Wm PAUL YOUNG


Portland, OR



Wm PAUL YOUNG


Best Selling Author of The Shack

William Paul Young is author of the break away best seller, The Shack. With nearly 14 million copies in print and 49 weeks at # 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list, this book is stirring up conversations about God around the world. The Shack points people back to the Bible and ultimately to the love of God for us all.

From Mariners Church - part 1:


From Mariners Church - part 2:


From Mariners Church - part 3:


From Mariners Church - part 4:

700 Club Interview:


From Paul:
We live in a world where ‘normal’ does not truly exist except as an idea or concept. For each of us, where and how we grew up plays a foundational role in our sense of ‘normal’, and only when we begin to experience the ‘bigness and diversity’ of the world are we tempted to evaluate our roots. I thought the way I grew up was ‘normal’ but I think most would probably agree that my history and journey have been a bit unusual.

I was the eldest of four, born May 11th, 1955, in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, but the majority of my first decade was lived with my missionary parents in the highlands of Netherlands New Guinea (West Papua), among the Dani, a technologically stone age tribal people. These became my family and as the first white child and outsider who ever spoke their language, I was granted unusual access into their culture and community. Although at times a fierce warring people, steeped in the worship of spirits and even occasionally practicing ritualistic cannibalism, they also provided a deep sense of identity that remains an indelible element of my character and person. By the time I was flown away to boarding school at age 6, I was in most respects a white Dani.

In the middle of a school year, my family unexpectedly returned to the West. My father worked as a Pastor for a number of small churches in Western Canada and by the time I graduated, I had already attended thirteen different schools. I paid my way through Bible College working as a radio disc jockey, lifeguard and even a stint in the oil fields of northern Alberta. I spent one summer in the Philippines and another touring with a drama troupe before working in Washington D.C. at Fellowship House, an international guest house. Completing my undergraduate degree in Religion, I graduated summa cum laude from Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon. The following year, I met and married Kim Warren and for a time worked on staff at a large suburban church while attending seminary.

I have owned businesses and worked for others in diverse industries, from insurance to construction, venture capital companies to telecom, contract work to food processing; whatever was needed to help feed and house my growing family. I have always been a writer, whether songs, poetry, short stories or newsletters; never for public consumption but for friends and family. While I have extensively written for business, creating web content, business plans and white papers, The Shack was a story written for my six children, with no thought or intention to publish. It is as much a surprise to me as to anyone else that I am now an ‘author’.

Overall, I am a very simple guy; I have one wife, six kids, two daughter-in-laws and three grandkids. I worked last year as a general manager, janitor and inside sales guy for a friend who owns a small manufacturers rep company in Milwaukie, Oregon. I live in a small rented house in Happy Valley, Oregon, that Kim has made into a marvelous home. My time is spent loving the people that are a part of my life. I have lots of incredible friends, and now you are one of those. Oh yeah… and I wrote this book.

These are some of the facts of my life, but they don’t begin to tell the real story. That would take much more room than is available here. The journey has been both incredible and unbearable, a desperate grasping after grace and wholeness. These facts don’t tell you about the pain of trying to adjust to different cultures, of life losses that were almost too staggering to bear, of walking down railroad tracks at night in the middle of winter screaming into the windstorm, of living with an underlying volume of shame so deep and loud that it constantly threatened any sense of sanity, of dreams not only destroyed but obliterated by personal failure, of hope so tenuous that only the trigger seemed to offer a solution. These few facts also do not speak to the potency of love and forgiveness, the arduous road of reconciliation, the surprises of grace and community, of transformational healing and the unexpected emergence of joy. Facts alone might help you understand where a person has been, but often hide who they actually are.

The Shack will tell you much more about me than a few facts ever could. In some ways my life is partly revealed in both characters—Willie and Mack. But an author is always more. I hope that someday we can share a cup of coffee, or for me, an extra hot chai tea with soy. If that happens, and if you want, I will tell you a little more about the bigger story and you can tell me some of yours.

That about sums up my life. For me, everything is about Jesus and Father and the Holy Spirit, and relationships, and life is an adventure of faith lived one day at a time. Any aspirations, visions and dreams died a long time ago and I have absolutely no interest in resurrecting them (they would stink by now anyway). I have finally figured out that I have nothing to lose by living a life of faith. I know more joy every minute of every day than seems appropriate, but I love the wastefulness of my Papa’s grace and presence. For me, everything in my life that matters is perfect!

www.TheShackBook.com


What others are saying about Paul and
The Shack:

When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of The Shack. This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!
Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology,
Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.

