Companion to Bestselling Book Offers a Practical & Biblical Approach to Fighting Back Against Anxiety & Depression

‘Finding Rest’ Guiding Workbook by Jonathon M. Seidl helps individuals better understand themselves, God and the tools to combat mental health disorders 

DALLAS (Feb. 3, 2023) – Jonathon M. Seidl, author of the bestselling book “Finding Rest,” invites anyone affected by mental health disorders to join him on an action-based, thought-provoking and therapeutic journey to find peace, hope and healing in the new companion resource, “Finding Rest: An Invitation to Go Deeper” (Kregel Publications, Feb. 21, 2023).

The “Finding Rest” Guiding Workbook walks through each chapter of Seidl’s original book — “Finding Rest: Navigating the Valleys of Anxiety, Faith, and Life” — which chronicles Seidl’s personal journey while providing practical, scripturally-based insight into mental health disorders. That book immediately hit No. 1 on numerous Amazon bestseller category lists when it released in September 2021 and became a Top 100 bestselling book on all of Amazon. It is endorsed by leaders such as actor and producer Kirk Cameron, author Dr. Kathy Koch, pastor and The Gospel Coalition member Afshin Ziafat, and licensed professional counselor Michael Dawson, and has received praise from readers around the world who testify to how it has changed their lives.

Full of compelling new stories, scriptural truths and humor from Seidl – a guide who’s still in the process of overcoming crippling anxiety, life-altering OCD, and suicidal thoughts – the “Finding Rest” Guiding Workbook challenges readers to dive deep and answer tough questions as they consider how their struggles can be used for their good and God’s glory.

“This isn’t your normal stare-into-your-coffee-cup-and-smile type of resource. It’s meant to challenge you. It’s meant to push you. It’s meant to grow you,” writes Seidl. “I haven’t overcome in the past tense, but I am overcoming in the present tense. I’m journeying right along with you. In other words, I’m working on everything in this workbook right along with you. When I challenge you, I’m challenging myself as well. And I’m never going to ask you to do something I’m not willing to do.”

Mental health disorders have increased following the COVID-19 pandemic, and those within the Church are not immune. A 2022 Lifeway Research study found that 54% of the pastors said they “have known at least one church member who has been diagnosed with a severe mental illness such as clinical depression, bipolar or schizophrenia.” Further, 26% of pastors said they have personally struggled with some type of mental illness.

The “Finding Rest” Guiding Workbook not only gives those struggling helpful insight but also provides a lifeline for friends and family who long for ways to help relieve the suffering of their loved ones as well as thoughtful, needed paths for leaders in the Church and the general body of Christ to become a refuge of hope for the anxious.

“If you’re a friend or family member, you can be used by God. If you’re an anxiety sufferer, God can use others to help you, and He can use you to help others understand how He is at work amid your mental health struggles. It’s a beautiful, multifaceted story that shows us exactly how God can work,” Seidl writes.

“Finding Rest: An Invitation to Go Deeper” provides original content and key takeaways, Scripture, prayer prompts, introspective questions and plenty of space for journaling. Each chapter also links to exclusive chapter intro videos from Seidl via a QR code. The “Finding Rest” Guiding Workbook is intended to be done on an individual and personal level, or in a small-group setting.

The forward is written by Christian anxiety and OCD counselor Justin K. Hughes, MA, LPC.

“The ‘Finding Rest’ Guiding Workbook is on the front lines of a shifting epoch in history and the church,” Hughes writes. “Jon Seidl provides a call to action—led by personal example—to see and address mental health as part of the journey of what it means for Christians to love God with their whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.”

For more information, visit findrestnow.com.

About Jonathon M. Seidl
Jon Seidl is the founder and president of The Veritas Creative, a digital media consulting and content creation firm. For over a decade he has been telling stories. He’s written over 6,000 of them, first after helping start a top-50 news site, then as the editor-in-chief of the popular non-profit, I Am Second, and also created and oversaw Kirk Cameron’s media venture, TheCourage. Seidl’s passion is to help people with mental health struggles, while also sharing what he’s learned telling stories for—and working with—some of the media’s biggest names and organizations, including Glenn Beck, Kirk Cameron, and Chip and Joanna Gaines. He graduated with a degree in politics, philosophy, and economics from The King’s College in New York City and currently resides in Dallas, with his wife and two children.

