In Profile: Vanessa Miller, Ordained ‘Exhorter’ Encourages Her Readers

By Marcia Ford — Publishers Weekly, 4/27/2010

At Vanessa Miller’s church in Dayton, Ohio, a woman known as an “exhorter” greets worshippers with encouraging comments like, “You know you’re blessed, right?” or “God’s got something good in store for you, just wait and see.” Miller, herself an ordained exhorter, says she hopes to accomplish much the same thing for readers by offering stories of redemption, restoration, and forgiveness.

In her latest book, Yesterday’s Promise (Whitaker House, Apr.), Miller explores the concept of forgiveness through an unusual issue for an evangelical Christian novel: the controversy over female preachers. Because her bishop is female and women frequently preach at her church, Miller was unaware of the highly charged emotions the issue sometimes provokes.

“I came up with the idea for Yesterday’s Promise after meeting a woman who was promoting a book about women struggling to preach,” Miller says. “A man walked into the room where we were trying to sell our books. He walked right over to this lady’s table and began telling her how she was wrong and that women had no business preaching to men. At that moment I knew I had to write this story. The book is my salute to women in ministry.”

The title is the first in Miller’s Second Chance at Love series, with the second, A Love for Tomorrow, scheduled for release in October. A former self-published author, Miller learned to publicize her own books and now develops a marketing campaign for each of her releases. In addition, she tours with Anointed Authors, a group of seven writers that she cofounded. The group offers dramatic and musical presentations, spoken word and poetry readings, and writers’ workshops.