Lesson 1

Lesson 1 Study Notes: Write Now

• Today we're talking about writing for ministry. The purpose of this session is to provide writing and publishing fundamentals to inspire you to help you to get your book out of your head and onto paper, published and available to those who need to hear your specific voice. There's a lot of talking going on, but there are people who will only respond to your voice. Your voice is prophetic to those that you are connected to and assigned to.
• 0:56

The thing that I love about writing is that it will carry your voice until the end of time. It will take your voice into places and to people that you may never visit or never meet. meet and we see a biblical basis for writing all throughout scripture. Famously, Habakkuk 2 and 2, where God tells him to write the vision and to make it plain. He tells Jeremiah to write a book of all that he has spoken.

• 1:38

We're all familiar with the Book of Revelation, where John is mandated to write to the seven churches of Asia Minor. As Bishop so nicely put it, writing is a part of ministry. Let's move on. Today, we're going to discuss from the topic right now,

• 2:12

and then we'll talk a little bit about writing essentials and publishing options. So, getting started, writing is a mandate. It is not an option when we are called and anointed to write. Now, my writing coach, bestselling author and publisher, Natasha Brown Watson says that writing is not optional.

• 2:52

It's a mandate for those of us who are called to write. Therefore, finishing your book is just as important as giving a sermon, teaching a message, and serving in other areas of ministry. It is an assignment. I personally believe that God is calling forth his writers in this season in particular, to release a word that will have global reach and impact.

• 3:22

People think, so often I hear folks say, I know I have a book in me, I know God wants me to write, but I just haven't gotten to it. I may see them five years, 10 years later and ask them about the book,

• 3:36

and they're saying, well, I haven't released it yet. I don't think that a lot of us realize that, especially if you are a manuscript preacher, you already have your content. You don't have to reinvent the wheel.

• 3:56

Go and pull out all of those notebooks of decades of preaching and allow the Holy Spirit to blow a fresh wind on it and to guide you in using that to share with the world. We have the tendency to focus on our local assemblies. Your ministry is far greater than the people you touch during the week and on Sunday mornings. We are called to the world. I thank God for technology because it carries our voices globally, internationally, and again,

• 4:39

into places that we may never visit. It's the same with writing. Our writing will carry us and put us in the hands of people, worse than God has spoken to you, that may have only been heard by 30 people, 300 people, even 3,000 people.

• 5:04

But there are billions of people who need the gospel of Jesus Christ as God has given it to you. So I pray that this session will put an urgency in your spirit and reignite your passion to get the message out in whatever way you can. When I was young in ministry, very casually, I was having a conversation with a pastor's wife and she said, Stephanie, whatever the Lord gives you, you milk it.

• 5:39

You preach it, you teach it, you write it, you put it in a song. Whatever level of creativity you have, use it to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have to go beyond the barriers of tradition and beyond the obstacles of people's opinions and maximize what God has given us and rise

• 6:08

up and be all and fulfill our potential that has been given to us by God and writing is the easiest way. Your voice will continue to be heard even after you've transitioned. Some people are waiting to hear you, particularly in order to be liberated and for them to rise up out of their despair and oppression. Your book can reach them in their dark and dry places.

• 6:48

What is stopping you from writing? Or what has caused an interruption in your writing journey? Because I wouldn't doubt that some of you have manuscripts already, but for whatever reason, you may have put them on the sideline. God is waiting for you to fulfill your assignment in that book.

• 7:20

Is it because you're feeling insecure? This thing now of imposter syndrome, which is basically your inner critic that is always telling you that you're not adequate, you're not enough, they already have books in that genre, you're not qualified to speak about that, but your story is important, is vital, it has value and your story will bring life to someone else.

• 7:59

I just pray that in your quiet time, that you would meditate and think about it and ask yourself, why am I not writing? Why haven't I continued and moved on and finished my book? If you feel compelled to write, then there are some things that you need to do in order to make

• 8:28

it conducive for you to continue your process. The first thing is, what is your why? What is your purpose? Is your purpose clear? Is it concise?

• 8:58

It's your vision for writing and you have to know why you are writing. It's more than just picking up paper and pen and saying, okay, and just starting to spill words on the page. I want to stop and say, as God told Habakkuk to make the vision plain, make it clear. Use simple words,

• 9:25

unless you're writing a scientific or technological piece, write so that people can appreciate and understand what the message that you are trying to convey. What is your reason for writing? What problem will your book solve? What answers will it give?

• 9:55

What solutions will it bring? In this day and time, people want to know how. How can I do this? How can I fix this? How can I move forward?

• 10:08

How can I come out of this dark place? How can I be better? So philosophical is good. There must be some practicality in it. What are you bringing of value when the person finishes the last word of your book, how will they have changed?

• 10:33

Or what will it bring to their life to move them forward? What is your expected outcome? What do you expect for the person, their benefit, their blessing. What do you expect for yourself? Income, exposure, expansion of your ministry,

• 11:01

more platforms, open doors. What is it that you want as well? Because what God gives us, I know we all love the Lord and what we do, if we could, we do it for free. We're not in it for the money.

• 11:16

However, we know that money answers all things, and we need money to expand our ministry, to sustain us on a level of well-being. Writing is one of the things that God has placed in us to sustain us. We want to hone our craft, we want to perfect the art and the gift of writing.

• 11:51

Who is your ideal reader or target audience? Who are you writing to? I know we say, I'm called to the world, I'm writing to everybody. God has wired you to specifically serve a particular group of people because of your uniqueness,

• 12:12

your experiences, your education, and all of the factors that make you unique and who you are. Who is your ideal reader? What is their demographic? What are their pain points, which will guide you in your writing in terms of what issues to address, what problems you may be able to solve, what type of information you will

• 12:47

know to bring. If you are called to young adult women, they're going to be interested in relationships and parenting and how to build wealth and how to manage marriage, parenthood, ministry, work, school, all in one lifetime and in one bundle.

• 13:17

If you're called to write to men, they're going to want to know how can I be strong and still overcome this myth that I cannot show emotions and the thing that blocks healthy relationships. I can't communicate, I just walk around and growl and everybody's supposed to know what I mean.

• 13:40

They need to understand what it means to be a man of God, or maybe they have spent a lot of time in prison, and they need to know how to cope with the world today, how to redeem the time that they lost from their family, manage marriage and be a partner in marriage, all of these different things.

• 14:06

So know your audience, research them in any way that you see fit, so that you understand exactly what they need. Me personally, I find that my ideal audience is my former self, who can better lead someone than a person who has already been there and come through the situation? So you may want to consider that.

• 14:42

And also, do not be afraid to explore your genre, whatever genre you decide to write, fiction, non-fiction, Christian writers, go on Amazon, go to Barnes and Nobles, find books in that genre, look at them, see how they're formatted, see what their titles are,

• 15:12