Interview with Marianne Hering

TNG Radio, where today's culture and timeless truths come together. It's reasoned, relevant content apologetics, worldview, and answers to the questions that you need to know. From Alex McFarland Ministries, this is Truth for a New Generation Radio. And now the man who preached in 50 states in 50 days, speaker, writer, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. Welcome to TNG Radio.

Alex McFarland here. I'm so excited about today's program. We're going to be talking about a couple of things. We're going to be talking about writing, ministry through the written Word. And I've got with me somebody God has used in a very extensive way throughout the last 20 years in Christian publishing. And also, for those of you with kids in the house, you probably have heard of Imagination – your kids.

They will perk up their ears when they hear the phrase, Imagination Station. And if you get the focus on the family magazine, and if you've read any of my books, even if you don't know the name, you've definitely benefited from the work and the ministry of Marianne Herring. The ministry of the written Word, Marianne, writing, publishing, and sharing the Gospel through writing. How did you get into that? My husband was in seminary in Pasadena, and I needed a job, and Focus on the Family hired me in their publications department. Now you are one of the ones back when Dr. Dobson started Focus. You go way back before they moved to Colorado, correct?

That's correct. We were in Pasadena, and I was employee number 411. Wow. And you're still with Focus today?

I am. I'm privileged to work in the beautiful state of Colorado, and have been now with Focus off and on for 30 years. Do you have any estimation of the number of projects you've done? Articles, books, the Adventures in Odyssey, 25th anniversary book. What's been your favorite, Odyssey or the Marriage articles or the magazine? Well, I did enjoy working with an author in the books department named Alex McFarland.

Perhaps you've heard of his books, The Stan Series. Getting into teen apologetics was an honor. I've also enjoyed the Imagination Station books, getting to really hone in on second and third grade literature.

It's a delight. How important is it for children as they're in elementary school for mom and dad to cultivate an ethic of reading, to make them readers? How important do you see that? I see it as very important, and if you're not a good reader, read anyway. I would say just read everything. And then also, if it's not really your strong suit, go with the audio versions. Publishers are so good now with audiobooks. You need the content, and however you get it via radio, via audio or reading, make sure that you're getting a steady diet of Christian literature. And you were the editor on the series of Kingdom Man books with Tony Evans.

Tell me about those, because there were several, and they did very, very well. I edited Kingdom Man and Kingdom Woman and the curriculum that was attached to it. They've had several more that I didn't work on, but Tony Evans is also a speaker as well as a writer, and listening to Tony, reading Tony, you would be very, very enriched and encouraged.

So I can recommend the Kingdom Product line to every family. And he also has some devotional-type books for kids. You've done some things that I want to talk about, some very, very memorable things. In fact, some of the books that you've edited, incredible stories that people have gone through. But here's the question, and I get it literally every weekend, how do I become a writer?

People ask me that, and you are much more prepared to give an answer to that than I think even I am. But what do you say to people who aspire to get published? Malcolm Gladwell had a book out called Outliers where he recommended 10,000 hours of work. It really is, you have to write 10,000 pages before you really hone in on the craft.

So if you're young, start early and really focus on it. And I can also recommend writers' conferences. You will be guided and loved on.

Those places are spiritual nurturing greenhouses for writers, and you can get encouragement and practical advice. So that's how you become a writer, is you get around like-minded folks. How do you determine if God has really called you to write and be in publishing, or if it's maybe just kind of a vanity project? Well, it's communication. And so I believe that everybody has a message to tell if they're a Christian, and everybody should be able to articulate their testimony, God's story in their life, and then some people are called to write that down. So I see it as a life continuum. Everybody has a story to tell, and then it's your life calling to figure out what form that message is going to take. And it's to edify other people.

It's all about them, not about you. And you've got to be in it for the long haul. I mean, you've got to really be committed to it for a long time, right? Well, I would say it would depend on what God's calling you to. I believe there are some people who have one, they could tell their life story, their memoir, and then God would release them, that they're not supposed to be in publishing or have 20 books. One book is probably enough if that's what God's calling you. Now, to make your living and to be in the business of publishing is a little bit different. And yes, you do have to work hard, stick with it. If that's your calling and you really love to do it, it's possible, and the world needs Christian voices now more than ever.

So I would encourage anyone who feels the Holy Spirit nudging them to get on your computer and start typing. With all the free stuff on the internet, blog sites and just innumerable free websites, are publishers still able to make a profit? I mean, why publish stuff for sale when there is so much free stuff on the internet? Publishers are... we get paid to cull through and bring out the very best, and then we can also authenticate the material. There is so much, I hate to say the term, fake news.

