HOME AGAIN NOMINATED FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERARY AWARD

It was a tremendous thrill for me to join Wanda B. Campbell in the flagship project of her new publishing house, micah68books.com last year. Wanda the visionary and founder of Micah68books was assembling a team of authors to write stories that described the range of broken human relationships restored by the power of reconciliation. When Wanda had completed assembling a team together nine authors would join rank to produce HOME AGAIN: Stories of Restored Relationships.

This anthology of fine tuned stories was released in November 2010 and one of the pinnacle of its continued success was being nominated for a Literary Award given by the auspices of the African American Literary Award Show. This star studded event took place on Thursday September 22, 2011 at Melba's Restaurant 163 West 125th Street & Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard in Harlem New York.

The African American Literary Award Show is the culmination of the vision of Yvette Hayward who has produced this unique venue for the last seven years. It is the only awards show that recognizes African American authors in America.

I had the honor to attend this event along with Wanda Campbell and many others who had been nominated in a certain category. Home Again was one of three anthologies to make the final round for Short Story/Anthologies and was the only Christian anthology competing for the award for the year 2011.

Some of the highlights of this Show was the opening song performed by Abby Dobson. Abby is a tremendous artist in the Neo Soul genre and I thoroughly enjoyed her acapella performance. The Award Show host was Napiera Groves, a contestant in Miss USA pageant in 1997. She was comical and entertaining throughout the night.

I was inspired by the acceptances speeches of Hip Hop power couple Danyel Smith & Elliott Wilson. Kimberla Lawson Roby who won the Author of the Year Female gave impassioned remarks as she dedicated her award to the memory of her Mother and recognized the support of her husband.

It was a thrilling evening and I was equally impressed to be in the company of so many famous authors and media personalities such as Mikki Taylor of Essence, Tara Dowdell and Dr Michael Eric Dyson. At my table was another author whose book was nominated in the field of Children/Young Adult. Her name was S.Dodson and she is the author of Teen Girls Need Love. It was great meeting and talking with her.   

Home Again didn't win but  I think that Wanda and the Home Again Crew can be very proud of this nomination given to us ten months after we were released. Congratulations to the assembly of outstanding writers who combined efforts produced Home Again:

 

This is the nominated group of authors who contributed stories to HOME AGAIN. 

Wanda B Campbell at the African American Literary Awards Show, Founder and Publisher of Micah68Books, author of Blood Redemption.

Maurice Gray author of Family Matters

Shenette Jones author of Uncovered

Trinea Moss author of Couple on Trial

Dijorn Moss, Trinea's husband, author of Journey to the Throne

Dr. Linda Beed author of Flavorful

Tavares Carney author of Confidential Relations

Tyora Moody author of Birthing Pains

Bernard Boulton author of Jake and Eric

 You can get a copy of Home Again on my website, at http://www.bernardboulton.com/books/homeagain.html

BUT WAIT BEFORE YOU PURCHASE YOUR COPY! Visit this page and read an excerpt from my story JAKE AND ERIC, http://bernardboulton.com/books/homeagain.excerpt.html    

Congratulations HOME AGAIN CREW!

I could use your support on Facebook. Visit my fan page at http://www.facebook.com/pabernardboulton and give me a Like. On my welcome page you can download a free e-book that I have written titled "Releasing the Dream in you to Live an Incrdible Life!"    

WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR?

At the end of this week we will enter the first day of October. There will be 92 days left in this year. I always get hyped at the beginning of October because I know that I have three months left in the year and if I have any unfinished projects I want to be sure that I finish them by December 31st. But also during the last three months of the year I start to plan and write visions for what I will be doing next year.

Do  you have any unfinished projects that you are determined to finish before this year is over? Have you begin to form a vision for what you what to accomplish in 2012?

Whatever you have to finish before the year is over if you do these two things you can make it happen, FOCUS and PERFORM. Determine the amount of time that you need to give to your project so that on the last day of the year you can celebrate your accomplishment.

Is what you have to do too big for you to accomplish? ASK FOR HELP! What I have to finish doesn't require human help, at least not yet but it does require divine help so I've started today asking God to give me the grace to finish my assignment. Who ever you need go to them and ask for help. Success with the aid of another is still success.

Write down the tasks that you need to perform to finish what you have to finish. Some things you will need to do daily. Some things you will need to do weekly. Chart your course and follow it.

Now that I am giving you some principles on finishing your projects for this year I'm sharing with you what I need to finish by December 31st.

