My hero, this guy, wrote me a letter. And he said something about keeping in touch. And i thought, oh, sure. And about a year later they were looking for writers and editors for break point, you can still go to it, breakpoint. Org, its sort of a commentary of world issues, cultural issues from a biblical world view. And i ended up writing and working for break point, and today all these years later i am one of the voices of break point. When chuck passed away, they asked me at prison fellowship would i take over. So ive been doing that for about a year and a half now. Host whats the short version of your conversion . Guest of what . Host of your conversion. Guest well, the short version is that i was raised with some faith. I was raised as a Greek Orthodox christian, altar boy, church every sunday. Believed in god but didnt really know the details. Didnt know why i believed it, didnt know is this something that intellectually is sound . I wasnt convinced that it was. I thought it was just some sort of, you know, if youre greek, you go to the greek church, and you dont ask too many questions. Be a good boy, get good grades, youll go to a good school and make a good living. Well, at yale my faith, such as it was, was strongly challenged. The academia and yale in particular is extremely aggressively secular. So by the time i graduated, i was utterly lost. I had no idea what i believed because i never had really drilled down to know do i believe what i claim to believe, and, you know, when push comes to shove, i thought i guess i dont. I dont know what i believe, let me be open minded, and, of course, thats an excuse for saying i just dont think there are answers that any rational person can have. So i held the whole thing lightly. Wanted to be a writer. Of course, thats really tough. So i floundered, i drifted, i floated, it was not a good time in my life. Ended up moving back in with my parents, which i dont recommend. During a really lost time i took a menial job in danbury, connecticut. Very up pleasant. And unpleasant. And i met a guy who was a pretty serious christian, very generous soul, very kind soul who began having conversations with me. And i kept thinking dont get too close, i dont want to become one of those bornagain christians, but i kept asking questions. And one night literally like a year later, i had a dream. I relate that on my web site where god revealed himself to me, and i did not ask for it, it just happened. It was life changing. What can i tell you . I mean, either im lying or im crazy or it happened, but i think it happened. And its given me a deep peace which i actually did not think was possible to have. So, again, thats forgive me for making that longer than it ought to be, but its hard to tell that story. Host were here at the conservative Political Action conference talking with, talking with you. Are the seven men you profile here, are they conservatives . Would you consider them politically conservative . Guest would i consider them conservative . Not really. I think that, you know, what one calls conservative today is different from what one would have called conservative 50 or 100 or 200 years ago. I think, you know, im less interested in conservativism than i am in truth, and if conservativism is speaking truth, im interested in conservativism. On the issue of life, when i spoke at the National Prayer breakfast two years ago, i talked a little bit about my values, the value of unborn life, the value of loving our political enemies, of being gracious to those with whom we disagree. I fail at that, but i believe that thats what i ought to try to do. Those things are important. And so these men in seven men evince those qualities, kind of a nobility and intellectual honesty. Wilbur force was in some ways conservative, and in some ways he was not. He put his faith and truth before party. Not always an easy thing to do. But he felt it was the right thing to do. He stood against William Pitts government a couple times, spoke out against his friend, william pitt. I would say that if you look at the life of Jackie Robinson, Jackie Robinson was a profound christian. Very few people know that, very few people know that his ability to well, his strength in breaking the racial barrier came from his faith, from prayers on his knees that god would give him the strength to do something which he could not humanly do. His recruiter was a very serious christian and did what he did in large part because of his faith. Now, you know, Jackie Robinson was not a william f. Buckley conservative, but he certainly was a republican, theres no doubt about that. Who cares . To me, his faith was just beautiful. So host well, you talked about speaking at the National Prayer breakfast. You have a mini book here, no pressure, mr. President. What is that . Guest yeah. Well, two years ago i had the high honor of being chosen to speak in front of the president , the first lady, the Vice President , the assembled members of congress, every big shot you can think of at the National Prayer breakfast. And it was the honor of my life. And i didnt take it lightly. I knew as soon as i was invited that this is absolutely not about me, that god has something he wants to share with everyone there, with people who agree with me politically, people who disagree with me politically. I was not to use the occasion to try to embarrass the president , but to reach out to him in love with some thoughts and ideas, and thats what i attempted to do. I think i was successful only by gods grace, because thats not easy to do. But its online, again, my web site. I put it up because it was a crazy morning. And that book, my speech is in there, but the background story which i wont tell now but it is a crazy story of talking to joe biden and nancy pelosi, of having conversations with all kinds of people and the encounter with the president. Something very funny happened, i wont go into that, but it was hilarious, crazy with the president. And finally, i led the president and a number of others in singing Amazing Grace a cappella at the end of the it. I was inspired by garrison keillor. I just said ive got to write this up. Its a long essay. Its pretty funny, actually. I mean, a lot of what happened was just hilarious and unplanned. Host your whole life youre not necessarily just an author, youve got some other guest yeah. Actually now im a tv host. Im hosting a show that airs every sunday morning. Its called 100 huntley, across the country, most markets on sunday mornings, half hour show. Its just a tv morning show. It deals mainly with faith issues. Not exclusively. I mean, its just a morning show for sunday mornings, but as i said, its called 100 100 huntley. Were making a movie of my bonn how deny bonhoeffer look right now. What book right now. What a great life. It needs to be celebrated, it needs to be known. People are so inspired by his story, and thats the success of my book. Its not my writing, its he lived this life, and its touching people. And so if we could make a movie out of it, were in the process of doing that, and its happening actually. Should be out next year. Pretty exciting. Host and parents of Young Children may know you from a different genre. What is the . Guest yeah. Strangely enough, ive had the joy of working for veggy tales as a writer. I wrote half of the hamlet omelet parody, and im the voice on the radio. Its true. Also ive written a lot of Childrens Books, 30 over the years. Another genre i was expecting to skip in this lifetime, but god had other plans. I mean, i love writing for children. Its one of the most fun things you can do. Some of my heroes have been Childrens Books writers, c. S. Lewis wrote Childrens Books. And i really do enjoy it. And my Childrens Books are usually mentales for adults. Theres i hope theres a sophistication and a wit that some of the best childrens writing has. Mine certainly aspires to have that. So ive go done a lot of Childrens Book writing, and i run something in manhattan called socrates in the city. Ive interviewed malcolm glad welshing chuck coulson, a lot of people that you might have heard from and not heard of. Thats a lot of fun. I really enjoy doing that. Anyone can come or anyone can see it online. Host and weve been talking with eric metaxas. His most recent book, seven men and the secret of their greatness. Youre watching booktv on cspan2. Is there a Nonfiction Author or book youd like to see on booktv . Send us an email to booktv cspan. Org, tweet us booktv or post on our wall, facebook. Com booktv. As 2014 comes to a close, we look ahead to book fairs and festivals around the country that are scheduled for the new year