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Frank Peretti
Frank Peretti is a master storyteller and arguably the first sales superstar in spiritually-themed thrillers. To date, his books have sold over 12 million copies. In 1988, he burst on the fiction scene with THIS PRESENT DARKNESS. Within a short span of time, Peretti went from working in a ski factory to the pages of People, Time, and Newsweek. Through his invention of the Christian thriller, he set the stage for future Christian fiction sales phenomena and introduced us to all things that go bump in the night. Despite his sales success and notoriety, Peretti and his high school sweetheart Barb live simply in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.
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Frank Peretti Answers The Faithful Fifteen
March 2005
Faithfulreader.com: What kind of testimony to your faith are you demonstrating in this book? Do you write fiction that is based upon your faith or that has a message for the reader? Is your goal to demonstrate your faith in your writing?
Frank Peretti: That there is a Creator to whom we are accountable. And it is from this Creator and our knowledge of him that we derive our humanity, all that makes us human.
I always try to have a message for my reader based on my Christian faith.
My goal is to share God's truth, not to demonstrate my faith. I try to demonstrate my faith in my life. I try to preach the gospel in one form or another in my writing.
FR: When did you come to a saving knowledge of Jesus? Where are you today in your walk? How is your faith an important part of what you do?
FP: I came to a saving knowledge of Jesus when I was a young boy, about 11 years old.
Where am I today in my walk? That's hard to say. I'm approximately 54 years into it, but I would need to know both the beginning and the end to know where I am. I'm a lot more mature than I was when I first started. Hopefully, a lot less mature-in-the-Lord than I'll be when it's over. Like the old German saying, "We get too soon old and too late smart."
Faith is the basis, the core, the substance, the motivation, and the purpose of all that I do.
FR: Tell us about your church experiences --- how you grew up (or maybe didn't grow up) in the church, where you attend now, your involvement in your local assembly, etc.
FP: I grew up in the Assemblies of God. After I left home and got married, I attended churches of several denominations --- a Baptist church, a Calvary chapel, a kind of independent charismatic church, etc. Now I'm attending a non-denominational outreach church that meets in a hotel (conference center), but it used to meet in a grade school.
FR: Tell us about your current church family/fellowship. How does it influence your work?
FP: My current church family does not influence my work.
FR: Who are your spiritual mentors? Your professional mentors?
FP: My spiritual mentors tend to be my professional mentors as well: Ravi Zacharias and Frances Schaeffer. Those are the guys I read and learn from. I don't have any great, wise old men who are sages that dispense great wisdom to me personally, though.
FR: Discuss your calling/mission --- as a writer and as a Christian.
FP: I view myself first and foremost as a builder. It's my job to build up the body of Christ both by responding to the Holy Spirit in a way that edifies the believer and brings about new believers. If I'm not presenting the message that builds in this way, then I'm not doing my job. Consequently, when you read a Peretti book, you get a message. If there's no message, I've wasted my time and I'm not about to do that.
FR: What are your Scripture reading habits?
FP: I usually read the Bible in the morning while I'm eating my breakfast. I read it in Spanish and English. Reading it in a different language makes you think about the words more and it's a great way to learn a foreign language. Since I don't have time to work on a foreign language any other time, I combined it with my Bible reading.
FR: What books have most influenced your work?
FP: I've read so many books, it depends on what I'm writing about at the time. For MONSTER, I read a stack of books on evolution. No books in particular have influenced all of my works. I read books that are written on the topic about which I am writing.
FR: Do you read secular fiction at all? If so, who are your favorite authors and why?
FP: Yes, Michael Crichton --- I like the way he constructs his story, his cinematic style and his eye for detail. He's easy and fun to read, he moves his stories along. He's always in a techno-thriller thing and I like that kind of thing. Mostly, I just like the way he handles his craft. I also like John Grisham. He's a pretty good writer. I read a little Dean Koontz every now and then. I read a little Stephen King because I keep being compared to him. I can't see the comparison.
FR: What are your other media habits --- television, movies, music, etc.?
FP: I don't watch television. Barb and I disconnected the TV years ago. We watch a lot of movies, practically every night. I watch them to see how the story is handled. It's like in music when you listen to others who play your instrument to learn how they play it. You learn by observing others. And I'm getting more into movies now. (THE VISITATION and HANGMAN'S CURSE were both made into movies.) We're talking about doing THE OATH as a film. So I watch movies to learn the syntax and method, the art of motion pictures.
FR: Do you and your family have any special faith-based traditions?
FP: I don't think so. We're pretty minimalist.
FR: Tell us about your prayer life and habits.
FP: I just have a daily conversation with God like I would with anybody else. I don't like "punching a clock" or "counting beans." I don't rattle off the same words every day or give it an hour a day. I just walk with the Lord and we talk about whatever there is to talk about whenever we want to talk about it.
FR: Describe what you believe the role of writing in religion is.
FP: The impartation and perpetuation of God's truth.
FR: Tell us about one or more of your favorite encounters with readers.
FP: It means the most to me when people tell me how my books have touched their lives and made a real difference in their prayer life or daily walk with the Lord. That's the kind of feedback I like to get because then I know I'm making a difference. I like hearing when people say they got saved reading my books. I've heard about kids who are alive today because they read my book.
A high school girl wrote to me and sent a photo of herself and her newborn baby and youth minister. She said she found out she was pregnant and was scheduled for an abortion on a Wednesday. The day before, someone put a copy of TILLY in her locker at school. She read the book and it convinced her to let her baby live. I have a picture now of her, her baby, and her youth pastor. She thanked me for writing the book, and there's a baby alive today because she read that book.
That's cool. There are teachers, parents, and principals who have changed their attitudes with regard to bullying and harassment. That's what's fun --- when the message of the book registers and change happens.
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