Iron Stream Media, the parent organization of New Hope^® Publishers, announces the launch of three new publishing imprints: Ascender Books, Iron Stream Books, and New Hope Kidz. The goal of each mark is to serve a specific segment of the Christian marketplace with quality resources. The premier titles from each of these new lines are scheduled to release in 2019.

According to Ramona Richards, associate publisher, “The Christian marketplace continues to expand into new areas, and these growth areas need products with their own identity. In our mission to grow disciples for Christ, Iron Stream Media wants to reach believers with resources that delve into the heart of their faith and personal growth in the Lord.”

New Hope Publishers remains the flagship imprint, with publishing goals similar to the ones established initially in the mid-1990s. It will continue to release Christian trade nonfiction and fiction aimed at a conservative-to-mainstream audience with traditional theological foundations. Nonfiction titles will continue to focus on the topics of parenting and family, spiritual and personal growth, and Bible studies. The fiction titles will be primarily suspense, visionary, romance, and seasonal.

Ascender Books will serve a grace-inspired audience, with resources developed from within the Spirit-led community. Titles will focus on spiritual growth, spiritual warfare, and in-depth studies of Scripture. Ascender Books will also include online studies for churches and small groups.

Iron Stream Books will center on leadership, spiritual growth, business as mission, millennials, and specialty markets. The first book to launch under the ISB imprint is Randy Hemphill’s The Restored Man (January 2019).

New Hope Kidz will feature picture and board books for preschool and early readers. Storybooks and Bibles for boys and girls will also become a part of this imprint. Rivers Overseas (August 2019) by Sarah Nunnally is the premier book of the line.

All four imprints will feature expanded studies and online resources available through Iron Stream Media’s Life Bible Study and Student Life Bible Study curriculum imprints, making church-compatible materials available for each book title.

Iron Stream Media derives its name from Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” This sharpening describes the process of discipleship, one to another. Iron Stream Media provides a variety of solutions for churches, missionaries, and nonprofits that include in-depth Bible study curriculum, Christian book publishing, and consultative services. Iron Stream Media is the home of New Hope Publishers, Iron Stream Books, Ascender Books, and New Hope Kidz. Through the popular Life Bible Study and Student Life Bible Study brands, they also provide web-based, full-year and short-term Bible study teaching plans as well as printed devotionals, Bibles, and discipleship curriculum.

(Nashville, TN) January 9, 2019—HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) announced today that Cami Miller has been promoted to the position of director for Mass Market Sales.

Miller joined HCCP in 2014 as a key account manager following many years as a product manager at Anderson Merchandisers in Amarillo, Texas.

Since joining the Mass Market team, Miller has been a strategic sales partner for Readerlink Distribution Services, as well as product manager for Bibles and adult trade books with accounts like Walmart and Sam’s Club, helping them grow in revenue and profit year after year.

“Cami has proved not only to be a strong merchant and account partner, but also an invaluable and dedicated teammate to her colleagues. I am excited for her leadership to continue to flourish in this expanded role,” says Doug Miller, vice president of Mass Market Sales.

About HarperCollins Christian Publishing: The world’s leading Christian publisher, HarperCollins Christian Publishing Inc., comprises both Thomas Nelson and Zondervan publishing groups in addition to Olive Tree Bible Software.  The Company produces bestselling Bibles, inspirational books, academic resources, curriculum, audio and digital content for the Christian market space.  Also home to BibleGateway.com, the world’s largest Christian website, and FaithGateway.com, an online community dedicated to helping people grow in their faith. HarperCollins Christian Publishing is headquartered in Nashville, TN with additional offices in the U.S., and Mexico.  For more information visit www.HarperCollinsChristian.com.

In We Are the Gardeners, Joanna and the kids chronicle the adventures of starting their own family garden

Nashville, Tenn. (Jan. 14, 2019) Magnolia co-founder and New York Times bestselling author Joanna Gaines will publish her first children’s book, We Are the Gardeners, on March 26, 2019 with Tommy Nelson, the children’s division of Thomas Nelson, the company announced today.

