Why I Wrote 40 Days of Christmas

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Last year, I saw a funny little note on Facebook. Someone declared, “It’s January 2 and I’m so excited to throw out our Christmas tree.” I immediately responded, “You aren’t doing Christmas right if you quit before Epiphany.” Since then, I’ve discovered that many people don’t even know what Epiphany is (it’s the day the Church celebrates the visit of the three Magi to the baby Jesus). As anyone who has ever tried to sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” knows, Christmas was originally designed to be a 12-day feast, but many assume that Christmas day is the 12th day (in fact, it is the first day). Although merchants certainly understand the power of Christmas, many Christians don’t know very much about it.

Last year, I had to write three different messages for Northwest University events during the Christmas season. I was thrilled with the reception they got from each audience, and after sharing with a VIP reception at our annual concert at Seattle’s opulent Benaroya Hall, I decided that I should use those messages as the seed of a devotional guide to Christmas. My motivation was to produce a book that I could make available to our top donors and friends. I thought I would self-publish the book as a gift from me personally. I’d invest maybe $1,500 in producing the book and then have the pleasure of sharing it as a Christmas gift.

So, on December 15, I sat down to write. I found that I had eight devotionals I could start with, and that if the devotional started on the first possible Sunday of Advent, November 28, it would stretch 40 days to Epiphany on January 6. I started writing, and on New Year’s Day, I finished the book. On January 2, I sent the book to my “agent,” master bookman Ted Terry, CEO of Noble Marketing. Ted read the book that morning and sent it immediately to BroadStreet Publishing, a major producer of gift books. Before the day was over, they had agreed to publish 40 Days of Christmas. It usually takes months or even years to find a publisher for a book, so their offer seemed like a miracle!

My plans to self-publish the book quickly faded away and I committed myself to going all the way with this book. Writing the book took two weeks. Marketing it takes many months of hard work. I had not been willing to spend the time and effort on getting a publisher and doing all that work. I just wanted the pleasure of writing the book and giving it to my friends. But God clearly had other plans for it. The sales of the book have been phenomenal and a sell-out of the first 10,000 copy print run is virtually assured now. 

If you would like a copy, I would urge you to order one today. Alternatively, for about the same price, you could attend our annual Christmas Concert at Benaroya Hall in Seattle on December 4. We will be giving a free copy of the book to every household represented in the audience, fulfilling my original desire to give the book to my friends. You can buy tickets for the concert, and use promo code NU2018 to receive a $5 discount.

All proceeds and royalties from the sale of the first printing of 40 Days of Christmas will go to the scholarship fund at Northwest University, so you can know that students will benefit from your purchase.