Fun with Constant Contact

In an effort to publicize and promote LWS, I've recently been introduced to Constant Contact. (I don't get any $$ if you hit the link, by the way. I'm just promoting them out of the goodness of my heart!) It is amazingly simple to use. Years ago, when I published Timely Words, I sent a weekly email out for awhile. It wasn't an easy task - especially managing the list. I was glad when I decided to can the weekly TW email.

If you are interested in promoting your book, ministry, family, hobby, etc. I would strongly encourage it. Their free 60 day trial is legit. You can use it without any obligation or credit card number.

If you would like to receive my Constant Contact mailings, you can subscribe in the box on the right.

An Idiot's Guide to Idioms

As a writer, I'm fascinated with words. I recently purchased A Dictionary of American Idioms. I know, I know, B-O-R-I-N-G!

An idiom is language peculiar to a people or culture. Many times an idiom has a meaning that can't be determined by the individual words themselves. For example, "Sunday week" means a week from this Sunday. I recently discovered in a staff meeting that this is apparently a Southern idiom. Other examples are: cool cat, fly off the handle, like a breeze, and kick the bucket.

The reason I bought this dictionary is because it's a thought-provoking, writer's block-curing, interesting book to thumb through when you're a little bored. It's also full of great book and article titles. For example, imagine the following as books or movies. (They may already be out there.)

At the End of Her Rope
Lion's Share
Means to an End
Out Cold
Drop in the Bucket
Dead Ringer
Devil to Pay

Books/Movies/TV Shows with idioms as titles:

Sixth Sense
Duck Soup
Facts of Life
Fall Guy
Growing Pains
Half-Time
Helter-Skelter
Rush Hour

Book Review - Same Kind of Different as Me

There are only a few books that I've read in two sittings. Same Kind of Different as Me is now on that short list. I read the first half of it last Saturday on the plane from Guatemala City to Atlanta. I read the second half last night.

What an incredible story!

It's a true and unlikely story about a wealthy Texas art dealer and his wife, passionate to show God's love to the homeless, and a hobo who spent most of his life as a modern-day slave (sharecropper) in Louisiana. The initial thought is that the story is about how the rich Texans would change the homeless man's life - and they did. But Denver, the homeless man, changed them much more.

Same Kind of Different as Me is a touching and powerful story about God's grace and mercy and the value of relationships. I highly recommend it. 5 STARS!

Out of the Dark (Again) and into the Whirlwind

I've spent a lot of time in the "dark" so far this summer. No or little internet or cellphone access has been kind of a nice relief. Beth, Bailey, and I left with 8 others from TNC for a week in Guatemala. We had a great mission trip last week. (I posted more details about the trip on www.tncblog.com.)

On Friday of last week, we visited Aqua Viva Children's Home. Pictured with us is Bailey's friend, Flor. They became buddies when Bailey spent a week at the home in March. It was a sweet reunion.

This week has been crazy busy. Lots going on. We arrived back in town late Saturday night. Sunday was a full day. (I haven't had my Sunday nap in 2 weeks!) Monday, the first day back in the TNC offices, was a big day of catch-up. Everyday this week has been full. Add to that a visit to the migrant camp Wednesday night. A late night phone call and visit regarding a crisis situation. Wedding rehearsal last night, funeral out of town today, and wedding tomorrow night. Whew!

But it's all good (minus the grieving situation, of course). God has been doing a neat work in the lives of our Guatemala mission team and He's cooking up something special for TNC this fall.

When I get a chance to sit down and take my time, I'll try to post something meaningful. Right now, I'm still trying to catch my breath!

Out of the Dark

Beth and I went to the western North Carolina mountains for a few days last week. We had a beautiful house placed beside a mountain stream. (The stream picture was taken with my cellphone camera.)

24 hours a day we could hear the soothing rustling waters of the stream pouring over the rocks. The house featured a spacious deck that hung over the water and we spent most of our three mornings there reading and drinking coffee in our temporary paradise. In addition to relaxing at the house, we ventured into Cashiers and Highlands, NC. We climbed Whiteside Mountain (4930 feet above sea level) and we walked the first leg of the Chattooga River Trail.

