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The Race Parallels Christian Faith and Running

The Race is Written by Sammy Tippit with Foreword by Gov. Mike Huckabee

For immediate release: Sammy Tippit started out his ministry walking across America, handing out Bibles from a wheelbarrow. Forty years later he found himself running his first marathon, collapsing at the finish line. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital where he learned he was the second man that day to have the same thing happen—only the other man died. “If I had called the shots, I would have said run when I was young and walk when I was old. But God’s ways are not our ways,” says Tippit, a resident of San Antonio.

The 60-something cancer survivor is not your typical runner. Once 60 pounds overweight, Tippit decided to share his story of transformation in a new book along with the stories of Ryan Hall, American record-holder for the half marathon, Charles Austin, the Olympic and American record-holder for the high jump and others. Tippit’s book The Race: Run Like a Champion, chronicles his journey into a healthy lifestyle, using God’s word as his source of inspiration. The Race highlights metaphors and wisdom for athletes from the Bible including:

The endurance metaphor isn’t in the Bible to say you need more hardships– it shows us how to live by God’s grace and power in the midst of adversities.
When you run according to your gifting, you may encounter problems along the way, but you feel a sense of joy and peace in the midst of the race.
A runner doesn’t become a champion overnight, and neither does a Christian become a spiritual giant instantly. We begin weak and grow strong. We start slow and develop speed.
Hills display God’s glory at a distance. But for a runner, those same hills produce a need for God.
God wants us to finish life’s race as winners, not losers. He longs to award us the crown of victory at the end of our lives.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee wrote the foreword for The Race. As longtime friends, Tippit watched Huckabee lose nearly 100 pounds and was inspired by his commitment to get in shape through running and healthy living. “It showed me the roadmap of how I could do the same thing,” explains Tippit. “So when it came time to write a book I knew there was no one better than Governor Huckabee to write the foreword.”

To learn more about Tippit and The Race, visit HERE.

Christmas Flavors of Ireland: Only $1.99

Did you get a Kindle for Christmas? Or are you giving one to someone special? Load it up with Christmas Flavors of Ireland, a beautiful culinary tour of Ireland! For a limited time this book is just $1.99!

Synopsis: CHRISTMAS FLAVORS OF IRELAND INVITES READERS — cooks and armchair travelers alike — on a holiday tour of one of Europe’s most beloved destinations. From decking the halls to gathering around the family table, you’ll find timeless classics and exciting new ideas in this full color collection of popular Irish dishes. With easy-to-follow recipes — warming soups and crisp potatoes, wonderful puddings and dazzling desserts — Christmas Flavors of Ireland will awaken your senses to the festive, fun-filled season in Ireland. With over 100 recipes and photos, this colorful collection will become an essential addition to your holiday bookshelf and a gift that family and friends will treasure year after year. BUY NOW

99¢ SALE: One Day Only!

For 24 Hours we’re offering a great non-fiction title for just $.99! Pick up Jim Albright’s book Uncareful Lives: Walking Where Feet May Fail at a discounted rate for the Kindle during our one-day sale event. After Thursday the price will go up to $2.99 through the weekend, and then it will return to regular price. So don’t wait- pick up this book right now for just $.99 on Kindle!

Synopsis: ““Come!”—Jesus Christ, Matthew 14:29
It’s God’s invitation into the uncareful life – a life of courageous faith. Come, and see how awesome He is! Come, and see who you’re supposed to be!
Christian, our God is God! You can do all He says because He will do all He says. He is your license to live your faith as big as you dare. He is your liberty to embrace a life big with God-pleasing, God-encountering faith. He is your freedom to wholeheartedly engage in fully-persuaded, never-look-back, no-risk-is-too-great, glad-fearless-joy obedience!
Come on, you know you want to! You know you’ve always wanted to—ever since you heard Him whisper, “Follow Me.” What are you waiting for? Whatever it is, it’s a lie.

Warning: Reading this book can be hazardous to your health. And your wealth. And your plans. And more. Read it, and you may find that you begin to live a more “uncareful life” for the glory of God.
—Don Whitney”

BUY NOW

$.99 SALE: One Day Only!

