Book: Creative Fusion

Author: Charity Bowman Webb

Genre: RELIGION / Christian Living/Personal Growth

Release date: October 19, 2021

From the beginning of time, God endowed people with His creative intending for them to rule and steward over all the earth.

But Satan—once heaven’s most beautiful and creative angel—convinced Adam and Eve that the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would give them a power that they already had. The moment that they ate the fruit, they handed their authority over to Satan. Oppression ruled the world; instead of the luminosity of heaven’s pattern advancing through the planet, creeping darkness took hold.

The enemy knows the highly effective powers of creativity all too well. Despite being cut off from its divine origin, he uses it with vigor to effectively communicate his counterfeit and repetitive message across the world.

Creative Fusion follows the interlinking tabernacle pattern of God laid out from Genesis through Revelation to provide Christians with the answers to reclaim the Lord’s creative energy and His DNA that He placed within us.

Author Charity Bowman-Webb wants readers to discover the magnificent wisdom in Scripture that will help them influence every area of society and harvest souls for God’s kingdom.

Click here to get your copy!

My Review

Creative Fusion by Charity Bowman Webb is a must read for Christian creatives, but it is also a must read for all Christians. Don’t let the title fool you. This is not a book only aimed at those who have careers or hobbies in what we traditionally know as “the arts”; things like writing, painting, drama, photography, singing and dancing. This is a book aimed at all of God’s creations, who He instilled his inherhent creativity in at the moment of their conception.

The book is a reminder that God implanted creativity in all of us and not only those of us in “the arts.” Webb uses passages in the Bible to show that we are creative beings because we were created by the ultimate creator. That creativity can be used in whatever field God has placed us in — teaching, construction, law enforcement, motherhood, the ministry, whatever. It isn’t only reserved for photography, writing, dancing, painting, or acting. The very act of using our brain to find solutions in any aspect of our life is an example of the creativity which God instilled in us, according to Webb.

One of the main messages of the book is that we are creating together with God and for God to bring honor to him.

“Co-creation with God enables us to become personally involved in the process of stretching spiritual capacity as the Holy Spirit multiplies our skill and magnifies our understanding,” Webb writes. “Our willingness to learn from God can open a kaleidoscope of communications.”

Creative Fusion is a well-thought out, well-written message to anyone, of any age and even of any faith, that God instilled creativity in us so that we can create in tandem with him.

“We were never meant to create alone,” she writes. “All the education in the world could never be enough to form anything of eternal value. Many people have strived with excessive effort to produce something of unique wroth. Yet when such endeavors are pursued by people disconnected from God, their efforts can be their undoing. . . . But when we learn to co-create in collaboration with the Creator, the journey becomes excitingly personal.”

The book is stuffed from front to back with encouragement, advice, but most of all with the painting of a vivid picture of what life can be like if we create with God in every facet of our life.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

My rating is 4.5 out of 5

About the Author

Charity Bowman-Webb is passionate about the prophetic and creativity. Her goal is to equip people to discover the creative DNA that God has planted in His children so that they can change culture and live their full design.

Charity works to ignite creative and pioneering ways of releasing God’s Spirit in the church and on the mission field. As the director of Streams Creative House, a mission of Streams Ministries International, Charity’s heart and calling are to help believers explore God though a depth of relationship, develop maturity through their revelatory gifts, and see restoration and understanding of the creativity of God released to transform society. She is passionate about helping Christians deepen their relationship with God by exploring their spiritual gifts and God-given creativity for worship, intercession, and mission.

In her native Scotland, she led the national creative team for CLAN (Christians Linked Across the Nation) for six years, helping to form a new pioneering community. She is also the cofounder of Blue Flame Ministry and helped to pioneer an evangelistic movement in prophetic and creative mission, training, and leading teams into secular settings.

Charity is also the author of Limitless: God’s Creative Mandate for His Church. She speaks regularly at ministries and churches for conferences, courses, and special events throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, South Africa, and Singapore.

