GENTRY -- The bucket list of Randy Moll, managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer, got a bit shorter when he published a book on Christian doctrine he's been honing for years. "A Simple Explanation of Christian Doctrine" was published in the last days of 2016 and became available in Amazon's Kindle Store for the start of the new year.
Though it was not planned as such, work on this book actually began early in Moll's years of ministry with the publication of a summary statement on Christian doctrine in the mid 1980s. Moll, who has served small churches as pastor for more than 30 years, used the summary over those years as an outline for instruction classes in the Bible's teaching.
It wasn't until a few years ago that Moll decided to flesh out that outline and incorporate many of the supporting Bible passages so that he could give the little book to his children and grandchildren. He feared that just listing the references under the doctrinal statements would not necessarily get his readers to study the Bible passages and see the source of the statements.
"One of the things I really wanted to do as a father and grandfather was to give to my children and grandchildren a book which summarizes and explains in simple terms the Bible's teaching on numerous issues, such as creation, the fall into sin, redemption in Jesus Christ and how one comes to faith in Christ," Moll said. "I wanted to keep the book simple, and I wanted to remind my children and teach my grandchildren of the Bible's truth so they would know and trust in Christ Jesus as their Savior and live their lives here in this world for Him."
The book also covers topics such as angels, Christian Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Scripture, God's judgment and the resurrection, prayer, good works, election and predestination, marriage and life issues like abortion and euthanasia.
Moll said getting this book done has kind of been on his bucket list for several years, and he decided he better not put it off too long, lest he not ever get it done.
"You just never know how many more years we have in this world or if I would still be able to work on a book like this in my retirement years," Moll said.
Moll had considered self publishing by just making copies and binding them into book form to give to his children, but publishing via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing made the whole process much easier and less expensive.
Amazon offers the publishing service for free, so the only real expense is the time and work to create, proof and format the document for publication, Moll said. And Amazon publishes in both e-book and print, making it possible to obtain the book in either format for a minimal price.
"It's never been about making money," Moll said. "It's about teaching the Bible's truth and sharing that truth with my family, my church and anyone who wishes to read and study it."
"A Simple Explanation of Christian Doctrine" is available in the Kindle Store for 99 cents in the digital format and $7 in print, making it easy for Moll to give away copies of the 100-page book at his church and to have copies shipped directly to his children and family members. And with Moll and his wife Lonnie having 15 children between them and 26 grandchildren at last count, and with them scattered over several states, inexpensive printing and shipping is kind of important.
As to his bucket list, Moll's experience in publishing this book made him decide to work on some others. He's been doing devotional writing for more than 30 years and has already started working on organizing and compiling his devotions into a series of books to leave for his family and anyone else who finds them helpful.
"The one big item on my bucket list was to finish the book on Christian doctrine for my family. Now that it's done, I didn't want to have everything I could do crossed off my list, so I've added this devotional project and started working on it," Moll said.
In regard to items on his bucket list, Moll said learning to ride a horse has also been on his bucket list for a long, long time; but that now, at his age, he's not all that serious about it. He just keeps it there to make sure his list always has something left on it for him to get done before he leaves this world.
General News on 02/01/2017