Mercy Not Sacrifice
There’s nothing more obnoxious than authors promoting their books. It always makes me roll my eyes. Well for the next six months or so, I’m going to have to be that obnoxious author. I’ve written what I believe God told me to write after a seven-year prayerful process, so it seems like it’s my duty to try to get it out there the best that I can. There’s an incredible movement afoot among the evangelicals in my generation who were raised by culture war. This book is my contribution to that movement. How Jesus Saves the World From Us is a book for Christians who wonder if the world needs to be saved from Christianity. It’s an attempt to provide a biblically robust theological foundation for progressive evangelical Christianity in the form of twelve antidotes to toxic Christianity, which I’ve summarized here. In this post, I wanted to share how you can help me launch my book which is projected to release in early May. Please write a comment or shoot me an email if you’re willing to help out.
1) Write a review on your blog
In today’s world of book marketing, it’s all about the blogosphere. I can send you a free review copy either by PDF or in the form of pre-release hard copy galleys when they come out in February. I would be deeply honored if you would write a review, regardless of how critical you have to be. I only want you to be honest. Please time the release of your review for late April and early May, so it can be part of my book’s “blog tour.”
2) Tweet quotes from my book as it’s releasing
I’m willing to send you a free PDF of my book if you’re willing to send out at least ten tweets with quotes or paraphrases hashtagged #HowJesusSavesTheWorldFromUs during the week of my book’s release.
3) Organize a book event at your church or in your community
I would love to come and do a speaking event at your church or local bookstore or neighborhood potluck or favorite bar this May through July. Since this would involve taking me away from my local ministry work, I would only ask that I be allowed to solicit an offering for my campus ministry.
4) Invite me to do a book signing at your annual conference or analogous regional church gathering
United Methodist pastors and lay leaders gather regionally every June for what we call our annual conference. I know that other denominations have similar gatherings. If you can think of at least a dozen leaders in your annual conference or analogous regional church leadership gathering who would resonate with my writing, I would love to come do a book signing or speaking event. My publisher can make arrangements with Cokesbury or whichever bookseller your denomination works with.
5) Host a Jesus rave
For the last several years, I’ve been creating worship services with electronic dance music in which there’s praying, scripture, preaching, singing, dancing, and communion all built around a progressive trance song. I would love to do a Jesus rave at your church whether it’s with your youth group or with brave, uninhibited adults. Some of my best Jesus raves have actually been in small gatherings of ten or so nerdy adults. They don’t always dance. Sometimes they sit. Sometimes they do yoga. It’s truly an amazing worship experience that I dream of making into a weekly worship service one day. If you’ve got people in your church who are adventurous enough, I would love to do a Jesus rave. Again I would only ask to be able to solicit donations for my campus ministry.
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