Christian Devotions SPEAK UP!

Join us this week on Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! when Scott will feature Lindsey Bell.  Lindsey Bell is a stay-at-home mother, minister's wife, chocolate lover, and avid reader. She has written for various publications including: Thriving Family Magazine, The Lookout, Christian Standard, Vista, Standard, and The Carthage Press (Mo). Her devotions have been published in Christ in Youth's Anticipate, Experience, Reflect Mission Trip Devotions, Journal (Standard Publishing 2007), and in Big Dreams From Small Spaces (Group 2012). Lindsey graduated as valedictorian of Ozark Christian College (Bachelor of Biblical Literature and Psychology) in 2006. Her latest book, Searching for Sanity was published by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas in 2013. She and her husband Keith live and minister in Missouri with their two children.

Jane entertains by using funny, original Southern stories, folksy wisdom, and singing to help folks live a more productive, stress-free life. Jane believes in the extraordinary healing power of humor and storytelling. This is evident in Jane’s most recent accomplishment of being an Amazon “Best-Seller” for her new book, Bury Me with My Pearls (published by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas). As a Southern humorist, Jane combines her stories and singing (you may hear a parody or two) with life lessons. As she combines her talents, audiences laugh while learning how to handle difficulties at home and in the workplace. Jane is a Certified Professional Speaker (CPS), professional singer, recording artist, and published author, and is featured on Sirius XM Radio and Pandora. She crisscrosses the country sharing her “down-home principles delivered with uptown humor.” She has spoken is New Zealand and Germany, and is fluent in four languages: English, Southern, Northern, and Gullah (gul-la). Active in both church and community, Jane serves on the Parent Board at Clemson University. She is also Commissioner at Piedmont Technical College of South Carolina, Chair of the National Speakers Association Scholarship Committee, and serves on the Foundation Board of the National Speakers Association. However, Jane’s proudest accomplishments are being a wife and mother. Jane and her family live on the family peach farm in Edgefield County, South Carolina.

Lindsey Bell is a stay-at-home mother, minister's wife, chocolate lover, and avid reader. She has written for various publications including: Thriving Family Magazine, The Lookout, Christian Standard, Vista, Standard, and The Carthage Press (Mo). Her devotions have been published in Christ in Youth's Anticipate, Experience, Reflect Mission Trip Devotions, Journal (Standard Publishing 2007), and in Big Dreams From Small Spaces (Group 2012). Lindsey graduated as valedictorian of Ozark Christian College (Bachelor of Biblical Literature and Psychology) in 2006. Her latest book, Searching for Sanity was published by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas in 2013. She and her husband Keith live and minister in Missouri with their two children. Bob Ravener is the Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer for the Dollar General Corporation, a Fortune 200 publicly traded company. In this capacity, Mr. Ravener has leadership responsibility for all human resource initiatives for a 16+ billion-dollar company with more than 90,000 employees in over 10,500 stores. His latest book, also published by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, is called Up: The Difference Between Today and Tomorrow Is You.

Join us this week on Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! as Pastor John Wiley visits with Scott to share his vision of community living, including helping the homeless. John Wiley is an unconventional pastor who teaches love and compassion through his passion to mentor and creatively show others how to see their cities differently. He demonstrates to young families a fresh and transparent approach to a traditional gospel message, with relevance to embrace it at a heart level. He also equips Christians to recognize and engage the opportunities before them that they may have been missing on a daily basis. In 1981 he accepted Christ while in a military prison at the age of nineteen. In 2001, he and his family started River Church Family with fifteen teenagers, where he serves as the senior pastor. Today, the River has over 350 people. John is also the founder of River of Refuge, a non-profit, Kansas City-based organization committed to help transition homeless families who have jobs, from high-rent motels and shelters into permanent housing. John and Mary Jo have been married since 1982. They have three children and four grandchildren. For twenty years, Mary Jo focused on raising their three children. In 2009 she completed her doctoral studies and today practices chiropractic care at Revma Health Center in Raytown, MO.

