Writing a Christian Superhero Novel and Trusting God

It all started with a show called Bibleman that I watched as a little kid.

He was a superhero, but everything about his character was Christian-based: A wealthy, famous man tired of his lifestyle who turned to Christianity and decided to fight evil in God’s name. Bibleman had gadgets and armor based around Scripture, and he carried a lightsaber-like sword that he called the Sword of the Spirit. Bibleman eventually gained a young sidekick . . .

Sound familiar?

Yeh, basically a Christian Batman. It was pretty cheesy but a solid character to teach basic Bible truths to kids who enjoy superheroes.

But these days, superheroes aren’t just for kids. Marvel movies in particular have drawn such a worldwide fanbase that most people can tell you the name of at least half a dozen superheroes: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor . . . the list goes on. Children and adults alike love these characters. Simply put, superheroes have become mainstream, but well before I even realized that or cared, as a pretty young kid I decided I wanted to be a writer. I even took a few classes and attended a conference on writing Christian fiction. 

But in the summer of 2016 while watching my favorite TV show, a superhero drama called Arrow, gave me an idea that I couldn’t shake: Why couldn’t Christians have a superhero story that was serious, could be occasionally dark and gritty but still uphold biblical themes, and Christian characters at its core? I decided Christians could have that—and I could be the one to write it.

I started a manuscript that summer simply titled called The Crusade. Although I was passionate about the idea, fifty pages in, something just felt off, and I couldn’t get into the story. Energy fizzled out and I set the story aside. But hat was not the end of the story, and college had a great deal to do with that restart.  

Going into my third year of college, I was about the busiest I had ever been: I became the editor of the Tower, the Central Baptist College student newspaper, worked two to three nights a week at David’s Burgers, had more friends than in my previous two years of college combined, and  unfortunately, began working on The Crusade. College life caused writing to take a back seat for a while.

When I graduated in 2018, I began doing contract work for Lifeword, so I quit my job at David’s Burgers. Without classes, homework, or a night job to occupy my attention, I had something that was a precious commodity during my college years: time.

In the fall of 2018, I picked up watching Season 7 of my favorite show, Arrow. My girlfriend (now wife) and I watched it together, and my spark for writing a Christian superhero novel reignited my passion. For the first time in over two years, I reopened The Crusade. 

Something still didn’t feel quite right, but this time I worked through name changes, character details, the setting, the plot and the title . . . which is now Vigilante’s Light. In two months, I had a complete first draft then spent the next several months in editing and revision. Finally, it was time to contact publishers and agents, which meant rejection emails and silence. I prayed about what God wanted for my book and kept moving forward. In the summer of 2019, Vigilante’s Lightfinally found a home.

There was a Twitter event called #FaithPitch for Christian authors where entrants tweeted a brief synopsis of their book and if a publisher found the story idea interesting, they would like the Tweet and the author could contact them.

I received exactly one like on my Tweet about Vigilante’s Light. Ambassador International sent a message requesting a full manuscript . . . and the rest is history. I signed a contract with them and on February 23, 2021, Vigilante’s Lightbecame available for the world to read. Two days later, I got to hold a physical copy of my own book. It was beyond surreal, and Vigilante’s Light is out now on Amazon. Freedom’s Fight has also been published, and in October of 2022, the sequel Heroes’ Might will bring that tally up to three.

I learned a lot through this process, including the importance of serving God in the waiting, and looking forward to the blessings he will no doubt bestow if you are willing to obediently trust and follow him with your talents. Creative talent comes from God. He will use it in great ways. All we have to do is surrender that talent to him and let him guide the paintbrush to create our art. He’s the greatest artist in the universe.