By Jeff Crosby, ECPA Board Chair and InterVarsity Press Publisher

October 19, 2020 — The writer of Ecclesiastes captured a truth that has been handed down for centuries through scripture, books and popular song: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (3:1, ESV).

I’m writing as ECPA’s board chair to announce that Stan Jantz, who has served our Association with excellence for more than five years as president, has informed the board of directors that June 30, 2021 will be his final day in that role and we have begun the planning process for choosing his successor.

What Stan has brought to ECPA throughout his tenure has given us an excellent window into the qualities and experience the search committee and the full board will look for in our next president:

• A person who is well connected in the publishing industry and adjacent networks
• A leader who is highly relational, cares for, leads, and equips ECPA’s staff while also serving the Association’s members
• A person who is sensitive to, and will provide leadership for, diversity issues within publishing
• Someone who marries organizational acumen with an entrepreneurial spirit and is able to adapt as marketplace challenges call for it
• A careful financial steward
• A person who is hard-working, servant-hearted, and grounded in the word of God.   

From Dan Kok, ECPA board vice chair and SVP of Crossway:

“It is evident to all of us who have served with Stan that his work with ECPA flows from his love for the Lord. Colossians 3:17 says, ‘And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.’  Stan embodies that truth as president of ECPA.  His relentless pursuit of excellence combined with a spirit of humbleness and thankfulness has been a tremendous encouragement to me.”

Stan has set the leadership bar for ECPA very high, but the board of directors on which I serve is confident that God is raising up a woman or man to lead us as we approach our forty-eighth year as an Association and into the future. On behalf of the board, I invite you to pray for Stan, the ECPA staff, and the board as we give careful attention to this succession planning process.

Sincerely,

 

 

WESTMONT, IL—InterVarsity Press is pleased to announce that Esau McCaulley, author of Reading While Black, was named the winner of the 2020 Emerging Public Intellectual Award. The award, hosted by Redeemer University and sponsored by Acton Institute, Cardus, the Center for Public Justice, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), and Henry Institute, is intended to recognize and foster emerging talent, those working in the Christian academy who excel in both academic and public spheres and whose work affects the common good.

“His work is profound and important, provocative, accessible, and of the moment,” said Dr. Stan Rosenberg, vice president for research and scholarship at the CCCU. “He not only challenges his readers to think critically and carefully, he asks the challenging questions in a manner that urges you to think and act together with him and the broader community. His work inspires us to seriously engage ‘Black ecclesial interpretation’ and in doing so reach toward a better Biblical hermeneutic sensitive to a greater depth and variety of cultural manifestations. We can then more honestly and adequately worship and read about the work of God that crosses cultures, deeply incarnates each in particular ways, and builds a bigger picture of God wherein each culture’s insights complement the others.”

Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope is a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation. Growing up in the American South, McCaulley knew firsthand the ongoing struggle between despair and hope that marks the lives of some in the African American context. A key element in the fight for hope, he discovered, has long been the practice of Bible reading and interpretation that comes out of traditional Black churches. This ecclesial tradition is often disregarded or viewed with suspicion by much of the wider church and academy, but it has something vital to say.

At a time in which some within the African American community are questioning the place of the Christian faith in the struggle for justice, McCaulley, a New Testament scholar, argues that reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition is invaluable for connecting with a rich faith history and addressing the urgent issues of our times. He advocates for a model of interpretation that involves an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, in which the particular questions coming out of Black communities are given pride of place and the Bible is given space to respond by affirming, challenging, and at times reshaping Black concerns. McCaulley demonstrates this model with studies on how Scripture speaks to topics often overlooked by white interpreters, such as ethnicity, political protest, policing, and slavery.

“When I first met Esau three years ago, I sensed that his voice was an important one,” said Anna Moseley Gissing, associate editor for IVP Academic. “His passion for the Bible and for racial justice were clear from the start, and his vision for highlighting Black ecclesial interpretation was compelling. Since then, many have been attracted to Esau’s serious theological reflection and biblical interpretation combined with his charisma, courage, and authenticity. Reading While Black is resonating with a wide audience, and Esau is indeed emerging as a public theologian.”

Ultimately McCaulley calls the church to a dynamic theological engagement with Scripture, in which Christians of diverse backgrounds dialogue with their own social location as well as the cultures of others. Reading While Black moves the conversation forward.

