Tag Archives: self-publishing

The Church is Rising

I want to thank you all for the great feedback from yesterday’s post on The Church vs. The Church.

Many of you who followed my blog in the early days remember that I wrote on Christian living in today’s world. I have had many people ask me to go back and write more of those blogs. While I love teaching the Word to others – and while I will continue to do that from time to time – that is not the direction I feel God taking me in my life at this point in the journey.

I have refocused my blog to help other great Christian people get their messages and testimony into print. The self-publishing world is a tricky world to navigate and I feel that my eye for detail, my desire to spread the Gospel to the ends of the Earth and my passion for lifting up others to shine, is better served by me using my blog to help people “Publish With Purpose”.

I will still take time out to talk on  issues that I see that need to be addressed, (as I did yesterday) but I need to keep my eye’s focused on using my skills and talents to lift up others and help them share their testimonies to the world.

With that said, I want to share a couple of great blogs from up and coming stars in the Christian world. These are people with passion and a desire to see Kingdom living today and not waiting until our time is done here on Earth. These people are proof positive to me that the Church is rising and is becoming strong and a force to be reckoned with.

The first person I want to introduce you to is Robin Bremer. Robin is passionate about helping people unleash their full potential as Christians. Her dedication to reveal scripture to people and exposing them to the gifts that Jesus has promised us through the Holy Spirit, is motivating. I love her passion and drive.

We will be releasing Robins book, Feed My People Joy, in September of this year. Take the time to check out her vast amount of YouTube teaching videos and also visit her site to learn more about her ministry.

The next person I want to introduce you to is Melissa West. Melissa has taken her life experiences and her love of Christ and poured it all into riveting teachings. Melissa is a doer. When she sees a need or something lacking, she jumps in and fills that void.

There are so many important areas that we need to address in our Christian walk and we don’t always find all the teaching we need at church. The roles of pastors is to guide their flocks and reach the loss. With only 52 Sundays in a year to address people, they cannot cover all the bases of what the bible teaches. Melissa is using her writing to address those areas that the church is missing. Bookmark her blog and learn more.

Everyone who follows Cross Point Publishing and my blog already know of F. Remy Diederich. Remy is the founding pastor of Cedarbrook Church and the author of Healing the Hurts of Your Past.

Remy works with people who are fighting through  destructive behaviors in a local rehabilitation center. His work and passion to help these people find healing has led to his blog which deals directly with helping people reconnect with a God who desires to restore us to a life of glory.

These are just three of the rising stars of the church today. These three people are people who are in my life and that I want to give some exposure to.

Who would you like to add to this list? Add their name, what type of ministry work they do and a link to their site in the comments section below.

Special Guest Post: Only God Can Send Rainbows: A Lesson in Love

Today, I am really excited to share a Guest Post with my readers. This post is from L. Marie, an emerging author who has taken her testimony and turned it into a book to share with others who have struggled with bad relationships. I love the passion she brings to her writing. Enjoy this post and be sure to check out her website.  

Many of us have experienced storms in our lives that may have left us feeling alone in a ship drifting far away from shore, sinking very fast. Sometimes when the ship is drifting or sinking, our first human instinct is to panic. In swimming, we learn is to never panic. Those who panic usually spiral out of control, go against the currents, and drown. When the storms of life rage against us, the enemy will plant panic seeds in our lives. No matter how strong of a Christian or how great our faith, many of us have experienced moments of weakness and surrender. Panic seeds grow and multiply in the form of anxiety, fear, depression, and sometimes major physical or emotional ailments. Sometimes we go through these storms so we can walk away with a survival testimony to give others hope. Sometimes, our life survival storm testimonies leave us feeling no less overwhelmed or different than surviving major meteorological storms. Both require faith and wisdom to survive and both may have been created by Mother Nature.

I like many women have a survival testimony of “life” storms that happened to have included emotional setbacks as a result of engaging in unhealthy relationships. My last unhealthy relationship caused me to spiral out of emotional control, to only spend time with God and with myself to be rebuilt stronger, wiser, and better. We must learn to become better and never bitter. God made a promise to all of us that after the building of the ark and the floods, he would send a rainbow and that he would never take the world through what those on the ark went through. I realized that “Only God Can Send a Rainbow” and gained major “Lessons in Love”. Stepping out on faith and laying down fear and anxiety, I wrote a book that is dedicated to minister to women, who may have been lost in and out of unhealthy relationships. I have been given a wonderful assignment to speak to women who struggle with crossing the line between being human and being perfect. Who desire only what God created us for, unconditional love. Unconditional love starts with loving God and self.

We must understand and embrace emotional storms and learn how to cherish and encourage each other when such occurs. We know that God is there for us, but we also must learn to find safe harbors of caring and concerned people who can wrap their human arms around us and guide us to the light when our path becomes dark.

As I watched the Whitney Houston funeral this year and listened to the many who spoke about her insecurities, fears, substance abuse, and unhealthy relationship decisions, I realized that this struggle is not just a celebrity struggle, but a daily struggle for many of us-myself included.

I started writing my book in February 2011, while face to face in the eye of a major life storm, sent by the enemy, who came in many shapes and forms. I realized I became like a mummy wrapped in layers of scar tissue that had never been healed from the past all the way back to childhood. I was amazed at what I learned about myself and the people I was attracting in my life. I thought-as a Christian Woman, I was supposed to be perfect, only to find out that perfection does not exist in human form. As I wrote this book, I dug deep into the mistakes I made and came up with biblical principles and solutions for moving forward in a new light-with beautiful bright rainbow of life surrounding me.

When our reality check bounces it is always for a purpose. God will never let us bounce anything in life that He is not able to honor. God knows the healing required for each of us and he knows the plans of life for each of us.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Remember, to prosper is not always to achieve financial gain. It is FREEDOM to be HAPPY with your wonderfully made unique flawed self.


