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Book Takes Readers on Intimate Spiritual Journey

Certified Life Coach, Counselor Guides Readers Towards a Closer Relationship with God

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: With many years of experience both personal and professional, Craig Lounsbrough knows what it is like to deal with life’s most horrific events, as well as its most marvelous moments. Whatever the nature and magnitude of the experience, God seeks to dramatically collide with our lives in these events in ways that are nothing short of transformational. In his latest book An Intimate Collision: Encounters with Life and Jesus, (Ambassador International; May 2013; $15.99, paperback) Ordained Minister, Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Professional Life Coach Craig Lounsbrough helps readers find the majestic life God has intended for each of his children by uncovering and incorporating those most intimate collisions.

“It appears evident that God’s intentions for us are far more expansive and profoundly more majestic than what we’ve embraced and subsequently live out in our lives. Something inestimably more is ours if we are relentless enough to discover it, persistent enough to find ways to seize it, and then tenacious enough to firmly weave it into the very fabric our lives until it becomes our lives,” says Craig. The “intimate collisions” outlined in the pages of this book are for those who wish to let go of mediocrity and grow unimaginably closer to God.

Craig brings a number of profound events in scripture to life, and then intertwines them with personal and clinical experiences that plant those events firmly into the realities of living in the 21^st century. At the end of every chapter, Craig provides thought provoking questions for readers to meditate on in order to grow closer to God as a result of their own intimate collisions with Him.

About the Author: Craig Lounsbrough’s background includes over twenty-three years experience as a counselor in a variety of treatment settings such as psychiatric hospitals, outpatient clinics, churches and various ministries. Craig spent two years broadcasting in Christian radio. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Colorado, an Ordained Minister, as well as a Certified Professional Life Coach. Craig’s other books include Flecks of Gold on a Path of Stone: Simple Truths for Profound Living, Flecks of Gold on a Path of Stone: Simple Truths for Life’s Complex Journey, and An Autumn’s Journey: Deep Growth in the Grief and Loss of Life’s Seasons.

To learn more about the author and his book Intimate Collisions, visit www.craiglpc.com. For interview requests, please contact Alison Storm at [email protected].

Secrets and Romance Surface in Majestic Alaska

First Book in Alaskan Waters Trilogy Set in 1950s Alaskan Panhandle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Family, secrets and romance, set against the backdrop of Alaska’s Panhandle – author AnnaLee Conti’s first book of the Alaskan Water Trilogy, Till the Storm Passes By (Ambassador International; April 15, 2013; $14.99, paperback), explores the sense of peace that can come from the healing power of forgiveness.

Conti’s experiences growing up in a missionary family in Alaska during the 1950s and 1960s heavily inform her writing. Till the Storm Passes By offers an intimate picture of life in one of America’s most popular cruise destinations, the Panhandle of Alaska.

The novel begins with Evie Parker, a Rhode Island schoolteacher, who is plagued by a recurring nightmare from her childhood. Who is the woman in her dream? What does it mean? Her quest for answers and a deathbed confession compel her to cross the continent to Juneau, Alaska. There, she struggles through storms, both natural and emotional, to unravel a past shrouded in mystery. When she makes a heart-rending discovery, can she relinquish her heartaches to God? Can she ever find true love and joy?

“While showcasing the scenic beauty of Alaska,” says Conti, “I dramatize the destructiveness of family secrets, as well as the redemption and healing that can only come through forgiveness.”

About the Author: AnnaLee Conti is an author, teacher, and ordained minister. She resides in the Mid-Hudson River Valley with her husband, Bob. Together, they have pastored churches in New York State for 35 years. AnnaLee has also published numerous short stories, articles, devotionals, church school curriculum, and a nonfiction book, Frontiers of Faith, which recounts the adventures of her grandparents as pioneers to Alaska (1917-1982).

For more information about the author and her book, please visit www.AnnaLeeConti.com. For interview requests, please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected].

Ambassador International Honors the Life and Legacy of George Beverly Shea

Billy Graham’s Long Time Associate Passes Away at Age 104

For immediate release April 17, 2013: Ambassador International is saddened to learn of the passing of George Beverly Shea. Few musicians have reached more people around the globe for Christ than George Beverly Shea. No other gospel musician in history has spread Christ’s love throughout the world for as long. George Beverly Shea is a legend among both his peers and admirers. Today’s thriving popularity of gospel music is a living legacy of Shea’s dedicated, enthusiastic, ground-breaking vision. But more than that, Shea was a warm, loving Christian with the heart of a servant.