“This type of interpretation has provided hope because when the enslaved Black and Brown people turned to these texts they discovered in them a God who is a friend and not an enemy,” says McCaulley. “The incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ stand at the center of all my hopes. Hope is not in this passage or that one. The whole of the Bible is bursting with possibility.”

McCaulley (PhD, St. Andrews) is assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, a priest in the Anglican Church in North America, and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. He is also the host of The Disrupters podcast. His publications include Sharing in the Son’s Inheritance and numerous articles in outlets such as Christianity Today, The Witness, and the Washington Post. McCaulley is a military spouse and is married to his beautiful wife, Mandy, a pediatrician. Together, they have four wonderful children.

McCaulley aims to point out that everyone comes to Scripture with different life experiences and cultural perspectives. “Black biblical interpretation simply puts a name to a common reality that we are all shaped by our experiences and we bring those experiences to the process of interpretation,” he said. “This does not mean that the text changes in meaning depending on your ethnicity or race. That would be a strange idea! But it does mean that I might have some insights because I came to the text asking a particular set of questions that others might not ask because they didn’t have those experiences. That is also true going the other way. Other cultures might be able to point out my blind spots. The goal is that together we might discern what God would have us do.”

This fall, Redeemer will facilitate discussion groups among students, faculty, and staff about McCaulley’s book and promote book clubs to the larger church community. “We’re looking forward to engaging in conversations about race and diversity from a Reformed Christian perspective and we’re excited to be able to use this book as a starting point for discussion,” says Dr. David Zietsma, provost and vice president, academic. “It provides a much-needed Black perspective at this time in history.”

Though McCaulley says his entry into the public square through speaking and writing has been unexpected, he wants people to know that anyone wondering about the church’s message in this moment could benefit from his book. “Although it is focused on the particular questions being raised by the African American community, it is not a book closed off from the rest of the church and the world.”

“I hope that my writing and speaking models a combination of rigorous theological reflection, careful biblical interpretation, and a realistic analysis of the present moment,” McCaulley said. “I hope that people can see that the Scriptures, the church, and most importantly God himself has something to say about every arena of thought and action.”

Contact: Krista Clayton | 630.734.4013 | kclayton@ivpress.com

New Media Idea Book now available with a complete list of books and experts on politics, race, justice and other timely topics. 

[NASHVILLE, TENN., October 9, 2020—] The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) recognized LifeWay’s B&H Publishing for a pair of Top Shelf Book Cover Awards on October 1 via a webcast with author Ruth Chou Simons.

The two B&H honors went to “For All Who Wander” by Robin Dance and “A Holy Pursuit” by Dianne Jago. Art direction for each title was overseen respectively by Jade Novak and Susan Browne.

“I’m thrilled to see Jade and Susan recognized in this way,” said Bill Craig, senior vice president of publishing for LifeWay. “They use their God-given gifts and talent to design covers that beautifully reflect the content of the message and draw in readers. Susan’s and Jade’s work are vibrant expressions of LifeWay’s mission statement: “Designing trustworthy experiences that fuel ministry.”

“For All Who Wander: Why Knowing God is Better Than Knowing It All” was published by B&H this January. The book helps readers wrestle with Mark 9:24—“Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief”—as it describes how to exercise faith during seasons when heartbreak and challenges stir doubt.

The ethereal design conveys the idea of wandering, said the designer, as dandelion seeds float aimlessly on the wind on a dreamlike/hazy background.

“I made a very good call, selecting Lindy Martin from FaceOut Studio to design this cover for us,” said Novak. “She did a great job of interpreting the concept and tone of the book and went the extra mile by designing a two-part cover incorporating the first interior page.”

“A Holy Pursuit: How the Gospel Frees Us to Follow and Lay Down Our Dreams” was published by B&H in March. It examines opposing messages Christians face—one being to follow one’s heart and dreams no matter the cost, and the other to lay down one’s dreams and passions, avoiding all self-interest.

Instead of looking inward, the book argues, Christians should look upward as they determine their God-given purpose as the foundation for their hopes and dreams.

“The idea of laying down your dreams doesn’t lend itself to beautiful imagery,” said the designer. “However, that was the challenge we wanted to explore—can we make a concept that sounds restrictive and sad feel alive and hopeful?”

To achieve this, the designer used painterly leaves and a calm background to create a harmony that mimics the peace one finds when looking outside of oneself.