The walk of faith includes sharing your testimony and what you have learned. This sharing may come in the form of a
ministry, a book, a song, visual art, photography, etc… Whatever God placed in your heart to reveal to others that demonstrates that He is the only one able to send a rainbow after a storm, must be outwardly shared with those that may be walking toward a similar storm. Remember, we are not weak when we are knocked down, but we are built to endure and become stronger for the final round of life. Fast forward to today, I am able to share my journey and how I came to a place where I could look in the mirror, find my faults, forgive others, and move on into the clouds of joy. He is a God of many opportunities to share his unfailing love with others. It is my hope that “Only God Can Send a Rainbow-Lessons in Love”, the book will inspire you to share your story of survival so that you also may be able to encourage, build, and light the way for others.

Why Every Pastor Should Publish a Book

A couple of years ago I was at the Global Leadership Summit and had the opportunity to hear Pastor Jeff Manion speak on the subject of the Israelite’s experience in the desert. His message that day was based on a very successful sermon series he had preached at his church.

In between sessions I wandered out to the lobby where I discovered he had published a book titled The Land Between. I loved his message so much that I bought the book and took it home for some further reading. Imagine my surprise when I realized that his entire message made up nearly the entire content of his book.

You see, Jeff partnered with another writer to take his sermon series and re-write it into a book. The book mirrored his message and probably his sermon series in every way. It is great to have that message forever captured in print form. Like the books of the bible, Jeff’s message will be available for those who make up the future of the church.

This got me to thinking about how many pastors out there have a great sermon series sitting on the shelf somewhere. If the job of the church is to “Go forth and make disciples of all nations”, what better way to achieve that goal then to use modern technology and publishing programs to bring their sermons to book form.

Many will object saying that their work is not worthy.

I disagree.

Here are five reasons that I feel every pastor should seek to publish at least one of their sermons into a book:

  1. New Technology Makes it Affordable- In the past, the only people who could get published were the lucky few. Now with self-publishing and print-on-demand technology, every pastor can be published and available to the world at little to no charge.
  2. Books are an Easy Fix- Many people will seek out answers to their problems from the pages of a book before they will seek help from their pastor. Perhaps it is selfish pride that prevents them from discussing issues with their pastors. Either way, wouldn’t it be nice to have an important message in print and ready to aid someone in their struggles?
  3. The Message Heard Around the World- Some self-publishing companies offer the ability to distribute your book around the world. Now pastors have the ability to turn their sermon series into a book and share it on a global level.
  4. Ministry Costs Money- By bringing a sermon to print brings the added potential for income. Profits from book sales can go towards the writer, the writers church, an organization or any form of ministry. Ministry costs money, what better way to raise money than making money off a successful sermon that helps transform lives for Christ.
  5. Share the Ooh-Aah With Others- Someone out there is waiting for the Ooh-Aah moment that only your book may deliver. For many years, once a sermon was preached it disappeared with time. Years later you always hear someone say, “You remember that message that Pastor Joe preached. Powerful stuff. I wish he would teach on it again. I know someone who needs to hear it.” With a published version, that perfect sermon is forever preserved.

Every pastor has one or two Ooh-Aah sermon series tucked away.

Isn’t it time to turn that Ooh-Aah moment into a book?

Give Your Sermon a Lasting Legacy

There are many talented pastors out there today who have developed successful ministries at their own church and in their own community.

These ministry ideas are so valuable when it comes to spreading the Gospel. Unfortunately, many pastors let these great sermons and ministries sit out in the pasture and rust, like an old beat up station wagon with wood trim that hasn’t run for thirty years. It’s not their faults. Ministry takes valuable time and how can you add a large marketing project to your already long list of things to do? How do you justify taking more time away from your church, ministry or family to promote your message to the world?

I’m not pointing fingers. I’m just saying, it’s a shame. I am here to tell you, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here at Cross Point, we have made it our mission to come along side not just pastors, but also lay-ministers, ministry leaders and servants of Christ who have developed powerful messages that should be shared with the world. Here is how we can do that.

  1. WE PUBLISH FOR YOU- We can publish your book and promote it for you using all of this glorious technology.  We put together the details and work side by side with the author to promote their work. This doesn’t cost anything. We share the royalties from sales just like any other publisher/author relationship.
  2. WE HELP YOU SELF-PUBLISH- We help you assemble your manuscript into a book and submit it to print-on-demand companies. We charge you up front for this service but we give you promotional guidance along the way.
  3. WE TURN YOUR BOOK INTO A MINISTRY- If the potential is there, we turn your sermon into a book and create a ministry out of it. A perfect example of that is a recent book we published by F. Remy Diederich. Remy’s book Healing the Hurts of Your Past: A Guide to Overcoming the Pain of Shame is quickly becoming a ministry tool in churches across the globe. He had developed the concept years ago but had to put it on the shelf while he started a church. We have come along side of him and helped him breath new life into it. He is sharing the gifts of healing that God has given him with the world – while still being able to have time to focus on his church, community and family.
  4. BUILD A PLATFORM- Perhaps you have already done the work of publishing and just need help in getting the message out there. Cross Point will soon have an answer for that. We will be launching a number of publishing/marketing programs to help writers build a solid sales platform by using the powerful social media that is in the palms of everyone’s hands. Visit our website in the coming weeks to learn more.

These are just some of the exciting things we have to offer. The real question is: “Are you ready to give your sermon a lasting legacy?”

Why should you preach a sermon one Sunday and just have it collect dust? Turn it into a book or ministry and share it with the world.

There has never been a better time to explore the publishing options available to everyone.