In We Are the Gardeners, Joanna and her kids chronicle the adventures of starting their own family garden. From their failed endeavors, obstacles to overcome (like bunnies that eat everything!), and all the knowledge they’ve gained along the way, the Gaines family shares how they learned to grow a happy, successful garden.

“The garden has always been a place that inspires me. There’s something about digging deep into fresh soil or watching new life burst from what was not long ago just a tiny seed that reinforces what a gift life is,” said Joanna. “I think that’s part of why my kids have come to love spending time in the garden just as much as I do. It can be a great teacher, if we pause long enough to notice all there is to learn. Where every day can be a lesson in hard work, and sometimes even in failure, but where there’s also growth worth celebrating. This book is our way of sharing what the garden means to us, and the many adventures we’ve had along the way!”

Children and their families will be able to start their own gardens, learn how to take care of plants, and enjoy the fruits of their labors together. As it turns out, trying something new isn’t always easy, but the hardest work often yields the greatest reward—there are always new lessons waiting to be learned in the garden!

“Joanna’s creativity has resulted in a gorgeous and splendid book,” said Laura Minchew, senior vice president and publisher of Tommy Nelson Children’s Books, gift books and new media at Thomas Nelson. “Families will delight in reading the story together, and create happy memories by starting their own gardens. What fun for children discover their green thumbs as a result of reading We Are the Gardeners!”

Julianna Swaney’s illustrations bring the Gaines family garden to life with colorful, whimsical watercolors in We Are the Gardeners, inviting readers to enjoy the beauty a thriving garden provides.

This will be the Gaines family’s fifth book with HarperCollins Publishers. Their previous books include The Magnolia Story (Thomas Nelson), Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff (Thomas Nelson); Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering (William Morrow Cookbooks); and Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave (Harper Design).

About Thomas Nelson: Thomas Nelson is a world leading publisher and provider of Christian content and has been providing readers with quality inspirational product 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.

Ada, MI (December 17, 2018)—In mid-December, The Gospel Coalition announced the winners of their 2018 Book Awards—and Baker Publishing took home two of these awards. Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey won the Public Theology & Current Events category and The Devil’s Redemption by Michael J. McClymond won the Academic Theology category.

The Gospel Coalition reviews around 300 books a year. At the end of the year, they assess which titles in a variety of categories were most helpful based on the following criteria: “faithful use of Scripture and gospel-centered argument; fostering of spiritual discernment; and encouragement to unite and renew the church.”

For the complete list of winners, click here.

Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey
(Baker Books; ISBN 9780801075728; ebook ISBN 9781493412822; $22.99)
In Love Thy Body, bestselling author Nancy Pearcey goes beyond politically correct slogans with a riveting exposé of the dehumanizing worldview that shapes current watershed moral issues. Pearcey then turns the tables on media boilerplate that wrongly portrays Christianity as harsh or hateful. A former agnostic, she makes a surprising and persuasive case that Christianity is a holistic faith, one that sustains the dignity of the body and biology. Throughout she entrances readers with compassionate stories of people wrestling with hard questions in their own lives—their pain, their struggles, their triumphs.

The Devil’s Redemption by Michael J. McClymond
(Baker Academic; ISBN 9780801048562; ebook ISBN 9781493406616; $90.00)
The question of the devil’s final salvation has been continuously debated since the time of Origen. This comprehensive book surveys the history of Christian universalism from the second to the twenty-first century and offers an interpretation of how and why universalist belief arose. McClymond explores what the church has taught about universal salvation and hell and offers a critique of universalism from a biblical, philosophical, and theological standpoint. He shows that the effort to extend grace to everyone undermines the principle of grace for anyone.

Baker Publishing Group publishes high-quality writings that represent historic Christianity and serve the diverse interests and concerns of evangelical readers.

