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“Every Body Matters” Blog Tour: Sign Up to Review New Book by Gary Thomas

 

Every Body Matters
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Hey Bloggers, we're giving away copies of Gary Thomas' new book Every Body Matters: Strengthening Your Body to Strengthen Your Soul to bloggers for review.

Every Body Matters explores how becoming proactive about our physical health can lead to "a fortified soul" that's better able to serve and love others. Thomas includes ways to fight health-related temptation, and how we can pursue transormation from "heads without bodies" into whole-bodied servants of God.

I've included an excerpt from Every Body Matters below about "faithful fitness" so you can get a better feel for Thomas' approach. If you're interested in reviewing Every Body Matters on your blog, please sign up below!

 

How to Participate in the Every Body Matters Blog Tour

  1. Sign up below by Thursday, Dec. 1. If your blog is selected, we will ship a  copy of Every Body Matters to you.
  2. Please post your review on your blog during the week of 1/16 or 1/23. Leave a comment here with a link to your review, because we're interested in your thoughts on the book!
  3. In your post, please mention that Zondervan provided you with the book free of charge, for the purpose of review.
  4. Finally, publish your review on another book website such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or LibraryThing.

 

 (DON'T SEE A SIGNUP FORM? Go here.)

 

 

An Excerpt from Every Body Matters

If swimming laps or doing Pilates won't substitute for regular study, prayer, and spiritual devotions, but taking off the shackles of laziness, overeating, and the physical debilitation brought about by ignoring our physical fitness can set our souls on a course of pursuing God with a renewed vigor, earnestness, and delight.

Christianity Today columnist Carolyn Arends writes of feeling convicted about "spiritualizing" her inclination toward avoiding physical fitness by focusing on "soul things" instead of "body things." A wake-up call provided by her parents' bout with ill health led to a significant life change, after which Carolyn concludes the following:

Jesus called us to love God with our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Just as his words disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed, they call the overactive to stillness and activate the overly still. They restore the soul to those who overemphasize the body, and redeem the body for those who focus only on the soul…

 

For your own health and vitality, your own spirituality, your own family, and your own personal satisfaction — will you consider [the idea of 'faithful fitness']? Not as a diet. Not as a fad. But as a life change, birthed as a spiritual exercise, a part of your worship, a new way of surrendering to God's presence in your life…

I pointed out to [my son] once how, though exercise and staying in shape require a lot of work and even regular pain, not being in shape requires its own pains and labors. If I'm going to hurt in this fallen world — and everyone of us will — I'd rather hurt and be sore getting in shape than hurt and be sore because my body isn't fit.

By God's design, we are a people with souls who desperately yearn for intimacy with God — people whose souls reside in bodies that can hinder or help this pursuit. Which will it be?

 
Every Body Matters
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Learn more about Every Body Matters.

Find more resources by Gary Thomas at  www.garythomas.com.

 


- Adam Forrest, Zondervan Internet Team

(This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's opinions are their own, and are shared for information purposes only. To receive new blog posts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

 

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Amish Country Tour Round-Up: Photos, Giveaways, and Embarrassing Moments

 

The Amish Country Tour concluded early this week, and below we've collected some tour memories from Amy Clipston, Vannetta Chapman, and Shelley Shepard Gray. Read on for a roundup of photos, giveaways, embarrassing moments, and one lethally good pie recipe.

 

Amy, Shelley and Vannetta at the Light Parade

Amy, Shelley & Vannetta after the Shipshewana Light Parade.
View more tour photos in Zondervan's album on Facebook.

On returning home, Shelley (author of Christmas in Sugarcreek) writes this:

It feels great to be home. It really does. But I have to admit that there is a part of me that wishes we were still back on the Amish Country Tour…  There had been a sense that all of us were a part of something pretty special… [We met] so many readers! [And we] visited with a lot of Amish, spending hours talking with them about books and their culture…

Shelley also mentions some behind-the-scenes tour tidbits. During their last meal together, Shelley, Amy and Vannetta took turns sharing their picks for Funniest Moment, Best Moment, and Most Embarrassing Moment from the tour. You can read their picks in Shelley's blog post: read more of Shelley's post.

