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The completion of the new Common English Bible (http://CommonEnglishBible.com) translation is among the top 10 religion stories of 2011 as decided by leading religion journalists in the 30th annual Religion Newswriters Association survey.

The Common English Bible (Twitter @CommonEngBible – http://twitter.com/CommonEngBible) is newsworthy for several reasons:

·         Its objective: the Common English Bible uses a natural English vocabulary to clearly and freshly communicate the ancient sacred text in a world where 9,000 new words & meaning revisions are added yearly to the English lexicon.

·         Its speed: the Common English Bible took only four years to accomplish – a phenomenal feat when compared with other recent modern English Bible translations that took 10-17 years to complete.

·         Its efficiency: the Common English Bible was able to be completed so rapidly due to the translation process using an online project management database that permitted more than 200 collaborators (translators, editors, and field testers) to communicate immediately. The project was constructed in a workflow matrix with more than 400 overlapping parts.

·         Its breadth: the Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 academic scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world who joined together to clearly translate the Bible’s original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages directly into 21st century English.

·         Its balance: the Common English Bible translators – from 24 denominations in American, African, Asian, European, and Latino communities – represent such academic institutions as Asbury Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary, Denver Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, Wheaton College, Yale University, and many others.

·         Its understandability: The Common English Bible is written in contemporary idiom at the same reading level as the newspaper USA TODAY—using language that’s comfortable and accessible for today’s English readers.

·         Its uniqueness: the Common English Bible is the only translation to combine highly respected ecumenical biblical scholarship necessary for serious study with field-tested responsiveness to 21st century clear communication requirements for comprehensive clarity.

·         Its contractions: the Common English Bible is the only translation to extensively use contractions where the text warrants an engaging conversational style (although contractions are not used in divine or poetic discourse).

·         Its cartography: the Common English Bible is the only translation that includes exclusive, detailed color maps from National Geographic, well known for its accurate topographical map making.

·         Its acceptance: the complete Bible, including an edition with the Apocrypha, released in August 2011. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are already in print. It’s also available online and in 20 digital formats. A reference Bible edition and a daily companion devotional edition are now also available.

More than 140 international bloggers are currently participating in the three-month long “Thank You-Come Again-I Promise” blog tour (from November 2011 through January 2012). The complete tour schedule, and information about joining the tour, is available at CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour (http://www.CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour). The tour Twitter hashtag is #CEBtour (http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23cebtour).

Visit CommonEnglishBible.com to see comparison translations, learn about the translators, get free downloads, and more.

The Common English Bible is sponsored by the Common English Bible Committee, an alliance of five publishers that serve the general market, as well as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (Chalice Press), Presbyterian Church (USA) (Westminster John Knox Press), Episcopal Church (Church Publishing, Inc.), United Church of Christ (The Pilgrim Press), and The United Methodist Church (Abingdon Press).

For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with Paul Franklyn, associate publisher, please contact Audra Jennings, ajennings@tbbmedia.com at 1.800.927.1517.

During every minute of the day, people around the globe are actively using the YouVersion Bible App to engage with Scripture. YouVersion held a live webcast Nov. 30 to announce key statistics.

The Common English Bible (@CommonEngBible) has been downloaded through YouVersion more than 60,000 times in the last four months and live-streamed to thousands more mobile devices.

The following Infographic shares a quick look at what happens in just one minute in the YouVersion (@YouVersion) (#YouVersion) community.

Christian books once available only at independent-niche Christian bookshops...are now sold online and in mainstream stores everywhere. As recognition of the popularity of Christian books has grown, with some titles holding a steady spot on the nation's best-seller lists, Christian publishing companies and their audience have grown, too, expanding globally and into the electronic marketplace. Now the formerly fringe products have a home in mainstream popularity....

A 2005 Baylor University study shows 11% of Americans spend $50 or more a month on religious products, including non-book items....

Nielsen BookScan, which provides information for The Wall Street Journal’s best-seller list, tracks 75% of book sales in America from traditional retailers, independent bookstores, and Amazon.com — but the company only tracks 50% of sales from Christian bookstores, specifically. That should change with the addition of key Christian retailers and Walmart in 2012, says Jonathan Stolper, vice president and general manager of Nielsen BookScan (@NielsenWire).

“It’s certainly conceivable that those Wall Street Journal charts will change dramatically,” Stolper says. “I think The Wall Street Journal will see some Christian books pop up on there when we complete the panel.”

Read this in full.

Remember to daily use the SomersaultNOW online dashboard to read the latest news in Christian and general book publishing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As millions of Americans have turned away from mainline churches in the past few decades, megachurches — large congregations that emphasize casual style over ritual and doctrine — have seen huge growth in membership and budgets. The above Infographic by GOOD (@GOOD) and Column Five (@columnfive) depicts a glimpse of the wide world of American megachurches.

View the Infographic in OpenZoom viewer.

In the article “Megachurches: When Will The Bubble Burst?” on Huffington Post Religion (@HuffPostRelig), Sky Jethani (@skye_jethani) analyzes the above data.

Buried in the positive stats about megachurches may be signs of challenges ahead. Could a bubble be forming? And when it finally bursts will the mega-model be abandoned or severely reengineered? Are we seeing the maturation of the megachurch movement into a sustainable and long-term model for the American church? Or, like Wile E. Coyote, is the ground going to suddenly disappear under its feet?

Read this in full.