Contact: Ruth Anderson (616)676-9185 x8131 randerson@bakerpublishinggroup.com

Ada, Mich. (December 17, 2018)—Christianity Today recently announced the winners of their 2019 Book Awards. One Baker Publishing Group title won a top award. Subversive Sabbath by A. J. Swoboda won the Spiritual Formation category award as well as an Award of Merit in the Book of the Year category.

Subversive Sabbath by A. J. Swoboda
(Brazos; ISBN 9781587434051; ebook ISBN 9781493412907; $19.99)
This book pioneers a creative path to an alternative way of existing. Combining creative storytelling, pastoral sensitivity, practical insight, and relevant academic research, Subversive Sabbath offers a unique invitation to personal Sabbath-keeping that leads to fuller and more joyful lives. A. J. Swoboda demonstrates that Sabbath is both a spiritual discipline and a form of social justice, connects Sabbath-keeping to local communities, and explains how God may actually do more when we do less. He shows that the biblical practice of Sabbath-keeping is God’s plan for the restoration and healing of all creation.

In addition, four other Baker publications won an Award of Merit: Introducing Medieval Biblical Interpretation (Baker Academic) by Ian Christopher Levy in Biblical Studies; The Edge of Over There (Revell) by Shawn Smucker in Children and Youth; Selfies (Brazos Press) by Craig Detweiler in Culture and the Arts; and Cultural Insights for Christian Leaders (Baker Academic) by Douglas McConnell in Missions/Global Church.

Christianity Today honors the books they consider “most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture.” For the complete list of winners, please click here.

Baker Publishing Group publishes high-quality writings that represent historic Christianity and serve the diverse interests and concerns of evangelical readers.

Contact: Ruth Anderson, (616)676-9185 x8131 randerson@bakerpublishinggroup.com

On Monday, December 17, 2018, Laura Barker, VP, Editor-in-Chief for WaterBrook and Multnomah, imprints of Penguin Random House, announced the retirement of Senior Editor Bruce Nygren.  Barker shared the following statement with colleagues:

“After more than a decade of serving our imprints with excellence, Bruce Nygren, Senior Editor, WaterBrook and Multnomah, will be retiring at the end of this year.

Bruce first joined our team in 2003 and then returned to work with us in 2008 after a season of running a private writing and editorial service. His exceptional editing and acquisition skills have left an indelible mark on our program, and his delightful personality has endeared him to countless authors and industry colleagues. Over the years he has edited several of our New York Times best-selling books, including Shaken andThis Is the Day, both written by Tim Tebow; Unstoppable by Nick Vujicic; and Fearless by Eric Blehm.

His book publishing career reaches back to 1977, when Bruce first became an associate editor for Thomas Nelson. He eventually rose to vice president of book editorial. Additional highlights from his long career outside of WaterBrook and Multnomah include serving as editorial director for NavPress, cowriter and editor for FamilyLife, and acquisitions editor for Moody Publishers.

Over the course of his career, Bruce has edited dozens of best-selling authors, including David Platt, Mark Sanborn, Stephen Arterburn, Meadowlark Lemon, Franklin Graham, John Maxwell, John Eldredge, Gary Smalley, Malcolm Muggeridge, and Eugene Peterson, among many others.

Bruce is highly respected throughout Christian publishing for his editorial acumen, warm presence, and welcome sense of humor. His knowledge of the marketplace and his expert ability to shape a manuscript to its most compelling form have established Bruce as an invaluable source of wisdom for many authors, agents, and colleagues over his storied career.

A man of spiritual depth and thoughtful insight, Bruce will be missed by all of us. Please join me in thanking him for his countless contributions to our imprint and wishing him all good things as he embarks on a new season of life, with more time for travel and enjoying his beloved children and grandchildren, along with the occasional freelance editing project.”

