Now available for international shipping!

The initial orders for Night Shift: Crossing the Cultural Line for the Kingdom left the printer's for destinations across the USA on December 14, all autographed whether requested or not.  That was part of the pre-publication sale which has now ended.  The bad news is there is no longer free shipping.  The good news is you can order online and have the book delivered to many places internationally.  So, order away!

Actually a number of those first-order books were destined for international locations - first shipped to a USA address and then sent by someone else to the customer living in ---- well, we won't say!

Some customers have already received their copies and are giving me chapter-by-chapter feedback.  You are welcome to do so as well by emailing me at nightshift@fannocreekpress.com.  "Wow," "Cool," and even "Groovy," are acceptable, depending on your age, but most helpful are more specific comments like "such-and-such was good because..." or "I didn't follow [fill in the blank] - will that come up again in a later chapter or could you throw some more light on it?"  You get the idea.

One specific bit of feedback I heard last evening was that the case studies at the end of each chapter are really helpful because they put the discussion into real life for the reader.  As I note in the back of the book, all the case studies are real people.  Details, including names, have been altered in every case but one, to protect identities.  But the stories are all true.

So keep the feedback and the orders coming!  And if you want your copy autographed, be sure to mention your request and who will be the recipient of the book (if it is not you).

Night Shift to be released December 10 – pre-publication special extended

Fanno Creek Press has announced that Night Shift: Crossing the Cultural Line for the Kingdom will be ready for shipping around December 10, 2010. The prepublication special (PPS) with free shipping (USA domestic) and handling (including autograph) will be extended to that date. Fanno Creek Press states that customers should be aware that books shipped PPS will take 5-10 days to arrive. Any orders needing faster expediting can be sent priority mail direct from the printer at a priority shipping rate.

International orders will be taken by Fanno Creek Press starting December 1 with shipping after December 10. Bulk order discounts (over 20 books, no special handling) will start applying as of January 1.

Apologies from the printer, Fanno Creek Press and especially me for any inconveniences this delay creates for you, our customer. I think you will be very satisfied, however, with the final proofing that led to this delay. The book is looking great – and I am very excited to get it into your hands. We are still on target for a March 1 publication date to coincide with the spring missions convention season and pre-fall 2011 semester orders for universities, campus ministries, and church small groups.  Should you have any particular questions about your order and you wish to clarify it, send an email to order@fannocreekpress.com.

Positive feedback is coming in already from early reviewers:

“Writing from years of experience living and serving abroad, Howard Kenyon provides a challenging and practical work on what it means to be a cross-cultural Christ follower.” Dave Bollenbacher, Executive Director, Kids Across Cultures

“Dr. Howard Kenyon in Night Shift explains that if you are a Christian you are a cross-cultural agent. You are commanded to cross borders – geographically, ethnically, culturally, socially, materially and spiritually. You bridge the cultures of death and life, of hell and heaven, of evil and good, of now and forever. Kenyon presents the challenges and opportunities of crossing cultures by providing tremendous insights and examples that at every level of ministry and every level of service, the work of God is cross-cultural. Kenyon's incarnational, relational and communication practices bring a richness to his book that will challenge you to think differently about fulfilling God's mission in the world.” Dennis Gaylor, National Director, Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, USA 

So if you haven’t already taken advantage of the free shipping and handling for domestic deliveries, be sure to do so now.  Only 16 more ordering days left!

Endorsement from Dennis Gaylor, National Director, Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, USA

Dr. Howard Kenyon in Night Shift explains that if you are a Christian you are a cross-cultural agent. You are commanded to cross borders - geographically, ethnically, culturally, socially, materially and spiritually. You bridge the cultures of death and life, of hell and heaven, of evil and good, of now and forever. Kenyon presents the challenges and opportunities of crossing cultures by providing tremendous insights and examples that at every level of ministry and every level of service, the work of God is cross-cultural. Kenyon's incarnational, relational and communication practices brings a richness to his book that will challenge you to think differently about fulfilling God's mission in the world. 

