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1. Many hopeful writers wonder what the best path is toward becoming a working Christian writer. What was that path for you (practically and spiritually) and what would you do differently, if anything?

My path into this field was mostly unintentional. I grew up in a ministry family and resolved during my college years to pursue the missionary calling that my parents had followed in Brazil before my birth. When I graduated from college, I pursued this goal. Unfortunately—or providentially, as it turned out—I had little success raising needed funds, so I took this to be a confirmation of others’ suggestions that God had better equipped me for service in another venue, one that also had long interested me—public service of some sort. I followed this new vision, first, to law school and then to a graduate program in journalism. After completing an MA in Journalism, I went to work for a daily newspaper as a reporter for a year or so, uncertain how God might blend my diverse experiences. He provided an answer in late 1994 when Scripture Press Publications, then located in Wheaton, Illinois, contacted me about Power for Living’s open editorship. After an on-site interview, SP offered me the position—partly, I later learned, because I was the only candidate with both theological and journalistic training. As it turned out, God brought my diverse experiences together in His time, and I’ve been privileged since then to watch Him impact many lives through the publication. (more…)