UPWORD 2012 (http://SeeGodsWordinAction.com/UPWORD2012) (#UPWORD2012) is a campaign during the US presidential election season that reminds us God is in control. Get a Bible verse paired with stunning, original nature photographs delivered to your email inbox. Also get free downloads of the New Testament, screensavers and wallpaper, a blogger badge, a YouTube video of the verses, and a mobile app when you visit http://SeeGodsWordinAction.com/UPWORD2012. This ends Nov. 9, so sign up today. Tell your friends and share on your social sites. See the announcing news release.
With the end of the political conventions comes the official start of the 2012 US presidential campaign season, prompting feelings of angst among beleaguered citizens. According to Gallup research, 75% of swing state voters and 70% of all voters already can’t wait for the election to be over. People say the divisive nature of increasingly negative political rhetoric produces feelings of anxiety, frustration, and confusion.
A separate campaign begins today online that offers reassuring daily solace in the form of specially selected Bible verses paired with stunning, original nature photographs – available by email through election day. UPWORD 2012 (#UPWORD2012) (http://SeeGodsWordinAction.com/UPWORD2012), is sponsored by God’s Word In Action (@GodsWordnAction), the charitable giving program of Thomas Nelson Bibles (@NelsonBibles).
“Our UPWORD 2012 campaign offers anti-anxiety meditation in the form of daily Bible verses of assurance during this potentially discordant time in America,” says Blake Aldridge, senior director of marketing. “Our hope is that, through these verses and beautiful nature photos, people will remember God is ultimately in control.”
Visitors to the UPWORD 2012 website will engage with a PowerPoint® presentation consisting of vivid, original color photography of serene nature scenes combined with Scripture verses from the new Bible translation The Voice, as well as the New King James Version and King James Version. The presentation is capable of being embedded on other blogs and websites.
The above video is also available as a free download. Other free resources on UPWORD 2012 include:
·an email subscription service for automatic reception of UPWORD 2012 in email inboxes
·mobile app.
“We invite bloggers, Pinterest pinners, and everyone to broadly share these encouraging and inspiring verses leading up to the election,” says Aldridge.
The goal of God’s Word In Action is to help eradicate global and domestic poverty by inviting people to change a child’s life forever through child sponsorship or a donation to child and family health.
Thomas Nelson, Inc., a HarperCollins company, is the world’s largest Christian publisher. The company provides multiple formats of Bibles, inspirational books, and digital content, with distribution of its products in more than 100 countries. Live Event Management, Inc., a Thomas Nelson company, is the nation’s leading producer of Christian live events. Thomas Nelson is headquartered in Nashville, TN. For additional information, please visit http://www.thomasnelsoncorporate.com.
The Voice™ is a faithful dynamic equivalent Bible translation that reads like a story with all the truth and wisdom of God's Word. Through compelling narratives, poetry, and teaching, The Voice invites readers to enter into the whole story of God with their heart, soul, and mind, enabling them to hear God speaking and to experience His presence in their lives. Through a collaboration of nearly 120 biblical scholars, pastors, writers, musicians, poets, and artists, The Voice recaptures the passion, grit, humor, and beauty that is often lost in the translation process. The result is a retelling of the story of the Bible in a form as fluid as modern literary works, yet remaining painstakingly true to the original manuscripts.
News release: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, comprised of both Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson) and Zondervan (@Zondervan), today announced the division’s new Leadership Team. The new team will work together to preserve the two publishing group’s unique editorial focus, while pursuing mutually beneficial collaborative opportunities, for the new division.
The new Leadership Team will report to Mark Schoenwald, President and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing Division. The team is as follows:
·Stuart Bitting, SVP & Chief Financial Officer
·Annette Bourland, SVP Zondervan Book Publishing
·David Moberg, SVP Thomas Nelson Book Publishing
·Chip Brown, SVP Bible Publishing
·Paul Engle, SVP Church, Academic and Reference Resources
·Stan Gundry, Zondervan Editor-in-Chief
·Eric Shanfelt, SVP eMedia
·Tod Shuttleworth, SVP Spanish and International Publishing
·Carol Nygren Managing Director Live Events Management
·Al Kerkstra, SVP Support Operations and Human Resources
·Casey Harrell Director of Corporate Communications
“As we move forward in the process of building the HarperCollins Christian Publishing Division, I am pleased with the progress we have made over the last few weeks,” said Schoenwald. “I am confident in this team’s ability to lead the company through decisions that will be crucial for driving growth and fulfilling the publishing groups’ missions. We will continue to work through every aspect of the business to build an organization focused on innovation and execution, committed to honoring God and serving our partners.”
