Christian Retailing

Writers' Guidelines Print Email
Written by Staff   
Tuesday, 27 October 2015 02:08 PM America/New_York

As Charisma Media's new publisher, I'm grateful for your contributions, whether for our print or online brands. Charisma Media recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of Charisma magazine—and God has been faithful to use us in His kingdom work. Now we're eager to keep moving forward as God leads us.

Our direction is simple: quality over quantity.

We've noticed that quality in many submissions to our magazines has declined in the last few years. In pursuit of excellence, we must resolve to hold our standards in research, writing and grammar to the highest level.

I'm pleased to introduce to you our revised writers' guidelines.

Below you will find our revised writing instructions for content we have requested. We've made quite a few updates. Some revisions should have been made long before now (For instance, you'll be pleased to know typewriters are no longer necessary to submit articles to us).

 If you submit an article that doesn't adhere to our guidelines, we'll send it back to you.

I encourage you to look at our writers' guidelines. Read them thoroughly. We believe our guidelines will serve you well as a writer.

If you are well-versed in the Christian products industry, we'd love for you to keep writing for us. To make that happen, let's work together to produce quality content for the benefit of our readers. 

Blessings to you,

Dr. Steve Greene
Publisher, Charisma
Executive Vice President, Charisma Media Group
greenelines.com
charismapodcastnetwork.com

Aim and Audience

Christian Retailing, which is part of Charisma Media, aims to champion the world of Christian resources. For the Christian products industry, we aim to be the most trusted resource hub that provides critical information and insight to advance business and ministry.

Our readers include Christian retailers, church bookstores, publishers, music labels, distributors and others working and volunteering in the Christian products industry.

Types of Articles We Publish—or Not 

Christian Retailing publishes features, a small number of news stories and columns of interest to our readers. We do not accept unsolicited content for publication.

Plagiarism Policy

At Charisma Media, we write in spirit and in truth. Philippians 1: 9-10 calls us to be “blameless” and approving of “things that are excellent.” With that foundation, we decry the practice of plagiarism, using another’s work without proper attribution.

As a writer, if you attempt to pass off someone else’s writing as your own or do not source your quotes or information correctly, we will reject your submission. Plagiarism can also occur when you use someone else’s argument or expression, so take care to cite the source.

Recycled content does not honor the spirit of excellence we seek to maintain in our writing. Plagiarism undermines the trust of our readers, which is critical to our work as journalists. 

Editorial Direction for Requested Articles

Our standard when citing the Scriptures is the Modern English Version (MEV) Bible. Please use the MEV in your writing unless you need to use a different translation for a specific reason.

We follow Associated Press (newspaper) style with some exceptions. Our editors will edit your material according to this style.

Keep in mind that we do not use footnotes, but attribute as necessary within the article.

We generally prefer writing from a third-person point of view, although we make exceptions for certain types of content as deemed appropriate.

We may need to return your article for revisions or shorten it in the editing process.

Have Questions or Comments?

Email any questions or comments about Christian Retailing and the Christian products industry to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We want to answer emails but do not guarantee a response.

If you prefer to contact us through the mail, please use the following address:

Christian Retailing
Charisma Media
600 Rinehart Rd.
Lake Mary, FL 32746

 
ONLINE EXTRA: Ask the Author: Francine Rivers Print Email
Written by Leslie Santamaria   
Friday, 07 March 2014 01:58 PM America/New_York

FrancineRivers-CreditElainaBurdo-webWhy did you want to reimagine the parable of the Prodigal Son? 

