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A bunch of people have been asking me the story behind my brand new book of brutally honest advice to today’s guys. The truth is… I almost didn’t write it.
Last summer my agent called me and said, “I’ve got a book for you to write.” I thought, No way. Already swamped. I was wrapping up my Zombie book, and halfway through writing Get Your Teenagers Talking, all this on top of all my speaking and training for our ministry… but then he told me what the publisher wanted:
“It’s a book that will provide candid advise to teenage guys.”
He hooked me. I couldn’t say no. Next thing I knew, I was writing The Guys Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket.
I sent out texts to my friends and family and asked them this question:
What advice would you give if you could speak freely and truthfully to a young guy today?
The responses that trickled in were insightful… and hilarious!
And now it’s on the shelves. 101 real-life tips including. . .
- Today’s nerd is tomorrow’s boss.
- If you have to look over your shoulder to check if anyone’s in the room, you probably shouldn’t be typing it into the search engine.
- Learn a skill that would help you survive a zombie apocalypse.
- Realize most bad choices usually began five choices ago.
- If you have a TV in your bedroom, unplug it right now and move it to another room.
- Remember: the girl you’re checking out is someone’s daughter!
- Take off your headphones and play your music out loud.
- Guy’s who get hooked on porn can’t even satisfy their wife.
I spend about a page or two on each tip, sharing candid truths… just what today’s guy’s need to hear. New York Times Best-Selling Author Nancy French calls it, “Refreshingly Brutal.”
It’s been garnering some decent reviews so far. Check out what people are saying on Amazon (24 reviews posted so far).
Posted in Books, Faith, Parenting, Sexuality, Smartphones/Cell Phones | | Leave A Comment
Jonathan,
This book just arrived in the mail. I’m really enjoying it and I think it will be a great resource.
But I’m wondering if you could provide some guidance on HOW to use it as a resource. Of course I could just put it in the hands of our students, but we’re trying to find ways to be more relational in our programming. I ordered this book on the recommendation of a post you had a while back (https://jonathanmckeewrites.com/archive/2013/08/07/discipling-teenagers-mentor.aspx) and am hoping to use it in a discipleship context. I have some ideas of my own, but I was wondering: How would you recommend we use this book in a relational setting?
Thanks so much for all you do, and for writing this book. It’s going to be a great resource for us.
Great question Adam. I think you can use it in a variety of formats:
1. It’s obviously a good devotional to just let teens do on their own. Problem is… all teen guy’s aren’t great readers. The positive is, this is about some topics they find interesting, so they might be curious what the book has to say about porn, sex, etc.
2. Most of the entries have questions to consider, so many youth workers have already told me that they plan on using it as a tool for small group studies. You could get a book for each guy then get together and discuss an entry each week. You could pick and choose the entries you want to tackle.
3. I have several friends who have already told me they will be using it for the one-on-one/discipleship setting with their son. So they’d get together, read one of the entries then go through the questions together.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for the feedback Jonathan. And thanks for writing the book!