And so when you get something that's been published by a reputable publishing house, the quality is just much better. This is TNG Radio. Alex McFarland here. We're talking with author, editor, and publisher Marianne Hering, and she's the creative force behind the Imagination Station books and many, many other projects as well. Stay tuned. We'll continue our talk with Marianne Hering regarding Christian publishing when TNG returns. From I Am a Watchman Ministries, here's today's I Am a Watchman Minute. As in Christ, let me share a Bible verse that can change your life. It's James 4.2, You have not, for you ask not. Many tend to think that because God knows all things, there's not a need to voice our prayers.

That's just not true. The biblical mandate is clear. We are to ask and seek and knock and pray and not give up. In the next verse, James 4.3, we are instructed to pray with the right heart and motive and for the right things. So verses 2 and 3 present the key to a powerful prayer life. We are to ask and pray with precision and passion and with the right heart and motive.

Yes, there is power in prayer. Be quick to voice your praises and prayers to the Lord. Be bold, be faithful, be a watchman.

I am a watchman dot com. If you're a Christian parent, you of course want to instill a biblical view of life in the hearts of your children. If you're a pastor, you want to offer ministry that draws young families to your church. This is Alex McFarland encouraging you to check out my new book and video curriculum, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. Why do bad things happen? I interviewed hundreds of children, ages 5 to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids.

Did Jesus ever sin? The book and video lessons are great for groups of any size and was produced with the goal of equipping kids to stand strong for Christ in any situation. The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, the book, study guide and video series. You'll find it at AFASTORE.net.

That's AFASTORE.net. You know Romans 1 16, it says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. That's what your kids need before they go to college. That's the theme for the 2019 TNG Christian Apologetics Youth Camp, July 29th through August 2nd at Camp Cale, North Carolina. Speakers include, of course, Alex McFarland, along with Daniel Ritchie, Andy Lawrence and Miki Addison. Exciting worship every night and rock solid teaching every day.

And yes, it's a summer camp with all the summer camp activities your kids would expect. The TNG Christian Apologetics Youth Camp, July 29th through August 2nd at Camp Cale. To learn more and to register, call 800-YES-GOD-1, 800-YES-GOD and the number 1, or email info at truthforanewgeneration.com. For apologetics resources, books by Alex McFarland and to find out where Alex is speaking, visit alexmcfarland.com. Welcome back to TNG Radio.

Alex McFarland here. We're talking about writing and communicating. And before we resume our conversation with Mary Ann Haring, I do want to remind everybody that we've got some exciting things coming up. It's not too many weeks away. Our annual Summer Apologetics Camp, our theme this summer, is unashamed. Remember in Romans 1.16, Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.

July 29th through August 2nd will be in eastern North Carolina, not too, too far from the coast, a little bit beyond Elizabeth City, kind of near the Outer Banks. And the unashamed apologetics camp is something you don't want to miss. There is still time to register. And there's going to be fun stuff, kayaking, zip lines, all the camp stuff, great memories, great fun, but best of all, great content. Because we will be doing 15 apologetics sessions to equip young people to stand strong for their faith when they go back to school or whether they graduate. So you can go to our website, truthforanewgeneration.com.

That's truthfor—F-O-R—truthforanewgeneration.com. I also want to remind everybody, we're coming up on Richmond, Virginia this fall and Cincinnati, Ohio. In October, we're going to be in Richmond, Virginia, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, a phenomenal church. Speakers that you know and that you love, like Abe Hamilton and Josh McDowell and Todd Starnes, Ryan Baumberger from the Radiance Foundation, one of the most powerful pro-life voices you'll ever hear. And then in November, we'll be at Landmark Baptist Church, very historic church in Cincinnati, Ohio. So pray, promote, plan to attend when Truth for a New Generation comes to your city.

And again, the website is truthforanewgeneration.com. We're talking with Marianne Haring of Focus on the Family, but she works with authors and ministries all around North America. And Marianne, in the first segment, you talked about your story. How did God bring you into publishing as you are? Okay, so when I was in my early 20s, I got a job at Focus on the Family, and they were starting up Clubhouse and Clubhouse Junior magazine. And so I became assistant editor there. And I had a flair for telling stories about frogs and some other things. And it was such a joy to read books and children's books.

So I've just always since then had a love of children's literature. And these magazines still exist. Rio, the Focus magazine for teen girls. How can people find out about the ministries of Focus on the Family? They can go to focusonthefamily.com and just type in magazines.

And I'm sure there's all kinds of ads that float across the top two about our materials, and they are well worth it. The gentleman who is editor of Clubhouse, his name is Jesse Floria, and he is just a wonderful Christian man. And his team are very creative, and they have wholesome, delightful material that will educate and disciple your kids. The magazine has touched a lot of lives, and you've touched a lot of lives with Imagination Station. How many Imagination Station books are there? Twenty-four is going to press this month. And what is the title of that one?