During our stay, we were in the dark. "Dark" meaning no cellphone coverage or internet access. There was Direct TV available but the only thing on at the time was Michael Jackson coverage. (More on that later.) It's liberating, yet a little nerve-wracking at the same time, to be without the instant access that we've grown accustomed to. A part of me couldn't relax for awhile because I couldn't call or text anyone unless we were in town. There was a phone at the mountain house and I had given the number to my kids and a couple of guys at the office in case of emergency. But there still is this weird, but good, feeling when you are in the dark. It's funny how 21st century technology affects us, isn't it?

The mountain getaway allowed me to read a book that I was anxious to read. Somewhere along the way I read an interview with a writer that I admire who said that they read everything that David Sedaris wrote. I took that as my cue to pick up a Sedaris book to see for myself why he is a best-selling author. I read it in two days. He is a great storyteller and I really like his writing style. I was in tears laughing at parts of his book. I could hardly tell Beth what I was laughing at because I was out of control.

But I need to warn you. Because many of you that read this blog are Christians and attenders at my church, you need to know that this is far from a Christian book. There are some obscenities and awkward topics. (David Sedaris is a homosexual and he talks about his relationship with his boyfriend, et. al. - 'nuff said.) I don't have a link to his book here like I usually do when I post a book review because I don't want it to be said that "a preacher at TrueNorth Church recommended it." You have to use your own discretion when you pick up a book.

I read it and enjoyed it because I really liked his style. I certainly don't approve of all his lifestyle choices. I knew nothing about Sedaris when I picked up the book - only that a fellow writer liked his material.

With that said, it occurred to me that reading these kind of people is a way for me to see the light. What I mean is that I as a Christian typically read Christian literature. Most of my reading is about the Church, Christian leadership, Biblical studies, and sometimes Christian fiction. I try to be careful not to place myself in a holy box and read only Christian stuff. I read outside of my realm sometimes - even Rolling Stone magazine lately. I think it's important to know what others in our culture are thinking. It's a reminder to me of how many people in the world live in the dark without the light of Christ.

As I read David Sedaris' thoughts, I found myself thinking, "I'd love to have a conversation with this guy. I wonder what he thinks about..." Because his background is almost total opposite of mine, it's interesting to me to read how others think and how they got to their conclusions.

One final thought: Is it just me or is the Michael Jackson stuff too much? Was he a great talent? No doubt. But the overdone TV coverage is out of control. I saw last night that Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton are now involved. Where is that going? I've seen clips of Michael moonwalking more in the past few days than I ever saw him do it in his fifty years. The carniverous media is feasting on this poor guy now. It's getting weird.

I wish I could speak in tongues...

Spanish, to be exact.

Our partner church from Guatemala has a team here this week. We developed a partnership with El Camino Church several years ago and have designed our missions ministry in a unique way. Most American churches send missions teams and money to other countries. While this is beneficial and, hopefully, a blessing to them, TNC has added a twist to what normal churches do.

Does this surprise you? TNC isn't "normal."

In addition to TNC sending teams to Guatemala to bless them, they come to South Carolina to bless us! This week, a team from El Camino Church is here ministering to Hispanics in North Augusta and Edgefield County. In the mornings, they are leading a Backyard Bible Club in a Hispanic neighborhood and in the evenings they are ministering in a local migrant camp. It's been a great blessing to have them!

Every time I travel south of the border (Guatemala, Costa Rica, or Mexico) my biggest regret is that I cannot speak Spanish! One day...one day, I want to be able to have some general conversational Spanish skills.

In the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit gave believers the ability to speak other known languages in a supernatural way. The lazy man in me wishes God would give me that ability supernaturally!!

Have you claimed your Facebook url yet?

I got mine tonight. You can find me faster now at facebook.com/genejennings.

LWS gets another push

In the Baptist Courier this week...