PEABODY, MA—A new book by professional mediators helps families navigate the challenges associated with aging parents, overcome past hurts and resentment, and talk openly with one another in love and understanding.

In their mediation practice, Carolyn Miller Parr and Sig Cohen discovered that families in distress more often than not experience pain from two main sources: broken family relationships, and a parent’s failure to plan for the future. Love’s Way is their answer to this problem.

Parr and Cohen found that many older adults resist engaging in “The Conversation” about their wills, plans, and wishes as they age because they fear losing their independence and the freedom to change their minds. Adult children hesitate to push the issue because they’re afraid they’ll upset their parents or seem greedy. And both parents and children hate to think about their parents’ death. But according to the authors, it is necessary to have these conversations and plan for the future to avoid hurt, anger, and rifts in the family unit.

“We want to prevent families from making mistakes that can fracture relations among siblings and between them and their parents,” says Cohen. “One of our goals is to encourage and demonstrate how families can plan ahead before a crisis strikes and chaos ensues, whether it involves driving, asset distribution, or caregiving a loved one with a fatal illness.”

Ten practical chapters including “Transforming Fear and Anger,” “Siblings in War and Peace,” “Scaling the Twin Peaks of Paperwork and Planning,” and “Dying and Death” guide family members through the ups and downs of growing old together. Both aging parents and adult children will learn “10 Tips to Diffuse Anger,” how to have difficult conversations with empathy and understanding, and the proper legal documents that all aging adults need.

Carolyn Miller Parr is a retired judge, mediator, writer, and public speaker. She graduated from Stetson University (BA), Vanderbilt (MA English), and Georgetown Law (JD). Since 2002, Judge Parr has practiced peacemaking through her mediation practice Beyond Dispute and Tough Conversations with Sig Cohen.

Sig Cohen is a retired Foreign Service officer, fundraiser, and community organizer, and now serves as a mediator. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania (BS) and the University of Chicago (MA in International Relations).

Both authors reside in the Washington D.C. area.

Hendrickson Publishers has a strong history of producing outstanding academic, trade, reference books, and Bibles at a reasonable price. Their products include books on Christian living, biblical studies and reference works for pastors, thoughtful laypeople, and the academy.

Media Contact: Meg Rusick, Marketing & Communications Manager, mrusick@hendrickson.com  978-573-2147

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Endorsements for Love’s Way
January 1, 2019 • Paperback • 182 pages • Retail $14.95 • ISBN: 978-1-68307-195-2

“Above all, these two experienced mediators offer their practical and personal experience to help us through the most difficult transition—from midlife autonomy to increasing interdependence. Aimed at helpers, the book also invites us to be the ones walking the path of diminishment with dignity and grace. We all need to know this terrain!”
—Marjory Bankson, author of Creative Aging: Rethinking Retirement in a Changing World

“Our elders ‘have gone before us on a road . . . we too will travel.’ The authors quote Socrates, and then they present a plainspoken, insightful guidebook that illuminates a road many of us regard with dread, uncertainty, and the natural desire to put off to another day. This is a practical book, both honest and nonthreatening. It is full of wisdom that family members of several generations can use together, as they seek loving and respectful compromises to the dilemmas of old age.”
—Ann Barnet, MD, founder of The Family Place, Washington, DC, and coauthor (with husband Richard Barnet) of The Youngest Minds

“Judge Carolyn Miller Parr and Sig Cohen have authored a comprehensive guide for families preparing to care for an older adult member or planning their own future as elders. Their stories and suggestions about how to navigate the legal, emotional, and financial challenges ahead offer invaluable advice and evocative reading.”
—William Fralin, JD, Elder Law Attorney, and founder of The Estate Planning and Elder Law Firm, PC, Alexandria, Virginia, and Washington, DC

“Carolyn Parr and Sig Cohen’s book, particularly the chapter on siblings, gives practical and time-honored advice on the frustrating family dynamics that sometimes impacts even well-adjusted families. Love’s Way: Living Peacefully with Your Family as Your Parents Age is a great tool to add to your family emotional toolkit.”
—Marti Bailey, BS, CSA, CDP, Director, Sibley Senior Association and Community Health

