Milestone for the children’s picture book by Chris Tomlin and Pat Barrett happens just before Good Good Father for Little Ones hits shelves

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 31, 2017) – In less than three months, Good Good Father, by Chris Tomlin and Pat Barrett, has surpassed the sales milestone of 100,000 units, Thomas Nelson and Passion Publishing announced today. Since it released on Oct. 4, 2016, it has appeared on the Publishers Weekly list of bestselling children’s picture books and has received media coverage on Fox & Friends, Religion News Service, K-LOVE, Focus on the Family Online, and in countless other print, online and broadcast outlets.

“A children’s picture book surpassing more than 100,000 units in such a short period of time is incredible. It speaks to the need for the message and the way children immediately connect with the story,” said Laura Minchew, senior vice president and publisher of gift books, children’s books, and new media at Thomas Nelson. “Chris and Pat’s passion for teaching children about the wonder and security of God’s love has translated into an adorable book that families will treasure for years to come.”

Buyers have continued to rate the book highly online, calling it “easy to read aloud,” “beautifully written and illustrated,” and “a wonderful reminder of God’s love.” Parents, grandparents, teachers and friends have enjoyed telling children about a bear named Tucker, whose life and townspeople are forever changed when they learn just how great the King’s love is for them. The precious story in Good Good Father has taught children that God truly is a good, good Father and they are loved by Him.

“The opportunity to partner with Tommy Nelson has resulted in an extraordinarily successful resource for families,” said Kevin Marks, managing director of Passion Publishing. “What a privilege it is to see so many children learning about the depth of God’s love for them through Chris and Pat’s beautiful story, and we look forward to the board book extending that impact.”

A board book, Good Good Father for Little Ones, for children ages 0-4, will be available in early February 2017.

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About Tommy Nelson:
Tommy Nelson, the children’s division of Thomas Nelson, publishes a wide variety of high quality, enjoyable products that are consistent with the teachings found in the Bible. Tommy Nelson products are designed to expand children’s imaginations and nurture their faith while pointing them to a personal relationship with God. For more information, visit www.tommynelson.com.

Contact: Stefanie Schroeder
Senior Publicist
615.902.1722
Stefanie.schroeder@harpercollins.com

Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 3, 2016 – Thomas Nelson is pleased to announce the release of their newest study Bible, the KJV Word Study Bible. Biblical manuscripts were written by the authors in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Not knowing these Biblical languages can sometimes make it challenging to understanding the meaning and intent of Scripture. The KJV Word Study Bible allows readers to delve deeper into the original languages of the Bible and to better understand what God had in mind when He inspired the Scriptures.

The KJV Word Study Bible includes in-text subheadings and 1,700 easy-to-use word studies with select Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words explained in nearly every chapter, from Genesis to Revelation. Book introductions, word definitions, indexes, colored maps, footnotes, and concordance all help readers get closer to the original languages of the Bible. This easy-to-use study Bible does not require previous knowledge of languages or the use of an extensive reference system, so it is a perfect way to sample the benefits of immersive Bible word studies.

Daniel Marrs, Associate Publisher for Thomas Nelson Bibles says: “Engaging with the languages in which Scripture was originally written is a great way to bring these sacred words to life. The KJV Word Study Bible uniquely opens up the richness and significance of key biblical words, and helps make Scripture’s original languages wonderfully accessible for today’s readers.”

The KJV Word Study Bible goes on sale February 7, 2017, and is available in three bindings:
• ISBN 9780718085230, Hardcover, Red Letter Edition, 1,664 pages, $39.99
• ISBN 9780718085452, Imitation Leather, Brown, Red Letter Edition 1,664 pages, $59.99
• ISBN 9780718085629, Imitation Leather, Purple, Red Letter Edition, 1,664 pages, $59.99

Two additional bindings will go on sale February 28, 2017:
• ISBN 9780718085605, Imitation Leather, Brown, Indexed, Red Letter Edition 1,664 pages, $69.99
• ISBN 9780718085728, Imitation Leather, Purple, Indexed, Red Letter Edition, 1,664 pages, $69.99

The Word Study Bible is also available in the New King James Version.

For more information or to request review copies, contact Trinity McFadden at trinity.mcfadden@harpercollins.com or 616-698-3514.