For 24 Hours we’re offering a great non-fiction title for just $.99! Pick up Dr. Ralph Carter’s new book You Make the Call: Choices that Make or Break Us at a discounted rate for the Kindle during our one-day sale event. After Thursday the price will go up to $2.99 through the weekend, and then it will return to regular price. So don’t wait- pick up this book right now for just $.99 on Kindle!

Synopsis: Flip open the restaurant menu, walk down the cereal aisle, or turn on the TV and it’s bound to happen: we are inundated with options. Through the course of your life, you’re going to get weary of making so many choices. Thankfully, choosing what dish to order, deciding which cereal to buy, or selecting a television show to watch won’t make a big difference. But some decisions—many in fact—matter a great deal. Life is all about the choices we make. Make good ones and you do yourself a huge favor. Make crummy ones and, well, you’ve got problems. Bad choices result in a life of more than your fair share of bad days. This book won’t tell you what to do, but it just might keep you from making a terrible mistake in life that would derail your pursuit of happiness. The person you decide to marry, the career you pursue, even the friendships you choose to invest in—these are some of life’s biggest decisions, yet many are made far too casually. Dr. Ralph Carter has spent decades trying to point people in a direction that would enable them to live life well—to make fewer mistakes—to live life, as the writer of Proverbs puts it, “skillfully.” The key to living such a life is to make good choices. It’s not rocket science, nor is it dumb luck. So are you going to start choosing well? You make the call. BUY NOW!

Powerful Novel Aims to Bring Attention to “Bullycide”

Author’s Real-Life Experience woven Through Caged Dove

For immediate release: Caged Dove was not written without tears, says author Andrea Rodgers. Although the idea for the story has been floating in her mind for two decades, Rodgers says it took time to gather the courage to revisit those painful memories from her past. “Bullying and suicidal thoughts were something I once dealt with and overcame,” she explains. “But I believe it’s also our duty to stand up for those who are currently going through similar situations.” Caged Dove (Ambassador International; October 2015; $13.99, paperback) follows the story of journalist Aniston Kline assigned to cover a tragic story that echoes her own past.

While bullycide is a prominent theme in the novel, Rodgers continues her trademark style of writing about dark topics without being too dark, a skill seen with her first novel The 20th Christmas. Much of Caged Dove is a light-hearted love story. “If you ever had a high school crush than you can relate to the giddy and silly memories of the main characters,” says Rodgers. “School crushes were a bright light for me. I kept one high school journal so it was fun to read to get back into that mind-frame!”

Caged Dove begins with Psalm 55:6, “I said, ‘Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.'” The verse fits the novel’s plot perfectly says Rodgers, whose faith was significantly strengthened during her own bullying experience. “It really helped to have the perspective that Jesus was bullied and therefore knew exactly what it was like and was on my side. Looking at what he’d endured, I had motivation to rise above my own situation,” says Andrea who spent a year as an atheist. “But once I realized he was with me every single minute at school—I wasn’t on my own, he was watching everything and would help me through it—life got amazingly better. I wore cross necklaces to school and, when the kids were mean, I’d hold on to the cross and feel Jesus standing beside me. He was not only my friend, but gave me the most strength I’d ever had.”

About the Author: Andrea Rodgers is a graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She worked in the television and radio industry prior to being a stay at home mom, but her life-long dream was to be an author. A few months after her oldest child started kindergarten, she wrote her first published novel, The 20th Christmas. Her second book, Caged Dove, follows one year later. Andrea lives near Des Moines with her husband, son, and daughter.

To receive a review copy of Caged Dove or to connect with the author please contact publicist Alison Storm by email at [email protected].

Prayer: More than Just Words Before Dinner

Former Atheist Seeks to Invigorate Prayer Lives of Christians

For immediate release: “Prayer changes things.” We’ve all heard it before, but sometimes prayer can feel overwhelming. We don’t always know exactly what we should say, and many of us feel insecure in our prayer lives. Author William Ray offers a solution to our anxieties. In Answered Prayer: The Jesus Plan (Ambassador International; July 2015; $12.99, paperback), Ray walks through the most famous prayer in Scripture to encourage and revitalize readers in their own prayer lives.

Ray uses personal anecdotes as a testimony to the miraculous power of prayer. “As a former atheist who had an experience with God through a simple, heart-felt prayer, I understandably have been fascinated by prayer ever since,” writes Ray. Readers are continually reminded of how prayer can and will dramatically draw one closer to the Lord.

