Serve! is published to encourage readers to begin to think differently about outreach... specifically, so they and those they influence can be greatly used by God in their city and sphere of influence to make a big-time difference.

We aim to help readers begin to live in a completely different way, outward focused. This is something the average person can do --- living outward focused is not for the gifted, but for everyone who loves Jesus. All who have a story (it takes about 60 seconds of experience in Jesus to have a story to begin to tell!) can begin to be greatly used by God to extend his kingdom. His kingdom is most efficiently extended, in this generation, worldwide, through initially connecting with people via practical, sincere, non-programmatic, heartfelt, spontaneous acts of kindness, generosity and practical love done by all Christ-followers with each person they run into in their daily travels.

Activating words connected with this publication:

• Fun!

The spirit of Servant Evantelism and "Outward Focusedness" is fun at its baseline level. Keep that before you at all times.

• Practical!

Offer at least 1-3 practical ideas in your article. By practical, you don't need to explain how to do something. Assume people are somewhat bright and right-brained and will figure out how to get from Point A to Point B on their own.

• Simple

The simpler the better. Use easy to understand words. Assume those reading your piece are from a diverse background including many who don't have a great grasp of English (we send to many outside the US). Remember this encouraging truth: The words "Simple" and "Profound" often go together.

• Encouraging (People read your piece and walk away thinking, "I CAN DO THIS STUFF! MY PEOPLE CAN DO THIS!")

Details:

• Each article runs between 600 and 1,000 words max.

This may seem short, but EZines are typically pithy, practical, get-to-the point kinds of publications that stimulate people to new ideas, mention a quick story, give a very quick practical pointer and end. We want to leave people hungry for more each time. If we do that with each article and each issue, we have accomplished our goal!

NOTE: We would like a short bio of you, 2-3 sentences on what you currently do, what you want to be known for, and a blog or site you want to plug.

It is important that we get a great digital photo of you – not a photo of you looking directly into the camera – rather, one of you looking slightly sideways, smiling, but not canned, bored or fake. You get the idea. All of us know someone who is above average who has decent camera equipment. That's the person you need to get to take your photo! Send your photo to my email address ( steve@serve-others.com). We need that with your article, short bio, your site plug, email address by the 25th of the month prior to the publication at the latest.

If you have digital photos that illustrate your article, the more the better.

Practical Request:

If you have an email list of readers who would enjoy reading monthly Serve! issues, please supply us with their email addresses. We will ONLY send them this Ezine. They can, of course, disconnect from this service at any time if they prefer to not receive it in the future. Those address lists can be best sent to steve@serve-others.com.

Deadline for your materials: By the 20th of each month prior to the publication date.

Publication date: the second Thursday of each month

Boring legal stuff:

Submissions to the ezine are not paid. All the same, our ezine is read by and has a voice within a vast community of readers.

Our Rights to Submissions and Copyright Information

The author maintains all rights to their work.

Serve! will not sell your work to other parties. Possible parties interested in publishing your material will be provided with your email address.

By submitting material to Serve!, the author releases Serve! to publish his or her material on the SErve! website and gives permission for Serve! to authorize republication with credit on other web sites and to include the material in their archives.

Serve! is a volunteer publication, without funds to pay you for your work.

Serve! maintains the right to edit any submission for publication purposes. As much as possible we will leave your article in its original condition. But we maintain the right to edit for purposes of flow, spelling, grammar, style and lay-out.

Serve! maintains the right to refuse any article for publication without providing a reason. Possible reasons for refusal might be:

• Offensive material
• Un-moderated statements
• No real contribution to the discussion
• Subject outside the focus of interest of Serve!
• Political agenda
• Other

Submission Information

We only accept manuscripts via email. Please abide by the following guidelines:

• Poems: no query; send complete manuscript.
• Articles: no query; send complete manuscript.
• Reviews: no query; send complete manuscript.

We respond to manuscripts in 4-6 weeks, depending on submission volume.

Please include the following in the subject line of your email:
Serve! - Submission Type - Title
i.e., SUBJECT: Serve! - Article - The Outreach that...
i.e., SUBJECT: The Next-Wave Ezine - Poem - One Sunny Day

Manuscripts should be saved and attached in one of the following formats:

• Rich Text Format (.rtf)
• Microsoft Word Format (.doc)

Include the following in the body of your email:

• Title
• Name (real name, not pseudonym), one sentence bio, and jpg photo
• Email address
• Submission Type, (article, poem etc.)
• Blurb - three line teaser about the article or story.
• Submissions will be replied to via email.

Contact Information

Send queries and manuscripts to: steve@serve-others.com or ken@serve-others.com

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