Start Your Online Day with a Devotional

If you're like me, one of the first things I do in the mornings when I get to my office is fire up the computer and open my email inbox. Let me suggest that when you start your day online that you start it with a short devotional thought. My friends, Cindy Sproles and Eddie Jones have a website that will help you do just that. www.christiandevotions.us includes daily devotionals on a variety of topics. Cindy and Eddie have also recently published a devotional book titled Spirit & Heart. You can learn more about it on their site, as well as other great Christian books.

I encourage you to go to the site and sign up for a daily email devotional from them. It's a great way to start your day!

Sasquatch music festival 2009 - Guy starts dance party

Found this on Seth Godin's blog. (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/06/guy-3.html) Below are his thoughts.

Here's a video of a dance tribe forming spontaneously at a music festival.

My favorite part happens just before the first minute mark. That's when guy #3 joins the group. Before him, it was just a crazy dancing guy and then maybe one other crazy guy. But it's guy #3 who made it a movement.

Initiators are rare indeed, but it's scary to be the leader. Guy #3 is rare too, but it's a lot less scary and just as important. Guy #49 is irrelevant. No bravery points for being part of the mob.

We need more guy #3s.

Unworthy Beloved May 24, 2009

Many of you know that my son, Cliff, is one of our worship leaders at TNC. I posted his rendition of Aerosmith's "Dream On" back on March 17.

My baby girl, Bailey, is a worship leader too. She sings with a band from her college in NC. Here's Bails in action recently.

Do you want a FREE copy of Laughing with Sarah?

I am giving away a FREE copy of Laughing with Sarah to the first 10 people who will commit to reading it and posting a review on Amazon.com. All I ask is for recipients to read it and post the review by July 15. You can be honest on your review. I don't expect you to lie!

To get your FREE copy, email me at genepjennings@aol.com, or genej@truenorthchurch.com, leave a comment on my blog, or reply via Facebook.

ONLY THE FIRST 10 PEOPLE GET A FREE COPY SO ACT NOW IF YOU'RE INTERESTED!

Laughing with Sarah finally hits Amazon & BN.com

They said it would take 6-8 weeks.

They were right.

It takes Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com 6-8 weeks to list a new book. Laughing with Sarah was submitted on April 21. Finally, six weeks later, LWS showed up on these two major online bookstores.

If you haven't purchased your copy yet, you can get it through:

My website: www.laughingwithsarah.com

Amazon: www.amazon.com Click the ad in right column of this blog.

Barnes and Noble: www.bn.com

The Shallow Christian

Here's an excerpt from Laughing with Sarah: Chapter 10 - "Getting Deep."

"I want to go deeper."
"I wish my pastor would go deeper in his preaching."
"That church is shallow. They don't preach the whole gospel."

I've heard comments like these for years – especially since the contemporary church movement began a couple of decades ago. Contemporary and seeker-friendly churches are often accused of preaching a watered-down version of the gospel. Heavy on grace and light on sin. The promise of heaven but not a peep about hell. Liberal with love and little judgment.

Several times a year, someone will approach me and say, "Pastor, I want to go deeper." My response is usually, "What do you mean by that? Do you mean you want to get in over your head? That could be dangerous."

- - -

So what does it mean to live a deep Christian life? We may get all kinds of answers to that question. Maybe it helps to ask, "What is a shallow Christian?"

A shallow Christian is one who claims to know Christ and who can point to a time in his life when he understood the basics of the gospel and internalized it and even publicized it (through baptism and church membership), but he has not taken the necessary steps to grow up in Christ. Instead, the shallow Christian has learned enough of the gospel to know how he should act in public but has no passion or desire to know Christ at an intimate and personal level. The shallow Christian fills a pew each Sunday. He serves, and even leads, some of the church’s committees. He gives regularly to the church. He attends the church’s special events and supports all the ministries of the church. He may even brag to his associates and friends about his church. He is a churchgoer, but he is not a "God-goer." He does not pray intimately much, if at all. He does not carve out time in his schedule to study his Bible. His efforts at personal and corporate worship are minimal at best. He makes little spiritual impact on those around him, and he has never personally shared the gospel with another person. He may know Christ as Savior, but he does not allow Christ to be Lord of his life. His life may be filled with church activities, but it is not filled with the Holy Spirit.

