Friday, November 11, 2011

40 Ways To Market, Promote and Develop Your God Given Dream!


40 Ways To Market, Promote and Develop Your God Given Dream!


Grace and Peace Loved Ones!

I am excited about a new class I have to offer those who are determined to achieve their God Given Dream! As we gear up for 2012, this is a perfect time to review your accomplishments, set your goals for next year and develop a strategic plan that will honor the Lord, bless the Kingdom and meet the needs of those you have been assigned to reach!

Sometimes we struggle with finding creative ways to share our gifts with the world. This new class will give you creative ideas that you may not have thought about and will assist you in moving your ministry forward!

Here’s a taste of what the class will offer:

Number 10 – Offer free giveaways to college radio stations. Do an online search for the stations or contact the Student Activities Office for information about contacting the station manager – you can give away products, CDs, or even services. The DJs will mention your name/company name on air and it will be free promotion for you for very little cost.

Number 37 – Host a yearly business or ministry dinner. Give updates on the work you do, recognize supporters and investors build a support team when you invite the community to a dinner that highlights your dream. Invite the mayor, the local newspapers, other nonprofit organizations; anyone you feel can assist you in moving your dream forward.

There are more then 40 of these types of tips designed to solidify your foundation, improve your networking abilities, increase your exposure and maximize your marketing budgets!

In an effort to continue to support Broken Box Ministries and allow us to continue to provide quality programs, this class is available for a limited time for your love gift of any amount!

If you’d like access to 40 Ways To Market, Promote and Develop Your God Given Dream, simply send a love offering by December 1, 2012 via pay pal (www.paypal.com) to naimasbrokenbox@yahoo.com or via snail mail to: Broken Box Ministries, 410 Clover Street , Fairborn , OH 45324 . The class will be sent to you via MP3 on December 2, 2012. Or if you so choose CD (please include a $2 shipping fee for CDs).

Don’t miss this informative and practical class that will assist you in taking your dream to the next level! This information is adaptable for music ministries, Christian businesses, nonprofit organization or other ministries seeking to grow and develop.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Thank you in advance for your support and thank you for allowing us to be a part of supporting you as you achieve… Your Calling!

Blessings!


Naima

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Confessions of a Big Girl


Excerpts from Confessions of a Big Girl by
Dr. Naima Johnston Bush


From The Introduction…
But the direction came, write the story of my life, and I think who would want to hear about it? There is a blessing in obedience, by recounting it, maybe I can dislodge it and close the moving picture show in my head. So I’ll tell the story of food addiction, of a loving and struggling family, of mixed up men and musical masterpieces. Yet, I have been accused of playing house in my mind, so maybe pouring out this tale of woe, of triumph, of the dismantling of a life and the reconstruction of a saint, will speak for me. Perhaps if I share with others the truth of who I am then they will understand why I have played house in my mind. Perhaps they will say I never played at all.

From, The Truth of Ralph…
Women like me are defined as “testers”, we get involved with men and give them all these silly little secret tests instead of communicating with them our needs and wants. You know what I mean – we assume. Shouldn’t he know how much I want to be with him? We scream to ourselves, despite the fact that he could never really know our heart since we never shared it or showed it. Women like me are matchmakers. We meet our Mr. Everything and what do we do? Assess that he could never be interested in our imperfections and proceed to hook him up with our best single girlfriend, since she’d be perfect for him. Then stand back devastated since our heart’s desire is now hanging with our best home girl. And my favorite, women like me are defined as husband preparers. Sure, work all your little kinks out on me, let me tell you all about how a woman should be treated, listen to your emotional mess and pray with you and for you, then smile at your wedding. I try not to be bitter, but this guy, like several other men I cared deeply about married someone else and had the nerve to send me an invitation to the wedding.

From, An Ode To Government Cheese…
The lobby was teeming with people, line out the door; some were from the local community hoping that they could get down with the free cheese program. Oh… but that was the purpose of the rent book. In order to claim your government supply of surplus goods from the farmers of Ohio, you had to actually prove that you lived in the projects! And if you couldn’t prove it, you were dismissed and sent on your way cheeseless. We were high class, living in the projects; we didn’t live in the tenements across the street. We were privileged to obtain this gift from the government, it contributed to healthy kids, we would have good nutrition, perhaps it made us less of a Medicare risk. Cheese was good for you the government asserted, never mind that it was fattening, caused earaches and mucus build up, as well as constipation.

Weird Harold and Other Boys…
Angry and resentful I ate and determined that no one would take from me again so I started to give it away for free. Never realizing that God had a plan for me, that these violations were not my fault, that I was worth more then my sexuality, I packed on the pounds hoping no one would notice me, that no one would want me. But the cage I imprisoned myself in never kept them at bay, there was always someone willing to take what I was offering. What a strange way to live, not wanting to give of myself, but feeling compelled to do so. My life has been fraught with many failed attempts at losing weight. From the time my parents dragged me at age nine to Harlem Hospital to lose thirty pounds, to biannual bouts with Weight Watchers, diet pills dispensed by a morbidly obese male doctor, to even sleeping in plastic bags to sweat the pounds away.

