Use Your Fiction as a Ministry Gift by Ward Tanneberg

Ward Tanneberg

Above her, amongst the trees along the trail, a light bobbed back and forth. She could see it. Someone was running. She could hear it. The light drew near. She could hear his heavy breathing. The footsteps slowed as they came closer to where she lay. And now she knew. Accepting the inevitable. They’re going to kill me!

These are the last lines in the prologue of my newest novel, Redeeming Grace. The very next lines the reader reads are these that open Chapter 1:

“Marry me.” The words floated into her ear on his soft and husky whisper. She caught her breath at their sound, fueled by Brad’s intensity. Like a match to dry kindling.

Juxtaposition. It is when two things are being seen or placed close together with a contrasting effect. When used properly, it can have a powerful effect on the mind of your reader. In this case, the mood dramatically changes from extreme fear to romance and love, in the space of a single sentence.

In writing suspense/thriller fiction, a first prerequisite is that it be entertaining. This motif requires that it be compelling, yet different than a mystery. The fate of a city, a nation, the world is often the prize. Suspense novels offer multiple viewpoints and themes, i.e., techno thriller: The Hunt for Red October; or medical: Coma. They are usually longer books, with strong characterizations and more involved story lines, much like a movie script. RG, the story above for example, is wrapped around a woman in peril.

For writers who are also followers of Jesus, whatever your fictional genre, an additional prerequisite to that of being entertaining is that of an underlying message reflecting God’s character and one’s need of grace, forgiveness and hope. This must open softly, sweetly, like flower petals, or peal back pungently like the tunic and scale leaves of an onion. The entire story must be planted as a whole in the real world of real people.

Too much Christian fiction “preaches” too much. In our longing to offer the message of Jesus to the reader, we forget that we must first build a relationship, tilling the soil of one’s imagination, before planting the seed.

Juxtaposition. In Matthew 13, Jesus becomes the author’s mentor. In story motif, he shows us how to do it. Go there. Drink it in as you might in a Writer’s Conference. Let’s sit awhile with the master storyteller. Listen and learn together. Grow with him.

Then, when you are ready, ask him to use your fiction as a ministry gift.

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[Our writing should be an] underlying message reflecting God’s character. Click to Tweet

About the Author

Ward Tanneberg is a pastor/writer/novelist who has given more than 50 years to evangelism, youth, college and pastoral ministry, including two Pacific Northwest churches and 23 years as the senior pastor at Valley Christian Center in Dublin, CA. In 2008, he was named President/Executive Director of The CASA Network. Ward speaks extensively at 50+ retreats and ministry leadership events in the USA and elsewhere. When at home he meets weekly with a group of business and professional leaders. He and Dixie have 2 children, 3 grandchildren, 4 step-grandchildren and a great grandson.

Redeeming Grace

Redeeming Grace by Ward Tanneberg

Seven years ago, Grace Grafton died in a boating accident while partying on the Georgia, South Carolina coast. Was her death the result of alcohol and drugs or something more sinister? Nobody knows: her body was never recovered. Now years later, a woman reads in disbelief the note addressed to her: Hello Grace, did you think we wouldn’t find you?


Those nine chilling words end Grafton’s self-imposed sanctuary of witness protection. Now she and everyone she loves are in grave danger. Long believed dead, she has a secret that can change the world. She knows the man running for president is guilty of a double murder! But who will believe her?

Other novels by Ward Tanneberg: Without Warning; Vanished; Pursuit. Allegory: Seasons of the Spirit

Reading Habits and What I Read by Ward Tanneberg

Ward Tanneberg

There have been so many times that I've heard or read published authors who, when asked to give one piece of advice, tell novice writers to read, read, read. Today, Ward Tanneberg shares his reading list with us. What's on your TBR (to be read) list for the new year? ~ Angie

I’m often asked about my reading habits and what I read. One word fits my reading habits best – eclectic. First thing every morning, I deliver coffee to our bedroom and we begin our day reading the Bible and offering first prayers. Then we read portions from our “out loud books.”

Recently Finished

The Confessions of Augustine by the late Sherwood E. Wirt (former Decision Magazine editor and a personal friend).

The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See, by Richard Rohr

The Seven Faith Tribes by George Barna

Falling Upward by Richard Rohr

101 Famous Poems edited by Roy J. Cook

G. K. Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense by Dale Ahlquist

Out Loud: Ongoing at Present 

Jesus Calling (devotionals) by Sarah Young

When the Soul Listens by Jan Johnson

Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila

The Gold of Exodus by Howard Blum

Since I write fiction as well as nonfiction, I read fiction, popular and otherwise, usually just before retiring in the late evening. It is relaxing and is one of the ways that I am able to study writing styles and storytelling techniques.

Most Recently 

The Enemy by Lee Child

Backfire by Catherine Coulter

The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews

The Dead Saint by Marilyn Brown Oden

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Some other fictional authors: Ken Follett, Jodi Picoult, Vince Flynn, James Patterson, DiAnn Mills, Tom Clancy, Joel Rosenberg, David Baldacci, Nicholas Sparks, Jeffrey Archer, Mary Higgins Clark, Geraldine Brooks.

Recently in Church, Leadership or Generational Genres

A Vision for the Aging Church by James M. Houston & Michael Parker

A Long Bright Future by Laura L. Carstensen

Start with Humilty by Merwyn A. Hayes and Michael D. Comer

Some of these are writers with whom I am personally acquainted. Many I am not. What about you? Tell me, what are you reading of late?

Ward Tanneberg is a pastor/writer/novelist who has given more than 50 years to evangelism, youth, college and pastoral ministry, including two Pacific Northwest churches and 23 years as the senior pastor at Valley Christian Center in Dublin, CA. In 2008, he was named President/Executive Director of The CASA Network. Ward speaks extensively at 50+ retreats and ministry leadership events in the USA and elsewhere. When at home he meets weekly with a group of business and professional leaders. He and Dixie have 2 children, 3 grandchildren, 4 step-grandchildren and a great grandson.

Redeeming Grace  by Ward Tanneberg

Redeeming Grace
Seven years ago, Grace Grafton died in a boating accident while partying on the Georgia, South Carolina coast. Was her death the result of alcohol and drugs or something more sinister? Nobody knows: her body was never recovered. Now years later, a woman reads in disbelief the note addressed to her: Hello Grace, did you think we wouldn’t find you?

Those nine chilling words end Grafton’s self-imposed sanctuary of witness protection. Now she and everyone she loves are in grave danger. Long believed dead, she has a secret that can change the world. She knows the man running for president is guilty of a double murder! But who will believe her?