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eNewsletter 8 March 2002 |
Chi Rho Connection ************************* Contents: 1. New Poll: Personal PCs -------------------------------------------------- Welcome once again to the Chi Rho Connection, the electronic newsletter of Chi Rho Press. Thank you for passing this Chi Rho Connection on to others. To join our list, send an e-mail message to
ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoo.com. Direct all other e-mail to Adam@ChiRhoPress.com. See the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com. -------------------------------------------------- 1. New Poll: Personal PCs Chi Rho Press Poll We are considering creating and selling e-books and would like to hear from as many of you as possible. We want to know about your use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), or handheld personal computers, Palm Pilots, or pocket PCs. Please take a moment to answer the following questions. Just copy and paste them into a new e-mail with your responses and send them to Poll@ChiRhoPress.com. Thank you! 1. Do you now own a PDA, also sometimes called a Pocket PC, such as a Palm Pilot, Sony CLIE, or Compaq iPAQ? 2. There are two main types of PDAs, those that use the Palm operating system and those that use Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system. Which operating system does your PDA use? 3. Do you buy books to read on your PDA? 4. If you don't own a PDA now, do you plan to purchase one in the near future? 5. Would you welcome e-books as part of the Chi Rho Press inventory? 6. Which books currently in our inventory should also be e-books? 7. Would you buy e-books from Chi Rho Press? -------------------------------------------------- 2. Office Life (reprinted from Great Results, the newsletter of the Avery Dennison Corp.) Fun Facts & Stats About Office Life! In 1850, 4 percent of Americans made a living from handling information. Today, information processing accounts for more than half of the U.S. gross national product. At the office, on average, 60 percent of each worker's time is spent processing documents. When asked to describe their organizational habits, 33 percent of office workers said they were 'neat freaks', 27 percent said they were 'pilers', 23 percent said they were 'filers', 12 percent said they were 'pack rats', and 2 percent said they were just plain 'slobs'. In a lifetime, the average North American will spend one year searching through desk clutter looking for misplaced objects. In a lifetime, the average American will spend eight months opening junk mail. Eighty percent of filed papers are never referenced again. An average of $250 is spent re-creating a lost document. The average North American will be interrupted 73 times a day. (From the National Association of Professional Organizers.) -------------------------------------------------- 3. Featured Book: The Bible and Homosexuality 'The Bible and Homosexuality,' by the Rev. Michael E. England. $10.95 each, $8.95 each for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling. Our featured book for March takes us back to the basics. For too many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people of faith, the Bible has been used as a club to batter and beat them down. Only six lonely little verses that have been used against LGBT people. Despite the paucity of unequivocal condemnation in the Hebrew and Christian Testaments, religious folk use those six verses to justify a world of hurt for LGBT people, their families, and supporters. These 'clobber passages' are over-used and abused! So for much of the LGBT community, 'going back to the basics' of their oppression is going back to the Bible. The Rev. Michael England has written what we think is the best primer on 'The Bible and Homosexuality.' We are proud to have published this slim, but important volume, which has been our best seller for 10 years. In 1998 we published the fifth edition of Michael's important work. This is the best book that explores the Bible passages that have traditionally been used to condemn LGBT people. Sections include Inspiration; Critical Interpretation (Textual Criticism, Historical Criticism, Source Criticism, and Form Criticism); the Passages Believed to Relate to Homosexuality (Deuteronomy 23:17-18, Genesis 19:4-11,Leviticus 18:23 and 20:13-14, I Corinthians 6:9, I Timothy 1:10, and Romans 1:26-27); the "Contra Naturam" (against nature) argument; Heterosexual Marriage as "the Only Biblical Model;" Adultery and Fornication; and a Bibliography. 'The Bible and Homosexuality' is 72 pages, perfect bound, with a striking cover photograph of the Washington National Cathedral by renowned DC photographer Colin Winterbottom. Every thinking Christian and all people who wish to engage other Christians in reasoned debate should have this volume on their shelves. 'The Bible and Homosexuality' is $10.95 each, $8.95 each for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling. You may order from our Web page at http://www.chirhopress.com/products/gayandchristian.html. -------------------------------------------------- 4. FYI: Heterosexuals and Chi Rho Press FYI is a periodic column in which we explore various elements of what it means to be a small LGBT Christian publishing house. This FYI is about the role of heterosexuals in the life of your Press. Non-gay people (or 'the homosexually-challenged,' as the inimitable Michael Callan used to say) have played a significant role in the life of Chi Rho Press. Of course, we have always had non-gay customers and investors and we value those people who care about their lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered sisters and brothers. Many straight people have bought our books and used them in their churches, Bible studies, and personal libraries. We have even had non-gay people buy books as gifts for their LGBT friends and relatives! And of course, lots of gay people have purchased our books as gifts for their non-gay relatives and friends. But Chi Rho Press hasn't hesitated when it comes to publishing the work of our heterosexual friends. Our first non-gay author was Gretchen Gaines. Adam DeBaugh first met Gretchen at the Montgomery Hospice Society (Montgomery County, Maryland), where she was a pediatric bereavement specialist and social worker. She walked into his office one day with an idea for a book. Gretchen believed existing grief and bereavement resources for children talked down to kids and that she had a better idea.