“Anxious about talking with a parent or an aging relative about their living arrangements? This is your book! The authors’ rich background in law and mediation come together to challenge our incorrect assumptions, while providing clear and respectful ways to discuss and approach the questions around caring for aging people and their families. Members of all ages in my church participated in a highly popular study around this book, with immediately positive results as they had the courage and the tools to directly address this issue in their families. This book not only helps people think through everything about caring for their parents, but it also helps them plan ahead for themselves!”
—The Rev. Ryan P. Sirmons, Pastor, The United Church of Christ of Annapolis, Maryland

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Nashville, Tenn (December 11, 2018)–B&H Publishing is proud to announce that “The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home” by Russell Moore has been named the Christianity Today 2019 Beautiful Orthodoxy Book of the Year. This honor is given to a release “best embodies CT’s pursuit of truthfulness and loveliness” and is Moore’s second time receiving the award, as “Onward” won in 2016.

“We live in strange times, when some Christians question the value of the family, and others think that devotion to family is the same as devotion to God. Moore refuses to let the conversation remain on the extremes,” comments Mark Galli, Christianity Today editor-in-chief. “Moore recognizes that the family is crucial in God’s economy, but he doesn’t turn it into an idol. He explains persuasively how the church is our first family while giving practical, realistic direction in how to nurture and maintain a healthy, biblical family life, one that reflects the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord. In other words, he tells the truth about what it means to be a biblical family (orthodoxy) and does so in a way that makes the family good news (beautiful).”

Published in September 2018, “The Storm-Tossed Family” addresses questions such as “why do our families have so much power over us?” and explores how family makes us who we are and how understanding this can liberate us to live without fear.

A longtime pastor, a former professor and provost of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and current president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Moore brings theological insight and pastoral approach to this most sensitive of topics.

“Dr. Moore’s work–really, everything he writes–is a rare combination of equal parts truth and beauty,” said B&H Trade Books Publisher Devin Maddox. “It’s fun to see Dr. Moore receive honor he so richly deserves.”

For the complete award announcement and additional judges’ comments, click here.

Russell Moore is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the moral and public policy agency of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. He is a frequent cultural commentator, an ethicist and theologian by background and an ordained Southern Baptist minister. Moore is the author of several books, including ”Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel.” A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria are the parents of five sons. For more information, visit russellmoore.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,” No. 1 CBA bestseller “I Am a Church Member” as well as the newly-revised Christian Standard Bible (CSB) version.

WESTMONT, IL—Christianity Today has released the winners of its 2019 Book Awards, and InterVarsity Press is pleased to announce that it received top honors in four categories: Church/Pastoral Leadership, Fiction, Missions/Global Church, and Politics and Public Life. IVP also received the Award of Merit in the Apologetics/Evangelism category.

The IVP title that received the 2019 Book of the Year in the Church/Pastoral Leadership category was Preaching as Reminding: Stirring Memory in an Age of Forgetfulness by Jeffrey D. Arthurs. Jason Helopoulos, author of The New Pastor’s Handbook said, “This book just became required reading for any young pastor I have the privilege of ministering to in the future. Thankfully, the evangelical church over the past half century has emphasized the need for expositional preaching. Yet much of what passes as expositional preaching today lacks impact. It tends to feel more like a running commentary on the text, rather than preaching. Arthurs underscores the importance of remembering in preaching. He provides a helpful biblical theology of the role of memory, cites modern science’s help in this area, and then applies the knowledge to the discipline of preaching. This book is engaging, informative, and lively—just like our preaching should be.”