The Lord’s Prayer, or as Ray calls it—the Model Prayer— is central to Answered Prayer. Ray dissects each phrase of the prayer as outlined in the book of Matthew and reveals how it applies to a twenty-first century Christian’s prayer life. Ray reminds readers that God wouldn’t have given His children a prayer that didn’t work. Therefore, we can confidently base our personal prayer lives off of this Model Prayer.

Answered Prayer also addresses many of the contemporary issues people have with prayer, such as the misunderstanding of what prayer is and means. Readers will discover:

How to have a relationship with God through prayer
Understanding God’s four answers to prayer (No, Slow, Grow and Go)
Using prayer as a form of worship
Why specific prayers are more powerful

Each chapter contains study sections for readers to “Dig Deeper” into the truths of Answered Prayer. Ray utilizes external Bible verses to reinforce his main points about each phrase of the Model Prayer. In addition, each chapter includes a series of questions to help readers assess and further shape their own prayer life.

About the Author: William Ray served as a pastor for nearly 25 years, mostly in the Phoenix area. He holds the Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and an English degree from Grand Canyon University. William is the author of Bible Study for Beginners, the science fiction series The White Hole Universe Chronicles, and the light-hearted reference book The 100 Most Entertaining Predictions about the 21st Century (co-authored with his wife, Lynette). William also provides a sermon illustration service for pastors at illustrationsforsermons.com. William and Lynette have been married for more than 30 years and have two lovely daughters and one beautiful granddaughter.

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Learning to Trust God When Life Spirals Out of Control

New novel follows life of a hopeful college student navigating turmoil and tragedy

For immediate release: Samantha Jordan planned on enjoying her senior year at Brenton College. With her stepmom, Bay Harris, soon to add another precious addition to her family of four, the future is looking bright and exciting. However, when tragedy strikes the midst of her family, Sam must come to terms with her relationship with God and reevaluate her life. In From Driftwood to Sapphire (Ambassador International; August 2015; $14.99), Sam is forced to uncover shocking secrets that completely disrupt her quiet mountaintop life. The question is, will these new changes be accepted?

rom Driftwood to Sapphire is author Kathy M. Howard’s second novel, the anticipated follow up to her 2014 book From Dishes to Snow. “From Driftwood to Sapphire brings Samantha Jordan’s point of view into light. She is the daughter of Wren Jordan, the main character’s love interest in From Dishes to Snow,” explains Howard. “Samantha grew up without a mother, until her father married Bay Harris – a mother without her children as a result of a tragic accident. All of the lives are interconnected in some way or another, with God and View Top Mountain as commonalities.”

Sam’s journey may start out with a tragic loss, but it will also end up with a surprising addition. With the discovery of a long-lost mother and a potential half-sister, Sam’s plan for a quiet senior year is about to take an unexpected turn. “It’s easier to trust God with our lives when things are going well, when we are happy and healthy,” says Howard. “But, when life spirals out of our control, trusting Him is much more difficult. We want answers and reasons for why situations occur. We want the easy way out or to press rewind and change our life’s direction.”

Howard says the book is a very clear example Proverbs 3:5-6, which tells us to trust God and to not lean on our own understanding of a situation. “We need to trust Him whether we understand the whys or not,” she says. “That is a lot easier said than done, but if we will stop trying to fight Him, stop trying to swim upstream against the current, He will see us through, having a greater faith and a more peaceful spirit.”

About the Author: Kathy M. Howard makes her home in Blackshear, Georgia, with her husband and two daughters. She has been involved in education since 1998 as an elementary school teacher, a private school principal, and presently, as a homeschooling mom. Driftwood to Sapphire is her second novel.

To connect with the author or request a review copy of From Driftwood to Sapphire please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected].

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Pastor Encourages Christians to Live Bold, Daring, Courageous Lives of Faith

New Book Challenges Christians to Live Uncareful Lives

For immediate release: Whether you realize it or not, you’ve been called to be a go-with-Jesus disciple. Your life has an intricate and extraordianry plan, and the only thing standing in the way is you. Jim Albright’s Uncareful Lives: Walking Where Feet May Fail (Ambassador International; July 2015; $12.99, paperback) is a rallying cry for Christians to boldly step out in their faith to live “uncarefully” for the Lord.