HarperCollins Christian Publishing will continue to release information, as it becomes available.
HarperCollins Christian Publishing, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers (@HarperCollins), is comprised of Thomas Nelson Inc. and Zondervan. The two publishing groups provide bestselling Bibles, inspirational books, audio and digital content, academic resources, curriculum, and live events for the Christian market space. HarperCollins Christian Publishing is committed to meeting the needs of its consumers with resources that honor God and inspire the world. For more information please visit www.thomasnelsoncorporate.com and www.zondervan.com.
Seminary professor, theologian and bestselling Christian author Calvin A. Miller died Aug. 19 of complications following open heart surgery. He was 75.
A former Southern Baptist pastor and professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, Miller had served from 1999-2007 at Samford University's Beeson Divinity School, most recently as professor of preaching and pastoral ministry. He was the founding pastor (1966) of Westside Church (@WestsideOmaha), Omaha, NE.
Read why the British bookstore chain Waterstone’s (@Waterstones) dropped its apostrophe earlier this year, then listen to two BBC commentators discuss its implications.
And remember that the popular Bible translation Common English Bible (@CommonEngBible) uses the apostrophe in its copious number of contractions (which are used where the text warrants an engaging conversational style, but not used in divine or poetic discourse).
Let Somersault’s (@smrsault) editorial expertise help you properly use apostrophes when communicating your brand’s message.
Moody Publishers (@MoodyBooks) author and long-time Moody Radio (@MoodyRadio) pastor C. Donald Cole (retired) met listeners on the air a couple times each week to answer their questions about the Bible and the Christian life. He died at the age of 89 Aug. 4 from complications due to Parkinson’s disease.
A public visitation will be held at Wheaton Bible Church (@wheatonbible) Friday, Aug. 31. Visitation will be from 11:30 am–1:30 pm and a public memorial service will be held from 2–3:30 pm. The burial will be private.
HarperCollinsPublishers (@HarperCollins) announced yesterday it’s creating a Christian publishing division that will consist of its new company acquisition Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson) and Zondervan (@zondervan). Thomas Nelson’s president and CEO Mark Schoenwald is now president and CEO of the new division, reporting to Brian Murray, president and CEO of HarperCollins Worldwide. Schoenwald also will serve on the HarperCollins executive committee. Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) quotes Schoenwald in an exclusive interview:
“We will be building our leadership team over the next few weeks. Everything is under review – we are evaluating every area of the business....With some things you only get one chance to get it right, and we don't want to have to go back and keep adjusting.”
Schoenwald said the reason for creating the new division and bringing it under his leadership is that “people have to know who is in charge. We have to have someone leading the business.”
In a possibly related development, Publishers Weeklyreports that Thomas Nelson has signed an agreement with B&H Publishing (@BHpub) granting B&H "certain publication rights" to the New King James Version of the Bible. This could be a condition set by the Department of Justice to allow the Harper/Nelson deal to go through.
Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you in your publishing needs, from concept conception to product development, research, branding, marketing, and more.
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Floatingsheep.org (@floating_sheep), a website that maps the geographies of user-generated online content, says the word “church” is most often found in tweets originating in the Southeast United States, while tweets about “beer” are most common in the Northeast. The depiction of this in the map above strongly aligns with the multi-state area known as the Bible Belt (NC, SC, GA, KY, TN, AL, MS, AR, LA, OK, TX).
The Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average. The Bible Belt consists of much of the Southern United States extending west into Texas and Oklahoma.
In an earlier study, Floatingsheep investigated the relative number of mentions of the word “church” in placemarks uploaded to Google. The results are reflected in the above map.
Interestingly, while the “Bible belt” in the physical world is often talked about as being synonymous with the American South, the virtual “Bible belt” additionally incorporates large parts of the Midwest.
·47% of American adults believe the Bible has too little influence in society today; only 16% believe it has too much influence, with the remaining adults expressing neutral opinions
·55% read the Bible to be closer to God, down 9% (from 64%) in 2011
·79% believe they are knowledgeable about the Bible but 54% are unable to correctly identify the first 5 books of the Bible
·46% believe the Bible, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon are different expressions of the same spiritual truths; 46% disagree
·On average, 85% of US households own a Bible; the average number of Bibles per household is 4.3
·36% of Americans read the Bible less than once a year or never, while 33% read the Bible once a week or more
·Younger adults are less likely to perceive the Bible as relevant and useful when compared with older adults.
·62% of adults age 66 and older believe the Bible contains everything a person needs to know about living a meaningful life, dropping to 54% among boomers (age 47 to 65), 44% among those age 28 to 46, and dropping even further to 34% for those age 18 to 27.
