GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Jerry Kregel, president and CEO of Kregel Inc., is pleased to announce that Geoff Dennis has joined Kregel Publications as director of sales.

As director of sales, Geoff will seek to grow the sales of Kregel Publications and its publishing partners by developing effective sales strategies and building and maintaining strong relationships with Kregel’s retail and distribution partners, thereby helping to extend the reach and impact of the mission and ministry of Kregel Publications. Kregel’s publishing partners include US publisher Gilead Publishing and UK publishers Lion Hudson, Muddy Pearl, and Instant Apostle.

Geoff brings to his new position a wide range of experience in Christian publishing, including 24 years in various roles at Crossway in Wheaton, IL, where he served as executive vice president, chief operating officer, and associate publisher. Most recently he has served as vice president of business and strategy at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.

Geoff said, “It brings me and my family great joy to be back in Christian publishing. I have spent most of my life seeking to impact lives for eternity through the publication and dissemination of gospel-centered content, and I am extremely excited to be a part of the Kregel team.”

“We are pleased to have Geoff joining us,” said Jerry Kregel. “Along with his proven sales experience, we will also be looking to tap into Geoff’s broad expertise in the areas of digital technology, acquisitions, and production.”

Geoff earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from National Louis University in Wheaton, IL, and a Master of Arts degree in Christian theology from Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. He and his wife of 25 years, Allison, are the parents of four children and will be relocating to Grand Rapids, MI, in the near future.

Kregel Publications is an evangelical Christian publisher that aims to develop and distribute—with integrity and excellence—trusted, biblically based resources that lead individuals to know and serve Jesus Christ. Kregel Publications is also the distributor for Gilead Publishing and the North American distributor for Lion Hudson, Muddy Pearl, and Instant Apostle.

Concordia Publishing House has signed a contract to implement the publishing software knkPublishing.

knkPublishing Editorial Office and Production (including the knk Media Library and Metadata Management), Rights and Royalties, Book Order Management, and Subscription Management will replace existing publishing and CRM systems at Concordia. The publishing house will leverage knkPublishing’s integration with Microsoft Dynamics NAV to meet Supply Chain, Finance and Accounting functional requirements.

“The goals of the project are to implement today’s industry best practices in one system and to select a product and partner that would strengthen Concordia’s ability to embrace new technology and industry developments in the future”, adds Dr. Bruce G. Kintz, President and CEO of Concordia Publishing House. “In implementing knkPublishing, we will design more effective and efficient processes. The tight system and data integration will enable Concordia to serve our customers from initial customer contact, order processing, warehouse and shipment to invoicing.”

Throughout the project evaluation phase and the upcoming project, the Concordia Steering Committee will play an important role to ensure project progress and success. The Steering Committee of Concordia Publishing House consists of Karen Capps, Executive Director, Production Control & Quality, Steve Harris, Executive Director IT and Collin Bivens, Director Finance.

“We chose knkPublishing because it provides an integrated solution that supports all our standard requirements in one system. We feel strongly that with knk’s future-proof software, their extensive understanding of the publishing industry and tight partnership with Microsoft’s latest technology, the knkPublishing technology will be the heart of our business systems long into the future”, states Karen Capps, on behalf of the Concordia Steering Committee.

“Before the official project start we conducted detailed workshops with the Concordia Publishing House team in order to commonly define schedule, assigned resources and budget. It is great to work with such a dedicated team and we are looking forward to doing this project together”, stated Sven W. Wischhusen, CEO of knk Software LP.

About Concordia Publishing House:
Concordia Publishing House, established in 1869, employs around 200 people and ships more than 700 orders a day. The company is a nationally recognized publisher offering churches, schools and individuals over 8,000 products and services. The mission remains the same as it was 148 years ago – to strengthen and aid member congregations of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod in proclamation of the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. Concordia Publishing House was awarded the 2009 Missouri Quality Award and was recognized by the President of the United States as a 2011 recipient of the National Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award.

About knk:
knk develops and markets knkPublishing – the only Microsoft certified publishing software in the world. knk is a member of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), FIPP (the global association of periodical media), many other international media specific groups and associations and Microsoft-certified Partner (with five gold certifications: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Application Development, Intelligent Systems, Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Platform (SQL)).

knkPublishing is used by about 150 publishers in North America, Europe and Asia and based on the latest web- and BI-technology.

