Preston Gillham

Pres posting this.

Thank you, Reny, for keeping us focused and tribal. On Friday, five minutes before noon, I handed off “No Mercy” to Steve, my editor. You have been praying for him. As I write, he is hard at work.

Steve and I are proving to be a good team. You have prayed that we would be. Father heard, and answered.

The scope of our work together changes tenor and pace in this phase. The edits Steve suggested in the first edit were substantive, e.g. this character needs to be developed; this time sequence is confusing; this discussion is redundant; I suggest; let’s think about; what if you? The upcoming edits are line edits: punctuation, grammar, redundant word use, inconsistency, etc.

But Steve’s work is about far more than making “No Mercy” a showcase of literary style. In a nutshell, he is working to make “No Mercy” safe for me to publish and readers to read.

As you will soon see, “No Mercy” is a very personal book—to me and to the reader. One of my reviewers wrote, “At times I feel you have been allowed supernatural privilege to view the film that plays in my soul, and at other times I am almost embarrassed, as I feel I have been privileged to view yours!”

Poor writing creates insecurity. Think about riding in the car with a good driver versus riding with a poor driver: When you ride with a good driver you are free to enjoy, immersing yourself in your thoughts, discussions, daydreaming. But when you are with a hack driver, you are too distracted by his poor skills to do anything beyond worry if you’ll make it to your destination—alive.

Steve is laboring right now to ensure the readers of “No Mercy” will not feel they are in the hands of a hack writer. Rather, that they feel secure to immerse themselves—vulnerably—into the story and personally identify with the main character, Henry “Hank” Henderson.

As Reny has written to you, “No Mercy” is a book about connecting with God. It is a novel about encountering grace, succumbing to the tragedy of independence, and coming face-to-face with the mercy of your Heavenly Father.

You can readily see what Steve is up against for the next two weeks. Please intercede on his behalf accordingly. More on my next steps from Reny. She’ll be in touch with you early in the week.

Thank you for gathering around and praying. I can’t tell you how encouraged I am to be surrounded by the tribe.

Bless you,

Preston

You are faithful payer warriors and I am grateful for your partnership. Your prayers are making a difference: the substantive round of edits is coming to a close, Preston is pleased with the quality of the edits and how they enhanced the story line, the creation of the book is further along than it’s ever been. As far as I can measure, our Prayer Tribe is a success!

But what if these great things were not happening? Would we still be a success? As a writer, Preston can measure success with book sales. How many sold books does it take for one to be a success in the Kingdom of God? In God’s economy the measure of success is obedience and stewardship. As a Prayer Tribe we have an opportunity to participate in something that will impact many for Christ, our obedience is to join and our stewardship is to use every spiritual tool available to fight against the powers or darkness. As an author Preston’s obedience and stewardship is to write and release to the world God’s message given to him. But ultimately God is the owner of our time, our prayers, Preston’s writing. He defines success and it may or may not translate into anything we can measure. Yet at the end we are a success because we joined, we prayed, we wrote and in the process we obeyed and stewarded what was given to us.

This week, pray that Preston stewards his time exceptionally well. Pray against impediments and unexpected interruptions coming his way. Mid week Steve, the editor, is starting line editing – grammar, wording, punctuation. Pray that his work will continue to reflect excellence. Finally, the printing company needs to be identified. Pray to connect with the right firm for this project.

Till the next time, be blessed.

Reny Madjarska
Head Prayer Tribeswoman

A main thread in the story line of No Mercy is God’s humble determination to meet his runaway son on his terms and demonstrate grace and mercy in midst of deliberate attempts to avoid Him at all cost. Many people need to understand Father’s loving pursuit, care and compassion. Many will read the book and their heart towards God will be changed, as a result their lives will be changed as well. That is why your prayers are so important.

This week, please lift up Preston and the uninterrupted flow of focus and creativity as he is making final substantive edits to the book. The manuscript will go back to the editor in the latter part of the week. Also, the search for God’s choice of a printing company continues. Please pray that all the details involved in the printing process will come together quickly.

On Behalf of Preston and the team,

Reny Madjarska
Head Prayer Tribeswoman

“Whatever you are doing, keep doing it. It is working.”

Our Heavenly Father is gracious and loves to see His kids’ faith built up. He is answering your payers. The creation of the book is picking up speed and your intercession is providing the momentum for that. This week we had a major answer to prayer: e-book layout designer, cover designer and hard copy designer are in place! Continue to lift up these individuals, their creativity and work on the book.

Couple of other things to pray about over the weekend:

1. Substantive edits. Pres is pleased and encouraged with the material from the editor but keeping the story consistent is critical. Pray for continuity and holding all the many parts together well. He has to make sure that the characters are real and their voices are clearly presented and convincing.

2. The printing company. We are praying for a group that would carry out the work with excellence and be able to accommodate print on demand at a very favorable cost.

On Behalf of Preston and the team,

Reny Madjarska
Head Prayer Tribeswoman

Seth Godin writes in his blog today that he wants to hear my opinion. Based upon my reading of Godin, I imagine if he were my boss, he would want to hear my opinion—or my comment.

But leaders like Godin are not as common as they could be. Dianne and I have been reading through the book of Acts in the Bible. It is one leadership failure after another thus far.

Acts 5:17-18 says, “But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy; and they laid hands on the apostles, and put them in a public jail.”

Why did these leaders do this? They felt their job was in jeopardy and their authority in question. They were threatened, so they reacted. Poorly. Even after they hear wise counsel from a colleague toward the end of the chapter, they release the apostles, but not before flogging them.

