Author Spotlight: Deborah J. Andrews

We are pleased to introduce Deborah J. Andrews. Deborah recently published Dreamland with us, which is now available through the Word Alive Press Bookstore, and everywhere fine Christian books are sold. We asked Deborah to share a little bit about her new book and her writing. But first, a little bit about her.

About

Deborah J. Andrews grew up in Comox, B.C., a small town on Vancouver Island, with her brother and parents, both of whom were military and all of whom loved the Lord deeply. It was a safe, happy, protected and comfortable life, filled with church, friends and all things Scottish and music. During her growing up years, Deborah Highland danced which included performances for Canada’s Prime Minister at age 14 and also at the P.N.E. She played clarinet, sax, sang and even played side drum in the pipe band. After high school graduation, she moved to Nanaimo to go to university, ultimately receiving an Associate in Music Diploma in Voice Performance.

From there, Deborah went on to study opera at U.B.C. and was presented with opportunities to perform throughout B.C. and Alberta in professional productions that included 300 shows in historic Barkerville, a one-year stint as an Actor in Residence at Red Deer College, touring with Catalyst Theatre, productions with the Edmonton Opera, T.V. commercials and more!

While in Red Deer, Deborah met her now-husband, Kevin, an accomplished musician with a gentle spirit and an incredible sense of humour. They married in 1988 and settled in Edmonton. What ensued was a whole other adventure in raising 3 kids of their own along with the comings and goings of a number of others. Kevin continued to pursue music and Deborah turned her sights to the management side of music and the arts, initially working with a non-profit, followed by municipal and then provincial government. Throughout these years she was responsible for the creation and realization of dozens, if not hundreds, of effective marketing and communications campaigns. These roles afforded her the opportunity to meet and work with artists like Celine Dion, Cleo Laine, The Smothers Brothers, Kurt Browning and also many renowned scientists and researchers.

Everything changed the day she received a “call” from the Lord to bring “His music” into the world. She stepped out in faith, leaving full-time employment, to fulfill the assignment before her. Deborah determined it best to found and run a business/ministry through which she was able to produce large-scale gospel concerts in mainstream venues, featuring artists like Avalon, 4 Him, Bob Carlisle and Take Six to name a few. Thousands of people attended these concerts and hundreds gave their lives to Christ. She also founded a charitable trust through which she gathered a team together to provide worship music and services at the Edmonton Young Offender Centre for 3 years, and produced an outdoor Gospel Music Festival attended by 5000!

During this season, she also managed, produced, and promoted international artists and festivals, and was honoured with the opportunity to direct large-scale events like the queen’s visit to Alberta’s provincial museum in 2005 and Alberta's Lieutenant Governor’s Centennial Garden Party.

The next assignment required faith beyond anything before or after. Deborah and Kevin were being asked by God to move their family to Scotland! The entirety of this was absolutely extraordinary and so it stood to reason that while in Scotland, she’d be prompted to write about this adventure, and what an adventure it was!

In 2011, Deborah returned to the Government of Alberta to lead the Marketing, Communications and Events Team for the Royal Alberta Museum. After a few years, she moved on to work as Director for the team responsible for the international and domestic missions for the Premier of Alberta and the Minister of Economic Development and Trade as well as incoming visiting dignitaries.

Since leaving this post, she has been primarily focused on healing from decades of stress and exhaustion that led to chronic illness. Still, she has dreams and a vision so glorious they will most definitely need a touch from the King Himself to establish. But she has faith for this and faith is her story, so the future looks bright!

Q&A

Q: Tell us about your history with writing.
A: All through school, I loved writing and seemed to excel at it too. When I graduated, I thought my career path would be in journalism but ultimately, I ended up on what might be viewed as a parallel (or opposing) path. Although I had dipped my toe in the creative art of playwriting while working as an Actor-in-Residence, I ultimately kept landing roles in the areas of public relations/promotions, communications and marketing, all largely within the ministries of culture in government.

I had never really imagined writing a book … or two! It was most definitely God-directed and divinely inspired. Communicating, be it creatively, like Dreamland or inspirational, like Let’s Go! or preparing Communications briefs for high-level officials, is all pretty captivating and gratifying but I’d have to say the first two are considerably more fun!

Q: What was the progression from government communicator to Christian author like?
A: After years of writing media releases, promotional material and marketing content, I moved into roles that involved more in-depth writing for high-level government officials, like speaking notes, speeches and also marketing/communications plans, briefings and so on. Sounds boring, right? Well… I guess this is its own art form. Thankfully, these jobs usually provided me with a creative outlet via the need to write engaging advertising campaigns and promotional blurbs, blogs and stories. It was also enthralling to execute these campaigns, especially the TV commercials.

It wasn’t until our very dramatic move to Scotland that the Lord asked me to write and share our experiences that I moved into a completely new realm of articulation. This was about vulnerability and authenticity. This was very real and very personal. This was no press release about someone else! I had turned a corner and the result was my faith story, Let’s Go! Moving Forward in Faith.

After returning to Canada, we had small children living with us for a time and so I became inspired to write stories for kids. This was, by far, the most creative and entertaining of all the expressions. It was as a result of this exploration that Dreamland was birthed.

Q: What inspired the idea for your children’s book?
A: One of the primary ways God spoke to us and to team members when we were in Scotland was through dreams. Once back in Canada, as I reflected on that supernatural season, I more fully grasped the importance of really paying attention to our dreams. Of course, some are nonsensical but the significant ones do carry something quite powerful. And then if they are repeated, you know they should be examined more carefully. Oftentimes due to our busy schedules, it’s easier for God to get our attention when we are asleep.

After the premise for the stories was established (there are 4 in the book), I looked for content from the Word. In the end, I chose 4 scriptures from which the stories would be based. And finally, came the rhyming. As a musical person, I quite enjoy the rhythmic, engaging cadence of using rhymes to convey the stories.

Q: What impact do you hope your book will have?
A: I sincerely hope Dreamland will:

• Encourage faith in children
• Provide them with an expectation that they can and will see and hear from God in their dreams
• Cause them to believe in and for the miraculous
• Inspire conversation
• Ignite the imagination

Q: Can you elaborate on “the call” you received?
A: I desired a life of significance and to that end, I agreed to trust the voice of the Lord no matter what! Little did I know that what would follow would be completely life-changing. The “call” was to bring His music into the world. Now, that’s a tall order! Although bewildered as to what that was or how to do that, I stepped out and into a very steep learning curve. With God at the helm, I was able to gather hundreds and thousands of people together for large-scale gospel concerts in mainstream venues at a time when events such as these were usually only held in churches or at youth events. Other assignments followed, each one carrying with them greater risk and sacrifice until the day we received the biggest “ask” of all.

My husband and I were required to dig deeper than ever before. We were being asked to leave all that was familiar behind. In faith and in obedience, the five of us left our home and life in Canada and moved to Scotland, not knowing a single person there, with no visible means of support and no idea why we were being sent. It was just us and God…

Connecting Points

Deborah’s next book, an autobiographical inspirational faith story, will be published later in 2024. It is called Let’s Go! Moving Forward in Faith.

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