In the beginning… About Christopher’s writing:

I guess you could say that my “writing” started with a column in the College of New Jersey newspaper, The Signal (about 18 years ago!). It was called “Random Thoughts” and was exactly that. But it was the beginning of developing a writing style that was conversational and personal in nature. I started a second column called, “Seeking A Newer World” based on the poem Ulysses and it named and proposed solutions to campus and community problems.

After college I was a reporter and editor for weekly newspapers in North Jersey. Over the years I also had a lot of articles published on leadership, government, fighting domestic violence and building community.

Then when I became a pastor, and I was leading a men’s fellowship, one of the guys asked if I could help with encouraging the reading of Scripture and offer some words about a given passage each week. That is how the Living Water weekly devotionals started (sign up using the form on the homepage). And the Living Waters provided the raw material for Giving Faith A Second Chance.

About Giving Faith a Second Chance:
A little bit like “Random Thoughts,” Living Water had no particular agenda or order to them. But for a long time, even before then, the Lord had placed a childhood friend on my heart for prayer. Not having any contact with this friend, I began to imagine how I could speak to that friend in a way that acknowledged where they were in life and how they might be invited back toward the Lord. The cool thing about this was that I sat with this friend in 7th grade French and when the teacher would go around the class and ask students to say words in French, I would often whisper the answers to this friend. So I felt like the Lord was saying, give this friend some answers about Him. And in some ways the Living Waters started to lean in that direction. From time to time I would mail the Living Waters to my friend. It wasn’t until after I had finished the manuscript that I heard from this friend after no contact for many years. The friend wrote to thank me for the Living Waters and said how much they had helped.

This friend and this idea were the “genesis” and inspiration for Giving Faith a Second Chance. It was the idea of reaching out to many, many people like this friend who maybe felt abandoned by God or felt so far away that it wasn’t worth going back. Again, what could I say? Just the idea of the reach or “letter” had to be a leap of faith. So between June and August of 2006 I wrestled with and tried to discern what God was telling me to say. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. So many times I would ask myself, “Why am I doing this!?” At one point my hair was falling out from the stress, but it was also fulfilling to understand the gift God had given me. I was so humbled – still am.

The hero of the book though is my wife Jenny who made many sacrifices to allow me to write and has been so supportive…