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Archive for August, 2009

As Civilization Teeters, a Women’s Group Leader

Cypress, Texas – Whether you believe the world has been smote by The Great Depression Part Two or just another recession, folks are suffering, and it’s clear to author Mindy Ferguson that we all need a hug.

Unable to wrap her arms around everyone, Ferguson offers a different kind of hug – one made of uplifting words. Her new book, The Hugs Bible Reflections for Women, is part of the best-selling “Hugs” series from publisher Simon & Schuster.

The author sees her book an antidote to selfish ambition.

While previous books in the series offer targeted, prose “hugs” to children, grandparents and others, Ferguson specializes in stories for women. She is founder of Fruitful Word Ministries, a non-profit corporation dedicated to encouraging women of all denominations to develop an intimate and fruitful relationship with Jesus Christ through the study of God’s word.

Part of her duties with Fruitful Word Ministries is to address women’s groups.

“As I traveled and spoke at women’s events,” Ferguson said, “I often met women who would tell me inspiring stories about God’s activity in their lives.  I began to feel a burden to give these women a means of sharing their stories.”

She lifted that burden by finding a connection with the Hugs book series.

“I began asking women to share their stories with me and later came up with the idea of coupling those stories with short Bible lessons,” she said. “My thought was that the combination would not only inspire women to greater faith, but also help them to discover the relevance of God’s word for their lives today.”

Ferguson says she “stumbled her way into the arms of Christ” at the age of 26. When she speaks at national women’s events, she does so “as one who understands the tug of worldly passions and the emptiness of selfish ambition.”

Her writings have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Mother of Preschooler’s Soul, the P31 Woman magazine, Just Between Us magazine, and the One Year Life Verse Devotional. Ferguson is the author of Walking with God: From Slavery to Freedom; Living the Promised Life, an in-depth Bible study for women.

Ferguson lives in a suburb of Houston with her husband of 22 years and their two children.
 
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Here’s what readers have said about previous books in the Hugs series:

H.A. Dudley: “This book was just what I needed … Each story was uplifting, each paraphrased scripture really felt like an embrace.”
 
Abby Angers: “When reading this, you will be reminded of how lucky you are to have people you can share your problems with …  The book is great for people of all ages.”

K. Bailey: “One day a friend of mine was feeling blue, and the Lord just took me to one of the stories in Embraced by the Savior. By the end of me reading the stories, she was crying and saying ‘Thank You Lord, you know I needed that.’

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You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ’til It’s Gone – Unless

Torrance, CA – What we have is not ours forever – that sounds like simple and obvious wisdom during economic times when so many have lost so much. But Buddhist teacher Kentetsu Takamori wants everyone to know the message is far more important when it comes to human nature.

In his new book, Something You Forgot…Along the Way, Takamori relates 65 short stories that bring his philosophy to life. He cautions us that nothing is permanent.

“Once this reality sinks in,” Takamori says, “we cannot help treasuring each moment of our association.”

The stories focus on such basics as the importance of perseverance, the real meaning of honor, and how success is not gained by chance, but by the fruit of our efforts. The stories aim to give guidance and help the reader see deeper into life.

As the world struggles to emerge from a prolonged recession that has affected jobs, housing, businesses and entire governments, a stark and personal toll has been taken. Individuals looking for answers may find them in Something You Forgot…Along the Way. Those who accept the inevitability of change may have taken their first steps toward a brighter future.

Takamori has lectured worldwide and serves as chair of the Buddhist organization Jodo Shinshu Shinrankai in Japan. The depth of his thought is belied by the simplicity of his prose. He writes with a clarity that is accessible to children but profound enough to stir adults.

The lesson of each story is honest, the frankness unforgettable. Opened at any page,  Something You Forgot…Along the Way: Stories of Wisdom and Learning will draw the reader in with its direct and unapologetic message. Takamori guides the reader like a beacon toward doing better and becoming better. A sense of goodwill and sincerity radiates from the pages.

Released by Ichimannendo Publishing, Inc., Something You Forgot…Along the Way follows on the heels Takamori’s previous self-help bestseller in his native JapanYou Were Born for a Reason. Translations by Juliet Winters Carpenter have brought the author’s wisdom to English-speaking readers.

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Your Were Born for a Reason, Kentetsu Takamori’s 2006 bestseller, has sold more than 650,000 copies in Japan alone. Co-authored by Daiji Akehashi, and Kentaro Ito, the book considers the many ills that plague modern society – suicide, murder, angst, a constant sense of futility – and guides us to
the enduring truths that can renew our hearts and provide real happiness.