I'd be remiss not to share these two items from Vannetta Chapman (Falling to Pieces): first, an heirloom pie recipe that I'm afraid to try. It begins, "Fill unbaked pie shell a little more than half full with a mixture of brown and white sugar." Read the full "Brown sugar pie" recipe on Vannetta's blog.

Secondly, Vannetta is hosting a giveaway on her blog through this Sunday (Nov. 27, 2011). Learn more about Vannetta's giveaway.

Speaking of giveaways, Amy Clipston (Naomi's Gift) will host one on her Facebook page this weekend. But as of this writing, Amy is taking reader suggestions for what the giveaway will be. Options include an Amish doll, Amish peanut butter, a set of Amy's books, and more. Add your two cents when you find Amy on Facebook.

- Adam Forrest, Zondervan Internet Team

 

View photos from the Amish Country Tour

See Zondervan's photo album on Facebook

Connect with the authors on Facebook  

Find Vannetta on Facebook
Vannetta Chapman

Find Amy on Facebook
Amy Clipston

Find Shelley on Facebook
Shelley Shepard Gray

Vannetta Chapman www.facebook.com/VannettaChapmanBooks
Amy Clipston www.facebook.com/AmyClipstonBooks
Shelley Shepard Gray www.facebook.com/ShelleyShepardGray

The latest books from Vannetta, Amy and Shelley

Learn more about Falling to PiecesFalling to Pieces
Vannetta Chapman 		Learn More about Naomi's Gift

Naomi's Gift
Amy Clipston

Learn More about Christmas in SugarcreekChristmas in Sugarcreek
Shelley Shepard Gray

 

 

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Into Amish Country! 3 Fiction Writers on Wisdom, Escape, and Food (Roundtable Interview)

 

Is Amish fiction about fleeing from reality? What should we expect if we meet an Amish person? What do the Amish think about us? Discover answers to these questions and more in this roundtable interview with three preeminent authors of Amish fiction: Amy Clipston (Naomi's Gift), Shelley Shepard Gray (Christmas in Sugarcreek), and Vannetta Chapman (Falling to Pieces). Pull up a chair — wooden or otherwise — and read on.

 

ZBLOG: Has your research on the Amish way of life changed how you view our broader American lifestyle?

VANNETTA: Yes, very much so. It's re-affirmed a lot of things that my husband and I practice (trading in a suburban lifestyle for a rural one), etc. It's also confirmed for me that Americans in general are looking for elements found in the Amish community, elements that existed in our grandparents' community — more intimate friendships, closer knit neighborhoods, slower pace lifestyles, etc. Those things are still available to everyone to some extent.

AMY: I'm more aware of how caught up in the day to day some Americans are, and I try to take a step back and appreciate the small moments with my family. Instead of just focusing on the daily grind of commuting to work, paying bills, and rushing off here and there, I do my best to spend quiet time talking to my children and listening to them every day, even if I can only squeeze a few minutes before they go to bed at night.

SHELLEY: I've definitely learned to appreciate each moment and day more fully. There's a time for everything, and from my research and friendships with the Amish, I've tried to stop being in such a rush and fretting about the future.

 

Find Vannetta on Facebook
Vannetta Chapman

Find Amy on Facebook
Amy Clipston

Find Shelley on Facebook
Shelley Shepard Gray

 

ZBLOG: What’s one thing about the Amish that would surprise most people?

Read More…

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The Story CD: A Soundtrack to the Bible Story



This week The Story CD hit streets, featuring 18 new songs performed by a parade of talent that includes Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, Francesca Bottiscelli, Amy Grant, and Mark Hall & Megan Garrett of Casting Crowns. (A tip for the fans: there are video interviews with the artists, including Mark Hall and others, on their experience with The Story.)

The music on The Story CD was inspired by three recent books: Randy Frazee’s The Heart of the Story, Max Lucado’s God’s Story, Your Story, and The Story. Since reading The Story is like reading the Bible in novel form, I wonder if that makes The Story CD like the soundtrack to the Bible story? The abridged soundtrack anyway. Eighten of the major biblical characters receive their own song. You can see the track listing and sample the songs at thestorycd.com.