“Our goal was to create a clean design with an artistic look that was beautiful, feminine, neutral in tone, and preferably achieved without the use of photography,” said Browne. “Once we married the perfect botanical touch to the font-forward design solution, a sculptor brought to life the dimensional quality of art with embossing of the printed cover.”

The Top Shelf Award program is managed by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association in order to recognize design excellence in the Christian publishing industry.

“These covers not only showcase the creative skill of the talented book cover designers in our industry, but they also tell the story of the valuable content contained inside, providing a graphic glimpse of the author’s intent in writing the book,” stated Stan Jantz, CEO and president of the ECPA.

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,” No. 1 CBA bestseller “I Am a Church Member,” as well as the newly-revised Christian Standard Bible (CSB) version.

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Written by Aaron Wilson, LifeWay Corporate Communications editor

[NASHVILLE, TENN., October 6, 2020—] Fear, anxiety, panic and paranoia could be used to describe most people’s experience of 2020. A global pandemic—and all the ways it has turned “normal life” upside down—has taken its toll on our mental health and our sense of safety and belonging.

“The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul,” (B&H Publishing, Oct. 6, 2020), the latest book from bestselling and award-winning author Russell Moore, offers a bold and relevant message for those who struggle to face the unknown, fight fear that can be paralyzing and find courage when they need it most.

President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Russell Moore is the author of several books, including “The Storm-Tossed Family,” “Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches,” and the bestselling “Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel.”

Moore writes that the root of our fear is that we might lose our belonging to whatever tribe in which we seek safety, the fear that we might have to stand alone. He calls readers to a Christ-centered courage that equips us to face our fear and keep walking toward the voice that calls us homeward.

“The way of courage, as defined by the gospel, is not the pagan virtue of steeliness and fearlessness, much less our ambient culture’s picture of winning and displaying, or strength and swagger. The call to courage is terrifying because the call to courage is a call to be crucified,” Moore says.

Moore uses the model of Elijah to explain that the way of the cross is the way to real freedom from fear: finding integrity through brokenness, community through loneliness, power through weakness, and a future through irrelevance.

“We do not see in Elijah a picture of courage-through-triumph but of courage-through- crucifixion,” Moore says. “Elijah is not, then, a ‘role-model’ or example for us of courage. His life was a dramatic enactment, ahead of time, of the cross, just as your life is a dramatic enactment, after the fact, of that same cross. At the moment of crisis and collapse, that’s when he encountered God.

And that’s where he, and we, can find the courage to stand. The courage to stand is found in the courage to be crucified.”

“These days, in our new global discourse, are so fraught and so fragmented by forms of cowardice parading as courage (mainly online),” said Devin Maddox, B&H Publisher. “Russell Moore has given such a gift to the Church in his new book, one that unmasks fake courage with a frame assembled with biblical truth.”

Find out more online at russellmoore.com/courage-to-stand/.

Russell Moore is president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. “The Wall Street Journal” called him “vigorous, cheerful, and fiercely articulate.” He is the author of several books, including “The Storm-Tossed Family,” “Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches,” and the bestselling “Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel.” He and his wife Maria are the parents of five sons.

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,” No. 1 CBA bestseller “I Am a Church Member,” as well as the newly-revised Christian Standard Bible (CSB) version.

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 7, 2020 — Ligonier Ministries will release the first episode of a new podcast, Luther: In Real Time, on October 10. As its title suggests, the dramatic podcast enables listeners to walk in Martin Luther’s footsteps five hundred years to the day, from his heresy charges on October 10, 1520, to his famous stand for God’s Word at the Diet of Worms in April 1521. Listeners should subscribe to the podcast soon in order to receive each episode exactly five centuries after every twist and turn. More information is available at LutherInRealTime.com.

Written by Douglas Bond, Director for the Oxford Creative Writing Master Class, and presented by Barry Cooper, supervising producer at Ligonier Ministries and host of the Simply Put podcast, Luther: In Real Time brings to life the drama at the dawn of the Protestant Reformation. Taking place three years after Luther has hammered his Ninety-Five Theses to the Castle Church door at Wittenberg, the first episode begins with the envoy of Pope Leo X knocking on Luther’s door with a dire message from the most powerful man on earth. This sets in motion events that God will use to change the world.

