by Ava Pennington Did you know there is only one fruit of the Spirit? Have you ever wondered why you didn’t have more of the nine fruits of the Spirit the apostle Paul listed in Galatians 5:22-23? That list includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But what if I told you there is only one fruit of the Spirit? That’s right, just one, not nine! God describes several of His attributes as fruit that He develops in us. They are not separate fruits (plural). Rather, each one is a display or facet of the fruit…
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This is our archive pageFascinating Friday Feature – The Big ‘Yes’ Continues
by Linda Wood Rondeau I am forever fascinated by how God continues to affirm our calling, even within the worst discouragement and doubt. “Lord, I can’t do this anymore. It hurts too much,” I cried. “I wasn’t meant to be a writer.” I looked up at the wall of award certificates for unpublished work and thought I heard the room laughing at me. How many times have I wanted to quit? Every time I view my royalty checks or realize the non-existence thereof. My first career had been in human services, but I wanted to reach people outside the government…
Fascinating Friday Feature – I Never Thought I’d Write a Children’s Book
by April Graney I never thought I’d write a children’s book. My high school friend told me after graduation that she wanted to write children’s books. I thought that was weird. I’d never heard of anyone who wanted to do that. I wasn’t sure what I was going to pursue, but it sure wasn’t writing for sticky-faced little kids! I thought I’d be a journalist, or a novelist, or write for magazines. But for job security, I pursued a degree in English Education. After college and marriage, we moved to Dallas Seminary, where I fell in love with studying the…
2025 CAN Excellence in Marketing Awards: First Place in Fiction Broadcast Media
2025 CAN Excellence in Marketing Awards: First Place in Fiction Broadcast Media Next in a series of posts featuring the winners of the 2025 Christian Authors Network (CAN) Excellence in Marketing Awards. Carissa Lovvorn won first place in the fiction Broadcast Media category and describes her activities here. The 2026 marketing awards will open in November 2025. Be thinking of how you can enter the awards! See the guidelines at: https://christianauthorsnetwork.com/marketing-award/ Congratulations on winning first place in Fiction Broadcast Media, Carissa! Tell us about the book(s) you marketed. The Sharing Sisters children’s picture book series. Titles include: Seeds for Sharing, Lemons…
2025 CAN Excellence in Marketing Award Winners Announced!
In the ever-evolving world of Christian publishing, great books are only part of the story. Behind every powerful message lies a strategic marketing effort that brings those messages to the hearts and homes of readers. That’s why the Christian Authors Network (CAN) is thrilled to announce the 2025 CAN Excellence in Marketing Award Winners—honoring the creativity, dedication, and innovation of Christian authors who’ve gone above and beyond to promote their books with excellence. Launched with the mission to recognize, educate, and encourage, the CAN Excellence in Marketing Awards shine a spotlight on the powerful promotional strategies that help Christian books…
Fascinating Friday Feature – Why I Became a Professional Writer
by Lena Nelson Dooley In January 1984, several publishers came out with inspirational romances–Silhouette, Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, Harvest House, Baker Books, Bethany House. At the time, I was an auxiliary rural mail carrier in Colleyville, Texas. While I was driving the mail route, I created a story in my head, like a motion picture. The first week of May 1984, I went to spend part of an afternoon with a good friend who thought romance novels were a waste of time. While we were talking that day, she asked me if I knew a particular woman who attended church with…
Fascinating Friday Feature – The Funniest Review
by Linore Rose Burkard The Funniest Review: Thoughts on Reading and Readers All writers know that book reviews can be wonderful, maddening, or anything in between. One day, early in my writing career, I received an unexpectedly comical “review” for my first book, Before the Season Ends. A young lady came to me at church gushing about how she loved it and had lent it to a friend before school began earlier that week. She went on to relate how her friend had started it in homeroom, instantly loved it, and proceeded to read all day—all 310 pages—so that she’d…
Fascinating Fridays: Christian Fiction – A Tool for Evangelism
by Patricia Bradley Then the LORD told me: “I will give you my message in the form of a vision. Write it clearly enough to be read at a glance” (Habakkuk 2:2 CEV). The Christian fiction genre accounts for nearly 51% of all faith-based book sales, and I believe it is an awesome tool for evangelizing. Not everyone agrees with me, but think about it. Jesus taught by story—parables—short fictional stories with heavenly meanings, but they were stories nonetheless. Stories that listeners were caught up in because Jesus used characters, items, and events from their everyday lives. His listeners could…
Fascinating Friday Feature – Interview with Diana Leagh Matthews
Q – What has God called you to do where your first thought may have been “Are you kidding me?” In 2004, I served a church as minister of music. Over the course of six months, three different people came to me and said, “You should be in the ministry.” I laughed it off. “Yeah right. God, I’m no preacher.” At the time, I thought being in the ministry meant being a minister. As a PK (preacher’s kid), I knew that wasn’t the life for me. For three years, I fought the calling but the Lord revealed to me that…
Fascinating Friday Feature – Glory in the Ordinary
by Cheryl Schuermann I never entertained the thought of writing a devotional book. That is, until I met the church doors. We discovered them in a lonely metal shed on The Farm, the recreational land my in-laws purchased many years prior. Amid flying dust and a thick curtain of cobwebs, my husband and I cleaned the doors with rags just enough to reveal the arched glass panels and heavy brass handles and hinges. Though the doors were not ornate, we found them to be extraordinary. Before he passed, my father-in-law mentioned how he rescued several doors from the old church…
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