Stories from The Shack : Coming to Seattle!!!!!

Words have power and books can change the world. A few years ago an everyday man living on the outskirts of Portland with his wife and children threw a novel together as an expression of his creativity for his family. He passed a few copies of it around beyond the family circle and with the positive feedback found courage to ask an author he was acquainted with to take a peek at it. From there his story picks up steam. The author loved it and showed it to others and before long, the xeroxed book was published and being distributed from somebody's garage in California to bookstores scattered around North America.

Most stories about an unknown writer's first book end right here. Happily. But for this author, Paul Young, and for his book, The Shack, the story was only getting started.

A typical book sells less than 5,000 copies. When I first interviewed Paul in 2008 he said he and his book project team hoped to sell 10,000 copies in two years. That was the dream. Well, it didn't quite work out that way. They sold out that first print run of 11,000 within 3 months. And it just kept gaining momentum, like a snowball flying downhill on a great big lick of mountain ice.

Within a couple of years The Shack went viral on a global scale. Last I heard it had sold 12 million copies and had been translated into at least 30 languages. The word phenomena seems too light to describe what was happening with this obscure, accidental best-selling author.

I blogged quite a bit at that time about The Shack, including a book review (I gave the book 3 stars, but the Lord 5 for the holy ruckus the story was
                                                                                            stirring up! Read all my Shack posts HERE)

From time to time I would have occasion to interview Paul who would inevitably tell me a round of stories told to him of how this book was affecting people. At some point I began to think to myself, This deserves attention. There are so many amazing stories being generated from this Shack story. 

So, it is with great pleasure that I announce the collaboration of my friend Jim Henderson and his production company, Jim Henderson Presents, with Paul Young in producing a mixed-media entertainment spectacle to bring those stories to life on the stage. The show is simply called Stories from the Shack
It will premier in Seattle on Mother's Day next month.

At his website, Jim writes this about the show:

Sometimes it’s too big for even a movie screen. And once in awhile a story is even bigger than the person who wrote it. That’s what happened with The Shack. The flood of over 100,000 stories coming from readers overwhelmed Paul’s capacity to respond. Lectures and speaking engagements could no longer express the emotions and capture the needs. Something new had to be created in order to catch the wave of response that was breaking in on Paul. That’s where the idea of a live show called Stories From The Shack came from.

"Why Mother's Day?" I asked Jim Henderson in a recent phone interview. "Intentional or coincidental?"
Just the way it worked out with everyone's schedules, he reports.  I find that interesting myself, for one of the biggest controversies of the book is the author's choice to portray God the Father as a woman (read the book to understand this cryptic reference!).  I think it's somewhat prophetic that the show featuring stories from the book and the book's impact being on Mother's Day is brilliant.

"Why should people come out on Mother's Day, Jim? What makes this show special and worth the effort?"

"It is a mixed-media spectacle," said Jim, "featuring music from American Idol Danny Gokey who also has his own story to tell about how The Shack affected his life. And we're also going to have aerial artists helping to bring the story to life through aerial acts. It'll be like Cirque du Soleil meets The Shack."

Will Paul be there?

"Yes, absolutely. He's part of the show."

Mother's Day in Seattle. The Shack plus music, stories and aerial artists. If you can get there, Do It. Sounds like another 5-star phenomena in the making of a story that has had a profound affect on people from all over the world.

Click HERE for ticket and show information.