DRAKE, Timothy A. 1967- (Lance Haataja, Robert Pierce)

PERSONAL: Born September 13, 1967, in St. Paul, MN; son of Thomas (a mechanic) and Linda (a secretary; maiden name, Kolbeck) Drake; married Mary (a sign language interpreter), July 8, 1989; children: Elias, Isabel, Claire, Elena. Education: University of Minnesota—Morris, B.A. (social sciences), 1989; attended Hamline University, 1993-94. Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: Autograph collecting, reading, biking.

ADDRESSES: Home—2009 13th Street South, Saint Cloud, MN 56301. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Circle Media, North Haven, CT, features correspondent, 1999—, managing editor, 2001—; Envoy Magazine, Hebron, OH, contributing editor, 2000—. Spirit '93 Fund, chairman of advisory board, 2001—. Morris Area Crisis Pregnancy Center, member of board of directors, 1998; Birthline, member of board of directors, 2001—; Human Life Action Council, member of advisory board, 2001—.

MEMBER: Catholic Writer's Association.

AWARDS, HONORS: Ida B. Davis Ethnic Heritage Award, University of Minnesota, 1989, for history of First Lutheran Church of Morris; Metro Write for Life Award, Metro Right to Life, 2000, for Op Ed piece; Bestseller Award, 1st Books Library, 2001, for There We Stood, Here We Stand: Eleven Lutherans Rediscover Their Catholic Roots.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Henry Graham) Where We Got the Bible, Catholic Answers (San Diego, CA), 1997.

(Editor, with Cleta Hartman) Physicians Healed, One More Soul (Dayton, OH), 1998.

(With Patrick Madrid) Suprised by Truth 2, Sophia Institute Press (Manchester, NH), 2000.

(Editor, with Patrick Madrid) Where Is That in the Bible?, Our Sunday Visitor (Huntington, IN), 2001.

(With Lynn Nordhagen) When Only One Converts, Our Sunday Visitor (Huntington, IN), 2001.

There We Stood, Here We Stand: Eleven Lutherans Rediscover Their Catholic Roots, 1st Books Library (Bloomington, IN), 2001.

Contributor to magazines and publications including Be, Gilbert, Catholic World Report, Envoy, Columbia, Lay Witness, the National Catholic Register, and The Write Stuff. Also uses pseudonyms Lance Haataja and Robert Pierce.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Saints of the Jubilee, Beautiful Life, and Signs of Contradiction, for 1st Books Library (Bloomington, IN); The Attic Saint, for Bethlehem Books (Bathgate, ND); There We Stood, Here We Stand: Eleven Lutherans Rediscover Their Catholic Roots (revision), for Our Sunday Visitor (Huntington, IN).

SIDELIGHTS: Timothy A. Drake told CA: "My conversion to Catholicism in 1995 had a profound impact on my writing. Suddenly, it seemed to me that there was nothing else worth writing about other than Christ and His Church. Such a decision provided the necessary voice that my previous writing lacked. To date, everything I have written is influenced by a Catholic world view. To others, such a decision might seem limiting, but I have discovered it to be expanding. The more one learns about the Church, the more one realizes what intense depth and beauty and richness there is to it, and the more that one needs to learn. A colleague once described the work of a religion writer as 'missionary work,' because one never knows whom one might influence with a given piece. This has continued to be my motivation, particularly with my journalistic work with the national Catholic weekly the National Catholic Register."