William Paul Young will discuss “Who is God, Really” next week at First Baptist Church. His self-published book “The Shack” became a surprise bestseller.
Submitted photo

Prev Next Enlarge

Excerpt from ‘The Shack’

The typewritten message simply said:

Mackenzie,
It’s been a while. I’ve missed you.
I’ll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together.
— Papa

Mack stiffened as a wave of nausea rolled over him and then just as quickly mutated into anger. He purposely thought about the shack as little as possible and even when he did his thoughts were neither kind or good. If this was someone’s idea of a bad joke they had truly outdone themselves. And to sign it “Papa” just made it all the more horrifying.

———

William Paul Young’s “The Shack” wasn’t originally intended for a mass audience.

He wrote it as a gift for his six children, to share with them some of his personal thoughts about God. So when he took it to the Office Depot in Gresham for printing, he only had 15 copies run off.

That first printing came shortly after Christmas of 2005. Less than four years later, the book has sold millions of copies, made myriad bestseller lists, undergone translation into 14 languages and been targeted for translation into 26 more.

Young, who goes by the name Paul, will speak on the topic, “Who is God, Really?” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, at First Baptist Church, at 125 S.E. Cowls St. in downtown McMinnville.

The author was raised as a missionary child in the highlands of New Guinea. The natives, cannibalistic by tradition, had never before encountered any white people.

“Not many people grew up around cannibalism,” he noted in a recent interview.

Born in Canada and still a Canadian citizen, Young spent his formative years in the unique tribal culture of New Guinea. After completing high school and college in Canada, he moved to the Portland area, which he has called home since 1977.

His careers have been varied. He has toiled by turns as an insurance agent, disc jockey and venture capitalist, among other things.

In addition to their children, he and his wife of almost 30 years, Kim, have three grandchildren, all under the age of 22 months.

“I’ve always been a writer,” Young said. However, until “The Shack,” he had always written for his family and friends, not for a general audience.

The story follows Mackenzie Allen Phillips, known as “Mack,” through a camping trip that turns tragic. After his daughter is murdered, he gets an invitation from “Papa” to return to the shack where evidence of the slaying had been discovered.

The story addresses the Trinity — the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit — as a unique set of characters Mack has to deal with one by one. “The imagery is to help us understand the nature of God,” Young said.

“Is it true?” he asked rhetorically.

“Yes,” he said. “It’s just not real.”

The book is a work of fiction, he said, but it’s based on real-life experiences. While he’s never lost a daughter, he has lost a niece and a brother.

“It’s a metaphor for my own history,” Young said. “Most of the damage in my life has come through men. Mackenzie’s dad was a lot like mine.”

He wasn’t an alcoholic, as Mackenzie’s dad was in the book, but he was violent. That they had in common.

The Rev. Shelley Varner, Associate Pastor of First Baptist, arranged to bring the author to McMinnville.

“People from the congregation read ‘The Shack’ and were really captured by the message,” she said. “They devoured it and kept encouraging me to read it.”

She took them up on it, and thought, “Wow. This book offers a great opportunity to connect with people.”

“There are a whole group of people who consider themselves spiritual, but not religious. They seem to connect deeply with him.”

Contact information for Young’s agent is included at the back of the book. On a whim, Varner called and managed to work out a mutually agreeable date.

She was both surprised and excited. In preparation, discussion sessions have been taking place at First Baptist and Third Street Books.

“We’ve written all of our own discussion questions,” Varner said. “We worked hard on the depth and breadth of the questions.”
Additional discussion groups are planned following Young’s presentation as well.

Tickets for the talk are available for $5 at First Baptist Church and Third Street Books. Varner is expecting a sellout crowd, so they should be purchased in advance.

She said that isn’t enough to cover the cost of bringing the author to McMinnville. She said the church agreed to pick up the rest to keep it affordable.

Varner said that the congregation is committed to the dialogue surrounding the book. “Faith, forgiveness, suffering, tragedy — where’s God in all these painful, challenging moments of life?” she asked.

The fact the book is set in Oregon added to the appeal, she said.

For Young, the book’s runaway success has been “surreal.”

“I’m very grateful for the impact it’s having on people’s lives,” he said. “I’m surprised daily by how people have taken the book to heart.”

It’s the discussion groups the book is sparking that please the author the most. “It’s given people a language to have a conversation about God,” he said.