Born in Winchester, Ontario on February 1, 1909, Shea began his singing career in the choir of his father’s church. Over the span of a century Shea recorded more than 70 albums, received ten Grammy nominations, entered into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame and traveled to dozens of countries with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team.

Greenville-based publisher Ambassador International is honored to have published the last authorized biography on Shea back in 2009. In honor of Shea’s 100th birthday, Reverend Dr. Paul Davis wrote George Beverly Shea: Tell Me the Story, re-released in paperback and available exclusively at ChristianBook.com. “We collected hundreds, if not thousands, of birthday greetings for Shea from fans at GeorgeBevShea.com,” says Ambassador COO Tim Lowry. “It was truly remarkable to see the love and admiration that poured in from around the world.” Davis investigated Shea’s life, associates and recordings more extensively than ever before, chronicling Shea’s 100 years with detail and depth. Davis, who passed away shortly after the book was published, was an author, journalist, broadcaster, and record producer whose relationship with Shea spanned many years. Davis served as the executive producers on albums for Shea and many other well-known Christian artists.

In honor of Shea and to encourage readers who may be interested in learning more about his life and legacy during this time we have lowered the price of George Beverly Shea: Tell Me the Story to $4.99 for the Kindle. “While we will no longer be able to enjoy his beautiful voice here on earth,” says Lowry, “we know he is now singing praises in heaven with the Savior he devoted his life to telling the world about.” A re-released paperback version of George Beverly Shea: Tell Me the Story is available exclusively through ChristianBook.com.

Ambassador International was founded in 1980 in Belfast, Northern Ireland and expanded to Greenville, South Carolina in 1995. Ambassador International’s books and materials have been distributed in dozens of countries and are sold worldwide. For more information visit www.ambassador-international.com. You can also follow @AmbassadorIntl on Twitter or check out Facebook.com/AmbassadorIntl.

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Novel Features Heartwarming and Heart-Stopping Adventures of First-Year Teacher

Author and Veteran Educator Focuses on Importance of Nurturing Children in School

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Young Tommy disappears during a field trip, Jeffrey risks electrocution by urination and Brenna struggles to learn how to read. It’s all in a day’s work for a first-year teacher in the tiny town of Karola in the 1970s. In this tale of heartwarming classroom adventures in rural Kansas, Author Linda Born’s new novel, The Children Are Tender (Ambassador International; March 2013; $14.99, paperback), addresses the importance of childhood education and emotional development while also focusing on issues of tolerance, forgiveness, and love.

First year teacher, Lydia Birn quickly learns that there are challenges to being an elementary school teacher. With the support of her husband, Farmer John, and her two colleagues, Abby and Ruth, Lydia must rely on her faith in God as she navigates the emotional needs of children as well as her own personal life. “I spent 22 years as a first grade teacher which gave me a wealth of material for this novel,” says Born. “The kids can make you want to laugh and cry, which is very much reality for any elementary teacher.” In The Children Are Tender a sense of place and community lies at the heart of the story making the imaginary town of Karola, Kansas as important as the characters themselves.

Although not a biography, Born draws from many of her own life experiences in the novel. She based the character of Ruby Mae on her mother, Anna Ruth Williamson, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2004 and inspired Born’s first book, My Mom Has Alzheimer’s.

About the Author: Linda Born worked for twenty-two years as a first grade teacher and implemented a special program for children with reading challenges. She is a farm wife and the primary caregiver for her mother, who has dementia. Linda lives in a yellow farmhouse in Kansas with her husband, John.

To learn more about the author and her new book, The Children Are Tender, visit http://lindaborn.com. For interview requests please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected] .

Novel Addresses Hardships Facing Military Families

Romancing Melody is the Third Installment in Popular Crossing Series

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: More than half of 3.6 million Active Duty military personnel in the US are married, 85% are under the age of 35 and slightly less than half have children. The life of a military wife and mother is one author Carrie Daws knows personally and one she writes about in her latest book, Romancing Melody (Ambassador International; Feb. 2013; $11.99, paperback) in which she tells the story of a young newlywed and mother who must learn to trust that God has a plan for each of us.

Melody Podell is a new wife and mother when her husband is deployed to a dangerous region of the world. Feeling alone, she is unprepared to handle the tragedy that strikes and soon pushes away family and friends as they try to help her find solace in God. “The first problem is that Army life is not what she expected and she struggles to adapt. Shortly before her husband is deployed, Melody gives birth to their first child, and just as she is settling in, tragedy strikes,” explains Daws. Romancing Melody follows a relatable character as she faces tragedy and loss while focusing on the power of love and how God romances each and every one of us.