Learn more about The Story CD & DVD

The lyricist Nichole Nodeman wrote the lyrics in first-person, which intrigued me. One of my favorite ways to meditate on Scripture is to put myself in the human characters’ position, then ask msyself questions like, “How do I behave like this person? What does God think of this behavior? What’s a better way?” This seems to fit with one of Nodeman’s goals in this project, which she describes as:

…to be able to listen to these songs and feel more connected to these people that walked before us and learned lessons that we’re still learning… There’s such a tendency to turn them into superheroes and have these big, takeaway, moral-of-the-story moments. For me it was all about the humanity. These were broken people who were desperate and needed God. They were just like us. I really believe that, and I think sometimes we forget.

Preview the Songs
You can preview the songs at www.thestorycd.com.

Based on the samples at thestorycd.com, which song is your favorite? My personal favorite is the Apostle Paul’s song, “Move in Me,” performed by Jeremy Camp. It’s half blues-rock stomper, half orchestral ode to joy, which makes the perfect musical mix to represent Paul’s guts … inspired by Christ’s glory. The music styles of the other songs span pop, hip-hop, ballads, and rock.

 

Also of Interest: The DVD and Music Tour
The Story DVD also released this week, and you can learn more about The Story music tour that will hit 13 US cities in December 2011.

 

(-Adam Forrest, Zondervan Internet Team. This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its partners and representatives. The writer’s opinions are his own, and he’s sharing them for information and entertainment purposes only.)


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Sign up for the “Falling to Pieces” Blog Tour

 

Falling to Pieces
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Want to be one of the first to read Vannetta Chapman's upcoming Amish mystery Falling to Pieces? We're giving away 15 advanced reader copies to bloggers for review. Sign up below, and if your blog is selected we'll ship you a copy!

About Falling to Pieces: A Shipshewana Amish Mystery
Two women, one friendship quilt, and a dead body. Shipshewana will never be the same.


Callie Harper's past haunts her. Deborah Yoder is an Amish woman who loves to quilt and piece things together—even mysteries. When a murder takes place in the small town of Shipshewana, an unlikely friendship blossoms between the two women. Will they solve the murder, and will Callie let go of the past so she can embrace the future God offers her?

 

Sign up for the Falling to Pieces Blog Tour 

  1. Sign up below by Friday, September 2. If your blog is selected we'll ship you a copy of the book.
  2. Post your review on your blog during the week of October 3. Please link to your review in a comment here on Zondervan Blog, because we'd like to hear your thoughts on the story!
  3. Please post your review on your favorite book retailer's website (amazon.com, christianbook.com, etc.).
  4. In your review please mention that Zondervan gave you a free copy for the purpose of an unbiased review.

 

 (DON'T SEE A SIGNUP FORM? Go here.)

 

Also of Interest: Join Vannetta Chapman on the Amish Country Book Tour, November 10-19

Join Vanetta and her friends Amy Clipston (author of Naomi's Gift) and Shelley Shepard Gray (author of Christmas in Sugarcreek) on the Amish Country Book Tour. Learn more about the tour stops and let us know if you plan to attend at www.zondervan.com/AmishCountryTour.

Amish Country Book Tour
Let us know if you're attending at zondervan.com/AmishCountryTour.

 

About Vannetta Chapman
Find Vannetta Chapman on Facebook Vannetta Chapman (Facebook.com/VannettaChapmanBooks) is the author of inspirational Amish fiction novels. She discovered her love for the Amish while researching her grandfather’s birthplace of Albion, Pennsylvania. Her first novel about the Amish, A Simple Amish Christmas, quickly became a bestseller. She has published over one hundred articles in Christian family magazines and has received over two dozen awards from Romance Writers of America chapter groups. Chapman lives in the Texas hill country with her husband. Learn more at her website www.vannettachapman.com.

 

 

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Karen Kingsbury Blog Tour: Sign up to Review “Learning”

 

Learning
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Update: Eight reviewers were selected and the books have been shipped. Thanks to everyone who entered!

We’re giving away 8 copies of Karen Kingsbury’s latest novel Learning to bloggers for review! Sign up below, and if your blog is selected we’ll ship you a review copy of Learning, Volume 2 in the Bailey Flanigan Series.

Karen Kingsbury’s new novel Learning picks up where Leaving left off: Bailey Flanigan and Cody Coleman are separated by both physical and great emotional distance. Can distance truly make the heart grow fonder? Find out in this poignant love story that features characters from Karen Kingsbury’s popular Baxter family.

