Faith Forward Press

Faith Forward Press is a small imprint in the Nashville area that adheres to traditional, conservative, Christian content and values. FFP is founded upon the belief that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible Word of God and that Jesus is the one and only Son of God and Messiah. All fiction and nonfiction works are presented with the belief that God redeems all who choose to call upon the name of His Son, Jesus, for forgiveness of sin.

Faith Forward Press was established in 2013 with one book and a thousand big dreams. Years later, our list of titles has grown to include:

Fiction:

Unmending the Veil
Under the Gun – Sequel to Unmending the Veil
On 4/19
Beyond 4/20– Sequel to On 4/19
Deceiver
A Thousand Blessings
Room to Grow
Blue Skies
Rising Waters – Sequel to Blue Skies
Daybreak

Nonfiction:

You. Are. Loved. Live the Love Song

Lisa’s Story of Failure and Faith and Writing

In my early years I wanted to be a published author way more than I wanted to be a good writer. I was a decent storyteller but a novice in style and understanding of the mechanics of writing. A few times I drummed up enough courage to send something to a literary agency, then waited with the hope that someone just might recognize my greatness, or at least my potential. Each time I received a generic rejection letter, it never occurred to me that my writing was the problem, that maybe I wasn’t great at all. I know now that when receiving those early manuscripts, an agent couldn’t possibly get past the poor writing to even appreciate my story.

Over the course of nearly a decade this went on with months, sometimes years between new submissions and subsequent rejections. I quit at least twenty times–maybe more. I swore I was done after each rejection and felt a little smaller and a lot farther away from my dream with every new dashed hope. Eventually, an agent took an extra few minutes to tell me I needed some writing classes. I can’t remember how he phrased it, but I thank you, Steve Laube, for going that extra inch. That was really all I needed, just something besides a form letter saying no thanks. Your honesty forced me to admit the problem was never the agents; it was the writer.

I kept writing and writing and kept believing that I had stories to tell that were worth reading. I still lacked understanding over the mechanics, but at least my style was getting better. When I finally wrote Unmending the Veil, I did submit directly to one Nashville publisher since I had a friend who worked there. This time the rejection letter included an invitation to try their self-publishing division.

Self-publishing?! That was out of the question for me since I needed to be validated and reassured that I was good enough. Didn’t self-publishing mean you were a total reject and failure? At a time when brick-and-mortar bookstores were closing across the nation, signing on as a new author with a traditional publisher was becoming less and less likely.

Within weeks of the rejection of Unmending the Veil, I knew the Lord was guiding me to, not self-publish but faith publish. What began with Abraham’s story of being called to a place he didn’t know led to my own faith forward press toward a career that would require me to learn to write for and seek the validation of an audience of One. I still had much to learn and a skill to develop, but those steps of faith were exactly what this just-okay writer needed to take to become one stronger and more grounded in her relationship with the actual Founder of Faith Forward Press, the One who called me to go to a place I didn’t want to go, then blessed me beyond measure for going anyway.

All these years later, I’m so thankful the Lord gives us what we need to grow us and stretch us and build our faith rather than what we want. I now have a growing business and ministry that allows me the freedom to maintain my voice in my writing. I’ve been told countless times how different my fiction work is compared to the Christian norm. I dig into the messiness of life that traditional publishers often won’t. I only now realize that’s part of the blessing. If I had signed on with a publisher, I would have allowed someone else to mold me into what’s more common in the industry. That’s the beauty of following Jesus, the Word, the original Storyteller. He has been able to sculpt me and the stories I’ve written without third-party interference. He is and always will be the Author of my faith.