This past February before Covid hit, I went to Ukraine to do training on small groups. One day while talking to one of the leaders, they mentioned that Pastor Alejandro Bullón had been one of the featured presenters a few years ago. For context, in the Spanish speaking Seventh-day Adventist world, he’s probably the best-known evangelist. He’s originally from Peru and later moved to Brazil, but is well-known in the Americas.
This took me back quite a bit. Alejandro Bullón going to Ukraine? How did the church leaders hear about him?
I don’t remember all the details, but somehow one of the leaders got one of his books. I don’t know if the book had already been translated into English, or if the book was in Spanish and the leaders read it in Spanish. But the point is that they got his book. The leader slipped it into his bag and brought it back home with him.
After reading it he was so impressed with it, that he made arrangements with the original publisher and had it translated into Ukrainian. They then sent the book out to the pastors in the field. From what I hear it created quite a revolution in the country. As a result, they later invited Alejandro Bullón himself to come and present to the pastors with a translator.
What’s the lesson here?
My big takeaway is the importance of physical books. Yes, you can publish something on Amazon. Yes, you can put a PDF book on a website, but I think there’s something particularly important about a physical book that someone can grab and take with them. It doesn’t really matter if the book is self-published or published traditionally. The point is to have a physical object.
The issue is that platforms come and go. They sometimes change over time. But once someone buys a book, it can be on their shelf for the rest of their life.
A close second to this principle is just writing a book in any format. It takes a lot of time and commitment to gather and study through ideas and publish them in any format. So, anyone who does so—whether digital or physical—really ought to be commended.
Final thought:
There are so many leaders out there with a lot of experience. They have traveled the world giving presentations and talks, but have never published a book.
That needs to stop.
Fine, do some seminars and presentations, but then publish a book based on your presentations. The book can go places you will never be able to go. And better yet, if your book is disseminated in a field first, it can be assimilated, and then you can come in and add more context and go deeper as opposed to your audience hearing about the topic for the first time.
What do you think? Have you published a book before? Would you like to? To leave a comment click here.
(Photo by Leah Kelley from Pexels)