 

The Learning Blog Tour
If your blog was selected, you will receive your copy of Leaving soon.

 

  1. Post your review on your blog during the week of 7/11. Please link to your review in a comment here on Zondervan Blog, because we’d like to hear your thoughts on the story!
  2. Please post your review on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, christianbook.com, or your favorite book retailer’s website.
  3. In your review please mention that Zondervan gave you a free copy for the purpose of honest review. Thanks!

 

More About Learning: Bailey Flanigan Series, Volume 2
Learning picks up where Leaving ended. While Bailey grows closer to her dream of being an actress and dancer in New York, Cody becomes immersed in the lives of the high school football team he is coaching. Neither Bailey nor Cody feel complete without the chance to share their dreams with one other, but can distance truly make the heart grow fonder? Or will Cody turn to others, especially when tragedy strikes? As Cody’s past catches up with him, he must learn to reach out for help or risk withdrawing permanently inside himself… Learn More

 

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Karen Kingsbury Blog Tour: Enter for Free Copy of “Leaving”

 

Leaving
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We're giving away 40 copies of Karen Kingsbury's new book Leaving (The Signature Edition) to bloggers for review! Sign up below.

If your blog is selected then you will receive a copy of the special Signature Edition of Leaving. This limited edition features a likeness of Karen's signature on the cover.

Leaving is the first in Karen Kingsbury's brand-new Bailey Flanigan Series. The novel kicks off with Bailey leaving Bloomington for the adventure of a lifetime. She's won an audition for the ensemble of a Broadway musical in New York City, but is she ready to leave behind friends, family, and Cody?

 

Sign Up for the Leaving Blog Tour

  1. Fill out this form by Sunday, March 26. We'll let you know by email if your blog was selected. Then we'll ship a copy of Leaving to each of the 40 winners.
  2. Please mention in your post that Zondervan provided you with the book free of charge, for the purpose of review.
  3. Post your review on your blog during the week of 5/2. Then link to your review in a comment here on Zondervan Blog, because we'd like to hear your thoughts on the story!
  4. Post your review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your favorite book retailer's website.

 

 (DON'T SEE A SIGNUP FORM? Go here.)

 

More About Leaving: Bailey Flanigan Series, Volume 1
Bailey's determined to take advantage of her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on Broadway, but is she really ready to leave family and friends for the loneliness of New York City? And what of Cody? His disappearance has her worried about their future and praying that their love can survive. In order to be closer to his mother in jail, Cody takes a coaching job in a small community outside Indianapolis. New friends, distance, and circumstances expose cracks in his relationship with Bailey Flanigan. Love, loneliness, big opportunities, and even bigger decisions highlight the first book in the new Bailey Flanigan series that features members of the popular Baxter family and will complete the story of Bailey Flanigan and Cody Coleman. Learn More

 

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Fathers: Sign Up to Review “What Happened to My Little Girl”

 

What Happened to my Little Girl
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UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who signed up for the blog tour! If your blog was selected, you'll receive the book in the mail soon.


Watch Zondervan Blog for more review opportunities coming soon.

Hey Dads, are you looking for a guide to relating to your tween daughter? Then you're in luck, because we're giving away 25 copies of  What Happened to my Little Girl to bloggers for review.

Written by tween expert Nancy Rue and her husband Jim, this book will help fathers relate to their daughters as they make the transition from girl to young woman.

 

How to Participate in the What Happened to My Little Girl? Blog Tour

  1. We'll ship a copy of What Happened to My Little Girl to you if your blog is selected.
  2. Please post your review on your blog during the week of 5/9. Then link to your review in a comment here, because we're interested in your thoughts on the book.
  3. Please mention in your post that Zondervan provided you with the book free of charge, for the purpose of review.
  4. Post your review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or a different bookseller's website.

 

More About What Happened to My Little Girl: Dad's Ultimate Guide to His Tween Daughter
This companion book to the FaithGirlz novels, devotionals, and Bibles, focuses on four tween issues – appearance, body and mood changes, girl politics, and authenticity. Let tween expert Nancy Rue, and her husband, Jim, guide you in helping your daughter live as a girl-child rather than a mini-teenager.

