Wednesday, May 26, 2010

What's in a Name?

Naming our first child was not easy. I loved my grandmother’s name which was Swanna Pickett. My husband who was not from the south could not agree and so we went back and forth until we finally settled on Anne-Janette Parks Harley. Yes it is a mouth full but it represents the three women who made up her life. Anne is my mother. Janette is my mother-in-law and Parks is my middle name so all of us were represented. However, on the day of her birth we realized that she was too small for such a huge name so we turned the name Anne around and added the J from Janette and there you have it…Jenna! Perfect.

A name is important. It not only tells who you belong to but also gives some indication of your personality. “Jenna” fit her as a baby and now thirty-eight years later it is still the perfect name for her bubbly personality.

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We were at a stand still. Well maybe not literally but it seemed we had stalled and were not making any headway. The problem? We could not decide on a name for our Bible Study. What could be so hard?

With the hundreds of excellent Bible studies available in America today one would think that coming up with a name would be the very simplest part of developing the program. We had everyone we knew thinking up names that we would discuss and eventually reject. Why these rejections took place I cannot say except that they just did not “feel’ right. We seemed to sense that as soon as we heard it we would know “this is it”!!!

“Bible Light” ran with us for a few days until we realized it sounded like we were making the Bible light or trying to do a take-off on a beer commercial! Both reasons were good enough to finally decide to reject it.

We were sitting around the table at Truth in Advertising, owned by a talented young couple who we had hired to do some design work for us. We had about five or six names in front of us and though some were pretty catchy they just didn’t seem to grab our senses. At one point Mike Dolinger started talking about the study and in the conversation said “This really is an amazing collection of books, isn’t it!” And at the moment we all knew that we had a new name.

But there are many collections of works in the world and although they are interesting to say the least they are hardly amazing. And if one looks at the Bible as a singular work, they miss something miraculous. For the Bible is not one work but sixty-six books compiled by over 40 authors covering a period of 1500 years on three continents in three languages. What is so amazing is that there is perfect unity among these books although they address hundreds of different topics! The Bible is indeed an AMAZING COLLECTION!

There is no other collection of books that has inspired men to produce such great works of art, write more exquisite music and design more awe-inspiring architecture than the Bible. No other book has survived such determination to destroy it and no other book that has been the impetus for life transformation for millions of people throughout history! What a book! What a God!! What a gift! The Amazing Collection!


...and they were all amazed at the greatness of God.
Luke 9:43

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Don’t Say It!

Jesus was pretty adamant when He said,“ Whoever says ‘You fool!’ (to his brother) shall be in danger of hell fire.” It is clear, it is convicting and it is frightening. Does He really mean hell?
But what about the person we are most likely to call fool? What about the times we call ourselves that? Is Jesus just as concerned?

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We had completed the first year of filming and now had a “product” to sell. We were beginning to see more and more that we were a company and needed some of the necessary things to do business. We set up a room in my home, got a computer, and had Truth in Advertising design some stationery, business cards and note cards for us.

They needed some pertinent information which I gave them - like the return address which is a PO Box, the colors we wanted to use and the quantities. Robin set about getting prices from printers in the area. Once that was done and we had chosen the print company I placed the order…..$1000 worth of stationery, note cards and business cards.

It is sometimes the little things that excite us the most; so when all of the stationery arrived, it was quite a thrill! We were a REAL company, a REAL ministry, a REAL corporation and now we had REAL stationery!

A few days later Eleanor sent out several important pieces of communication on our lovely stationery, but a couple of weeks later she began to hear from all of the companies that had received letters. They had sent answers back to us using the return address provided on the letterhead and envelopes, but all had been returned to them and none had reached us!

We were totally perplexed. I went over and over the steps we had taken trying to solve the problem. Finally I went to our UPS Store which houses our PO Box and went over every line of the address with them. The last line solved the problem. I had put Roswell as the town but our PO Box was in Alpharetta! The city dividing line was the street right in front of the PO Box!

It is hard to describe my feelings of foolishness. I had made such a huge blunder, but the truth is I had NO idea the dividing line was such a short distance from my house!

We are hardest on ourselves. The board was so understanding and kind, but all I saw was $1000 down the drain. In the end, all that we could not salvage went into the trash. And in many ways I followed it emotionally.

The words, “You fool” went through my mind several times a day. How could I have been so stupid! I felt sure that neither Eleanor nor Linda nor any of the other women would have made such a stupid and costly mistake.

How quick we are to call ourselves the very words Jesus said we were not to call any brother. It took a few weeks to get my heart right and my eyes on God, and that was done mostly because of the kindness and quick forgiveness of a team that continually practiced Christ-like love. The blessings of Christian love and forgiveness are greater than we ever deserve yet what we all so desperately need.


For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Matthew 6:14

Monday, May 17, 2010

Celebrate!

Somehow it doesn’t seem right. Yet there is no denying that the first miracle was turning water into wine at a great celebration. (John 2:1-10) Celebration! The miracles of Jesus began with a crisis, a celebration gone awry, but He turned it around to be better than ever.

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I wanted to do something special. For over a year Eleanor, Linda, and Margie had worked tens of hours every week with absolutely no pay whatsoever. They had studied, given huge amounts of time, endured spiritual hits with perseverance, stood before a camera and overcome intense fear to give 40 minutes talks, and personally parted with a great deal of money to help our big dream come to fruition. And by our side all the way was Robin Rosebrough, keeping track of the thousands of details and doing all of the administrative work behind the scenes.

We had completed twelve DVDs….and we were exhausted. It was time for a reward.

I explained my celebration plan to my husband who graciously told me to go for it, and he would foot the bill. And so with joyful anticipation I made all of the arrangements for a wonderful day for the teachers and Robin Rosebrough, who is the administrative genius of the ministry.