For additional information, please contact:  Julia Redner, JRedner@knk.com  knkPublishingsoftware.com

Beautiful and Bestselling Full-Color The Woman’s Study Bible Offers Renewal, Hope, and Transformation—and Is Now Available in the NIV

Nashville, Tenn., Jan 19, 2018 – Since the publication of the first edition ofThe Woman’s Study Bible, over 1.5 million copies have been sold. Now The Woman’s Study Bible is available in a beautiful full-color redesign in the NIV translation, inviting women to receive God’s truth for balance, hope, and transformation.

“The Woman’s Study Bible poignantly reveals the Word of God to women and includes special features designed to speak to a woman’s heart,” says Daniel Marrs, associate publisher, Thomas Nelson Bible Group. “Scripture-based insights appear throughout the Bible text, helping women understand how godly womanhood grows from an identity as a Christ-follower and as a child of the Kingdom.”

The Woman’s Study Bible reflects the contributions of over 80 women from a wide variety of ethnic, denominational, educational, and occupational backgrounds.

Features of The Women’s Study Bible include:

• Beautiful full-color design throughout
• Detailed biographical portraits of over 100 biblical women
• Thousands of extensive verse-by-verse study notes
• Over 300 in-text topical articles on relevant issues
• Insightful essays by women who are recognized experts in the fields of theology, biblical studies, archaeology, and philosophy
• Book introductions and outlines
• Hundreds of full-color in-text maps, charts, timelines, and family trees
• Quotes from godly women throughout history
• Set of full-page maps of the biblical world
• Topical index
• Concordance

The Woman’s Study Bible goes on sale January 23, 2018, and is available in three bindings:

• ISBN 9780785212379, Hardcover, Full-Color, 2,080 pages, $49.99
• ISBN 9780785215158, Cloth over Board, Blue Floral, Full-Color, 2,080 pages, $59.99
• ISBN 9780785215110, Imitation Leather, Blue/Brown, Full-Color, 2,080 pages, $79.99

To request review or giveaway copies, contact Trinity McFadden at trinity.mcfadden@harpercollins.com.

About the NIV:
The New International Version (NIV) is the world’s bestselling modern-English Bible translation—accurate, readable, and clear, yet rich with the detail found in the original languages. The NIV is the result of over 50 years of work by the Committee on Bible Translation, who oversee the efforts of many contributing scholars. Representing the spectrum of evangelicalism, the translators come from a wide range of denominations and various countries and continually review new research in order to ensure the NIV remains at the forefront of accessibility, relevance, and authority. Every NIV Bible that is purchased helps Biblica, a nonprofit ministry organization, translate and give Bibles to people in need around the world. To learn more, visit www.thenivbible.com.

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.

Contact: Trinity McFadden, Senior Manager of Publicity
trinity.mcfadden@harpercollins.com | 616-698-3514

Eugene, Oregon—January 19, 2018—Harvest House author Rodney D. Bullard recently attended GBK Productions “A Golden Affair” Luxury Lounge honoring the 75^th Golden Globe Awards. During the two-day event, Bullard interviewed celebrities such as Randy Jackson, Anthony Anderson, and Dinah Jane regarding their own stories of everyday heroes. He also gave away copies of his new book, Heroes Wanted.

In Heroes Wanted, Bullard shows us that it is the easy-to-miss, everyday acts of service, friendship, and integrity that make real heroes––and we’re all called to take up the hero’s mantle.

“The aim of our journey together is to change the world,” Bullard writes. “Not by a movement, not by a revolution, but by a radically small rethinking of who we are, our power, our need for relationship, and our ability to provide transformative support for one another.”

Bullard is the Vice President of Community Affairs at Chick-fil-A, Inc. and Executive Director of the Chick-fil-A Foundation. A frequent speaker, he previously served in the US Air Force, NASA, and the Department of Justice, and he is an alumnus of the Air Force Academy, Duke Law, the University of Georgia, and the Harvard Business School.

About the Publisher:
Harvest House, a Christian publishing company based in Eugene, Oregon, publishes more than 135 books per year and carries a strong backlist offering more than 1,200 titles. Over 140 million Harvest House books have been sold worldwide through diverse distribution channels, and additional millions have sold in over 75 different languages.

