Friday FictionFest: Gospel Today Yanked, The Marriage Counselor & Divorcing Devils

Southern Baptist Association Pulls Women Pastors Off Shelves

Gospel Today, the Fayetteville-published magazine, was pulled off the racks by the bookstores’ owner[LifewayBookstores,] the Southern Baptist Convention. The problem? The five smiling women on the cover are women of the cloth — church pastors. Southern Baptist polity says that’s a role reserved for men.

Read the AJC for full article.

Enter to win this darling cotton
skirt with flower applique from
Bella Blu Boutique!

Just visit the Etsy store and comment to this post on your favorite Bella Blu Boutique
merchandise. Winner will be selected by random drawing. Deadline to enter is noon, EST,
Friday, October 3, 2008. Open to US residents only. This skirt should fit girls, ages 2 to 5 years of age, depending on their stature.

Here's a sneak peek at Bella Blu Boutique! Visit the shop to see the rest of the collection! NotesfrommyNest Blog is sponsoring this contest.

Dee-Coding Your Book Marketing Plan

Update: Due to Hurricane Ike the teleseminar has been postponed.

Which is good news for those of you who thought you missed it or had plans. I will also release my E-book Dee-Coding Your Book Marketing Plan: The Manual. soon as we agree on a new date, I will let you know. Did you also know DGP, my pr service has a site. www.deestewart.com. Check it out. If you signed up for the teleseminar, please email me off loop with your contact info, I would like to talk to you.

Dee & Dwan Divorce Devils this Weekend

Tomorrow Dwan Abrams and I will be hitting the A[Atlanta] for two Divorcing the Devil book events. I will be her mobile bookseller(Mocha Readers, an Essence Magazine Reporting Bookstore.)

• Just Write! Workshop, Berean Christian Church, 2201 Young Rd., Stone Mountain, GA, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
• The Virtuous Woman Book Club Meeting, Book Selection: Divorcing the Devil, Atlanta, Georgia, 2:30 p.m.

Hope to see you there!

Don't forget.

1. Next Monday I will be at The Master's Artist talking about Prayer, Perseverance & Publishing
2. The Essence Short Fiction Contest submission time will be coming to a close next week. I just wrote mine. lol
3. Updated dates for Tyler Perry's The Marriage Counselor.
   

CoCo Brother's iPray 24 Prayer Cell Event Tonight thru Tomorrow

On Thursday, September 18th at 9pm - Friday, September 19th at 9pm come join The City of Atlanta, The Stand Campaign and myself (Cory "Coco Brother" Condrey) for our 24 hour

" I Pray".

During the 24 hours we will pray for the 21 issues that you (the people) have chosen to come in agreement on. The last 3 hours will be dedicated to praying for the Coming of the King - Jesus Christ. It is my prayer that you make a decision today, to dedicate at least one hour to intercede on behalf of your family, the community and our leaders (For there is truly power in agreement).

We Must Stand As One!

Cory " Coco Brother" Condrey

For more information, log onto www.cocobrotherlive.com

Trailer Park Thursday: The Enemy Between My Legs

Today's Trailer Park Thursday feature isn't a trailer but an audio preview of my friend, Stephanie L. Jones's memoir, The Enemy Between My Legs. She recounts her childhood and the sexual abuse and molestation that permeated through it. I know I'm on a theme this week. Don't know why, will definitely pray about it tonight during Coco Brother's iPray event.

Wednesday Readup: The Road of Lost Innocence

The Road of Lost Innocence, an excerpt...

I know the people who paid money to hurt their children. I know the clients. Some of them are tourists, but most are Cambodians. They are tuk-tuk drivers, cops, shopkeepers--ordinary men. The only difference in social class is the order in which they use the girls. The richest, the governnment officials and big businessmen, go first. In the end, when a girl costs only five thousand riel--just over one US dollar--it's the poor's turn. It's hard to say which is worse.

Yesterday, while watching Inside Edition I saw a story about some young women selling her virginity to the wealthiest bidder at the infamous Bunny Ranch to give her mom and her a better spot in life. And I cringed. This girl didn't have a clue that she was adding to the devaluing of women in this world.

On Oprah yesterday she discussed pedophilia and internet porn in this country. When I googled the Bunny Ranch Auction I lost count of the number of bloggers tied into the Auction Bid Watch, some were women bloggers. (I didn't add any links, because I don't want to add to that crap.)

