Choose NOW Ministries, founded by Nicole O’Dell, is dedicated to working with parents and teens to battle peer pressure, face the Hot Button issues, and commit to good choices.
Today’s choices have lasting impact on your tomorrows.
Moms, dads, youth leaders, are you hesitant to bring up tough issues with your teens and pre-teens? Do you skirt around the taboo subjects in hopes of keeping your kids innocent from the issues of sin?
Teens, do you have general commitments to doing the right thing, but just aren’t quite sure what will happen in the heat of the moment, when the peer pressure hits?
That’s what Choose NOW Ministries is all about…helping teens commit to good choices far in advance of the peer pressure, and helping parents tackle hot button issues with their kids long before they actually come up.
You’ll find tools in the forms of books, blog columns, advice posts, informational articles, audio, video, polls and quizzes. It’s all here for you to use as you train, teach, and learn. Please leave a comment or rate posts with a star rating if you find it helpful. That’s how we know what works.
It’s all about choices!
Nicole O’Dell, Choose NOW Ministries
…battling peer pressure by tackling the tough issues
Choose NOW Columns and Contributors:
(T)=teen column (P)=parent column
Nicole O’Dell: On Hot Buttons (P)
Nicole O’Dell: On Girl Talk (T)
Nicole O’Dell: On Parent Talk Q & A (P)
Nicole O’Dell: On Choose NOW Radio (P)
Christa Allan, On Educating Teens (P)
A true Southern woman who knows that any cook worth her gumbo always starts with a roux and who never wears white after Labor Day, Christa is a writer of not your usual Christian Fiction. She weaves stories of unscripted grace and redemption with threads of hope, humor, and heart.
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Shari Braendel: On Being Fabulous (P)
Shari Braendel has become the nation’s most sought-after Christian speaker on fashion, beauty and modesty. As a successful image consultant, Shari knows that women often judge themselves based on the world’s standards and are forever coming up short.
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Takiela Bynum is a speaker and author whose passion is youth. Living through unimaginable abuse, growing up in a single parent home, and becoming a teen mother (and more) has all given her the experience necessary to connect with youth on a deeper level.
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Jeannie Campbell: On Emotions (P)
A Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (MFC # 45366) in California, Jeannie currently serves as Head of Clinical Services for a large non-profit, and has worked with families, teens, parents, & kids for over 10 years. She received her master’s in Psychology and Counseling from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
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Valerie Comer: On Being Green (P)
Valerie Comer is a gardener, beekeeper, farmer, and active member of her local food action coalition. She believes shopping local is the best possible antidote to many of today’s environmental concerns. On her own blog and website, she shares her philosophy on why Christians should care about the environment and the local food movement.
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Gina Conroy: On Dreaming Big (T)
Gina Conroy focuses on dreaming big and she’ll help you chase hard after those deep, heart desires that within you. And for those of you who haven’t quite figured out what your passions are just yet, stick around this column, Gina will help you do just that.
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Lynn Cowell is an author and speaker for Proverbs 31 Ministries whose passion is helping moms become wise women who raise wiser daughters. For the past 10 years, Lynn has taught women and teens to discover the radical love of Jesus Christ and build an inner confidence that leads to smart choices.
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Mary DeMuth: On Spiritual Warfare (P)
Mary DeMuth has published more than a dozen books with various publishers. She spent two and a half years church planting in France, and now lives stateside with her family as she continues her writing, speaking and mentoring ministry.
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Renee Johnson Fisher is a spirited speaker and writer to twenty-somethings. She graduated from Biola University and worked with nationally known Christian speakers and writers at Outreach Events. She is the author of Faithbook of Jesus and Not Another Dating Book. She and her husband Marc live in Escondido, CA where they hope to adopt a big dog soon.
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Tricia Goyer: On Teen Pregnancy (T)
Using her own experiences as a teen mother, and leader of today’s generation, Tricia’s vision is to be a voice of hope and possibility for teenage girls, pregnant teen girls, mothers and wives through her educational and inspirational speaking, workshops and books. Tricia is the author of 30 books and has published over 500 articles for national publications such as Focus on the Family, Today’s Christian Woman and HomeLife Magazine.
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Sheila Wray Gregoire: On Being a Sexy Mama (P)
Sheila Wray Gregoire is a syndicated parenting columnist and a popular speaker. The author of four books, including The Good Girl’s Guide to Great Sex. She loves encouraging women to forget about the dust bunnies under their beds and keep their focus on Jesus! She also has a passion for family, and together with her husband Keith speaks at Family Life marriage conferences around the nation.
