Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Good Morning America on Velvet for February 12

THE NEW FACE OF PREACHING: THE HARD AS NAILS MINISTRY
Jumping up and down, getting hit by chairs and telling girls they are fat is hardly the image of a Catholic preacher. But for Justin Fatica, a 29-year-old unordained priest and leader of a nonprofit called Hard as Nails Ministries, that is exactly the point. Fatica targets teens with his preaching, and his methods of spreading his brand of the Catholic message have brought him both admiration and criticism. Fatica said he found Christ at the age of 17, on a Saturday afternoon when he stepped out of confession. This moment planted the seeds for what he believes is his mission to grab the attention of young people and spread the Catholic faith. While he acknowledges that he is "not the smartest tool in the shed," he believes that he has been chosen to preach Catholicism to young people in this way.

A REAL LIFE SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE: A LITTLE GIRL’S PEN PAL BRINGS LOVE TO HER MOM
It started as a school assignment. Six-year-old Jannah Lynn was supposed to exchange letters with a soldier in Iraq. But her mom didn't want the name of any random soldier. So Carol Medvec went to New Wilmington Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania where she attended services and asked for a soldier's name from their pen pal program. She was given Army Reserve Sgt. Jim Schultz. "Dear Sgt. Schultz. Hi. You are in Iraq. I want to thank you. You are brave," Jannah Lynn wrote in November 2006. "Dear Jannah Lynn, Thank you for writing me. Being a soldier you have to be brave, you have to be strong, there's time you have to leave your family, but there's time you get to come back," he wrote, and included postcards with pictures of Iraq that she could take to class for show and tell. So began a correspondence with Jannah Lynn that would soon grow to include her four siblings and eventually their mother. And suddenly this soldier was not just serving his country. He was saving a family.

IN AN INSTANT
In one of the most anticipated books of the year, Lee Woodruff, along with her husband, Bob Woodruff, share their never-before-told story of romance, resilience, and survival following the tragedy that transformed their lives and gripped a nation. In January 2006, the Woodruffs seemed to have it all-a happy marriage and four beautiful children. Lee was a public relations executive and Bob had just been named co-anchor of ABC's World News Tonight. Then, while Bob was embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. He and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were hit, and Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him. In an Instant is the frank and compelling account of how Bob and Lee's lives came together, were blown apart, and then were miraculously put together again-and how they persevered, with grit but also with humor, through intense trauma and fear. Here are Lee's heartfelt memories of their courtship, their travels as Bob left a law practice behind and pursued his news career and Lee her freelance business, the glorious births of her children and the challenges of motherhood.

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