1. I need to finish my second novel. It is the sequel to my first novel, DO YOU WANNA BE MADE WHOLE?

2. I need to write my teaching schedule for WORD IN AN HOUR, the Tuesday morning and evening Bible studies at the New Mine Creek Church for 2012.

3. I need to finalize some urgent business concerns regarding my publishing company.

4. I need to write my marketing plan for 2012. I plan on releasing two books next year.

Please drop me a line and tell me what you need to finish this year. Let's share and encourage each other.

A NEW SEASON IN PRAYER: PRAYER JOURNALING

Most of my Christian Life I have pursued God in prayer, but in 1994 I started a new form of prayer by writing my prayers in a journal. As I was contemplating what to write today I was led to pull out my first journal and share with you where I was in my prayer life seventeen years ago.

I first start journaling in 1994. I was pastoring a church in Beckley West Virginia. Me and my wife Vantoria had been married for three years and our son, Quincy was two years old. That was a challenging season for us on many fronts.

In my journal on August 3, 1994 I praised God for His righteousness and faithfulness.

I asked God to help me trust Him without reservations.

I meditated on Psalms 37:4, "DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD AND HE SHALL GIVE YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART."

I wrote these principles to apply to my life that day:

1. Expect God to act on your behalf.
2. Get as close to God as you can.
3. Follow God today.

In those days I kept my prayer journal in a Composition Book purchased at Rite Aid Drugstore. Today I write my journal on my Microsoft Word program on my desktop personal computer. Back then I struggled to write my prayers, now it's as easy as breathing.

I have twenty five volumes of prayers written in the Composition Book and I have twenty volumes on my computer. These journals describe my journey with God for the last seventeen years. In them I have penned my failures and successes. My concerns and fears. I have shared with God on paper my heart and I have written what I have believed Him saying to me.

If you need a new season in your prayer life I recommend prayer journaling, it's worth it.    

Pastor Bernard Boulton, Pastor Gabriel Ojunjobi, Deacon Henry Law, Deaconess Vicky Law.

 I attended a prayer meeting in Lagos Nigeria with my host Pastor Gabriel Ojunjobi to my left, next to him are my two traveling companions, Deacon Henry Law and his wife Deaconess Vicky Law.

I led the congregation in the final  prayer of the meeting. It was an incredible week to prayer journal.

NATIONAL PRIMITIVE BAPTIST ELECTS ELDER KENNETH DUKE AS VICE PRESIDENT

After the announcement had been made on Thursday night that Elder Bernard Yates had been elected President of the National Primitive Baptist Convention I was having a conversation with a fellow delegate later that night.

"I don't think that Yates should nominated Duke as vice president. Some people are complaining about having the two top officers from the same state." The irony of this statement is that for the last six years the top two officers were from the same state.

The person to whom  I was speaking with said, "Yates should nominate Rainey or some one from Alabama." Rainey is Elder Jeffrey Rainey from Mobile Alabama, a prolific and poetic preacher who thrills the constituency of the convention every year with his impassioned Bible expositions/messages as the convention's Bible Expositor. 

I replied, "Yates is going to nominate Duke tomorrow. That's his choice."

"But people are saying...." I interrupted him.

"It doesn't matter what people are saying we need to hear what God is saying." I said. "Those two are anointed by God for this time. We need to stop looking at this from the wrong perspective, the choice of Kenneth Duke is not about geography, it's about what the Spirit is saying to this convention."

The conversation was over and the person I was speaking with agreed with me.

On Friday August 26, 2011 Elder Bernard Yates nominated Elder Kenneth Duke as Vice President of the National Primitive Baptist Convention. Elder Duke was overwhelmingly elected to the office.

One of the visitor to the convention told me that you could sense the change in the atmosphere that week. What was felt in the atmosphere become manifest on Thursday and Friday of the convention. To this national body change has come.

Who is Elder Kenneth Duke? He is the dynamic pastor of the New Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church in Miami Florida. When Elder Duke was called to the New Jerusalem Church in 1985 this congregation numbered forty persons. Today it is a congregation of seventeen hundred people with  a plethora of community ministries that is meeting needs throughout the populace of Miami and Dade County. Elder Duke is a dynamic pastor/evangelist who preaches through out the United States and for the last year and a half he has traveled to and given support to a congregation in Petit Guave Haiti.

With the election of Elders Yates and Duke there is an excitement in the National Primitive Baptist Convention, much as it was in the United States in 2008 after the election of Barack Obama. With this sense of renewed hope and unbridled optimism news days are in the horizon.