I rented a limo.

I made reservations at the Ritz Carlton.

I made appointments for five at Spa Sydell for the complete spa treatment.

And I kept it all a surprise. They only knew to keep the date open, and I would pick them up at 10:00 AM.

Shortly before the big day in May 2002, I received a notice that I was on “stand-by” for jury duty. I gave it little thought, as I knew God would protect me so I could be a part of the big day! The night before at the allotted time I called the number to see if my name was called. I was shocked (may I say that is a HUGE understatement!) to find that indeed I was expected to show up at the courthouse at 8:00AM. I was devastated but did the only thing I could do. I called Robin and told her the whole plan and asked her if she would take my place and be the hostess for the day. She would meet the limo at my house and then proceed to pick up the teachers for a fun day…without me!

The next morning as I was getting ready and noticed that my husband had not left for work. “I am going with you” is all he said. At the courthouse the guards were being very careful about checking everyone’s ID and jury summons. Nine-eleven had made every government building a place of high security. For some reason known only to God, Chuck was able to pass right through security and followed me up to the second floor. Once there he asked to meet with the person in charge, and immediately we were ushered into the office of the “person in charge”. She was kind, but also said in no uncertain terms that I could not be released nor could Chuck take my place.

We went to the waiting room and again, Chuck stayed with me. A little while later the woman in charge came out of her office and called to us. “I have to say, I am so impressed that you would do this for your wife, so I am going to give you an extension as long as you promise that you will appear for duty in four weeks from now! I would have agreed to anything!

We ran out of the courthouse and called Robin. She was in the limo and they had just picked up Margie and were on their way to Eleanor’s. I was able to meet them in the limo thirty minutes later.

First stop was lunch at the Ritz Carlton! While we were eating I got a call from Spa Sydell. A water pipe had broken in the facility where we had appointments but they could make arrangements for us to go to another at a little later time. And they would pick up the extra cost of the limo!

So once again, God had intervened and brought something so good after something that looked bad. We ate a leisurely lunch, drove around Atlanta in our limo (now paid for mostly by Spa Sydell!) and later that afternoon went for our wonderful spa treatments!


The groom is out of wine….crisis….God! Jury duty…crisis…GOD! Security check point…crisis…God! Broken pipes…crisis…GOD!

And so we celebrated in such a grand way, but the truth is we celebrated He Who made it all possible!


You have turned for me my mourning into dancing… to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
Psalm 30:12

Monday, May 10, 2010

Danger Ahead

I love the story in Numbers 22 when God put a donkey in the path of Balaam to stop him from making a serious mistake. It was a rather dramatic move for sure but nonetheless needed.

God on one occasion put a roadblock in our path. It wasn’t a donkey but a simple withholding of funds that left us confused and anxious…until we realized He was only looking out for our best and preventing us from making a huge mistake..
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We knew we couldn’t do it. Perhaps we were not talented enough or smart enough. But I really think it was because we were not superwomen! Our plates were already piled high with ministry responsibilities outside of Big Dream, such as family needs (like husbands who wanted to see us occasionally and homes that needed cleaning) and the great demand of trying to learn how to teach a whole book in the Bible in forty-five minutes. All that and trying to shape the filming, choosing various people we would need to work and a thousand details both legal and practical were draining the four of us mightily. So we decide to find a skilled person to write the workbooks.

The lovely lady we choose was talented and loved to write. We very quickly realized that although the teachers were volunteers, the workbook author needed to be paid for her work. A thousand dollars a book was decide upon, and we began to work together as a team.

The first workbook was complete and we were ready to go to print. But the funds were not there. We prayed, we begged, but it seemed like heaven was closed to our requests. We became anxious wondering what was wrong. Was there sin in the camp? Had we failed to follow God’s leading?

As she was almost completing the second set, our author told us that she needed to own the copyright of all the work she had done. She also wanted royalty payments on each book sold.

We were not business women. We knew nothing about publishing or royalties or copyrights so we sought out some of the excellent “counselors” God had given us. In the end, every man from our husbands to lawyers and ministry leaders said the same thing. BDM had to own the copyright. There could be no royalties as workbooks were done as contract labor. The amount we were already paying was adequate for the work performed.

There were more meetings but an agreement could not be reached. So we came to a place where we had to part company. In the end, our author was able to keep the twelve thousand dollars and the copyright for her work and we were left with nothing except great sorrow and incredible confusion.

I don’t think I slept at all that night as loss, anxiety and frustration flooded my emotional bank. The rest of the board also spent a sleepless night.

But God was not confused or anxious. He had another plan.

The next day after our “parting of the ways” meeting I was talking to my friend Jan VanderVeen. Her husband Art had been the Senior Pastor at Fellowship Bible Church but had recently stepped down from those responsibilities and had some free time. She said she thought he would enjoy writing the workbook!

I was shocked beyond belief! Art was an excellent teacher, a Bible scholar, and a gifted writer. I never would have dreamed that anyone with such excellent credentials would have been available to write eleven workbooks! Within days we had a contract that included his very talented daughter, Carrie who would partner with him. She would collect all of the quotations and factoids and Art would do the writing. It was the perfect combo!

Once again the hand of God had helped us avoid a terrible mistake. If we had had the money, we would have gone ahead and printed the old workbooks only later to have had to destroy them because we did not own the copyright! God also provided not just one, but two outstanding authors to continue the work He had started.

Whether it is a donkey in the road or a withholding of funds, God has His ways of guiding His people.

Behold it will be said in that day: Behold, this is our God: We have waited for Him


Psalm 32:8
I shall instruct you and teach you in the way you should go:
I will guide you with My eye.