Current Projects
Skinhead to Saint
Currently I am working on the spiritual conversion story of TJ Leyden, a former high-ranking skinhead leader who changed his life around when he realized his sons were destined for a similarly violent fate—or even death—because of the destructive lifestyle he was leading. TJ, who used to recruit hundreds of kids into the neo-Nazi, white power movement, now educates kids and adults across the U.S. on the importance of peace, tolerance, hope, and the miracle of new beginnings. (Read about his amazing, transformational story in the book we wrote that was released in 2008: Skinhead Confessions: From Hate to Hope, Sweetwater Books, Cedar Fort.)
Spiritually, however, TJ’s story goes much, much deeper. Together he and I are exploring what it was like for him after he had chosen to turn his life around, when he began speaking out against racial and gang violence as a speaker at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Museum of Tolerance (dedicated to educating people on the reality of the Holocaust and other atrocities) when TJ took his transformation a step further. After talking to missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he prayerfully sought out answers to questions that had plagued him for years. Once he made his decision to join his new church, he was not prepared for the ridicule, scorn and reverse-prejudice he would receive from people outside the church. Nor could he fully comprehend the deeper, ongoing spiritual changes that would affect him and his sons in miraculous ways… Stay tuned!
Holocaust Survivor Stories
When I was at a book signing with TJ Leyden at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance, I was approached by a director and asked if I would write Holocaust survivor stories. I felt my skin erupt into gooseflesh and an overwhelming swelling in my heart as I held back overwhelming tears. It was precisely the feeling the first time I met TJ Leyden, and the feeling when Melissa Moore asked me to assist her with her book project, Shattered Silence, the Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter. At that moment, I fully recognized that this was my next project. I have some incredible ideas that have come to me the last six months, and I am making plans to pursue this course as soon as my current project is completed, which will be soon.
