March 12, 2018 Edition

March Christian Bestsellers show Millennial voices on the rise

“It’s official,” declared a media story last week. “Millennials are defined as those born between 1981 and 1996.” Numbering more than 70 million, Millennials will soon overtake Boomers as America’s largest generation. The strength of the Millennial generation is evident in the ECPA Christian bestseller lists for March 2018, reflecting POS sales compiled by NPD BookScan in February. Five of the eight new releases in the Top 50 overall bestsellers list are by Millennial authors, with one more new release coming from a member of Generation Z, also known as iGen. That is Sadie Robertson, who at the age of 20 has already written her second book, Live Fearless (Thomas Nelson), debuting at #3.

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Early-bird discount for ECPA Leadership Summit expires Friday

In less than 8 weeks, the ECPA Leadership Summit will be in full swing at the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC on May 1-2.  The Early Bird Registration period ends this Friday, March 15, and represents significant savings of $200 per person. ECPA members and teams save event more.  Says ECPA executive director Stan Jantz: “We have designed a terrific program that will inform and inspire you and your team. We’ve carefully chosen speakers who will reflect on topics that will challenge you and the leaders in your company to develop content and employ marketing plans that will engage and enrich readers.”  In addition, the ECPA Awards Dinner honoring 40 years of the Christian Book Awards will take place in the Museum the evening of May 1^st.   Some exciting details for this beautiful “Night at the Museum” will be announced shortly.  This is an industry event not to be missed.

Register at ECPALeadership.org

Call for Fiction:  Christy Award™ submissions underway

Publishers are invited to nominate their fiction titles, published between March 2017 and March 2018, for the 2018 Christy Award by March 31.  Winners will be announced on November 7 at The Christy Award Gala in Nashville. “We are delighted with the surge in interest and quality of this important part of our industry,” states ECPA executive director Stan Jantz.

For more information, ChristyAwards.com

Pastor Rob Morgan finds true peace in Jesus through Bible meditation

Pastor Rob Morgan joins the Jesus Calling Podcast to share how the Bible is given to us not just to study academically; although the study of the Bible is the most fascinating thing we can do, Morgan stresses that we must personalize it and to think of it as a personal letter from God. Pastor Morgan’s book, Reclaiming the Lost Art of Biblical Meditation: Find True Peace in Jesus released in 2017 from Thomas Nelson.  More at  jesuscalling.com/podcast

Bible Gateway interviews Jack Deere, author of “Even in Our Darkness”

“On the morning of December 31, 2000, I watched a white, cardboard coffin travel up a conveyor belt into the belly of a Boeing 757, along with the other baggage. The body in that coffin had belonged to my son. But he had gambled with it once too often.” Thus opens the memoir of bestselling author, pastor, and professor Jack Deere, in which he confronts the question of where is God when your life falls apart. Bible Gateway interviewed Jack Deere about his book, Even in Our Darkness: A Story of Beauty in a Broken Life (Zondervan, 2018).

Read this interview.

Bible Gateway interviews Lois Tverberg, author of “Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus”

Wrinkles and grey hair in the mirror. Rain in the forecast. Gaining a clothing size. Modern Bible readers view all of these as negatives, but in the biblical world, just the opposite would have been true. Old age was an advantage when elders were chosen as leaders, and rain was an occasion for rejoicing in the parched Middle East. Beauty was associated with gaining weight because hunger was a common struggle. Cultural differences large and small separate modern readers from how the Bible “thinks.” Bible Gateway interviewed Lois Tverberg (@loistverberg) about her book, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus: How a Jewish Perspective Can Transform Your Understanding (Baker Books, 2018).

Read this interview.