#240: Foundations of Kingdom Marketing (Kingdom Marketing Mindset Series)

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Welcome to the Kingdom Marketing Mindset series. My name is Shelley Hitz and my husband CJ and I are so thrilled that you have joined us for this series. I really believe this is going to be a landmark series for many of you, helping you to get your message to more people, to really be able to do what God has called you to do in a way that is so freeing and that actually works. And so we are excited. And the foundation of this entire series really starts when you start having regular business meetings with God. And I have a free training for you on this that walks you through the steps. I've been doing this regularly myself for the last few years and it just works. So go get this training for, for free@trainingauthors.com businessmeeting. I guarantee if you start having weekly business meetings with God, your life is going to change, your marketing is going to change, and there's going to be some amazing things that happen. So go get that training@trainingauthors.com businessmeeting and I hope that this series is a blessing to you and your book marketing. So we are starting a brand new series called the Foundations of Kingdom Marketing. And I am just really excited about this because I really believe that this is what God has asked us to share with you for this season. And I know that he's going to really just share some just amazing breakthroughs. I really believe for many of you. And so we're excited to start this series. And this, this training today is called the Foundations of Kingdom Marketing. So when you think of the word king, the words kingdom Marketing, what does that bring to your mind? If you're here live, go ahead and share in the comments. Kingdom Marketing. Kingdom with a capital K. God's kingdom. Right? What does that make you? What does that say to you? What comes to mind when you think of that? We're going to really be focusing on what does it look like to market from God's perspective with the Kingdom of God at the center of everything that we do? And what does that even look like in a world that's so focused on me, me, me, right? Self materialism, greed, all of these things, it can just be free, frustrating and hard to even think about how we're going to do this. But yeah. Kim says marketing God's way. Myrna says having God's mindset and view. Tamara says kingdom marketing God's perspective. Yeah. So good. And so we're gonna really be just talking about, you know, different topics over the next three months related to this. And we want you to know CJ and I are both still growing in this as well. Right, cj?

Absolutely. I mean, as long as we've got a pulse, I think we're still learning and growing.

Right.

And you know, we've had our business since 2004, full time since 2011, and, you know, just learned a lot of things the hard way, but have really been, you know, diving into this topic of really seeking God, what does he have for our business. Instead of just making our plans and asking God to approve them, you know, like bringing our ideas and our plans to God and asking for his stamp of approval, we have really been seeking his guidance. And it's really made a huge difference. And so.

And by the way, we've done that many times. Yeah, I've shared one small example. Well, it was big in our lives, but in the past, you know, taking out a $10,000 loan without asking the Lord's approval, you know, in order to fund.

Nationwide concert series where we were ministering the country of Belize and not only owing the 10,000 because the concert series flopped, but also owing another $6,000 additional loans, it was a complete disaster. And yet if I would have just really sought the Lord and not just plowed through like, oh, this is a no brainer, this is going to be a success.

Wow, that could have saved some heartache. And yet it's a very vivid example that we can use a costly one. And yet we can look back and almost chuckle now, thankfully that you know that that money has been long paid off. But that's just one small example of sort of paying a price for not consulting with the Lord first.

Yeah. And you know, we've, like I said, we've learned a lot of things the hard way, but we want to just come together as a community, as Kingdom writers and say, okay, what does this really look like? And like I said, we're still growing and learning in this as well. But I want to share that there's a difference as you're learning marketing skills, there's a difference between learning skill sets and getting cookie cutter blueprints. So what's the difference? A skill set is something that you do need to learn the steps of how to do something correctly. So when you're learning to market on social media. There are certain things you need to learn, like how to even, you know, what size of image on Pinterest or what kind of title and description and how do I put my link in here? There's certain technical, step by step things that you learn. There's certain strategies that you can learn, like hashtags or keyword phrases and different things like that. So those are skill sets. But then there's also these cookie cutter blueprints. And this is probably what I've taught in the past, to be honest. It's like, this is what I've done. Now you go do it. But I'm changing that. And that's why I feel like God has had me completely redo the training in Christian Book Academy from scratch. So I can start from a different foundation and start from a completely different view of not just this is what I've done. So you go do it. But these are some ideas, these are some skill sets, these are some strategies. This is a sample case study. But now you ask God, what is it that he has for you for your book, for your audience, for this season? What is it that he has for you? Because just because something worked for me doesn't mean it will necessarily work for you. And I've seen so many of you over the years get disillusioned with marketing because you've tried a blueprint and it hasn't worked for you in the same way. How many of you have ever felt that way? You get frustrated or, you know, it's like, but it didn't work the same way that it worked for them. So what we are really wanting to focus on in Christian Book Academy is teaching you skill sets, giving you sample case studies, strategies, but really asking you to, to follow the blueprint that you create with God. And this isn't necessarily a follow my blueprint type program.

