Near- death experience opens boy’s eyes to ‘ Heaven’
Todd and Sonja Burpo have come a long way from that day in March 2003, the day their son went from having a tummy ache to being lifeless in a hospital emergency room.
That was when 3- year- old Colton Burpo nearly died in an emergency appendectomy. The family emerged from that trauma with a story that eventually became the bestselling “Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of his Trip to Heaven and Back,” by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent.
In the book, Colton tells his parents about meeting his sister, a child his mother had miscarried, as well as his great- grandfather. He also told of seeing God sitting on his throne, with Jesus on his right and the angel Gabriel on his left. He includes details, too: In heaven, it never gets dark and no one is old.
On the Internet and in a handful of books, skeptics have called the Burpos’ book — and Colton’s stories— into question, citing personal beliefs and sometimes biblical Scriptures as proof that no one living could know anything about heaven. Some have voiced not only doubt, but have made threats against the family.
Published in 2010, “Heaven” has sold more than 7 million copies and is about to be made into a movie that they expect to be in theaters this time next year.
The Burpos will visit the Berry Center in Cypress on Monday night at the invitation
of Faith West Academy. Todd Burpo, still the pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Neb., took time recently to talk about life since the book, the launch of a movie and dealing with skeptics.
Q: Colton’s near- death experience was in 2003, and your book came out in 2010. What happened during those years to make it happen?
A: It wasn’t a short road by any means. We were sharing with other people in our town. I’m a pastor, and when I’m doing funerals, the story of Colton’s experience is very comforting to people. When I’d meet family members in those settings they’d tell me that I couldn’t keep it to myself. Then an agent discovered my story. The publishing world came to Nebraska ... I didn’t go to them.
Q: Your book has had the kind of success most people can only dream about, and yet you talk about it requiring courage to continue to talk about “Heaven.” How is courage a factor?
A: We have threats of violence against us. We travel
with police when we speak. There are people who profess to be Christian and don’t agree with everything Colton says. If you go online there are four other books people have written about me, and none of them are nice. People want us to recant the story.
Q: How much has your life changed since this book became a best- seller?
A: We still live in the same house, in the same town. It has changed us in the sense that we’ve done some traveling, I sold my garage- door business, and I don’t coach as much as I used to. But I’m still the state fire association chaplain and a volunteer fireman. But yeah, we’ve had to accept a new normal.
Q: I understand that plans are in the works for a movie based on the book and that Bishop T. D. Jakes of Dallas is an executive producer. Will you be involved in that project?
A: He’s working with Sony and, originally, I think they were looking at holiday 2014 release. Now they want holiday 2013. I’m a consultant for accuracy. As far as the moviemaking process, I’m learning as I go.
Q: Were you surprised when people approached you about a movie?
A: Initially I was, and I was approached by at least 20 production companies. It was frightening at first. Just writing about our experience in book
form took a lot of convincing to get me to be willing to do that. I wrote it to help people, but I didn’t want it to change my life.
Q: You were a part- time pastor in a small- town church before all of this. Can you reflect on how this has shaped your message?
A: One of the things I try to do is be honest with my own struggles and my own shortcomings. When I saw my son dying, I was scared to death. It was the lowest of the low times in my life. Finding out about my daughter and my granddad in heaven ... it gives me a confidence that supercedes anything I had before. Colton has set an incredible example for me. He says, “They can believe what they want, it doesn’t change what I saw.”
Q: How is Colton these days?
A: He’s 12 and in eighth grade and will be in his first wrestling tournament tomorrow. They had an undefeated football season. He wants to be involved in music, plays horn and piano and sings in choir. He’s very involved in school, and doing well in his grades, too.