A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of visiting a classroom of elementary students who had read together, as a class, a preliminary copy of Witness Men, my most recent book and #3 in the Hidden Heroes series. It was a delight to talk with them. Later I received an encouraging letter from the teacher:
After the chapter toward the end where the missionary was martyred, we discussed martydom, Jim Eliot’s life, and the cost of following Christ. We were all always close to tears as we finished a chapter, and did end up in tears as we read the last two chapters. The responses were always that they loved each chapter better than the last, and they wouldn’t change a thing. I think we proved more valuable as admirers than critics.
I hope knowing that you have captured nine precious little hearts will make up for our lack of more formal critiquing. And in capturing them with your writing, you have opened up new worlds to them, challenging those precious hearts to pray harder, to witness more diligently, to be more appreciative of their material and spiritual blessings, and to be open to being used as these missionaries have been. Hopefully, their response and positive reception of the book is a good and encouraging sign to you of how well it will be received among children as well as adults.
We pray for you and look forward to holding the finished product in our hands as soon as possible!
Praising God that He is already using these stories in the lives of children. I’m excited about working through the process of publication.
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