Talkshow Thursday:
Welcome Back Rose Spiller and Chris Paxson!
ROSE & CHRIS: Thanks so much for having us, Linda! We are honored to be on your site! It’s always a little embarrassing when we get asked about the road to publication, because honestly, it was an incredibly easy road, and we know that is not the norm. No Half Truths Allowed – Understanding the Complete Gospel Message was born out of a Bible Study we wrote for a church we were attending and teaching a women’s Bible Study class at. Coming from years at a PCA church, we were surprised when we arrived at this church how little people really knew their Bible, including the complete Gospel message. We had been teaching ladies’ Bible Studies for about 15 years at that time and had a passion to teach these wonderful ladies.
LM: Research is an important part of the writing process. What sort of research did you do for No Half Truths Allowed? Did you unearth anything that was totally unexpected that you knew you had to include?
ROSE & CHRIS: When we decided to start writing our own Bible Studies, we knew we wanted to further feed our education, so we enrolled in Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary’s Dimensions of the Faith Program. We graduated in 14 months and continue our seminary education by taking online classes from Reformed Theological Seminary and through Biblical Training’s Institute Program. We also read and study many commentaries from Solid Biblical Theologians and listen to an insane amount of sermons from Reformed Pastors. I don’t know if we unearthed anything new, but while researching and writing this book, the absolute sovereignty of God over salvation and over everything hit us hard. It’s one of those Truths that once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And that is what we wanted our readers to come away with when reading our book. When it comes to our salvation, we bring nothing to the table but our sin and our need to be saved. When we get that, everything else seems to fall into place.
LM: You have an upcoming publication Bible in Six. Can you tell us a bit about that?
ROSE & CHRIS: Actually, our publisher recently suggested changing the name of The Bible in Six.
They thought the title did not convey what the book was actually about, so we collaborated and came up with, “The Bible Blueprint – A Guide to Better Understanding the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.” And that’s pretty much what the book is about. We have divided all 66 books of the Bible into six parts – The Foundation, The Law, The Kings, The Prophets, The Gospels, and The Epistles. We give an overview of each of the books of the Bible, flesh out some of the more complicated passages, and show how, ultimately, everything in the entire Bible points to Jesus. The goal of this book is to arm people with the basic understanding of each of the books of the Bible, and help them to see that the Bible is one continuous story. Our prayer is that this gives people confidence and makes them hungry to dive into God’s Word for themselves. For the more seasoned Christian, it is a help with some of the complex passages and with doctrine.
LM: You also co-host a podcast, and are co-founder of the Proverbs 9:10 Ministries. How do you balance your writing with your other responsibilities?
ROSE & CHRIS: We do co-host the podcast, No Trash, Just Truth, which has weekly 20 – 30 minute episodes. Honestly, it is crazy! We each spend about 30 + hours a week between our ministry, podcast, research, classes, social media, and trying to get our 3rd book completed. We work as much and as often as we can, but we both know that we have other responsibilities that need our attention – namely, our husbands, children, parents, and grandchildren. So we work whenever we can, but understand that at any time, our time may be hijacked. Haha! Thankfully, God works it all out, and we always somehow get what we need done when we need to get it done.
LM: What has been the most challenging part of the road to publication for you? What advice do you have for fledgling writers?
ROSE & CHRIS: First, we want to encourage writers, keep plugging away. If your passion is writing, then write! If you are writing solo, get someone very competent to read through your manuscript with you before you submit it anywhere. Make sure it is formatted to the correct publisher standards, and make sure your book is good – fluent and easy to understand with proper grammar and sentence structure. Some publishers won’t even look at a manuscript that is not formatted properly. And almost as important, understand that writing your book is the easy part! Once you are accepted by a publisher, or begin self-publishing, understand there is hard work ahead. There are 2,700 books published every day. You need to get your book out there in front of people. There are a lot of different strategies to do that, but they all require a lot of time and a lot of work.
LM: What is one thing you wish you knew how to do?
LM: What is your next project?
ROSE & CHRIS: Definitely, continuing in our classes and studying. We are currently working on our 3rd book, on the Book of Revelation. We are hoping that as things open us, we can go back to speaking and teaching at women’s events. But, as always, everything is prefaced by God willing; and if God has other plans, we will go with them. Our goal is always to serve and glorify God however He deems us to.
LM: Where can folks find you on the web?
ROSE & CHRIS: www.proverbs910ministries.com
BOOK BLURB:
The Bible Blueprint – A Guide to Better Understanding the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
Have you ever wanted to read the Bible, but found it intimidating? Have you ever read parts or all of it, but have come away more confused than ever? Does it seem like there are contradictions in the Bible? Why is there an Old Testament and New Testament? Does the Old Testament even matter to Christians today? How do the sixty-six books of the Bible fit together? Is there an overarching theme? If you have asked yourself any or of these questions, or others, you are not alone! The Bible Blueprint – A Guide to Better Understanding the Bible from Genesis to Revelation divides the entire Bible chronologically into six easy-to-read sections. It provides a basic understanding of Scripture as a complete story that links all the various books together. It gives an overview of each book, touching on highlights and some of the amazing and significant events in each, without getting bogged down in the more difficult sections.
There is no substitute for the actual Bible! It is not only fascinating, it is the life-giving, life-saving, life-transforming Word of God! The Bible Blueprint is not a replacement for the Bible, but it will whet your appetite to dig deep into God’s Book for yourself while giving you the confidence to do so!
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