Gail and I finished The Shack in two evenings and agreed that we'd never read a book quite like it. We spoke of the way the author had prodded us to think new thoughts about the three persons of the Trinity. We agreed that the book would mean a lot to those who have suffered from horrific experiences of physical and sexual abuse and who need their memories to be decontaminated. We went back through the pages and identified places where we'd been startled by the author's insights on the nature of evil and grace. We even laughed at some of the clever antics used by the Three-who-were-One to point out the way of salvation. For Gail and me, The Shack was a reviving experience.
Gordon MacDonald, Editor at Large of Leadership,
Interim President, Denver Seminary

Riveting, with twists that defy your expectations while teaching powerful theological lessons without patronizing. I was crying by page 100. You cannot read it without your heart becoming involved.
Gayle E. Erwin, Author The Jesus Style

Finally! A guy-meets-god novel that has literary integrity and spiritual daring. The Shack cuts through the clichés of both religion and bad writing to reveal something compelling and beautiful about life’s integral dance with the divine. This story reads like a prayer—like the best kinds of prayer, filled with sweat and wonder and transparency and surprise. When I read it, I felt like I was fellowshipping with God. If you read one work of fiction this year, let this be it.
Mike Morrell, Zoecarnate.com

Don’t miss this! If there’s a better book out there capturing god’s engaging nature and his ability to crawl into our darkest nightmare with his love, light and healing, I’ve not seen it. For the most ardent believer or newest spiritual seeker, the shack is a must-read.
Wayne Jacobsen, Author of So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore

My biggest disappointment with Christian books is that almost all of them seem to say the same things in the same way. Not so with The Shack! It reads like no other book, and tells a story I guarantee you have not heard before. Enjoy the adventure!
Bart Campolo, Founder of Mission Year

An exceptional piece of writing that ushers you directly into the heart and nature of god in the midst of agonizing human suffering. This amazing story will challenge you to consider the person and the plan of god in more expansive terms than you may have ever dreamed.
David Gregory, Author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger

The path to God is paved with questions—sometimes frightening and deeply painful ones. While reading The Shack I realized the questions unfolding in this captivating novel were questions I was carrying deep within me. True freedom is born from facing those things we feel we don’t have the courage or strength to face. The beauty of this book is not that it supplies the reader with easy answers to grueling questions, but that it invites you to come in close to a God of mercy and love, in whom we find hope and healing.
Jim Palmer, Author of Divine Nobodies

This book goes beyond being the well written suspenseful page-turner that it is. Since the death of our son Jason the lord has led us to a small number of life-changing books and this one heads the list. When you close the back cover you will be changed.
Dale Lang, (rockcanada.org), father of student killed in Columbine copycat shooting

You will be captivated by the creativity and imagination of the shack, and before you know it you’ll be experiencing god as never before. William young’s insights are not just captivating, they are biblically faithful and true. Don’t miss this transforming story of grace.
Greg Albrecht, Editor, Plain Truth Magazine

Your work is a masterpiece! There are tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. All I can think of is the others that need to read your words and I’m just as convinced that each one that reads it has those who also need your words.
Chyril Walker, Ph.D.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciated reading The Shack and how much it has meant to my wife and me. We lost a son in an accident years ago and this story brought comfort and healing. I dealt with the questions this book addresses every day and know you could not have written it without dealing with the reality of loss in your own life.
Dave Coleman, retired Hospice Chaplain

Do you ever stand by the ocean, just close your eyes and breath deeply, filling your lungs with purity? That’s what The Shack is like. I’ve filled my lungs with clean, fresh air, after choking on the stifling smog of religiosity. At times I had tears in my eyes, and others I was laughing out loud.
Dale Bruneski, Corrections Counselor (Canada)

To sum up these experiences will take some time, but the gist can be easily described in my thoughts which often repeat its theme while reading The Shack... Feedback overload! System shutdown imminent! Warning! Warning! Reboot!
Jim Hawley, Teacher (Taiwan)

I feel like I've been in therapy for the last two days. One of the all-time favorite weekends of my life. Huge crowds. Standing O's. Weeping. Laughing. Healing. Salvation. Transformation. One amazing guy. Willing to do anything for anyone. Brilliant theologian. Humble. Secure. Transparent. Friend for life.
Rick Cole, Pastor
Capital Christian Center, Sacramento, CA

By far the best weekend involving a special guest speaker in my twenty-five years of pastoral ministry. Lives were transformed, souls healed, and hearts stirred. The passionate and personal words of Paul still resonate with the thousands who heard him.
Wade Burleson, Pastor
Emmanuel Baptist Church, Enid, OK

Paul Young's presentation at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish was definitely a work of God. Words cannot express the gratitude I have in my heart that Paul courageously shared his own great sadness in front of a standing-room only Church. The tears on the faces of people afterwards were a testimony to transformation and changed lives. As he says, who knew that a book written by a father for his own children would be used by our heavenly Father to reach all of His children. For one beautiful evening members of different denominations came together to laugh, to cry, and to share in the embrace of their Father's love.
Father Walter Nagle, Our Lady of the Lake, Oakdale, CT