1/7/15. OCCASIONALLY … A BRIEF BIT OF SELF-PROMOTION

BLOG. 1/7/15. OCCASIONALLY … A BRIEF BIT OF SELF-PROMOTION

We get a weekly update in the NYT about their ‘Best Seller Book List’ and I am totally out of that league—nowhere even close. But if they published a counterpart, something like their ‘Worst/Least Seller List’ I would be a pretty good candidate. I have five books in print and I’m quite certain that my wonderful publishers at Wipf and Stock would be happy if my books sold a few more copies, and even Amazon might make an infinitesimal bit of profit. But, alas! I remain remote to that genre of sought-after authors.

Of course, maybe I’m better off than the great Old Testament prophet Jeremiah who wrote his manuscript by hand on papyrus (or whatever) only to have the king read it and snip the read pieces off of the scroll and throw them into the fire on the brazier in his throne room. At least my books remain in print and carefully available from their digital archives at Wipf and Stock.

The reason for these small sales is that I write to a very small niche market, primarily of those struggling with the enigma of the church, and especially the emerging generation who find the whole church-thing a bit confusing, if, indeed, they even give church any passing thought. Remember that over half of the world’s population is now under 25 years of age. This means that the potential for those looking for my insights is very limited, so I should not be too surprised at the small number of purchasers. Plus, I’m an octogenarian and pedaling furiously to keep up my understanding of the digital culture of my grandchildren.

Add to that the comment by my cherished friend Bill Pannell at Fuller Seminary, who comforted me with the evaluation that I thought twenty years ahead of the times, so that I would only be discovered years after I was dead, and then they would build a monument to me. Thanks, Bill. My response? Whatever.

It is interesting being such an obscure author. One almost never hears from anyone who has read your books, and even close friends whom you know have read them seldom comment. But, … every once in a while you will get an encouraging comment. I had written a book many years ago, entitled: Beating the Church-going Blahs (title cooked up by my editors at Inter-Varsity Press). I knew it had sold a considerable number of copies, but never heard much. Then, at a graduate-faculty conference years later, I was lollygagging in the corridor of the hotel with some friends, when one of the seminar leaders, and a noted author himself, walked up and we were introduced. He got this thoughtful look on his face, and said: “Are you the Bob Henderson who wrote Church-going Blahs? When I acknowledged that I was the same guy, his comment: “Thank you. That book changed my life.”

Another friend and very gifted urban missiologist, Craig Wong (who has just launched his own blog-site: www.onbeingthechurch.com) also gives an early book of mine for being formative in his life. It is such affirmations that re-charge my batteries, and give me the vision of those few who will be helped of encouraged by my insights from sixty years in the trenches of the church’s mission to the world, that keep me writing these blogs, and books.

So, just peradventure you are curious, I write under my full name (Robert Thornton Henderson, or Robert T. Henderson) since the world is full of Bob Hendersons. My books in print are available either from Wipf and Stock in Eugene, OR, or Amazon. Some are in Kindle form. And, … hey! I’d love to hear from you. Peace!

About rthenderson

Sixty years a pastor-teacher within the Presbyterian Church. Author of several books, the latest of which are a trilogy on missional ecclesiology: ENCHANTED COMMUNITY: JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH, then, REFOUNDING THE CHURCH FROM THE UNDERSIDE, then THE CHURCH AND THE RELENTLESS DARKNESS. Previous to this trilogy was A DOOR OF HOPE: SPIRITUAL CONFLICT IN PASTORAL MINISTRY, and SUBVERSIVE JESUS, RADICAL FAITH. I am a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, a graduate of Davidson College, then of Columbia and Westminster Theological Seminaries.
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