Christian Ministry - AKA "Being a Target"

Are you involved in Christian ministry?  If you are clergy, like Reverend Larry Jones, of Northside Christian Church, that's easy to determine and the same for his steadfast wife, Jane. I congratulate them on TWENTY years serving our church!

Reverent Larry Jones Preaching at Northside Christian Church

Pastor Larry Jones

Others of us, who write Christian fiction or serve in some other capacity, may not realize that like ministers we, too, are what I call a moving target for satan (and no, I won't capitalize his name.)  Apparently, Larry likes to be a double target because he is also a writer. (Please don't roll your eyes at me and ask "Don't all preachers HAVE to write sermons?") Larry writes Christian fiction, too. His pastor's picture makes a pretty good author headshot, too.

I've been thinking about the moving target analogy for quite some time, because with this blog, I've seen Christian authors, in their writing ministry, go through some awful times. And from having friends who are a pastor or a pastor's wife, we've come to learn how the enemy is constantly after them in one way or another. So we try to pray faithfully for our ministers and the other preachers out there.

The Fruitcake Challenge by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Then late last summer, when I came on board with a multi-author Christian collection, spearheaded by Gina Welborn and I wrote and published The Fruitcake Challenge, I really saw how when you are collectively doing something for the Lord, you tick satan off. We've learned that here on OWG blog, too, with our blog contributors having some great travails, and I ask that you keep all us bloggers in your prayers. So I shouldn't have been too surprised, but I'll admit that I was, when as I prepared to release The Fruitcake Challenge, the third novella in The Christmas Traditions Series, that bad things started happening. My son went to camp and his asthma got out of control. Then we went on vacation and he seemed to have a seizure, cutting short our activities on Mackinac Island, where some of my stories are set. When we went home, his juvenile arthritis acted up. We had other issues, too, like a sleep disturbance. We ended up home schooling him, to get his medical issues under control. Just when we were making progress with him, our daughter had emergency gall bladder surgery. And although I'd had surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon, I could barely walk.

At the same time I was a big target, with my family, other Christmas Traditions' authors lost their parents and went through other trials. Seven of the novellas have been combined into an All-In-One Christmas Traditions release, with the eighth due to be added soon. This fall, I'll be sharing some of the other authors' testimonies here on OWG. I hope you will keep us all in prayer.

And I got a surprise yesterday when our Christmas Traditions collection released on Amazon (on sale right now only 99 cents through Sunday!) and the gorgeous new cover by Cynthia Hickey was revealed!  I have a Cover Release Party on Wednesday on Facebook (click here to join Carrie's party, also hosted by Cynthia Hickey, Teresa Ives Lilly, and Gina Welborn and wonderful reader/reviewer Gracie Yost). Please come over to the party and see the covers for our upcoming Christmas Town Collection and the third book in my Christy Lumber Camp Series - Lilacs for Juliana!

Question: How about you? Have you ever felt like a moving target? Leave a comment to enter for a $10 Target store gift card and an ebook copy of Christmas Traditions.