I went to see author Bruce Wilkinson give a talk tonight at Westgate Chapel, a benefit for the Pregnancy Center of Greater Toledo.
Dr. Wilkinson is a gifted speaker and a sharp theologian, and he is devoting this year to supporting pregnancy centers cross the country, seeking to raise $100 million for the pro-life cause.
Wilkinson, who has written 68 books including the phenomenally popular The Prayer of Jabez, which has sold 15 million copies, is passionate about preventing abortions.
During his talk, he had Ken Medema play a song and showed a video that provided a numeric illustration on abortion.
Photos and graphics of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington appeared on the screen as a narrator said that if the names of every American killed in every war, conflict, and terrorist attack from the Revolution to Afghanistan — 236 years — the wall would have 1.3 million names and stretch for two miles.
In comparison, the narrator said, a memorial wall with names representing the 54 million abortions performed in the United States since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case would stretch for 87 miles.
Those numbers are staggering, no matter where one’s political views happen to land.
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I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Wilkinson for a few minutes before the event started. I told him I was amazed that he has written 68 books. He laughed and said I write articles every day — and probably have written enough to equal 100 books.
He got me to thinking… 150 articles a year, each article averaging about 550 words, that equals 82,500 words a year. My one book was around 80,000 words. So in strictly numerical terms, I write enough words to produce a book a year.
Dr. Wilkinson pointed out that his books are small volumes… probably 25,000 to 30,000 words. So at a rate of 25,000 words per book I would have written approximately… 99 books in my 30 year career. Dr. Wilkinson was amazingly accurate with his off-the-cuff estimate.