Somehow this cycle has to stop. But where and with whom?

Somaly Mam has worked tirelessly to be a part of the whom to my answer.

While reading her book I didn't realize that there were Cambodian dark-skinned people and their culture was very prejudiced against them as mine. I was immediately connected to her. And as I continued to read her story and witnessed through her eyes what she had seen...oh my, Good Lord I cried for a long time. Not because her young life was so hard, but that many young girls are living worse than this now. Today we are upset and concerned about the stock market. I'm concerned about my daughter's college fund. After reading this book my whole frame of mind has changed. I'm in debt. I'm sick, but my daughter will never have to pay for my debts or my poverty with her body. God is a good God to me.

More about The Road of Lost Innocence:
As a teenager, Somaly Mam was sold into prostitution and spent years in the brothels of Cambodia where she witnessed and experienced the full-blown horrors of the human sex trade – rape, torture, and nearly unfathomable abuse. After her eventual escape, she could not forget the young girls (some as young as 5) left behind in the brothels, and so she returned to serve them. Her new book, "The Road of Lost Innocence," is her newest means of advocacy. It tells her personal story, ultimately inviting people of conscious, such as our Christian community, to become involved (or to continue involvement) in this war against an epic evil, a modern battle for "the least of these." Truly, not only is this book worth reading, it's worth sharing.

Advisory: This title is not a Christian fiction title. The simple prose is beautiful and soulful. However, it is graphic(violent,) but is a must read.

Pay it Forward Fall: Start Kindness Journal

Gary Chapman's Love as a Way of Life, an excerpt...

We may not ever see the results of our sacrifice when we act kindly, but authentic love calls us to serve others simply,because we know that one act of service can change lives.

My write-or-die chick, Rhonda McKnight is one of the kindest women I've met. Not only is she the president of our ACFW VIP Chapter, but she mentors and helps upcoming writers through the manuscript process, while raising a teenage son, a toddler sweetie and working a full-time job. She sells our write-or-die chicks books every where she goes: beauty salons, grocery stores, you name it. She understands this Pay it Forward Concept based on Catherine Ryan Hyde's novel and Gary Chapman's observation.

My friend, Tammy Allen is not only an accomplished singer and partner of C3Marketing, Inc, a PR firm in Atlanta, she has a great site called Do Good Every Day. It's based on her song, "Every Day People." It's a Pay it Forward Concept also. You can nominate your family and friends who have done great deeds to receive an award. Please stop by her site. She has a great contest with a $1,000 grandprize to the winnder.

As writers, as sisters and bros in Christ, I wonder this fall what great things we could do if we made Paying it Forward apart of our Fall Goals? I know we all have plans to write a novel, get published, become a screenwriter, solopreneur, whatever...But imagine what we can do if we turn our focus to helping people we haven't met yet?

Perhaps we could encourage a writer, take on a free client, ask a library to stock an author's book, I don't know. What I do know, however, is with the world we live in and the pain that people have felt this past week it wouldn't hurt to be kinder this fall season. Right?

So I will start with me. Today I will begin a Kindness Journal. In this journal I will record all acts and words of kindness that I have observed throughout the day, as well as record the acts of service I have done through the week. Every other Tuesday I will report my Kindness Journal to you with hopes that you share yours with me.

Christian Fiction News: Tyler Perry Preys to #2

For the week ending September 15, 2008

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Tyler Perry Prey's

Tyler Perry's lastest cinematic release, The Family that Preys reached the #2 slot at this weekend's Box Office ($18 Million.)

CBA Industry Blog has been chatting with me about TP's influence on Hollywood and what that could mean for CBA, particularly CBA's African-American Audience. Check out the entry and my comments here.

A review of Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys can be read here at Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter.

And if you stood outside the Fabulous Fox Theatre with my lil sister, MeLana this past Saturday, God Bless you. The line was 500+ long for Tyler Perry Company Casting. Whew!! It was hot out there, she says.

Related News:

• Wednesday Readup: Palin, Perry Preys Premiere, A Mercy, Booker List & Free BMP Help

• Friday FictionFest: Tyler Perry, Obama, Faith and Fiction Retreat

• Wednesday Readup: Giveaway Winner, Tyler Perry, Free TeleSeminar & My Book Update

• Christian Fiction News: Tyler Perry Template for LionsGate

Subscribe to Christian Fiction News for Free Here.