Contact: Christianne Debysingh, Harvest House Publishers
888-468-4108  cdebysingh@harvesthousepublishers.com    www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Print quality images to accompany this press release are available in digital format. Available images are: cover art, author photo, Harvest House logo.

Chicago, Ill.: Moody Publishers welcomes Kathryn Eastham to the publicity team as their new publicist.  Kathryn will create and manage publicity campaigns alongside Janis (Backing) Todd, who serves as the publicity manager.

Kathryn attended the Moody Bible Institute, graduating in 2014 with a degree in Urban Ministry.  Moody Publishers hired her as a part-time assistant in 2015, where she served the sales and marketing teams.  Kathryn and her husband reside in Chicago.

The vision of Moody Publishers is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and a biblical worldview in such creative and powerful ways that individuals worldwide will live in increasing measure as His fully-devoted followers.  For more information about Moody Publishers visit www.moodypublishers.com.

Marketing Agency Chosen to Provide Services including Social Marketing, Blog Content Creation, and Blogger Outreach

Orange County, CA – CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE (CLA) has selected FRONTGATE MEDIA, one of the world’s leading Faith and Family marketing agencies, to help communicate the Alliance’s mission and content to key audiences.

FrontGate will support Christian Leadership Alliance on advertising and social marketing strategies/Blog content, as well as promoting existing Alliance content to the Blogging community. FrontGate will also build awareness for the Alliance’s national magazine “Outcomes” through social posts, direct marketing, and outreach to target ministries. FrontGate’s team will also be integrating Christian Leadership Alliance content with the FrontGate Blogger Network to build opportunities for marketing content creation, and to identify key writers and influencers to share Alliance events.

FrontGate Media has a long history of supporting Christian associations and nonprofit organizations, including most recently serving as the PR agency for the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s (ECPA) for their 2017 programs for The Christy Awards™ and the inaugural Art of Writing Conference, which all took place in Nashville in November.

Christian Leadership Alliance has for more than 40 years, equipped and united Christian leaders to think higher for greater kingdom outcomes.  Comprised of members from more than 1,200 organizations, Christian Leadership Alliance influences the thoughts, behavior and professional development of more than 150,000 church, charity and business leaders annually through experiences, resources and tools that move leaders beyond effective management to transformation of their people, organizations and the world around them.

“FrontGate’s leadership position in the Christian community led us to select them to help grow the reach and impact of Christian Leadership Alliance,” said Tami Heim, CLA president and CEO. “The FrontGate team understands what we are about and is focused on helping CLA fulfill its mission of equipping and uniting Christian leaders who will transform the world for Christ.”

“I have been a student of culture and leadership for years and have worked with many of the Christian Leadership Alliance members,” shares Scott A. Shuford, Founder and President of FrontGate Media. “The Alliance’s training and resources are outstanding. No one does it better than Christian Leadership Alliance, and we’re excited to expand the Alliance’s reach and engagement.”

About Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA)
Christian Leadership Alliance exists to equip and unite Christian leaders to think higher for greater kingdom outcomes, inspiring Christ-centered leadership that transforms people, organizations, and ultimately, the world.  Christian Leadership Alliance learning experiences integrate organizational excellence with a biblical worldview. Leaders participate in professional leadership training, robust networking communities, and other life-on-life learning experiences. The Outcomes Conference, Outcomes Academy, Leader2Leader peer advisory groups and local chapters are the places and spaces where Christian Leadership Alliance leaders gather to engage, learn and grow. Christian Leadership Alliance publishes print, digital, video and audio resources to educate and inform leaders. Members enjoy digital access to all publications and webcasts. www.ChristianLeadershipAlliance.org

About FrontGate Media
Award-winning FrontGate Media is the leading marketing agency and media group specializing in the faith and family audience.  With a 16-year track record of success, the firm serves as “Your Gateway to the Christian Audience.” FrontGate’s full service agency and media group has been trusted with over 5,000 campaigns, providing Faith-based market Strategy Development, Public Relations, Social Media & Marketing, and Media Buying. FrontGate’s own Web & Events Network also provides reach to millions of people each month via their sites, events and email subscribers.  Founded in 2001, FrontGate has repeatedly been honored in the Internet Advertising Competition and the WebAwards. The company plays a key role in the success of for-profit and non-profit organizations seeking the faith-based and family-friendly audiences.  http://FrontGateMedia.com