What do you think is “Night Shift’s” most important contribution? – Part II

This past week I shared the first of my two answers to this question, that Night Shift explains how we minister when the doors shut and we cannot minister, or at least we think we can’t.  As far as I can tell, in this area the book offers a contribution unique among books currently in print.

The second answer is that Night Shift pulls together key elements of our missions as believers and as the church.  I should say “attempts to” do so; we’ll leave it up to you, the reader, how well I succeeded. 

I am a big picture kind of a person.  I like to understand how things tie together.  And so I work to present just such a big picture in this book. 

For one thing, the book shows how the mission, the cross-cultural ministry, and the work in tough times and hard places all fit together, both theologically and practically.  I really believe from what I know biblically that the Christian mission is cross-cultural and it is basically a night shift operation.  So the tie-in on these three is very important.

For another, the book addresses several other issues believers tend to get uptight about these days: Is it more important to declare or to demonstrate the good news?  Are we to prioritize evangelism or serving the poor? What priority should the church place on being engaged in political advocacy or social change?  And I tackle head on the big concern over the role of diversity in the church. 

My dual goal in all of these issues is, first, to see how they fit into the overall picture of the mission of the church and then, second, how they boil down into my specific mission as an individual believer. While veteran cross-cultural workers should find much food for thought in this book, I’ve written for the average Jane or Joe Believer in mind. 

What do you think is “Night Shift’s” most important contribution? – Part I

I think I want to give two answers to this question.  First, Night Shift does something I have not found in any other book to date, which is the main reason I wrote it. This book answers the question, how do we minister when the doors shut and we cannot minister – or at least we think we can’t. 

In Night Shift, my response is, why would this stop us any more than it stopped Daniel or Gideon or Esther?  Or to throw in the New Testament, well, throw in the whole New Testament and a few generations after that: can you think of a time in the Scriptures or the Early Church when they had it easy?

Here is a book that says believers are designed to operate in the night even better than we can operate in broad daylight – and in fact this is when we shine most brightly.  As I write in the book, “God is calling us into the night, including places where it has been night for a long, long time, and where our artificial lighting systems will not work.”

This is a message I have been endeavoring to get across for decades now – and I think the time for this message is this very hour.  Way back when, before going to college even, I was always amazed when believers feared the darkness instead of stepping boldly into the night.  As I add in the book, “We can either curse the night or embrace it with God’s love.”

A childhood memory is forever embedded in my mind.  As a little boy, I was visiting the home of a dear saint in the church.  A severe thunderstorm blew over her house and the thunder was deafening as it followed immediately on the lightning.  The saint, bless her heart, was filled with fear and gathered us (I think my brother was there, too) on the sofa and began to pray in earnest as if we were on a ship at sea and about to be swamped by a killer wave.  And I thought to myself, why, if she says she trusts Jesus, is she so afraid of this storm?

That is what has long bothered me about how we far too often react to the storms we encounter in the world we live in – our responses are primitive: fight or flight.  What I see instead is us being called to engage and win over. 

There are books on ministering in what are termed “creative access” settings, places closed to traditional methods of ministry.  But these books tend to settle on one concept, the one they call “tentmaking.”  (I take this concept to task as well, by the way.)  What I endeavor to achieve is a theological basis for really ministering in “creative access” settings. 

In addition, I expand the meaning of that phrase to include working and living situations in places like the USA and other more open societies.  We think if we can’t minister the way we’ve always done it, well then our rights are being infringed, which I take as a big fat excuse to use when we get to God’s throne and have to explain away why we didn’t do anything.  Okay, okay, back off.

This book is a manual for working in what I call “the night.”  It sets out to explain why, mostly, but also how we do just that.  And it ties all this into an even larger picture, which brings me to the second answer, something I’ll have to save for the next posting. 

What do you think you bring new to the discussion on cross-cultural ministry?

There are themes I address that you will find others saying as well, such as the idea that all ministry to those outside of the faith is cross-cultural.  And like them I place strong emphases on incarnational ministry and planting works that are indigenous to the culture.  

