The Week's News in Christian Publishing

Bible Society Australia teams with Cameroon Bible Society to help fund trauma healing for girls and literacy programs for refugees

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It’s time… to heal the hurt

While most Australian girls enjoy a safe upbringing, it’s a different story in the central African country of Cameroon.

More than 20 per cent of Cameroon girls between the ages of 15 and 19 have been raped or sexually abused in their lifetime according to UNICEF.

However, the Cameroon Bible Society believes the situation is far worse for many.

Hundreds of young women and their families have been forced to flee from the Boko Haram extremist group in neighbouring Nigeria. They’re now refugees in Cameroon.

More than 80 were released by Boko Haram recently, but hundreds remain captive in northern Nigeria. Many of those women have been subjected to rape, forced marriages, beatings and even starvation.

The Bible Society of Cameroon, through Project Esther, is helping to break this cycle using the Bible as a vital healing and education tool.

Bible Society Australia is pleased to partner with our Cameroonian cousins. We want to help these vulnerable young women, and we need your help as well.

Our Cameroon Appeal is a holistic ministry for girls and young women, with a focus on trauma healing. Funds are also being sought for much needed literacy programmes for refugees.

A successful Appeal will help:

  • Prevent the cycle of abuse repeating itself.
  • Educate the next generation of Cameroon women and help them towards financial independence.
  • Heal hundreds of traumatised young women through God’s message of healing in the Bible.

Leonie remembers being raped repeatedly as an eight year old by three of her relatives. She says the programme has helped her enormously:

“I didn’t know that God could accept me as dirty as I was. But the good news I got was that God accepts us the way we are. I was assured and felt relieved and free from bondage, captivity and trauma. Now I am very happy because of the teachings I received from the Bible.”

There are many more similar stories. Our Cameroon Appeal will directly assist upwards of 19-hundred vulnerable young girls in Cameroon, as well as more than 11-hundred refugees.

Bible Society Australia is reaching out to the central African republic through Project Esther. We firmly believe it’s time to share these stories and continue the healing in Cameroon.

Chief Operating Officer Melissa Lipsett says “Bible Society is thrilled to see that our mission work is bearing fruit in Cameroon. Hearing that God’s Word is giving meaning to the lives of vulnerable young women is tremendously encouraging. But the need is great and there’s still much to be done”.

To arrange interviews with Bible Society Australia please contact: John Pearson,
Media & Communications Manager, Bible Society Australia, john.pearson@biblesociety.org.au, 0438 771 269

Fast facts:

  • In 2016, Bible Society Australia assisted 80,000 underprivileged young children to learn to read and write.
  • Bible Society Australia is currently supporting ten(10) major literacy projects across Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
  • From a world total of 757 million officially declared non-literates, Africa and south & west Asia are the areas of most literacy need in 2017.
  • A global literacy strategy was launched in June 2014 to guide the literacy work of all Bible Societies until at least 2019.
  • The Bible is the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book… approximately 5 billion copies were printed between 1815 and 2016.
  • In 2016, Bible Societies assisted in the completion of translations in 61 languages spoken by more than 428 million people, including millions of Africans.
  • Bible Societies, including Bible Society Australia, are currently working on over 400 translation projects around the world.
  • In China… more than 15 million copies of the Bible were printed in 2016 alone. That figure is tipped to double this year.
  • Worldwide, the YouVersion bible has been downloaded over 250 million times since its inception in 2008, with users reading and listening to more than 13 billion chapters of the Bible and creating one-billion–plus highlights and bookmarks.
  • Bible Society Australia shipped more than 215,000 full Bibles in 2016 as well as many new testaments and scripture portions. 
  • The Bible Society provides scriptures for Australians in more than 100 languages.
  • Bible Societies worldwide distribute more than 30 million Bibles each year.

WaterBrook & Multnomah mourn the loss of author Boris Vujicic

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Nick Vujicic with Boris Vujicic

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 16, 2017)—WaterBrook & Multnomah mourn the loss of  friend and author Boris Vujicic, who died May 14, 2017. 
 
Boris Vujicic is the father of New York Times best-selling author and international evangelist Nick Vujicic, who was born without any limbs. 
 
In Raising the Perfectly Imperfect Child: Facing Challenges with Strength, Courage, and Hope (WaterBrook) Boris shared the remarkable journey of how he and his wife, Dushka, overcame their grief, fears and badly shaken faith to raise an accomplished, faith-filled and perfectly imperfect son. WaterBrook released the book in hardcover in Spring 2016 and it is now also available in paperback.