Yeah, the kingdom marketing mindset would be really encouraging all of us individually, even as we're in the group, encouraging all of us to really seek the Lord in developing our unique flow, flavor and unique, you know, pattern. And it just hit me that there may be several of you that tap into something in your time with the Lord that then becomes an aha moment for several others in the group.

Yeah.

And so again, you know, of course you guys have joined Christian Book Academy because, you know, people like Shelley and some of the mentors have been there, done that.

In sort of teaching, being a guide, and you're paying money for that, but how cool would it be? Also that as a member, you are a very contributing member to a new vision or something. An aha, God moment idea that God's giving you in your prayer time to say, hey, has anybody ever tried this? I just feel like the Lord gave this to me or downloaded this into me, you know, during my time with him this morning. And so that's really the exciting thing. It's not just limited to the Shelley's or.

The Debras or whoever the mentors are in the group. It really is the sky's the limit in terms of who. Who's offering these incredible ideas. And so again, we're going to get into sort of how this kingdom marketing mindset would work. But even as we're talking about it, the Lord's giving this stuff to us week by week.

Yeah. And Pam says teamwork. And that's so true. I think the worldly mindset says, you know, I've got to do my thing and not share because, you know, it's almost a scarcity mindset. Like there's not enough to go around. So I'm not going to share what's working for me because I got to keep this to myself. And but you know, I think the kingdom marketing mindset says, you know, has that abundance mindset. And we don't see each other as competitors, we see each other as team members. And what are you going to do for a team member? You're going to help them, you're going to, you're going to pass them the basketball to get an assist. Now that would have been a CJ analogy, but.

You know, you're going to want to help them. And yeah. Kim says, I love this. This makes me even more excited. And it does. It's like it just takes that pressure off from that worldly mindset of marketing that we all can get into at times. But instead of looking for a guru, you know, to give you a cookie cutter plan, we are going to encourage you to seek God's strategy for you. And you know, I've never thought of myself as a guru. I don't, you know, position myself in that way. But some of you may think that, and I may give you suggestions and ideas and strategies, but ultimately we want you to really seek God and what he has for you. And just I was a physical therapist for 12 years before I we went full time in the business and physical therapist, there were a lot of people that were kind of taking the easy way out and giving cookie cutter exercise plans. So if someone came in with a shoulder, I was an outpatient so if someone came with a shoulder, you'd get the same exercises. Someone came in with a back problem, same exercises. But really, to be most effective, the best way for me to do it is to take a really good history, to really listen, to do the full evaluation. And then depending on their strengths and weaknesses, depending on their history, their. The pain they're having, all these different things to make a customized personal plan of exercises specifically for them. And then that would be much more effective. Sure. I mean, if you do the general exercises for every shoulder, there's a chance that a certain percentage will still get better. But how much better is it to get specific personalized things? And so that's the same way. I want you to start thinking with marketing. There's not a one size fits all marketing plan for every author that's going to be successful for every single one of you. Sure. I mean, I could give you blueprints, and it would probably work for some of you. Just like in physical therapy. I could give you this general generic exercise plan for a shoulder, and it would work for some of you, but not all of you. And so we want you all to have kingdom success. Right. To have the success that God has for you. And that often will mean a person, personalized, individualized strategy.

Yeah. And in my own example, many of you have known that I've. I've had a running coach business on the side. And at my very peak, I was coaching 25 runners at once. You know, and having to write up their. Their weekly training. I would usually pick out a day, and it just. I'd spend all day, maybe even two days, writing up their plans. I'd give them two weeks at a time.