Romancing Melody is the third installment in what Daws says will be a four-part series. Crossing Values was released in early 2012, followed by Ryan’s Crossing in August. Just as with Daws’ other books, readers will find a free book club discussion guide as well as a character list available at CarrieDaws.com/Freebies. These tools will help book clubs, small groups and individual readers delve further in to the themes and characters of Romancing Melody.

About the Author: Carrie Daws currently lives in North Carolina with her three children and her military retired husband. She finds time to write when she’s not homeschooling her children, working at the church office, or volunteering with military ministries that are close to her heart.

To learn more about the author and her book Romancing Melody, visit http://carriedaws.com or https://www.facebook.com/CarrieDaws. For Interview requests please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected].

Romance and Suspense Collide in New Christian Thriller

Novel Reminds Readers How Living a Christian Life Can Be a Powerful Example of Faith to Others

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: What would you do if someone was trying to kill you? How do you love someone who doesn’t share your belief in God? Who do you trust? These are questions that Alana Candler faces in Joanie Bruce’s new thriller Alana Candler: Marked for Murder (Ambassador International; February, 2013; $14.99, paperback). This suspense-filled novel follows Alana, a freelance photographer, as she flees from an unknown killer who wants her dead.

Soon after photographing a crime scene for her Police Chief brother Brad, Alana has the strange feeling that she is being followed. Her fears come to fruition when she is kidnapped and left for dead. After a handsome stranger, Jadyn Holbrook, saves her life and promises to protect her the two must race against time as the attacker chases her tirelessly. As they spend more and more time together, Alana’s example of faith in God challenges and inspires a skeptical Jadyn who must come to terms with his own demons and reservations about God.

In a combination of nail-biting suspense and romance, Alana Candler: Marked for Murder centers around the importance of living your Christian faith, not simply declaring it. “I hope with all my heart that my book will be a blessing and encouragement to someone,” says Bruce, “I pray that each of my readers will be encouraged, inspired, and that it will bring you a closer relationship to God”.

About the Author: Joanie Bruce and her husband, Ben, live in a country home near Madison, Georgia where they raised and homeschooled their three children who are now grown. She enjoys writing, cooking, taking long walks, and painting oil portraits. Alana Candler: Marked for Murder is her first published book.

For more information about the author Joanie Bruce please visit joaniebruce.com or facebook.com/joaniebruceauthor. For interview requests please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected].

Eight Mothers Connected By One Doctor Share Their Stories of Life After Loss

Surgeon and author Dr. Hisashi Nikaidoh searches for comfort after son’s tragic death

For immediate release: Pediatric heart surgeon, Dr. Hisashi Nikaidoh, makes a living performing life-saving surgeries on hearts the size of walnuts. In more than four decades he’s operated on thousands of them, and while many times the surgeries are successful, often patients pass away. In Healing Hearts: A leading pediatric heart surgeon learns about the journey from grief to life from these inspiring mothers of his lost patients (Ambassador International; May 2013; $14.99, paperback) Dr. Nikaidoh explains how it wasn’t until his own son Hitoshi was killed suddenly that he finally understood the magnitude of suffering that accompanies the loss of a child.

After his son’s death, Dr. Nikaidoh sought comfort from the very parents he had once tried to comfort. “What I eventually learned from these eight women who have so generously shared their stories for Healing Hearts is that it is possible to move beyond the excruciating pain of losing a child,” he says. The eight inspiring mothers have each contributed to the medical field– many even working in the exact hospital where their sweet babies took their final breaths, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. “At least for these eight parents, it is possible to infuse their own lives with a deeper meaning by giving back to the very community that tried valiantly, though unsuccessfully, to save the lives of their precious children,” says Nikaidoh.

The eight mothers, who all share a special connection with Dr. Nikaidoh, are courageously and honestly opening up in the pages of Healing Hearts about the experience of losing a child. “God certainly blessed [Dr. Nikaidoh] with wonderful talents to allow him to surgically mend those tiny hearts. But He gave him an even greater gift to comfort the parents of those whose little hearts were not meant to be mended,” says mother and contributor Liz Etzkorn. Former US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who also lost a son, wrote the foreword for Healing Hearts.

Dr. Nikaidoh is the descendent of a long line of Buddhist priests, but became a Christian in his 40s. His faith completely changed the way he practiced medicine. “I no longer looked at life and death as being all about me—what I did, what I should have done, what I should not have done,” he writes. “My newfound faith and understanding of God’s hand in our lives had brought me to a place of greater freedom. Now that I was no longer feeling the burden and judgment of perfection, I felt a greater sense of freedom to be the best physician and surgeon I could possibly be and to more fully enjoy my work.”