Rescue on the River. It's about Harriet Tubman and Abraham Lincoln. I mean, it starts with Abraham Lincoln's inauguration journey, and then his inauguration, and then Harriet Tubman goes down to South Carolina and helps free a whole bunch of slaves on the Combahee River. So is the premise behind Imagination Station historical fiction, but with a Christian message to touch children? I select my stories with Christian worldview in mind. They're two events, of course.

Don't tell your kids this, but there's no real-time travel involved. But we do meet Harriet Tubman and, through her own words, I carefully got as many of her words as I could into that book. She talks about freeing slaves, and she knew that the Lord had a call on her life to help free slaves. So you take a little bit of artistic license to make a story, but of the twenty-four books, what have been some of the ones that were the most interesting to you to research? There's one that's set on Fiji.

It's called Battle for Cannibal Island. And I tell you, those Methodist missionaries were the most courageous people. I was completely humbled by their faith and by their courage to go reach cannibals for Christ. And you did one of Leif Erikson, who came to North America, who was a Christian, right? Right. But I focused on, he brought Christianity to Greenland from Norway.

He met with the king of Norway, heard the gospel, and then brought it back to Greenland for the rest of his folks. Wow. It's got to be gratifying to know how many hundreds of thousands of kids are reading these. I mean, do you know what the circulation is at this point of the Imagination Station books?

Right. We've just hit a million combined sales for the Imagination Station, so you'll have to divide that by twenty-four. That's about how many readers we have. I like to think that people pass around the books. But what I really want people to do is to be encouraged by those stories and to go out and make your own Christian history.

And you know what? I agree. I've often said this when I speak to parenting conferences. You and I did a book on the twenty-one toughest questions your kids will ask, and that book has opened a lot of doors for me. But generally, if a child is a strong reader, they'll do well in school.

They can do well in most any subject. With this age of mobile devices and 24-7 Wi-Fi, do you see kids reading like always, or is it more of a challenge to urge, especially little boys, to get them to read? Is it more of a challenge for moms and dads than ever? Well, little boys are reading, but they're reading on the internet, and it's just too hard to control. I would say parents would do well to have some kind of family reading hour or even if you read aloud to your kids, or you can listen to a book together. But there's so much rich literature out there, and if you and your child are talking about the same things, then you'll grow closer and then you'll have a history with them to be able to teach them pretty much anything. Now, going back to reading, if you can, get your kids off the computers and with a book in their hands, because it's a different experience. And I've been following the research a bit, and reading actual books is a skill that's different from reading online, and I would just recommend that your kids are good at both. Indeed. I've said that for several years. In fact, I've had a few people at conferences that kind of called me on it and they said they disagree, but I've read for a number of years that when you're reading a book book, I mean a physical book, different neurons are firing, your memory, your recall, and your assimilation, the new information you're reading meshes with existing knowledge bases that you have.

So reading off a screen, don't let that be the only type of reading that your children do. Hey, it's TNG Radio. Alex McFarland here with Marianne Hearing. We've got to pull away for a brief break. When we come back, a final segment where we'll talk a little bit more about not only Christian publishing but the Word of God itself. So stay tuned.

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That's liberty.edu backslash explore to learn more. When we're told to do something, we like to ask why. We don't follow traditions merely for the sake of tradition. We seek a biblical worldview and search for reasons behind answers. For the Christian who wants to dig deeper, there's engagemagazine.net packed with relevant articles from movie reviews and life tips to culture and the believer's spiritual life. Share truth, apply scripture, engagemagazine.net. The TNG Unashamed Conference is coming to Richmond, Virginia, October 11th and 12th. Experience core truths that make for an unshakable faith with Tina Marie Griffin, Todd Starnes, Kamal Shalim, Miki Addison, Chuck Chrismeyer, and William Federer.

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The TNG Unashamed Conference, Richmond, Virginia, October 11th and 12th. Dive deeper into your faith. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex McFarland is a voice you can trust to speak the timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. You're listening to Truth for a New Generation Radio. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.

Jew, Gentile, male, female, young, old. We often say this on TNG radio that Jesus is as close by as a prayer. And indeed He is. And somebody who's given their life to writing and researching and doing it well and factually and accurately is Marianne Haring. She's with Focus on the Family. I've got a few more questions, Marianne, but before I do, maybe somebody listening wants to submit something or has an article or an idea or something like that. On the website at Focus, people can submit things, right? Yes, we have a—it's Focus on the Family slash magazine slash submissions, and we're always looking for parenting advice.

