Sue’s Website
Sue writes:
Christian nonfiction
Poetry
Children’s leadership
Sue Schlesman is an award-winning author, freelance writer, teacher, speaker, and ministry leader. Sue’s books have won multiple industry awards, including multiple Selah, Golden Scroll Book of the Year, and Illumination Awards. For over 35 years, Sue’s profound insights and humble vulnerability have spread hope and healing worldwide through print, online, radio, and podcast mediums. Sue has a B.A. in Creative Writing and a Masters in Theology and Culture.
Sue and her husband Shane have been married for 37 years, ministering together through evangelism, discipleship, and leadership health. They have 3 adult sons, 2 daughters-in-law, and 2 grandchildren.
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The Companion Storybook Bible
(co-written with Crystal Bowman)
When we become more like Jesus, we have compassion for others.
Understanding the depth of God’s love is the heart and soul of The Compassion Storybook Bible. This Bible storybook takes young readers through 52 Bible stories of compassion and grace, showing children the power of loving others and the presence of God’s love for everyone. Complete with memory verse and discussion questions, The Compassion Storybook Bible works well for nightly reading to young children or for children to read to themselves. Readers will understand that the heroes of the Bible were ordinary people who did extraordinary things because of God’s great compassion. The Compassion Storybook Bible won three industry book awards—a Selah Award, an Illumination Award, and Golden Scroll Book of the Year in 2025.
Soulspeak:
Praying Change into Unexpected Places
“Soulspeak will take your prayer life to the next level.” – NY Times bestselling author, Mark Batterson
Maybe you’ve read books on prayer before. Somewhere midst the guilt, the theology, and the clichés, you closed the cover and assumed you will never become a person whose prayer alters the cosmos or secures God’s blessing.
You’re just not that holy.
This is the book for you. Using seven patterns of prayer, Sue will teach you how to pray from the deepest places of your soul—from the longings, pain, bitterness, and hopelessness—right into the heart of God and the world around you.
With vulnerability and spiritual wisdom, Sue shares personal stories, prayers, and Biblical direction for becoming a person who prays with authority and authenticity.
Soulspeak won a Selah Award in 2020.
Title Death by Pastoring:
Finding the Heartbeat of a Healthy Leader
(co-authored with Shane Schlesman)
A compassionate, Bible-based guide to restoring pastors from the grip of stress, burnout, and performance-driven ministry.
Death by Pastoring is a 2024 release by Shane and Sue Schlesman, addressing the urgent issue of pastoral stress and burnout. The authors draw from their own experiences of leading and transitioning a growing church, sharing personal stories of the mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical toll of ministry work.
Death by Pastoring won Golden Scrolls Book of the Year in 2025.