Transforming the Lives of Young Girls

Our vision for the Katie & Zack Adventure Series is huge. I have no desire to simply write nice Christian stories that entertain kids with wholesome reading. As nice as that is, the passion that God has put on my heart is to see kids’ lives transformed. And as that happens, I pray to then see our nation transformed.

Those who hate God and His Word have implemented a well-thought-through plan of changing our nation by changing our youth. They have gotten prayer out of the schools, have wiped clean the slate of teaching Christian truth from the curriculum, and have reshaped the minds of our young people. Consequently, the upcoming generations have no biblical foundation whatsoever. But why can’t we take those young minds back? That’s what I pray God will use these books to do—transform the upcoming generations and transform our nation!

Pipe dream? Hardly! History has shown that “he…who owns the youth, gains the future.” Do you know who said that? Adolf Hitler! He recognized the power of changing society by starting with the young people. More currently, look at the phenomenon of the Harry Potter books. Now, entire racks of books, not to mention video games and movies, are devoted to dark demonic themes.

Therefore, in view of these goals, every single day I ask God that wherever in the world one of the books is opened, He would pour His Spirit out from the pages and transform the reader’s life. So when I hear stories like the following, they can’t help but make me praise God with tears of joy!

Kimberly, the owner of a local Christian bookstore, carries the Katie & Zack Adventure Series. She gave the books to a friend’s daughter last Christmas. When Kimberly asked the girl how she liked them, the girl said she and her dad had read them every single night, including the Bible study 30 Days with God. Then the girl said, ‘The Bible study challenged me to read my Bible ten minutes a day, so I asked Dad to buy me a Bible.’ Kimberly’s eyes lit up when she said, “And now she’s reading the Bible—all because of your books!” (Of course I would say it’s all because of God!)

Just a few days ago I received an email from Keri, a Cru staff mom in Italy. Her 10-year-old daughter Holly had read all the books, loved them, and decided to use them to host a book club for four girls her age! Keri said, “Holly loves how the books have connected so naturally with her heart.” Holly told her friends, “The hero is transplanted, she faces challenges, learns through the challenges, and then applies what she's learned to her life at home." (Picture on left: Holly holding up Adventure at Cassidy Ranch for the girls to see.)

A Kansas teacher sent me this picture and said her girls were “chomping at the bit for book 4.” The draft of Adventure in the Wild West is now complete. The BIG prayer request is that I need a new editor. My wonderful editor has taken a job elsewhere, so that’s a BIG need.

God is using these books!!! So please, please keep them in prayer:

* For an editor! I’m praying for one who will stay with me through Books 4-7 and one more Bible Study.

* For God to pour out of every open page and transform lives—including the 4 girls in Italy.

* God’s guidance for our artist as he begins working on the cover of Adventure in the Wild West.  

Partnering with you to change lives and change our nation,     Stottler & Judy Starr

Stottler & Judy Starr, 32962 Danacedar, Dana Point, CA  92629  (949)240-9927  NOVEMBER 2015

Creator’s Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs by Amy Wilkinson.

                                   Robert Langer                        Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn

One of the great things that smart people do is to talk with other smart people,  then tell us what they learned.

Amy Wilkinson,  an entrepreneur and lecturer at Stanford Graduate Business School, is one such person. She traveled the country and asked some of the top entrepreneurs in the county how they did what they did to make them successful. The result is a fascinating book.  It is about 200 pages and written in a style that just about everyone can understand and glean some helpful “take aways” even if they are not in the technology industry.

Reid Hoffman and Robert Langer are two of the fascinating people she profiled. You’ve heard of Hoffman’s product – LinkedIn.  Before that he helped launch PayPal.  The other guy, though you’ve probably never hear of him, could be even more important than Hoffman.  From his laboratory in Cambridge, Mass., he has founded 25 companies, many of which have grown to more than $100 million in size.

Credited with pioneering the fields of controlled-release drug delivery, and human engineering, he has licensed technology to more than 270 other companies and filed more than 800 patents.  Yet when asked what he is most proud of, he says, “My students. They’re almost like my own kids. I get so much appreciation from seeing them do well.

                One of the things that I learned from these brilliant people was that they know how to cope with failure. Lots of it.  In fact, they even expect it. They are undeterred by these failures and go on to produce successes that earn them millions—sometimes billions of dollars—and make our lives better in the process.

                The other important point I learned was the power of collaboration.  It’s a product of old fashioned concepts like teamwork and friendship. Even when some of these people were heading super successful companies, they responded to requests from friends who were running other successful companies.  The result was that all the  companies became better businesses and served the customers better.

Hoffman said, “If you tune it so that you have zero chance of failure, you usually have zero chance of success.”  About collaboration with people he says, “If you focus on little things that you can do to be beneficial to others, most people will care about you and be eager to help others. By focusing on how you can help others around you, that has a mammoth benefit for you.”

“When in doubt, tell the truth.” Mark Twain

In his book Success Principles, Jack Canfield described an exercise he uses at many of his seminars where he invites people to stand up and share a secret they have been hiding – perhaps for years. Many people open up and talk about deep, painful issues.

In the days to follow some amazing results happen – migraines disappear, spastic colons relax, medication is no longer needed. People actually feel more alive.

“It takes a lot of energy to hold back our truth and that energy, when it is released, can be used to focus on creating greater success in all areas of our lives,” said Canfield, who is the author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. We can become less cautious and more spontaneous, more willing to be our natural selves.”

“I don’t want any yes men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.” Samuel Goldwyn, cofounder of Metro-Goldwin Mayer Studios

But how about when the boss or potential client is doing something wrong? Should you say nothing, or speak the truth?  Canfield gives an example of Marilyn Tam who was overseeing 320 stores for Miller’s Outpost in 1986. She had an interview with Phil Knight of Nike. He wasn’t happy about how the Nike apparel was being displayed in various stores. He was thinking about opening stores that would display exclusively Nike branded apparel and shoes.

Tam was excited about the opportunity then did her research.  What she found dismayed her. The Nike apparel was just stock clothing with the swoosh slapped on.  There was no consistency in color, standards or quality.

When she met with Knight she was excited about the vision he presented.  But if he told her what she thought, the interview might be over and he would just hire someone else. She decided to take the plunge and tell him that she thought the stores would fail because the poor quality products would not represent what Nike stood for.

Not surprisingly, Knight  quickly ended the interview and left. Tam was afraid she had blown a big opportunity. But she felt good about having told the truth.

Two weeks later Knight called back. He had done his own research and agreed with Tam’s assessment of the quality.  “Come fix the goods, then we’ll open the stores.”

The decision to wait held up the opening of the stores for two years, but once opened, the apparel division had huge growth and continued to expand the Nike brand in a positive way.