Saddle up with Author, Jim Burnett!

Welcome to another fine week on the Diamond Mine! We’re always entertaining new authors, and this week is no exception.  Get yer spurs on, giddy-up, and welcome Jim Burnett.  I’m scatter happy this week, so I’m firing out those questions! Ready? Shoot!

Well, howdy in, Jim. Let’s hurry and get the intros out of the way. What genre do you write in? Fiction or Nonfiction? Both. My Christian Western Novels are fiction. I also write for several Christian magazines about leadership.

Tell us about your family/neck of the woods. I hail from Brandon, MS which is about 12 miles east of Jackson, MS. I am happily married for 32 years, have three children and three grandchildren, one horse and one dog.

Is writing your first occupation or did you have another? I am and have been a full-time pastor for over 28 years. I have been writing for over 20 years. I have found that writing extends the influence of my ministry. I have met people via writing books and magazines I would have never met otherwise in a lifetime.

Do you have a favorite place to visit in the United States? Cades Cove in Townsend TN and several places in Wyoming, including Horse Creek, which is the setting of my novels, Casper, and Greybull. I have some cowboy friends there. I have incorporated several of these places in my books.

Did you base your story on a particular Bible verse/concept? Yes. The prequel, which is Horse Creek Trading Post has Acts 17:26 as a guiding verse. God has appointed our times and where we live. For such a time as this we are alive, and God wants to use us right where we are geographically.  The sequel, Return to Caller’s Spring Ranch is driven by Acts 13:36 where it is said of David, he lived for God’s purposes in his generation. The first book, Miracle at Caller’s Spring Ranch can really be summed up from Luke 15 and the prodigal son. In this case, however, it is a prodigal family.

 Would you rather live in the mountains, near the seaside, or nestled in the rolling hills of growing crops? Why? I love the mountains. I would be perfectly content living in the foothills of TN. I love seclusion. However, I also like wide-open spaces. I could picture my wife and I living on a ranch in Wyoming.

Do any of your characters resemble you and why? Yes. Many of the experiences in the characters of my series come from my own. Being around horses, love for western heritage, etc. Jeb Reese’s birthday is the same as mine. He’s in my sequel.  Some of my children’s names are characters in the book.

           

 Tell about your book and what you hope your readers will gain from reading it. Horse Creek Trading Post is a prequel that is a historical western. A Quaker family by the name of Reese sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to begin a homestead in eastern TN. Another generation moves west to Horse Creek, Wyoming where they set up a homestead. This homestead becomes more than just a place where supplies are purchased and services rendered. It becomes an outpost of heaven.

 What book is next on your agenda? A fourth in the series, which serves sort of as a sister to the other three. I am also working on a collection of short stories.

Pshew. The last one. My favorite! Tell 5 things fast about Jim Burnett that have nothing to do with writing. 1) I’ve been interviewed on Fox and Friends about prayer in schools, 2) I am absolutely crazy about horses. My wife says I’m about half horse. 3) I love the Lord and am earnestly seeking to live for his purpose in my generation. 4) I like to use lots of creativity in my preaching and teaching, 5) I’d like to invent cologne that smells like a horse.  

Out of shot, folks. That was quite a round. Thanks, Jim for stopping by the Diamond Mine. And as usual readers, we WANT you to be qualified to win one of Jim’s books! You know the drill, but if you don’t, leave a comment with your email, and we’ll select a lucky winner.

Or, if ya can’t wait to dive into Jim’s new book, mosey on over here:  http://a.co/3GtHdkV and have a copy real quick-like. :) I mean, how can you resist a book that looks like this?

Dr. Jim Burnett is a pastor, teacher, speaker, and writer who has pastored churches in Mississippi over his twenty-eight years in ministry. The lead pastor of Willow Pointe Church in Hattiesburg, Miss., he is also the author of leadership articles, and the Christian western novels, Miracle at Caller’s Spring Ranch and Return to Caller’s Spring Ranch. As an advocate for prayer in public schools, he was interviewed on Fox and Friends. An avid horseman, he has a deep love for western heritage. He and his wife Kim have three children and three grandchildren.