The parable of the Prodigal Son plays out in lives all through Scripture, and in our lives as well. We can start with Adam and Eve who went after what Satan offered rather than heed the Lord. Abraham played the prodigal when he went to Egypt and gave up his wife to Pharaoh. When he confesses, they are sent away with gifts, one of which was a slave girl named Hagar, an Egyptian handmaiden who would change history. What about Judah who was so willing to make money off selling his brother Joseph and then running away to Canaan because he couldn’t stand seeing his father’s grief? Or Joseph who had to learn humility the hard way? We can go through the judges and kings and even the disciples who followed their own counsel or ran with fear before turning around and crying out to God. Some never did. We are all prodigals because we all sin. God’s grace is the amazing story. He pours it over us. By Jesus’ blood we are healed. That’s the heart of the story: how God is at work from the beginning and how He can use anything and everything for His good purpose for those who long for Him—even when they don’t even realize it.

Read more...
 
ONLINE EXTRA: Close Up: Leonard Sweet Print Email
Written by Leslie Santamaria   
Tuesday, 04 February 2014 10:23 AM America/New_York

TheWellPlayedLife-webYou define three stages of play. Will you briefly outline those for us? I was almost tempted to write an entire book on this one thesis alone, so the reader now gets two books for the price of one. Based on the research of Irish philosopher Charles Handy and others, I think the best way to understand life is not in terms of generational cultures, but as three ages. The First Age is from 0 to 30, where the question is, “Where do you go to school?” The Second Age is from 30 to 60, where the question is, “Where do you work?” The Third Age is from 60 to 90, where the question is—well, that’s the question: What is the question of the Third Age? We’ve made it, “Where did you retire?”, but this book proposes a new way of looking at all three ages.

Why do we as Christians fall so easily into the mind-set that the harder we work, the more God is pleased with us? What the Reformers called “works righteousness” is heavy with us. We are constantly throwing our rightness and righteousness on the scales rather than relying on God’s free gift of grace. We want a plan to work on, rather than the improv of play, because we prefer control to trust. What if the Holy Spirit leads us where we do not wish to go? Yet that is precisely a test of whether or not we’re living in the stream of the Spirit. If we’re only going in directions we wish to go, then who is in charge of our lives? There is another reason why we would rather “work at it” than “play it out.” Metaphor is the mother, not the maid, of thought. And our metaphors of “following Jesus” need reframing. For example, biblical faith is less about following footsteps than filling feet and walking in shoes. To follow in someone’s footsteps is work. To fill someone’s feet, or walk a mile in someone’s shoes, is play.

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ONLINE EXTRA: Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus Print Email
Written by Leslie Santamaria   
Tuesday, 14 January 2014 09:27 AM America/New_York

SeekingAllah-webNabeel Qureshi knows that authentic friendship is the best form of evangelism. After a lively religious discussion with David Wood, a Christian at the university where he studied, Qureshi, a dedicated Muslim, forged a long-term friendship with Wood that was full of laughter and debate. Three years later, Qureshi accepted the gospel, even though the decision required tremendous sacrifice. He chronicles his journey to faith in Christ in Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim’s Journey to Christ (9780310515029, $16.99), releasing Feb. 11 from Zondervan.

Raised in a loving American-Muslim home, young Qureshi studied Islamic apolgetics and practiced his faith daily. He developed a deep love of tradition and Islam. Often he spoke with Christians about his religion, and these conversations bolstered his faith.

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ONLINE EXTRA: Close Up: Robert & Bobbie Wolgemuth Print Email
Written by Christine D. Johnson   
Wednesday, 06 March 2013 05:14 PM America/New_York

RobertBobbieWolgemuth.WebThis is a continuation of our Close Up interview with Robert and Bobbie Wolgemuth on their Zondervan devotional, Couples of the Bible (April 2013).

Who did you have in mind when you put pen to paper?

Robert: Even though our hope is that couples use it, we’ve written it with the understanding that women will probably be the primary readers and the users. We’re actually teaching a Sunday school class with couples and we’re going through the book. We’ve had others actually use the manuscript to test some of the questions and some of the flow of the book, but our hope is that couples will do it together. Our expectation is that women will probably be the primary readers, but in the introduction, we talk about this and say at the very least on Friday, which is the prayer day, Their Legacy of Prayer, the husband and wife will sit down together. Most Christian couples know they ought to pray together. Many don’t, and this sort of helps, especially the man, with, here’s something that I can actually read that is a prayer that I can do with my wife. That’s the big idea.