Media Contact:  Lori Heiselman – 714-553-5181
Lori@FrontGateMedia.com

Carol Stream, Ill. (January 5, 2018) — Todd Gerelds, author of Woodlawn, believes he has learned the most meaningful life lessons on the playing field. The voice of his coach rings in his head when life gets tough—and it just happens that his coach’s voice is also his father’s. In Always Fall Forward: Life Lessons I’ll Never Forget from “The Coach” (Tyndale Momentum, ISBN 978-1-4964-2480-8, $17.00 HC, January 2018), Gerelds reflects on fifty two of his dad’s most formative lessons. His dad was Tandy “The Coach” Gerelds, the subject of the film Woodlawn and the man who led his team to victory in the racially charged atmosphere of 1970s Alabama.

The Coach led his team both on and off the field, not only training the boys to be good football players, but also helping them build the foundation for becoming good men. In Always Fall Forward, join Todd Gerelds as he reflects on his dad’s most influential “coachisms.” From “Your Stance is critical” to “One play at a time,” these strong and encouraging words will direct you when life hits hard. Packed with life application, Always Fall Forward challenges men to live the way Coach Gerelds lived—grounded in faith and willing to stand up for what he believed—no matter the cost.

Gerelds will be available for interviews about the book throughout the spring, including the nationally-syndicated “Rick and Bubba Show” on Tuesday, January 9, as well as the “Sports Spectrum Podcast” with Jason Romano.

Todd Gerelds is the author of the book Woodlawn (now a major motion picture), in which he recounts the events he witnessed as the son of Coach Tandy Gerelds. This true story of hope, faith, and love has made an impact on schools, churches, athletic teams, businesses, and charity organizations, and in many individual lives. Todd has spent 20 years as an award-winning sales professional, sales trainer, and sales manager with three Fortune 500 companies. Todd is married to Jennifer Morgan Gerelds. They have four daughters: Morgan, Bailey Kay “BK,” Alli, and Maggie Leigh.

Always Fall Forward 
by Todd Gerelds
ISBN: 978-1-4964-2480-8
Hardcover: $17.99
January 2018
TyndaleMomentum.com

Tyndale House Publishers, founded in 1962, is one of the largest privately held Christian publishers of books, Bibles, and digital media in the world. Tyndale Momentum, Tyndale’s nonfiction imprint, is the publisher of many New York Times bestsellers and is known for integrity in building lasting personal relationships with authors and agents. Tyndale extends the ministry of its authors by contributing most of its profits to the nonprofit Tyndale House Foundation, which makes grants to help meet the physical and spiritual needs of people around the world. Originally founded to publish The Living Bible, a contemporary paraphrase of the Bible that became a global publishing phenomenon, Tyndale now publishes the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT), the translation of choice for millions of people.

Orlando, Fla. (January 10, 2018): This week, Ligonier Ministries launched Ask Ligonier, a 24/6 biblical and theological chat service staffed by a well-trained team. The team is strategically located across various continents and timezones.

The chat service is available 24 hours per day, Monday through Saturday, on Ligonier.org, the Ligonier App, Facebook.com/Ligonier, and Twitter.com/Ligonier. On Sundays, anyone can leave a message and receive a response within 24 business hours.

“In a world where many turn to Google to find answers, Ligonier is providing Christians and inquirers with real-time answers that are faithful to the historic Christian faith,” said Chris Larson, president and CEO of Ligonier Ministries. “Ask Ligonier is an ambitious new outreach that allows us to advance our mission to serve Christians with trustworthy answers to pressing questions about faith and life, wherever they live in the world.”

For more than forty-five years, Christians have been looking to Ligonier Ministries, the teaching fellowship founded by Dr. R.C. Sproul, for clear and helpful answers to biblical and theological questions. The ministry reaches about two-million people per week around the world through its publishing, broadcasting, and events. Ask Ligonier draws from the ministry’s deep teaching archive, featuring contributions from Dr. Sproul’s lifetime of ministry, the Ligonier teaching fellows, the Reformation Study Bible, Tabletalk magazine, Reformation Bible College faculty, and the ministry’s national and regional conferences.

The Ask Ligonier team will be able to answer questions online in real-time from anywhere in the English-speaking world. In the future, Ligonier hopes to make this chat service available in other languages as well.

Learn more at Ask.Ligonier.org.

