Author of Caring for Your Pastor
by Trisha Bleau Smith
T4JYM: Who have been your biggest influences in life? Who have been your biggest influences in your life as a writer?
LD: Some of the most important decisions my mother made after my dad died when I was four set the stage for influential people in my life. My piano teacher who taught me from sixth grade through college was influential in many areas of life, not just in music. As far as influences in my life as a writer, I became fascinated with grammar in 7th grade, research in 11th grade, and my sr. English teacher became a mentor as I edited the school’s paper. Although I was a music ed. major in college, and minored in English, I wanted to be a writer, but felt compelled to write about “truth” and living life according to biblical principles. For that reason, I felt that I’d have to live life for some years before earning the right to be “heard.” I wrote some articles for newspapers and magazines, wrote book reviews, but never wanted to pursue either of those as jobs, and never felt that I could tell a story well enough to be a fiction writer. As a young to middle age adult, a woman who wrote her own journalism course, who was also a pastor’s wife, became a mentor and encourager for me to write. In the last 15 years, I became acquainted with a number of editors and writers who also, along with my husband, Ed, encouraged me to write.
T4JYM: How do you find time to write while you are a pastor’s wife? From what I have seen of other pastor’s wives they are extremely busy helping out, keeping their husbands sane, etc. When do you find time to work on books?
LD: How does anyone find time to do what they love to do. I wrote because it was something within me to do. Most people will sacrifice something to make time. While it is true that it is sometimes hard to make time to be alone to write (especially now that I have a granddaughter and want to be available any time I can be with her), it is something that is of interest to everyone in our family…we all like to read and write, and some like to draw or work on performing arts. For that reason, I think, in our family, there is a respect for one another’s interest in taking the time to do what they feel compelled to do. There are always other things that could be done, but for at least a few months at a time, I decline invitations to wedding or baby showers, lunch out, etc., and WORK. I try to be available to my husband as much as is possible, but he likes to let me work when I feel the urge to write, or have a deadline to meet.
T4JYM: How has this book been received by the general public?
LD: I have only received preliminary reports on how the book has sold, and cannot give a good definitive answer as to how it is received by the general public. There were a lot of radio interviews during September and October for Pastor Appreciation month, but not since then.
T4JYM: What are your next plans for writing? Do you plan to do any more books along the same lines as this book? Will you move on to new writing?
LD: At the moment, I’m revising and updating and adding a chapter to a book that I had published in 1995 by Zondervan, “I’m More Than the Pastor’s Wife.” It is still in print and still selling, but because I included resource information, much of which is outdated, I wanted to revise it. It should be available in March 2003. During the last few years, I have written a Bible study for use in our church, and would like to see that published, as well as write devotionals, but right now I’m working toward my March 31 deadline with the current book.
T4JYM: How did you come up with the idea for Caring For Your Pastor? I assume that being a pastor’s wife and seeing these ways of treating them daily had some influence in the topic. But what brought it all together in your mind and made you decide to write the book?
LD: After I finished writing the book for pastors’ wives, I sort of found myself making lists of things I observed in our home and in the church. Several of the most obvious things were miscommunications between lay people (people who attend the church) and ministry people (career people); this included timing of telephone conversations and letter writing (specifically letters of complaint), and face-to-face meetings with the pastor. Some people seemed to think that the pastor wasn’t a real person, and I thought that perhaps I could take some of the mystery out of what the pastor’s life is like…that he is a normal human being, doing the same things everyone else does, but also with a 24-7 calling. Since I have never been paid by a church for any job or ministry in which I’ve participated, I was in a sense writing from a lay person’s perspective, but also from the perspective of the pastor’s wife. As a volunteer in my church, I submit to the leadership of it. This whole process of writing the book took a long time, because I didn’t want to write it sounding like a “whiney” unhappy pastor’s wife, but wanted people in churches to know that there are ways that they can minister to their ministers…that there are actually biblical guidelines for relationships between people called to give the gospel, and people who are ministered to by those who have been called. Sadly, some pastors and their families are treated very poorly, rarely being shown appreciation for giving of their lives and their privacy to help others. Since I have frequent contact with ministry families from all over the world, I have seen, heard, and felt the hurt of some of them; in short, I felt a book that was somewhat educational might benefit both ministers and lay people.
T4JYM: What is generally your target audience? Do you write specifically to church goers or have you written any other books targeted at other audiences?
LD: I have not yet written to people who are outside the church specifically.
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