Dr. Hisashi Nikaidoh, Director of Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis in Tulsa, OK, earned his medical degree from The University of Tokyo in 1959 and trained at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City; Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago; and Case Western Reserve University Hospital, Cleveland. Dr. Nikaidoh is internationally known for the innovative surgical procedure that carries his name and his lifelong dedication to the care of children, for which he received the Children’s Miracle Achievement Award in 2011. In addition, Dr. Nikaidoh has been a long-time teacher of the Gospel and served on multiple missions, domestic and abroad.

To learn more about Dr. Nikaidoh or the eight contributing mothers visit TheHealingHeartsBook.com, or Facebook.com/TheHealingHeartsBook. To receive a review copy of Healing Hearts or to connect with the author please contact publicist Alison Storm by email at [email protected].

New Children’s Book Encourages Young Readers to Help the Needy

Charming Children’s Book Donates Proceeds to Soles4Souls and Higher Ground Ministries

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, nearly 15 million children in the United States live below the poverty line. In her first children’s book, Jazzy and the Dog Walk (Ambassador International; January 2013; $14.99, hardcover), Tica Tallent sheds light on the issue of child poverty in order to remind readers what it means to care for others.

Jasmine (aka Jazzy), a young girl, with a love of clothes, jewelry, and music, reminds readers of all ages the importance of giving back. After being troubled by a video in school showing young children who have no shoes, Jazzy is determined to do something. With the help of some furry friends and a miracle from a beautiful angel, Jazzy organizes a dog fashion show to raise money. “My hope is to inspire young readers to get involved in helping others,” explains Tallent. “And I want to bring attention to two of my favorite charities at the same time.” Following Jazzy’s example, a portion of each sale of Jazzy and the Dog Walk will support Soles4Souls and Higher Ground Ministries.

Tallent reminds readers the importance of being thankful and caring for others while simultaneously captivating young girls with frilly dresses, shining jewelry, and adorable puppies. With a combination of beautiful illustrations and charming writing, Jazzy and the Dog Walk is sure to entertain and inspire again and again.

About the Author: Tica Tallent is a writer and freelance speaker who currently resides in Anderson, SC with her husband. In both her first book, What is Beautiful: Secrets of a Personal Shopper ,and Jazzy and the Dog Walk, Tallent draws from her ten years of experience as an educator as well as her love of fashion.

About the Illustrator: Marquin Campbell studied drawing and painting at the University of Georgia before going on to study fashion design at Parsons in NYC. She now resides in Greenville, SC as owner of Vino & Van Gogh art studio designing jewelry, painting, and teaching art classes.

To learn more about the author and her book Jazzy and the Dog Walk, visit ticatallent.com or Facebook.com/JazzyAndTheDogWalk. For interview requests please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected].

Novel Explores Life of Woman Healed by Touching Jesus’ Garment

Author Imagines Story of a Woman Who Endured Suffering and Was Healed by Faith

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: In her debut novel, Just One Touch (Ambassador International; January 2013; $11.99, paperback), author Cynthia Goyang relates the story of the woman who pushed through the crowd in order to touch Jesus’s garment. Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” – Mark 5:25-28

Cynthia Goyang takes this short Bible story and creates a story of life and death, hope and salvation, and the power of faith. Using her imagination, Goyang tells the story of this woman’s life prior to her encounter with Jesus and how it affected her life afterward. “ I hope that readers will be encouraged to replace their fear for faith and reach out to touch Jesus Christ the Lord,” says Goyang. “My beginnings, like Sapira’s, were quite humble. I grew up in a poverty-stricken, crowded household. There were complete Colorado winters that we endured without electricity in our house. But also like Sapira, my life changed dramatically when I surrendered it to Jesus.”

When a handsome, rich, young man asks to marry the poor potter’s daughter, Sapira believes that she is the luckiest girl in the world. However, her life soon begins to unravel and she loses not only her family and wealth, but her health as well. After suffering for years from a steady loss of blood, Sapira has all but given up hope until the day she hears about a man named Jesus.

About the Author: Cynthia Goyang is a Christian, wife, and mother. She and her husband Tony have three sons and enjoy spending time with their three granddaughters. She was born and raised in Denver, Colorado as the second to youngest of ten children. Cynthia met her husband while at school in Oklahoma and now resides in the West Texas town of Midland. She is an avid reader and loves to use her pencil to illustrate the Lord’s principles. Just One Touch is her debut novel.

To learn more about the author and her book, Just One Touch, visit her at cynthiagoyang.com or facebook.com/cynthia.goyang. To connect with the author, please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected].

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