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
tel:   616-698-3514
web: trinity.mcfadden@harpercollins.com

B&H Publishing today launches www.CSBible.com, the online portal for the Christian Standard Bible® (CSB), its newly revised Bible translation. Also beginning this month, the CSB translation will soon be available through all major Bible apps and portals. Published by Holman Bibles, the CSB is a translation that prioritizes both accuracy and readability. The first CSB Bibles will arrive in stores this March.

The CSBible.com website is designed for readers, pastors, and retailers, with specific site content for each group. Site features include:

[Read more…]

Media Contact:
Rachel Zugschwert, Director of Marketing                
Sparkhouse Family                                                             
612-330-3108                                                                     
zugschwertr@wearesparkhouse.org

MINNEAPOLIS (January 20, 2017) – Sparkhouse Family is pleased to announce the winner of the first annual Sparkhouse Family Children’s Picture Book Contest. Porcupine’s Pie tells the sweet story of a porcupine who begins to prepare her famous pie for Fall Feast Day, but learns that her woodland friends are in need of ingredients. She generously shares her own, but soon discovers that it will be impossible to make her own specialty. Porcupine’s disappointment turns to joy when she and her friends create a new tradition. Porcupine’s Pie will be published in 2018. Author Laura Renauld is a former elementary school teacher and an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

“Porcupine’s Pie completely charmed the Sparkhouse Family team with its effortless storytelling and themes of generosity, sharing, and community spirit,” said Andrew DeYoung, Director of Product Development. “It’s a perfect addition to our line of high-quality, kid-friendly children’s books about values that are important to people of faith.”

The Sparkhouse Family Children’s Picture Book Contest looks to recognize the best picture book manuscript that helps instill an open-hearted, transformational, lifelong Christian faith in children. The contest will open again later in 2017 for the next round of submissions.

About Sparkhouse Family

Sparkhouse Family creates Bibles, books, and videos designed to spark new life in today’s Christian families. Through creative and entertaining storytelling, Sparkhouse Family helps kids laugh, learn, and grow in faith all at the same time. More details about the award-winning books and Bibles for children and Sparkhouse Family can be found at www.sparkhouse.org.

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(Nashville, TN) January 11, 2017—Today, Thomas Nelson announced Karen Jackson as its new director of marketing its imprint, Nelson Books. Jackson will work under the direction of Jeff James, vice president of marketing for Nelson Books.

In her new role as director of marketing, Jackson will focus on maintaining strategic relationships and will work closely with Nelson Book authors to develop and execute critical marketing initiatives to ensure success.  [Read more…]

 After 23 years with Charisma House, Tessie DeVore has resigned from her role as executive vice president and publisher to serve as president of a new nonprofit, the Lumo Project, a ministry dedicated to Bible engagement.

Marcos Perez, vice president of sales and marketing for Charisma House, has been promoted to executive vice president and publisher by Steve Strang, CEO and founder of Charisma Media.

[Read more…]

This simulcast event will include Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson, Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy, former Walter Payton NFL Man-of-the-Year Warrick Dunn, Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel, and ESPN’s Sage Steele, among others.

Carol Stream, Ill. (December 13, 2016) — In November 2014, Benjamin Watson, then a tight end with the New Orleans Saints, posted a Facebook essay expressing the different emotions he felt after a Ferguson, Mo., grand jury voted not to indict a white police officer, Darren Wilson, in the shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. Watson’s Facebook post, which effectively expressed an assortment of emotions that ranged from anger to embarrassment to hopelessness to hopefulness, was “liked” by nearly one million people.

One year later, Tyndale House Publishers released Watson’s Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race—and Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations That Divide Us. The highly regarded book, which has been referred to as part memoir and part social commentary, is a challenging look at race, bias, and justice.

On Thursday, February 16, 2017, Watson (now with the Baltimore Ravens) and other national thought leaders—including author and Hall of Fame football coach Tony Dungy, former NFL Walter Payton Man-of-the-Year award winner Warrick Dunn, Heisman Trophy winner and Executive Director of Desire Street Ministries Danny Wuerffel, author and speaker Mo Isom, Detroit pastor and author J. Kevin Butcher, and Executive Director of Restoration Academy Ben Sciacca—will come together at The Crossing Church in Tampa to discuss race and faith. The event will be moderated by ESPN’s Sage Steele and music will be provided by Lizzy Cameron. In addition to the onsite event, the forum will be broadcast live via www.Livestream.com across the world. More information is available at www.underourskinforum.com.

