The ministry of fiction: Sharon Ewell Foster found an eager audience when she finally answered the call to write.

In his first letter to Peter, the Apostle Paul penned these words: "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

Sharon Ewell Foster, a pioneer in African American Christian fiction, epitomizes Paul's words. "I feel called to write just as someone who feels called into the ministry," says Foster, the author of five novels, including her latest, Ain't No Mountain (Bethany House Publishers, May 2004).

"I try to serve and love God and people through writing," she adds. "We were not called to just exist. When we do not carry out our responsibility to pursue our calling, not only do we let God down, but we allow other people who would benefit from our gifts to struggle needlessly. I'm writing to give people hope, to give them a new day."

Foster, 48, has been writing in earnest for less than a decade. A former federal government worker, she is divorced and has two grown children. Born in Marshall, Texas, and reared in East St. Louis, Illinois, Foster loved to read as a child. Her favorite authors included Toni Morrison and John Steinbeck.

Foster attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed her Bachelor of Arts in radio, TV and film at the University of Maryland's College Park campus.

After college, she began a career with the Department of Defense (which included many jobs, one of which was as a writing instructor) in suburban Washington, D.C.

When she could no longer resist the calling, beginning in 1997, Foster committed to getting up at five o'clock each morning to write for 45 minutes before going to work.

She never intended or expected to be published, but that changed when she very reluctantly attended a Christian writer's conference and got up the nerve to share her writing. Foster left with a publisher, an agent and an award for being the most promising writer.

Foster now writes full time and lives in Chicago, having recently moved there from Baltimore, where she was a member of New Psalmist Baptist Church. When Foster entered the realm of Christian fiction, she was one of very few blacks writing in the genre. As a result, Foster has had to take on the role of cultural ambassador in addition to writer. "White people don't always understand black people" she says. "Through my writing, I have forced white people to interact with people whom they have avoided or with whom they feel uncomfortable."

Racism, which she calls a demonic force, has been a theme in at least two of her books, Passing by Samaria (Multnomah Publishers, 1999) and Riding Through Shadows (Multnomah Publishers, 2001). "It is my Christian responsibility to speak truth, regardless of who gets uncomfortable. I might get pushed back, but I won't allow that to keep me from raising important issues that may not otherwise get raised."

Foster's next offering, Ain't No Valley, a sequel of sorts, is expected to be released in the summer of 2005. Foster is authoring a children's book entitled The Apple of His Eye, and a book of encouragement for African American men called Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. She hasn't yet found a publisher for these projects.

As a testament to her giftedness, Foster is the only African American recipient of the Christy Award, the highest honor attainable in Christian fiction. She was also honored by the Black Writer's Alliance with the Golden Pen Alliance for Best Inspirational book in 2001.

Kathryn V. Stanley is a BIBR contributing editor and a staff writer at Wright Publishing Company in Atlanta, Georgia.