| Harvest House founder: ‘An early champion of CBA’ |
|
| Written by Production |
| Tuesday, 06 April 2010 09:23 AM America/New_York |
|
R.H. “Bob” Hawkins Sr., the founder of Harvest House Publishers, who died Feb. 9, aged 87, was my closest and dearest friend over 40-plus years. I worked for him and with him. He was a client. But most of all he was a friend. As a publisher, Bob had an incredible instinct for what would sell, what the title should be and who the author should be for a particular subject. And in seconds he could calculate the cost. He was an early champion of CBA. He contributed to the industry through the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) as a board member, chairman and one of the creators of the Gold Medallion Book Awards. He and I would talk about our inadequacies—yet many others thought (that) we thought we had none, I guess. Well, we didn’t let those thoughts out in public, but in private—many late-night conversations—we would share them. Sometimes his wife, Shirley, would get so upset when Bob and I would argue back and forth over the industry, politics, a Bible passage or whatever. But good friends, who love each other, know how to disagree—agreeably. Bob turned Harvest House over to his son, Bob Jr., early on, giving him plenty of time to get firmly in the saddle. No one at the time knew that Parkinson’s would take control of him, making this decision all the more important. The company has thrived under Bob Jr.’s leadership, and his father was proud of that. I was honored to speak at Bob’s memorial service. Lloyd Ogilvie brought a heartwarming message, and many others spoke, including children and grandchildren. Doug Ross President emeritus, ECPA Tempe, Ariz.
Thank you for the great article on Francis Chan in the March issue of Christian Retailing. I appreciated your thoughtful reporting on how David C. Cook is marketing and developing him. Though you did not mention it in the article, I think it is interesting to note that Francis is not accepting any of the author royalties for the sales of Crazy Love—something he talks about on page 164 of Forgotten God. Instead, he has designated all the money to go to The Isaiah 58 Fund. It is stunning to think of the money he is gladly handing over to help the poor worldwide. Talk about someone who is joyfully living a “crazy” life for God. Jana Muntsinger McClure Muntsinger Houston |
