N S E W LUMEN et vita
Timothy D. Willard
Author  ·  Independent Scholar  ·  Maker

tim@timothywillard.com   ·   717-537-5878

About

For fifteen years I’ve collaborated with executives, artists, athletes, and public figures on books that have found wide audiences and shaped conversations. My clients include New York Times bestselling authors, Grammy Award–winning musicians, Fortune 500 executives, and NFL legends. The work spans memoir, business narrative, and theological reflection.

My doctoral training at King’s College London — supervised by Alister McGrath, examined by scholars at Oxford and Cambridge — means I can move through complex ideas and render them in prose that is clear and lasting. I write for academic audiences without losing the literary register. I write for popular audiences without losing the weight. That gap is where most of my energy lives.

I’ve also published my own books, taught and lectured at institutions from the Museum of the Bible to Gordon-Conwell, and I write most weeks on Substack. This work and the ghostwriting inform each other in ways I’m still learning to articulate.

This page is shared by introduction only. If you’ve received it, I’m glad to talk.

Published Work
The Beauty Chasers: Recapturing the Wonder of the Divine Zondervan Reflective
Veneer: Living Deeply in a Surface Society Zondervan
Longing for More Bethany House
Home Behind the Sun HarperCollins Christian
The Tempest and the Bloom Riven Press, 2026
The Misadventures of Leighton Fig (YA, in development) Riven Press, 2027
LUX: Hope from the Back of the World (forthcoming) on submission
C.S. Lewis and the Idea of the North: Beauty and Northern Aesthetics in His Fantasies and Fiction (peer review) Manchester UP
Northern Light: Brontë and the Aesthetics of the North (peer review) Manchester UP

I write at The Beautiful Disruption on Substack — a growing community gathering around the conviction that paying attention and pursuing beauty are spiritual acts.

The Longer Story

It took Timothy Willard fourteen years to finish his undergraduate degree. He was busy touring the country in an indie acoustic band you’ve never heard of, reading George MacDonald in the back of a van. When people asked about his plans, he told them he was attending the University of the Holy Spirit, which meant he was reading Lewis, Chesterton, Eliot, and Augustine, and submitting his assignments as poems.

He eventually finished real college. He then earned a master’s in Christian Thought, followed by a PhD in Theology, studying C.S. Lewis and theological aesthetics under Alister McGrath. He moved his family — three daughters all under five — to Oxford to do so.

He is completing a monograph on Lewis’s “idea of the North” for Manchester University Press. He is also self-publishing his first novel, The Tempest and the Bloom (2026, Riven Press), which editors loved but said was “too fantastical” for Christian audiences.

He has delivered keynote addresses at the Museum of the Bible, The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, and the Charlotte Mason Institute National Conference, and guest lectures at Reformed Theological Seminary and St. Aldate’s, Oxford.

He is also an oil painter, a volleyball coach, a husband, and a father who has learned more about hope from his daughters than from any library. He lives in Waxhaw, North Carolina.

What I Do

Full collaboration, start to finish.

Memoir & Narrative Nonfiction

Full ghostwriting for leaders, artists, and public figures. Voice development, structure, research, and manuscript from first page to last.

Business & Leadership

For executives and entrepreneurs. From book concept through final manuscript, including proposal development for publishers and agents.

Spiritual Formation & Christian Living

A niche where craft and genuine theological formation meet. My published work and doctoral training give me native fluency here.

Book Proposals & Concept Development

The proposal is where a book is made or lost. This is the creative work — discovering what the book is, why it matters, and why anyone should read it. Usually it begins with extended conversation, recorded and transcribed, and builds toward an outline and argument from the ground up. The proposal becomes the guardrail for everything that follows.

Selected Collaborations

The people and projects I’ve worked with.

  • New York Times Bestseller

    2026. Full ghostwriting and manuscript collaboration. Details available under NDA.

  • Sonic Drive-In

    Bricks & Clicks — Cliff Hudson & Craig Miller, Former CEO & CIO. Forbes Books, 2025. Amazon #1 Bestseller.

  • Chick-fil-A

    Personal ghostwriter for Dan Cathy, Former CEO (2017–2020). Digital platforms, speeches, and corporate communications.

  • Coca-Cola Consolidated

    The Transformation Factor — Frank Harrison, CEO. Greenleaf Publishers, 2022. Full ghostwriting.

  • Hobby Lobby

    Three books for the Green family — David, Steve & Jackie Green. Published by HarperCollins Christian Publishers.

  • BeBe Winans

    Born For This (FaithWords / Hachette) & The Whitney I Knew (Worthy Publishers). Full ghostwriting on both.

  • Jay DeMarcus

    Shotgun Angels — HarperCollins Christian Publishers. Full ghostwriting.

  • Randall Cunningham

    Lay It Down — Worthy Publishers. Full ghostwriting.

  • David Platt

    Something Needs to Change — Waterbrook / Multnomah. Proposal, concept development, and sample chapters.

  • Lacey Sturm

    Three projects: The Reason, The Mystery, The Return — Baker Books. Ghostwriting and book mapping.

How It Works

Simple. Clear.

I

Conversation

We start with a real conversation — your vision, your project, your timeline. An honest exchange about what you want to make and whether I’m the right person to help you make it.

II

Agreement & Structure

Every project is different, and I tailor each engagement to the specific requirements. Most of my current work runs on custom retainers — that’s typically how I prefer to work, because it creates the right rhythm for serious, sustained collaboration. If a project calls for something else, we build the right structure together.

III

Deep Collaboration

I immerse myself in your world through interviews, research, and sustained conversation. The goal is to disappear into your voice so completely that readers never sense a collaborator was there.

IV

Manuscript & Beyond

I deliver a manuscript you’re proud to put your name on. Depending on the engagement, I can also assist with proposal preparation, agent strategy, and positioning for the market.

Get in Touch

The best first step is a direct message or a phone call. I respond personally to every inquiry that feels like a genuine match.

Reach me directly
Email tim@timothywillard.com
Phone 717-537-5878

When you write, it helps to know a few things. What kind of project are you working on? Memoir, business book, spiritual writing, something harder to categorize? Where are you in the process? Early concept, rough draft, a proposal that needs reshaping? Who else is involved? An agent, a publisher, a team?

A sentence or two about you — who you are, what you’ve built or done, why this book matters to you now — goes a long way. I’m not looking for a pitch. I’m looking for a person.

Everything shared is treated with complete discretion.

· · ·

Timothy D. Willard  ·  Waxhaw, North Carolina

tim@timothywillard.com  ·  timothywillard.com

This page is private and not indexed. Please do not share without permission.

“Shall I tell you the secret of the whole world?”
— Gabriel Syme, The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton

0