CASSELBERRY, Fla. (WordNews.org) Jan. 19, 2012 –CASSELBERRY, Fla. (WordNews.org) Jan. 19, 2012 – At 63, bestselling Christian author Patrick Morley has seen several trends in men’s ministries in the United States.
Best known for his book “Man in the Mirror,” Morley is the author of 18 books. His latest, “Man Alive,” is out this month.
“Back when I became a follower of Jesus in 1973, there was a huge marketplace for men.” Navigators was one ministry that was big in the Orlando, Fla., area where he lives.
A decade later, God called Morley to write “Man in the Mirror.”
“I began sensing the inkling of a calling to write a book, which didn’t make any sesne to me, in 1987. I started writing in ’88 and it published in ’89,” Morley recalled. “God was really moving in a unique way about that time.”
However, the book was not well received initially.
“No one wanted my book,” Morley said. “The publisher had a warehouse full of these books and nobody wanted them.”
A plan was hatched by the publisher and changed Morley’s career trajectory.
“The publisher came up with this idea to offer Christian bookstores the opportunity to give a free book to a pastor if the pastor would come into the store. Good for the pastor—free book. Good for the store—generate some traffic. Seven thousand pastors did that. They actually began to read it and then mention it, quoting something from the pulpit that would relate to men, or getting it to their elder or deacon groups. To go through it. And that’s how the book took off.”
Morley pauses for a moment when telling the story to WordNews.org.
“So if it wasn’t for pastors, I would still be developing office buildings and shopping centers that, let’s face it, nobody really wants very much right now,” he said, laughing.
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