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. Prior to Dr. Sproul’s passing, he and the board designated teaching fellows to continue and help lead Ligonier’s work of discipleship that Dr. Sproul began more than forty years ago. These teaching fellows are Drs. Sinclair B. Ferguson, W. Robert Godfrey, Steven J. Lawson, R. Albert Mohler Jr., Stephen J. Nichols, Burk Parsons, and Derek W.H. Thomas. Ligonier publishes Renewing Your Mind broadcasts, the Reformation Study Bible, Tabletalk magazine, books through the Reformation Trust Publishing division, 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 twenty-four-hour Christian Internet radio through RefNet, pursues numerous translation efforts in other countries, and makes available thousands of unique educational resources online at Ligonier.org.

Eugene, Oregon—January 11, 2018—Harvest House Publishers author Valorie Burton started out the New Year keeping busy for her new release Brave Enough to Succeed with two national television appearances.

On January 1, Burton was interviewed on Megyn Kelly Today about choosing the right resolutions and keeping them. NBC asked Burton to return for an interview January 5 on Kathie Lee & Hoda to discuss the key to successful resolutions, which marked her nineteenth appearance in the last few years.

Both segments can be viewed at https://www.today.com/video/how-to-pick-the-right-new-year-s-resolutions-and-keep-them-1127209027789 and https://www.today.com/video/go-topless-on-your-sandwiches-and-17-other-secrets-to-feeling-great-1130136643910.

Valorie Burton, a Harvest House bestselling author and speaker, helps people “get unstuck, be unstoppable” in every area of their lives. As a Certified Personal and Executive Coach, Burton has served hundreds of clients in more than 40 states and nine countries, and is the founder of the Coaching and Positive Psychology (CAPP) Institute. For more than a decade, her books, speaking engagements, and media appearances have inspired and equipped thousands using solid biblical principles.  For more information visit www.valorieburton.com and www.harvesthousepublishers.com.

About the Publisher:
Harvest House is among the top ten Christian publishing companies, publishing more than 135 books each year and carrying a strong backlist offering more than 1,200 titles. Over 140 million Harvest House books have been sold worldwide through diverse distribution channels, and additional millions have sold in over 75 different languages.

 

(January 11, 2018) – The Parable Group, a leading marketing agency for the Christian product industry, announced today that Christmas sales were up for the Christian retailers they serve with print/digital promotions. Collectively, November and December sales were up 0.9%. A key piece of that increase was Thanksgiving week—when sales groupwide increased 3.2%—with 68% of their partner stores seeing greater sales than 2016.

“Over the past few years new and emerging technology has transformed the way customers shop. But many savvy Christian retailers, committed to serving their local communities, are investing in themselves—in products, stores, marketing, data and technology. These Christmas sales numbers are very encouraging—there’s real hope and a future for Christian retail,” said Steve Potratz, President of The Parable Group.

To attract new customers and re-engage existing customers over the Christmas 2017 season, The Parable Group of Christian retailers used coordinated print catalogs and in-store signage as a promotional foundation and layered in various digital marketing tactics, like email and social media advertising.

Over 6 million emails were sent to customers from The Parable Group on behalf of retailers during November/December, representing a mix of mass weekly emails and highly targeted emails based on customer purchase history. Additionally, various Facebook campaigns reached nearly 950,000 people in November/ December on behalf of participating stores. These social media campaigns served over 3.7 million impressions to geo-targeted Christian consumer audiences.

Christian retailers also utilized tools on ParableConnect, the 24/7 information hub, to ensure they stayed in-stock of promoted products.

“We’re happy to see positive numbers and sales increases again. While not every Christian retailer has turned around, this suggests that more gains can be achieved. Retailers who can adjust and incorporate print and digital marketing touchpoints, backed by data, are likely going to be successful in 2018,” said Potratz.

The Parable Group is a privately owned multi-service Christian marketing agency based in San Luis Obispo, CA. Since 1985, we’ve served over 1,000 Christian brands; including retailers, publishers, churches, non-profits, film studios and more. Today, we pair decades of Christian consumer data with proven business practices, cutting-edge digital technologies, and thoughtful design to drive measurable results for those we serve. As CBA’s exclusive data warehouse partner, we also safeguard Cross:Scan data to help unite and improve the Christian products industry. For more information, contact sally.ross@parable.com or visit www.parablegroup.com.

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