by Stan Jantz, ECPA president
Thanks to the initiative of Chris Johnsen (Christian Art South Africa), Mark Taylor (Tyndale House Publishers), and Dwight Baker (Baker Publishing Group), ECPA hosted a live global prayer webcast on April 30 that was viewed on Zoom by 127 publishers, distributors, and retailers from 25 countries.
Dubbed the END Conference—which stands for “Enter a New Dimension” and “Experience New Dedication”—the 30-minute live webcast featured messages from Chris Johnsen and Mark Taylor, followed by a special time of prayer for the international publishing community by Stormie Omartian. I had the privilege of hosting this special webcast. As I watched, I could feel the Spirit of God uniting the global publishing community and our common mission to make the Christian message more widely known.
During the END Conference, viewers used the Zoom chat feature to indicate where they were located. It was amazing to see that people from France, Singapore, Brazil, Norway, Korea, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ukraine, Spain, Denmark, Japan, the UK, Canada, the Philippines, Germany, the U.S., China, Ghana, Nigeria, Hungary, South Africa, the Seychelles, and Malaysia were watching live. As Stormie concluded her prayer, I could not help but be moved.
Indeed, God is on the move through the publishing of Bibles, books and resources in a multitude of languages and locations. During this pandemic that is affecting every part of the world, people are searching for answers and meaning as never before. And with the technology tools available to us, the opportunity to publish and distribute biblically-based content in a variety of formats for a global audience has never been greater.
The END Conference was just the first of a series of webcasts ECPA has scheduled over the next two months. The ECPA board and standing committees are meeting via Zoom on May 4, and the Christian Book Award® celebration will be broadcast on the Microsoft Teams platform (courtesy of The knk Group) on May 5 at 1 pm Central time. On May 6, at 11 am Central time, the annual ECPA Member Meeting and Town Hall will be webcast live on Zoom.
Beginning on May 14, ECPA will be launching the Virtual Summit Series, a weekly webcast featuring conversations with publishing experts on trends and best practices in the wake of COVID-19. I will host these one-hour interactive webcasts, designed to share knowledge and information for our industry as we emerge from the current crisis and anticipate a future that is unlike anything we could have imagined just two months ago.
The Virtual Summit Series will be broadcast live on Thursdays from 10 to 11 am Central time via Zoom. Each webcast will include a time of Q&A so viewers can ask questions of the special guests. A complete program list, including the topics and guests, will be announced soon to ECPA members. To receive updates, sign up here.
Because the ECPA Virtual Summit Series is being sponsored by ECPA’s valued industry partners and service providers, these webcasts are being presented at no cost to ECPA members. However, you must register for each webcast in the six-week series.
In addition, you will need to register to view the Christian Book Award® winners webcast on May 5 and the ECPA Member Meeting and Town Hall on May 6.
