{"id":655,"date":"2016-02-01T17:26:43","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T17:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/?p=655"},"modified":"2016-02-01T17:26:43","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T17:26:43","slug":"steven-funes-book-signing-blessed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/steven-funes-book-signing-blessed\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Funes book signing #Blessed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u200bOn Saturday February 20th from 12:00\u00ad3:00 Books, Beads, and More in Mechanicsville will host local poet and author, Steven Funes (Foo\u00adnez) for a book signing. Steven Funes is a Hanover County police officer and in February completes Lieutenant training in the Virginia National Guard. Funes\u2019 new book #Blessed is a collection of original poems that range from the love for his wife to his personal experiences as a Christian.<\/p>\n<p>The year 2010 was an instrumental year for Officer Funes as he began both his academic career and was also water baptized as he began his Christian walk in large part to his involvement in a campus ministry at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Those college experiences have motivated Funes to continue working with college students at his local church, Life Church on Atlee Road. These early years in Funes\u2019 life as a Christian were pivotal to his writing career. \u201cThe more I learned about God and grew as a Christian, the more I would write. Writing poetry became a way for me to process all that was happening in my life such as college, meeting the woman that later would become my wife, and my experience with God as a new Christian,\u201d said Funes.<\/p>\n<p>In those formative years Funes would visit poetry slams (public competitions where poets share their original work) in the Richmond metro area and recite his work as a way in which to witness to his newfound faith. \u201cThe closer I got to God, the more I wrote. I found that I had a gift and I wanted to use it for God,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"656\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/steven-funes-book-signing-blessed\/blessedbook\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/blessedbook.jpg?fit=264%2C264\" data-orig-size=\"264,264\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 5s&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1450888585&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.15&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;32&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0294117647059&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"blessedbook\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/blessedbook.jpg?fit=264%2C264\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-656\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/blessedbook.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"blessedbook\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/blessedbook.jpg?resize=150%2C150 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/blessedbook.jpg?w=264 264w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>Deputy Funes began his law enforcement career as a correctional officer, received his Bachelor\u2019s degree from VCU in Homeland Security, and presently serves as a military officer and patrol deputy. When asked how all of his law enforcement background syncs with his future career as a Christian minister and presently as a poet he said, \u201cThere\u2019s something consistent that I see in every professional and religious endeavor that I participate in, and that is brokenness in people\u2019s lives. We are all good at putting on a show on the outside when we are really crying out with a need for something that has meaning on the inside. My poetry is a way to dig a little deeper with the prayer that my readers will sense that hope exists in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the publishing of his book #Blessed in November 2015, both Funes and his wife Jazmine started the \u201cBlessed Foundation\u201d a Virginia non\u00adprofit that donates 100% of the book sales to area campus ministries, foreign missionaries, domestic homeless victims, military veterans and a host of others. Steven Funes believes that his talent for writing should be used for blessing others and not making a profit. While using his book #Blessed as a catalyst, The Blessed Foundation hopes to raise $10,000 in a 2016 to donate to those in need.<\/p>\n<p>On February 20th Funes will be onsite at Books, Beads, and More to autograph copies of his new book, take photographs, and to share his heart for the \u201cBlessed Foundation.\u201d If you would like to donate to the \u201cBlessed Foundation\u201d, want to purchase a book, or are interested in more information about Steven Funes, you can visit his website at www.BlessedFoundation.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u200bOn Saturday February 20th from 12:00\u00ad3:00 Books, Beads, and More in Mechanicsville will host local poet and author, Steven Funes (Foo\u00adnez) for a book signing. Steven Funes is a Hanover County police officer and in February completes Lieutenant training in the Virginia National Guard. Funes\u2019 new book #Blessed is a collection of original poems that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-literature","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Steven Funes book signing #Blessed - Books Beads &amp; More<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/steven-funes-book-signing-blessed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Steven Funes book signing #Blessed - Books Beads &amp; More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u200bOn Saturday February 20th from 12:00\u00ad3:00 Books, Beads, and More in Mechanicsville will host local poet and author, Steven Funes (Foo\u00adnez) for a book signing. 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Funes\u2019 new book #Blessed is a collection of original poems that [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/steven-funes-book-signing-blessed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Books Beads &amp; More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BooksBeadsMore\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-01T17:26:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/booksbeadsmore.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/blessedbook-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/booksbeadsmore.com\\\/staging\\\/steven-funes-book-signing-blessed\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/booksbeadsmore.com\\\/staging\\\/steven-funes-book-signing-blessed\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Erin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/booksbeadsmore.com\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/41cdb781bd84620347677a84107e9c6c\"},\"headline\":\"Steven Funes book signing #Blessed\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-01T17:26:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/booksbeadsmore.com\\\/staging\\\/steven-funes-book-signing-blessed\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":554,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/booksbeadsmore.com\\\/staging\\\/steven-funes-book-signing-blessed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/booksbeadsmore.com\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/blessedbook-150x150.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Books &amp; 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