Adam and the Press board of directors loved the idea and soon we were working on 'My Memory Book: A Journal for Grieving Children.' Our production team was an interesting mix, as we enlisted Mary Lou O'Brien, a very talented non-gay calligrapher to letter the entire book. Adam (a gay man, lest there be any doubt!) edited and laid out the book, and another gay man, Craig Arnold, painted the cover artwork. Gretchen, Adam, Mary Lou, and Craig met frequently to go over the layout and design of the book, now in the second printing of the second edition. It has been one of our best selling titles. Then the indomitable Roberta Showalter Kreider called one day, a diminutive, 70-something Mennonite lady married to Harold Kreider, a truly remarkable retired Mennonite minister. Roberta and Harold had changed their minds about gay people after getting to know some gay folk and hearing their faith stories. Roberta was convinced that a book of LGBT people's faith stories would be an agent for change in the churches. And of course, she is absolutely correct. Her book, 'From Wounded Hearts: Faith Stories of LGBT People and Those Who Love Them,' was a best seller and included non-gay people writing about the LGBT people of faith whom they love. Now out of print, 'From Wounded Hearts' was a ground breaking book. Roberta is working on her second anthology of LGBT couples, 'Together in Love.' Chi Rho Press hopes to be able to review the manuscript soon. And non-gay people have been on staff as well, both as paid staff and as volunteers. For about a year and a half, Jason Gergler served as part time office staff. Jason is a colleague at Adam's secular job and took a second job with Chi Rho Press. He set up our database in Access and did a tremendous amount of data entry, as well as other office tasks. He remains a good friend of the Press, helping out frequently with Access questions. Recently Kathy Hurt-Mullen started volunteering in the Press office one day a week. Kathy is the mother of two wonderful daughters and has many gay and lesbian friends, including our permanent staff Adam and Kevin. She is helping with data entry tasks for a while until a new job starts. We can truly (and proudly) say, Chi Rho Press, not just for gay people! Just For Your Information! -------------------------------------------------- 5. Adam's Last Word: Web Page Changes, Discover Cards,
Winter, What Winter? Our dynamic new Web minister will be making even more changes in the Web site this weekend. Some author's biographies, a few reviews, pictures of Board members, and some changes to the links and icons on the main page are planned. We are so excited about the continually evolving Web page and encourage you to visit from time to time to check it out. We have had quite a few visitors ince the last issue of the Chi Rho Connection. Thanks for visiting! And remember, you can become an important part of the life of Chi Rho Press by making your tax deductible contributions on line. Just go to http://www.chirhopress.com/sponsor.html. And thank you for your support! ****** Did you know we accept Discover cards? Now is a great chance to limber up that Discover card that has been sitting in your wallet and use it at Chi Rho Press! Just call, fax, e-mail, or go to the Web site and make your purchases using your Discover card. Of course, we also accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. And lest there be any confusion, you can always pay by check or money order (and even cash, though we don't recommend sending cash through the mail). You can use the Web site to figure out how much your order will be, then send us your check or money order for that amount, along with what you are ordering and your mailing address, and we will ship your order upon receipt of your payment. If you don't want to bother with figuring out the cost, just e-mail me with what you would like and I will do it for you. ****** This has been an odd winter in the Washington, DC area, with almost no snow and not that many cold days. The temperatures are rising to the 70s again this week and the weather is lovely. As we move on toward Easter at the end of this month, I hope that Lent is a time of reflection and renewal for you. Thanks for being a part of this ministry and thanks for your support! --------------------------------------------------
We are glad you are partners in ministry with us here at Chi Rho Press. We are eager for your comments, your suggestions, your assistance with selling our books, and your own purchases! And of course, we covet your prayers for this ministry. Grace and peace, Adam DeBaugh, Director
--------------------------- If you've received our Chi Rho Connection as a result of the good offices of someone passing it along to you (which we certainly encourage) and would like to receive it directly from us, please follow the directions at the end of our Connection to subscribe. For orders, please e-mail to us at: Orders@ChiRhoPress.com.
If you have questions, please e-mail to Question@ChiRhoPress.com. For comments and suggestions about this eNewsletter, please e-mail to Connection@ChiRhoPress.com. To learn about our Guardian Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please e-mail Angels@ChiRhoPress.com.
For all other correspondence, please e-mail Adam@ChiRhoPress.com. Our snail mail address is: Chi Rho Press, Inc. Our telephone and fax number is 301/926-1208. Our Canadian friends can order using credit cards on our web page or through our Canadian distributor, MAP Enterprises, Mary Ann Pearson, Box 340, 54 Copyright 2001, Chi Rho Press, Inc. ****************************************** SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@ChiRhoPress.com. Visit the Chi Rho Press Website http://www.ChiRhoPress.com
Vol. III, No. 5
8 March 2002
2. Office Life
3. Featured Book: The Bible and Homosexuality
4. FYI: Heterosexuals and Chi Rho Press
5. Adam's Last Word:
Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas, and stained glass.
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Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager, Kevin@ChiRhoPress.com