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ONLINE EXTRA: Close Up: Adam Hamilton Print Email
Written by Christine D. Johnson   
Monday, 05 November 2012 04:12 PM America/New_York

Best-selling author Adam Hamilton continues his Close Up Q&A on new book The Way (Abingdon Press, December 2012).

No doubt readers will find some of your insights on the life of Christ intriguing. For instance, on "Palm Sunday," you state that there were two other processions—designed to show force—going on the same day. Where are those cited in history? We know that Pontius Pilate's primary residence was in Caeserea Maritima on the coast. Yet we know from the Gospels that he was in Jerusalem for the Passover. It is likely that he came over to keep peace in the city (the Passover was a particularly troublesome time for the Romans as the feast was a celebration of how God had delivered His people from slavery in Egypt—the hope of many Jews was that God would do this again, delivering them from Roman rule —hence the need to have Rome's governor present along with this troops to prevent an uprising).

We also know from the Gospels that Herod Antipas was in Jerusalem for the Passover. His primary residence was in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. He would have come in a royal procession with his own military to Jerusalem for the Passover. We cannot know exactly which day each of the other two processions would have arrived in the Jerusalem, but I suggest in the book that the three may have occurred on the same day. Jesus' processional, riding on a donkey, calling people to love their enemies, and surrounded by a ragamuffin band of followers would have stood in stark contrast to the other processionals.

There are sidebars in the book that take the reader to the Holy Land. What are some of the things that were instructive to you as you visited Israel? Often when tour groups go to the Holy Land the tour companies are trying to fit so much in that there is often not enough time for reflection and to experience the land. In groups that I lead over, we do less and experience more. The tours are also typically organized to take you first to Galilee and then to Jerusalem, or vice versa—this allows you to see and do more, but it does not allow you to experience the life of Jesus chronologically. On the tours I help lead, we start in Bethlehem with the birth of Jesus, then to the Jordan near the Dead Sea to recount his baptism. Then we head to the Judean Wilderness—I have the guides take us to a remote area on top of a desert mountain and we stop there and spend an hour in silent prayer, each pilgrim finding a quiet place alone, so that they can read the temptation story and spend time actually experiencing the story —walking in the wilderness where Jesus walked praying in silence. We then take people to Nazareth where Jesus grew up and was first rejected, and then on to Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee where we spend several days. I take groups atop Mount Arbel and we talk about Jesus' time on the mountains and then we hike down together. We take groups through the heart of the West Bank, to the town of Nablus which was ancient Sychar where we visit Jacob's Well, drinking from the well and remembering Jesus' concern for Samaritans and outcasts. Finally, we retrace the events of the last week of Jesus' life in Jerusalem, again trying to help people become a part of the story through a variety of experiences. One additional thing we do: We invite a Palestinian Christian leader and a Jewish leader to share with us their different perspectives on the conflict in the Holy Land. We spend part of our time in the Palestinian areas so that our time in the Holy Land builds bridges not walls and seeks to bless both Israelis and Palestinians.

Themes like the kingdom of God and life as a disciple come through in this book. Did these concepts have a new impact on you as you wrote about them? You can't talk the life and ministry of Jesus without speaking of the kingdom of God. This is the central theme of His teaching and preaching. Jesus' primary call upon those who heard him was to "follow me." My hope in The Way is to help readers understand more clearly what it means to be a part of the kingdom of God and what it looks like to faithfully follow Jesus. In the book I devote much of one chapter to walking through the Sermon on the Mount, for here Jesus gives the clearest picture of what our lives are meant to look like if God is our King. While none of us completely live up to His teachings there—in fact some would say it is impossible to do so—His words there are represent my highest aspirations for how I would live. And my inability to fully live up to them point to my need for Christ's saving work in my life.