Megachurch Christianity Reconsidered: Millennials and Social Change in African Perspective by Wanjiru M. Gitau was the winner in the Missions/Global Church category. Building from a behind-the-scenes case study of Kenya’s Nairobi Chapel and its “daughter” Mavuno Church, Gitau expands their story into a narrative that offers analysis of the rise, growth, and place of megachurches worldwide in the new millennium. Megachurch Christianity Reconsidered is part of the Missiological Engagements Series from IVP.

“Gitau’s even-handed examination of Mavuno Church in particular (and megachurches in general) is a welcome addition to an ongoing conversation that tends either to glorify or denigrate the megachurch model,” said Jaclyn Parrish, writer, editor, and social media associate for the International Mission Board. “Moreover, Gitau provides a poignant example of contextual understanding that Christians around the world would do well to emulate. Her examination of Mavuno Church’s history and growth takes into full account the living, breathing world in which this congregation took root and grew. Sociological and cultural insights are combined with an incisive understanding of theology, politics, and globalization, opening new horizons for understanding how these factors affect the local church. As such, Gitau’s work exemplifies the process of gospel contextualization for churches of every size and in every culture.”

The top title in the Politics and Public Life category went to Scars Across Humanity: Understanding and Overcoming Violence Against Women by Elaine Storkey. Acts of violence against women produce more deaths, disability, and mutilation than cancer, malaria, and traffic accidents combined. Storkey offers a rigorously researched overview of this global pandemic, exploring how violence is structured into the very fabric of societies and cultures around the world.

Mae Elise Cannon, writer and minister, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace, said, “Elaine Storkey courageously identifies how violence against women—be it physical, sexual, psychological, or economic—is, as her title suggests, a scar across humanity. Her work addresses the broad-sweeping manifestations of patriarchy in Christian history, the internalized gender discrimination and justification of abuse in societies around the world, and the church’s inadequate response to these violations and injustices. But this book isn’t just a broad-sweeping condemnation of Christian failure, as Storkey offers direct and clear recommendations for how violence against women can be overcome. Not an easy read, Scars Against Humanity is an essential work calling the Christian community to address one of the greatest injustices of our day.”

The top fiction winner for Christianity Today’s 2019 Book Awards was An Extra Mile: A Story of Embracing God’s Call by Sharon Garlough Brown. In this final installment of the Sensible Shoes Series, readers are invited to travel with these beloved friends as they endure trials that test their trust and their willingness to walk an extra mile.

“Even for those who have not read the first three books, Brown does a masterful job familiarizing readers with her four main characters and providing the necessary backstory,” said Rebecca LuElla Miller, freelance writer and editor, blogger at A Christian Worldview of Fiction. “Each character is realistic and believable, faced with inner and outer struggles that intermingle in ways that readers may recognize. These aren’t ‘strong females’ after the fashion of Hollywood blockbusters—they aren’t leading armies or embracing their destiny as the chosen one—but they prove themselves strong in the truest sense of the word: they face the needs in their everyday lives, recognize their spiritual condition, and struggle to walk with Christ day by day.”

The Morals of the Story: Good News About a Good God by David Baggett and Marybeth Baggett received the Award of Merit in the Apologetics/Evangelism category. Tawa Anderson, professor of philosophy, Oklahoma Baptist University, said, “The Baggetts are convinced that the moral argument for God’s existence and nature is among the most resonant and persuasive arguments available in contemporary society, and they do a masterful job of pooling the relevant resources. They highlight the inability of secular ethical theories to account for objective good and evil and human moral obligation. They also demonstrate the rich explanatory power of the Christian worldview in accounting for those same moral realities. If humanity’s deep and unshakable moral intuitions are correct, then The Morals of the Story demonstrates that the rational observer should embrace Christian theism in response.”

For a complete list of IVP award winners visit ivpress.com/award-winners.

About InterVarsity Press:  Founded in 1947 as an extension of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, InterVarsity Press serves those in the university, the church and the world by publishing thoughtful Christian books that equip and encourage people to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord in all of life. For more information, visit ivpress.com.

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