Max: I don't have a good clear answer for that except that I'm a minister. And I'm always trying to think. I just really sensed in my heart that our church needed to come back and study the cross again. It had been about four years since we had done a series on the cross. I wanted it to be a study of the cross, not a study of grace, not a doctrinal study. I wanted it to be an encounter with the cross. It was in the back of my mind for several months, and then that idea came to my mind.

FamilyChristian.com: Speaking of inanimate objects, tell us about the cross on your cover.

Max: If you'll notice in the acknowledgements, "To the Russian Christian who left a cross on my desk one Sunday a few years back. His note told how his newfound faith in Jesus led him to retrieve the nails from an old abandoned Russian Church. He formed the nails into a cross, Around the cross he wove a crown of barbed wire. The striking piece hangs on my office wall and also appears on the cover of this book. My gratitude goes to the one whose name I do not know, but whose heart I do." He left that on my desk with a note. We are very embarrassed to say we have lost the note, so we can't find him. Nobody's ever heard from him since. We literally asked a friend's mother to go through all of our correspondence looking for that note and we couldn't find it.

FamilyChristian.com: This is really a multi-media release. In addition to the book, there's a video, outreach kit, booklet, and companion CD. You've had CDs themed around your last few books. Why?

Max: I think there's two or three things that contribute. One is that my personal appreciation of music and the power of it to reach and touch people. It's rare, but it has happened in our own congregation, that by the time I stand up to bring my message, I know the Lord has done His work through music and I won't preach. I'll just say, "Let's just sing all those songs again." I'm just astounded by the way God uses music. I preached Sunday night at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. I sure didn't need to preach. I did it because I felt bad that they'd brought me up there, I had to say something (laughs). I am very convinced of the power of music.

Now what's beautiful, I think, is to interweave music and message. So that's what we're trying to achieve. As far as if this is something that's going to be done with every project, I just don't know. If it lends itself to that, for example next year with Word, we're hoping to do a book on the 23rd Psalm, called Travelling Light. This is a working title only, because Eugene Peterson already has a book out with that title. There's already some interest in doing some music. Already we've thought there would be a great song. "He leads me through the valley.." that would be a nice piece. So we start thinking about it and who knows where it will end up.

Musicians tell me that my writing inspires their songwriting. So there's maybe another connection. On this CD, Wes King took some phrases out of this sermon series. What we did is just sent him the sermon tapes and Wes King and Twila Paris and Kim Hill would sit down and listen to it and if an idea came to them, they'd sit down and work on a song. We were talking coming over here, that Wes King just knocked home runs.

FamilyChristian.com: When people think of Max Lucado, they think of someone who really makes the Word of God accessible, because you are a great storyteller. When you think of all the writing that you've done and all you've done as a pastor, as a husband, as a father, what is it that ultimately that you want to be your contribution when you leave to go home?

He Chose The Nails by Max Lucado

Max: I tell you the moments that are most meaningful for me: Sunday night after the message at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, we had an altar call. Many people responded, because we talked about giving God the darkest day in our life. We talked about how John did that and about how God used that. So I went down to help pray with some of the people and there was this woman who, just by everything about her, spoke of lower income, a lot of struggles. She had two little kids clinging to her knees and she had just been diagnosed HIV positive. So we prayed about that. And then she said to her little children, "This is the man who wrote the story about the dots and the stars." She was talking about the You Are Special book. And their eyes got real big and excited. Those are the moments that for me say that it's worth it. Being able to reach those little children.

FamilyChristian.com: Who did you have in mind as you wrote He Chose the Nails?

Max: My rule of thumb in preaching is an old Charles Spurgeon quote, "Preach like there's a broken heart in every pew." That's kind of the saying around our church. So I write like that. This is the story of the cross for the broken heart.

Jen Abbas, a writer in Grand Rapids, Mich., originally conducted this interview for Family Christian Stores' Easter 2001 catalog.

< Previous Page

Corporate Informations:
About Family Christian Stores® |  Jobs
Information / Official Logos For Business Partners / Suppliers

© 2008 Family Christian Stores®, Inc.