This Month

-Note from Shannon

-BEST of BLAST

-Tech Tips From Skyla

-Questions & Answers

-Refresher Moment

-To Inspire You...

-To Guide You...

-Mark Your Calendars

Fall Greetings From

Shannon Ethridge Ministries!

A Personal Note from Shannon:
BOY, Did We Have A BLAST!

In all my years of speaking and attending special weekend events, I must say that the first annual BLAST Reunion was an absolute HIGHLIGHT of my ministry career! It was so cool to see so many fly or drive in from so far away (California, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania, and several parts of Canada!), and we had representatives from ALL FIVE BLAST classes so far! (see just a few pictures below)

Greg, Skyla, and I were all beaming, so proud to see each participant investing in building relationships with one another, sharpening others with words of encouragement and guidance, and gleaning so much from fellow classmates! Every single person who took the stage to share a testimony, deliver a devotional, or record a video segment really knocked it out of the park and lit a fire in all of our hearts for what we feel called to do – IMPACT people's lives with the messages that God has entrusted to us!

There are SO many people to thank that I hesitate to make a list for fear of omitting someone, but off the top of my head I must give a shout out to:

• Chris & Terry Taylor, Class #3, for taking the audio reigns and running with them!
• Melonie Caudle, Class #4, for introducing us to our amazing videographer & photographer, Rebecca Friedlander, and for all of the help with logistics & music!
• Cindy Palin & Jennifer Burne-House, Class #2, for sharing their musical gifts with us as well!
• Dr. Andrew Clark, Kenny Ortiz, Steve & Holly Holladay, and Kathy Floyd, Class #1, for making stellar oral presentations that rocked our world, just like I knew they would!
• Aya Eneli, Class #5, for sending us to bed Friday night with head-to-toe God-bumps from her amazing testimony!
• Sharon Cox, Jennifer Hilton, and Skyla Bradley for all of the logistical help with the hotel, meals, hospitality, etc.

I was delighted to receive the following note from Aubrey Sampson who came with her husband all the way from Chicago, Illinois, into the Texas heat even though she was 7 months pregnant! Now THAT is commitment!

Fall 2009 Class #1 Attendees Kathy Floyd, Steve & Holly Holladay & Kenny Ortiz

Spring 2010 Class #2 Attendees Jennifer Burne-House and Cindy & Lloyd Palin

Fall 2010 Class #3 Attendees Chris & Terry Taylor & Kimberley Gal

Spring 2011 Class #4 Attendees Aubrey & Kevin Sampson & Melonie Caudle

Also check out some of the bio photos that Rebecca Friedlander took of some BLAST participants…

Mark your calendars now for our
SECOND ANNUAL BLAST REUNION
August 10-12, 2012 in Tyler, TX!

More info. to come in the next e-newsletter!

Questions & Answers

AYISHA COURTNEY from BLAST Class #4 emails:
I am loving the BLAST experience. I am expanding, growing, laughing, crying and MOVING FORWARD with God. The books have been awesome and each one of them has spoken to me and brought me into a closer understanding of God. Just understanding God's heart more has been so liberating and freeing. So thank you for taking the time to do this program. The videos have been very helpful as well. I've taken many notes! The video critiques were a little hard to swallow. So many emotions and thoughts flooded my mind. I wanted to tuck my tail and quit. Quit the program, quit speaking, quit MOVING FORWARD. But I know those thoughts were all lies. I choose to listen to the truth. The truth is that these critiques did not happen TO me they happened FOR me. I am to take these and learn the lessons they have come to bring me. I know without a doubt that I have a story to share. A story that will bring hope and freedom to many. Not because of me but because of God and His long arm of grace. I believe I need to polish my method of presenting my story. I'm trusting BLAST will continue to help me do this. So while my pride is a little bruised, my heart is confident that God still wants to use me! I will get better at presenting my story, not because I want to be great or praised but because I want others to experience the MAN that saved and redeemed me. I'm so grateful for this experience and for you. One of the BLAST members said that my presentation was offensive. That was not my intention. That comment hurt the most. Can you give me some helpful tips to dealing with this?

Shannon's Response:
I'd encourage you (and every other aspiring writer & speaker) to develop a really THICK skin when it comes to feedback from an audience. Remember, only 90% of the people are going to like you. 10% won't. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you'll never be EVERYone's cup of tea. And that's okay. Focus on the 90%, and disregard the rest. Don't let the squeaky wheels get too much of your grease. Every author & speaker has their critics. Chew up the meat they dish out (the constructive criticism) and spit out the bones (the destructive criticism). And most of all, remember that the only audience you really need to be terribly concerned about is your "audience of One" – God! He sees your heart, knows your intention, and will use other people's (sometimes brutally honest) feedback to guide you toward the most effective way of impacting your audience! Over time, the kudos from lives changed will silence those past critics in your mind.

To Inspire You...

The Five Principles of a Profound Workday
Blog post by Leo Babauta for ZenHabits.com, Posted: 22 Aug 2011 08:03 AM PDT

'Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.' ~Laozi

Let us toss out all we know for a moment.

Toss notions of productivity, time management, efficiency, and the bottom line.

Empty our workdays of all we've packed them with, and sit still with an empty room.

