HopeKeepers Magazine is Out

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New 64-Page Digital Magazine Offers Spiritual Support to Chronically Ill

Over 100 million Americans live with a chronic condition and despite what we may assume, 60% of are between the ages of 18 and 64.1 This is nearly 1 in 2 people. HopeKeepers is a consumer magazine which offers spiritual support to those who live with a chronic condition, such as fibromyalgia, diabetes, or degenerative heart disease. It’s published by Rest Ministries, Inc. a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. It began in 2003, but has now moved to a digital format to be able to reach more people and double its size from a digest version to 8.5 x 11. You can read 18 pages for free at www.hopekeepersmagazine.com .

This 64-page publication subtitled “joyfully serving the chronically ill,” is Christian in nature, and addresses diverse topics such as spiritual struggles, family challenges,>> read more

This week at Rest Ministries…

• Lisa is working on HopeKeepers Magazine. It will be digital and available around mid-March (Lord-willing!)
• We have a volunteer, Naomi, who is helping us get our Facebook and MySpace pages updated and organized.
• We updated our Squidoo pages and added a few more to help us reach people through that web site too. Pages are included below and all the links can be found on Lisa’s blog here.:
  - Rest Ministries
  - National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week
  - Invisible Illness
  - Invisible Disabilities
  - Moms with Illness
  - You are Too Young to Be That Sick
• Lisa did the Hope Endures radio podcasts. Have you listented yet? Don’t forget they are always available as an archive.
• Lisa wrote the article A Checklist of 36 Steps to Start a Support Group – a must-read for anyone thinking of starting a group!
• Lisa found an easy way to update Twitter, Facebook, etc all at one time using Ping.fm – Yay! A timesaver! It’s been fun connecting with some of you via Facebook since she’s gradually figuring that out a bit.
• We designed a “Flaire” button that says, “My Hope Endures” for Facebook users.
• We actually got this email newsletter out on time! And Lisa is blogging! Be sure to sign up to get her blogs via email.

Update on HopeKeepers Magazine

NEWEST UPDATE 2/1/09: We are going digital with a April/May/June issue coming out in Mid-March. See FAQ here.

We are in the process of deciding how to proceed with our magazine. We keep hearing wonderful things about but with the economy, no one is advertising! We will keep you posted. Many magazines are shutting down right now (sadly, especially Christian ones) and we don’t want to do that! We may substitute the complete magazine online in a digital format and just print the minimum necessary to get by. We’ll keep you posted, but yes, the last issue was Jan/Feb/March that shipped in March. We aren’t particularly happy about the delay either (yes, Lisa does lose sleep over it) but we do want to honor your trust and gift of supporting us.

What Lisa has been working on

Since I’ve been gradually feeling better my time for Rest
Ministries has been spent on:

(1) Catching up with emails.

(2) Reading submissions (over 200) for HopeKeepers Magazine. We will soon resume publishing it but we will be taking the path many publishers are such as –and publishing it online. We know that’s not everyone’s ideal, and it can be printed out. But it will temporarily take the place of the “hard copy” due to printing/postage increases.

(3) Working on our new store. Most items are now listed; we’re getting some assistance on working out the last bugs.

(4) Updating the Sunroom

(5) Putting together a list of places we need volunteers and then soon matching those up with the people with passion!

(6) Blogging again! We were blessed to be a part of this month’s Grand Rounds Vol. 5 No. 19 and also the How to Cope with Pain January Carnival. Why do I do this? Each time I blog and it gets sent out via one of these groups, a bunch of people who would never find us otherwise!

(7) Planning a podcast schedule for 2009!

(8) Did you help us by making a wonderful donation in December? Lisa will be getting your letter out to you in the next week. Thank you sooooo much!

HopeKeepers Magazine Represented at Canby Christian Writers Conference

Special thanks to Judy Gann, author of God of All Comfort (devotionals for the chronically ill), who is Rest Ministries writer’s coordinator and also HopeKeepers Magazine’s acquisitions editor. She participated in the conference on behalf of Rest Ministries and talked with many nice people who shared their stories and interest in our ministry.

Lisa is Attending Christian Retail Show

Lisa leaves for Flordia in a couple of weeks for the International Christian Retail Show in Orlando. First she will be attending a Christian writers women’s group annual retreat. She will also be mentoring for CLASServices for the two sessions of Book Proposal Blitz. The plan is that her parents will drive from Oregon to San Diego 7/7 and 7/8. Then 7/10 Lisa and her mom will go to Florida. Lisa’s husband will have to be working overtime a lot so Lisa’s dad will hang out with Josh. Pray for all of them!

With Lisa’s rheumatoid arthritis and her mom’s diabetes they aren’t the best of travelers and Josh has loads of energy to keep “Papa” on his toes! Lisa will be signing books, meeting with media, talking with publishers, etc. It’s a time of networking and gaining new relationships.

Thanks to Everyone Sharing HopeKeepers Magazine

We’re getting lots of nice emails from all of you who are saying that you are passing on your HopeKeepers Magazine to a friend when you are done with it! Thank you! Please don’t toss them… drop them in your doctor’s office waiting room, pass it on to your pastor, a friend, or counselor. And don’t forget.. with every order from The Comfort Zone you also get a free copy, so you may end up with a few to pass along!

> read about HopeKeepers Magazine

Is HopeKeepers Magazine Coming to You?

HopeKeepers Magazine Updates
Just to inform you…

• People are just starting to receive their magazines (bulk mail takes forever!)
• If you ordered them in bulk for your church, I sent them out this week
• If you are an author of an article, they were sent last week;
• If you are a foreign subscriber, they are being shipped today.

Wondering if an issue is heading your way? You can click here to see. If you want one and aren’t on the list, you can get one by ordering anything in our store (even a $.50 item) and we’ll stick one in your envelope.

Magazine and Web Site Updates

HopeKeepers Magazine
It is just starting to arrive, despite being sent 2 weeks ago from Florida. Bulk mail, especially something seen as a periodical, seems to take a long time, so stay patient and keep and eye out for it!

Wondering if an issue is heading your way? You can click here to see. If you want one and aren’t on the list, you can get one by ordering anything in our store (even a $.50 item) and we’ll stick on in you envelope.

New web site coming soon
Lisa was hoping to have the new web site up this week, but she is working on fixing the broken links and her program keeps crashing. Rest assured, it should be up and going next week. We look forward to your feedback!

HopeKeepers Magazine is Back!

HopeKeepers Magazine has shipped!

It has shipped! Over 4000 issues went out to subscribers, doctors, counselors and 6,000 arrived in Lisa’s garage yesterday afternoon. We are excited to be ‘back in business!’ To our subscribers… your overwhelming patience and encouragement while we waited until we could afford to go to print is appreciated more than you will ever know! Wondering if an issue is heading your way? You can click here to see. If you want one and aren’t on the list, you can get one by ordering anything in our store (even a $.50 item) and we’ll stick on in you envelope.

To find out more see http://www.hopekeepersmagazine.com