FIRST: Is God Still Good?

It's the 15th, time for the Non~FIRST blog tour!(Join our alliance! Click the button!) Every 15th, we will featuring an author and his/her latest non~fiction book's FIRST chapter!

The feature author is:

Matt Rogers

and his/her book:

When Answers Aren't Enough Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn't

Zondervan (April 1, 2008)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Matt Rogers is copastor of New Life Christian Fellowship at Virginia Tech. Eight hundred students call it home. FROM THE BACK COVER:On April 16, 2007, the campus of Virginia Tech experienced a collective nightmare when thirty-three students were killed in the worst massacre in modern U.S. history. Following that horrendous event, Virginia Tech campus pastor Matt Rogers found himself asking and being asked, “Where is God in all of this?” The cliché-ridden, pat answers rang hollow.In this book, Matt approaches the pain of the world with personal perspective—dealing with his hurting community as well as standing over the hospital bed of his own father—and goes beyond answers, beyond theodicy, beyond the mere intellectual. When Answers Aren’t Enough drives deeper, to the heart of our longing, in search of a God we can experience as good when life isn’t. Product DetailsList Price: $14.99 Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: Zondervan (April 1, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 0310286816 ISBN-13: 978-0310286813

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

A Heavy, Sinking SadnessEmbracing the World That IsOneLately I’ve been walking in the evenings. I tend to do that when stuck on a question. Maybe I’m trying to walk it off. On days when I have time, I drive out to Pandapas Pond in Jefferson National Forest to be in nature. Once there, I set off through the woods or slowly stroll along the water’s edge, deep in thought or prayer.Most days, because of time, I have to settle for the streets around my home. I can quickly climb to the top of Lee Street, turn around, and look out over Blacksburg, the Blue Ridge backlit by the setting sun. From there, I can see much of Virginia Tech. The stately bell tower of Burruss Hall rises proudly above the rest.On nights like tonight, when I get a late start and the sun is already down, I head for campus. At its center, separating the academic and residential sides of the school, sits the Drill Field, a wide-open grassy space named for the exercises that the Corps of Cadets practices to perfection there. After dark, old iron lampposts, painted black, blanket the ground in overlapping circles of light.It was here on the Drill Field, the day after the shootings, that students placed thirty-two slabs of gray limestone rock — Hokie stones, as they’re called — in a semicircle in front of Burruss Hall, to commemorate the lives of loved ones lost. Thousands of mourners descended on the place, bearing with them a flood of condolences, a mix of bouquets, balloons, and poster-board sympathies. They came sniffling, clinging to tissues and to one another, and lifting their sunglasses to wipe tears from their tired, red eyes. The world came as well, vicariously through television, watching us, kneeling with us in grief.I also came, revisiting the stones day after day, and sometimes at night, drawn to them by a need to connect with the dead whom I never knew. Always there was something new here, some trinket that had been added. At times the items seemed odd: a baseball for every victim, an American flag by every stone, though some of the dead were international students.People took their time passing by this spot. There was no need to rush; there were no classes to attend. It would be days, dark and long, before there would be any distractions from the pain. For a time, there was no world beyond this place.By day, soft chatter could be heard around the memorial. After sunset, no one spoke a word. During daylight, masses huddled near the stones, peering over shoulders to read the notes left there. At night, however, mourners passed by in a single-file line, waiting their turn, patient with the people in front who wished to pause at every name.The masses have since receded. The Drill Field now is vacant (except for these stones) and silent. The semester has ended, most of the students are gone, and only the sounds of insects disturb the stillness of the summer evening air. If I close my eyes and take in the quiet, I can almost imagine nothing happened here.Almost. Except for the stone reminders that lie at my feet. On one is written a simple, anguished note.

Jeremy,We love you.Mom and Dad

These stones are more than rocks. Each is all that remains of a son, a daughter, a husband who will never come home again. I picture my mom and dad, heartbroken, kneeling by a stone for me, had I been among the dead. Moreover, I imagine myself by a stone for my dad, had he not survived his fall.This is a summer of mourning. I am grieving the world as it is. And I am asking, “If I embrace the world as it is, in all its sadness — if I refuse to bury my head in the sand, pretending all is well, but rather think and speak of the world as it actually is — can I, then, still know God as good? Can my experience of him be more consistent than my circumstances, which alternate between good and bad?”Is this too much to expect?Before I can know, I must face the world at its worst.