I was never willing to just do a cookie cutter plan for everybody. Sure, I could have got it done in an hour. 25 plans. Zap it on email. Here you go. Have fun. But every single person that I work with is on a different level. Some have been running for 10 years, some have been running for 10 months, some have been running for 10 days. And so to just give them a cookie cutter plan would be detrimental to them, and it would also just be, in that way, lazy on my part. But as we learn about each other and we tap into our strengths and our gifts, and we kind of realize where each of us are in terms of our level. I think the Lord actually has something unique for each and every person. Each and every person is writing in a, perhaps a different genre. Some of you are nonfiction, fiction. You're specializing in a certain area that maybe is very unique, very niche down. And so for you, it's going to look different. And that's the importance, I think the greater importance of even saying, man, what is it for me specifically, Lord, that is going to set, set us apart or grab the attention of those who, you want my book in their hands. And that's really exciting when you can actually turn over a lot of that mental fatigue and energy of worrying about, you know, how you're going to do this and that. Yes, you're going to jump through the hoops along the way. You're going to learn processes, you're going to learn techniques, you're going to learn all the things that in the academy, but there's always going to be this excitement of there's an added bonus of what God wants to give you along the way. And that's sort of that manna from heaven that is going to be shared with you and it's going to be able to nourish your book marketing plan.

Yeah. And so as you're going through the training, like I'm recreating right now the book launch challenge training, and as you're going through that, I want you to be looking at it not as I have to do every single one of these things because some of you, like C.J. said, are on different levels. You'll have a very simple book launch, maybe just lower the price for a few days, let people know it's not going to be this big hurrah, this big to do, because you just don't have the time, the energy, the finance. And that's, that's okay. I do that sometimes, too. But for some of you, you'll be going through these trainings and then I want you to approach it in a way that it's like it sparks an idea like, this is not the end all, be all. This is not the blueprint. This is not the end of the road. This is only just maybe something that could even just help spark an idea and that you bring those into your times with the Lord and then he begins to show you. And God does give specific blueprints. It's very clear in the Bible, like you look at Noah, God gave him a very, very detailed, specific blueprint for the ark. Right.

It was very detailed. You look at Moses when he was building the tabernacle. It was very detailed. The specific instructions, the blueprint that God gave to Moses. And so I really, truly believe that if we will just seek him, he will give us a blueprint as well for our marketing and one that will work for our genre, for our audience, for our personality, for our energy level. Not everyone is going to market the same way I do because your personality is different, your strengths are different, and that's what's so amazing about the body of Christ. We all have different strengths and abilities, but we're all necessary in the body of Christ.

Yeah. As authors, you know, we often feel pressure to do what's typically done the traditional way. You know, there's all kinds of ways that, you know, it's always been done like this. And.

The big question we need to ask ourselves is, what does. What does marketing look like in terms of the business approach God wants me to take? Yeah, there's a whole lot of things out there. If you just Google this stuff. There's lots of stuff out there. But what is it that the Lord's asking me to piece together? Or what is it that he's asking me to press in on in order to receive that. That blueprint that's unique to me?

Yeah. And so, you know, we want you to ask God how much time and energy or money to invest instead of simply doing what you see other people doing or what you think you're supposed to do or the type of book launch that, you know, even maybe you want to do. Right. Sometimes our own, like we. Our own flesh wants to do something, but then we ask God, and he leads us into a different way because he knows what's best for us. But, you know, ask him, and, you know, it's easy. I have been there. I am a redeemed workaholic. I think a lot of, you know, my testimony. But I have gotten into the hamster wheel before of just busy, busy, busy, busy doing a lot of things and not always doing the things that truly matter or that will truly move the needle forward, that will truly reach the people that need to be reached. You know, there's the bright shiny object syndrome, and there's always something new, and. And I have really had to put on those blinders and then ask God, what is the priority for today, even this week? I have just been feeling like I need to do more, more, more, more, more. And that's always in my. In my situation. It's almost always from the enemy pushing me to strive in my own strength. And so, you know, asking the Lord, okay, Lord, what is it you want me to do? Is there something else that I need to be doing? And this week, God's been saying, no, I. I don't have it. I want you just to keep doing what you're currently doing. Don't, don't keep trying to add more to your plate. Don't think you need to be doing X, Y and Z. Because, you know, I'm reteaching this marketing, book launch marketing. And then I'm like remembering all these things and I'm like, oh, I should do that. Oh, that worked for me in the past. Oh, you know, and I'm like, I'm just like you. I always, I'm, I have to pull back the reins and say, God, what is it you have for me today? What is it you have for me this week? And right now my assignment is to finish updating the Christian Book Academy modules and training. And there's still a lot more work to do for that, but.

