(This is the original announcement for my book from 2014. If you’re coming upon this post now, please visit the official book page for Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side: 40 Conversations to Help Them Build a Lasting Faith. The book comes out March 1, 2016!)

I have a big, exciting announcement to share with you today…

I got a book deal!

A few months ago, a wonderful senior editor at Harvest House Publishers came across my blog and contacted me to see if I would be interested in meeting to discuss book possibilities. (As a blogger who was indeed interested in writing books eventually, that was a moment that almost made me fall off my chair!)

He understood the need Christian parents have for equipping their kids to make a case for and defend their faith and was interested in seeing how I might develop an apologetics book specifically to help parents do so. He recognized that while there are many apologetics books available, there are very few resources specifically designed for the needs of parents – to help them prioritize the challenges that are most important to discuss with their kids (who has time to learn everything?), to help them learn how to answer those challenges in an easy-to-understand way (no fancy lingo!), and to give them practical guidance for having these critically important conversations with their kids.

Over the last few months, we worked on a few different book proposals that would meet this important need. After working through several iterations, I am thrilled to tell you that the Harvest House publishing committee has given the green light for my first book! It is scheduled to be released in January 2016.

The working title (still subject to change) is:

Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side

40 Conversations to Help Them Build a Lasting Faith

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you’re probably familiar with my post 65 Apologetics Questions Every Christian Parent Needs to Learn to Answer (it was especially popular and I’ve referenced it often in other posts). My book is based on that concept. I’ve taken 40 of these pressing questions and will be answering them in about 6 pages each (yes, that will be tough!). There will be 5 sections: God, Truth, Jesus, the Bible, and Science.

I pray this will be a resource that is useful to many:

• Parents with younger kids who want to deepen their own faith and start equipping their kids when they are young (I’ll give plenty of examples of teaching younger kids age-appropriate apologetics!)

• Parents with older kids who want to proactively prepare them for likely faith challenges in their near future

• Parents with older kids who are already asking big questions and need answers ASAP

• Homeschooling parents who want to work apologetics into their curriculum but aren’t sure where to start

• Grandparents who are involved in the spiritual development of their grandchildren

• Youth ministers/ministries who want to equip the parents of the youth they serve (or who need an introduction to apologetics themselves!)

• Churches that want to introduce apologetics to their parents through small group, Sunday school or other studies

Due to the nature of this book, I will no longer be answering the specific questions from my original 65 Questions post here on the blog as I had initially planned (that’s why you haven’t seen those post answers lately). But I will continue to blog about the numerous other aspects of intentional Christian parenting that you usually find here.

I’ll also be posting updates as I write the book and asking for your stories, questions and challenges as I go. This is a book for YOU, and I’m so excited to have you come along with me in the next few months as I write it! I want you to be an integral part of the process.

With that in mind, I’d like to throw out an initial question for your feedback: If this book is of interest to you, why? And how would you use it? Please share your thoughts with me through my contact form (or comment below if you feel comfortable). This will help me make sure reader needs are met.

Thank you for sharing in my excitement today!

If you’re not already an email subscriber, please sign up under this post or in the right side bar to be sure to follow along. Also, I know it’s a while before the book will come out, but if you know people who will be interested in it, would you please share this post? Thank you!