Pros of Books

1. You don’t need any special device to access
2. Simpler to put together

Pros of Apps

1. Don’t need to do an expensive print run
2. Making changes, even after publication is simple and free
3. Built in marketplaces for selling
4. Built in rating system
5. Immediately available all around the world
6. Can link directly back to online content or sites
7. Can create a multi-media experience
8. Can take advantage of the camera, movement, sound
9. Can sell cheaper (less overhead, and less middlemen)
10. Never run out of books

Obviously some of these are different if you need to hire someone else to program the app for you.  However, the price model, and built in marketing make apps the clear winner, especially for the first time author.  If a book does great, then perhaps it can warrant a book print run.

As a small Christian book publisher with very limited funds, we need to go to the App first route.  What do you think?

1. Flee from temptations that come from our sinful nature (2 Timothy 2:22).  Just get away and stay away.  This is probably the majority of them.

2. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)  The Devil always tempts us not to believe in God’s love towards us.  That’s how he tempted Eve, and Jesus.  For this one, we can’t flee, but instead we need to put on the full armor of God. (Ephesians 6:11)

The best way to prepare is to memorize scriptures, and have our kids do the same.  That’s what Jesus did when he was tempted.  Why should we expect to be able to resist temptation if we don’t prepare?

Between online retailers (that don’t pay sales tax or have cashiers), and ebooks (that don’t print books), it’s nearly impossible for the brick-n-mortar bookstore model to work.  Christian bookstores have been particularly hard hit, with over 60% of them going out of business in the last 10 years.

I suppose it was bound to happen, but it is the end of an era.  Will our children know what it feels like to browse through a bookstores?

The interesting thing with some of the rejections we have had, is that they seem to always be about something different.  We don’t talk enough about this, or we talk too much about that.  Many times this is tied back to their specific denominational views.

That got me thinking that a lot of denominationalism is a reaction to another denomination, more than it is a calling from the Lord.  In my own life, I was a part of a denomination that had split from another denomination (they all have), and we wanted to show how different (and better) we were than the denomination we had come out from.

This makes me reflect on one of Jesus’ last prayer

“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” – John 17:11 NIV

It is not wrong to prefer a certain style of church as long as it is Biblically based.  However, there is something evil in the denominational climate that makes us want to be different, and to highlight our differences.

We need to examine ourselves, and double check the things that we think make us different than other Christians.  Are we really being called by the Spirit of God to be this way, or are we just looking for a way to be different, or reacting from something in our past?

June 2011 – Ministry Update

- 18 Bookstores, 2 Countries, 7 States
- June 16-18 : CHEC Conference, Denver
- Books are going to Africa (more below)

Family Time Idea

It can be difficult to come up with new topics.  One idea is to pick one of the lists in the Bible.  Once we did the Fruits of the Spirit fromGalatians 5:22-23.  Pick one a week, and just talk about what it is, and why we should have it.  It’s also fun to roll-play a situation and pretend to either have or not have that fruit and let everyone else guess.  Keep it fun, keep it short, end in prayer.

Knowing God

It is very important that we keep in mind, and teach to our children the reason we exist. We are not a cosmic random event on a swirling ball in the outer rim of one of hundreds of billions of spiral galaxies. We were specifically created to be loved, and to love by an amazing God. Not only that, we have a key roll to play in the real cosmic drama that continues to unfold all around us.

Books 4 Africa

Glenn Pieters will be leading a team to the Mathare Valley Slum in Nairobi Kenya the end of this Month.  They will be taking the first books to a 3rd world country, thanks to a donation by one of our Facebook fans.

Note From Paul

This summer, I am working on my speaking topics, and creating props for when I talk to kids.  Thank you to our 1,000 Facebook fans for your support and encouragement.  I’ve also started a very interesting debate Blog with my brother about if we should teach our children about God (READ MORE).

David: Why should you teach fish about water?

Young kids live in a unitive consciousness already.  Anything you say can only serve to activate the thinking (discriminatory) mind, which creates the feeling of separateness.  My biggest problem with religious lessons for kids is that it strives to create the illusion that we are separate from God.  Its embedded in the language we use by labeling parts of their universe as “God” and “Not God.”  This growing alienation from “God” is conveniently to be healed later, by means of the church’s prescription for reconciliation with God, which is only a partial healing.  It isn’t a true merging with the Divine, but sets up God as an object to be worshiped.  This provides a measure of healing, but the worshipped and the worshipper stay forever separate.  Perceived distance from God will be experienced as pain.  Why set our kids up for that?  I say let them not even think about God, but just encourage them to swim inside His warm flowing River.

Paul: Understanding brings us closer

We have all been created by God with a free will.  God wants us to freely love Him, or freely reject Him rather than command respect and worship from on high.  If we are never separated from God, then how can we really have free will?  If I choose to do as much harm to others as I can, how can I still be united with God?

As you know from your travels, it is nearly impossible to appreciate something or somewhere fully until you lose it.  Being separate from God (at times) allows us to see what ‘Not God’ is like, and therefore makes our joy at knowing God all the richer.

About the “warm flowing river”, I like the analogy, but couldn’t the same be said of music?  Children love to sing and hum, but if you only encourage them vaguely and hold back from them the storehouses of knowledge and training, they will never know the full joy of being a master musician.  I am not talking about pounding in training, and sucking the life and joy out of a thing, but rather that any relationship (with music, friends, or God) grows deeper when there is more knowledge and understanding of the Other.

David:

TBD

Paul: What are parents for?

As parents, it is our responsibility to prepare our children to take on the challenges and responsibilities of being an adult.  We don’t want them to be an adult and not be able to make mac-n-cheese or clean their room.  On a higher level, we should also teach them about the world we all live in, and if your world includes God, then naturally, that would be part of the narrative as well.

Of course, teaching children about God is not the same as teaching them how to brush their teeth.  As I mentioned earlier, God does not give us 100% certainty about His existence, as that would remove free will.  In addition, there are so many groups and books claiming different things about God that it can be overwhelming.  However, the same can be said for styles of cooking.  We shouldn’t hesitate to give our children a big taste of our understanding and relationship with God, while providing a foundation to explore the one who made them and loves them.

David:

TBD