GRAND RAPIDS, MICH, March 5, 2025 — Platinum-selling recording artist, songwriter and pastor Tauren Wells announced his debut book, Joy Bomb: Unleash Jesus’s Explosive Joy for an Extraordinary Life, will release May 20, 2025, from Zondervan Books. The highly anticipated new book features a foreword by Steven Furtick and is endorsed by Steph Curry, Joel Osteen and Michael Todd, and is available to pre-order here.
Joy Bomb helps readers answer who are asking: If God designed us for happiness, why does joy often feel so elusive? This book grapples with the raw tension between striving for happiness and uncovering the deep, unshakable joy we were created for.
Wells offers a fresh take on Jesus’s first recorded teaching, the Sermon on the Mount, highlighting how Jesus’s repeated use of the word “happy” challenges our modern, surface-level ideas of joy and pushes us toward a deeper, eternal understanding. Wells offers readers the “codes” to unlock a joy that isn’t superficial or dependent on circumstances; it’s divine and eternal. It comes from God and is rooted in his unchanging character and boundless love. Each beatitude strips away our illusions, cutting to the heart of what it means to follow God in the messiness of real life. It reveals a joy that isn’t tidy or effortless, but raw, hard-won, and deeply transformative. The Beatitudes reveal not just his power but his overwhelming love and grace.
“The Beatitudes have shown us a way of life in which God’s joy flows freely, meeting us exactly where you are,” writes Wells. “This joy is born from letting go of the need to keep up, from daring to face grief with honesty, from allowing ourselves to depend on God even when we feel empty. It grows through the freedom of forgiveness, the quiet strength of humility, the pull toward justice and the peace we bring to others. And yes, even when things get uncomfortable or unpopular, this joy stays unshaken.”
Tauren Wells is a celebrated platinum-selling musician, pastor, public speaker and father who has quietly galvanized audiences worldwide over nearly a decade. With ten GRAMMY® nominations, eight GMA Dove Awards (including Contemporary Christian Artist of the Year and New Artist of the Year), a Billboard Music Award nomination and a Premio Nuestro Award nomination, his accolades also include nods from the BET and NAACP Image Awards. Known for blending Contemporary Christian and Gospel with elements of pop, hip-hop, and R&B, Wells has achieved seven #1 hits, three consecutive Top 5 Billboard Christian Album debuts and over 1.2 billion global streams. His RIAA-certified singles—platinum hits “Known” and “Hills and Valleys” and gold singles “God’s Not Done With You” and “Famous For (I Believe)”—continue to resonate deeply with listeners. Wells has collaborated with artists across genres, from Academy® Award winner H.E.R. to rock icons Skillet and Davies, and shared stages with legends Lionel Richie and Mariah Carey. His dynamic performances have captivated fans worldwide. In January 2024, he and his wife launched Church of Whitestone in Austin, Texas, where they serve as co-lead pastors, blending family, faith and ministry into his artistry. Driven by a commitment to bring his family closer to their collective faith, Wells creates music as a testament to this purpose, an intent that infuses his upcoming 2025 EP Let The Church Sing and literary debut, Joy Bomb.
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Zondervan is a HarperCollins Company and part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Zondervan is a world leading publisher and provider of Christian communications. The company’s products are sold worldwide and translated into nearly 200 languages. Zondervan offices are located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For additional information, please visit zondervan.com.
