Jessica is a very gifted communicator and has been researching and assisting with acquisitions for the last few months. She joins The Blythe Daniel Agency, Inc. as a Marketing and Literary Agent. She recently acquired the project we are working on now with abortion survivor Claire Culwell, whose story is one of three stories that the movie October Baby is based upon. Jessica is acquiring and representing adult fiction, young adult fiction,and some non-fiction.

I know you will really enjoy working with her. She brings a lot of creative energy and innovative thinking. I have been very impressed with her skills in acquisitions and marketing and she will continue to help us build and launch authors through our literary and marketing efforts.

Here is a bit about Jessica:

Jessica Kirkland is the CEO of Christian Apps For Kids, LLC. She graduated Cum Laude in 2004, with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communications and a minor in Marketing, from Sam Houston State University. One of Jessica’s greatest passions is helping children find truth and freedom through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jessica enjoys bringing quality book apps to the Christian marketplace that teach character and help children learn God’s word. You can find her apps at www.christianapps4kids.com.

Jessica is a mentor and writer to mother’s at The Mom Initiative and her own website, www.jessicakirkland.com, where she encourages readers to look beyond the veil of their circumstances and believe that God sees them and cares about every detail of their lives. Jessica lives in Livingston, Texas (near Houston) with her husband, Robb, and 5-year-old triplets.

Jerry Trousdale, Director of International Ministries for Cityteam International and author of Miraculous Movements: How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims are Falling in Love with Jesus was featured in The Christian Post this week. Miraculous Movements released this month from Thomas Nelson. It’s endorsed by Chip Ingram, Claude King, Hugh Maclellan Jr., Charles Hill, and others. For more information on the book, go to www.cityteam.org/books or www.miraculousmovements.com

http://www.christianpost.com/news/missions-leader-on-thousands-of-new-church-plants-in-muslim-areas-71886/

Claire Culwell is a survivor of a surgical suction abortion. In 2009 she met her birth mother who told her the truth of her abortion.  She was told of the successful abortion that took her twin but accidentally left Claire surviving in her womb. Claire’s response was different than expected. Claire shares her heart of forgiveness and love for both her birth mother and her adoptive parents for giving her the gift of a life worth living.

Claire grew up as a missionary kid while her adoptive parents served in Mexico, Costa Rica and Texas with Cru (formerly named Campus Crusade for Christ). She is a national pro-life and adoption Christian motivational speaker. She has spent four years studying nursing and working as a homecare nurse for severely physically and mentally disabled children and adults. She has been a leader/founder in many Christian organizations including Student Venture of Cru and Young Life. Claire has served as a volunteer in multiple organizations that help the poor, disabled and women considering abortion/adoption/parenting.  She volunteers with 40 Days For Life which offers prayer and support/counseling for women outside of abortion clinics. She also volunteers as a pregnancy counselor at Coalition For Life. Claire regularly blogs on www.claireculwell.com.

She has been speaking at events since December of 2009 (7 months after finding out her birth mother’s two attempted abortions to take her life). Claire travels to speak at events for youth, churches, pro-life, pregnancy center fundraisers, Bible Studies, jails, inner-city youth, and other events. Claire has attended college and will finish her degree while continuing her ministry of traveling to speak and share her story of survival and hope with the world. The upcoming movie, October Baby, has ties to Claire’s story.

Claire has been promoted as “the real October Baby” because it is most similar to her testimony than any other abortion survivor. She will be featured on the “Every Life is Beautiful” website which is the website for their nonprofit. She will also potentially be featured as a speaker for their showings of the movie and promotions. To start, she is speaking with Shari Rigby, the actress from the movie, in April.

Pastor Matt Keller, of Next Level Church in Ft. Myers, has just signed a two-book contract with Thomas Nelson. The first book, God of the Underdogs will be out in 2013 and the second book to follow will release in 2014. Matt speaks regularly outside of Next Level at events like Velocity, Exponential, ARC, and other events. He leads pastors and those wanting to learn leadership principles through his Next Level Coaching.

Sarah Kovac’s first book will release from Abingdon Press in 2013 titled In Capable Arms. Sarah was on CNN last showing how she changed her son’s diaper with her feet. Since then, she has had over 218,000 page views on her YouTube channel where she has featured things she does with her son Ethan (now 2 years old). Sarah is a remarkable woman whose limitations have not held her back physically or spiritually. She was born without the use of her arms and she taught herself from an early age how to do things that all of the other kids were doing—only using her feet instead. That has continued into her adult life. Her message of accepting our limitations and losses and learning to ask for help—especially from God—inspires and resonates with audiences.

Diane Cowen’s first book tentatively titled Sunday Dinners:  Reviving America’s Tradition of Grace and Good Food, will release from Andrews McMeel in 2013 and features recipes and interviews with many well-known pastors and their spouses about their favorite and traditional meal times, particularly on Sundays after church. These include George Foreman, T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, Kirbyjon Caldwell, Matthew Barnett, Ed Young Sr., Samuel Rodriguez, and others. The foreword is written by Victoria Osteen. Diane is the Religion and Food Editor of the Houston Chronicle.

Linda Tang – Author of Who Am I, Where Did I Go? From Career to Motherhood: What God Has to Say About Who You Are and the YA novel How Should I Paint You? (Lunchbox Press, 2001). She is a former writer for Syracuse Herald Journal, L.A. Weekly, and other newspapers. She was the assistant marketing director for the ABC Radio Group in Los Angeles working with shows/networks like Fox News, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Good Morning America, the Today show, ABC, CBS, and NBC Los Angeles news shows and print.

Matt Keller – Founder and Lead Pastor of Next Level Church in Fort Myers, FL. Since its humble beginnings with four people in 2002, Next Level Church has grown to over 1,800 weekly attenders.

Matt is the author of the book, The Up the Middle Church… Playing the Game of Ministry One Yard at a Time and two upcoming books.

Weight Loss Success: Linda Goff Ditched Fad Diets And Lost 150 Pounds

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Executive Vice-President and Chief People Officer Bob Ravener was on Fox Business Network on January 5, 2012 discussing the number of jobs Dollar General be adding this year to discuss their expansion and hiring plans that includes 625 new stores and over 6,000 new jobs. This along with jobs added since 2009 will total 21,000 new jobs.

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