An edited transcript of John Maust’s address at LittWorld 2024 on November 4.
I’ve heard some very significant quotes in my life in terms of the training ministry of MAI which I’d like to share with you. (These are not necessarily in order of importance.)
“The strength of the national church is in direct proportion to its body of indigenous Christian literature.” Tim Stafford, author and trainer
As a new staff member with MAI, a quote that was significant for me was made by a man named Tim Stafford. For many years, Tim was a writer with Christianity Today. He’s written a number of books and started a magazine named Step in Kenya years ago.
What he’s saying is we need more local writing and publishing because the strength of the church depends on it. Tim led MAI’s first onsite training in 1986, doing that very thing: he was raising up local writers.
I’m thinking of a friend in Chicago who does English language training with Chinese graduate students—and the students who are not believers are curious. They want to know more, asking, “What is Christianity?”
One time, one of the graduate students (a very smart person, very educated) said to my friend, “Show me on the map of the United States where Jesus was born.”
And so what does that say? There’s this stereotype, this impression, that Christianity is an imported religion, that it’s something that’s been brought in from the outside.
In some places of the world, why is it that it’s much easier to get a Christian book published by a dead western writer than it is by a living local one? Because they know there’s power in a local writer writing in their heart language—someone who knows the culture, interests and needs of the readers.
All we’ve been trying to do at MAI is to raise up that body of strong, indigenous Christian literature. We’re a training ministry that aims to raise up viable Christian publishing houses and successful published writers in their own language. And when that happens, that’s really exciting.
“My name is Mary, and I attend workshops.” Attendee at MAI training
This is a quote I heard during one of the first workshops I did in an unnamed country. We were going around the room introducing ourselves, and Mary said, “I’m Mary and I attend workshops.” I thought, “Oh wow, you attend workshops.” I think about myself, “I’m John Maust, and I’ve attended 16 LittWorlds,” so not a lot of difference there!
The positive part of that is Mary wanted to learn. Not everybody wants to learn or to continue learning, even when we’ve been at this for a long time.
One thing that I’ve noticed in various countries of the world is that new believers have a real hunger to learn. It’s something really unique I think when God makes us a new creature, as a believer, the mind is renewed, and people really want to learn.
The most important part about that quote is obviously not just attending workshops. We love to have large workshop attendances, but the important thing is what happens after the workshop.
As we think of ourselves here at LittWorld, it’s significant we make new friends, have memorable spiritual experiences, but the bottom line is, “What is going to happen after?”
That’s our prayer for each of us here. Even if there’s only one thing that you’re going to put into practice after this, it will make it all worthwhile. That one thing. That is our goal, that things actually happen as a result.
“We have to get going in our writing. When someone dies their story is gone. We don’t want that to happen anymore.” Archbishop Joseph Garang Atem of South Sudan
I’ll never forget the dear friend who said this. Archbishop Joseph, with help from Kirime Barine, launched South Sudan Life Publishers. They published books written by South Sudanese writers so stories will not be lost, so they’ll be preserved. We thank God for Archbishop Joseph and what he’s doing.
It’s one of the great functions we can perform as writers and publishers—to rescue some of these stories. The work that we do is like finding buried treasure. It’s under the ground someplace, and it’s not worth anything until somebody actually digs it up.
As we go around doing training, encouraging writers, we often unearth some incredible stories that would not be told otherwise unless somebody comes along and helps draw the story out of the person–and while they’re still living! That’s so important.
MAI has helped develop local church histories, a book of testimonies in Vietnam…just amazing powerful testimonies. We don’t want amazing stories of God’s work to get lost. We want to preserve those stories.
“A lot of people have vision when they have money; when they don’t have money, they don’t have vision.” Joanna Ilboudo, Burkina Faso
I met Joanna Ilboudo for the first time in the UK at one of the LittWorlds. She was a French literature teacher in Burkina Faso, and she had a dream to start a magazine called Contact. She and her husband invested their life savings to start that magazine; they spent basically all the money they had.
Interestingly enough, out of that magazine grew a number of ministries. I’ve seen this several times, such as Breakthrough in Hong Kong, where out of a magazine grew a lot of different ministries.
For Joanna, out of that single magazine grew a ministry to widows, to orphans, schools and educational projects. One time I was visiting her, and we were walking across a dusty road to a concrete block building (she and her husband again borrowed money to build this for the magazine), and she said, “John, a lot of people have vision when they have money. But when they don’t have money, they don’t have vision.”
And it always stuck with me. It’s easy to do a lot of things when you have money. Maybe they’re not that significant but you can do them. In some places I think we’re held back. I’ve experienced this sometimes in MAI, when I think, “We don’t really have a lot of money, we can’t do this.”
But we should not let that be an impediment. We can’t really make money an excuse for not doing something, or even more importantly I would say, for not doing it well. Let’s not say, “I can’t really do this, I don’t have the resources like those US publishers.” We can still do things well.
