The History of FGP

I stand amazed at the providence and provision of God as I look back on the history of Free Grace Press. It is truly amazing! The Bible tells us not to “despise the day of small things” (Zech. 4:10). And no doubt, the seeds planted in early days, over 15 years ago, were very small. So small that I look back with amazement that anything materialized beyond a few self-published pamphlets.

I often tell people that FGP started with the publication of my first book, The Fatal Flaw in 2010, but in reality, the seeds of FGP have its roots in a small pamphlet I wrote in 2008 on the importance of the local church. The pamphlet would go through multiple revisions and expansions until Media Gratia picked it up in 2018, which included a 12-week video study paired with a full-length documentary (see here).

The Fatal Flaw was my first full-length book, which reworked my doctoral dissertation. In 2009, under the title, A Tree Planted in Unstable Ground, I brought a sparrow binding machine and printed 200 copies with the help of my father-in-law, Gilbert Barr. After running out of copies and with the gracious financial donations from Gilbert Barr, Ben, and Susie Lemoine, I self-published the book in 2010.

I remember choosing the name Free Grace Press because the domain name was available. Not knowing much, if anything, about publishing and distribution, I naïvely printed 5,400 copies of the Fatal Flaw and stored them in my garage. Looking back, I wonder what I was thinking. Over the next few years, I distributed and shipped out a couple hundred of them, mainly through Amazon’s self-fulfillment. It quickly dawned on me that I had overprinted—and I began to think that it would think it would take me the rest of my life to sell the books.

By God’s providence, my friend, Keith Troop, wrote a helpful blog review of the book, which led to it falling into the hands of Voddie Baucham. Voddie graciously highlighted the book on his website, causing the book to sell much faster.

The proceeds from those sales went to reprinting a few other books in the Baptist Reprint Series and another book I wrote, The Kingdom of God. I continued to publish more and more reprints and eventually published other authors, such as Tom Nettles and Sam Waldron.

It was a slow start, publishing just a few books a year. My wife and I funded the publication of each title—hoping there would be enough sales to keep things floating for the following publication. In 2016, things became so desperate that I considered closing shop. In a moment of discouragement one morning, I remember going to my closet (a relatively large closet, I must say) and giving FGP to the Lord. I recall saying something along the lines of, “God, I give you FGP; if you want me to continue this, please bless it. If not, I will close it down.” Up to that point, FGP averaged about 500.00 a month in revenue. Yet, by the end of that day, we sold 500.00 worth of books in a single day. This was astonishing. In addition, that night, I received a phone call from Joel Beeke, who asked me if I would be willing to publish two of his books, one he co-authored with Steve Lawson (See here and here). I couldn’t believe God would answer my prayer so quickly. From that moment, I have felt confident that God’s blessing is upon FGP.  We haven’t looked back since.

We currently have four employees, many sub-contractors, and over 70 titles in print. We recently purchased a large warehouse with ample space to house our books for years. We are still growing month by month and looking to the Lord to bless the work.

This brings me back to where we started—the reprinting of my first book—The Fatal Flaw of the Theology Behind Infant Baptism. Yes, we have sold all 5,400 copies, and the book has been out of print for the last four years. We continued getting requests for The Fatal Flaw, but I didn’t want to reprint it until I had the time to revise it. I have worked on the revision for the last couple of years, and the time has come for it to go back to print. It is very exciting to see the release of this work once again—seeing things come full circle. For this second edition, we are releasing the book as a hardcover. Needless to say, this book is very special to me and to the history of FGP.

If you have supported FGP in any way, donated to us, or purchased any of our books, I want to say thank you! I want to thank God for directing our paths and providing for us along the way. I pray that FGP will stand faithful as a Reformed Baptist Publisher for years to come.

To learn more about The Fatal Flaw, click here.