Join us this week on Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! as Pastor John Wiley visits with Scott to share his vision of community living, including helping the homeless. John Wiley is an unconventional pastor who teaches love and compassion through his passion to mentor and creatively show others how to see their cities differently. He demonstrates to young families a fresh and transparent approach to a traditional gospel message, with relevance to embrace it at a heart level. He also equips Christians to recognize and engage the opportunities before them that they may have been missing on a daily basis. In 1981 he accepted Christ while in a military prison at the age of nineteen. In 2001, he and his family started River Church Family with fifteen teenagers, where he serves as the senior pastor. Today, the River has over 350 people. John is also the founder of River of Refuge, a non-profit, Kansas City-based organization committed to help transition homeless families who have jobs, from high-rent motels and shelters into permanent housing. John and Mary Jo have been married since 1982. They have three children and four grandchildren. For twenty years, Mary Jo focused on raising their three children. In 2009 she completed her doctoral studies and today practices chiropractic care at Revma Health Center in Raytown, MO.

Join us this week on Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! where the Bible takes center stage when Scott talks with author of Question Everything, Tyler Ellis. Tyler Ellis was born in 1980 and grew up in Portland, OR.  At eighteen, he enrolled in a 2.5 year apprentice missionary program called AIM (Adventures in Missions) that allowed him to serve in Western Samoa and Sydney, Australia. While overseas, he discovered a passion for missions and helping others sort through life’s biggest questions. After his apprenticeship, he worked on staff with AIM for three years while acquiring a degree in Biblical Studies. Tyler has been a Campus Minister since 2004. He began by planting a campus ministry at Northern Arizona University that remains today. While living in Flagstaff, AZ, he met Jennifer on eHarmony. After getting married in 2009, Tyler and his wife moved to Newark, DE, where they now live with their daughter and serve at the University of Delaware. Tyler is on the board of Campus Crosswalk. He has also been a speaker at several church camps, youth rallies, and conferences hosted at colleges including Pepperdine University, Cascade College, Southern Methodist University, Lipscomb University, Harding University, and Texas Tech University. In his free time, he enjoys doing art and photography, playing disc golf and racquetball, and exploring new places with family and friends. 

A native of Central New York, Linda Rondeau graduated from North Syracuse High School and later Houghton College. She moved to Northern New York where she met and married Steve Rondeau, her best friend in life, and managed a career in human services before tackling professional writing. Rondeau's romantic suspense, The Other Side of Darkness, is the winner of the 2012 Selah Award for best first novel. Her romance, It Really IS a Wonderful Life is already a best seller. Joining her contemporary works is her first non-fiction, I Prayed for Patience/God Gave Me Children. Her paranormal suspense, Days of Vines and Roses is now available in both book and ebook format. The author is a breast cancer survivor and is available to speak to your groups about health and/or her books and ministry to senior writers.

Aaron D. Gansky is a novelist, teacher, and editor. In 2009, he earned his M.F.A in Fiction at the prestigious Antioch University of Los Angeles, one of the top five low-residency writing schools in the nation. Prior to that, he attained his Bachelor of Arts degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing where he studied, in part, under Bret Anthony Johnston, now the Director of Creative Writing at Harvard University. He is the author of the novel The Bargain (2013, Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas) as well as The Hand of Adonai, a YA Fantasy series. Additionally, he’s written two short books on the craft of fiction; Firsts in Fiction: First Lines and Write to Be Heard (with Diane Sherlock). Aaron is also a professional editor. Currently, he serves as an editor for The Citron Review, an online literary journal for short fiction, poetry, and art. He edits novels and books as well. To find out more about how he can help get your manuscript ready for publication, click here: http://aarongansky.com/mentoring/

Aaron D. Gansky is a novelist, teacher, and editor. In 2009, he earned his M.F.A in Fiction at the prestigious Antioch University of Los Angeles, one of the top five low-residency writing schools in the nation. He is the author of the novel The Bargain (2013, Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas) as well as The Hand of Adonai, a YA Fantasy series. Additionally, he’s written two short books on the craft of fiction; Firsts in Fiction: First Lines and Write to Be Heard (with Diane Sherlock). Aaron is also a professional editor. Currently, he serves as an editor for The Citron Review, an online literary journal for short fiction, poetry, and art. He edits novels and books as well. To find out more about how he can help get your manuscript ready for publication, click here: http://aarongansky.com/mentoring/ A native of Central New York, Linda Rondeau graduated from North Syracuse High School and later Houghton College. She moved to Northern New York where she met and married Steve Rondeau, her best friend in life, and managed a career in human services before tackling professional writing. Rondeau's romantic suspense, The Other Side of Darkness, is the winner of the 2012 Selah Award for best first novel. Her romance, It Really IS a Wonderful Life is already a best seller. Joining her contemporary works is her first non-fiction, I Prayed for Patience/God Gave Me Children. Her paranormal suspense, Days of Vines and Roses is now available in both book and ebook format. The author is a breast cancer survivor and is available to speak to your groups about health and/or her books and ministry to senior writers.