As the podcast was created to provide a real-time experience of Luther’s journey from an anguished Augustinian monk to the great German Reformer, each new episode will be released on the five-hundredth anniversary of important moments in Luther’s life. This means that new episodes will be released on varying days of the week, though listeners can expect to hear a new episode every week beginning October 10.

Chris Larson, president and CEO of Ligonier Ministries, said:”Our founder, Dr. R.C. Sproul, often reminded us of a lesson he learned from Martin Luther: every generation must declare with boldness and clarity the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the supreme authority of the Bible. This new podcast, Luther: In Real Time, is unlike anything Ligonier has produced to date. Carefully researched, each episode draws listeners into the action of Luther’s life five centuries to the day. This production is not mere entertainment; it is a close look into defining moments for the Protestant Reformation. Church history provides vivid reminders of God’s faithfulness to His church, and this short period in Luther’s life was particularly full of dramatic twists and turns. We encourage Christians to listen with their families and to share this podcast with people of all ages so that as many people as possible can hear—in Luther’s own words—what Protestants are protesting and why it still matters today.”A preview of the podcast is now available at LutherInRealTime.com. Beginning October 10, listeners can hear new episodes on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pandora, RefNet, RSS, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn.

About Ligonier Ministries
Ligonier Ministries exists to proclaim, teach, and defend the holiness of God in all its fullness to as many people as possible. To that end, Ligonier’s outreach today is manifold and worldwide. Founded by Dr. R.C. Sproul in 1971, Ligonier’s teaching fellowship consists of theologians, pastors, and scholars. Ligonier publishes Renewing Your Mind broadcasts, the Reformation Study Bible, Tabletalk magazine, books through Reformation Trust, and hundreds of teaching series. The ministry also offers an undergraduate degree program through Reformation Bible College. In addition, Ligonier hosts national and regional conferences, provides an online learning community through Ligonier Connect, streams 24-hour Christian Internet radio through RefNet, answers biblical and theological questions with Ask Ligonier, pursues numerous translation efforts in other countries, and makes available thousands of unique educational resources online at Ligonier.org.

CONTACT: Deborah Finnamore, Publicity Manager, 407-333-4244 ext. 1158, definnamore@ligonier.org

Adoptive parents often discover that opening their hearts to adoption was the easy part. It’s the emotional journey after the surrender to the idea of adoption that leads to the hard seasons of testing. In Hope When It’s Hard, author Jennifer Phillips beautifully weaves together elements of her personal adoption journey with Scripture and encouraging words that will feed the soul of an adoptive parent. Jennifer’s authenticity will lead parents to finally feel understood, with the ability to finally see the beauty of God’s adoptive heart.

“I’ve prayed, dreamed, and longed for the book you now hold in your hands. The God who awaits you in these pages answered that prayer through my friend Jennifer Phillips. This is a powerful, honest, and beautiful devotional for families who have adopted, fostered, or contemplated either. In these pages, you will be captivated by a God who pursues you daily, combating your orphan mentality and heart with His work of grace.”  — Herbie Newell, President and Executive Director of Lifeline Children’s Services

About the Author:
Jennifer Phillips, author of the widely praised book Bringing Lucy Home, is an adoptive parent to a loving little girl she and her husband affectionately named Lucy. A psychology graduate of Samford University (Birmingham, Alabama), she served as executive director for the local Sav-A-Life, a national network of crisis pregnancy centers. She and her family lived in Brisbane, Australia, where her husband Brian served with University Impact, a franchise of Campus Outreach. She has four children, including one precious Chinese daughter Lucy, and now lives in Alabama. For more information, visit her blog at jenniferphillipsblog.com.

Sample Chapters

Sample Questions:

1. How and when did you feel led to adoption?
2. What do you hope readers take away from this book?
3. What is the best advice you have for adoptive parents?

Release Date: 10/14/2020
ISBN-13: 9781563094200
Retail Price: $12.99

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Book Jennifer Phillips as a guest speaker by emailing
Media Contact: Kim McCulla, kim.mcculla@ironstreammedia.com

Grand Rapids, Mich., Oct. 2020 — Racism is pervasive in today’s world, and many are complicit in the failure to confront its evils. Jemar Tisby, author of the award-winning The Color of Compromise, believes we need to move beyond mere discussions about racism and begin equipping people with the practical tools to fight against it.

