Young Adult / Coming of Age / Christian
Date Published: April 14, 2026
Publisher: Clay Bridges Press
When Jay finally seizes a moment of boldness with Nicole, he steps into new territory—only to discover her life is far more complicated than he ever imagined. Maybe he should just focus on basketball. Except Coach Mays seems blind to Jay’s potential, harping only on his flaws.
Caught between pressure, failure, and secrets no one talks about at Sunday school, Jay is forced to wrestle with deeper questions—about who he is, what he believes, and what it really means to be seen, to love, and to become someone worth noticing . . . no matter what.
What makes it unique:
This book provides a practical way for teens to engage with difficult questions and feel seen in the struggles they’re facing, while also being educational and presenting hard truths everyone will have to wrestle with. It helps the reader ask tough questions about who they are, who they want to be, where they want to go in life, and who they want to bring along on the journey.
The engaging characters and witty conversation pull in the reader and command attention and focus. This is not a story that will be read and quickly forgotten. Unlike generic "coming of age" books, No Matter What tackles the struggles of adolescence with taste and decency, allowing the reader to think and feel throughout the story without becoming unnecessarily uncomfortable or awkward.
Interview
Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?
I set out to write a
book about a Christian, rather than a Christian book. It's not about someone
who turns his life toward God and then gets everything he wants. Jay, my main
character, struggles to get anything he wants, even as he honestly tries
to do the right thing all along the way. It's about how we are formed in the
struggle and by the struggle, and how God leads and teaches us along the way,
even without those life-shattering epiphanies.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Finding the time. I'm
a pastor and father of four, so carving out margin in both my schedule and my
mental energy is always a challenge. This book was mostly written on my one
flight per year for more than a decade — until I finally hit a groove last year
and got it done. As for the writing task itself, it's keeping momentum. I was a
journalism major, and now I write a new sermon every week, so I'm used to
getting things ready for the public on the first draft. That can really slow me
down when I'm trying to figure out exactly how I want to shape a particular
scene or chapter.
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
No Matter What is my first novel, though I've also written some
discipleship books along the way. I enjoy each of them in a different way,
since they're all so different from each other. But of course, the novel is the
most fun.
If You had the chance to cast your main character from
Jay has a hard time
fitting into any box, so it's tricky looking at the landscape of current actors
and finding the right fit. He needs to be tall and lanky enough to make the
basketball scenes realistic, but not so obviously good-looking that the audience
would never buy that he thinks he has no shot with Nicole. He needs to be able
to play awkward well. I'd probably need to cast an unknown, but maybe Mason
Thames would work — he was believably awkward in How to Train Your Dragon.
Though he's probably a little too chiseled for the role.
When did you begin writing?
Writing has always
been something I enjoyed, but for a long time I mostly wrote in connection with
school assignments. Over the years I've taken whatever opportunities came my
way. I published a play called "Christmas in the Real World" with
Lifeway in 2002, had a blog about small-town ministry called "No Small
Calling" through BH Carroll Seminary from 2017 to 2018, and have written
several articles for Royals Review, a major baseball fan site.
How long did it take to complete your first book?
No Matter What began as a short story I wrote for a creative
writing class in 1999. Around 2011, I decided to build it into a novel, writing
a prologue and converting the short story into the first two chapters. I worked
on it very sporadically over the next decade-plus and still only had about ten
chapters finished by spring of 2024. That's when I started reading chapters to
the ladies in my office, and they wanted to hear more. I finally got serious
about writing consistently in the spring of 2025 and wrote the second half of
the book in just a couple of months.
Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?
It was really teachers
at different points in my life who encouraged me in my writing. I had
elementary school teachers read my stories in front of the class. My creative
writing professor encouraged me to seek publication with my short stories. Even
doing my doctoral work, I had a professor pull me aside and tell me that he
thought I should be writing more. As for No Matter What, one author I
read growing up was Matt Christopher, who wrote a lot of sports books for
younger readers. My book is aimed more to teens and their parents, but I
probably pulled a little from my memories of his work.
What is your favorite part of the writing process?
It's fun seeing things
that were only loose ideas in my head for a long time — sometimes years — take
definitive shape on the page. Sometimes that process is easy, but other times
it's a real struggle to make the idea work. Either way, it's satisfying to see
its final form. Another favorite part was reading each chapter to the ladies in
my office as I wrote it. Watching them laugh at the funny parts, and even tear
up at others, helped me believe the story was worth sharing.
Describe your latest book in 4 words.
Honest. Cringey.
Nostalgic. Redemptive.
Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is in the future for your writing?
Right now, the spare
time I used to spend writing is largely taken up by getting the word out about
No Matter What. But I do have a couple of projects outlined. I have a sequel
picking up Jay's story in his junior year of college, and a story based on Julius,
the centurion in charge of Paul during his shipwreck in Acts 27–28. I'm also
working on a devotional based on the 145 commands of Jesus recorded in the
Gospels.
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