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Young Adult Novel Thrust into Cultural ‘Perfect Storm’

Long Beach, CAJennifer Banash’s young-adult novel Simply Irresistible has suddenly found itself in the middle of a cultural “perfect storm.” Consider the key elements of Banash’s story:

  • The main characters become stars of a new TV reality series
  • One of them is combination teen icon/diva bitch
  • It’s the third book in a critically acclaimed YA series

Now consider the recent cultural developments that have come together to thrust Simply Irresistible into this perfect storm:

  • TV reality series, once declared an endangered species, have surged back to the top of the broadcast TV ratings
  • Hannah Montana the Movie ranked No. 1 on U.S. box office charts its opening weekend, and the plot centered around a teen icon/diva bitch who found redemption
  • The final installment of Stephanie Meyer’s YA saga, Breaking Dawn, sold a record-breaking 1.3 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release

Combine that with the glowing reviews for Banash’s third book in The Elite series – the kind of reviews that even Stephanie Meyer didn’t enjoy for Breaking Dawn – and you have a recipe for success. 

Seventeen Magazine praised Banash’s work for delivering “all the drama, scandal, and high-end fashion of Gossip Girl,” and Alexa Young, author of Frenemies and Faketastic, described Simply Irresistible as “an awesome tale of friendship and betrayal with just the right amount of humor and heart. Seriously irresistible, and impossible to put down.”

Banash attended high school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and found it fertile ground for the insights and imagination that led to her characters and events in the Elite series. 

Simply Irresistible brings us more adventures from the spoiled, rich teens in Manhattan who nearly ate Casey McCloy alive when she first arrived from her small town of Normal, Illinois. Now Casey has had a big-city-haute makeover, courtesy of classmate and neighbor Madison McCallister, the teen icon/diva-bitch. Wearing the right clothes, saying the right things and meeting the right people have given Casey the look and the attitude.

But to Madison’s dismay, her rival climbs the social ladder in a big way and could end up just as popular as Madison when the two star in their own TV reality show, “De-Luxe.”  Fame comes at a price, and Madison is one chick who is willing to do anything to become the next reality “it’ girl.

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TIP SHEET:

“The Elite is Pretty in Pink for the millennium generation.”–Romance Reviews Today

“If you love all the drama, scandal, and high-end fashion of Gossip Girl…you’ll want to check out…The Elite!”–Seventeen.com

“An awesome tale of friendship and betrayal with just the right amount of humor and heart.  Seriously irresistible, and impossible to put down.”-Alexa Young, author of Frenemies and Faketastic

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Freedom from Having to Choose Between Science and Unconditional Belief

Whittier, CA – God is a Symbol of Something True by Jack Call (O-Books) is a fresh and insightful look at what constitutes true religion for people who were raised as Christians but who no longer believe; people who still maintain a soft spot for Christianity and care about meaningfulness and morality and want to make sense of religious concepts.   

Jack Call has been teaching introductory philosophy to students in southern California for many years.  He has been recognized as an outstanding educator in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and his essays have been published numerous times.  A clergyman in a psychedelic church in his earlier years, which provided the theme of his two previous books, here is a man who has ‘walked the talk’ – one of many reasons why people want to hear what Jack Call has to say.

The central claim of Call’s book is that ‘everything is fundamentally all right,’ in spite (or because) of the fact that there are important things that one cares about deeply over which one has no control.  This is a way of understanding religion that rejects the false predicament of having to choose between believing in a literal creator God or a blind, indifferent universe. This amazingly heartfelt book allows the reader to objectively think through many controversial claims, such as, how the Biblical account of God’s personality is a symbol of the personal significance, for each of us, of the ways in which we are helpless and yet safe; how we should hope that life is just as fresh and astonishing at the end as at the beginning; that we should not hope to be resurrected on Judgment Day, and how the meaningfulness of life depends on how we control some important issues and accept we have no control of others.  Probably the most important controversial claim is that while we are in control of whether or not we act morally, we are not in control of our own salvation.  Salvation being the realization that everything really is fundamentally all right!

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TIP SHEET:

Dale Salwak, Ph.D., author of Teaching Life: Letters from a Life in Literature (2008), Wonders of Solitude, Anne Tyler as Novelist, Living with a Writer, Faith in the Family: “With its firmness of thought and modesty of tone, God is a Symbol of Something True is a captivating meditation on some of the dilemmas of the modern mind and spirit.  If this is any indication of how the author seeks to nourish and stimulate the thoughts of his students in the classroom, then they are fortunate indeed. I came away from it both comforted and enlightened.”

