2009 Christy Award!!

It's late but I wanted to post a bit on my thoughts after winning a Christy Award in the "Visionary Category".

1. I'm happy for my wife who has invested all of herself in me. I'm so thankful for her... that my sons can see an example of the kind of godly woman they should seek in a wife some day; and that my daughters can see the example of the godly wives I pray they will become. Colette is the 2nd greatest blessing God has placed in my life.

2. I was excited to see Jerry Jenkins at the award ceremony--and even got to sit next to him. Jerry has devoted so much of his time, money and energy into helping aspiring writers get published. His selfless work with the Christian Writers Guild and the annual Operation 1st Novel Contest is the reason I'm published today. With as much success as he has had as an author, he could be living comfortably on his own island somewhere, but instead, he is following God's leading to help others. He is the real deal.

3. I'm continually grateful to Tyndale for taking the chance on a book that fell outside their normal genre. Their staff is quite simply a pleasure to work with. My heartfelt thanks to Karen Watson, Stephanie Broene, Cheryl Kerwin, Vicky Lynch, Jeremy Taylor, Babette Rea, Kathy Olson, Sarah Mason, Dean Renninger and the entire sales team for helping bring "Vanish" to market.

4. And I'm grateful to the Christy judge panel for the award. It was an honor just to be a finalist with two very talented and experienced authors as John B. Olson and George Bryan Polivka.