How to Fight Racism provides a practical framework for pursuing racial justice with hands-on suggestions bolstered by real-world examples of change. Tisby offers an array of actionable items to confront racism in our relationships and in everyday life through a simple model–the A.R.C. Of Racial Justice–that helps readers consistently interrogate their own behaviors and develop a disposition toward equity and action.

Tisby provides an opportunity to be part of the solution and suggests that the application of these principles can offer us hope that will transform our nation and the world. Tisby encourages us to reject passivity and become active participants in the struggle for human dignity across racial and ethnic lines. Readers of the book will come away with a clear model for how to think about race in productive ways and a compelling call to dismantle a social hierarchy long stratified by skin color.

About the Author:  Jemar Tisby (BA, University of Notre Dame; MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is president of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, where he writes about race, religion, politics, and culture and cohosts the Pass The Mic podcast. His writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and CNN. His latest piece for The Atlantic is “The Familial Language of Black Grief.”

Tisby is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Mississippi with a focus on race, religion, and social movements in the twentieth century.

Web site:             www.JemarTisby.com
Twitter:                @JemarTisby
Facebook:           @JemarTisby1
Instagram:          @jemartisby

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For author interview requests, excerpts, and images please contact:
Amy Bigler, Amy.Bigler@HarperCollins.com   

For advanced access to this title, log in to your NetGalley account or follow this link:  How to Fight Racism

WESTMONT, IL—IVP author Terence Lester has received the 2020 American Express NGen Leadership Award. Each year Independent Sector presents the American Express NGen Leadership Award to one emerging leader age forty and under whose creative and collaborative leadership is accelerating transformative social and community change. Lester is an activist, systemic poverty thought leader, founder of Love Beyond Walls, and author of I See You and the forthcoming When We Stand.

Lester was among a pool of more than eighty nominees considered by IS staff and their selection committee. As the recipient of the award, Terence will receive an honorarium intended to support his work and/or further his leadership development.

Al Hsu, senior editor at IVP, said, “Terence continues to amaze and inspire us with his example of faith in action. Congratulations, Terence! May your work continue to bless many and encourage others to join you.”

In 2013 Terence founded Love Beyond Walls, a nonprofit that provides dignity to the homeless and poor by offering a voice, visibility, shelter, community, and grooming and support services to achieve self-sufficiency in Atlanta and beyond. In 2019 he launched Dignity Museum, the first traveling museum in the United States that represents homelessness out of a shipping container, using interactive technology, research, storytelling, exhibits, and thought-provoking questions that help visitors confront their ideas of homelessness and the challenges of escaping it.

In March 2020 as the coronavirus started to spread, Lester came up with the idea to set up portable washbasins that are sold for RVs and camping. With the help of Grammy-winning artist Lecrae and Reach Records, Love Beyond Walls started the Love Sinks In campaign and now has handwashing stations in nearly thirty cities around the country. The inspiring story caught the attention of media outlets around the world, including CNN, Good Morning America, Today, Disney, The Weather Channel, International Business Times, NY Daily News, USA News Hub, MSN, Reader’s Digest, and countless others.

Having been homeless as a teenager, Lester knows the challenges of living on the streets. In an interview on The Bright Side with Katie Couric, he said, “My experiences with homelessness resulted in my life calling. . . . I feel very grateful each day I get up and I get a chance to do this work. I’ve devoted my entire life to this service.”

Lester writes about his call to help the overlooked in I See You: How Love Opens Our Eyes to Invisible People. He describes personal encounters and real-life stories with the “invisible” in an effort to challenge others to become more informed about poverty and homelessness and to see the poor as Jesus does.

In May 2021 Lester will release his second book, When We Stand: The Power of Seeking Justice Together. He writes about the obstacles that prevent people from getting involved in pursuing justice and offers practical ways to accomplish more together as groups, families, churches, and communities. He helps people find their place in the larger picture, discerning the unique ways each person can contribute and make a difference. Lecrae said, “Terence Lester is a leader. His words about personal and societal change should not be taken for granted. This book is a gift.”

Hsu said, “When the world is paralyzed, Terence Lester acts. And his creative and compassionate actions inspire the rest of us to follow his lead.”

Contact: Krista Clayton | 630.734.4013 | kclayton@ivpress.com

New Media Idea Book now available with a complete list of books and experts on politics, race, justice and other timely topics. 

WESTMONT, IL—Mark Lanier, author of Christianity on Trial and one of the top civil trial lawyers in America, has signed a contract with InterVarsity Press to release his next book, tentatively titled World Religions on Trial, in Spring 2022.

