(Carol Stream, IL) A mismatched team of seven hits the road in an Econoline church van on a mission to find a new pastor. They don’t agree on much other than the stops at Hardee’s for coffee and a biscuit. But they stick to the call, trying to slip undetected into worship services across the Southeast in hopes of stealing a preacher for their congregation.
Tyndale House Publishers is pleased to announce the February 2012 publication of The Search Committee by Tim Owens, winner of the 2010 Christian Writers Guild Operation First Novel contest.
Owens, a resident of Summerville, South Carolina, has an unusual pedigree for a debut novelist. The
co-owner of an environmental engineering firm, Owens holds three patents and has a doctorate in
environmental engineering. He explains that the idea for his first novel came to him when he served
on a search committee to find a minister for the church he and his wife, Ruth, attended.
“You have a group of people on a journey, in close quarters, with a common purpose. Things are bound to happen, and they did. And I just made up the rest of it,” Owens says with a twinkle in his eye, “except for the parts that are true.”
When asked how he felt after winning the Christian Writers Guild award, Owens states, “It felt so good to know that there were people, unknown to me, who considered my writing to be worthy of that award, especially after I had nearly given up on ever getting that novel published. I had an overinflated ego until I got home from the conference and my boys asked to see the check. When I explained it was coming a few days later, they rolled their eyes and went back to watching MythBusters on Discovery Channel.”
As for what he hopes readers take away from The Search Committee, Owens explains that his characters find themselves in a lot of silly, awkward circumstances as they travel. “But what they experience in their personal lives is the real story here. Reconciliation, redemption, forgiveness, spiritual growth, and grace–especially grace.”