The Story of Everything…
Our relationship died after that. And that day the song was birthed that would direct the course of my ministry. As I wept before the Lord, not understanding anything that had happened over the last year, not understanding why I was alone again, I knew that I had missed it. Did I hear from the Lord? Did Peter know he was supposed to be my Mr. Wonderful? I don’t know. But I know this, as I lay across my bed sobbing and stuffy nosed after another man I loved walked out of my life the Lord spoke to me clearly and asked, “Who is your everything? Is it this man who has let you down and failed to love you? Or is it I, the one who will give you everything and love you no matter what?”

I had made a mistake, one that could have cost me the ministry and the call on my life. God never confirmed if I heard right or wrong in regards to my relationship with Peter. He only confirmed in me that He loved me no matter what and that I had made a man my idol. Lifted him up higher then God and that I even allowed someone to become a priest in the temple of my idol, listening only to their words and not the words of the Father. The song was easy to write, it flowed out of me as a song of penitence and praise, a personal reminder that God was everything I wanted, needed and dreamed of. But even knowing this did not mean I was content with the fact – I still struggle with this today. I had to run to God and give up my dreams, I had to come to Him and pray to be changed and then have the courage to apply those changes to my life.

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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Discredit My Faith - Not

I'm finding that folks love to try and discredit my faith. No matter what you pull put of your own bag of doubt you can't discredit my life or my experience. It's not always been what folks would define as "good" or "fair" but based on what I know, God has ALWAYS BEEN FAITHFUL, in the midst of tragedy & when I had to live out the consequences of my wrong choices, Jesus is FAITHFUL in my life. That's a fact that can't be debated.

So thanks for pulling out all the stops to let me know that what I believe is wrong... all you do is reaffirm what I know to be true, Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father. Thank you because you cause me to think more deeply, read more of my Bible, pray even harder. And these things bring me even closer to the creator of the universe.

I won't debate you, I won't engage you... I'll simply love you, I won't judge you, and I will pray for you. I'll treat you with the respect you deserve as a child of God, even if you don't admit who your Father is. You have the right to make that choice, and as you have the right to share what you share, you push me to share even more the truth of a God who loved the world so much, He died for it.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Monday, January 17, 2011

2011 The Year of Unfinished Business

So, here I am determined to achieve a multitude of goals in 2011, got my action plan all thought out, developed a list of projects to take on and was ready to take it to the Lord in prayer. But then I felt a pause in my spirit. And a list, a long list of a multitude of projects, unfinished business, unsorted financial records and sticky tabs of half written songs came to mind.

When I began to actually think about all the unfinished projects I had, all of the things I had started and not finished I felt like the Lord was saying, “Don’t dream another dream, launch a new program, develop a new idea until you’ve proven faithful over these small things.”

Faithful… doing what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it. A simple but true definition. And how could God know that He could trust me, that I could move on to bigger things in ministry if I had not been faithful over the small things that He had given me to do? That’s a major life lesson: In order to move forward to bigger things you must be faithful over little things – right from the Word of God.

I came to understand that I had not been faithful not only to the Lord but to those I’d been assigned to reach through the ministry He had given me. I preach all the time that your dreams are not for you, but rather they are the manifestation of the love of God coming through you to encourage, edify, empower, educate and yes, even entertain His people. And all my uncompleted projects represented some ministry that the Lord had given me that I had not given to His people. Yikes, now who wants to stand before the Lord and answer for that? Not me!

And let’s not even talk about missed opportunity! Unfinished projects resulted in bookings that never happened, interviews that never got conducted, books that had not been finished… I could go on and on.

So I made a list and I’m tackling my unfinished business, it’s a daunting task but one that must be done. And not only do I have to finish the projects, I realize that I have to put a system in place so I overcome my habit of generating unfinished business.

For example, I came into 2011 with over 300 emails in my inbox that needed some kind of attention – over 300!!! Now that’s just wacko. And so I gave myself a week to answer, handle or deal with ever single message. I refused to deal with any other project or situation until I dealt with all that old email. I spent seven days preparing press packets to go out that had been requested, submitting music to radio stations I had inquired of, answering artist questions, writing thank you notes, condolences cards and renewing memberships and canceling e-zine subscriptions. And then I made a decision, I would respond to each email the moment I read it, if I wasn’t able to respond I wouldn’t even read it. So far, it’s worked! My inbox has less then 20 emails in it!

I’ve now moved on to finishing my book, Confessions of a Big Girl and this past week I did not allow myself to write anything else – no songs, poems or work on other books until it was done. Check two on my unfinished business, my proof is actually ready to be reviewed before final publishing!

So 2011 – the year of finishing unfinished business, keep reading because this should be exciting! Why? Because I know enough about the Lord to know He won’t stop with my professional life. It’s just a matter of time before we’re digging into my personal stuff – my own intimate unfinished business. And when He starts digging that stuff up, my life always turns into a whirlwind of wacky lessons like Open Pants and Pumping Gas…. What the heck is that you might ask? Check the video and have a laugh!



Stayed tuned for the ongoing adventures of Dr. Nay!

Blessings!