I took one small step and one giant leap toward my writing dream becoming reality today. In case you’re a new blog reader, I feel as called to write as I do to pastor. I can’t imagine not writing a book a year for the rest of my life. But that writing dream gathered dust for about a decade after seminary

The first part of this year I took a step of faith and wrote a manuscript, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. Then I hired an agent to shop it for me. Then I prayed for God’s favor. God answered that prayer big-time!

We sent the manuscript to seven publishers that we thought would be a good match. Out of those seven I had an internal wish list. One of my wish list publishers, Multnomah, just offered me a multi-book contract.

I’ve been jumping up and down inside all day

We haven’t read the fine print or signed the formal contract, but we verbally agreed to terms today. I’ll write four books over the next 30-36 months. What I love is that one of them will be a book targeting twenty-somethings which is one of my core passions. And another one will be a book targeting pastors and leaders which is another core passion.

I love several things about Multnomah.

First and foremost, I’m learning that publishing is all about relationship. I had a five-hour meeting with them two weeks ago and there was a great vibe. I feel like we’re on the same wavelength.

One of the other things I love about Multnomah is their team of authors. Two of their authors, Andy Stanley and Louie Giglio, are role models for me. They’re also doing a book with Craiq Groeshel, Senior Pastor of Lifechurch.tv. The bottom line is that I love their team and I love their books. They put out great stuff.

I feel a debt of gratitude to them for betting on a new author with no name.

For what it’s worth, we’ll tentatively targeting September 2006 as the release date for In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.