Charity and her husband, Alan, have two daughters and make their home in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.

Blog Stops

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 28

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 29

Inklings and notions, September 30

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, October 1

Texas Book-aholic, October 2

deb’s Book Review, October 3

Cats in the Cradle Blog, October 4

Locks, Hooks and Books, October 5

Boondock Ramblings, October 5

For Him and My Family, October 6

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, October 7

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, October 8

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, October 9

The Meanderings of a Bookworm, October 10

Artistic Nobody, October 11 (Spotlight)

Mary Hake, October 11

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Charity is giving away the grand prize package of a $20 Starbucks gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/11b63/creative-fusion-celebration-tour-giveaway

Book: Twelve Weeks to Midnight Blue

Author: Steve Searfoss

Genre: Fiction

Release date: January 26, 2020

Chance Sterling launches a pool cleaning business over the summer. Join Chance as he looks for new customers, discovers how much to charge them, recruits an employee, deals with difficult clients, and figures out how to make a profit. Oh, and his sister Addie wants in on the action too. Will they learn how to be business partners?  He has twelve weeks to reach his goal. Will he make it? Only if he takes some chances.

KidVenture stories are business adventures where kids figure out how to market their company, understand risk, and negotiate. Each chapter ends with a challenge, including business decisions, ethical dilemmas and interpersonal conflict for young readers to wrestle with. As the story progresses, the characters track revenue, costs, profit margin, and other key metrics which are explained in simple, fun ways that tie into the story.

I am a Christian and a parent. My wife and I pay close attention to the books and media our four children consume, and try to make sure the content is edifying, just as Paul exhorts us in Philippians 4:8. I wanted to write a book that met that standard, and was also fun and engaging. KidVenture teaches kids the importance of hard work, of keeping your word and being trustworthy, and telling the truth, even when it means delivering bad news. As the story progresses, the protagonist understands that business is about more than making money as he appreciates  the responsibility he has to his customers, his employee and his partner. How you treat people matters in tangible ways.

At the center of the story is a strong family. The two main characters are a brother and sister, who engage in their share of sibling rivalry, but also learn how to work together and forgive each other. At key junctures when they face big dilemmas, they turn to their parents for advice. The kids learn a healthy mix of independence, risk taking and learning through trial and error — balanced with knowing when to ask for help. All of this is presented in a way that is not preachy or hokey, but wrapped inside a story full of unexpected plot twists, witty banter and memorable characters.

My Review

12 Weeks to Midnight is the perfect book for parents to give to their children to help them learn in a fun way about what all goes into running a business.

The story is entertaining and educational at the same time, which is exactly what a young person would like. The book is simply written but with a good, complex story. I would say this book is for children between the ages of 8 and 13.

The reader is shown how to start, run, and keep a business going through Chance Sterling’s journey to earn money enough to buy a new bike. The scenarios and hurdles Chance has to work through and climb over are lessons that even adults should keep in mind when trying to launch their own business.

“Why can’t I just keep all the money at the top?” Chance asks his dad one day when he realizes he will have to purchase some of the equipment he needs to keep his business running from the profit he’s already made.

“Because money doesn’t grow on trees,” his dad tells him.

Chance suggests that it grows in his dad’s wallet and that’s when his dad has to inform him that even parents have to work for what they have and purchase what they need from that money.

It’s a difficult lesson for young Chance, but one he, along with his younger sister Addie, has to learn to understand how to earn the money to buy what he wants. This book presents a stripped down lesson on economics at the basic level, including investments, earnings, expenses, and overall profit.

What I really liked about the book is that at the end of each chapter the author asks the reader what they would do if they were in the shoes of the character. It’s a great way to really help a young person think through not only Chance’s journey, but their own.

