His books have sold more than 15 million copies in English and have been translated into 40 languages, making him one of the best-selling contemporary Christian authors.

[4] When he was one year old, his father, stricken with polio, died after church members suggested he go off life support in faith that God would heal him.

[5][6] After high school he attended Columbia Bible College in South Carolina, where he met his wife, Janet.

While living in the Chicago, Illinois suburbs, in 1971 Yancey joined the staff of Campus Life magazine—a publication directed towards high school and college students—where he served as editor for eight years.

As a journalist, he has interviewed two U. S. presidents and other notable people such as Bono, Billy Graham, and the authors Annie Dillard, John Updike, and Henri Nouwen.