with the Jordon Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Evangelical Christian
Publishers Association (ECPA). What
did this mean to you, as a Christian
and as a writer?
Jack: When I received the Lifetime
Achievement Award, it was such a
humbling experience. As a Christian
and a writer, it has given me the desire
to continue to develop Christian
inspiration gift books that will meet
the needs of people in their various
walks of life. It has also made me
feel responsible for the books that
I develop that God be glorified in
everything that we do.
Kelinda: Thomas Nelson Publishers
state that you originally wrote God’s
Promises at your kitchen table with
the help of your wife, Marsha. Then
you sold the books from the trunk of
your car. How do you see God’s hand
in the growth and success of your
Christian Gift Book industry from
such humble beginnings?
Jack: I am amazed how God has
blessed us and has allowed us to grow
and find a certain degree of success
in the Christian book marketplace. It
is true that we started from humble
beginnings at our kitchen table and
literally traveled day to day through
faith, but God’s hand was guiding
us every step of the way. With every
order we received, Marsha would
hand write a thank you card to the
28 • Solutions
customer. We kept the names of our
customers on 3x5-inch cards. Within
five years, we had 25,000 customers
in our file boxes and we cared about
each one. When our small Christian
company was purchased by Thomas
Nelson in 1984, we were like kids in
a candy store having the opportunity
to publish the intellectual property
of authors such as Max Lucado,
Billy Graham, John Maxwell, Charles
Swindoll, Anne Graham Lotz, Hank
“When we first began w
inspirational gift bo
any idea what impact
Christians around the
Hannegraaff, Charles Stanley, and
many other Christian authors.
Within two years we found ourselves
exploding in the marketplace and
soon we were the number one
Christian gift book publisher in the
world.
Kelinda: When you began writing
these gift books, did you have any
idea how far they would go and what
an impact they would have upon
Christians here and abroad?
Jack: When we first began writing and
publishing inspirational gift books,