How David Jeremiah’s New Novel Is Reaching Hearts Beyond the Pulpit
To many in the Body of Christ, David Jeremiah is known for many things; however, being a fiction writer isn't one of them. In his new book Vanished, Jeremiah attempts to do whatever is needed to reach an audience that may have never read one of his books. According to Jeremiah, half of all readers primarily read fiction books, which, for him, is the main reason why he set out to do something that he had never done before. In a rare sit-down interview with Dr. David Jeremiah, he opens up about his new book and what keeps him faithful to his calling.
Crosswalk Headlines: Where did the idea come from to write a fiction book?
Dr. David Jeremiah: First, Let me tell you how it started. If you go to Siri and say, Hey Siri, how many fiction books are bought versus nonfiction? You'll discover that 52% of all the books purchased in America are fiction books. One day I was sitting there thinking I'm talking to half the audience. If I don't deal with fiction, if I don't get my message into fiction, somehow, I'm missing half the crowd.
I read another statistic that said 46% of all Christians only read fiction. I've written a hundred books, but not one of them is fiction until this one. I just wanted to see if there was some way that we could get into the world of fiction and maybe touch some lives we wouldn't touch otherwise.
CWH: Was it difficult to write a Fiction book?
DJ: The book was written with Sam O'Neill. He's the fiction guy. I put the guts of it together, and Sam helped me with the fiction side of things. I'm not a fiction writer. Sam helped with the story; he put it all together that way. I'll tell you an interesting thing. I pastored the same church that Tim Lee pastored when he was alive. I knew Tim very well, and I walked with him through the Left Behind series when that was going crazy. Tim had a guy named Jerry Jenkins who wrote for him; Jerry wrote the fiction for Tim. Sam O'Neill is kind of like my Jerry Jenkins. He writes the fiction part of it for me.
CWH: Will there be a part two of the book?
DJ: Yes, the outline has already been put together for the next book.
CWH: What was the process and the book about?
DJ: I love the storyline. The story is about this guy who's caught up in trying to do his job for the government and keep the country from being eroded again by any kind of pandemic or anything. All the things that the main character is worried about are the things Jesus talked about in the sermon on the mountain when he said there'd be wars and rumors of wars, and all kinds of things are going to happen before the Lord comes back. So, we got all of that from Matthew, and that's where the story comes from. Haggerty is kind of an up-to-date guy who's working through all those things. Haggerty is trying to figure it out because he works for the government. However, his own life is coming unglued, and he's divorced. His wife is mad at him. He's afraid he is going to lose his daughter, and he's trying to work through this stuff. So, you see him, like many of us today, working on a professional level and working on a personal level, and these things aren't going well.
CWH: What did this book do inside of you?
DJ: I know the characters, you know, I feel like I know Haggerty. I can see him in my head. I can see what kind of a guy he is, and Sam has made him a very real character.
CWH: Where does most of your writing originate from?
DJ: Most of my writing originates ultimately from a sermon.
CWH: What's the next book you're working on?
DJ: I have a new book coming out in October that we've been working on all year on heaven. I hear myself preaching some of this in the book. I always have a book going on, no matter what or where I'm at. I've had a book going on in my head for 30 years.
CWH: You seem to get excited about book writing, why?
DJ: It goes someplace and stays somewhere, and ultimately someone reads it. I have so many stories over the years where people who came to church were never saved, but they read a book, and God used it to change their lives.
CWH: What comes to mind when you look back at your life?
DJ: I was blessed to grow up in a pastor's home. My dad was a pastor, and I always tell people I learned more stuff, not even knowing that I was learning. I already knew it because I sat at the kitchen table or dinner table, and we talked about ministry. I'd ask my dad questions, and I just learned a lot from growing up in a pastor's family. I went to an incredible seminary. I went to Dallas Seminary, which disciplined me and made me realize the opportunity I had to make a difference. I would say a couple of years after seminary, I concluded that the thing God really wanted me to do was to teach and be a preacher, but I should be a preacher teacher and make sure that the things I did were content-oriented.
CWH: Do you still enjoy ministry/preaching?
DJ: I enjoy it so much. I've been through some physical issues the last couple of years that have kind of set me back a little bit. The one thing that stayed constant is I preach every Sunday, and every Saturday, I study, and I have my sermon ready for Sunday. It's my whole life, and it's my week, and it's what keeps me going.
Photo Credit: ©Wikimedia Commons/Ldula
Originally published June 11, 2025.
