Why Steve Lawson’s Book Is Not A Grift (Per Se)

Since Monday, the authenticity of Steve Lawson’s new book, Mercy in the Wilderness: How I Fell & What I Found has been confirmed. The return of Steve Lawson is a curious development 2 years after his fall from being a top speaker in Reformed Christianity. My personal opinions on the matter are mixed and best summarized as cautiously pessimistic.

Justin Peters has gone full pessimistic on Steve Lawson, believing that he should live as a quiet hermit who goes to church. Though Lawson is a major offender, he has held this position against others for far less. Peters would even review bomb Lawson’s book on Amazon.

Many are calling the book a grift, and its understandable that books are often grifts. However, the grift with a book is in the publishing industry and the process. Most books do not sell very well. Lawson’s book has likely underperformed every other book he’s written. It was published discreetly with no promotion. It was merely found out.

I think this gives credence to the book not being a cash grab. At $15 a book, Lawson’s royalties might be around $5/copy, maybe more. So, this book will not make Lawson much financially alone.

Alone is the key word. Books are used to give credibility to a person or narrative, like a business card in the nonfiction world. Books also help land conference speaking gigs. And this is where Lawson’s potential grift is.

A book would hardly monetize his comeback story, but being a sought-after speaker to share sordid personal details and hard lessons is a foreseeable path. This is the long play for a grifter to make. This is also something that Steve Lawson tested with the Contending Conference debacle. It’s this debacle that has me skeptical of Lawson’s intent.

I do not think a comeback tour is edifying for a pastor who cheated on his wife for the rest of the body of Christ. Much like the charismatic circles that treat 7th Commandment violations as something to click your heals and make go away, a comeback tour for Lawson would make light of what he did. Too happy an ending for Lawson removes the deterrence for committing adultery. Spend time in the penalty box and return to form with a “powerful” story.

Lawson should be forgiven as he has sought repentance. He should be welcomed in the body of Christ. But he should not be given a public platform to lecture Christians a mere 2 years later for a continued course of conduct that lasted 5.