Excellence is the trademark that we really want to see in Christian publishing—that it be the best, in terms of the content as well as the presentation. Hats off to Joanna for putting that into practice!
“If getting older means I can no longer read Miracle magazine, I don’t want to grow up.” Reader of Miracle children’s magazine in Albania
One of my more memorable experiences in MAI has been visiting Albania soon after the fall of communism, when different preachers would come into the country. Besa Shapllo had been interpreting for one of those preachers—and received Christ as a result of interpreting an evangelistic message!
Very soon after that, Besa was helping with a ministry that was running a Christian children’s program called Flying House, and kids could write in if they wanted to know more. She was part of a group fielding those letters. They got so many letters they decided to start Miracle magazine.
What impressed me the most about that magazine was the super faithful following that it had. They formed Miracle clubs, these child readers who were getting the magazine. They would meet, have camps and activities. The magazine was for children from about 7 years old, to about 10 or 11.
One girl who was reaching that cut-off age asked Besa one time, “Do you have a magazine for kids my age, for middle schoolers?” And Besa said, “Oh sorry we don’t really have that.” And this reader said, “If getting older means I can no longer read Miracle magazine, then I don’t want to grow up.”
I just really love that. Isn’t it wonderful when we Christians in writing and publishing identify so much with our readers—and they do with us? I always say that being a writer and a publisher is like sitting on a park bench. You have a relationship, you’re interacting. Magazines are really good for building relationship, and books are too. I hope that all of us are building those kinds of relationships with our readers.
“We need to have an undying belief in the other person’s ability. We need to encourage, to show and challenge, to be patient and never lose heart.” The late Robert B. Reekie, founding president of MAI
I sat in one of Keila Ochoa Harris’ workshops today, and the question was raised, “What do we do when a person doesn’t seem to have the tools? Do we keep working with that person over a long period of time, or should we be honest and say, ‘I’m sorry, but maybe you should pursue another type of ministry’ or something like that?”
There are those occasions when someone really wants to be a writer, editor or publisher and that’s really not their gift. It’s worth exploring that maybe that’s not their gift. At MAI, our initial motto was, “Discovering talent, equipping for excellence.” The part ‘discovering talent’ was really important. Often it’s the people who are quietest in a workshop who are probably the most gifted. They’re kind of introverted, they don’t really ask questions—but they’re listening, they’re listening to everything, and they’re not missing a word.
When Bob would talk about these things, his classic illustration was Barnabas—when Barnabas and Paul had this dispute over whether or not to take John Mark on a mission journey. John Mark had left mid-trip and gone back home, and Paul I think was really disappointed in him. I think Paul felt, “This man is really not cut out for this kind of ministry.” Barnabas saw something in John Mark that Paul did not see.
I think it took a lot of courage, don’t you? It took a lot of courage for Barnabas to break off from the top missionary of all time! So he split off and took Mark with him to Cyprus, and we all know how that finished.
You really have to ask the question, “Would we have the gospel of Mark without Barnabas?” John Mark could’ve just gotten bitter and dropped out, but he went on to write the gospel of Mark and was probably the ghost writer of Peter’s epistles. The world and the church would have lost incredibly without Barnabas having that gift of discernment. I think it’s a gift, it’s a real gift. Bob had it—the ability to identify potential in somebody that maybe others can’t.
And so that’s always our prayer for our trainers—for me, for Ramon, for all of us involved—to have that discernment. To identify that person who maybe is kind of a diamond in the rough, who can be cultivated and encouraged to go forward, and not lose heart. There will be failures and it’s not 100% guaranteed that it’s going to work always, but with God’s help, it can.
“We don’t publish books. We publish authors.” Dan Elliott, Tyndale editor
We were doing an editorial workshop in the Philippines, and this was something Dan mentioned. It always stuck with me because I think sometimes in publishing we can become very pragmatic and materialistic. We’re about publishing books, we just want to get it out there however we can get it done, and we’re tempted to run a little roughshod over our author.
But as Dan said, we don’t publish books, we publish authors. Real, live people with issues, needs and challenges. So we do what we can to really help them move further along in their writing.
A book I’ve found interesting is Dear Scott, Dear Max, which features a series of letters between Maxwell Perkins (one of the best known editors in the US back in the day) and a number of our best writers. His letters to these writers often did not even focus on the writing. He just focused on them as individuals. The letters focused on the friendships, the relationships that were formed with these writers who even though they were incredibly gifted, had issues and needs they just wanted to talk about—in addition to how to write a better lead sentence.
We want to help writers craft the best story possible. Judith Markham (former Board member and editor) was always fond of saying, “The editor is the servant of God of course, the publishing house, the reader and then the author. An editor is a servant.”