For many, the racial divide is an argument, a political position, or a debate on television. The participants in Under Our Skin: A Forum on Race and Faith desire to move this argument and debate to one of understanding different perspectives by putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes. While many similar forums often end with engaging discussion but no action, this forum will provide a call to action for forum attendees to take with them to their homes, churches, schools, and jobs so that this discussion can continue far beyond one three-hour event.

“I think it’s important for all of us to let down our guard, to show some empathy, and be open to someone else’s experience, even if it’s different from our own,” said Watson. “Though our forum panelists won’t agree on everything, we’ll be intentional about having honest, heartfelt, and respectful dialogue. We all need a change of heart on the subject of race, and we all need to look introspectively. I think it’s incumbent upon all of us to see where our own lives intersect with this dialogue. Our greatest desire is to equip people who view the Under Our Skin forum with tools to help them engage in their own communities.”

WHAT: Under Our Skin: A Forum on Race and Faith

WHEN: Thursday, February 16, 2017 from 7:00–10:00 pm ET (book signing prior to event)

WHERE: The Crossing Church in Tampa

WHO: Panelists who are scheduled to participate include author and Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson, Hall of Fame football coach Tony Dungy, former NFL Walter Payton Man-of-the-Year award winner Warrick Dunn, Heisman Trophy winner and Executive Director of Desire Street Ministries Danny Wuerffel, author and speaker Mo Isom, Detroit pastor and author J. Kevin Butcher, and Executive Director of Restoration Academy Ben Sciacca, among others. The event will be moderated by ESPN’s Sage Steele with music performed by Lizzy Cameron. Greg Dumas, pastor at The Crossing Church, will provide opening remarks.

WHY: For national thought leaders to have an engaging and respectful discussion on race, and for the panelist to provide viewers with a call to action in their own community

COST: General Admission at The Crossing Church in Tampa:  $29.99 ($24.99 before 1/16/17).  Livestream.com feed for churches/groups of more than twenty:  $199.00 ($149.00 before 1/16/17)  Livestream.com feed for individuals: $9.99 ($7.99 before 1/16/17)

DONATION: Tyndale House Publishers will provide a charitable donation to the charity/foundation of choice for forum participants.

MORE INFORMATION AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS: www.underourskinforum.com

Please consider inviting your family and friends to join Tyndale House Publishers, along with an impressive panel of leaders, as we come together to take a closer look at the issues of race and faith in America and the power and possibility of faith as a step toward healing. The Under Our Skin panel will closely examine the truths, myths, and realities of racial conflict and reconciliation in a setting that will encourage all of us to empathize with others and to implement what we learn by taking several concrete action items into our own communities.

Tyndale House Publishers, founded in 1962, is the world’s largest privately held Christian publisher of books, Bibles, and digital media. Tyndale has published many New York Times bestsellers. The largest portion of its profit goes to the nonprofit Tyndale House Foundation, which makes grants to help meet the physical and spiritual needs of people around the world. Tyndale was founded to publish Living Letters, which later comprised part of 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.

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

WESTMONT, IL—Results of Christianity Today’s 2017 Book Awards are in, and InterVarsity Press is pleased to announce that The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction by Adam McHugh was chosen as the book of the year in the Spiritual Formation category.

“At a time when we are drowning in words—both digital and spoken—this quiet little book throws us a life preserver,” said Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and a judge for the Spiritual Formation category. “The Listening Life is gentle, thoughtful, biblical, and eminently practical. It outlines a broad theology of listening alongside specific and clear practices that teach the reader to listen in a new way. Whether you are a loud lover of words or a shy lover of solitude, this book will likely convict you.”

John Koessler, author of The Radical Pursuit of Rest, reviewed The Listening Life in the November 2015 issue of Christianity Today. He wrote, “Adam McHugh wants us to know that our God is also a God who hears. We should not mistake divine silence for disinterest. ‘Listening begins when we learn that our heavenly Father listens to us,’ writes McHugh. ‘The pattern of human life may be to listen first, but with the Lord, we are always heard before we hear.’ God’s apparent silence is not a mark of his absence. It means that we have his full attention.”

The Listening Life was also honored as Bookwi.se’s Favorite Book of the Year in the Non-Fiction category, and was named the Best Christian Living Book for 2016 by the Logos Association Bookstore Award.