Join us this week on Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! and discover missionary stories from around the world with author Rebecca Davis. Even though Rebecca’s prime reading as a child consisted of Nancy Drew and books by Grace Livingston Hill, her mother continued to thrust biographies into her hands. For this she has been immensely grateful, because biographies of great Christians have helped shape her life. Rebecca always loved to write, even though she left many stories—(almost all?)—unfinished. This terrible fate nearly befell her first book, With Daring Faith: A Biography of Amy Carmichael. If it hadn’t been for a persistent friend and co-worker, With Daring Faith, which eventually won the C.S. Lewis gold medal for Outstanding Christian Juvenile Literature, might have sat unfinished in a drawer. Instead, it was the first of what Rebecca hopes will be many books that will bring glory to God through the lives of ordinary Christians who serve an extraordinary God. Her first three biographies (With Daring Faith, George Mueller, and Fanny Crosby) were published by JourneyForth books, an imprint of BJU Press. Now Rebecca is working with Christian Focus Publications in the development of Hidden Heroes, a series of books designed for family read-alouds, telling true stories about God’s work in different countries around the world. You can view all her books by clicking on the “Missionary Stories and Biographies” tab of this website, http://www.heresthejoy.com. Along with her love of writing, Rebecca loves to teach, and knew from a young age that she wanted to be a teacher. This desire, however, conflicted with the desire to stay home with her children—that is, until she heard about homeschooling. 

Even though Rebecca’s prime reading as a child consisted of Nancy Drew and books by Grace Livingston Hill, her mother continued to thrust biographies into her hands. For this she has been immensely grateful, because biographies of great Christians have helped shape her life. Rebecca always loved to write, even though she left many stories—(almost all?)—unfinished. This terrible fate nearly befell her first book, With Daring Faith: A Biography of Amy Carmichael. If it hadn’t been for a persistent friend and co-worker, With Daring Faith, which eventually won the C.S. Lewis gold medal for Outstanding Christian Juvenile Literature, might have sat unfinished in a drawer. Instead, it was the first of what Rebecca hopes will be many books that will bring glory to God through the lives of ordinary Christians who serve an extraordinary God. Her first three biographies (With Daring Faith, George Mueller, and Fanny Crosby) were published by JourneyForth books, an imprint of BJU Press. Now Rebecca is working with Christian Focus Publications in the development of Hidden Heroes, a series of books designed for family read-alouds, telling true stories about God’s work in different countries around the world. You can view all her books by clicking on the “Missionary Stories and Biographies” tab of this website, http://www.heresthejoy.com. Along with her love of writing, Rebecca loves to teach, and knew from a young age that she wanted to be a teacher. This desire, however, conflicted with the desire to stay home with her children—that is, until she heard about homeschooling. Now, more than a quarter century after obtaining her master’s degree in education, Rebecca has almost completed the amazing homeschooling journey.

Join us this week on Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! where Superman takes a backseat to Art Ayris. Art Ayris is the publisher and CEO of Kingstone Media Group. While enjoying a successful ministry in his hometown, Art felt what he calls a “God-magnet” calling him into media. Resistant at first, he spent forty days in fasting and prayer to truly vet if this was a divine drawing and not some crazy idea. This led to the founding of Kingstone Media Group and its primary imprint, Kingstone Comics. The company has since grown to become a leading provider of premium quality faith market comic books and biblical worldview graphic novels, with two of its Kingstone Cinema literary properties also being optioned for major motion pictures. Art also serves his local community in Flordia as executive pastor and one of the trustees at First Baptist Leesburg, widely known for its outreach to the needy, assisting over 20,000 people annually. He led in the acquisition of a local motel, subsequently renamed The Samaritan Inn, which now houses homeless families in Central Florida. Additionally, he was the founding executive director of the Community Medical Care Center, a free clinic for the medically indigent now staffed by eight dentists, fifty doctors and numerous volunteer health professionals. The inspiring true story of the church's decision to not build a new building, but give to the needy is chronicled in The Touch, a film he wrote and produced. The movie won several film festivals and was awarded Best Feature in the Independents Film Festival, Angel Awards, Agape Film and Theater as well as a Crystal Reel by the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association.

