International Chrsitan Retail show and International Lifeway sessions

Lifeway flew us in early to speak for

international representatives that sell our material worldwide. We always enjoy when our material is translated (our books are now in over 10 languages).
I stayed to be the emcee at AWSA conference (200+ of us women who are authors/speakers). Then I attended Harvest House author dinner, and spent a day on the floor of ICRS meeting with publisher: Harvest House, Focus on the Family.Tyndale, IVP, Lifeway, Mood and WinePress. Things in publishing are changing: electronic books, podcasts, dvd, cd, ezines, radio, TV, blogging, webcasting, phone conferencing, etc. all need to be things on our plate to get our message out in all kinds of formats. We will be communicating with you all with coming plans to adapt to our changing culture. In the group shot are several recognizable speakers and ministry leaders, one of the women has now lost everything in Hurricane Ike so you might hear how we will be walking along side her as she rebuilds. I love this yearly conference as it is "iron sharpening iron" to Bill and I. We come away stronger, better leaders as a result of spending time with some of today's best leaders.

Hearts at Home anniversary

Jill and Mark Savage invites us to speak on their Hearts at Home anniversary cruise (Jill is the founder of Hearts at Home) Bill and I value and appreciate Jill and Mark as friends and leaders, and Hearts at Home is one of our favorite ministries. This was an exiting ministry time, the ship was invited to attend our sessions (and they did!) and We enjoyed getting to know authors, John and Kendra Smiley. (they also raised a strong willed child and we love their books Be the Parent! and Arron's Way). One couple from Honduras invited us down to speak. We had many happy marriage memories of our own on the cruise as well.

Alasakan Adventure

Debbie Douglas has been my friend since college. she was in our wedding! She has become an amazing outdoor educator and Director of Women's Ministries in Juneau. We arranged to travel to Alaska (with Caleb) and we spoke 4 days (in the evening) and during the day we had adventures like kayaking on the bay ad hiking the glacier! Since we travel quite a bit, these kinds of memories are important to share with our children when we can arrange them. Ministry in Alaska was sweet as all sessions were packed out and we worked with several churches. Juneau is a bit off the beaten path so they really appreciated having us there to speak.

Cannon Beach Blessing

One of our favorite places to speak is Cannon Beach Conference Center on the Oregon coast. In the past 18 months Pam and Bill have spoken for a men's conference, a women's conference, a singles conference, a marriage conference, a family Bible conference. Bill has become a favorite Bible teacher there-- he does 12 messages is 6 days (and he is in heaven!) We highly recommend Cannon Beach for family camps, and their summer Bible conference is a great place for family reunions-- they have top notch ten and children's programs. One year when I spoke, it was my birthday and Janet the conference director and Bill secretly planned a surprise for me (flowers and balloon and "Our song" being played at my last session on my birthday.

Bill also celebrated his birthday at a conference this past year and he got all kinds of goodies from one of our favorite churches near St Louis.

I have always told our family-- we don't care where we celebrate or when we celebrate birthdays- as long as we live a life of celebration we can be flexible on the details!

10 Best Dcisions a Couple Can Make and Glad I am a Mom

The spring brought the release of two books: 10 Best Decisions a Couple Can Make (we reworked Every Marriage is a Fixer Upper, tweaked, added to, changed, etc). We have enjoyed speaking on this material and are excited it got new life and a new look! We now have:
10 Best Decisions a Couple Can Make
10 Best Dcisions a Parent Can Make
10 Bewt Dcisions a Woman Can Make
and Bill will be creating the proposal for 10 Best Decisions a Man Can Make and submitting it this year.

Pam had a chapter in heart at Home's new book, I am Glad I am a Mom!

Singapore in the Spring

We were asked by the Government of Singapore to come keynote at the National Marriage Conventions sponsored by the government (yes! the Cabinet sponsors it!) We spoke 6 times, including speaking at a VIP morning session where all the country's media and many high ranking officials attended. We met several in the Cabinet including the VP over the branch sponsoring the event-- he is a wonderful godly christian man. We were very impressed with TOUCH, the co sponsor of the event, as it is the helping arm of a mega Baptist church n the island. We attended services there and it was one of the most moving experiences we have ever had in worship. (Hundreds in the choir, dance team, flags, a powerful message, and incredible musicians!) Bill got food poisoning from bad sushi-- but he recovered just in time to speak at that day's session. Many of you got a frantic email: PRAY! and you did! thanks!

The Joy Zone

Our staff and volunteers have affectionately called our office "the Joy Zone". We have some terrific staff and volunteers:
Robin-- Office manager
Jan- Creative Director (all graphics, website etc)
Plus Debe, Marion, Jeanne, Shelly, and several interns: April, Rachel, and EB.
Pam has always mentored, now it is going to the next level:
Young Women of Influence group (women in ministry or want to be in ministry ages 18-30)-- Many of these women have gone on to garner paid part time and ful time minsitry positions in churches or parachurch organizations.
Ministry Internships
Circle of Influence (budding future authors and speakers) -- this group has produced several published authors now:BJ Jensen: Lovers of the Bible; Marcia Ramsland: Simplify Your Life, Simplify Your Time, Simplify Your Space and several others. Currently three of her women are waiting for contracts from publishers like Harvest House, Focus on the Family/Tyndale.

