Today we have the authors of the new suspense novel, The Guardian, joining us. Robbie Cheuvront is the Creative Arts and Worship pastor at The Journey Church just outside of Nashville (and yes… he’s the same Robbie Cheuvront who was part of the band Lonestar) and Erik Reed is the Lead Pastor at The Journey Church. Let’s find out why two pastors wanted to write a suspense novel!
Welcome, guys!
What led you to write The Guardian?
As Robbie traveled on the road, he became a big fan of reading fiction literature. After reading hundreds upon hundreds of books over the years, he decided to try his hand at writing. The catalyst for this effort was a dream that took place that gave him the genesis of The Guardian idea. After meeting with Erik the next day to discuss this, they decided to embrace this project as a co-venture, and the rest is history.
What are some of the key themes that you hope to get across in The Guardian?
The Guardian is a fiction novel, but it certainly is not for entertainment only. We desire for the book to communicate some core truths that are found throughout Scripture:
a. The Sovereignty of God
b. The Authority of Scripture
c. The Providential Workings of God
d. The Reality of Christ as Lord of All
e. The deep need for and centrality of the gospel.
Do you feel there are some good faith lessons in this story? If so, please explain.
There are some great faith lessons in this story. One of the biggest things that will come across in this book is that God will not always give you every step of His plan, but he usually only gives the immediate step. This requires faith. Faith is about acting on the step God has revealed, not waiting until we see His whole plan. The book will show this clearly. We also see the deep need for Christ that EVERY person has. We will see the wickedness of man, the patience of God, and the necessity of casting oneself wholly onto Christ. A second faith lesson found in the book is the reality of God’s plan for not only our lives, but for history. We must learn to trust God’s plan for history and that includes our lives. We must follow Him as He leads, and that’s what it means to be in the center of His will.
What kind of research went into the book?
The research required for writing this book was intense. Because of the fast-paced plot that has our characters traveling all over the world, it required a lot of detail to be given to these locations. Much of the research from the book has happened through personal travel experiences of Robbie from his time on the road with Lonestar. Other research was done through online searching and books at the local bookstore.
What was it like writing this book together? Were there any challenges? Any fun moments?
Writing the book together was a blast. We are great friends and enjoy being with one another. Working on the book became times of great creativity and innovation for us. We enjoy feeding off of one another and sharpening one another’s ideas. The way the process worked is that we met to discuss the plot-line and we storyboarded where it would go. Once we had it storyboarded and conversations between characters worked through, Robbie would then begin to write. After completing a section of writing, Robbie would send it to Erik to be read and reviewed. Another meeting would then be scheduled to discuss any need for rewrites, changes in direction, or other items. This was the process that served to take us through the entire project, and it worked great.
Robbie, you have a background as a musician with the popular group, Lonestar. What’s it like going from musician to writing a novel?
As a musician and songwriter with a popular group, there are many benefits that transferred nicely into writing a novel. First, the discipline and professionalism expected from being with a famous group helps the process of writing in a disciplined way. This bleeds over into pushing for excellence in the quality of the work as well. Being with a popular group means that everything you do has to be at a standard of excellence. I tried to take this standard of excellence into the task of writing the novel, and not settle for less than quality work.
Second, being an accomplished songwriter taught me how to write stories that could be told in three minutes. I had to become very good with words and phrases. This was incredible help when I began writing the novel. With a novel you have unlimited space when compared to writing a song. However, the careful choice of words and phrases learned from songwriting served to help with the novel.
Erik, how did your insights as a pastor help in the creation of this book?
As a pastor, I see the hurt and pain people go through on a daily basis. I interact with people in the midst of their greatest times of joy and during their greatest times of sorrow. I see the struggles people have with their faith and acting on the things God has instructed them to in His Word. This allowed for me as an author to be thinking about how people would relate to our characters, and connect them to their own life.
In addition to the people side of things, I am a studied theologian. This allowed for me to help guide the book theologically and biblically. One of our greatest desires in the book was to share the gospel through the story, and to do it accurately. We wanted to make sure readers understood the gospel and that the story was true to Scripture’s teachings. These are just a few ways being a pastor contributed to the project.
How do you think this book compares to other code-breaking books out there? Why do you think there’s such an interest in this area?
This book differentiates from other code breaker books in that it does not seek to discredit God, tear down His Word, or show up His church. Rather, this book seeks to show the Sovereignty of God, the necessity of His Word, and the beauty and value of His church. This book is similar in that it is face-pace and fun, but it is different in that the journey of our lead character is not to find her independence from God, but her dependence.
We believe there is a deep interest in this area because of the nature of man to seek mystery and suspense. We like the idea of searching and discovering the unknown. We do not believe the Bible is a book waiting for a secret-decoder to reveal its true meaning. We believe the Bible is straightforward in its meaning and its teachings. It is we as humans who like to feel we are learning something that others do not know about.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Go buy the book and get one for your friends. :-)
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We’ll be giving away two signed copies of The Guardian tomorrow so be sure to come back and see us!
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