bible predicts future catastrophic events. By embracing the current and future facts in light of the blessed hope (the rapture), eternal rewards, the millennial kingdom, and the amazing facts the Bible shares about our eternity with the Lord—scary things become dim in the light of God’s amazing promises. We have to address the elephant in the room, but we can do it in a way that brings hope, courage, joy, and anticipation instead of fear and confusion.
Seek the Kingdom first (Matthew 6:33).
Figuratively and literally. Put God’s purposes above anything else, but also literally focus readers attention on the Millennial Kingdom. We will be kings and priests with fulfilling, Christ-honoring work to do in the Millennial Kingdom and eternal state. We’ll be in heaven during the tribulation preparing for our work in the kingdom. Our promised future should shape our choices and attitudes today.
Present the full picture of Jesus (Rev. 19:10).
We don’t pray to little baby Jesus. We pray to the best friend, leader, prophet, warrior, and soon-coming king the world has ever known. Jesus’s meekness during his first trip here was to sacrifice his life and win us back. His meekness was not weakness—it was strength submitted to the father’s purpose. Jesus entered Jerusalem on a lowly donkey, but he’ll return the next time on an air-gliding war-horse to crush evil and set everything straight. By studying our future we can see the complete picture of who Jesus is.
Make it fun. Make it visual.
The most exciting topic of all time should not be explained with boring, overly-complex visuals. Art should engage. The written word is half of the battle. Carefully designed art, charts, illustrations, and infographics should speak an equally-important visual language. The art we create should ignite a passion to learn more.
Reveal overlooked and hidden gems.
In depth Bible study causes students to slow down long enough to see what’s there hidden in plain sight. The study of future things involves every category of theology and leads to well-rounded insight into the adventure that awaits us as believers. The study of future things also helps people see that every stroke of scripture has nuance and meaning that can be gleaned for deeper insight. The study of future things is full of easily overlooked yet profound details that influence our daily walk with the Lord in our present circumstances.
Break down walls with humor.
The study of last things can be a heavy, serious, meticulous, and overly detailed topic. Negative connotations and extreme pendulum swings have confused the issue. A little humor to recognize, and even poke fun at these problems can remove the built-in tension, lower defensive guards, and help us see that we are all perfectly sane for wanting to know more about our amazing future. Let’s be fools for Christ’s sake (1 Corinthians 4:10), but not for any other reason.
Be balanced.
Don’t unnecessarily sensationalize, but don’t be a scoffer either (2 Peter 3:3-4). Do your homework and make sure your claims are backed up by Scripture, but don’t feel you have to know how to speak Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic to understand God’s truth in this space. God means what he says and says what he means. We can trust him—literally. But, be very careful to avoid taking liberties that violate Scripture. What we’re after is truth—wherever it may lead.
Break new ground.
Blaze new trails in this space. Think like missionaries with an incredible message for an unreached people group. By presenting vintage truth packaged uniquely for a new generation we can present life-changing truth in the language of today’s readers. Handled correctly, we can help believers grow in their faith by understanding our glorious future again—for the very first time.
