Billy, written by William Paul McKay and Ken Abraham, tells the story of America’s top evangelist, from his acceptance of Christ as his savior until his first city-wide crusade in Los Angeles, 1949.
Billy’s story is told through the memory of his fellow evangelist and best friend, Charles Templeton. This well-written, engaging creative narrative reads almost like a novel. You won’t want to put it down.
Most people are well acquainted with Billy Graham and his crusades, but few know his early story.
But with the love of his life, Ruth, his love for Jesus, and the power of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, Billy preached the gospel to more people than anyone else in history: 215 million in 185 countries.
In a day when power corrupts pastors, evangelists, and other church leaders, when scandal, manipulation, and self-absorption is the rule, Billy Graham’s integrity, honesty, and reputation, and those close to him in his organization, remain impeccable. Read Billy to discover how this was possible.
Charles and Billy both faced a crisis in their walks of faith. They both asked “Is the Bible divinely inspired? Is it valid? How can a loving God allow evil to exist?” Charles looked to worldly philosophers who denied God for answers: Voltaire, David Hume, Thomas Huxley, and more. Billy, however, went to the Author of the Book and demanded, and received, the answers.
With his answers, Billy’s preaching went to a new level—power and authority filled his words.
Billy is for anyone who simply wants to read about Mr. Graham’s early life, and it is for the one facing his or her crisis of faith. We cannot fully understand America’s culture without knowing the shakers and movers—Billy Graham is one.
Put Billy on your gift-giving list. It's a sure hit!
Colleen Shine Phillips is new to the professional writing scene. An ACFW member, she is an American missionary to Chile. I thought you’d find her story interesting.
You’ve written numerous plays, Bible lessons, and other things. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always liked words. When I was twenty, I sent in an article to a conservative publisher entitled “Have Faith, but Make it Your Own.” But I realized it about three years ago, after trying numerous other forms of creative expression. Why fight it? It is what I had always wanted to do, so I finally gave myself permission to do it.
Where do you get your information or ideas for your stories?
Everywhere. I see a couple sitting on a park bench staring at the ground, neither speaking, and my mind launches into all the reasons why. My husband shakes his head at me, wondering why everything has to be a story. And I’m like, well, ISN’T IT?? Living in Chile and writing for an English-speaking audience gives me an extra advantage. Who doesn’t think customs and mentalities different from his own is interesting? The foreign setting empowers the stories I think up.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned about yourself in creating your stories?
That I can actually put on paper the story that forms in my mind. I am still amazed.
What makes a good story?
Randy Ingermanson says it: A Powerful Emotional Experience. But not just that. I am all about premise, too—what some refer to as “the moral of the story.” I need to get something out of it that makes me think about my own life, changes me even in some small way. A good story has to be convincing. Even if it couldn’t really happen, the author convinces me somehow that, well, maybe . . . And you know that sensation when you turn the last page and close the cover with a “Drats! I didn’t want it to end” and then you keep thinking about the characters, like they actually existed?
You have a story coming out soon in Club House magazine. What is the title? What is it about?
“Legendary Birthday” comes out in February 2009. The faith of a young boy, native to the Chilean archipelagos, is put to the test when his father’s apparent disappearance is blamed on a local legend. I loved writing this story. Juan Duamante is a picture of a child’s courage in the face of opposition and the damage caused by superstition.
One last question. We hear a lot of talk about “branding” in fiction today. Have you found your brand?
I’m getting there. If I had to put a name to it: Inspirational International Intrigue. My stories are going to have an international flavor one way or another, and because it is my favorite genre, intrigue is always going to be an element, also. But even more than that, whether overt or organic, I will strive to give God the place of honor in every story I write.
Thank you, Colleen, for spending some time with us.
If you have any questions for Colleen, be sure to post them. She'
“Stash”: hiding place; something hidden or stored away
Everyone has some kind of stash. As a mom of seven children, I was rescued many times from insanity by contents of my stash—mostly chocolate. I’ve encouraged my daughters when they married to make sure they have a little stash of money (what my grandma called “pin money”) for those little extras not included in the budget.