Four other IVP titles were honored with special recognition as part of Christianity Today’s 2017 Book Awards:

The Next Worship: Glorifying God in a Diverse World by Sandra Van Opstal was given an Award of Merit in The Church/Pastoral Leadership category. Efrem Smith, president and CEO of World Impact and a judge for the category, said, “In a time of great ethnic diversity—but also division—this book is sorely needed. Van Opstal provides a practical theology and missional framework for why we must rethink the corporate experience of worship. Her vision goes beyond building a diverse worship team or singing songs in an unfamiliar language. I pray every pastor and worship leader will read this book.”

Insider Jesus: Theological Reflections on New Christian Movements by William Dyrness received the Award of Merit in the Missions/Global Church category. Kent Annan, author of Slow Kingdom Coming, said, “The word insider in the title is accurate but also misleading, because the joy of reading this book is learning more about how God acts and moves in people’s lives outside of where and how we might expect. Dyrness takes us through the Bible, theology, history, culture, and case studies to open our eyes to different ways Jesus is being followed today. As a result, our eyes are opened to God’s redemptive grace moving creatively in the world. And we’re better prepared for thoughtful missions work that participates in God’s story without imposing unnecessary cultural baggage.”

Taking Pascal’s Wager: Faith, Evidence and the Abundant Life by Michael Rota was honored with the Award of Merit in the Apologetics/Evangelism category. “Rota, a skilled analytic philosopher, provides an engaging and compelling case for taking Pascal’s wager,” said Chad Meister, professor of philosophy and theology at Bethel College, Indiana. “The precision of the points is manifest on every page. But what makes the book even more profitable is its accessible prose. Inviting, charitable, and provocative—this is the sort of book that one could heartily give to a believer, agnostic, or even an ardent atheist. A home-run for Christian apologetics.

The Award of Merit winner in the Culture and the Arts category was Modern Art and the Life of a Culture: The Religious Impulses of Modernism by Jonathan Anderson and William Dyrness. Wade Bearden, a writer, film critic, and category judge, said, “Just what should Christians think of modern art? Is it void of all religious impulses and persuasions? Or is there a deeper vision often left unexplored? Rather than writing off the last century and a half of visual art as purely secular, Anderson and Dyrness meticulously detail the patterns of piety and spirituality that both influenced and empowered artists like van Gogh, Gauguin, Kandinsky, and Warhol.”

See a complete list of IVP award winners.

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.

Zondervan and Thomas Nelson titles named Book of the Year in three categories

Contact: Casey Harrell
Director, Corporate Communications
tel: 615-902-1109
web: casey.harrell@harpercollins.com

(Nashville, TN) December 16, 2016—HarperCollins Christian Publishing is honored to have both its publishing groups, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, recognized in five categories of Christianity Today’s 2017 Book Awards, which were announced on December 14. Each year Christianity Today chooses titles in 12 categories representing the books “most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture.”

Matt Reynolds, associate editor at Christianity Today, selected titles for the 2017 awards that pay homage to Martin Luther and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. “Luther’s prolific pen and publishing genius helped mold evangelicals into a ‘people of the book,’ in more ways than one. These awards are just one small way of keeping the legacy alive,” Reynolds explains.

The following Zondervan titles were recognized:

• Saving the Saved: How Jesus Saves Us from Try-Harder Christianity into Performance-Free Love by Bryan Loritts – Award of Merit (Christian Living/Discipleship)
• How to Preach and Teach the Old Testament for All Its Worth by Christopher J. H. Wright – Book of the Year (The Church/Pastoral Leadership)
• Kierkegaard: A Single Life by Stephen Backhouse – Book of the Year (History/Biography)
• Unashamed: Drop the Baggage, Pick up Your Freedom, Fulfill Your Destiny by Christine Caine – Award of Merit (CT Women)
• Thomas Nelson’s The Confessions of X by Suzanne Wolfe won Book of the Year for Fiction.

“We are pleased to have these titles recognized as influential texts in Christian culture,” says Mark Schoenwald, president and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. “Our publishing teams and authors worked together to create quality content and products that help further the message of the gospel. It’s an honor to have their efforts and talent acknowledged by Christianity Today.”

To read the full 2017 Book of the Year Awards announcement from Christianity Today, please click here.

For more information on Saving the Saved, How to Preach and Teach the Old Testament for All Its Worth, Kierkegaard, and Unashamed, please visit www.zondervan.com.

For more information on The Confessions of X, please visit www.thomasnelson.com.

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., Mexico, and Brazil. For more information visit www.HarperCollinsChristian.com.