It’s here, it’s finally here!

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It has taken almost three years to get here, but Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing is available beginning to today on Amazon. It has been a long and winding journey, but I am excited to see the book begin to help pastors expand their impact for the Kingdom.

Ten Stupid Things started out in the summer of 2006 as an outline typed on my phone. I was in a little café in Elizabethton, Tennessee eating cheese sticks and drinking a Diet Coke while Sherry used the free Wi-Fi to send some emails when the idea for the book dropped fully formed popped into my head; what if I could identify ten of the most common mistakes we make as pastors from my own experience and from interviews with other pastors and could develop ways to overcome those mistakes? I didn't have my computer with me, so I started typing out the idea in an email to a friend in the publishing business. After 20 minutes of typing my thumbs were tired and my cheese sticks were getting cold so I hit send.

I didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks, so I assumed that the idea was more indigestion than inspiration. Finally my friend wrote back to say that the idea didn't really fit the format of the books he published, but he had showed it to a mutual acquaintance who was an agent and he said he might be interested in the idea. I called the agent and he said there might be some merit, but we couldn't take an email with multiple typos to a publisher; I'd have to write a formal proposal including a sample chapter. That's when the real work began. It took me several months and a great deal of prodding by my agent to get the proposal done. Much to my surprise several publishers made offers on the book. We chose Zondervan because of their offer and I had a great relationship with them from my first book, The Multi-site Church Revolution, written with Greg Ligon and Dr. Warren Bird.

Now came the hard part; actually writing the book. First I needed some help from my friends. I contacted several pastors around the country and asked if they would do an interview about one of the ten stupid mistakes. I was blown away that Craig Groeschel, Mark Batterson, Perry Noble (whose name is misspelled on the back cover), Dave Ferguson, Dave Browning, Chris Hodges, Dino Rizzo, Scott Chapman, Dr. Ron Hamilton, and my brother Greg Surratt all agreed to participate. I spent the fall of 2007 writing the manuscript and turned it in February of 2008. Then came editing, cover art, cartoons and layout. Then it was time to wait. For six more months. Until today!

I really think the work and wait was worth it. I think with the help of my friends we have a book that will be a practical help to pastors across the country. If you get a copy let me know what you think.

Comments

[Brittainy]

I can't believe you ate cheese sticks without me! I do hope that a lot of people buy your book just because it has one of the funniest covers I've ever seen. And the stuff on the inside is good too :)