I ask you to pray for Vice President Duke as you pray for President Yates. Pray these petitions for Elder Duke as you are led to:

1. That God will anoint Elder Duke as he partners with and supports President Yates.
2. That God will give Elder Duke the ability to hear His voice as he counsels Elder Yates and that the two will always walk together in agreement for the unity of the convention.
3. That God will send His angels to protect Elder Duke, his wife Julia, their children Kenneth, Kelon (Tina), Aheisha, granddaughter Kennedi
4. That God will cause Elder Duke to prosper and New Jerusalem to prosper.
5. That God will cause Elder Duke enemies to fall before him.
6. That God will increase Elder Duke's wisdom that he will successfully navigate his duties.
7. That God will protect Elder Duke's health as he travels and ministers in the country of Haiti.

FICTION FRIDAY

TOM BLUBAUGH

AUTHOR OF NIGHT OF THE COSSACK

Bernard's Word welcomes Tom Blubaugh. Tom is devoted to the art of writing and Night of the Cossack is his first published novel.

1. Tell us when did you first know that you would be an author? This is an interesting question. I didn't know I would be one- really. I've been a writer for over fifty years (can it really be a half of a century?), but it wasn't until my unintentional novel was published that I knew I was an author. I say unintentional because it wasn't my intent to write a novel. I was creating a heritage for my children and grandchildren since both of my grandfathers died before I was born. I was simply taking a handful of facts about my maternal grandfather and was creating his character.

2. Who are your favorite authors? Louis L'Amour is one of them. I have always liked westerns and he has kept them clean. There is always a good guy, a bad guy and a girl. You'd think that it would get old, but it doesn't. The team of Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye for their Left Behind series.

3. What are your favorite books? The Left Behind series; Island of Saints, Breach of Promise.

4. Share with us your journey to publication? I wrote poetry at the age of fifteen. There were always ads in comic books about turning poetry into song lyrics. I was really into rock and roll, sideburns and duck tails. I had a dream of my poems becoming lyrics for Elvis, Conway and others. I would always get a packet back with a letter telling me if I'd send money, etc. I didn't have money so the dream died. My writing stopped until  I was twenty eight, when I became a Christian. I began writing nonfiction and I self published a book for my ministry in 1974 and sold it at seminars. A few years later, I was published by two denominational magazines and a business magazine.

In business I wrote newsletters and and then text for websites. It wasn't until my mother passed in 2005 that I started writing fiction. As I stated earlier, both of my grandfathers died before I was born. I became a grandfather in 1998 and I didn't have a role model to follow. The hole my grandfathers would have filled kept getting bigger. I didn't know much about either of them, but one thing I knew-my maternal grandfather was a Russian Cossack soldier. This intrigued me enough to start me on a path of research. The Russian history of the Cossacks grabbed my interest and I started creating my grandfather for myself and my heirs. I joined an online Christian writer's group and as encouraged to pursue publication. I found a local critique group and joined. They agreed I was on to something. When I was close to completing my manuscript, a friend called me and wanted help with a website. He and his wife was starting an independent Christian publishing company. I didn't think anything about it because I wasn't writing a Christian novel. My grandfather was a Jew. During the process of developing their website, they read the first chapter of my book which was on my website. They wanted to read more and decided they would like to publish the story. This, of course, is not the unusual process, but it was God's way.       

5. What advice do you have for aspiring authors? There are several things that I could say about writing, but if you want your book read by readers other than your friends and family, work diligently to build a platform. Not after you've written your manuscript, but from the very beginning. People need to know who you are before they will want to read what you have written.

6. Have you explored interracial themes in your writing? Not unless you consider my novel where my grandfather is a Jew. Being a Jew includes both nationality and religion.

7. What are the keys to success for a writer? Have a passion other than making a name for yourself and money. Never give up on your story. Everyone has one, but most don't write it. If it doesn't ignite your passion, it won't excite others.

8. Tell us about your future projects? I'm thinking about now. Everyone who has read my novel asks about a sequel. I will continue to build my author platform. I  enjoy public speaking so I'm working with elementary, middle and high school creative writing groups and classes. When it turns cold, I'll stay in my office and probably work on the sequel.

You can find Tom at http://tomblubaugh.blogspot.com.

                                  http://www.facebook.com/nightofthecossack

                                  http://nightofcossack.com (read the first chapter for FREE)

                                                                  

NATIONAL PRIMITIVE BAPTIST ELECTS NEW PRESIDENT

                                              

The ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel in Greensboro North Carolina was silent as the delegates of the 104th annual session National Primitive Baptist Convention watched the members of the Election Committee walk into the ballroom solemnly to announce the results of the 2011 Presidential election. You could feel the apprehension and concern in the air as Elder Robert Crocker of Nashville Tennessee walked to the podium to announce the election results.