What should we put in this room? Do we want to spend our limited space on busy-ness, on making money, on quick transactions and calculated meetings?

What if we put into it only that which matters? What if we left everything else out?

We would be left with a workday that was poetry, profoundly beautiful.

In my life I have deliberately cultivated a workday that is flexible, simplified, slow, mindful, creative.

The exact opposite of my previous life: a hurried, anxious, complicated, dull workday.

What I've created is not difficult, but it is the perfect environment for creating work that is profoundly different from my previous accomplishments.

I've created this flow using some key principles. You might not be able to implement all of them right away, but it's my hope that you'll find the principles useful.

1. Empty: In Silence and Solitude. When your schedule is full, you have no room for change. When your day is full of noise, you have no space to think. Empty your day. When you have an empty space, you can fill it with anything. Only with this emptiness can you create something truly different. Clear your schedule. Find space for silence and solitude. With this space you'll be free, to hear your thoughts, to see the truth, to create beauty.

2. Slow and Mindful. Rushing paradoxically leaves us with less time — the speed means we don't pay attention, and so the day disappears rapidly and leaves us before we notice. Slow down, and pay attention. You'll be able to focus on your creative tasks more, and though you'll do less, you'll accomplish things that are more profound.

Be mindful of every activity, small or large. Enjoy every motion. When you are done with a task, wash your bowl. Then move to the next.

3. Profoundly Creative. Don't use the gift of your day for mindless repetitive tasks. Don't end the day with nothing to show for your work. Start each day by creating. Make the space at the beginning of your day to create, before you get lost in emails and online networking and reading. Create something amazing. Delight your audience. Leave them amazed, wanting to do your marketing for you. Make a difference.

4. Simplified. The principles for a profound workday might seem impractical to most people, because there just isn't the time or space to implement them. The only way to create this type of workday is to simplify.

It's the key to everything else. Subtract. Pare everything down to its essence. What's on your desk right now? What are the three items that actually need to be there? Remove everything else. What's on your schedule for today? What are the three tasks that would really make a difference in your life? Eliminate everything else that you possibly can. What do you do every day? How many of those things can be eventually pared down?

How much do you do online? Could you do without it? Simplify, and you'll be able to find emptiness, solitude, silence, slowness, mindfulness.

5. Flexible and Natural. This type of workday might start to sound rigid, but in truth when you create space you also allow yourself the flexibility to deal in the moment with any change.

The natural flow of things is change, and if we are rigid we aren't able to deal with changes. We become frustrated, anxious, angry, flustered. If instead we have no expectations of what will happen each day, and deal with changes as they come, we let go of that frustration and anxiety. Be open to whatever happens. Be flexible. Deal with change as it happens, and you'll find true profoundness doesn't come from within us, or from external sources, but in the space between the two.

'Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.' ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

To Guide You…

From Jane Friedman at WriterUnboxed.com:
http://writerunboxed.com/2011/07/22/5-reasons-why-your-online-marketing-doesn't-work/

The BEST of Thomas Nelson President Michael Hyatt's recent blog posts:
http://michaelhyatt.com/10-tips-for-developing-eye-popping-packaging.html
http://michaelhyatt.com/three-reasons-why-authors-must-develop-their-own-platforms.html
http://michaelhyatt.com/product/writing-a-winning-book-proposal

Thanks to Rich Wildman from Class #3 for forwarding this interesting fodder:

Rejection is a Rejection from Writer & Editor Daniel Menaker:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-menaker/a-rejection-is-a-rejectio_b_863291.html

and
"Title Change Mayhem" from Best-selling Author Joshua Harris
http://www.joshharris.com/2011/05/title_change_mayhem.php

A Suggestion from Liz Walker, BLAST Class #2:
"All BLAST participants should check out the following website which helps you move from par-for-the-course Powerpoints to EYEPOPPING presentations! Go to www.prezi.com and there is a brief demo you can watch. You can get a trial run as well – the limitation is that everyone else can see your presentations and edit them, so for privacy sake, it's $59 per year. Basically, it's a much more interactive way to show your presentations. Out with the old, in with the new. It can zoom in and out of images, have other images hidden in layers, insert videos, insert audio, etc. It's brilliant!"

Mark Your Calendars - Shannon Is Coming To...

PLEASE NOTE: If you see a city on our speaking calendar that’s anywhere near you, and you’re interested in having Shannon speak at your venue while she’s in town, please contact us at speaking@shannonethridge.com. We’d also be honored if you’d like to attend the event and help operate the book table - a valuable learning experience!

Paris, Texas - March 2 - 3, 2012
Shannon will be the keynote speaker for East Paris Baptist Church's Women's Conference with the theme of "Completely His." Go to www.eastparis.org or email kathy.r.floyd@sbcglobal.net for more information.

Colorado Springs, CO - April 25 - 29, 2012
Join Shannon and a whole host of other female speakers at the Women Inspired Conference! womeninspired.org More info to come.

Springfield, Missouri, September 21 - 22, 2012
Women Inspired is coming to Springfield, Missouri, September 21-22, 2012. Join us for a time of fun, food, and fellowship as four of our National Speakers (including Shannon Ethridge) share inspirational messages and invite you to ask them questions during their intimate workshops. More Details coming soon.