Publishing in a Pandemic - How is Ready to Rise helping to empower readers during this time

May 7, 2020

Jo Saxton's book Ready to Rise is hitting the shelves and virtual shelves at an unprecedented time of global crisis. Naturally, Jo didn't have a global pandemic in mind when she put pen to paper, but readers have told her that they feel this book is empowering them for this moment. We catch up with Jo in this Q&A and find out her inspiration behind this powerful book. 

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Hello Jo! Thank you so much for joining us around the time of your book launch for READY TO RISE. I bet you never thought your book would enter the world at such a time as this! If you can cast your mind back to a pre-pandemic world, what was the initial inspiration for writing this book?

I was inspired by the women I met when speaking at churches or conferences; they were incredibly talented, gifted women. But I’d often find them in the bathrooms/toilets/loos (that place of great bonding and conversation) – in tears frustrated about their calling.

They were leaders - some in church, some beyond – and they wanted investment that would help them be the leaders God called them to be, yet they saw no clear path for their development, especially any that spoke to their experiences. I wondered what we were missing out on, what the cost of this was: what churches aren’t being planted, ministries started, books written, businesses launched, nonprofits birthed, communities built, the list goes on … because women who were called by God to lead weren’t being equipped and empowered to step into their God-given influence and play their part? What does it mean for human flourishing in society?

Did you have a specific person or type of woman in mind when writing it?

I didn’t have an age or an ethnicity in mind, because I have these conversations with women across the board. I was writing to the women I’ve met, Christian women who felt some kind of impulse to lead, even though they may feel profoundly uncomfortable with the word “leader”. Women who were leading in business and the marketplace in phenomenal ways, but felt the church was more interested in their financial gifts than the skills they bring…Women who were leading anyway but had had no investment. I wanted these women to see their gifts and potential and call in God’s greater Story of making all things - and I wanted them to dive in!

Obviously, READY TO RISE is hitting shelves and virtual shelves at an unprecedented time of global crisis, have you found this personally challenging after feeling so ready to raise (no pun intended!) the message of your book in person?

ABSOLUTELY! Yes, to the challenges. Firstly, it feels so icky promoting a book when much bigger things are going on! On a personal level it’s hard not coming over to the UK, cos I don’t get to see family and friends. And like everyone else – this is just an overwhelming time anyway – so much uncertainty, so much pressure, so many things you take for granted – not there anymore. It's disorientating. It was weird to me at first when I heard readers tell me that they felt the book was timely. That it was empowering them for this moment, that it put tools into their hands, was helping them on their journey. When I wrote this book, naturally I didn’t have a global pandemic in mind! But if it serves to help equip people to step into an unexpected calling in overwhelming times, if it helps them courageously pursue how they can serve and lead for the glory of God in these challenging days - then I can certainly live with icky.

The message of READY TO RISE is not time or location bound: what do you hope its impact will be in the hands of readers in the midst of such uncertainty and opportunity for change?

When we look at the Bible, we often see men and women stepping into their calling in the midst of uncertainty and devastating circumstances. Deborah was already a leader but rose in a specific way in response to 20 years of oppression that caused her community to abandon everyday life (Judges 5) , Esther “for such a time as this’ moment of leadership (Esther 4) was in the face of the genocide of her people. We also see unexpected opportunity. In the gospels a transformed Samaritan woman invites her community to hear about Jesus, and Jesus sends Mary to tell the disciples about His resurrection – the most significant news of ALL TIME. It’s a commission made all the more remarkable knowing that a woman’s testimony was not recognized in a court of law, and a reminder that the call and the purposes of God redefine than landscape of societal expectations. The New Testament introduces more. Phoebe, Junia, Priscilla, Lydia, Chloe and more; women redefined by the gospel and stepping into their influence in multiple ways.

My personality type is the kind that would love rising up to sound like a passionate roar (!), but when I look honestly at my life, my family, and the women I’ve met around the world it’s so different. Rising has often looked like rising up from the ashes, rising above disappointment to do something new, discovering/ recovering gifts and purpose out of life’s tragedies and challenges – and in every place seeing the redemptive hand of God at work. My hope is that wherever we are at, wherever our lives are at –that the readers of this book rise into their God given influence (wherever that may be) in this moment in history and encourage and empower the women around them to do the same.

And finally, any last thoughts for your UK readers?

Your gifts are not an accident, your call is not a concession. That way you have with numbers, that gift of hospitality, those dreams which won’t leave you alone – dreams ,to lead , to launch businesses, serve communities, create arty and more –don’t have to be apologized for, or buried You are not too old, too young, too much, not enough. Too learned, to inadequate, the list goes on. But you are called and commissioned into God’s purposed in our day. Ask God what that means for your ordinary everyday life today. Listen to him. Then get ready to rise.

Thank you so much Jo, we have loved reading READY TO RISE and are oh so ready to get it into the hands of readers everywhere. The book is available to order today in Paperback and eBook from www.spck.org.uk