Sad but true. Our churches are full of shallow Christians. Each Sunday, church pews are occupied by millions of believers who have little or no interest in living a fully devoted life to Jesus Christ.

Hey! Maybe that is the definition of the deeper life. A life fully devoted to Jesus Christ. A passionate follower of Christ. Spiritual depth comes when you make loving and serving Christ your everyday mission. Going deep means living every minute of every day with the awareness that Jesus Christ is Lord and Ruler of your life. Getting deep means totally relying on, trusting in, and depending on God's Spirit to move and work in every area of your life.

There is no magic formula to living the deeper life. This is not something that you are going to accomplish by the time you finish reading this chapter. It is work. It is time-consuming. It is a lifestyle. It's a journey.

Find out what it means to "get deep" here.

Because THEY said so...

One of the first faculty members (a well-known marketing guru) that I met at the BRMCWC last week looked at my blog and said, "You need a newsletter!" I told him that I had one years ago and didn't like the additional burden. Plus, it was a pain keeping up with email addresses, updates, etc. That was around the turn of the century.

Well, things are supposedly easier now with services like Constant Contact so I bit the bullet and designed a newsletter this morning based on my new friend's advice. "Everybody's doin' it," he told me. "They say it is essential for today's writer."

So I'm doing what THEY say. You can subscribe to my occasional newsletter on the right side of this post.

The Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference 09

My brain is fried today after a week packed full of instruction, inspiration, and networking at the 2009 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. I left town immediately after church last Sunday and arrived in the mountains around 5 PM. It was pretty much non-stop all week. Classes, workshops, interviews, and general sessions filled the calendar as about 350 writers, agents, editors, and publishers gathered to learn how to continue expanding the gospel through the art of writing.

Pictured with me is Angela (Angie) Hunt. Angie taught "The Sophisticated Novelist" class Monday-Thursday morning. She is an excellent teacher and incredibly accomplished writer. Angie has sold over 3 million books! She is a best-selling author of more than 100 books. She was a delight to sit under and we hated it when it was time for the class to be over. Angie's husband is a youth minister in Florida. I told her that I was going to call him and make him an offer he can't refuse at TNC so that I could have her around as my personal writing coach! (Watch out, Tommy Wafford!)

I encourage you to add Angie's books to your summer reading list. Check out her website.

I also spend some time talking to and hearing from Chip MacGregor. Chip was recently listed as the #2 literary agent in the country by Publishers Weekly, the "Bible" of publishing. I read Chip's blog every week. He is a wealth of information regarding the publishing/writing world. He was one of our keynote speakers as well as a classroom instructor. I appreciate the time that Chip invests in this business and wanted to give him some props. By the way, this guy is really funny. I was in tears laughing at him during his keynote speech.

If you are a writer or if you are interested in becoming a writer, this conference is a great start. This was my third time at this particular writing conference. I highly recommend it.

Some other folks that I learned from and laughed with are:
Steven James
Terry Whalin
Cecil Murphey (author of 90 Minutes in Heaven and 111 other books)
Ron Benrey
Al Gansky
Jonathan Clements (My favorite person at the conference - because he's my agent!)

A Little PR in the Chronicle

The Augusta Chronicle posted this article in the paper this morning. It includes my mugshot and an audio clip from Laughing with Sarah.

Excerpt from Laughing with Sarah

Here's a section from Chapter 4 in Laughing with Sarah:

God Works through Our Disabilities

I do not have great eloquence or superior wisdom. I can tell you that many times there is weakness, fear, and trembling. I’ll never forget my first real experience as a preacher. My first official appearance as a professional pulpiteer was in Los Angeles, California. I was a South Carolina boy from a Texas seminary in La-La land as a revival preacher/evangelist scheduled to speak at a week-long revival meeting. Nine services in a row, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and every night through the next Sunday morning.

