Featured Interview With Jim Newton
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am sixty four years of age, and stand six feet four inches tall. I took early retirement from the insurance business as an agent to pursue writing fulltime. I turned from the secular genre of writing during my college years to write solely in the Christian genre. This change of heart was due to the gift of faith in God that was given to me by Jesus Christ.
I grew up in a well-to-do family in Bethany, Oklahoma. My father was what one would refer to as a businessman. He had a tremendous influence on my thinking. Some saw him as hard and demanding, but I saw and knew him as an extremely honest, good-hearted, and forward-thinking man. My father gave me my drive and ambition. Though he was always respectful of Christians and their beliefs, he never judged nor condemned them for he was a non-believer till shortly before his death. I was given a religious introduction and example of a Christ-led life by my Aunt Johanna Mae Oliver, whom I respected and loved. She was a minister and devout follower of Christ. She could walk into a saloon filled with drunks, and in a non-judgmental way talk with those people and have them on their knees praying to God before she walked out.
The town in which I grew up in was founded by protestant Nazarenes. They built a Nazarene college there. The town had strict laws based on Biblical laws, but never was it a problem for the non-Nazarenes living there. Contrary to media sensation-seeking, the majority of the citizens of the United States live in great harmony with the many assorted religions that abound in this country. A person can gain such a diverse education in religion and tolerance if that is what they choose. I attended many different churches while growing up; from Catholic to Protestant to Jewish. I was never cast out or rejected. I suppose that is why I am outspoken on Christian unity.
I served four years in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War years, and served inside Vietnam. I view all the different aspects of my life as God’s schooling me. As a young man who had grown up in a very conservative family with the values that upbringing provides, I thought it my duty to fight in Vietnam. The difference in my conservative values and training was that my father drilled into my head to assess any situation and draw independent conclusions from the crowd around me; think for yourself. When I told my father after Vietnam that wars are not glorious and a duty of mankind, he never flinched. He told me that he agreed as that was the very same conclusion he had drawn from his time spent in the Korean War. My life changed from that time on. I battled the conservative notion of God. What I did not realize was that Jesus was the greatest revolutionary to ever walk upon this earth. As I studied the Bible to denounce and condemn it, God showed me love, love, and more love. I was defeated. I gave my writing to him. I found the God of my Aunt Johanna Mae Oliver.
I am not the picture of perfection. My Lord has sent me into some of the toughest situations and places that a man can go, but he always stood right beside me giving advice and courage. I was involved in a situation in war where I was expected to kill many human beings, but thanks to my Lord, he guided me onto a path that saved the lives of the men on both sides. I have walked into the toughest bars and drank with those inside, and whenever I brought up the subject of God, I try never to miss an opportunity, the place was always brought to a reverent and introspective silence. It will make you shudder to witness the respect given by these so-called outcasts of society. As Christians, I feel we have an obligation to go into the very depths of Hell to spread the word if God asks. My Lord has made my life a great adventure.
The aforementioned aspects of my life have brought about two books for my Lord’s glory: WHAT DOES FAITH LOOK LIKE and 365 DAYS OF POSITIVE LIVING, co-authored with Rita Pam Tarachi.
I am no exception to the working author. I took early retirement from my profession of many years to write fulltime, but I still work part time. I work in my local school system with handicapped children. This job supplements my retirement income. I knew coming into this that less than three percent of all writers make a living solely from their writing. I write for the love of writing and trying to make that writing serve my Lord.
As to jobs I’ve had in my life, I worked in the oilfield industry when I left college to support a growing family. I quit that job and started my own oilfield services company which I sold eventually to do something different, something new. That something new was I started an athletic field management and construction business which I worked at very successfully for twenty years, until my body wore out from the long hours and hard work…but how I loved it. I went from there to a desk job in the insurance business. Those twelve years were not my favorite. Bosses and I have never got along too well. I was trained in business by one of the best and I have more experience than ninety-nine percent of the people in the business world. But I do listen to and respect people that deserve it. As my friends and family say, I have a rather large and Irish personality. In other words, I couldn’t get lost in a crowd. I was raised to be very independent. My father was a great, honest, and forward thinking businessman. He taught me to work for myself, and God took that training and used it to work for him.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I began to write about the time I was taught to write. I was in constant trouble in grade school for writing crazy stories while I was supposed to be working on assignments from the teacher. Did I mention that a writer should be stubborn? I was stubborn or I wouldn’t have continued to write. I spent more than a few times waiting in the hallway at school and imagining a tortuous death while waiting to be hammered by the male teacher’s big wooden paddle with holes drilled in it to make it sing while flying through the air to put the fear of God in you and to raise whelps on your rear. I had a 364 page handwritten novel torn up by an overzealous teacher, because I was working on it during her lecture.
But, like I said, I am stubborn, and continued.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Besides the Bible, of course, Moses, by Edmond Fleg. I love his poetic prose, and who better to have a deep feeling for Moses than a person of Jewish decent.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The first book, 365 DAYS OF POSITIVE LIVING, I co-authored with Rita Pam Tarachi. It is a one year devotional. It is a structured book, but I enjoyed writing it due to that structure and the experience it gave me. I put a lot of power into that book. I wanted people to know that faith takes practice and must be made an essential part of your daily life to be successful. A personal relationship with God is essential to a Christian’s development; without it, you just have the Christian label.
WHAT DOES FAITH LOOK LIKE is a series of snapshots of what faith looks like and how it works in different people’s lives, and it is a portrait of what my faith looks like. If you are expecting a sermon, forget it, don’t buy the book. If you want to read a book that is different and makes you really think about and stretch your faith, buy it. The book has the heart and soul of everything I believe and feel about faith in Jesus Christ. The possibilities we have within our grasp if we but have faith is so great that it is impossible to imagine it, as Jesus tried to tell us.
My latest book is WHAT DOES FAITH LOOK LIKE. Through a class in my church, I found my spiritual gift is faith. As a service to my Lord, I began a mission I call the Faith Project. Part of that project is to write books about faith to help newly converted or longtime Christians with their journey of faith building. WHAT DOES FAITH LOOK LIKE is a series of snapshots of faith. The first chapter is a true story revolving around my Mother’s family, the Carr family. The other nineteen stories are about my journey to faith, The Journey, or the stories of other people’s journeys or experiences with faith. My goal was to show faith in a different way through stories that are based on true life stories. I am not a theologian or member of the clergy, just a layman.
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