As a parent, I absolutely love books for children and pre-teens that has a message that can be delivered in a fun and non-preaching way, which is why I really enjoyed 12 Weeks to Midnight Blue and highly recommend it for children and even for parents. Even parents could use a reminder about what it takes to run a business.

My rating 5 out of 5

I was given a complimentary copy of this book but all opinions are my own and I was not asked to give a positive review.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

I wrote my first KidVenture book after years of making up stories to teach my kids about business and economics. Whenever they’d ask how something works or why things were a certain way, I would say, “Let’s pretend you have a business that sells…” and off we’d go. What would start as a simple hypothetical to explain a concept would become an adventure spanning several days as my kids would come back with new questions which would spawn more plot twists. Rather than give them quick answers, I tried to create cliffhangers to get them to really think through an idea and make the experience as interactive as possible.

I try to bring that same spirit of fun, curiosity and challenge to each KidVenture book. That’s why every chapter ends with a dilemma and a set of questions. KidVenture books are fun for kids to read alone, and even more fun to read together and discuss. There are plenty of books where kids learn about being doctors and astronauts and firefighters. There are hardly any where they learn what it’s like to run small business. KidVenture is different. The companies the kids start are modest and simple, but the themes are serious and important.

I’m an entrepreneur who has started a half dozen or so businesses and have had my share of failures. My dad was an entrepreneur and as a kid I used to love asking him about his business and learning the ins and outs of what to do and not do. Mistakes make the best stories — and the best lessons. I wanted to write a business book that was realistic, where you get to see the characters stumble and wander and reset, the way entrepreneurs do in real life. Unlike most books and movies where business is portrayed as easy, where all you need is one good idea and the desire to be successful, the characters in KidVenture find that every day brings new problems to solve.

More from Steve

I am a Christian and a parent. My wife and I pay close attention to the books and
media our four children consume, and try to make sure the content is edifying,
just as Paul exhorts us in Philippians 4:8. I wanted to write a book that met that
standard, and was also fun and engaging. KidVenture teaches kids the importance
of hard work, of keeping your word and being trustworthy, and telling the truth,
even when it means delivering bad news. As the story progresses, the protagonist
understands that business is about more than making money as he appreciates
the responsibility he has to his customers, his employee and his partner. How you
treat people matters in tangible ways.

At the center of the story is a strong family. The two main characters are a
brother and sister, who engage in their share of sibling rivalry, but also learn how
to work together and forgive each other. At key junctures when they face big
dilemmas, they turn to their parents for advice. The kids learn a healthy mix of
independence, risk taking and learning through trial and error — balanced with
knowing when to ask for help. All of this is presented in a way that is not preachy
or hokey, but wrapped inside a story full of unexpected plot twists, witty banter
and memorable characters.

Blog Stops

Lots of Helpers, September 8

Cats in the Cradle Blog, September 8

Texas Book-aholic, September 9

For Him and My Family, September 10

Boondock Ramblings, September 10

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, September 11

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 12

Mary Hake, September 12

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, September 13

Inklings and notions, September 14

Blogging With Carol, September 14

deb’s Book Review, September 15

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, September 16

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 16

Little Homeschool on the Prairie, September 17

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, September 18

Splashes of Joy, September 18

Locks, Hooks and Books, September 19

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, September 20

Lights in a Dark World, September 20

The Meanderings of a Bookworm, September 21

Giveaway

To celebrate his tour, Steve is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/11817/twelve-weeks-to-midnight-blue-celebration-tour-giveaway

I wrote this on my Instagram the other day: “Nothing destroys the fun of writing novels for me than reading books about how to write a novel. Now I’m so in my head I can’t hear anything but rules.”

It is true, guys/gals. I sat in my living room last night with two craft books, a notebook, and a pen and thought, “Okay. I am going to outline this sucker and I am going to figure out what my two characters dark moments are and . . .” And I just stared at the page.

Read more of this post at Hope, Hearts, and Heroes where I have joined with other Christian writers to share about our writing journey as well as some of our writings.