Sign up for our free newsletter:

Image from Tyndale House

When best-selling author Jerry Jenkins is working on a new book, he could very well be a character in one of his own suspense novels, holed up in some undisclosed location. He conducted the interview for this article via e-mail from what he calls his "cave"—a building without phone, television, radio, or any other distractions—located in the mountains, 80 miles west of his home in Colorado.

Hunkered down over his latest manuscript, Jenkins shared some insights into his writing regimen. "By the time I get here I have done my research and information gathering, so my goal is to produce 20 pages a day," he says. "Each morning I edit and rewrite what I wrote the day before, and in the afternoon I finish the next 20 pages. When the manuscript is complete, I do a thorough edit and rewrite again."

At that pace, Jenkins is able to crank out an entire novel in about 21 working days. And that's a good thing, because there's no shortage of demand for all things Left Behind.

When the first Left Behind novel debuted in 1995, no one imagined that the book, written by Jenkins and prophecy expert Tim LaHaye, would become a cultural phenomenon. Now, with more than 60 million copies of the end-times novels sold to date (including adult titles, juvenile books, audio series, and graphic novels), Left Behind is the fastest-selling fiction series on the market and the best-selling Christian fiction series of all time.

The last six Left Behind novels have all debuted at No. 1 on the bestseller lists for The New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and The Wall Street Journal. In fact, Glorious Appearing, the latest and supposedly final installment in the series, was on the list weeks before it officially released.

Ask Jenkins what life holds after Left Behind, and he will quickly remind you that there is more where that came from. While it's true that Glorious Appearing, the twelfth and climactic title in the series, was released on March 30, Jenkins points out that a thirteenth title called Left Behind: The Prequel is set to release in spring 2005 and a fourteenth title, a sequel called Final Judgment, is slated for spring 2006. Apparently, there's a lot more story left to tell after the Second Coming.

Giving back
Prior to the Left Behind franchise, Jenkins referred to himself as "the most famous writer no one's ever heard of," yet he had experienced considerable success before penning the line of prophetic novels. A former vice president of publishing at Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, Jenkins served for many years as editor of Moody magazine. He has written more than 100 books to date, including Out of the Blue with Orel Hershiser and Just As I Am, Billy Graham's memoirs.

Jenkins's other bestseller since launching the Left Behind series is a solo project called Soon: The Beginning of the End. The book, which is the first title in a trilogy of futuristic thrillers, has sold about 300,000 copies since its release last fall. Set more than 40 years in the future following World War III, Soon depicts life before the rapture of the saints but after religion has been outlawed from the land. Jenkins attributes inspiration for the series to a couple of letters-to-the-editor published in Time magazine blaming religion for the world's woes.

Silenced, the second title in Jenkins's trilogy, comes out in July. And the prolific author is also staying busy with the Christian Writers Guild (CWG), a training institute that he purchased in 2002 with the goal of giving something back to the writing community.

CWG offers online writing courses, teaming students with experienced writing coaches. According to Jenkins, the guild has dozens of mentors serving more than 1,500 students, and is adding more than 100 new students a month.

Since Jenkins's acquisition of the guild, it has expanded its services to include college credit courses, agent and publisher referrals, and more. His vision for the guild is "to restock the pool of Christian writers and to hopefully upgrade the overall level of work."

One way he's doing that is through the guild's annual writing contest. For first-time novelists only, the first-place prize is a $50,000 advance. Jenkins will edit the winning manuscript and Tyndale House (publisher of the Left Behind series) will publish the book. Next year, Jenkins plans to include both fiction and non-fiction in the contest, with $25,000 first prizes for each.

CWG also sponsors two annual writers conferences, one in February at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and one in August at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, North Carolina. (Visit www.christianwritersguild.com for more information.)

Leaving behind a legacy
Far from slowing down, Jenkins is preparing to pass his legacy down to future generations—starting with his son, Dallas. In 2002, he and Dallas formed Jenkins Entertainment, a film production company.

Their first release, Hometown Legend, based on Jenkins's novel of the same title, debuted in select markets last year and is now available from Warner Home Video. Dallas runs the film company in Los Angeles, and the pair hopes to shoot their second feature this fall.

Jenkins is also in the process of transferring to Dallas his writing gig for the syndicated sports comic strip Gil Thorp. Jenkins, who began his career as a sports writer, has been the writer of the strip for the past eight years.

Jenkins admits that he doesn't get to write as often as he'd like to anymore. Time has become one of the biggest casualties of his success. But he's not complaining. The rewards have been worth it, he says. Case in point: Together Jenkins and LaHaye have heard from more than 3,000 people who say they came to Christ through reading the Left Behind books.

"There have been times when I wondered why [God] didn't choose a better writer if He was going to pour out His blessing on a series like this," the author recently told Beliefnet.com. "It's just been an incredible ride."

Sean Fowlds is a freelance journalist based in Mount Dora, Florida.

	What did you think of this story?
	Please to give us your feedback.

Read more from 'People of Faith'

Home  |  People of Faith  |  Stories of Hope  |  Today's Culture
Build Your Faith  |  Laughing Matters  |  Archives  |  Contact Us

				Try Today's Christian Woman Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. If you decide you want to keep Today's Christian Woman coming, honor your invoice for just $17.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Today's Christian Woman as a gift Order a gift subscription!

FREE Newsletter Subscribe to the Today's Christian Newsletter    RSS Feed   RSS Help