Trip to Deliver my Book

For the last four years I've been writing a book at the encouragement of Christian pastor, professor, and radio host, Steve Brown. Steve will be at the Liberate 2015 conference in Fort Lauderdale next week and I hoped to meet with him and discuss next steps for publishing the book (and meet a few others who will be at the conference whose works I have referenced). He is willing to meet with me, but getting there is the problem.

My book is titled Outside the Camp: A Former Pastor Looks at the Church from a Distance. It tells the story of what I have called my "decade of disillusionment" following the premature end of my career as a pastor. Since life came crashing down, my greatest disillusionment has been with the response of the church to my struggles and failures, and I have spent much time rethinking what the church should have been and is to be. Today’s evangelical church often fails the people who need its help the most—sinners and sufferers. I hope that what I have written can, in some small way, lead to a greater understanding within the church of true community, forgiveness, restoration, and grace.

I have the necessary time off, but financially I just have not been able to swing the trip. My wife insists that I not give up, so she suggested a GoFundMe campaign. I know this is a long shot and time is quickly running out (I need to leave on Feb. 18), but I thought I'd give it a try and see what happens.

If I don't raise sufficient funds to take the trip, I won't take any money, but if you can help me out it will allow me to start down the road of getting my labor of love into the hands of some people who have deep publishing connections. The total I am attempting to raise would pay for a flight, hotel, car rental, and conference fees.