Greetings in Jesus Christ!
In this month’s report, I want to explain a few things about Walking in Christ, the book I am currently working on. This will be Book 6 in the WordPoints Daybook Series, and like the other volumes, it is a “daybook,” a book with a one-page essay for each day of the calendar year (including a leap-year reading for February 29). I had hoped to publish this one in the fall of 2025, but I’ve had to adjust that to the fall of 2026.
There is a sequence in the themes of the last three books in the seven-book series. The last volume published was Obeying the Gospel, which discussed becoming a Christian. Walking in Christ, then, will look at how obeying the gospel plays out in our daily lives after we begin following Christ. I have always said that living the Christian life means continuing to obey the gospel that we began obeying when we were baptized. So Walking in Christ is the natural sequel to Obeying the Gospel. And then, of course, Book 7 will be Going Home, an exposition of our longing to be with the Lord in eternity. I’m trying to resist the temptation to jump ahead and start writing that one!
Working on these books has required me to think deeply and prayerfully about each of their themes. With the present volume, it has been a joy to look once again at the Scriptures through the eyes of a new convert who is saying, “I have been baptized into Christ. Now what?” All of us have been thinking about this for many years, but it has been a thrill to go back and ponder the matter anew. I have always tried to study for these books with the primary emphasis on my own relationship with the Lord, but especially with this volume, it has been a time of growth for me as an individual. I am glad for the benefit that writing this book has conferred on . . . Gary Henry.
Looking back, it is obvious that the daybook format was the right “form factor” for the content that has been produced. It has made me think hard about each page, asking over and over again what it is that I’m actually trying to say, and then boiling that down into a very short, one-page essay. That discipline has forced me to be a better writer.
But I think it was also the right choice from the standpoint of the reader. I would rather have someone’s attention five minutes a day for the whole year, than fifteen hours all at one time. Since each book has a theme, the daybook format has allowed me to develop each theme from 366 different angles. Over a year’s time, that has provided the reader with a “multifaceted” exposure to the central theme. So all in all, I’m glad I decided back in 1999 to use the daybook format. I can’t tell you how much it means when I get an email or text early in the day in which someone says they were benefited by the particular page they read (or listened to) at the breakfast table that morning.
You may be interested to know that I have returned to the recording studio (my bedroom closet) and am recording the audio to another one of the books. Right now, I’m working on More Enthusiastic Ideas, but I hope at some point to have the audio recordings done for all seven of the books. I’ll have to keep plugging away at it, one page at a time.
Thank you, as always for your help, your financial support, and most of all, your prayers. I am glad to be with you on this journey!
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
WRITING GOALS
Pray with me that I will be given the ability to finish these works
- Walking in Christ — Book 6 in the WordPoints Daybook Series. Target: November 2026.
- Going Home — Book 7 in the WordPoints Daybook Series. Target: November 2029.
- Seeking God in the Psalms — a 52-lesson study — theme for each week, studies for Monday-Friday.
- Ecclesiastes — a full-scale commentary on the text of Ecclesiastes.
- Encountering Christ — what the Scriptures teach about Jesus Christ . . . and why we should believe it.