For some reason, I thought I needed a different suit for each service. I didn't own any luggage, so I arrived from Dallas/Ft. Worth airport at LAX with my wife's matching pink luggage including pink hanging bag with nine suits. I was confident enough in my masculinity to carry pink suitcases through LA, but my confidence in my evangelistic skills were cause for concern. I was anxious before my first appearance that Sunday morning and worried about blending with the California culture with a Southern accent. Ten minutes before the service began, I overheard a senior adult lady say to a friend, "I'm glad this year's preacher is from Texas. The fellow we had last year was from South Carolina, and I couldn't understand a word he said."

Enter nausea.

Believe it or not, God used this pitiful excuse for a revivalist that week. God spoke to some people and lives were reinvigorated - at least temporarily. It was definitely not because of my great eloquence or superior wisdom. It was totally because of God working through a rookie preacher from the Deep South.

The truth is, I've heard a lot of popular speakers who are not the most eloquent, entertaining, or scholarly presenters. But God uses them because they are usable. That is what God wants, availability. You let him have your abilities, no matter how feeble they might be, and make yourself available, and he will use your humble service to draw others close to him.

Believe it or not, Paul was not an outstanding orator. He mentioned in one of his letters to the church in Corinth that some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing."

Paul writes that he did not intend to preach "with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power." He did not want to speak in such a way that his human effort would persuade people. He depended on God’s Holy Spirit and divine power to do the work.

What does this mean for us in our everyday lives? You should live obediently for Christ, loving him, worshipping him, serving him, and trusting him. You should live out your faith within your own unique personality in the places where God has placed you with the people that God has put around you and depend on his Holy Spirit to speak through your life with wisdom and power.

You do what you know you should do, and God will take care of the rest. You will be amazed at what God can do through ordinary you.

Writing a Book

I guess you've figured out by now that I announced the publication of Laughing with Sarah last week. Since then, many people have asked me about writing. How long does it take? How many have you written? How do you get published? etc. I started writing freelance articles for magazines about 15 years ago, but I still consider myself a novice.

How long does it take? It depends. If you write 3 pages a day, you can have a 300 page novel in 100 days. At that pace, you could write about 3 books per year. That's what many novelists do. For me, I only have a few hours each week to write, so it takes longer.

How many have you written? About 4 1/2. But only two have been published so far. I have one non-fiction work that is about 90% complete. One novel that my agent, Jonathan Clements with The Nashville Group, is attempting to sell to a major publisher. I'm about halfway through another novel. I have pieces of other books that I've started. Hopefully, they will be completed one day.

How do you get published? There are several ways: You can get an agent to represent you. Approach the publisher yourself. (However, most major publishers will only consider agent-represented works.) Or you can publish yourself. There are advantages to each situation. It depends on your goal for each book.

The hard part: Selling. It's one thing to write a book. It's another thing to sell it. Whether you publish yourself or have a major publisher, the author is the primary sales person. That's why you will get sick of seeing me promote LWS. Sorry. That's just how it works.

The fun part for me is the Dedication. I dedicated Laughing with Sarah to my dad. Since he is such a Bible scholar and LWS is based on Bible teaching, I wanted it to be dedicated to him. I took his copy to him last week and showed him the dedication page. That's been one of the highlights of this experience thus far for me.

Wife Swapping

My motorcycle is listed for sale in the IWANTA, the local classified ad paper. Here's a conversation I had this morning with a caller.

"Are you interested in trading your motorcycle or do you just want cash?" I was asked by the caller.
"I want the cash," I said.
"Well, I was just wondering," the caller said. "I've got a '96 Geo Tracker convertible I thought you might want to trade for."
"If it was a Jeep Wrangler, I might be interested," I said. "My wife doesn't like to ride my bike with me but she told me if I got a Jeep, she would go on trips with me in the Jeep."
The caller replied, "My wife wants me to sell the Geo because she wants to ride with me on a bike."
"Maybe we should trade wives," I told him (joking, of course!!).
The caller laughed. "She likes to fish too!" He added.
"Sounds like you need to keep her," I told him. "Thanks for calling."

The bike is still for sale.