MEMPHIS, TN. February 2023 — End Game Press is excited to announce that CNI Distribution will now serve as their warehouse and fulfillment center beginning in February this year. CNI Distribution is a division of Christian Network International and is one of the largest independent distributors in Contemporary Christian retailing.

CNI Distribution is located in Nashville, TN and has earned a reputation for exceptional, award-winning service and state of the art networking systems. They represent numerous ministries and publishers in the book, music, and film industry and deliver to markets all over the world.

End Game Press has experienced exponential growth since its beginning in 2021. They have contracted over 50 authors for more than 80 book projects through 2024, and they are looking forward to CNI’s partnership to achieve even greater success in the seasons to come.

“Each step of our journey has been bolstered by those willing to come alongside to offer their support and help to get us to the next level.” says Victoria Duerstock, founder of End Game Press. “We look forward to this next phase in our growth and for the opportunity to work with the exceptional team at CNI.”

About End Game Press
Launched by award-winning author Victoria Duerstock in 2020, End Game Press is a traditional publishing house where ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things. End Game Press puts authors first, educating them on the entirety of the publishing process, and providing them with the needed training to be successful. With a goal to create beauty and cultivate community, End Game Press publishes fiction, nonfiction, and children’s titles into both general and Christian markets. Learn more at www.endgamepress.com.

About CNI Distribution
CNI Distribution is an award-winning, 30-year-old fulfillment and distribution service in one of the Nation’s largest independently owned faith and family-based product suppliers. Founded in 1990 by Ed Clydesdale and a team of industry professionals, CNI is best known for exceptional turnaround, accuracy, and their highly customized services designed specifically for each publisher.

Media Contact: christina@endgamepress.com

CHARLOTTE, NC– The Good Book Company is excited to announce the upcoming release of God’s Big Promises Bible Storybook (The Good Book Company, September 2023).

This collection of 92 Bible stories is written by Carl Laferton, author of the bestselling book The Garden, The Curtain and The Cross (The Good Book Company, February 2016), and illustrated by Jennifer Davison, the artist behind the beloved kids’ book series Very Best Bible Stories (The Good Book Company).

Designed for reading aloud to kids from their earliest days, God’s Big Promises Bible Storybook contains vibrant and historically accurate illustrations as well as simple, faithful, kid-friendly retellings of Bible stories. Included are both familiar stories such as Noah’s  ark, David and Goliath, and Daniel and the lions’ den, along with lesser-known parts of the Bible like the golden calf, Joshua’s farewell, Isaiah, and Philip and the Ethiopian.

One of the unique features of the Bible Storybook are five themed paths to follow throughout, each one tracing one of God’s promises through Scripture. Readers can identify the promise being made and the promise being kept through memorable icons on the pages. This equips even very young readers to see that together, these 92 theologically faithful stories point to the one big story of the Bible: God making and keeping his promises to redeem his people.

Laferton, who serves as EVP Publishing at TGBC, says “From their youngest days, our kids need to hear the foundational stories of Scripture told faithfully as well as simply—and to see how they tell the big story of our promise-keeping God. My prayer is that young kids will grow up confident and excited that, through Jesus, God always keeps his promises.”

Reflecting on the decision to publish this new bible storybook, James Burstow, president of The Good Book Company, says, “A passion for God’s word is at the heart of everything we do at The Good Book Company and so we are thrilled to be launching this new Bible Storybook for younger children. So much prayer and careful thought has gone into the writing and illustration and now we can’t wait for families and churches around the world to start reading it together and rejoicing in our faithful, promise-keeping God!”

For media inquiries and access to promotional assets, contact: publicity@thegoodbook.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carl Laferton is EVP Publishing at TGBC. He is the bestselling author of the kids’ books The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross and The God Contest, and also serves as series editor of the God’s Word For You series. Before joining TGBC, he worked as a journalist, a teacher, and pastored a congregation in Hull. Carl is married to Lizzie and they have two children. He studied history at Oxford University.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Jennifer Davison is an illustrator from Northern Ireland. Having worked as a digital artist in the animation industry, Jennifer now pursues her passion for children’s picture books. She strives to have a deeper intimacy with God, while cultivating her spiritual gifts so that she can walk in the fullness of what God has called her to. Realising that creativity and spirituality are connected unlocked something in Jennifer. A desire to reveal heaven’s culture through creativity, to illustrate visuals that tell stories which have the power to transform lives.