Among the more unique contributions perhaps is the relationship I stress between the fundamental values of human nature and the fundamental values of human cultures.  Cultural diversity is apparently very important to God.  As I write, “You see [diversity] both in the created order and in God’s preferred vision of the kingdom.”  The gospel itself is transcultural in nature and our task is less to repackage it to cross cultural lines than to get rid of the excess baggage we have attached to it that makes it hard for us to transport the good news.

Incarnational ministry is an important component of Night Shift’s section on cross-cultural ministry.  As Jesus is a – well, the – bridge between God and humanity, so we are the bridge between Jesus and other people.  I tie together the two important concepts of incarnational ministry and indigenous ministry – what it means for the work of God to incarnate is that it goes indigenous.  Indigeneity is a missiological term, but as I set out to demonstrate, it applies to much more than the “foreign field.”  I try to explain that incarnational and indigenous ministry are concepts every individual believer and every individual congregation needs to be working out right where they are.

People are asking if this book can be useful in their local congregations as a tool to help them think through their ministry strategy.  This is exactly what I had in mind when I wrote Night Shift.  Obviously it can be a tool for the professional cross-cultural worker as well, but I think the concepts of nurturing with space, receding, replicating, and creating will play just as well in Peoria, Illinois, as they will in Pretoria, South Africa.

Because the gospel is so transcultural, “All human cultures can be transformed by the culture of love without losing the diversity God has purposefully embedded into human cultures.”  Hopefully through Night Shift we can rediscover this ancient truth.

Q. Will there be an e-book version of Night Shift?

A. For Night Shift, we are planning both e-book and large print editions later in 2011.  We’ll take the technology learning curve one step at a time!  And the delay allows us to test the market and our ability to meet demand before expanding our options.  So if you are interested, buy a paperback copy now so you can get it autographed and then buy the e-book later.  You can always give the autographed copy to a friend for Christmas!  And I haven't heard of a way to autograph an e-book, so don't ask.

Q. Is Night Shift a dense technical or academic book?

A. I hope not!  Meaty maybe, but not dense! 

Fanno Creek Press sees its market as readers who want books that engage both mind and heart.  Night Shift is not a comprehensive or authoritative dissertation on all things missional.  It is designed for the practitioner, the person out there doing it, more than for the researcher, valuable as that role is.  I’ve written more concerning basic principles than scholarly or technical details.  Another way to answer that is, the book is geared for the doer, the activist, like myself, though I think the academic will certainly appreciate its message.  And the book is not “thinking lite.” 

Most importantly it is a call to action for all believers.  You may find other books discussing the mission of the church and of believers.  You may find other books talking about cross-cultural ministry.  But I think this is the first to give a clear theologically grounded explanation of what "creative access" ministry is all about - and then to apply that to more missionally accessible nations like the USA and the UK. 

Okay, maybe now I am getting too technical for some readers.  In short, there are places in our world where traditional forms of ministry do not work because of prohibitions or opposition.  People have called those places "creative access" or even "closed."  I say no place is closed.  But I also go on to say why biblically we are to creatively access all places. 

The creative access concept (where the "night" comes in) is one of the main points of the book.  And it ties the mission, the cross-cultural and the creative access all into one.

In any case, I think the book offers something for all believers to chew on and act on.  And I am convinced it is a much needed book for the rest of this century.

Q. How do you see Night Shift being used?

A. Obviously the basic level is individuals buying Night Shift and reading it for their own benefit.  Beyond that, we expect it to be widely popular as a study book in small (cell, life, or core) groups in local churches and among campus groups.  I have already had inquiries from networks or teams of pastors about using the book for group study among themselves, for example.  In the same way, missional teams are already considering incorporating it into their training.  Perhaps the biggest market may be as a textbook at Christian colleges, universities and seminaries. 

Q. When will Night Shift be available?

A. Night Shift goes to press November 1 and the first run will be ready for shipping mid-November.  About 250 copies of that first run will go to reviewers and what the industry wryly calls “Big Mouths” – people capable of getting the word out far and wide.  The key to our marketing is word-of-mouth.  We’ll be targeting denominational and missional leaders, key pastors and college and seminary professors, since we see churches, local campus ministries, and Christian colleges as significant markets for this book.