During the past thirty years, Lanier has taken on some of the biggest challenges in the legal field. In doing so, he has achieved some of the largest verdicts in history, accomplishments that have changed business practices to protect the public and have gained justice for the victims of dangerous drugs, medical devices, and other consumer products. In addition, he has successfully represented a select number of clients in claims involving fraud, breach of contract and other forms of business litigation.

These results cumulatively put Lanier close to $20 billion in verdicts during his highly acclaimed career.

Lanier’s success in the courtroom and perspectives on litigation have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Bloomberg News and the Houston Chronicle, among many other publications. He is also a frequent guest on news and business programs for a wide range of broadcast and cable networks.

Drawing on his extensive law career Lanier applied the same legal principles to his first book, Christianity on Trial, and now turns his attention to world religions. He said, “In this new book I present truth claims made by the world’s great religions, discuss their history, cross-examine their witnesses (scriptures and traditions), and determine whether I find claims meritorious and worthy of my belief.”

“The book is written for people who are puzzled by a dizzying array of religious options.  They have friends, neighbors, and co-workers who practice these religions, but they know little about them.  They wonder: are they true?  Is one faith just as good as another?  In that sense, what is most important, many do not know how their own faith compares nor how they should respond.  They worry that if they learn about other faiths, it may dilute their energy and passion for their own. Using a lawyer’s approach and style, I attempt to demonstrate how that worry is completely unfounded.”

New Media Idea Book now available with a complete list of books and experts on politics, race, justice and other timely topics.

Contact: Krista Clayton, Associate Director of Publicity, kclayton@ivpress.com, ivpress.com

CAROL STREAM, Ill.—October 9, 2020—Tyndale House Publishers is pleased to announce that three Tyndale fiction titles and authors have been named 2020 Christy Award finalists (ChristyAwards.com). The Christy Award celebrates excellence in the art of Christian fiction and honors the power of faith in story.

On October 8, 2020, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announced the finalists for the Christy Award. Winners will be announced on November 12 at an online gala, hosted by award-winning novelist Chris Fabry.

Tyndale House Publishers has three titles in the running for a 2020 Christy Award, as follows:

First Novel:
A Long Time Comin’, Robin W. Pearson

Historical:
The Medallion, Cathy Gohlke
Memories of Glass, Melanie Dobson

Karen Watson, publisher of Tyndale fiction, shared, “This year’s slate of Tyndale Christy finalists provides a great example of the essence of Tyndale fiction—two established and skilled students of the craft writing thoughtful, well-researched stories about a pivotal time in history and a delightful and timely debut from a great new voice in the industry. In all three instances, the beauty of God’s mercy shines through. We are honored to publish these women and thrilled for this recognition of their work.”

For more information on Tyndale fiction titles, please visit tyndalefiction.com.

The Christy Award® is the foremost award honoring and promoting excellence in Christian fiction since 1999, and is named for Catherine Marshall’s novel Christy, which has sold over 10 million copies since its publication in 1967. ECPA assumed ownership and administration of the award in 2017 to focus and grow the unique opportunity of fiction in Christian publishing. ChristyAwards.com

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international nonprofit trade organization comprised of member companies that are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian content worldwide. Since 1974, ECPA has strengthened Christian publishing by building networking, information, and advocacy opportunities within the industry and throughout multiple channels so that our members can more effectively produce and deliver transformational Christian content. ECPA.org

Since its founding in 1962, Tyndale House Publishers has been a voice to trust for generations of readers. Today, Tyndale is one of the largest independent Christian publishers in the world. Tyndale’s mission is to make the Bible accessible to as many people as possible in language that they can relate and respond to. Tyndale publishes the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT), and offers nonfiction books that equip readers with Christ-centered insight, counsel, and life-improving stories. In addition, Tyndale publishes fiction from fresh new voices and celebrated authors alike, capturing the imagination of millions of readers. With a deep understanding of the importance of nurturing future generations, Tyndale also publishes children’s products that make God’s Word and wisdom come alive. Tyndale’s independent status allows it to follow its founding model, giving a majority of annual revenue—more than $110 million throughout its history—to charitable missions. With every book purchased, Tyndale readers help meet the physical and spiritual needs of people around the world.

Contact: Katie Dodillet, katiedodillet@tyndale.com, 630.784.5275