We can get really busy spinning our wheels. And that's what we want you to avoid. We want you, as you're moving forward to really do the things that, that count and the things that will, you know, will truly make the impact and not that we ever, you know, sometimes we get it wrong and that's okay. There's grace. Right. Great is his faithfulness. His mercies are new every day. We get a new start every day. Sometimes we get it wrong, that's okay, sometimes I get it wrong. But you know, we keep moving forward with that intention of God. What is it you have for me today?

Yeah, for several years I had a speaking ministry that took me into Christian schools, churches, camps, even some public schools. I had a public assembly, public school assembly version of what I would do. And man, I spent tons of time putting together snail mailings, I sent emails, I dredged. You wouldn't believe the amount of time I would spend all day dredging. You know, when I say dredge, dredging up emails that really don't exist today when you look online. A lot of schools do things differently in terms of their contact forms, preventing spam, all that kind of stuff. But I mean, I put together lists.

Of emails you were researching and then you would. It wasn't spam spam, so you weren't putting them into like an email subscriber list. But he was doing like direct one on one marketing where he would contact the person directly.

Yeah, I would contact them individually and then I'd follow up with a phone call. I was spending a lot of time sort of scurrying around getting these, these bookings and you know, I was getting invited to speak in places. My whole idea at the time was, well, they need to know that I'm here before they can invite me to Come speak. They need to know about the message. And so I was doing this, but there came a time where I was talking to my friend Philip, and he was another person that was doing a similar ministry. And Philip just basically shared with me. And I always looked at Philip as sort of a mentor like figure. He said, you know, CJ, these days, I'm actually beginning to find myself spending twice as much time on my knees in prayer as I spend time marketing. And at first I thought, well, how does that work? You know? I mean, it just sounds lazy. But the more I thought about it and the more I heard his heart, the more I understood that this was not. This is the direct opposite of laziness. I think we all get lazy in our prayer lives before we get lazy in our marketing. But Philip basically told me this, and I thought to myself, man, this is simply redirected energy. It's not that marketing is bad and putting together all those mailings and dredging up those emails and spending the time on the phone, those are necessary tasks. But, man, I can't tell you. There was a new something that opened up in my speaking ministry when I began really just pressing into God and really asking him, lord, would you open the doors that are a good fit, not the ones that I'm banging down? I mean, I have to believe that there were even some people that gave me invites just to get me off their backs, like, all right, this guy will not stop. Let's just have him in here for an hour and then get rid of him. You know, I don't know if that was happening, but what I do know is that when I began tapping into asking for the Lord's vision and direction, things started opening up where you just knew when you left there, that was God. Like, there was just a divine component to it, a fruitfulness that lasted. That wasn't there.

It. I shouldn't say wasn't always there. It was just that there were many doors that I think I banged down. I was really aggressive trying to get these bookings. And part of it was in the message. God was using it. And so I was utilizing every marketing strategy that I knew in terms of, you know, that was around back in 2007 to about 2013. Yeah.

And I just want to interject and say, like, perseverance and persistence are great qualities to have, but are we primarily working out of our own strength or out of the grace of the Lord, you know, and out of what he's giving to us? And CJ and I both have had seasons where we were striving. And there, yes, there was still fruit. Yes, God was still working, you know, through us. But how much better to be, you know, going out of his grace. And I've heard it said before that when you know what you achieve through your own striving, you know, whether it's your writing or your marketing. Because Nancy says this is true for my writing as well. I have to keep asking him what to write. Of course. But whether it's your writing or your marketing, whatever you achieve in your own strength, you have to maintain in your own strength.

Yeah.

Whatever you do in God's strength and his grace, he will, he will be the one to maintain it. He will be the one to give you the increase, the favor, the, you know, xyz. And so, you know, it can get exhausting, just to be very honest.