ABOUT THE GOOD BOOK COMPANY
Founded in 1991, The Good Book Company (TGBC) is an international Christian publisher. Their Bible studies, books, devotionals, videos, tracts, evangelistic courses, and training materials are used throughout the English-speaking world, and in translation in over 35 languages worldwide. Everyone at TGBC is passionate about the Lord Jesus, His word, His church, and His gospel of grace. They create and publish biblical, relevant, and accessible resources that will encourage Christians to keep going, keep growing, and keep sharing their faith.

WaterBrook and Multnomah is pleased to announce that Jessica Kastner Keene has joined the publicity team as Publicity Manager, reporting Beverly Rykerd, VP, Director of Publicity. With nearly ten years of book publicity experience, Jessica comes from Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, where she has led hundreds of highly successful media campaigns for well-known authors and experts such as Cindy Williams, Toni Tennille, Mark Obama Ndesandjo, Caron Butler, and many more. Her titles have recently garnered national media attention in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox & Friends, The Today Show, CNN, Hannity, 60 Minutes, CBS This Morning, and many national NPR programs. 

Jessica has a background in journalism and is also the published author of Hiding from the Kids in My Prayer Closet and a writer in the Christian market, featured regularly on CBN.com, GodTV.com, Crosswalk.com, Beliefnet.com, and many more.

Jessica will bring her expertise and media savvy to WaterBrook and Multnomah’s Christian Living, women’s and some children’s titles. She will be working with such authors as ‘Dude Dad’ Taylor Calmus on the children’s book Dad and The Recycling-Bin Roller Coaster, award-winning author and neurosurgeon W. Lee Warren’s Hope is the First Dose, as well as Pastor Michael Todd’s next release.

WaterBrook and Multnomah are imprints of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.

Parasource Marketing and Distribution Limited located in Paris, Ontario, Canada, has had to make a very difficult decision to close operations on May 31, 2023.

Greg Tombs, President of Parasource said, “Following the pandemic, we have not seen the rebound that we would have expected on several fronts. The continued decline in CBA Bookstore numbers, along with a softening of the general market and only a partial direct-to-church volume rebound compared to 2019 levels, are the contributing factors. By contrast, our direct webstore, Parasource.com, is the one part of our business that has grown substantially over the past 2 years. It is our intention to find a buyer for our webstore and our strong on-line businesses.”

Parasource will continue operations to supply their customers – business as usual – through the Lent, Easter, Mother’s Day/Father’s Day periods.

“While having discussions with so many of our suppliers over the last week, it is clear that Parasource was widely respected and appreciated for the service we provided and the incredible staff we employed. I’m so very proud of our people and the way we have conducted our business over the years,” Greg added. “It was both our pleasure and calling to come alongside (para) and resource the Christian Community in Canada – as our name suggests.”

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. (February 2, 2023)— Every year, Discipleship.org compiles a list of the best books for disciplemaking published in the past year. This year, two NavPress titles were included in the list: Following Jesus: A Year of Disciplemaking and Movement-Building in the Gospels by Peter Roennfeldt and How to Save the World: Disciplemaking Made Simple by Alice Matagora.

“A great Bible study for a small group/discipleship group” is how Discipleship.org founder Bobby Harrington describes Peter Roennfeldt’s Following Jesus. Roennfeldt lives in Australia and trains Christians throughout the world in disciplemaking and church-planting movements. His book takes readers through five phases on display in the Gospels—from preparing people to be disciplemakers to multiplying leaders and ultimately galvanizing disciplemakers into a movement. Originally published in Australia, the fifty studies that make up the book are highly interactive with the goal of helping readers grasp a disciplemaking ethos and put it into practice.