Janice Daurio, Ph.D., author of Is It Good To Be Bad? Immoralism in Narnia in The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: “Others have tried and failed to do what Jack Call succeeds in doing in this book…to suggest thought-provoking answers to the most important of life’s questions, in a way accessible and appealing to those who describe themselves as nonreligious, as well as those who consider themselves religious. Because of the compelling objections he gives to the standard version of Christianity, this book is just as … valuable to thoughtful committed Christians as it is to the nonreligious. I don’t think there has been a better stimulus to my own thinking recently than this book.  Reading it provides meaningful joy.”

Kurt Smith, Ph.D., author of Matter Matters: “In God is a Symbol of Something True, Jack Call takes the proverbial baton from Alan Watts and argues…how religion, or “true religion” as he calls it, must be understood as that which underwrites the very possibility of meaning…True religion, Call argues, arises from something akin to reverence, the insight that there are incomprehensible forces at work beyond one’s control…Call looks carefully at several important philosophical problems-for example, the mind-body problem, free will and determinism, and personal identity – showing how true religion has dealt with each.  Although perfect for the general reader (which is why I make the connection to the great Alan Watts), Call’s book is a scholarly work…No doubt, whether novice or expert, readers will enjoy this insightful and clearly written book!”

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This modern-day Robin Hood doesn’t steal from the rich, yet he lives to help the poor

Delray Beach, FL – Frank McKinney is a rare find in a businessman.  Not to say there aren’t a number of generous philanthropists out there – but just not in the style of a “McKinney.”  His behavior draws an instant parallel with the tales of Robin Hood but with one huge difference – he doesn’t steal from the rich to give to the poor, he earns his wealth by creating then selling sui generis mansions to the ultra-wealthy and then generously donates significant sums to the non-profit Caring House Project Foundation (CHPF) – an organization that provides a self-sustaining existence for desperately poor and homeless families around the world.

McKinney credits his astronomical success to his deep faith and accompanying spiritual principles.  He believes that God ‘taps’ each and every one of us many times in life, answering prayers and presenting life-changing opportunities.  McKinney teaches how to sensitize ourselves to life’s great ‘tap moments’ and how to appropriately handle accomplishment.  When applied responsibly, sustained success in life is then revealed. 

Inspired by the biblical passage, ‘from those to whom much is entrusted, much will be expected,’ McKinney applied his own philosophy of entrusted fame and fortune into his life-changing book The Tap (Health Communications, Inc.).  He is not a preacher – he is a businessman who believes heart and soul that we are judged not on what we accumulate or achieve through life but more on our spirit of generosity towards others. 

His book promises readers that if they attune themselves to this enduring truth, they will be open to God’s ‘tap moments’ and receive enrichment beyond belief.

Referencing scripture and using examples from daily living, The Tap is an inspiring yet practical guide for all who wish to succeed at the most important business of all – the business of life!  McKinney knows and understands that there is something far greater than wealth and success – it is the sense of pure goodness that comes from the happiness and fulfillment of sharing one’s blessings with those in need.    

Already a NY Times best-selling author, what better mentor to guide us through life’s ‘tap opportunities’ than a man who has successfully walked the talk for over twenty-five years.  Visit this charismatic author’s interactive website at www.the-tap.com where readers are encouraged to post their own ‘tap moments’ on a special blog, and read the rave reviews on www.amazon.com

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TIP SHEET:

Anthony Robbins, best-selling author of Awaken the Giant Within and Unlimited Power: “Powerfully proves that true fulfillment lies not through accumulating wealth, but through contribution.”

Richard DeVos: “I believe a good portion of Frank’s success can be attributed to what he does for the poor around the world. The gaining of material wealth means little without responsible stewardship for those blessings. ‘The Tap’ shows you how to increase your wealth, both in terms of riches and, more important, enrichment. McKinney reveals how responsible stewardship guarantees success in the business of life.”

Eric D. Miller, Founder, Rush-Miller Foundation: “ I Read ‘The Tap’ while sitting on a roof in Gonaives, Haiti, overlooking the village Frank’s Caring House Project Foundation built using the funds from the book I was reading. McKinney is one whose success would allow him to travel the world in luxury, but he has chosen another route…gives the reader a unique look behind the magical curtain McKinney has built around his life creating the world’s most opulent real estate masterpieces. The Tap reminds us to pay closer attention to the subtle quiet nudges of our souls. After completing this book I reflected on the many times I had been tapped and missed opportunities and rejoiced in the times I have acted…my problems seem to disappear when I follow a ‘tap’ and look for opportunities to intervene in other people’s lives.”

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