WORD up!

It is time to play a Wild Card ! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour . Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his/her book's FIRST chapter! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card authors are: Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt and their book: THE MIRACLE GIRLS FaithWords (September 8, 2008) ABOUT THE AUTHORs: Anne was born in San Jose, California, where she wasted her childhood playing Nintendo and watching The Facts of Life. Eventually, she went off to Princeton where she learned many important things, including how to recognize a kumquat. Four years and a useless degree later, she landed a job at Random House, where she promptly got bored and applied to graduate school, trained for a marathon, and reminisced about her days as a competitive finswimmer. A few years later, a blond guy showed up at her door with power tools and gazpacho. ...

Mark's Practical Thoughts on Evangelism Most of us are surrounded by people we care about, people we'd love to see respond to the gospel. We can readily picture the faces of immediate and extended family members, neighbors, friends and coworkers as we pray. Sadly, studies show that a large percentage of us are not actively sharing their faith with these loved ones. We've become the silent victims of a widespread outbreak of Evangelism Avoidance. Evangelism Avoidance can be traced to a number of causes : We feel inadequate. While most of us know we have a responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission, the thought of sharing their faith makes most of us feel inadequate, unprepared and just plain nervous. And public speaking - even to an audience of two - just compounds the problem. We don't want to mess things up. We know the stakes are high and that many of the people we care about have some pretty negative ideas about Christianity and some negative experiences with pus...

It is time to play a Wild Card ! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour . Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his/her book's FIRST chapter! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Karen Kingsbury and her book: Sunset (Sunrise Series-Baxter 3, Book 4) Tyndale House Publishers (September 23, 2008) ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Karen Kingsbury is currently America's best-selling inspirational author. She has written more than 30 of her Life-Changing Fiction titles and has nearly 5 million books in print. Dubbed by Time magazine as the Queen of Christian Fiction. Her fiction has made her one of the country's favorite storytellers, and one of her novels-Gideon's Gift-is under production for an upcoming major motion picture release. Her emotionally gripping titles include the popular Redemption series, the Firstborn series, Divi...

The winner of the drawing for a copy of "Isolation" by Travis Thrasher is... ladijo40@... Congratulations, Jo! I have emailed you privately to obtain your mailing address. I hope you enjoy this wonderful suspense novel!

If I didn’t have them before, I believe I have them, now! "Character issues" - this was the reason I was given for my employment application being rejected during the background investigation process for a job I really wanted. At first, this assessment shocked me. I have always believed that I possessed impeccable character! I believed this so deeply that this step in the hiring process didn’t cause me the least bit of concern. Then I received their rejection and doubt set in. Did someone say something negative about me? Who could it have been? Did I do something that I neglected to disclose to my investigator? Did I NOT do something that I should have done? Hurt mixed with anger appeared next. It didn’t help that “friends” tried to point fingers at everything and everyone in my life but me (and themselves, of course). I’ve learned that these people are not my true friends. They are like Job’s companions who didn’t glorify God because they advised him to curse the Heavenly Fa...

It is time to play a Wild Card ! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour . Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his/her book's FIRST chapter! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Lieutenant General William "Jerry" Boykin with Lynn Vincent and his book: Never Surrender: A Soldier's Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom FaithWords (July 29, 2008) ABOUT THE AUTHORs: Lieutenant General William "Jerry" Boykin served in a variety of posts during his 36-year career in the Army, most of them involving Delta Force and Special Forces. He is an original member of the Army's Delta Force. His last post was as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in the Pentagon, overseeing the gathering and exploitation of intelligence during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Visit Lieutenant...

It is time to play a Wild Card ! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour . Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his/her book's FIRST chapter! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: WANDA E. BRUNSTETTER and her book: White Christmas Pie Barbour Publishing, Inc (September 1, 2008) ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Fascinated by the Amish people during the years of visiting her husband's family in Pennsylvania, WANDA E. BRUNSTETTER combined her interest with her writing and now has eleven novels about the Amish in print, along with numerous other stories and ministry booklets. She lives in Washington State, where her husband is a pastor, but takes every opportunity to visit Amish settlements throughout the states. Visit her at her website . Product Details: List Price: $10.97 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc (Septe...

This month, the CSFF Blog Tour features a brand new PUBLISHING COMPANY! Marcher Lord Press features the best and brightest in Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction. Check out their website for an incredible contest and learn what a "Marcher Lord" is! Here is a look at one of the novels that Marcher Lord Press opens with this month: The Personifid Invasion By R.E. Bartlett The Personifid Invasion is R.E. Bartlett's standalone sequel to her first novel, The Personifid Project. This gripping science fiction/fantasy title grabs the reader from the first page - make that the first paragraph! Here is my review of this sci-fi/fantasy novel: Normally, I am not a sci-fi/fantasy fan unless there is a consistent comedy element, but this novel got my attention. It was so suspenseful, so action-packed, that I had to read on. “The Personifid Invasion” by R.E. Bartlett opens with an intriguing body snatch completion, drawing the reader into the story. I am not a science fiction fan,...

It is time to play a Wild Card ! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour . Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his/her book's FIRST chapter! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Kimberly Cash Tate and his/her book: Heavenly Places Walk Worthy Press (March 7, 2008) ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kimberly Cash Tate is an author and an attorney. She is also the founder and president of Colored in Christ International, Inc., a nonprofit ministry devoted to equipping and encouraging believers to “color” themselves in Christ. Her publications include the nonfiction book More Christian than African-American: One Woman’s Journey to Her True Spiritual Self (Daybreak Books 1999) and the novel Heavenly Places (Walk Worthy Press 2008). In addition, her article, “More than Skin Deep,” was published in the November/December 2001 issue of Today’...