For Immediate Release — May 29, 2019

Lysa TerKeurst to keynote ECPA PubU, held Nov. 5-6 in Nashville

Publishing tracks in Editorial, Digital Marketing, Design, Reader Engagement & Publicity, Data/Delivery/Workflow, and Emerging Leader

New Emerging Leader sessions will help onboard professionals new to publishing

TEMPE, ARIZ., May 29, 2019 – ECPA announces the 2019 program for the industry’s annual Publishing University, known as ECPA PubU.  The premiere training and networking event for Christian publishing professionals will be held Nov. 5-6 at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, and will feature New York Times bestselling author, Proverbs 31 President, and COMPEL Training founder, LYSA TERKEURST.

“We are thrilled that Lysa will be speaking at PubU to ECPA’s frontline publishing professionals,” said ECPA president Stan Jantz. “From her experience as an author and also a trainer of authors and publishers, she will inspire and inform our industry at the highest level.”

The event is considered the industry’s training marathon, offering more than 40 sessions in nearly a 24-hour period, in six publishing tracks.  The event is put on BY the industry, FOR the industry, and represents nearly 50 volunteer faculty.  Attendees can “customize” their training by choosing the sessions most helpful to their role in publishing and have the unique opportunity to learn from both publishing leaders in the industry and experts outside the industry. The program is designed for those both new to publishing and for seasoned veterans.

New to this year’s program is a series of sessions for “Emerging Leaders” to provide publishing basics for those new to the industry.  “The new emerging leaders track is being developed to encourage and equip newer industry professionals as they grow in their career paths,” explains track leader Randall Payleitner, Associate Publisher of Moody Publishers.  “We’re all on mission here and there are amazing days ahead. This one-day track will be a way for publishers to help their newer leaders get a great start and keep going—on mission—together.”

Payleitner joins PubU veteran lead Dave Schroeder, B&H Publishing’s VP of Marketing, in leading this year’s “Brain Trust” — the committee of publishing leaders who are charged with developing the program by inviting speakers and identifying session topics.  They are:

• REBECCA BURGOYNE
  Exec. Director of Operations, United Methodist Publishing
  – Data, Delivery & Workflow track
• AMY CERRA
  Creative Director, Our Daily Bread Ministries
  – Design track
• JAMIELYN HEIM
  Marketing Manager, David C Cook
  – Digital Marketing track
• JERRI HELMS
  Sr. Director of Digital Marketing Initiatives, HarperCollins Christian Publishing
  – Digital Marketing track
• DR. THEON HILL
  Asst. Professor of Communications, Wheaton College
  – Member-at-Large/Diversity
• MICHELE MISIAK
  Marketing Director, Baker Publishing Group
  – Reader Engagement/Publicity track
• RANDALL PAYLEITNER
  Associate Publisher, Moody Publishers
  – Brain Trust Lead, Emerging Leader track
• DAVE SCHROEDER
  Vice President of Marketing, B&H Publishing Group
  – Brain Trust Lead, Reader Engagement/Publicity track
• KEITH WILLIAMS
  Senior Editor, Tyndale House Publishers
  – Editorial track

Schroeder, who has led the PubU Brain Trust the past three years, is enthusiastic about this year’s program: “We are delighted to see the Brain Trust diligently pulling together speakers, trainers, and panelists from across our industry to help encourage and train Christian publishing professionals at this exciting time in our history.”  He anticipates the full program will be announced within the month.

PubU’s closing session with Lysa TerKeurst on November 6 will be the opening session for The Art of Writing seminars, an afternoon of workshops for content creators and storytellers.  That event will be followed by The Christy Award™ Christian Fiction Gala held that evening to announce the winners of the 2019 Christy Awards.  Already signed to participate are bestselling authors Patti Callahan, James Rubart, and last year’s Christy Book of the Year winner, Becky Wade.

Early-bird registration for PubU is now open and includes the option to sign up for the Christy events at a deep discount.  To register, be notified of program updates and the industry’s Emerging Leader scholarships available, go to ECPAPubU.org.

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Lysa TerKeurst is president of Proverbs 31 Ministries and the #1 New York Times’ best-selling author of Uninvited, It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way, The Best Yes, Unglued, Made to Crave, and 17 other books. Lysa was recently awarded the Champions of Faith Author Award and has been published in multiple publications such as Focus on the Family and CNN online. Additionally, she has appeared on The Today Show as one of the leading voices in the Christian community. Connect with her at LysaTerKeurst.com or on social media at @LysaTerKeurst.

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit 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

Media contact: Stan Jantz, ECPA president/CEO, sjantz@ecpa.org, 480-966-3998

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