Church Writing Groups and the PEN & SWORD

What do you think would happen if you got together with a few other Christians in your church to team-write letters to the editor and opinion articles for newspapers? Do you think you'd get more done, having others to meet with regularly? Do you think it would be easier having the help of others--one person's strength compensating for another's weak areas? When you ran into something you didn't know how to do, wouldn't it be helpful to have others around who might be able to help you figure it out?

Welcome to another idea from the Amy Foundation: the Church Writing Group.

The brainchild of Jim Russell and the Amy Foundation, Church Writing Groups are designed to tap into the power of, as Mr. Russell called them, the "latent" writers in the church, giving them training to speak out. These groups are not necessarily for professional writers (though pros are definitely welcome!). These groups are to help ordinary Christians speak out to our spiritually hungry nation.

Sound interesting? Then check out these free materials from the Amy Foundation:

• Guidelines for starting a Church Writing Group
• Ten Steps to starting a Church Writing Group
• Twelve lesson plans for Church Writing Groups

All these are available on the "Writing Resources" page of www.AmyFound.org.

And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe to the Amy Foundation's newsletter, the Pen & Sword. Again, this is a free resource, and you may receive this bi-monthly newsletter either electronically or by regular mail. You can also read back issues in PDF files on the "Newsletter" page of the site.

I hope this gives you lots of exciting information to check out and use in your own efforts to speak out with Christian truth to our nation and our world. Next, we'll hear more from first-place winner of the Amy Award in part 3 of my interview with Jan White.