Clearing his throat Crocker said, "four hundred and eighty six votes were cast. For Elder Oscar Montgomery one hundred and thirteen votes. For Elder Ernest Ferrell one hundred and eighty three votes. For Elder Bernard Yates one hundred and ninety votes. Elder Yates has the majority votes."

Shouting erupted from the back of the ball room where many of the young persons of the convention were waiting with anticipation. One woman screamed out, "Recount!" Another pastor was moaning, "Oh no, Oh no." The supporters of Elder Yates wanted to shout in jubilation but they did not. In spite of the fact that the man they supported and prayed for had won they were concerned about those who were hurt over the fact that the men they had supported had lost. However throughout the ball room you could see a few delegates praising God for an upset victory for Elder Yates.  

On Thursday night the National Primitive Baptist Convention celebrates what is considered high worship in the church, the observation of the Lord's Supper and Washing of the Saints feet. The election announcement was read at the end of the worship.

To settle the range of emotions that were being felt in the ballroom Elder T.W. Samuels led the convention in prayer. Elder Samuels served as the president of this convention from 1995 to 2005. He is the oldest member of the convention having attended for more than seventy years, from his childhood.

God heard the prayers of many members of the National Primitive Baptist church by giving victory to Elder Bernard Yates who had served the convention faithfully as the vice president for six years. When he made the decision to seek the presidency after much prayer and counsel he was commended by many for having the courage to do so and he was vilified by others who perceived his actions as that of betrayal to the current president who was still eligible to serve for one more term.

Elder Yates recognized the times and the seasons of transition that is not only in the National Primitive Baptist Church but in the universal body of Christ as well. And he understood months ago that the times demanded of him to make himself available to the will of God in this role of national leadership. Believing that he had heard God and knowing what God wants to accomplish in this church Elder Yates said yes to God.

Bernard Yates did not run a campaign. He did not make promises to his supporters. He did not jockey for position. He did not praise himself for his accomplishments, although they are many. He did not make himself the center of attention.   When he was attacked and criticized he did not retaliate. He simply prayed and asked those who supported him to pray.

Bernard Yates was not ruled by ambition or agenda. He submitted to the Holy Spirit and believed that God's choice would assume the mantle of leadership in August. And God's choice did.

From the time that Elder Yates informed me that he would offer himself to be the president I earnestly prayed that his win was the will of God. I prayed daily that Bernard Yates would succeed to become the next president and that through him the Holy Spirit would usher Fresh Wind and Fresh Fire into the hundreds of churches that make up this convention. But a month ago the Holy Spirit caused me to shift in my intercession for Elder Yates and Elder Duke who became the vice president the next day. My intercessions became faith spoken declarations that Bernard Yates and Kenneth Duke would become the president and vice president of the convention. The Holy Spirit changed my prayer agenda, I stopped asking God to make it happen and I started, as the Holy Spirit led me, to declare that it would happen. And it did, as the Holy Spirit revealed it to me, and I'm sure to others.

Who is Elder Bernard C. Yates? He is a dynamic preacher of the gospel who travels throughout the Body of Christ in America proclaiming a prophetic Word of God. He is the pastor of the Zion Hope Primitive Baptist Church in Pensacola Florida, a vibrant congregation that numbers two thousand members. He is the husband of Vonda Yates, his faithful partner for thirty years and father to LaBrea. For a number of years now he has preached the closing message in the National Convention always accompanied by his dynamic choir that ministers in the Shekinah Glory of God.

This is the man that God has chosen for this time. I challenge every member of the National Primitive Baptist Church to pray for our leader. I ask every member of the Body of Christ to pray for our leader. Pray these petitions as you are led to.

1. That God will anoint Elder Yates with wisdom so that he will know how to skillfully lead this convention in the seasons that are ahead of us.

2. That God will make Elder Yates spiritually sensitive to hear His voice and move accordingly.

3. That God will give Elder Yates discernment to choose a team around him that will bring success to the Primitive Baptist church for His glory.

4. That God will send angels to protect Elder Yates, his wife Vonda, and daughter Labrea from satanic attacks.

5. That God will cause Elder Yates to prosper and cause Zion Hope to prosper.

6. That God will cause Elder Yates enemies to fall before him.

7. That God will usher a new beginning into the Primitive Baptist Church through the presidency of Elder Yates.