Valentine Season

Our Valentine Season is always our busiest. We spoke at numerous locations and one of our favorite was for a church in DC where our friend Pastor Brett Fuller pastors. Pastor fuller is the chaplain of the Redskins so many of the players and their wives were in the audience and Bill was presented with an autographed football as a gift. We spoke for this group in the past but this conference was on Red Hot Monogamy and had a diner dance as part of the weekend. It was a joy and delight. We are bring asked to speak more often on Red Hot Monogamy as it is hard to find material from a Christian worldview on this vital but personal topic. We present with humor and the material is practical and Biblical so more pastors are asking us to speak on the weekend as well as on Sunday morning on this topic.

Fall Frenzy

The fall had us speaking somewhere every weekend! It began with the Chaplain of Walter Reed Army hospital hearing us on the Focus on the Family radio broadcast and calling at 6 am Ca time to see if we would speak for wounded warriors (and their spouses). We of course said, Yes! We have spoken for numerous military events all year-- (the divorce rate of Marines is at an all time high of 80%. They need our help, encouragement and prayers for their tremendous sacrifice)
October 1 marked a huge transition for Bill. God had been blessing both his small group ministry under Dr Jeremiah at Shadow Mountain, and our writing and speaking, and working two more than full time positions meant Bill was getting very little sleep so his health was being put at risk once again, plus both ministries hit the place they both needed more focused attention to move to the next level. This was a difficult transition, both Dr Jeremiah and Bill prayed for months over it, but in the fall, we decided it was time for Bill and I to launch full time into our writing, speaking, relationship building ministry. God filled in our schedule, knowing He was moving us this direction, in the next 6 months from Oct- March. We were at our home church (which is Shadow Mountain where Caleb is active and growing), we were in town (not speaking) only 3 times in 6 months. While this is terrific for our speaking ministry, it is a big transition for us (especially Bill) who has always been 'Pastor Bill" for nearly all 29 married years together. (Bill went from working with almost all males on Senior staff at SMCC to all women in our "JOY ZONE" office. The women gave him a testosterone party and gave gifts of footballs, sports photos, coffee, mugs etc to help him feel more at home. It is good he has taught on gender differences!). We anticipate many exciting things are ahead but we covet your prayers over us as we navigate the months ahead. ( A huge joy came in September- the birth of our first granddaughter, Eden! Brock and Hannah are terrific parents! You can catch up on family happenings at: http://farrelfamily.blogspot.com/)

First Five Years-- The GIFT to the Rest of your Love

September brought the release of The First Five Years: Make the Love Investment that Lasts, a book for newlyweds was released by Hachette. It is based on the format that there are 4 gifts that if you give these, they lay a strong foundation for your love for the rest of your life:
Get in the Game
Invest in Your Sex Life
Figure it out
Tough on me, Tender on You
Many radio stations interviewed us for this book-- and a few TV shows, but we have seen pastors and parents appreciative of a book they can give to each couple getting married they know.

Seasoned Sisters Goes National-- International!

May was the kick off to a new ministry: Seasoned Sisters-- a ministry for women 40-65+to help them maximize mid-life and beyond. A woman can join our online community and receive encouraging emails about every 7-10 days; they can begin their own Seasoned sisters friendship circle small group, or churches can launch these groups in their churches. The kick off and release of Pam's new book Fantastic After 40 happened at Emmanuel Faith church in Escondido, the online kick off happened later in September. We have members now in several foreign countries! Over 1,000 women have become members with really very little marketing. Pam highlights Seasoned sisters in her women's events, an article was written about the ministry in Just Between Us magazine and it was highlighted on Significant Living TV, and Joni TV (Daystar) as well as local Fox media. There have been 4 Girlfriend Gatherings (in Bakersfield, Lynchburg, San Diego first Assembly and Journey Church in La Mesa). These one night events highlight Pam's "Choosin' Joy" message and give women the opportunity to join Seasoned sisters. (Read more about this ministry at http://www.seasonedsisters.com/) The first national conference will be held Sept. 13 in Encinitas"Seasoned sisters by the Sea Vacation Retreat" and speakers will be Danna, Demtre, Marcia Ramsland, Pam and Bill Farrel, Doreen Hanna, and fiction author, Sally John. Pam has been carrying Sally's books at her events and on the minsitry websites, the Beach House and Castles in the Sand, all year as Sally's home burned in the CA fires. Worship will be by recording artist, Teresa Muller.

A Year of Transition and Blessing

We want to share with you some of the ministry highlights of the past year- 18 months. So let's start with March - May 07 . On Bil's birthday March 1, we met with Dr James Dobson and taped Red Hot Monogamy interview. In 2007, Focus on the Family aired Men are like Waffles, Women are like Spaghetti, and Red Hot Monogamy, then re-aired them. They were named Top 10 of 2007 of ALL the interviews Focus on the Family did. We then went to Singapore to speak for Singles and college students,(We spent time with our friends from Talbot Seminary the Creasman's who are missionaries in Singapore. We spoke at a Christian high school while there as well. ). We traveled to the other side of the world in addition to to our weekly speaking for men, women, couples, families. May was the release of Lifeway's Men are like Waffles, Women are like Spaghetti small group DVD curriculum.