We’ll also have several hundred copies available to the public at a special offer price as first run copies.  This pre-publication sale is going on now until the release date of November 15.  

The actual publication date is February 15, 2011, just in time for the spring church missions convention season as well as for college textbook purchases for the following fall semester.  The date also gives reviewers time to write up the book, those initial readers time to give feedback (maybe send us some publishable blurbs), and us time to promote the book to a broader audience.

Only 12 or 32,929 shopping days left!

Only 12 days left of the pre-publication sale for Night Shift! The proofs are already at the printer's - actually the cover pdf is due by the end of today.  And it still looks like we are on target for the first run to come off the press by November 15.

I really want everyone I know to take advantage of this offer: Any order processed online by (or if by mail, postmarked by) that date, November 15, Fanno Creek Press will honor with free shipping and handling as long as the shipping address is to anywhere in the USA.  You can even order 2, 3 or 10 copies - as others have done - for gifts to family, friends and coworkers.

Orders on this first run will be accepted after November 15 to anywhere in the world that the various mail services can get to.  And I'll still autograph books.  However, by then shipping and handling fees will be extra.

I am personally guaranteeing that all orders made by November 15 will be shipped direct from the printer no later than December 1, though in all likelihood I am told they will be able to ship before Thanksgiving.  The best way to guarantee a copy of the book in time for Christmas gifts is to make your order by November 15.

I am not sure my "John Hancock" is all that valuable, but you never know :)  An autographed first run copy of this book might be worth something to your grandkids' grandkids!

Seriously, I am hoping this book will become a staple in every campus ministry group, every Christian college, in every church, in every missional team, and every pastors' network.  I have lived this message for the past three decades and tooling it out in manuscript form has made me even more convinced that these ancient and timeless principles are the very ones the Spirit wants to equip us with for the rest of the 21st Century.

People keep asking me what my next book will be.  At this point, I have no idea, though I have several projects stewing on the back burner (it's a big back burner).  One of those back burner items that I keep wrestling with is what we as believers need to understand about the future, say, a hundred years from now. I'm not sure whether I'll be around, but as developments are going, I fully anticipate my children and their children will be. Some dismiss such speculation as useless because Jesus is coming back.  Yet many an old-timer has told me, expect him back at any moment while you plan as if that return is still a lifetime away.  Some of those very same old-timers were saying this a hundred years ago - and I am glad they didn't waste the opportunity to plan for a future for the likes of you and me.

Don't forget that only a decade ago, much of the human race was having a hard time imagining life in the 21st Century.  Well, here we are and we're moving through it very fast.  So I think it important to take some time and ponder what life for our children and grandchildren will be like in the 22nd Century.

What I do know with absolute certainty more than anything else is that Jesus Christ is Lord and he is Lord of the future as well as the past and present.  And I also know that he has a message to communicate through us both now and one hundred years from now.  That is the message I write about in Night Shift: Crossing the Cultural Line for the Kingdom.  So hurry and order your copy today - only 32,929 days more shopping days left until the 22nd Century!

Q. How long have you been working on Night Shift?

A. Some of the material in Night Shift dates back to the 70s, stuff I’ve incorporated into sermons, teaching notes, and so on over the years.  Most of the material I’ve been refining and expanding through each stage of life and place of service since that time.  I’ve lived and worked in a wide variety of settings, experiences which have allowed me to explore these principles in quite diverse fields of operation, everything from university campuses to local churches to rural communities to urban, impoverished neighborhoods, from wide open societies to places really locked down.  And I’ve discovered through every stage how universal these principles really are.

A couple years ago, I started getting serious and wrote the first draft, roughly eighty thousand words over a three-month period.  It was a major undertaking, like writing a dissertation or learning Chinese, but it was exciting seeing it come together on paper – or at least on the computer screen.  Since then, I've been honing it and passing it through the rigorous test of peer reviewers, professional book editor, and proofers.