And it removes the pressure that says, oh, it's, it's all on me to get these speaking engagements, to sell these.

Books, finish writing this book.

If it doesn't, if it's not me, then, you know, and so you, when you remove God from the equation, which is what we do sometimes, we don't deliberately wake up in the morning and say, God, I just want you to know I'm deleting you today. Have a nice day. We're not doing that, but in the way we practice our business or practice our ministry. We set about head, head down, plowing and we're going to get stuff done. And then at the end of the day, we're ragged. We wonder why more things didn't open up. Or we wonder, man, you know, that, that engagement or that open door probably wasn't something I should have walked through because I just feel more weary now. But it got me thinking about the verse in Matthew 6:33 where Jesus is sharing about the kingdom. And it says, and this is the new living translation, or the new NIV actually. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Two key words there, seek first. And I think that's essentially what Philip was telling me was I'm seeking the Lord's direction first. It doesn't mean I'm not going to get on the phone today and make some phone calls. But if I seek the Lord first, then some of these phone calls may fall into place exactly the way he wants them to fall.

And so all these things. What's all these things? Well, if you read the previous several verses, he's just talking about the stuff that we need. We all need food, we all need drink. We all need some shelter over our heads, every one of us on this video. Those are all common things we share. We need things to survive. And guess what? God, our Father, knows all this. He knows all this, and yet he wants us to seek him first. Seek what he's doing in the world, what he seeks to do through us in building his kingdom. And I just believe that all these books and all these blog posts and all these social media things that we're writing, the words we're stringing together as kingdom writers, that's part of his building plan. He's doing stuff in ways that we can't even see. And so kingdom writers seek first the plans of God and what he's up to in building the kingdom. And also Kingdom writers.

We're not overly concerned with material things that are here today and gone tomorrow.

As much as our Father knows our needs for food, drink, shelter, all those things that he's promised he'll provide.

We.

Know there's something much greater ahead. So we always have that vision. We're working hard now. We're seeking the Lord now in prayer, but we're not worried about all those physical things. We just know our Father's good, He's going to provide for us. But what we're doing is we're spending our energy seeking what his plans are, seeking that blueprint, seeking that specific download that he wants to give us that as a bonus may bless every member in this academy as a result, if we're truly pressing in, and it does, that's not laziness. Laziness in its, you know, most true form as a believer would be not, not. Not spending any time on our knees seeking the Lord. And we're all guilty of that at times where we just get busy. We just work on things that we can see in the flesh. And yet, man, if we would grab this vision of spending.

A different amount of energy.

Toward those things we can't see or get the quick satisfaction or instant gratification right now. Wow. Three, four months down the road, there could be a harvest that comes up that we never even realized. It's a spiritual harvest or an idea that is not just a good idea, but as we've said, a God idea. And a God idea, I think we all would agree, takes a little more pressing in than just good ideas that hit our heads all the time.

Yeah, because as creatives, we get ideas all the time. I know I do. I've tried talk to many of you. It's like we get ideas all the time. But the key is really hearing God's voice and hearing what he has for us. And, you know, even relaunching Author Audience Academy as Christian Book Academy and, like, redoing all of the content and, you know, all of this. It was from God. It was a God idea, to be honest. I wouldn't have chosen it because it's a lot of work.

I already created content for four and a half years. You know, it's like, you mean I have to create, you know, four and a half years of content all over again, you know, But God, you know, he. When he. When it's from him, he gives you the grace, he gives you the strength. And he sent people to help me, you know, and it's just. It's. It's going to be, I know, such a blessing, not only to all of you, but many other writers. And so, you know, what is God saying to you for your book in this season? And I love it. Myrna says I'm getting downloads from the Lord, even right now for my product.

I think that's why it's always good to keep a pin and a small notepad with you at all times. Or that phone notes.

She's lifting up her notebook.

Yeah, I love that guys could come at any time.

Mm.