In Uncareful Lives, author Jim Albright exhorts Christians to step out of their comfort zones in obedience to Jesus Christ. After spending two decades in corporate business as a CPA, Albright answered God’s call to preach. “Sadly, unlike what we see on the pages of Scripture, many who call themselves Christians today forgo nothing, venture nothing, risk nothing, and sacrifice nothing,” writes Albright.

Uncareful Lives is a contemporary walkthrough of some of the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Albright begins with a description of who God is and works from this truth to encourage readers to live boldly in their faith. He uses the story of Peter walking on water to meet Jesus as a metaphor for our own need to meet Jesus despite the ever-present obstacles. Riddled with Scripture and quotes from some of Christianity’s most influential writers, Albright’s book can be a first step out onto the water of a radical life of truly walking with Christ.

Albright warns that the uncareful life is not necessarily a comfortable life or an easy one, though it is by far the most thrilling. He cautions the Christian who follows God’s call that we may have to make hard, costly, and risky decisions, but, because our God is God, we can trust His sovereignty in the uncareful-ness. “I wrote this book with the specific intent of lovingly destroying your present way of life if you call yourself a Christian but have not truly given yourself away to Jesus Christ.” Uncareful Lives emphatically reminds readers to perform “exploits of faith” for the glory of God.

About the Author: At the age of 42, Jim left a 20-year business career to answer God’s call to preach. Since early 2004, he and his wife, Karen, have lived in Milan, Italy, where Jim is the pastor of the International Church of Milan, a non-denominational, Bible-believing, and Bible-teaching church ministering to internationals from every corner of the globe.

Child with One Leg Beats the Odds and Kicks Cancer, Too

Miracle Daughter Challenges Parents’ Faith in New Book

For immediate release: After years of trying to get pregnant, Wendy and Scott Duke were finally going to have their first child. But when a dangerous pre-natal diagnosis followed by an even more lethal disease after their daughter’s birth threatened to immediately take their newborn away, the Dukes turned to their only hope: God. In Grace in the Middle (Ambassador International; July 2015; $13.99, paperback) Duke encourages readers through the amazing story of her young daughter’s victory over some of life’s most perilous afflictions.

Wendy and Scott Duke were your typical young married couple who had met in Fellowship of Christian Athletes while in college. But when it came time to grow their family, things became anything but typical. After three miscarriages, the Dukes were hesitant when Wendy conceived a third time. Just when they thought God had given them the green light at an early doctor’s appointment, their excitement was shattered by a simple sentence: “Baby only has one leg.”

Anxious, frustrated, and scared, Wendy and Scott braced themselves for the unknown. In Grace in the Middle, Wendy recounts how her faith was rattled throughout the pregnancy. “I had never had to flesh out this flimsy faith I’d claimed,” Duke writes. “It had no meat, no muscles, no substance. I just kept asking, ‘What kind of God would let this happen?’” Her book reveals exactly what kind of God He is. When little Savannah was born, the Dukes breathed a sigh of relief; they believed the worst had passed. But another battle was rearing its menacing head: cancer. Wendy writes about her anger toward God after this new development, “I turned to look at Scott, and I screamed as loud as I could—choking on every word—‘WHERE…IS…GOD?!’

Grace in the Middle details the physical, emotional, and spiritual struggles Wendy and Scott faced during the pregnancy and the treatments for their daughter Savannah’s cancer. Duke reminds us that God was always there for her even when she might not have felt His presence. She continually emphasizes the importance of having the love and support of family and a church, highlighting the richness in spiritual growth that takes place through such difficult trials. The first few years of Savannah’s life were difficult—there’s no denying that. But, as Duke is attentive to remind, God is stronger and more powerful than any curveballs thrown at a believer. Grace in the Middle even includes a chapter written by Savannah, who is now almost 15 and living a normal, busy, teenage life.

About the Author: Wendy Duke lives in South Carolina with her husband and two children. She works with her husband in international sports development, using their backgrounds in coaching and telling their story throughout the world. When she’s not traveling, she is a Bible teacher, speaker, blogger, sports junkie, and middle school chauffeur. Grace in the Middle is Wendy’s first book. She writes on her blog at www.wendyduke.net.

To connect with the author or request a review copy of Grace in the Middle, please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected].

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