Author Spotlight: Tom Cunningham
We are pleased to introduce Tom Cunningham, author of The Shepherd: Stories of Christmas. We asked Tom about his writing and how his new book came to be. But first, a little bit about him.
About
Tom Cunningham was born in a village in New Brunswick where his father was a Presbyterian pastor. When Tom was nine, his father passed away and he, his mother, and his sister moved to Orillia, Ontario to be closer to family.
In his early teen years, Tom gave his heart to the Lord through the witness of the very active and faithful youth ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Near the end of Grade Twelve, while preparing to enter Grade Thirteen—yes, he is old enough to remember when Grade Thirteen was a thing—Tom felt the call of God to enter the ministry.
After high school, he headed off to university in Toronto, followed by seminary. He graduated from Knox College in the spring of 1982. In May of that same year, he was ordained to the Christian ministry and in June he married Barb, his wife and ministry partner for more than forty-two years… and counting!
Barb has her Christian Education certificate and has provided much needed support for the Christian education programs in all the churches where they’ve served.
In August 1982, they left Ontario behind and moved to Edmonton, just as Wayne Gretzky was coming into his prime—a pretty tough go for a diehard Maple Leafs fan. Tom only attended one NHL game in his life, and in that game the Leafs beat the Oilers on home ice. The Edmonton congregation never heard the end of it; the event served as proof that miracles do happen.
After nine years in Edmonton, where Tom and Barb did a church plant in the shadow of West Edmonton Mall, they moved to Barrie, Ontario in 1991 to begin a period of seventeen years with an older, more established congregation. Then it was off to Peterborough, where they served a two-point charge, one urban and one rural, until Tom’s retirement in 2022.
Tom and Barb presently live in Peterborough. Tom leads worship most Sundays at a church in Havelock, forty kilometres east of Peterborough. His interests include books, trains, travel to the ocean, and watching for sightings of the International Space Station. He loves observing the heavens. They are a wonderful witness to the magnificence and power of our Father in heaven.
Q&A
Q: What led you to write The Shepherd?
A: Over the years I have written story sermons at different times of the year, especially at Christmas. Many of the stories in The Shepherd were first delivered at Christmas Eve services. These stories seemed to always be well received and members of the congregation often told me I should collect them in a book. During my pastoral ministry years, I had no time to consider preparing the stories for publication. Once retired, I felt our heavenly Father guiding me to put together an anthology of Christmas stories. Hence, The Shepherd.
Q: Why do you choose a Christmas theme for your first book?
A: First of all, I love Christmas. I love the food (Christmas is the only time of year Barb makes butter tarts) and the wonderful hymns. But most importantly, I am passionate that folks hear the real message of Christmas. Today the birth of Jesus and what that means for our lives has been buried under many layers of traditions and commercialism, much of which has nothing to do with Jesus or the celebration of Emmanuel, God with us.
The real story of Christmas needs to be told for the well-being and health of our society. Christmas needs to be restored as a holy day. As it stands now, Christmas for many is nothing more than a narcotic, the effect of which wears off quickly and turns to something mundane or worse for the rest of the year. I wanted to bring the Christmas story to life in a way that catches people’s attention.
Q: Why did you decide to share your messages in the form of short stories?
A: I have always loved a good story. It began with the bedtime stories my parents read to me, and over time this progressed to reading Hardy Boys mysteries. I am always looking for new ways to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to a people who are more and more removed from the faith.
About halfway through my pastoral ministry career, I stopped using the word sermon and replaced it with the word message. The word sermon has a certain connotation; it implies that a person is being preached at. I have found that people today don’t want that. However, they are far more open to hearing a message. Using a story can open God’s word in a way that allows people to hear it, sometimes for the very first time.
All that being said, I do not employ so-called “story messages” very often. I find that as long as I’m open to sharing them, God will plant an idea for one in my heart every once in a while. Then I’ll go ahead and write it down.
Q: You say that you have shared story messages for other times of the year. Do you have any plans to publish them?
A: I do have several other stories, some on general Christian themes and at least one that is appropriate for Thanksgiving. I also have a couple of plays that I wrote for Barb to incorporate into her Vacation Bible School curriculum. I will probably gather these stories and plays for publication in the future.
Q: Why do you write?
A: I think it safe to say that I have the heart of a missionary. Many of the stories my parents read to me when I was little were about missionaries sharing the good news of Jesus. I want the whole world to hear the transformative, life-saving story of Jesus Christ. And for those who have already heard this good news, I want to be sure that it leads not to religion but to a personal relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Connecting Points
Presently, Tom isn’t on social media, but he would welcome hearing from you. Contact our office and we'll put you in touch. He does have plans for a website and possibly a podcast. Please stay tuned for more information in the near future.
And, to order your copy of his book, please click here: The Shepherd.