“More than once after reading one of my pieces, Alejandro Clifford asked a question that totally disarmed me. That question was, ‘And so, what were you trying to say?’” Samuel Escobar Peruvian author and theologian
This quote relates to editing. I tend to pull these kinds of quotes because these things are so essential to raising up and equipping new writers to be successful. I read this in an article that Samuel wrote (he was an editor of a magazine in Argentina for many years). He wrote articles for Alejandro Clifford and expected to hear, “Oh Samuel, fantastic article.”
But Alejandro Clifford would look down over the top of his glasses and say, “Samuel, what were you trying to say?” That’s a disarming question. So Samuel in a few sentences would reply, “Well, this is what I was trying to say.” And then Clifford would say, “Well then why didn’t you say that?”
I love that story. I think as writers we get so close to our material we just assume that everybody understands what we’re saying—and they don’t. One of the greatest roles we have as an editor or publisher is to help that author clarify their main point.
Mark Carpenter said one of the best things that he could do with his authors was to just have them into the office and talk about what they wanted to write about. In the process of expressing it verbally, it became clear what they wanted to say.
Speaking of writing clearly, I want to recognize Liz Isaias. If you’ve ever attended one of her workshops, she would always quote Ecclesiastes 12:10, “The teacher searched to find just the right word, for what he wrote is upright and true.”
There’s a big difference between the right word and the not-so-right word. That’s where the good writing comes in, to know just the right word to use. Or as Mark Twain said, “There’s a big difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” You want to have the right word that expresses your meaning, and that’s hard work.
“Anyone can put words on a page. Only God can breathe life into them.” Julie Ackerman Link, author and editor
This quote is by a good friend who is now with the Lord. It’s kind of a mysterious quote for me because we really aspire to excellence in writing and publishing, and we want to see the very best quality writing in terms of style, vocabulary and content in general.
But sometimes, even the very best writing does not connect. It’s kind of a mystery, how sometimes God would use something that you never dreamed He would use to touch somebody’s life, whereas a magnificent book may just kind of fall flat.
It’s really and truly a God thing, when God takes a piece of writing and uses it to transform a reader’s life. Sometimes I feel in MAI we talk about life-transforming literature quite casually—but every time that happens, it’s amazing, it’s a miracle.
It’s similar to what Peter said on the day of Pentecost. He was preaching and when people were responding to him, the Scripture says, “They were cut to the heart.” I love that. So often we go only to the head and not to the heart. But with the Holy Spirit that can happen, and when it does it’s a real cause of celebration in heaven and on earth.
Sometimes we’ll never hear if something we’ve written or published has had that impact. Sometimes we’ll never know. Sometimes God in His grace years later will enable us to hear someone say, “You know I came across your book, and it helped me keep going in my walk with the Lord.” It’s a gift from God when we hear those stories.
“Do not let me be a publisher, unless our books have something to say to those who go thirsty to the well for water.” Edward England, late editor and publisher
One of my favorite people from the early years of MAI is Edward England, who was an amazing editor and publisher.
Edward was working in a bookstore in London. One day on the way in to work on the train he happened to be reading a book by Paul Tournier called The Adventure of Living. As he was reading, he was feeling really discontented. By the time his train got into London, he had decided to quit his job. He told his boss, “Look I’m really sorry, I’ve enjoyed my work here, but I’m going to turn in my resignation.” His boss said, “What are you going to do?” and Edward said, “I don’t know.” (He thought he was probably kind of nuts.)
It was a life transforming moment in his life when he did that. But as Edward prayed about it, and he thought about what would God have him to do, publishing came to his mind. He didn’t really know anything about publishing – he knew about books because he’d been in a bookstore – but he thought, “Maybe that’s something God would have me to do.”
He wound up getting a job at Hodder and Stoughton. On his first day, before he went into the office, he went into a church and this was his prayer, “Do not let me be a publisher unless our books have something to say to those who go thirsty to the well for water.”
I love that. I really love that, because it gets at the heart of why we do this in the first place. There are a lot of kinds of writing that we can do. A lot of it is really important—we need good textbooks, news articles, a lot of things that are well written. But when I think of the term “Christian writing,” it’s any piece that we create for the purpose of making a spiritual difference in the lives of our readers. It could be a major difference, it could be just a slight tweak to get us back on track.
Readers are hungry for a message of hope. People are hungry for real hope, words of encouragement to help them keep going, words of Life with a capital L. In Edward England’s case that was his prayer.
And it’s my desire that it’s all of our prayer. As we work day after day, that we’re about creating words that we pray would go to those and would say something to those who go thirsty to the well for water.
What better kind of vocation or ministry could we have than that? To know that the words that we create will give the water of Life, of Christ, to readers. And not only just for now, but for generations to come.
God willing, the things we create today will continue to go on impacting lives for a generation—not just where we live, but around the world. That’s our prayer.
John Maust served as MAI President for 26 years until his retirement in November 2024. Before MAI, he was assistant news editor of Christianity Today and spent four years in Peru as a missionary journalist.
