“A spirit of generosity should be at the heart of every author’s desire to write,” says Jeremy Taylor of Tyndale House Foundation. Since its formation in 1963, Tyndale has been exercising this spirit of generosity and blessing Christian organizations all over the world—including MAI. Jeremy shares what he loves reading, his journey into publishing—and how Tyndale began with one man seeking to publish one book. This story is part of the Journeys in Christian Publishing: Stories from LittWorld series.
Stories that speak to the heart
I was raised in a Christian home and came to faith as a young child, so I can’t say books played a major role in my coming to faith. However, I have always loved to read, and since I grew up in a publishing family, there were never any shortage of good books available for me—a major blessing!
Some childhood favorites included the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti, the Zion series by Brock and Bodie Thoene, and the Left Behind series by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye.
Even today, I gravitate toward fiction books rather than nonfiction. I love the way stories speak directly to the heart!
Out of college into Tyndale
I started as an intern in the editorial department at Tyndale House Publishers right out of college. I fully expected to work for a summer and then a “real job” somewhere else, but God had other plans. The internship turned into a full-time position as a copyeditor, which eventually led to my dream job as managing editor for the fiction team at Tyndale.
Today I’m no longer in the editorial department, but I still get to work closely with the editorial director and provide input on the content of our books, which remains a great joy for me. I would love to see more local authors, writing in local languages, being published by local publishers, for the benefit of the local church.
3 things God’s taught me about publishing so far
- There are no bad books or bad authors, only bad editors. (The reverse is also true—even the best authors need really good editors!)
- An author’s platform can be helpful for a book’s success, but the book’s content is the most important ingredient.
- A spirit of generosity should be at the heart of every author’s desire to write.
What He calls, He will enable
Tyndale was started in 1962 as the solution to one man’s problem—Ken Taylor couldn’t get anyone else to publish his book Living Letters, so he started his own (tiny) company to publish his book.
Through the years, God has richly blessed Ken’s efforts to get make the Bible available, accessible and understandable for all people in every language.
I think we all intuitively know that God will never call us to do anything He won’t also provide the means to accomplish. If we honor our commitments and stay true to our calling, as Ken Taylor did, God will bless our efforts—not necessarily with financial success, but rather with the blessings of seeing our work making a difference in someone’s life.
Real biblical blessings
What’s so amazing about biblical generosity is that when we respond in obedience, God responds with blessing. It’s so easy to twist God’s promises into a prosperity-gospel kind of expectation of material blessing, but God never promises financial blessings to individuals. Sometimes our obedience does result in material blessings, but very often God’s blessings take the form of allowing us to bless others.
Tyndale House Foundation was formed in 1963—just a year after Tyndale House Publishers—in order to give away the very first royalty check that arrived from the first sales of our first book.
Since then, we’ve been giving grants to organizations focused on publishing, discipleship, education, relief, and more. Some examples of this include:
- funding a new Italian Bible translation
- helping to fund writers’ workshops in Cambodia and Pakistan
- helping with Bible engagement in Brazil
- funding publishing efforts in Vietnam
- helping bookshops in the Caribbean restock after a series of devastating hurricanes
- helping a network of publishers in Latin America
- building libraries for theological education institutions in Francophone Africa and Eastern Europe
- funding a marketing position for a Christian publisher in Benin… and much more.
God has richly blessed Tyndale through the years by allowing us to be a source of blessing for hundreds of Christian organizations all over the world—including MAI—as we give away our profits. Through grants, relationships, consulting, connecting people and prayer, we have had this privilege of blessing others because of the blessings we’ve received from the Lord.
True to our core mission
Pray that Tyndale, along with all Christian publishers, will stay true to its core mission. Mission drift is always a danger in a rapidly changing world. May each of us and our organizations remain true to the calling God has given us.