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Jill Hart: On Working From Home (P)
Jill Hart is the founder of the popular Christian work-at-home website,CWAHM.com. Jill a contributing author in several books and co-author of So You Want To Be a Work-at-Home Mom. Jill also has articles published in In Touch Magazine, Focus on the Family’s Thriving Family Magazine and P31 Woman magazine, as well as across the web on sites like DrLaura.com.
Sherri Wilson Johnson: On Purity (T) & Sherri Wilson Johnson: On Inspiring Purity (P)
Sherri Wilson Johnson, author of To Dance Once More and Song of the Meadowlark, is a former homeschooling mom of two young adults and she is passionate about purity. She is from Georgia and has been married since 1988. She loves to write, read, eat ice cream, ride roller coasters and make people laugh. She loves her family and her dogs but Jesus most of all and hopes to spread His love to the whole world through her writing.
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Laura Anderson Kurk bets she has more cringe-worthy teenage moments than you and she’s willing to share them all to make you feel better. She’s the author of the YA novel Glass Girl and its upcoming sequel Perfect Glass. She lives in College Station, Texas with her husband, two ginger-headed kids, and 50,000 college students.
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Stefne Miller: On Authenticity (T)
In 2008, while visiting a friend out of state, Stefne had a dream in which the Lord asked her to join him on a new journey. Upon waking, she wrote down the dream and Salvaged was born. Stefne currently lives in Edmond, Oklahoma and has been married to Shaun, a realtor, since 1994. Shaun and Stefne have three sons – Jacob (15), Caleb (13) and Yohannes (12).
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Cara Putman: On Being a Do-it-all Mom (P)
Cara Putman graduated from high school at sixteen, college at 20, and completed her law degree when she was 27. Her writing journey started in 2005 when she decided to write her first novel. Now she has more than a dozen books published with more on the way.
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Laura L. Smith: On True Beauty (T)
Laura L. Smith is a Christian author and speaker. She has written several novels depicting real stories for real girls such as; Skinny, Hot and Angry. She writes about teenage girls experiencing the tough issues no one wants to talk about – topics that stop a conversation at a party in its tracks, or really heat it up.
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LeAnn Rice a single mother to Nick, her 16-year-old son who is not at all interested in cooking or in eating anything creative–anything with more than two ingredients mixed together. Thirteen years ago, her husband, Ron, lost his battle with cancer but gained a new, painless life with Jesus. While LeAnn and Nick miss him terribly, they celebrate his victory and know they’ll see him again.
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Nancy Rue has become a successful, best-selling author of books for ‘tweens, teens, and adults. Over her career she’s written more than 100 books. Nancy travels the country speaking and teaching at schools, churches, home school groups, and for groups of ‘tween girls and their moms. She lives in Tennessee with her husband, Jim.
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Besty St. Amant: On Good Girls (T)
Betsy St. Amant is one Good Girl who enjoys writing about Bad Boys in her YA fiction novels. She lives in Louisiana with her hunky fireman hubby and an adorable toddler that is already smarter than she is, is often found consuming massive amounts of chocolate and then attempting to work it off in the gym, and is an avid reader who is constantly wondering where Mr. Darcy went. Betsy is multi-published through Steeple Hill romances and has a BA in Christian Communications. Her first YA novel, ADDISON BLAKELY, CONFESSIONS OF A PK, released 2012 through Barbour Publishers.
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Leslie Wilson: On Thriving (P)
Leslie has a passion for communicating God’s impact on her and encouraging women to thrive in life. She speaks to thousands each year and has penned hundreds of “Reality Motherhood” columns for Star Community Newspapers. She is the lead author of A Scrapbook of Motherhood Firsts and a co-author of A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts (Leafwood, 2008). Leslie and Bret (married 23 years and counting) embrace life with three teenagers in Rockwall, Texas.
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Lisa Wingate: On Empty-Nesting (P)
Lisa Wingate is an award-winning journalist, magazine columnist, popular inspirational speaker and a national bestselling author of 16 books. Her first mainstream novel, Tending Roses, is in its fifteenth printing from Penguin Putnam. Tending Roses is a staple on the shelves of national bookstore chains as well as in many independent bookstores.
On Single Parenting (coming soon)
On Family Finances (coming soon)
Me on CBD
On Amazon
On Barnes & Noble
