Several media outlets, including the Associated Press, are reporting that a North Carolina pastor and more than a dozen fo his church members plan to burn Bibles and Christian books on Halloween. The AP says Pastor Marc Grizzard told WLOS, an Asheville ABC affiliate that the King James version of the Bible is the only one allowed in his church and that other versions are “satanic.”
Pastor Grizzard along with 14 members of the Amazing Grace Baptist Church plan to burn not only copies of the Bible on Halloween, but music and books by Christian authors. Some of the authors pinpointed by the small western North Carolina congregation are by evangelist Billy Graham and best-selling author Rick Warren.
The church’s website is down, apparently because of the increase in traffic they’re experiencing. But other outlets are reporting that the site defends their plans to burn Bibles, saying it’s Biblical. What do you think of this Halloween Bible and book burning?
Author Laken Lovely Wrote Through Greiving the Loss of Her Brother
Today Christian Publishing Tips is excited to introduce author Laken Lovely. Laken’s new book, Through Charlie’s Eyes, published by Ambassador International, will hit store shelves on October 30, the day her brother Charlie would have turned 17. Laken shares the power writing can have to heal a heart and work through grief.
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Writing has been proven to be a very powerful therapeutic tool. In fact, therapeutic writing has helped even people that don’t necessarily enjoy writing cope with their emotions and life situations.
In my personal experience, I have found that writing as you move through the grieving process can be very difficult and emotional, but it is also extremely therapeutic and sometimes comforting.
My life changed dramatically when my little brother, Charlie, was diagnosed with leukemia the day after he turned sixteen. Sixty-two days later, he passed away.It was devastating.
The day after Charlie’s services were held, I pulled out his composition notebook he had been writing in since his diagnosis. I also started watching hours of footage of Charlie in the hospital. You see, I had made a promise to Charlie. No matter what the outcome of the situation, life or death, I would help Charlie tell his story to inspire and give strength to others. If he lived, we would compile all of the footage of his hospital experience and create a documentary.If he passed away, I would write his story for him.
It took me about six months to finish writing his story, officially titled, Through Charlie’s Eyes. In the process of writing my little brother’s story, I went back through and re-hashed every moment of the emotional roller coaster ride his cancer diagnosis took us on, but this time, I was experiencing all of it from his perspective. There were times in this writing process when my tears soaked the paper I was writing on and the pages in Charlie’s journal. However, by the end of the process, I felt even closer to Charlie than I had ever felt before. I had gained a better understanding of this event that had dramatically changed the path of all of our lives, Charlie’s, our families and mine.
I don’t believe that the grieving process ever really ends. A day will never come when you don’t miss your loved ones that have already passed on.However, acceptance and understanding can help you keep moving forward with strength and hope and writing can help give you that.
The following is a book trailer about Through Charlie’s Eyes.
You don’t need a big publisher behind you or even printed pages to get your children’s book in the hands of young readers. A new product is helping little-known authors get their books read by thousands of kids– just as long as their parents own an iPhone. President of FrogDog Media, Graham Farrar, knows too well the allure an iPhone can have on a child. “I have a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter,” said Farrar in a Publisher’s Weekly article. “and we used to bring books for her on airplanes and road trips. Then my wife and I both ended up getting iPhones, and my daughter wanted to play with the phone. At first it was video games and Baby Einstein, which was fine in small doses, but not what I wanted her to spend her time with. But convenience was winning out over content.”
That’s how the idea for his product, iStoryTime, came about. So far there are about ten ebooks available for download as an app. Many more are on the way. The price per download is just $1.99 which is part of the reason why company officials are sticking to lesser-known authors.
According to reports, FrogDog buys rights for electronic mobile distribution which means that authors are still able to sell that same book to a print publisher. “We’re trying to keep the price point down, which lends itself to people without an established market,” Farrar told PW. And for many parents, $1.99 is a small price to pay to keep their children entertained, while still helping them establish a love of books.
RT @newerakara: Looking forward 2 signing my new book, "Are You Keeping a Secret?" at booth 2121 (Winepress) Tues 9am at #ICRS! See u there! http://twitter.com/christianpubtip2010/06/29
RT @AngeStar: First full-I mean FULL-day of #icrshow & great 1! Meetings books etc.Must go to popcorn cart &see Like Dandelion Dust trailer. http://twitter.com/christianpubtip2010/06/29
You don’t need a big publisher behind you or even printed pages to get your children’s book in the hands of young readers. A new product is helping little-known authors get their books read by thousands of kids– just as long as their parents own an iPhone. President of FrogDog Media, Graham Farrar, knows too well the allure an iPhone can have on a child. 
