Blogs

I haven't posted here in some time. Why? Spam! That's right, I can't tell who is a good guy, and who wants to join simply because they want to advertise their pirated movies.

So, sorry about that!

Tell you what - if you want to join and post, send me a note so I know you're real. You'll have to look up my email on the web - because, of course, it would defeat the purpose to do it here. I'd love to have you, but until I figure out how to keep the spammers off, I just have to be really strict.

-djq

I was honored to receive a new endorsement of God's Choice from Dr. David Dorst as part of an email I developed for PCA pastors. I was very honored! In fact, so much so that I put it online for you to see at http://www.quakkelaar.com/GodsChoice.

Okay, I'm experimenting. I thought it might be a good idea to revive my Amazon Affiliate "Homeschoolers Bookstore": http://astore.amazon.com/godschoice-20. After some difficulty recovering the password for the old, old account, I finally got in and realized how much fun it is. In fact, if anyone purchases God's Choice at my bookstore, I get an additional pop in revenue. Not a bad strategy, huh?

So, excuse the stumbles as I relearn the Amazon system. I'm having fun playing. Let me now what you think!

-djq

I have noticed that the Amazon rankings for God's Choice have varried widely depending on the day and sometimes the hour or minute. So, taking it for what it's worth, I was excited to see Sunday night that God's Choice ranked 15th on Amazon in the "Presbyterian" category, and 28th in the "Calvinist" category. I'm not sure how much that means - maybe not much at all, but it was exciting to see. Since then, God's Choice dropped to between 50 and 100 in both categories. We'll see what happens when the new campaign goes out.

The Times Online ran a story, "Calvin: Still hot at 500" on July 10th (the birthday of Calvin). It mentions the Times article on Calvin, and the ESV Bible. It is young American Evangelicals spurring new interest in Calvin, according to the article. It even characterizes the movement toward Calvin as a "back-to-the-Bible" movement. I like that admission! .

I had the pleasure of talking with Mel Lawrenz today, senior pastor of Elmbrook church in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Our conversation will be heard on WISN 1130 AM Sunday morning, 7/12/2009, between 8 and 9:30 CT. It is a 1/2 hour conversation, and will be available online at cometothebrook.org. For those of you who would like to discuss predestination and election, click the "Forum" tab and join in on the conversation! I will be checking the site often to add my own comments to the discussion.

God's Choice is listed both on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble now. In fact, the book is ranked 97,388 at BN. Maybe if i can get everyone to buy the book on the same day...and if that doesn't work, we can try again the next day!

I was happy to see that Barnes & Noble has God's Choice for sale already. Amazon is sure to follow, but as of 6/26/09 it's not listed. Bookstores can order now through Ingram, and Spring Arbor begins distribution next week sometime, if my publisher's guess is correct.

It's been about ten years of writing. Not intensely, but here and there. Letting friends read and react to what I've written. It's only been in the last year that I have pursued publication of God's Choice with a passion. I asked my former pastor and RTS professor, Dr. Dave Dorst, to review the work. I obtained a publisher. The work was much more difficult than I imagined. I revised every chapter. I rewrote sections. Writing is, of course, repeated drafting.

Good grief, what an adventure!

After ten years of writing, I hit a milestone today, and approved proofs for God’s Choice. The book may be in time for the original June 15 deadline set three or four months ago. I am very much enjoying this feeling, although it is a bit anticlimactic. It only took 15 minutes to review the revisions from two separate edit documents. It seems like the last set should be harder than that.