Re-thinking St. Louis

Chuck and I just returned from a whirlwind business trip/vacation to St. Louis and then Kansas City.
We went to St. Louis for the International Christian Retail Association event. During that time, I ended up having two book signings - autographing and giving away (yes, giving away) about 150 copies of "Real Spiritual Spinach - Faith for the Journey" to retailers and even some authors.
It's called marketing.
We're hoping and praying that these retailers will like the book and order copies for their stores. We also paid for an ad that was placed in a catalog and handed to retailers.
It's a risk - and not one that comes without a price.
But it's a risk we've been willing to take.
And it's kind of been fun.
We have books going to Haiti, Bermuda, Finland, Nigeria, South Korea and Brazil. I gave one of the cool cards that our publisher printed about the book to a distributor from London.
Lots of books went to stores in the South.
Now, it's a wait-and-trust-God process.
Earlier, I wrote that I was going out into the deep and fishing and praying to God for a big haul - like what Peter got when Christ told him to go out into the deep.
But now I think the process is more like planting seeds and praying for a bountiful harvest.
I'd appreciate prayers from any of you who'd like to pray.
I also must say that I've learned how much competition there is out there. Lots of authors from lots of companies have written and published books. Many companies had catalogs.
I did get a few cool, autographed copies of books from authors.
And I met a couple of authors who are already on my Facebook. If you notice Gwen Moore's name, you need to know that she wrote the book, "An Usher and Greeters Guide to the True Heart of a Servant Inspired by God."
Gwen had a bad experience with an usher when she visited a church years ago. Later, she became the head of the ushers group for her church. Now she leads a group of 20 ushers and greeters - ranging from teens to adults.
She knows how vital it is to welcome people properly into God's house and to make them feel welcome.
She's a fun person and she is already a friend.
And there's Mary Schrock, who wrote "The Greater Inheritance." Mary and her husband, John, left an old order Amish community when they came to know that we're saved by grace not by works or lifestyle.
Unable to remain in a religion that denied salvation by Christ alone, they left that lifestyle. It meant that they were rejected by family and cut off from their inheritance.
But if you read the back of Mary's book, you'll see that they now anticipate "The Greater Inheritance."
I read this 149-page book while on vacation. I could hardly put it down. Mary really gives readers an inside look at the Amish. She doesn't put them down; they're human beings with faults and frailties like all of us. She just tells about what it's like to live among this group of people. Mary also talks about the culture shock that she and her family had after leaving the Amish.
Some of that is kind of funny - like the trouble they had trying to match clothes!
It's a great book. I'd recommend it.
You may find it at: www.thegreaterinheritance.com.

Blessings,

Tammy