Boris Vujicic served as Chief Systems and Financial Officer for Attitide is Altitude, Inc., the organization established by Nick Vujicic. Born in Yugoslavia, Boris immigrated with his family to Australia where he and his wife started two churches and helped in the missions and ministry of several more churches in other countries.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Vujicic family during this time. We have been honored to publish his book, which is a special gift to the body of Christ and the world,” said Alex Field, vice president and publisher of WaterBrook & Multnomah. 

For more information on Boris Vujicic and Raising the Perfectly Imperfect Child, visit www.waterbrookmultnomah.com.
 
WaterBrook & Multnomah Books are imprints of The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.  Penguin Random House (http://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/) is the world’s most global trade book publisher. It was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of an agreement between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin, with the parent companies owning 53% and 47%, respectively.  Penguin Random House comprises the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, and Penguin’s trade publishing activity in Asia and Brazil; DK worldwide; and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial’s Spanish-language companies in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.

Media Contact: Brett Benson at the WaterBrook & Multnomah Publicity Office at 719-264-5661 or bbenson@penguinrandomhouse.com

Christian Standard Bible® translation launch yields immediate bestsellers

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She Reads Truth™ Bible Dominates ECPA Bible Bestseller List
Christian Standard Bible® Debuts on Bible Translation Bestseller List

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 22, 2017) – The Christian Standard Bible® translation debuted in April with powerful sales, landing at #4 on a national Bible Translation bestseller list (ECPA (1)). Dominating the bestseller list for individual Bibles was the much-anticipated She Reads Truth™ Bible – occupying 3 of the top 10 bestseller spots on the May list. She Reads Truth Bible is one of the first to publish exclusively in the Christian Standard Bible® translation. This successful launch by Holman Bibles also enjoyed strong sales for the Big Picture Interactive Kids Bible and its Christian Standard Bible® text Bibles.

The Christian Standard Bible translation has seen adoption by churches and pastors, with leading ministry voices endorsing the translation such as Kyle Idleman, David Platt, Tony Evans, Lisa Harper, Eric Mason, Kelly Minter, Robby Gallaty, Michael Card, She Reads Truth, and more.

“The Christian Standard Bible hits the sweet spot between fidelity and readability,” explains Trevin Wax, Bible and Reference Publisher for LifeWay Christian Resources. “We’re proud to have exemplary products available from day one, including the She Reads Truth™ Bible, the Big Picture Interactive Kids Bible, and a variety of text Bibles.”

The founders of She Reads Truth™, Raechel Myers and Amanda Bible Williams, chose the CSB translation exclusively for their She Reads Truth™ Bible. Various bindings of the new Bible filled the top three slots of the ECPA Bible bestseller list this month.

“Scripture is a glorious collision of beauty, goodness and truth, and we pray this Bible will represent that,” explains Amanda Bible Williams, Chief Content Officer of She Reads Truth™.

Adds Raechel Myers, She Reads Truth™ CEO: “Our heart for the She Reads Truth Bible is not to add to or improve on the perfect and complete gift of Scripture God has given us. Rather, our heart is for everything we’ve included in this Bible to point back to God and His Word.”

The Christian Standard Bible®, a newly revised translation from Holman Bibles, prioritizes both accuracy and readability, making a trustworthy text for both pastors and church members. The CSB translation is available on all major Bible apps and portals. More new CSB Bible products will release this summer including the CSB Apologetics Study Bible, the CSB Apologetics Study Bible for Students and the CSB Read to Me Bible for children. In addition, David C. Cook chose the Christian Standard Bible as its featured translation in The Good Book project, which released this spring. Full details on the CSB translation and Bibles are available at www.CSBible.com.

B&H Publishing Group, an imprint of LifeWay Christian Resources, is a team of mission-minded people with a passion for taking God’s Word to the world. Because we believe Every Word Matters® we seek to provide intentional, Bible-centered content that positively impacts the hearts and minds of people, inspiring them to build a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ. Among our print and digital releases for the trade, church, and academic markets, titles include The New York Times No. 1 bestsellers The Love Dare and The Vow, #1 CBA bestseller I Am a Church Member as well as the newly-revised Christian Standard Bible (CSB) version.

Media Contact: Jana Muntsinger Jana@mmpublicrelations.com
281.251.0480 or 832.247.9308

(1) May 2017 ECPA bestseller lists reflect sales during April 2017, Evangelical Christian Publishers Association
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