Great storytellers have a tendency to exaggerate. No one knows this better than Canadian humor writer Phil Callaway. He makes a living weaving the kinds of stories that stretch the fabric of factuality. He recently accepted the challenge to live for a year without telling a lie or fudging the truth, a journey he chronicles in his new book, To Be Perfectly Honest (Multnomah, 2011). Leadership Journal's Brandon O'Brien asked Callaway what pastors might need to know about his experiment.

You say that you learned the fine art of fudging in church. How so?

Someone said that a lie is an abomination to the Lord—and an ever-present help in times of trouble. I memorized the latter half of that refrain, and I take full responsibility for it. I grew up around great people, but much of my church experience was about rules. About the outward. Dress. Speech. If you questioned, the answer wasn't the problem, you were. So I learned to talk right, to look right, but never to shoot straight.

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