By John Fulton
Reverend William E. Planck of Vicksburg has written his first book, The Ben-Adon Scrolls. You may not have heard of Ben-Adon. That’s because it’s a creation of Rev. Planck.
The publisher, Christian Faith Publishing, calls it fictional, historical religious writing. Though fictional, Rev. Planck uses biblical stories and scriptures to develop characters, places and events in a unique manner that tell the story of Jesus’ ministry through his crucifixion and resurrection. “I also give readers a realistic view of the lives, times and customs of the common people of that era,” Rev. Planck said.
The book went on sale in December. Rev. Planck said, “The story was rolling around in my mind for about three years. Then it started gelling and I began to write small pieces that became chapters and after about four years, I had a book.”
The basic plot line involves the religious rulers of Israel that wanted to investigate a man they had heard was going around and baptizing people, John the Baptist. That led them to wanting information about a man John was preparing the way for, Jesus.
We know how the story of Jesus ends, but Rev. Planck has created a fascinating journey of faith around the people involved in receiving the scrolls which are investigative reports regarding Jesus and his ministry.
Rev. Planck stated, “My hope for The Ben-Adon Scrolls is that it will be a tool for the salvation of non-believers. It is a book that you could give to someone and like the characters in the book, would begin to process the meaning of the scrolls and develop an understanding of Jesus as the Messiah.”
When asked for advice for new writers, the 83-year-old Rev. Planck enthusiastically said, “Write. Don’t worry about organization. Just write. You will get to the point where you can organize and soon you will have a book. I found that developing characters was the hardest part. Sometimes I found them late in the book and had to rewrite them into earlier parts.”
The book, The Ben-Adon Scrolls is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble in soft cover for $17.95. The hard cover version is $30.95. Rev. Planck can be found on Facebook along with excerpts from The Ben-Adon Scrolls by searching his name.
Rev. Planck returned from the Korean War in 1955 and worked for the General Motors Oldsmobile plant in Lansing until retiring as a security dispatcher in 1986. Rev. Planck and his wife of 57 years, Mary, bought a summer vacation place in 1985 at the Indian Lake Nazarene Campground near Vicksburg.
Rev. Planck was at a Nazarene District Assembly in 1987 when he felt called to the ministry. At the age of 51, he retired from General Motors. He and Mary packed up, rented their Vicksburg home and moved to attend Nazarene Bible College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Rev. Planck graduated in 1992 and was ordained while in Colorado Springs. They returned to Vicksburg to live here full time while he worked as the Associate Pastor for Church Administration and Finance at Kalamazoo Southside Church of the Nazarene until 2000.