Q. How did you come up with the subtitle for Night Shift?

A. That was the idea of Dave Greene (my editor).  We’d been through a lot of changes on that.  The original subtitle “On a mission crossing borders in the night,” was directly from the outline of the book.  Dave felt it best to be more direct in the subtitle, since the title itself is less revealing.  And he felt that “cultural line” expresses more clearly the cross-cultural theme of the book.  I thought he hit a homer on the final (Crossing the Cultural Line for the Kingdom).  

I still like “crossing borders,” which is a section title in the book.  To me “borders” is metaphorical, but I think some readers will limit it to its literal meaning.  With “cultural line,” the idea is more vague and thus conveys a broader meaning of crossing any type of cultural line, which is my point.  This is one of many good reasons why writers have editors!

Q. What is the story behind Night Shift’s book cover?

A. My son, Stephen, has taken a couple basic courses in graphic design, so I asked him if he’d like to work with me on the cover for Night Shift.  We wanted to portray a night scene – to go along with the title, obviously.  But night scenes can be tricky to pull off in print and media, for the very fact that they don’t reveal much to the eye. 

 

So Stephen chose a city skyline.  We won’t reveal which one, though he picked one not so universally recognizable as the Twin Towers or the Sears Tower.  Then he reversed the photograph to disguise it even more and then turned it into a blackened silhouette.  

So I guess we carried the theme of disguise to the cover as well.  He’s done an excellent job.  I’ve already had requests for poster-sized copies and we are thinking of a theme with that cover and specific quotes from the book to produce as a set and sell for missions conventions.

Q. Why the title “Night Shift”?

A. The book, Night Shift, is about the Christian mandate, the mission of the church and of the believer, which I see as a cross-cultural mission – always.

Much has been written about this mandate, but what seems to be missing in the available literature is stuff that makes this book unique I think.  Here’s where the title comes in.  What does the mission look like when it doesn’t look like what we usually think of as ministry or missions? When our work can’t be so obvious.  Being less than obvious is hard to pull off in a globalized 24/7 media-saturated world.  What that looks like is what I call the “night shift.”

When I was a boy, we used to sing the hymn “Work for the night is coming,” meaning there would come a time when it would be dark and difficult to work.  (The hymn was written before electricity turned night into day.)  When we sang that song, what we had in mind was Jesus coming back.  We also talked about the “midnight hour” in the same way. I’ve long been struck by those metaphors.  

Much of my work and the work of many other friends has been behind the scenes, shall we say, “in the dark.”  For such work, “night shift” makes a great metaphor.  I grew up in a town of shift workers.  Outside my bedroom window growing up I could hear laborers arriving for what locals called the “hoot owl shift."  In other places, the term “graveyard shift” is used in the same way.  They were working the night shift long after everyone else had quit their daytime jobs and gone to bed.

In the end, I think that all believers have something to learn from the principles in this book, even those who don’t see themselves as working the night shift.  If they don’t think the night shift applies to them, that is maybe because much of society is somehow beyond their missional scope, for most of those in need in our world today are in the dark, in the night, where night work is required if the job is going to get done.

Q. What is "Night Shift" about?

A. Night Shift is about the Christian mandate and how we live it out, especially when the world we live in appears indifferent or even hostile to our message.  We do so, the book says, by embracing biblical cross-cultural models, being shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves in tough times and hard places, becoming agents of blessing in a world desperately in need of good news.  

In this book, I share how we as believers are all on a mission to cross cultural lines or borders for the kingdom, even in the darkest night.  In its three parts, I talk about 1) what our mission is all about; 2) how we do that mission cross-culturally; and 3) how we do all that on what I call the "night shift." 

This book is not just for people doing ministry in obvious cross-cultural ways, like in a foreign country.  It is for every believer, because as I explain in the book, the ministry of communicating the gospel is essentially cross-cultural no matter where we are.

Q. Who do you hope will read the book?

A. Young people starting out and wanting to know how they fit into God’s big scheme of things. People serving and ministering in difficult (hostile, indifferent) settings. “Lay” people working or living in environments where they aren’t allowed to or don’t feel free to express their faith. Leaders who teach, train or direct any of the above. And anyone else who is concerned about loving your neighbor or fulfilling the Great Commission.