I met CJ Peterson, our special guest in this episode of the Blue Roads Changemaker Series, through a “matchmaking” service for podcasters. When she was kind enough to interview me for her podcast “The Journey is Real” about my work to cultivate homegrown changemakers (airing in late June), we got to talking afterward about her own work as a Changemaker. C. J. generously agreed to be a guest for the Blue Roads Changemaker Podcast so that my audience could learn about her work as an award-winning author, blogger, podcaster, and publisher working to change the world with her own unique voice while supporting the work of others as well. Her ongoing efforts to share her message in a variety of forms also includes work with youth and a self-sustaining farm project. Tune in below via the video, the written summary, or the podcast. Choose one format – or enjoy all three!
Homegrown CJ
C.J. calls herself an “Army brat” because her dad got an “engraved invitation” to that branch of the service. I take that to mean he was drafted into the U.S. Army while both her grandfather and husband served in the U.S. Navy. She’s proud of her family’s history of service that allowed her to get a broader perspective of the world while living all over the United States as a child. Alongside the geographic changes that come with military service, she takes pride in her family and her deep Texas roots.
“If anybody asks me what ‘country' I’m from, I say TEXAS! We’re proud of Texas!”
She’s also deeply grounded in the Christian faith that has guided her every step of her life. C.J. framed our conversation around her multiple, but overlapping, roles as a blogger, author, publisher, and podcaster, all focusing on the theme of “journeys” in one way or another.
Solution Focused CJ
Whether she’s writing books or blog posts, talking with her podcast guests, or helping authors to publish their own books, C.J. is fascinated by the lessons learned through the journeys of life. All her projects center around some kind of meaningful life journey.
Blog
Her Journey to Fruitfulness blog focuses on timeless lessons instead of trendy topics. She shares “joys, successes, mistakes and failures” while applying the spiritual life lessons learned from life’s ups and downs.
“We share our mistakes and our epic, fall-flat-on-our-face failures. If we can help somebody to not face the same failures and mistakes that we did, then it's worth putting out there.
Fiction
C.J. is a prolific writer of Christian-themed fiction. She calls her books “realistic, Christian fiction.”
My tagline is “While the stories are fiction, the journey is real.”
Her characters “go through it all and end up falling flat on their faces more times than not, but God picks them up, dusts them off, and sends them back on again.”
Her Team A.N.G.E.L. series brings spiritual lessons into the physical world and doesn’t shy away from themes of darkness, light, angels, and demons.
What’s particularly unique about C.J.’s novels is the way she blends in science fiction in a way that is creating a whole new genre she calls “Christian SciFi”. This just makes sense for C.J. as someone who identifies herself as a “SciFi geek” as well as a devout Christian. Both themes show up prominently throughout her writing.
I like to give back and help others. As they're enjoying a good read, maybe (they'll also gain) a change of perspective and a change of heart.
Her husband jokes that people either love or hate her books and there doesn’t seem to be an “in-between.” C.J. says she’s perfectly okay with that. She writes from her core and is true to her own identity.
“I tell people I'm a Ninja Christian.”
She sees some “trolls” who criticize her work but says she’d rather let her reader fans handle it. C.J. tries to stay out of any critique unless it offers real structural suggestions she can respond to positively.
For her, it’s the messages within the books she’s committed to. That doesn’t mean her novels are only intended for a Christian audience. She just hopes her readers follow the journey and get something out of them to think about.
The light of my life is to change someone's perspective on something or someone.
Publishing
Starting her own publishing company, Texas Sisters Press, in partnership with her sister seemed like a natural next step.
“I never fit in a box as an author. I started off as an indie.”
Now, their publishing company is committed to helping authors get their voices into the world. While not a Christian publishing company specifically, she does insist on family-friendly content.
Our only line is if our 88 year old mother who just passed away in January could have read it and not blushed, we’re good.
She and her sister treat the authors they accept into their publishing world as family, too. Not only does she help them with getting their manuscripts in proper order, but she helps them with the kind of marketing and branding that every author requires to get their books into the world.
We are helping authors get a leg up in the world…They’re not getting shoved out into the author world by themselves…That way, it’s not so scary and daunting…We want to change what publishing looks like. We want to make sure that the authors are taken care of. We want to make sure that they know what they're doing…We will back them with everything we've got.
C. J.'s Patchwork
Working with authors exposes C.J. to different perspectives, but she really credits the development of her worldview to her family’s military service that exposed her to more diversity than she may have gotten staying in one place.