Empower your daughter in spiritually sound behaviors as the rate of aggression rises among tween females. Show your daughter how to not only avoid but take a stand on the twisted parts of her culture such as peer abuse, shallow consumerism, and an unrealistic sense of entitlement. Give her alternatives to the toxic media, and encourage her to become part of something bigger than herself through charitable, God-centered activities. Learn to model the growth of a deep, personal connection with God, which makes all of the above not only possible, but probable. In the midst of a world saturated with poisonous role models, it is possible to raise your daughter to be a respectful, confident, God-centered, young woman. Learn More

 

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Bloggers: Sign Up to Review Lisa Harris’ “Blood Covenant”

Blood Covenant
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UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who signed up for the Blood Covenant blog tour! If your blog was selected, you'll receive the book in the mail soon. We're looking forward to hearing your thoughts!


Watch Zondervan Blog for more review opportunities coming soon.

 

How to Participate in the Blood Covenant Blog Tour

  1.  We'll ship a copy of Blood Covenant to you if your blog is selected.
  2. Please mention in your post that Zondervan provided you with the book free of charge, for the purpose of review.
  3. Post your review on your blog during the week of 5/2. Then link to your review in a comment here, because we'd like to hear your thoughts on the story!
  4. Post your review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your favorite book retailer's website.

 

About Blood Covenant
Lisa Harris' action-packed new thriller transpires in the fictional African Republic of Dhambizao. With dangers that range from infectious disease to rebel soldiers looking for a fight, Publisher's Weekly has called this an "engaging" story with "lots of point of tension."

 

Paige Ryan and Nick Gilbert are trapped in an overpopulated African refugee camp where an outbreak of measles erupts and renegade soldiers block their only way out. Desperate for vaccines, they must put their own lives in the hands of God as they fight for the safety of the refugees under their protection. Learn More | Read the first chapters on Scribd 

 

About the ECHO Project
Lisa Harris is part of The ECHO Project, which exists to benefit the forgotten through Education, Compassion, Health and Opportunity. They work under the African Outreach Ministry, helping with peoples' physical needs as they seek to transform communities through the Holy Spirit.  Learn More | Donate

 

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Bloggers: Sign Up to Review “A Collection of Wednesdays”

A Collection of Wednesdays
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UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who signed up for the Collection of Wednesdays blog tour! If your blog was selected, you'll soon receive the book in the mail. We look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Watch Zondervan Blog for more review opportunities coming soon.

 

How to Participate in the Collection of Wednesdays Blog Tour

  1. We'll ship a copy of Collection of Wednesdays to you if your blog was selected.
  2. Please mention in your post that Zondervan provided you with the book free of charge, for the purpose of review.
  3. Post your review on your blog during the week of 4/25. Then link to your review in a comment here – we'd like to hear your thoughts!
  4. Post your review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your favorite book retailer's website.

 

 About A Collection of Wednesdays: Creating a Whole From the Parts
Through story, poetry, and song lyrics, Amy Gaither Hayes contemplates the Divine design in the seemingly random aspects of her life. Gain a fresh, simpler perspective on the structure and purpose of your own life, and insights into the heart and ways of the Creator who designed you as his masterpiece.

 

If you were to set aside a part of one day every week to explore all the pieces of who you are, what would you find? For Amy Gaither Hayes, Wednesday mornings have been such a time: a sacred space for her to distill the seemingly disparate bits and pieces of her life into their essence. Then she has set about reconnecting those pieces like beads in a necklace, discovering in the process a unified whole infused with purpose and beauty by her Creator. So it is with us all. In this anthology of Wednesday reflections by Amy, you will discover a new, simpler way of looking at the person you are. Through story, poetry, and song lyrics, A Collection of Wednesdays helps you uncover a Divinely woven order in what appear to be the random components of your life. Calling. Passion. Sand. Rest. Church. Music. Books. Words such as these offer fresh, uplifting glimpses of how your soul is put together. Find out how, and discover new insights into both yourself and the heart and ways of God. Learn More

 

About Amy Gaither Hayes
Whether working as a speaker, vocal artist, actress, dancer, stage director, writer, teacher, or storyteller, Amy Gaither Hayes is driven by the notion that art aimed at the heart can transfigure the souls of men and women. Amy teaches acting at DePauw University and lives with her husband, Andrew, and their three children in rural Indiana.

 Amy Gaither Hayes

 

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