About this item
Mackenzie Allen Phillips's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation. Evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in the midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note--apparently from God--inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment, he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever.
About the Author
"I thought the way I grew up was 'normal' but I think most would probably agree that my history and journey have been a bit unusual."
We live in a world where 'normal' does not truly exist except as a concept or wishful thought. For each of us, where and how we grew up plays a foundational role in our sense of 'normal', and only when we begin to experience the 'bigness and diversity' of the world are we tempted to evaluate our roots.
I thought the way I grew up was 'normal' but most would probably agree that my history and journey have been a bit unusual. The eldest of four, born May 11th, 1955, in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, the majority of my first decade was lived with my missionary parents in the highlands of Netherlands New Guinea (West Papua) , among the Dani, a technologically stone age tribal people. These became my family and as the first white child and outsider who ever spoke their language, I was granted unusual access into their culture and community. Although at times a fierce warring people, steeped in the worship of spirits and even occasionally practicing ritualistic cannibalism, they also provided a deep sense of identity that remains an indelible element of my character and person.
By the time I was flown away to boarding school at age 6, I was in most respects a white Dani. In the middle of a school year, my family unexpectedly returned to the West. My father worked as a Pastor for a number of small churches in Western Canada and by the time I graduated, I had already attended thirteen different schools. I paid my way through Bible College working as a radio disc jockey, lifeguard and even a stint in the oil fields of northern Alberta. I spent one summer in the Philippines and another touring with a drama troupe before working in Washington D.C. at Fellowship House, an international guesthouse. Completing my undergraduate degree in Religion, I graduated summa cum laude from Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon.
The following year, I met and married Kim Warren and for a time worked on staff at a large suburban church while attending seminary. I have owned businesses and worked for others in diverse industries, from insurance to construction, venture capital companies to telecom, contract work to food processing; whatever was needed to help feed and house our growing family. I have always been a writer, whether songs, poetry, short stories or newsletters; never for public consumption but for friends and family. While I have extensively written for business, creating web content, business plans, white papers etc., The Shack was a story written for my six children, with no thought or intention to publish. No one is more surprised that I am now considered an 'author'. The truth is, I am a rather simple guy; I have one wife, six kids, two daughter-in-laws, a son-in-law and six grandkids, and incredible friends and ex