Threatened folks threaten. An insecure individual is not a safe person. Leaders, like the rest of us, are prone to believe that maintaining is job one. However, this belief is rooted in insecurity and promotes threat.

Jesus taught that we are secure in Him—secure enough to accept opinion, receive counsel, consider alternatives, and that we are secure enough to lay our lives down on behalf of another.

Prayer tribe is off to a great start. Your prayers are effective. The battle with the e-mail management company was won within 24 hrs of your intercession. The subscription function on www.PrestonGillham.com appears to be working properly. You are a powerful group! And I am so privileged to lead in you this effort.

Here is food for your discussion with Father in the next few days:

1. Preston is in the thick of substantive edits of the manuscript. He is very encouraged by Editor’s input (Steve) and believes the story line will be even stronger after edits are completed. Please pray for uninterrupted chunks of time and faster than usual edit implementation

2. We have a potential ebook developer and cover designer. Pray for a confirmation that they are Father’s choice for the job. Pray for increase of their creativity as they consider the subject matter and envision potential final product.

On Behalf of Preston and the team,

Reny Madjarska
Head Prayer Tribeswoman

As you read my posts from the last few days, you can practically hear frustration oozing from the lines. The technical glitch was ridiculous. Getting it resolved bordered on insane. But I persisted. The glitch is gone (I think).

I am persistent. Persistence has carried me up and over Paradise Divide on my bicycle—and back down in ensuing darkness, sleet, and cold. Persistence has guided me through multitudinous failure—and successful innovation. It coaches me through the constant, relentless, physical pain I suffer.

Not enough persistence—you’re beaten. Too much persistence—you are abrasive.

“What demarcates persistence from abrasiveness?” I prayed one evening as I walked the hood. Thoughts came that sounded like His voice.

Abrasiveness has embedded in it self-reliance, desperation, and demand—all driven by the fear that if I’m unsuccessful, I will be conquered. I will be a failure. I will be less than the glitch, system, or person that defeated me. I will be defined by loss. Or, defined by success, if by abrasiveness I win.

Abrasiveness believes I am defined by outcome. Persistence believes I am untouched by outcome—that I am declared accepted by my Father in heaven and that this identity is secured in/by Christ Jesus.

Given this, I am free to bring every resource—physical, intellectual, emotional, willful—to the task at hand. There is no cause to leverage myself upward with fear or self-reliance—believing I’ll be a better man if I win.

Persistence is bringing all I am and possess into life’s arena—all the time—confident I am secure in Christ.

When do I become abrasive? When I leverage and overstate and posture from the belief I will be better or worse dependent upon the outcome.

Several of you have written in response to the email company’s glitch and said, “Please, let me pray.”

Thank you.

Thank you for your patience, and thank you for praying. I believe your intercession has already made a difference.

When Reny’s “work around” email to the Prayer Tribe arrived in my Inbox last night, I felt as though the Cavalry had arrived. I experienced a physical sensation of relief. (My computer was being rebuilt at the time.) Thank you for being in my corner.

I think we have resolved the sign-up glitch, but it was just about as painful a fix I could have imagined. However, if anything about Reny’s and my emails or postings still doesn’t look right, please let us know at, pray4@prestongillham.com.

Last night I received the edited manuscript of “No Mercy” from Steve, my Editor, in my Inbox. I reviewed his editorial thoughts today and am very pleased. It appears I have a great partner. Please pray for him. He and I will have a series of long conversations. The first is Friday at 1:00 PM Central.

Now it is a matter of getting the edits to do what needs to be done to make the book and its message remarkable. This is thoughtful, comprehensive work that requires focus, blocks of uninterrupted time, and attention to multitudes of detail. Now you know how to pray for me.

Thanks for being part of the tribe. More from Reny soon.

Bless you,

Preston

Thank you for your readiness to be apart of a prayer cause that is worth fighting for. Advocating for Preston and his upcoming book No Mercy extends beyond just Preston and the book. It is an advocacy on behalf of many believers and non-believers who will be touched by the ministry and will be set free of doubt in God’s love and see Him for who He is – lavish giver, provider, care-er, transformer, friend, lover, Father.

Clearly, I believe in Preston and the quality of the upcoming book and that is why I am involved. But this is only part of my motivation. I long to see people turning to Christ and loving him and I believe that Father will reach people far and wide with No Mercy.

To give you an idea that we are actually engaged in something bigger than ourselves, here is what transpired in the last few days. As people received the initial email, many responded. By some technological glitch, those who expressed desire to receive emails ended up on a blocked receivers list. Email technology has been around for decades and email subscriptions are a routine process. It is unlikely that technology is the only cause to blame. While we are diligently working through this “glitch” in the natural, the ruler of the kingdom of the air and the author of confusion is trying to wipe out our prayer tribe even before it has taken off.

This is exciting! True, it is a nuisance, a frustration, too. But most importantly it is a clear indication. We are on the right track. We are involved in something important enough that the enemy will try to kill even before born.

So, you now know how to pray:
- Swift resolution of the technology confusion. Favor with the mailing provider and skillful manager who will make things right
- Blocking of Satan’s access to our technology
- Also, Preston has received the first rounds of edits waiting for him to incorporate. Pray for protection for his time, focus and strength. Pray for release of even greater creativity.

Until the next update,

Be blessed,

Reny Madjarska
Head Prayer Tribeswoman