Joel
Osteen, Branson celebrities attend
Defender author's book signing
Books-A-Million,
one of the nation's leading book
retailers opened the doors to its
new 15,500-square-foot store in
Branson, Missouri in August. Among
the Holiday books chosen by the
national chain to be featured during
the month of December was a sequel
to the Dicken's classic "A
Christmas Carol" by first time
author, Donna Howell. Ebenezzer:
The Final Years of Scrooge
(under Defender's 'Anomalos
Publishing' label, 2008) picks
up where the original story ends,
answering questions many have
pondered over the years concerning
the original story, including what
illness afflicted Tiny Tim, and
deeper theological questions such as
who the "spirits" were
that visited Ebenezer Scrooge.
On December 20,
2008, Donna Lee Howell sat with four
times the quantity of books the
managers of Books-A-Million in
Branson expected her to sign. As her
first time at such an event, Howell
had been warned that the typical
experience involves bulking up the
stock of a book to catch the
attention of passersby's but that
usually only a fourth of books would
be purchased during a signing.
Halfway through her
event and already almost out of
“Ebenezer,” Howell was surprised
when mega best-selling author and
senior pastor of Lakewood Church in
Houston, Texas, Joel Osteen, whose
ministry reaches over seven million
viewers weekly in the U.S. and
millions more in nations around the
world, entered the store and
requested an autographed copy of
Ebenezer. Osteen informed her that,
if the book met expectations, he
would be passing on "good
words" through his ministry for
the first-time author's work.
As crowds of people
gathered around Howell and Osteen,
Jim Stafford of “The Jim Stafford
Show” -- one of Branson,
Missouri's most popular and longest
running shows -- walked into the
building and requested a signed copy
of Ebenezer as well. As Osteen,
Stafford and Howell talked, soon
laughing about recent funny
radio commercials advertising
Stafford's popular show in Branson,
Branson’s well-known "
Elvis" impersonator, who has
his own show in the city showed up
and purchased one of the last signed
copies of Ebenezer...more
>>
Story before this one: Defender
authors in the news again!