And like Shelley said, there's no shortage of good ideas, Right. But as we get all these ideas and we write them down, we put them in one place, it could be that the Lord says, there's only one in there. There's only one that I'm gonna actually continue on that continues to grow. The rest are gonna be shelved. They. Maybe it's not the right timing or they're just not, you know, from him, but you're still writing all the stuff down. You, you know, as if you got this download, but then you're praying over those things, like, okay, which of these six that I just wrote down? You know, as Myrna may have written six or seven things down, which of these do you really want me to pursue right now over the next week? Because how many know that some things are time sensitive? It's like, okay, I hear what you're saying, Lord, and he wants you to spend time putting effort into that PDF worksheet that's going to tell all about your book. And maybe a speaking ministry that you have or the different things that you offer could be anything, but some things need to be done quicker than others.

And just an example, a few years ago, I was working on a project, and I think I was actually working on maybe A book. And I really, like, I get in a mindset where I'm like, I just want to get it done. But there was a day where the Lord was like, no, I want you to do this instead. And it literally took up almost my entire day. And it was reaching out to a potential strategic partner of a subscription box company. Well, it ended up that whole day we went back and forth, back and forth. And it ended up that they ended up buying thousands of copies of our. One of my books. And now we've developed a partnership with them where this year they purchased four of our books, 9,000 copies each. So sometimes it is time sensitive. Like that day. The most important thing for me was not to finish that book. It was to make that connection. And that connection is still yielding fruit to this day, years later. And at first I felt unproductive because I was like, oh, that whole day was just taken up with emails and going back. But then it was like, oh, no. The Lord was like, oh, no, Shelley, you did the most productive thing. So sometimes you might think, oh, but I didn't really get anything done. But that one thing. But that was the one thing that needed to get done. Another example recently I was in prayer and I was asking the Lord and I wrote out this whole idea for this marketing idea, you know, for Christian Book Academy. And I had like, you know, all sorts of things written out. And sometimes you just write it out, like CJ said, you write it down and then you keep seeking God on that idea. Then recently he said, shelley, that's not for right now.

I want to get all the glory for what's going to happen. And if you do it this way, other people could potentially get the glory or different things and just let me bring the things anyways, I can't really go into detail about it right now, but all I want to say is that I had written down this detailed plan that I thought I was gonna do this fall. And the Lord's like, nope, not right now. It might be for later. I'm not gonna delete it. I'm not gonna erase it. I'm not gonna throw it away. But be open. So write your plans in pencil, right? And be open to God changing things. Because sometimes we get attached to an idea or we get attached to a book topic, or we get attached and we don't want to give it up, even if it's not the time time for it, or it's not the way that God wants us to proceed. Be open handed. Be open handed and leave the results up. To God. He is the God of the outcome. Amen. So, as we normally do, we're going to give you a minute of reflection. Ask God what is he saying to you right now in this season.

For your book and, and share in the comments anything that you receive from Him.

Sam.

All right.

We love hearing what God is saying to you as well. And we don't want you just to hear from us. We want you to hear from God. But we want to be your guides, your cheerleaders, like someone said earlier, your encouragers. We want to keep bringing you back to him. We want to keep bringing your focus back and giving you the practical step by step, skill sets and strategies, but also connecting you with the Lord.

I was just asking the Lord if there was just a certain picture for today. And I just feel like today I just had a sense like today's like a monumental moment for many of you. As, you know, you think about marketing this, this whole Kingdom Marketing mindset series. I don't know of anyone else in the author world that's teaching marketing like this, to be honest. Maybe they are. And I just don't know about them. But I just, I mean, a lot of it's about selling more books, selling more books, you know, and, you know, just all the things and the blueprints and, you know that. And so I just, I got this picture that it's almost like we are like the Israelites and we are getting ready to cross the Jordan river into our promised land. You know, we can keep wandering around in the wilderness, right? Wandering around. And he'll provide for us. He provided manna. He provided, you know, every day. But God has more for you Kingdom riders. I'm getting chills because for you. Thank you. Than what the world wants to give you. He has more for you. If we will just take that first step into those floodwaters, they will part. He will give us what we need, and he will lead us into the promised land for our books, for our audience. And many, many lives will be impacted because we chose to follow him and not just keep wandering around mindlessly doing tasks that, you know, are not really making a difference. And so I am so excited for each one of you, for us as a community to really see the testimonies that come as a result of this series and just as a result of teaching marketing in a different way, just to see what God does. And I'm excited to continue. We're going to dive a lot deeper into all, all of these topics as we proceed through the series. And.