Her podcast interviews have also exposed her to wide-ranging points of view. The Journey is Real Podcast features “Real people sharing a portion of their hearts.”
“I’ve met tons of fantastic people, literally from all over the world.”
Through her podcast, C.J. invites people with various passions and perspectives and doesn’t limit her guests to those sharing her religious views.
If there's somebody or something that I don't agree with, I try to find that key that allows us still to connect on a human level…It gets very interesting.
She notes that “A lot of times the cultural differences make a huge impact on how things are processed and how things are done. That's what made that person. My experience has made me. Their experience has made them…”
“Your viewpoint matters to me. How you see the world matters to me. I run into somebody. They're either a blessing or a lesson I had to learn.”
Changemaker CJ
C.J.’s work as a Changemaker casts ripples far and wide. Certainly, her readers and listeners are impacted by both the real and fictional lessons she shares, but she has also used her passion for making a difference more directly. Portions of her book proceeds go to support causes she is passionate about like a domestic violence shelter, a service organization that ships packages to those in active military service, and a counseling center for teens.
Her passion for sci-fi shows up again in her work mentoring teens in middle and high school where she labels the youth affectionately as “Young Padawan”, “Young Jedi” or “Master Jedi” according to their development as leaders and mentors in their own right.
I chose to work with teens because teens in the area that I work with, generally junior high, are wanting to know why they believe what they believe.
“They're working on their thought processes. They're working on where they fit into the world themselves.”
Unlike elementary students who are often told what and how to think, teens are ready to question things. C.J. encourages doing so as an important part of their developmental process.
C.J. is also passionate about the environment. She and her husband purchased a five-acre farm in 2019 intending to go from “ground zero to self-sustaining”. Called Serenity Acres Apiary, the farm is helping them learn what it takes to create a self-sustaining environment with a synergistic relationship between honey bees, fruit trees and other crops.
Their system of farming and convictions were tested this last winter with the widespread power outages in Texas after a series of major storms there, but C.J. and her husband faired much better than most of their neighbors. Their preparation and forethought paid off. With a stockpile of wood and water at the ready to put to good use on their “buck stove”, they kept warm and able to prepare simple meals. They currently have solar power with hopes to expand along with plans to install a well so they will be in even better shape should something like this happen again.
For C. J., the farm is about more than self sufficiency. It’s also a place to educate people about the critical importance of honey bees to the earth’s survival. C.J. shares information and lessons learned from farm life on her “Journey to Fruitfulness” blog as well.
When people are pouring honey by the gallons on their toast…they're not realizing that one teaspoon is one little bee's lifetime of work. They're not understanding the true value behind raw honey.
Bees get the pollen and take it back to their hive. They start working on storing honey and feeding the queen and making sure that the hive is growing. Our job is to make sure that they have the trees and the flowers to pollinate and the fruits and vegetables to pollinate. And in turn, they give us the raw honey that keeps us healthy. So there is a synergistic effect…
Always thinking ahead, C.J. dreams of building a huge space she will call the “Bee Hive.” The Bee Hive will be a shop, a library, and an education space:
Half plexiglass so people can see how we process the honey and see how that works and how we make the wax and how we can pour it into molds to make the candles… The center portion will be a little store with balms, lotions, candles, fruits, jellies, jams, vegetables along with a little library to share the work of her many author friends.
For C. J. the plan seems to be both about cross-promotion and “cross pollination” because after all:
God's already created everything we need to survive.
You can follow C.J.'s numerous projects at these links:
Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin
Take notice of all the ways her work is also supporting efforts to realize the Global Goals. Can you see how she's working for #3 Health and Well-being, #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, #11 Sustainable Communities, and #15 Life on Land? Let me know if you see any I've missed.
Get in touch to let us know what YOU and people you know are doing to realize these Global Goals by the year 2030. Surely, we can do it if we all work together and take our place as Changemakers!
CHECK OUT our CHANGEMAKER YOU course to help you get started today!
Patti cultivates homegrown changemakers prepared to step into their power and work with others to create the world they want to live in. Get in touch to find out how you can grow the social changemaker in yourself and those you serve with Blue Roads Changemaker YOU.
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Patti cultivates homegrown changemakers prepared to step into their power and work with others to create the world they want to live in. Get in touch to find out how you can grow the social changemaker in yourself and those you serve with Blue Roads Changemaker YOU.
