William Paul Young (author of “The Shack”) on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

Lots of you end up on this site because I’ve talked about “The Shack” several times – both about my interaction with the book and about my interaction with William Paul Young, the author. Paul was in southern Ontario last week and was part of a show on CBC called “The Hour” hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos. George has become a very well-respected journalist in Canada and I love his interview style.

If you want to see the interview (it’s less than 13 minutes) you can see it here – http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/videos.html?id=1124988848

After you watch, I’d love for you to come back and drop your thoughts in a comment. Here are mine -

• .George is a fantastic interviewer. He gets to the heart of the matter very quickly and knows enough of the story & context to come off sounding well-informed and intrigued by the answers.
• .Paul has heard every question in the book over the last couple of years and has an answer ready for every one of them. He has become very experienced at the interview thing.
• .I am amazed and excited that a book written for this guy’s six kids has opened these kinds of doors for spiritual discussion. Agree or disagree, like him or not, Paul’s book has given the church new opportunities to talk about the gospel with those who have questions. Are you taking that opportunity??
• .What is the deep, preconceived, misguided notion of God in my own life that I need to get rid of?
• .Big thought on this one – there is NO WAY that CBC would have given this guy 15 minutes of airtime 10 years ago. No chance. Pretty awesome that he was given that opportunity to declare Jesus is the Word of God, that God is existent as the Trinity and that He is exceptionally fond of each of us. That is very cool.

5 Responses to “William Paul Young (author of “The Shack”) on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos”

1. Matthew says:

   May 19, 2009 at 3:07 pm

   Thanks for this Chris.
   I haven’t paid much attention to the Shack because I’m not much of a fan fiction books, specifically Christian fiction.
   I think I might pick this book up now, more because of the back story. I appreciate the heart of where this book came from – from the roots and not after a spot on a list.
   That said, seeing how well he represented himself on the Hour, I have to say I admire him and what’s he done.

   Thanks Chris, thanks for helping open my eyes a bit more.
   Matt

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2. Elle Pyke says:

   May 20, 2009 at 2:24 pm

   Whatever you think of WM Paul Young, his book touched a tonne of people. I thought that he did an amazing job of communicating his message with honesty and humility. I don’t know if Strombo is just that good of an interviewer, but, it seemed George was really listening to what Young was saying. Like, as if, it was the first time, he had heard Jesus and Christianity presented that way.

   Best line was when Strombo was asking him about Young being tied to “Christianity” and Young answered with (paraphrased) “Tell me what you mean when you say “Christian’.”

   I heard him (Young) on the John Moore show on CFRB 1010 last week, and Moore said he really enjoyed the interview. I think Young is doing something amazing….showing the secular world, there is more to “Christianity” then George Bush, Televangelists and Angry Evangelicals.

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3. Pat says:

   May 20, 2009 at 3:32 pm

   That was a great interview. I always love watching George squirm when someone asks about his spiritual life. Same thing happened with the Tony Campolo interview. His honesty and willingness to approach subjects normally out of the mainstream’s eye will get him far.

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4. Josh McConnell says:

   May 25, 2009 at 6:57 pm

   George is awesome… Makes me miss my interviewing days. He graduated from Humber, so we see him talked about in the Humber paper a fair bit at school too. ha.

   I really enjoyed The Shack… Great book.

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5. Leona Forste says:

   June 21, 2009 at 9:18 pm

   I have seen a number of different television and web site interviews with Paul Young and went to one of his “Wm. Paul Young in person” speaking engagements. I had read the book when he had sold a couple of million copies and he was scratching his head about that, amazed. Now he is beside himself going into 8 million copies worldwide in 24 languages, with little more than church to church and person to person personal recommendations. A good part of the people who go to his interviews have read the book and want to know what kind of man this is that has no publishing techniques, not publishing or distribution methods and has spent about 300 dollars in advertizing. After a while you see this not to tall, ordinary, humble man who has been destroyed by the events in his life and a once lost and miserable man with little to live for, to a man completely given to God. Its as if God waited until he was at deaths door to finally pick him up and say, “Now I will answer your tears and cries for help, you are where I want you, back to a child and moldable.” His story is gut wrenching and nothing but an ongoing miracle The Shack is a book that is a novel and yet true in what it represents. In the same way that Jesus gave the parables in scripture to picture other truths, God is using Pauls works that are also truths and giving the sinner hope, many who are prisoners and the down cast. I have never read anything like it in my 68 years. Thanks for this web site and the opportunity to review another interview that is a testimony of a God thing.

   Reply