I Just love hearing and seeing what you're saying. Kim says, I know that all the years of wrestling with my book topic were God helping me to seek him and let him hone it, edit it, and get it to the point he wants to make it. Yeah. So, you know, sometimes we feel like we want to have the book done right now, but God is in the process of changing it. Right. Honing it, editing it.

Lola says, the distractions you are experiencing right now is an evidence that the message in the book matters to the kingdom of God. Don't be discouraged.

Absolutely. We have a real enemy that loves to distract at every turn. I once heard someone say that when they used to get down on their knees and pray, they would all of a sudden be overloaded with this, you know, to do list, you know, things they needed to get done. And so they just decided, well, I'll just start carrying a pen and pad and my whole day will get finished during my prayer time, you know, and then they can just thank the enemy for putting those distractions in there and say, all right, let's resume, Lord, you know, I just needed to write that down real quickly.

Yeah, that's good.

And Deborah says, part of a dream I had last night was my heart wasn't beating quite right when I woke up. I asked him what that meant. He said my heart needed to be in sync with his. I need to fully embrace, believe in, and trust his promises. Everything said today confirms that. Amen. That's so good. Yeah.

Myrna says, my how to ebook. Ebook and courses are being affected by the pandemic. Felt like God said he was going to send me the case studies for this new world. That's so good.

And deanne says, I just had. Reaching your goal is not a destination to an end. It's only a stepping stone to more stepping stones across the water. There is more. Sounds like what you just said, Shelly. Yes. So good. More confirmations. Kim says Ebenezer Stones. Thus far, the Lord has led me onward. Yes.

Yeah.

And Tamara says I need to continue to be willing. I need to. I needed this encouragement. Thanks. You're welcome. So CJ's gonna close us in prayer.

Father, we thank you so much for this time once again to be able to spend with Christian Book Academy members. And I just want to ask that you would pour out your blessing upon each and every one of their.

Their books, their posts, everything that they're writing. I just. I pray that you would allow them to.

Feel your presence. I ask Lord that. You know, even as Deborah mentioned that they'd be in tune with your heartbeat. I ask, Lord, that you would download God ideas into each and every one of our members.

Ideas that can even encourage and help others within this group. And we are asking, Lord, that we would be the priestly pens in the hands of the author of life, that we would be kingdom writers endeavoring to do something that lasts.

Beyond us and something also that. That impacts people beyond the material world that we see around us right now. And so I just pray that you would download dreams and visions and creativity and the words that each and every person needs for what they're doing today. And you know, it's, it's, it's. It's like when Jesus said.

Look at the birds of the air.

They don't worry, they don't toil and labor. Your heavenly Father provides for them each and every day. I pray that, Father, you would even provide the very words that we need every day, that.

Those words would not only nourish us, but they would nourish others who read those words. So I pray day by day that you would give us the very.

Nourishment in the form of words that each of us needs in order to complete that day's assignment. We know each day is different, unique in its circumstances. And I pray that you'd restore everything that the enemy has taken and stolen and that we thought was lost. Nothing is lost and nothing can't be reused for your purposes, Lord. And so we ask that you restore it all and that we would just step back and say, whoa, I can't even believe the amount of ideas that I have. I can't even believe these new doors that are opening up. I thought this was a deep dead end and it's only the beginning. So I pray that this would happen in each and every one of our lives. And we will give you the glory and the honor for what you are going to do. And we thank you for allowing us to be a part of this journey with you. In Jesus name, Amen.

Amen. We will see you next week.

God bless you guys.

Bye. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode in our Kingdom marketing mindset series. God has really led us to start teaching more marketing differently. So, yes, we will still teach you the skill sets and the strategies. We will give you all the case studies, but we are going to be teaching marketing from a Kingdom marketing mindset, encouraging you to hear from God and get those strategies directly from him. I am just so excited for you to start going through the training that I have been creating for you in our book launch challenge. If you're tired of the same old messages with book marketing, I encourage you to join us inside Christian Book Academy. I believe it will truly be a breath of fresh air for you and you'll not only get the practical training you need, but you'll get the encouragement to stay connected with God to receive his blueprint and his strategy for your marketing. Join us now@christianbookacademy.com I can't wait to work further with you and help you reach more people with your message. I'll see you on the inside.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.