Instant winner!

Being a subscriber to Deb’s Book Blast automatically qualifies you to be in the draw to win the Kindle version of one of these books with a cross cultural theme.

Know You More is a multi-racial Christian romance by Jan Thompson.

3D Gospel is non-fiction and discusses various cultures and their emphasis on guilt, shame, or fear by Jayson Georges.

End of the Spear is the true story of a Steve Saint whose father was martyred by Auca Indians. Many years later Steve and his family go back to live with the tribe after many have been converted.

I’ll announce the winner of the draw at the end of this Book Blast.

Take a quick glance at my books and you’ll notice a strong cross cultural theme.

• Peanut Butter Friends in a Chop Suey World, my first published book, is a pre-teen book about Amy, an American girl who goes to live in Taiwan with her missionary parents.
• Two Sides to Everything is a pre-teen book about Josh, an American city boy who goes to live with his relatives in rural New Zealand.
• Broken Windows, a cozy mystery about Jordan, shows his adjustment to adult life in the US after growing up as a missionary’s kid in Taiwan. (See great deals below for more than 50% off on the box set.)
• Déjà Who? continues Jordan’s story as he and his girlfriend work with international students in the US. (See great deals below.)
• I Scream shines the spotlight on child prodigy Destiny, who has an American dad and a Chinese mom. Jordan communicates with her mom in Chinese. (See great deals below.)

Why do I make cross cultural issues such a strong theme in my writing?

Cross cultural ministry is who I am and what I know.

I grew up in the home of Ray Allen, a pastor of small churches in Colorado. I married a guy who was headed for Taiwan as a missionary. Art and I and our two daughters spent 16 years living and ministering in central Taiwan. The Lord then led us to New Zealand where Art has been the missionary pastor of a small church for 21 years.

New Zealand has a Western culture that is similar in many ways to culture in the US. After getting to know the New Zealand culture pretty well, God began to bring people from around the world to us. For years we had two South African families, one black and one white. At the same time many Asians came to our city and church. Filipinos came to work on dairy farms. Southern Institute of Technology drew many Indonesians. Koreans came for work and education.

Since we had lived in the US, Taiwan, and New Zealand for many years, we helped some of these Asians bridge the gap between an Asian and a Western culture. We’ve needed to affirm different ways of doing dishes in the church kitchen. We had to address muddy footprints on the seat of the ladies’ toilets. We’ve explained the differences in values between Asian cultures which prize education very highly and the New Zealand culture which values a do-it-yourself, sports and physical labor mentality. All cultural issues.

Building cross cultural relationships is an important part to reaching the world with the gospel and including different cultures in ministry.

On this earth we will never completely shed our prejudices and biases toward other cultures, but we must continue to work toward understanding if we are going to minister effectively. And ministry … isn’t that what the Christian life is all about? Serving Christ as we serve others should be our highest goal. So it seems to me that ministry ought to be a common theme in Christian fiction. You will find a ministry thread through every book I write.

Great Deals on Box Sets of Christian Fiction

Now that I’ve got your mouth watering for Christian fiction, here’s a great buy on 30 different Christian fiction box sets for $4.99 or less. You’ll find my Art Spotlight Mysteries among them. This promotion only lasts from November 3-9 so don’t miss out. These are great deals and a great way to find a new author to love. In my case, my Kindle box set is over 50% off the cost of buying the ebooks separately.

Now for the free drawing.

I have randomly picked a winner from my subscribers list to receive the Kindle version of a book with a cross cultural theme.

And the winner is … R. Y. She is an English teacher in the Middle East. She found my website while searching for ESL Bible lessons. I wrote these lessons long ago during our ministry in Taiwan. Now these lessons, written for people who use English as a second language, are used to share the gospel in many countries around the world.

She has chosen 3D Gospel.