How to Save the World is the debut book from Navigators leader Alice Matagora and draws on recent research conducted by The Navigators with the Barna Group. Ed Stetzer praises the book’s “honesty and humility,” while Navigators president Marvin Campbell calls it a “practical and holistic worldview of disciplemaking.” It made the list at Discipleship.org for being “practical, readable and helpful for those who desire to be more effective at disciple making.”

“We’re always grateful to see our releases resonate with friends such as the folks at Discipleship.org,” said NavPress publisher David Zimmerman. “The Great Commission call to make disciples is the privilege of every follower of Jesus, and a transformed world is its great promise. We’re proud to work with authors like Peter and Alice who help people find their way into this participation in God’s mission for us.”

Discipleship.org is a collaborative community of men and women committed to the discipleship lifestyle—being disciples of Jesus and making disciples of Jesus.

NavPress is the book publishing arm of The Navigators. With a rich catalog of bestselling books, ministry resources, and The Message® Bible, NavPress supports readers as they know Christ, make Him known, and help others do the same.®  Since 2014 NavPress has been in a publishing alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, one of the largest independently owned Christian publishers in the world. NavPress resources are sold, distributed, and marketed worldwide through Tyndale House Publishers.

For media inquiries, please contact: Katie Dodillet, katiedodillet@tyndale.com.

 

“Indescribable Activity Book for Kids: 150+ Mind-Stretching and Faith-Building Puzzles, Crosswords, STEM Experiments, and More About God and Science!” hits shelves April 4.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (February 2023) – For years, bestselling author and founder of the Passion movement Louie Giglio has encouraged kids to discover the wonders of the universe with his massively popular Indescribable Kids series, which has sold nearly one million copies. Now he is expanding the award-winning series with a new book Indescribable Activity Book for Kids: 150+ Mind-Stretching and Faith-Building Puzzles, Crosswords, STEM Experiments, and More About God and Science! releasing on Tuesday, April 4, 2023.

A follow-up to the bestselling kids’ devotionals Indescribable, Indescribable for Little Ones, How Great Is Our God and The Wonder of Creation, the Indescribable Activity Book for Kids invites children to embark on an interactive journey to learn more about God and the Bible in the series’ first activity book. The educational guide weaves together faith and science with key biblical truths, fun scientific facts, exciting STEM-based activities, beautiful photography, and vibrant illustrations.

“The Indescribable series was born out of a desire to share the Creation story in a way that kids could grasp the magnitude of the Lord’s greatness and grace. My hope is that this new activity book will provide kids with a hands-on resource to explore, discover, and engage with God and science,” says Giglio.

In the Indescribable Activity B­ook for Kids, children will explore the wonder of God’s creation at a whole new level! With more than 100 activities, this book includes:

• mazes, puzzles, riddles, and logic games
• word searches, crosswords, and complete-the-story exercises
• STEM projects for kids
• simple science projects and at-home activities
• ideas for helping your community and people around the world
• maps and diagrams
• coloring and drawing prompts and much more!

With bright, kid-friendly artwork by Lynsey Wilson and Nicola Anderson, this activity book is perfect for families looking for a faith-based, educational homeschooling resource, an activity to cure boredom at home, a fun diversion on car rides, and a healthy alternative to screen time.

Indescribable Activity Book for Kids: 150+ Mind-Stretching and Faith-Building Puzzles, Crosswords, STEM Experiments, and More About God and Science! (ISBN: 9781400235889) releases on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, everywhere books are sold.

More information about Louie Giglio can be found at louiegiglio.com. To learn more about the Indescribable Kids series, podcast, and to access free downloadable activity sheets and educator guides, visit www.indescribablekids.com.

About Louie Giglio
Louie Giglio is Pastor of Passion City Church and the Original Visionary of the Passion movement, which exists to call a generation to leverage their lives for the fame of Jesus. Since 1997, Passion Conferences has gathered collegiate-aged young people in events across the US and around the world. Most recently, Passion hosted 50,000+ in Mercedes-Benz Stadium and 1 million people joined online. Louie is the national-bestselling author of over a dozen books including his newest release, Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table, as well as Goliath Must Fall, Indescribable: 100 Devotions about God & Science, The Comeback, The Air I Breathe, I Am Not But I Know I Am, and others. Louie and Shelley make their home in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Tommy Nelson
Tommy Nelson® is the children’s division of Thomas Nelson. As a leading provider of Christian content, Tommy Nelson publishes a wide variety of high-quality, enjoyable products that are consistent with the teachings found in the Bible. Tommy Nelson’s award-winning products are designed to expand children’s imaginations and nurture their faith while inspiring them to develop a personal relationship with Jesus. For more information, visit https://www.tommynelson.com/.

