About Max Lucado
Read any Max Lucado book and you feel like you know the author personally. He likes it that way. Max doesn’t want to be called pastor, reverend or even mister, though he is all of the above. He prefers to be known simply as Max.
Lucado is the minister of preaching at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, where he has served since 1988. A prolific author for over 25 years, Lucado has sold more than 100 million products, including 80 million books.
Lucado’s books have appeared on every major national bestseller list including The New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association and the Christian Booksellers Association. He has been featured on numerous national television programs including CNN’s American Morning and Good Morning America. In 2005, Reader’s Digest called Lucado “America’s Best Preacher,” and in 2004 Christianity Today dubbed him “America’s Pastor.”
Lucado was nominated in 2011 for three Christian Book of the Year awards, winning in the Inspiration category. He is the only author to have won four of these awards: In 1999 for Just Like Jesus, in 1997 for In the Grip of Grace, and in 1995 for When God Whispers Your Name. The product line for 3:16—The Numbers of Hope sold more than 4 million units worldwide, including 1 million units of the cornerstone trade book of the same title (released in September 2007), making it the fastest selling product for Lucado.
Lucado’s writings have been published in a wide array of formats including adult books, gift books, children’s titles, Bibles, commentaries, calendars and devotionals. He is also the author and creator of “Max Lucado’s Hermie & Friends,” one of the most popular animated DVD series in the Christian marketplace with more than 5 million units sold to date. His words have also inspired a branded line of greeting cards and gift books for Hallmark and Dayspring, which has sold more than 15 million copies since its 2001 debut. In 1992 Lucado launched UpWords Ministry, inspirational radio messages that can be heard in over fourteen hundred radio markets around the world. He is also currently serving as a contributing editor for Leadership Journal.
Lucado attended Abilene Christian University where a required Bible class on the life of Jesus captured Lucado’s imagination. After graduating with a B.A. in mass communications, Lucado moved to Miami where one of his duties as associate pastor was to write a weekly column for the church bulletin. When he and wife Denalyn moved to Brazil to be missionaries, Lucado compiled the columns and submitted them to 14 publishers. They all declined. The 15th publisher said “yes,” transforming his collected writings into his first adult book, On the Anvil, in 1985.
Lucado also has a masters in biblical and related studies from Abilene Christian University in Texas. He has been married to Denalyn Lucado since 1981. They have three grown daughters—Jenna, Andrea and Sara—and a son-in-law, Brett.
