I thought those of you who kindly read my Perspectives might enjoy meeting the skilled individual, Shaun Tabatt, who constructed and manages my writing website and its affiliated Facebook page. I share these thoughts out of appreciation for all that Shaun has done to help promote my own writing endeavors AND to heartily affirm the several significant ministries of his own that Shaun carries out.
Shaun and his wife, Lynette, live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, and have been blessed with eight children. Shaun has a heart for Christ and advancing His kingdom. He effectively promotes Christ’s kingdom work by actively using the verbal and technological gifts and abilities that God has given him.
Shaun’s a busy guy! He works with several publishers and numerous authors, helping to promote their titles and other ministries on-line and in other ways. Through his company, Cross Focused Media, he seeks to serve the Christian publishing community by providing social media and literary publicity services.
At his Bible Geek Gone Wild website, Shaun blogs and has posted many book reviews he has written for various publishers through the years. There you’ll also find his popular podcast, “Author Talks with Shaun Tabatt.” In just over a year Shaun has compiled nearly eighty on-line interviews with various authors, and these interviews have been downloaded over 10,000 times. I’ve had the privilege of recording two Author Talks interviews with Shaun, one featuring my newly released biography Adoniram Judson, Devoted for Life (Nov. 1, 2013) and the other highlighting my Women of Faith and Courage and Timeless Stories titles (June 6, 2013).
Shaun’s interviewing skill recently received high praise in a blog written by Dr. Michael Milton entitled “Areopagitica and Bible Geeks Gone Wild: The New Christian Journalists”. I’d encourage you to read the article as a commendation of the important ministry that Shaun and other modern Christian journalists are carrying out.
I would like to echo the appreciation Dr. Milton expressed for Shaun’s expertise in conducting his interviews. Unfortunately, my limited experience with book-related interviews has not been overly positive on the whole. In the majority of the interviews I’ve been part of, it seemed the host had little or no familiarity with the work I had written and that we were supposed to be discussing. Instead, the host “shot from the hip” based on his or her general, prior knowledge of the subject, sometimes saying very little that related directly to the book under discussion!
Shaun, by contrast, comes to his interviews having familiarized himself with the book to be discussed and prepared with insightful questions and comments that help bring out the main emphases an author intends to communicate in his or her work. In the dealings I have had with Shaun, I’ve appreciated his great balance of being both very personable and highly professional.
Thanks for everything, Shaun. May the Lord continue to use you to His glory and for the great good of many people.
Copyright 2014 by Vance E. Christie
