Jerry Bruce Jenkins (born September 23, 1949 in Kalamazoo, Michigan) is an American novelist and biographer. He is best known as co-author of the Left Behind series of books with Tim LaHaye, Jenkins has written over 150 books, including romance novels, mysteries, and children's adventures, as well as non-fiction. His works usually feature evangelical Christians as protagonists. In 2005, Jenkins and LaHaye ranked 9th in Amazon.com's 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame authors ranked according to the largest numbers of books sold at Amazon.com in the 10 years since it opened on July 16, 1995. Jenkins and his wife Dianna have three sons and several grandchildren.
Work as a writer, editor, and publisher
Jenkins has authored more than 150 books, 16 of which have reached the New York Times bestseller list. His writings have appeared in many periodicals, including Reader's Digest, Parade, and Guideposts. He is a "writer-at-large" for Moody Bible Institute. He had previously worked as Editor of Moody Magazine and as vice-president of publishing for Moody Bible Institute.
Children and young adult fiction
He has written many children and young adult book series, including both mystery and sports-themed books. One of his more famous series includes sports-themed "Dallas O'Neil and The Baker Street Sports Club" series, published in the mid-1980s and his follow-up series, "The Dallas O'Neil Mysteries".[1]
Biographer
He has written "as-told-to" biographies of Hank Aaron, Brett Butler, Bill Gaither, Orel Hershiser, Luis Palau, Walter Payton, Nolan Ryan, Sammy Tippit, George Sweeting, and others. Over a period of 13 months, he assisted Dr. Billy Graham with his 1997 autobiography, Just As I Am.
Comic strip author
From 1996 to 2004, Jenkins was writer of the sports-oriented comic strip Gil Thorp. Having been in negotiations with Tribune Media Services about the possibility of turning Jack Berrill's stories into a youth book series, he was asked to take over the writing duties of the strip when Mr. Berrill died in 1996. Many of the comic strip stories were written (but uncredited) by his son, Chad Jenkins, an assistant baseball coach at Bethel College.
"Left Behind" author
Jenkins and co-author LaHaye of the Left Behind series were profiled in a May 24, 2004 cover story in Newsweek magazine entitled "The New Prophets of Revelation". LaHaye, also associated with Moody Bible Institute, handles the theological under-pinnings of his end-of-the-world series, while Jenkins handles the story-telling.
The Left Behind series includes 16 books which have sold over 60 million copies worldwide. The first volume is entitled Left Behind, followed by Tribulation Force, Nicolae, and culminating in Kingdom Come. Three more volumes have been released, a trilogy of prequels.
Christian Writers Guild owner
In 1965 Norman Rohrer established the Christian Writers Guild (CWG) which was an effort to raise the quality of Christian Writing. In 2003 Jerry B. Jenkins purchased the Guild from the retiring Norman Rohrer (who remains on the Editorial Board of CWG). The Guild promotes its writing program through annual conferences at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs as well as a Guild Apprentice and Master programs of writing using staff of mentor authors and publishing professionals.
Controversy and criticism
Jenkins and LaHaye have been criticized for their apocalyptic beliefs in which they assert the end of the world is near. The Left Behind series has also been criticized by premillennial Christians as having "some real problems with [the] prophetical teachings". It is noted that "in books 8 & 9, LaHaye and Jenkins teach that [non-willing] recipients of the mark of the beast can still be saved." In The Mark, "the Chang scenario" is developed, where it is made clear that a character had the seal of the Lord prior to being drugged and having the mark of the beast forced upon him. This topic has been discussed by readers on the Left Behind message board, and was answered on the FAQ page at LeftBehind.com.[2]
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