There'll be some prompts there, specifically what you do on certain topics, like last month we did How Do You Get Your Kids Engaged in Chores? So we're always looking for parent ideas to help us with that part of the magazine. And speaking of parenting, one of the things that's been a big area of concern—we've talked about it on this show and in our conferences—is really the state of public schools. And just as a disclaimer, I know not everybody can afford private school. Not everybody maybe has access to a good Christian school. Maybe not everybody is prepared to homeschool. So I get it.

There are extenuating circumstances in everybody's life. But let's talk about just the mood of the times, because I want your opinion—I know you're on the frontline of the stats and the research—the world has really, really turned hostile to biblical truth, and moms and dads need to be mindful of that, correct? That is correct. Some states, my home state, has just passed some sexual education materials that's not just going to be in a sex-ed class. They're going to work it into all areas of curriculum.

And so we're very concerned about that. And conversion therapy. The Gospel includes the message, repent.

You read 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and it lists all sorts of sins that ensnare people, but coming to Christ includes turning from sin. But increasingly, is it fair to say that the full Christian message is being criminalized? Well, it's certainly—the full Christian message is to embrace Christ and repent from your sins, but the culture is very increasingly hostile to parents who want to protect their children and to have control over their children. So there really are—there's very much attack on parental control.

The state wants it. There's K-12, but then there's college. And what advice do you have for moms and dads about maybe they've raised their children in youth group or, you know, good church-going family, but in your opinion, is the average 18-year-old young Christian prepared to be thrown into the visceral battle of worldview that is most state universities?

I'm not sure I'm ready for that battle. So it is a constant need for parents to pray for their children, to remain in contact with them, to develop a good relationship with them, to help them through that. And you really don't know when your child is going to be attacked aggressively. I mean, some kids make it through college, and then they'll be in the workplace, and then that's where a bad influence will come in.

So it really is—we can't just look at it anymore as there's one stage that's more vulnerable than others. Christianity is a lifelong commitment to Christ and to following His teachings, and we need to have kids see that as a vision. You've done so many stories and so many books, and one of your authors that I really want to have on this show speaks to something that we often say with the Truth for New Generation conferences and all that we do. We often challenge people to be a champion for the family, and we talk about the blessing of child-rearing and adoption.

Refresh my memory. You did a book for a lady, and she and her husband have adopted so many children. Tell us that story or a little bit about that as time permits. I Will Love You Forever is the title of the book and the woman that I had the privilege of working with. Her name is Cori Salchert, and what makes her so special is that her heart is so big that she takes in hospice babies and other children with severe physical limitations, and she has them in her home, on the ventilators, on the feeding tubes, and she just loves and cares for the most fragile of God's creatures.

Again, the book is I Will Love You Forever, and it's very inspiring, and it just proves that everybody is precious in the sight of the Lord, and she takes that literally and brings these fragile children into her home. Life is sacred in every context. Is this a message the world today needs to hear?

Absolutely. They need to know that it's precious and that servant—it's really a message of servanthood, too. You can dedicate your life to serving the least of these. I mean, for goodness sakes, the Lord doesn't need us, and he came down to save us sinners, and so we can look out for others in our community. Not everyone is called to take care of hospice children, but you are called to look out for your brothers and sisters in Christ, and everybody can step up and do a little bit more. Do you see any glimmers of hope on the horizon? I mean, so many people ad infinitum have talked about how dark the culture is getting.

What are you hearing that warms your heart and gives you hope? Well, the Church is, I believe, becoming stronger, and the battle lines are being drawn. So just make sure you hunker down into the Bible and get in a good community that will support you.

If you fight it alone, you'll get burned out. We really need the fellowship of like-minded Christians, and so if your church isn't really alive and doing anything, go find another one that is, because they're out there, and we hear about them. And you know, despite the changing tides of culture and the vicissitudes of what's popular and what's unpopular, the Gospel doesn't change.

There is still an empty tomb, a risen Savior, and if you're listening to this program, you know, we're talking about Christian worldview, publishing, but the message is for the whole world, yes, but the message is for you, whoever you are. And you know, maybe you're thinking that God's not interested in you, but He is, and He loves you, and God has a plan for your life. And so if you need spiritual help, go to one of the websites, alexmcfarland.com, or truthforanewgeneration.com, or reach out to us. We have a number at our office. It's 877-YES-GOD-1, the number one. And it would be our pleasure to try and help you in your walk and witness for Christ. Marianne, we appreciate your time, and as we often say, you're out there saving the world one paragraph at a time, and God bless you for doing that. Folks, God bless you, God bless America, and thank you for listening to this edition of TNG Radio. That's 877-YES-GOD-1, or give online at alexmcfarland.com. While you're there, listen to Program Archives, read Alex's blog, invite Alex to speak at your event, or contact Alex with a question or comment, alexmcfarland.com. Thanks for listening today, and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG Radio.