Join us this week on Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! where Superman takes a backseat to Art Ayris. Art Ayris is the publisher and CEO of Kingstone Media Group. While enjoying a successful ministry in his hometown, Art felt what he calls a “God-magnet” calling him into media. Resistant at first, he spent forty days in fasting and prayer to truly vet if this was a divine drawing and not some crazy idea. This led to the founding of Kingstone Media Group and its primary imprint, Kingstone Comics. The company has since grown to become a leading provider of premium quality faith market comic books and biblical worldview graphic novels, with two of its Kingstone Cinema literary properties also being optioned for major motion pictures. Art also serves his local community in Flordia as executive pastor and one of the trustees at First Baptist Leesburg, widely known for its outreach to the needy, assisting over 20,000 people annually. He led in the acquisition of a local motel, subsequently renamed The Samaritan Inn, which now houses homeless families in Central Florida. Additionally, he was the founding executive director of the Community Medical Care Center, a free clinic for the medically indigent now staffed by eight dentists, fifty doctors and numerous volunteer health professionals. The inspiring true story of the church's decision to not build a new building, but give to the needy is chronicled in The Touch, a film he wrote and produced. The movie won several film festivals and was awarded Best Feature in the Independents Film Festival, Angel Awards, Agape Film and Theater as well as a Crystal Reel by the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association.

Kim Ketola (“Kim Jeffries”) has over thirty years of broadcast and broadcast journalism experience. She is the host and executive producer of Cradle My Heart Radio airing Sunday evenings on select stations nationally. She has produced and hosted programs in the general market (CBS’ WCCO News Radio and WCCO-TV; KSTP-FM Music radio), and Christian formats (KTIS/Faith Radio Network). She was Executive Producer and Host of the radio and online feature, Life Redeemed™ presenting first-person narratives of healing after abortion with commentary from Gary Thomas, Randy Alcorn, Theresa Burke, John MacArthur, John Ensor, and other leading Christian voices. Kim’s book, Cradle My Heart, Finding God’s Love after Abortion (Kregel, 2012), features a foreword by Ruth Graham and was awarded First Place in the Sonfire Media contest at the 2010 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. The book is a result of Kim’s ministry with Ruth Graham and Friends Conferences (2007-2010), and reflects her training as a peer counselor and lay ministry leader. Kim has organized and presented professionally accredited conferences for healing after abortion, approved for continuing education credits for MN Licensed Psychologists, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists (2003-2004). She is a keynote speaker at churches, pregnancy centers, and community events, presenting post abortion workshops as faculty for the 2011 and upcoming 2012 Heartbeat International Annual Conferences. Her weekly broadcast, Cradle My Heart Radio, is a live interactive outreach featuring leading voices in prolife and post-abortion ministry. She and her husband Bruce are parents of four adult children, and they make their home in suburban Atlanta.

Join us this week on Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! when Kim Ketola shares her “cradled” heart and the battle for preserving all life, beginning with conception. Kim Ketola (“Kim Jeffries”) has over thirty years of broadcast and broadcast journalism experience. She is the host and executive producer of Cradle My Heart Radio airing Sunday evenings on select stations nationally. She has produced and hosted programs in the general market (CBS’ WCCO News Radio and WCCO-TV; KSTP-FM Music radio), and Christian formats (KTIS/Faith Radio Network). She was Executive Producer and Host of the radio and online feature, Life Redeemed™ presenting first-person narratives of healing after abortion with commentary from Gary Thomas, Randy Alcorn, Theresa Burke, John MacArthur, John Ensor, and other leading Christian voices. Kim’s book, Cradle My Heart, Finding God’s Love after Abortion (Kregel, 2012), features a foreword by Ruth Graham and was awarded First Place in the Sonfire Media contest at the 2010 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. The book is a result of Kim’s ministry with Ruth Graham and Friends Conferences (2007-2010), and reflects her training as a peer counselor and lay ministry leader. Kim has organized and presented professionally accredited conferences for healing after abortion, approved for continuing education credits for MN Licensed Psychologists, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists (2003-2004). She is a keynote speaker at churches, pregnancy centers, and community events, presenting post abortion workshops as faculty for the 2011 and upcoming 2012 Heartbeat International Annual Conferences. Her weekly broadcast, Cradle My Heart Radio, is a live interactive outreach featuring leading voices in prolife and post-abortion ministry.