Media contacts:
Megan Wordsworth, Publicity Manager, 615-902-1747, megan.wordsworth@harpercollins.com
Jen Roberts, Senior Marketing Director, 615-902-1190,  jen.roberts@harpercollins.com

 

Agile Christian Retailers Have the Advantage

(February 2, 2023) – Today, the Parable Group released its 2023 State of Christian Retail report, providing data and insights into the current climate within the Christian retailing industry. The report, titled Agile Not Fragile, draws on over 3 billion rows of data from over 220 U.S. Christian bookstores—and represents over $84 million in sales data, 2.3 million consumer receipts, and nationwide survey results. Important industry findings are explored to help strengthen business and ministry in the year ahead.

The report highlights surprising key findings: In 2022, sales showed a slight decrease from 2021—but a significant increase when compared to 2019, indicating that stores are performing better than they were pre-pandemic. Overall, same-store sales were up 12% over 2019. Additionally, a January 2023 nationwide survey revealed that 83% of Christian retailers indicated a positive outlook for the future.

Other report highlights include an analysis of Q4 sales, comparisons of bestsellers across channels, leading trends in product categories, and an exploration of Christian retailers’ agility in the marketplace.

Despite three years since the start of the pandemic, Christian retailers faced pandemic-related challenges in 2022—namely inflation, labor shortages, and soaring gas prices. Retailers that beat the year’s challenges leaned heavily on their resourcefulness: 89% of survey responders answered that they adapted their Christian retail ministry to combat challenges in 2022. 56% of retailers adjusted their inventory mix; 52% increased their prices, and 40% increased their digital marketing to attract both new and existing customers.

Generally speaking, retailers across the country reported similar trends: the return of customers to in-store shopping led to stable, not stellar, sales compared to 2021; stores are hosting more in-person and community events again; and many customers are feeling a pinch in their pocketbooks as the price of goods continues to rise.

“While 2022 fell short of 2021’s banner numbers and record-breaking holiday season, Christian retailers continue to demonstrate their agility and resolve,” stated Greg Squires, President of The Parable Group. “The retail leaders in our industry are meeting customers’ needs by drawing on their purpose-driven drive, resilience, hard work, and resourcefulness—it’s inspiring work with great kingdom impact.”

To view the report, click here. For a guided tour of the report, join The State of Christian Retail webinar, to be held on February 16th at 9 am PST. Register here.

The Parable Group helps Christian retailers, publishers, and ministries magnify their mission by connecting them to engaged Christian consumers, pastors, and church leaders. The San Luis Obispo, CA. based data-driven marketing agency and media group has served over 1000 Christian organizations since 1985. For more information, contact sally.ross@parable.com or visit www.parablegroup.com.

Contact: Sally Ross, (805) 329-4020, sally.ross@parable.com

A devotional reading Bible designed to give daily insight into the peace of God

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 2023 — Thomas Nelson, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, announces its partnership with author, pastor, and New Testament scholar Jeremiah J. Johnston, PhD, to release the NKJV Peace of God Bible. The project is scheduled for release in November 2024.

“If I were to describe the story of the Bible in a single word, I would use the word – peace,” says, Dr. Johnston, pastor of apologetics and cultural engagement at Prestonwood Baptist Church. “The concept of living in the peace of God appears nearly 600 times in Scripture, even more frequently than faith, love, and grace. It is God’s will for every believer to experience His constant peace, to flourish moment-by-moment, even in the midst of adversity and affliction.”

A daily reading Bible with dated devotions, the Peace of God Bible offers insight into the peace God provides and teaches readers how they can experience it in their lives. It includes hundreds of notes and introductions to every book, highlighting this topic’s presence in the text.

