My Reading Journey

By Dwight David Croy

At my late stage in life, God gives permission to go on a writing mission. It is an extension of the great commission. The professional writing mission is new to me, but a welcome outlet for ministry. Books will not rival the living breathing Word of God, but they have a role to play in each time period in history. If a writer is extremely fortunate and talented, a writer may create something that spans a couple of centuries like “Pilgrims Progress”/ “In His Steps.” Churches, people, cultures, and books have a part to play in the discipleship of believers. Often, we measure all protestant denominations with the individual church where we grew the most in a relationship with Jesus Christ. We measure individual saints by the one who poured the most encouragement into our spiritual life. Our familiar culture is our “go to” measurement of other cultures. Likewise, books have the same effect. My salvation was at age seven and my mom led me to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. The many Bible Stories taught to me were the hooks on which I learned many a spiritual lesson, not just a moral lesson. She and dad would be faithful to supplement my boyhood reading with positive reinforced Christian reading.

Alongside the Bible, I remember reading a Childrens “Pilgrims Progress” cover to cover many times over and later a modern version by Ethel Barrett by Moody Press. As I grew up in boyhood, I read the Danny Orlis series by Bernard Palmer. Discipleship is shaping one’s maturity and building precept upon precept. For me, the early books of my youth helped encourage, build, and brought strength to my life in Christ.

Along with my parents, saints of God, and godly schools that I have attended, collectively, they call me to give back some of the spiritual riches that I have benefited from. God also has directed a writing ministry through the experience of pastoring (3 years), military chaplaincy (28 years), and teaching juveniles (7 years) in North Carolina to awaken me to the great need of literature for boys, in these confusing modern times. So now, I write Biblical Historical Fiction for boys. It is not a money-making venture, but a way of studying the Bible in more depth culturally and filling a niche market that does not get much attention. The Bible provides many pictures of masculine godly models that boys can gravitate to for examples. Besides the mature Christian men in the church, strong families, and good mentoring programs, books can also be a resource in building godly men.

The writing world is very new to me and the culture that goes with it. For now, it is a place to glorify God and to minister in a new way. My reading journey has given me glasses and now my research and writing adventure will accent my bifocals. God has led me to a ministry in writing and I am his willing servant.

Dwight David Croy is retired and the author of God’s Focus on the Fatherless (2016) & God’s Gracious Killer (2023). He came to know Christ as his personal Savior at a young age and has served the Lord in a variety of teaching and serving roles in the body of Christ until entering the ministry as a pastor, military army chaplaincy, and teaching juvenile boys in an Eckerd residential home under the North Carolina Department of Justice and Safety for an overall forty years of experience. Dr. Croy obtained a BRE at Multnomah University, an MDIV at Denver Seminary, and a DMIN at George Fox University. Married to Karen for over forty years with two children, Amber and Jonathan, Dr. Croy is now blessed with three grandchildren: Caleb, Ada, and Joshua.