Whatever Happened With the Book?

When I retired from Merrill Lynch in August of 2005, I was challenged by several people to write a book on Biblically Responsible Investing. After accepting the challenge, it dawned on me that I had never done this before and it was apparent that my learning curve took some time to process enthusiasm into content and structure. Over fifty interviews with theologians, pastors, and financial experts gave me the encouragement to press on with the project culminating in a manuscript of over 200 pages dedicated to teaching people about the value of applying Christian values and principles to one’s investments. This all took place over a two year period from most of 2006 and 2007, at which time a very talented writer took my work and improved the approach to appeal to people from all walks of life. The final draft version of Kingdom Gains was completed about August of 2008, and was offered to several publishers.

By September of last year, you may recall a meltdown was taking place in the financial markets and all of the publishers decided to pass on Kingdom Gains. The conclusion they have come to is that a book such as this has little appeal to the average Christian and that the only people who would find value in such a subject would be academics and advisors. In 2009 a similar response was given just a few weeks back after revisiting several publishers again for the second time. For the past several years, I would go on Amazon.com and search for books under the heading of “Biblically Responsible Investing” and either found no choices or for a while they suggested the latest Harry Potter book. So here is your chance to be part of a market survey! Please hit reply today and tell me what you think. Choose one of the listed responses or make up your own but I would like to hear from you about what you think.

A. The publishers are right, I would not buy a book on BRI or something describing how Christians should invest according to their faith and worldview unless I am a college professor or a financial advisor
B. The publishers are wrong, this is a subject that is long overdue to be discussed and debated by believers in all walks of their faith journey and is of interest to me
C. It depends on how boring the author has made the book! I might be interested if the price is right and the information is useful and interesting to read
D. Make up your own response and/or recommend a subject matter that would be of greater interest to you than BRI

HIT REPLY AND MAKE MY DAY!!

Matthew 22:37 (RSV) “And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Monday Morning Message Sent 11/9/09

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