 “I’ve known Jeremiah for several years and was excited to learn of the work he’s done to teach on this key biblical topic,” said Philip Nation, vice president and publisher of Bibles for Thomas Nelson. “This Bible will be an invaluable resource for generations because of Jeremiah’s ability to take the reader by the hand and teach them the discipline of God’s peace through the lens of the realities they face.”

Trusted by millions of believers around the world, the New King James Version (NKJV) is a bestselling modern “word-for-word” biblical translation. It balances the literary beauty and familiarity of the King James tradition with an extraordinary commitment to preserving the grammar and structure of the underlying biblical languages. While the translator’s relied on the traditional Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic text used by the translators of the 1611 King James Version (KJV), the comprehensive translator notes offer important insights about the latest developments in biblical manuscript studies.

Jeremiah J. Johnston, PhD, (MDX, Oxford, UK) is the author of several books including Unanswered, Unimaginable, and Unleashing Peace. He serves as an Associate Pastor of Apologetics & Cultural Engagement at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX, and Dean of Spiritual Development at Prestonwood Christian Academy. Johnston also ministers internationally as the president of the Christian Thinkers Society.

About Thomas Nelson:
Thomas Nelson is a world leading publisher and provider of Christian content and has been providing readers with quality inspirational products for more than 200 years. As part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the publishing group provides multiple formats of award-winning Bibles, books, gift books, cookbooks, curriculum and digital content, with distribution of its products in more than 100 countries. Thomas Nelson, is headquartered in Nashville, TN. For additional information visit www.thomasnelson.com

Contact:  Amy Bigler, Senior Public Relations Manager, amy.bigler@harpercollins.com 

Holcomb Finished 2022 Strong with her First Christmas Book, Sounding Joy, landing at No. 4 ECPA Christian Juvenile Bestsellers, Christmas 2022

NASHVILLE, TENN. (JANUARY 24, 2023) Author and singer/songwriter Ellie Holcomb has achieved the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) Bronze Award for selling more than 100,000 copies of her debut children’s book, Who Sang The First Song, (B&H Publishing, 2018). The book hit the ECPA juvenile bestseller list and was a finalist for the 2019 Christian Book Award in the children’s category.

Illustrated by Kayla Harren, Who Sang the First Song? is an engaging board book with whimsical art, where Holcomb asks a childlike question and answers with a lovely lyrical tale that shows young readers that God our Maker sang the first song and created us all with a song to sing.

Holcomb has also authored two additional children’s books, Don’t Forget To Remember, and most recently her Christmas book, Sounding Joy, which landed at No. 4 on ECPA’s Christian Juvenile Bestsellers, Christmas 2022 list. With each of these children’s releases, she has simultaneously released original music with their own EPs. She also won the GMA Dove Award for “Children’s Album of the Year” in 2020 for her album, Sing: Remembering Songs. In addition, she has released a bestselling devotional, Fighting Words: 100 Days of Speaking Truth into the Darkness, which was released in 2021.

This year, she is kicking off the year with a new song, “Bones,” with her husband Drew Holcomb that was released this month. This precedes their “Drew & Ellie Residency Tour” that kicks off on February 9th hitting markets such as Atlanta, Dallas, New York City, Knoxville and Seattle. Tickets are on sale here.

About Ellie Holcomb:
For eight years, Ellie recorded and toured full-time with her husband’s band, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors, before stepping off the road when her first child was born. Her solo debut, As Sure As The Sun (2014), landed her a Top 10 hit and a GMA Dove Award for “New Artist of the Year.” Her critically-acclaimed sophomore LP, Red Sea Road, followed in 2017. In subsequent years, Holcomb has released three children’s books – each with a companion EP of original music written specifically for kids. The second of which debuted at the top of the Billboard Kids chart and earned her a Dove Award for “Children’s Album of the Year,” in 2020. In 2021, she released her third full-length solo project, Canyon, to much acclaim as well as earning her a second Top 10 radio single with the song, “I Will Carry You.” Her first adult book and devotional, Fighting Words: 100 Days of Speaking Truth into the Darkness, has spent many months on the ECPA Bestseller list. For more information visit: ellieholcomb.com