Writers need a stash of ideas—snippets of conversations, characters who pop into mind unexpected, news items that trigger a plot, a Bible verse that explodes into a theme. I promise, if you don’t jot these ideas down and file them, you will forget them.
It doesn’t matter what the stash looks like. What’s important is that you have one! Keep a shoebox, a small hatbox, a basket sitting in a handy place to toss in scribbled notes. If you like more organization, use index cards and a file system.
When you have a few spare moments, pull out one of your ideas and write a paragraph about it. If it’s a character, write a description or give him or her a history, or a goal to reach. If the idea is a plot, write a paragraph or two telling what, when, why, how (you may not yet know the “who”).
At times I’ve pulled out some of my ideas and used them as a writing assignment for my kids (yes, I homeschooled all seven). It was fun to see what they did with my ideas—my middle daughter is now writing a novel!
I’m driving through upstate New York. If you’ve ever seen calendar pictures for October with the brilliant reds, golds, yellows, and greens, you know what I mean. It’s beautiful. I live in Western Montana, in the midst of the rugged Rocky Mountains, and am blessed with glorious fall colors, too. But a definite difference exists between these two fall displays. My fall colors are limited to the valley floor, with the exception of tamaracks in the mountains, but here in NY the colors flow with the rolling hills, which affords a dimension to the hues I don’t get to experience in Montana.
When writing fiction, setting is as important as characters, plot, and theme. In fact, the setting can become a kind of character (think: creepy mansion with a malevolent personality; or the sand and surf where your protagonist goes for comfort and solace, or add clouds and wind and it becomes a raging surf, tempting our hero to throw himself off the cliff into the crashing waves below—remember Rebecca?
Setting can create additional conflict for the protagonist, adding depth to the plot. For example, your story might center around two brothers who are always locked in one quarrel or another: they both want the same girl, one is smarter than the other, one seems to get all the breaks, mom loves one best . . . any number of typical struggles brothers can have. But let’s put them in the midst of the Civil War (or for my Southern readers, the Northern Aggression), one fights for the South, the other for the North and your setting kicks up your conflict to new levels.
Also, setting can simply be someplace we could never “see” without the author’s creation of the world he or she takes us into. C. S. Lewis and Narnia, and J. R. R. Tolkein and his world come to mind. These are nonexistent settings, yet these authors make them real for their characters and for us. Because of the authors’ vivid descriptions, we readers can move through and experience these “make believe” worlds alongside the characters.
What author creates the most fascinating settings for you?
Most activities and projects require advanced preparation. Taking a trip involves planning your route/flight, gassing up the car or buying tickets, packing your bags, canceling newspaper and mail deliveries. It’s a lot of work, but doing these things makes the trip more enjoyable and reduces the stress level along the way.
The same can be said for planning your next great American novel. Preparation will make the journey of writing your book, a difficult task, easier: create your characters, including their back stories and motivations; determine your protagonist’s conflict and how she or he will change; build your setting; establish your plot and subplots—all before you write one single word.
If you’re a SOP writer (seat of pants), this preparation will, do doubt, be difficult or boring for you. You might be tempted to skip it. But if you don’t prepare, I promise you’ll have an abundance of stress that could have been avoided. If you’ve done the preliminary work, you’ll know how your character will act in a given situation. If you’ve not done it and your character is in the toughest circumstances of her life, you’ll have to stop and think and ponder and hunt through the previous 100 pages and . . . see what I mean? Determining the plot and subplots ahead of time could reveal some logic problems, which you can easily fix—much easier to do before you write than after you’ve penned 150 pages, and then have to go back and do a massive rewrite of thelast 149 pages.
And a reminder to those who get a rush from the preparation—all that organizing and planning: don’t go overboard. Planners can enjoy the preparation stage so much they become obsessed with it and miss their flight! Or for the writer: they dream, plan, create, sketch, plot . . . but never get around to writing the story!
Each of these writing styles has strengths . . . and weaknesses if taken to the extreme. So identify your style, borrow some strengths from the “sister” style, and write that great American novel!