More than 130 bloggers will begin Sunday to contribute to a 3-month blog and Twitter tour for the new Common English Bible (http://CommonEnglishBible.com) translation. The “Common English Bible Thank You-Come Again-I Promise” tour extends from November through January, honoring National Bible Week (11/20-27), Thanksgiving (11/24), Advent (11/27-12/24), Christmas (12/25), and New Year’s celebration (1/1-30). The complete tour schedule, participation details, and list of bloggers with links to their blogs are available at CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour (http://CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour). New bloggers may continue to join throughout the tour.

Background information on the Common English Bible is available at http://CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/newsroom. Badges that can be placed on blogs are available at http://j.mp/uvrxBL. 

The CEB Twitter stream is @CommonEngBible (http://twitter.com/CommonEngBible). The tour Twitter hashtag is #CEBtour (http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23cebtour). Bloggers will be writing posts around the above seasonal events, including commenting on verses from the Common English Bible, reviewing the Bible translation itself, interviewing the translators or associate publisher behind the translation, or discussing the translation with their readers.

Known for being “built on common ground,” the Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 academic scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world who joined together to clearly translate the Bible’s original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages into 21st century English. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are currently in print. It’s also available online and in 20 digital formats.

For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with Paul Franklyn, please contact Audra Jennings, ajennings@tbbmedia.com or Diane Morrow, dmorrow@tbbmedia.com, at 1.800.927.1517.

An international network of bloggers will soon contribute to a three-month blog tour for the new Common English Bible (http://CommonEnglishBible.com) translation. The “Common English Bible Thank You-Come Again-I Promise” tour extends from November through January, honoring National Bible Week, Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and New Year’s celebration. The complete tour schedule, and information about joining the tour, is available at CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour (http://CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour). Background information about the Common English Bible is available at CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/newsroom.

The Twitter hashtag for the tour is #CEBtour.

Beginning Nov. 20 and running through January, the tour is an opportunity for bloggers to join together in writing posts around upcoming seasonal events using the Common English Bible (Twitter @CommonEngBible – http://twitter.com/CommonEngBible), including commenting on verses from it, reviewing the Bible translation itself, interviewing the translators or associate publisher behind the translation, or discussing the translation with their readers.

“This tour is designed to help bloggers coordinate for their readers the thoughtful consideration of the biblical expressions of gratitude, waiting for the coming of Christ, and personal renewal,” says Paul Franklyn, PhD, associate publisher for the Common English Bible. “What better time to consider these themes than during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year? And in what better manner than with a scholarly Bible translation that’s easily comprehendible to the majority of English readers?”

Participating bloggers in the tour will receive a copy of the leather-like Thinline Bible DecoTone Tan/Brick Red edition, suggested themes, topics, and verses on which to write, an invitation to interview Bible scholars, and badges to place on their blogs indicating their involvement. Bloggers will have the opportunity to offer to their readers a free copy of the softcover edition: one copy per week for every week the bloggers write a blogpost that includes mention of the Common English Bible during the tour.

Known for being “built on common ground,” the Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 academic scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world who joined together to clearly translate the Bible’s original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages into 21st century English. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are currently in print. It’s also available online and in 20 digital formats.

Among the more than 120 bloggers scheduled so far for the tour are:

·         Bruce Reyes-Chow (http://reyes-chow.com/) – Bruce Reyes-Chow

·         Corybanter II (http://caspianrex.posterous.com/) – Cory Howell

·         Deep Breathing for the Soul (http://keriwyattkent.com/soul/) – Keri Wyatt Kent

·         Flowing Faith (http://www.flowingfaith.com/) - Mari-Anna Stålnacke

·         GodHungry (http://godhungry.org/) – Jim Martin

·         Inspiring Followers of Jesus to Live Love (http://margotstarbuck.blogspot.com/) – Margot Starbuck

·         (Ir)Regular Christian (http://www.irregularchristian.com/) – Casey Taylor

·         Jennifer Grant (http://www.jennifergrant.com/) – Jennifer Grant

·         A Journeyman’s Catalog (http://mattlipan.blogspot.com/) – Matt Lipan

·         LeadFollower (http://leadfollower.wordpress.com/) – Tony Johnson

·         Mike Slaughter (http://mikeslaughter.com/blog) – Mike Slaughter

·         Nicole Unice (http://www.nicoleunice.com/blog/) – Nicole Unice

·         Only Wonder Understands (http://onlywonder.com/) – Jay Voorhees

·         The Parson’s Patch (http://theparsonspatch.com/) – Mark Stevens

·         A Peculiar Prophet (http://willimon.blogspot.com/) – Will Willimon

·         Ponderings on a Faith Journey (http://pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com/) – Robert Cornwall

·         Posts from the Blog of an (un)Tamed Cynic (http://johnvest.com/) – John Vest

·         Preacher Smith (http://preachersmith.com/) – David Smith

·         Rev. Brent L. White (http://brentwhite.wordpress.com) – Brent White

·         Salvaged Faith (http://salvagedfaith.blogspot.com/) – Katie Dawson

·         Shekinah Glory (http://pastorofdisaster.wordpress.com/)  – Brian Merritt

·         Spirit Stirrer (http://spiritstirrer.org/) – Juan Huertas

·         Storied Theology (http://www.jrdkirk.com/) – J. R. Daniel Kirk

·         Whitby Forum (http://www.whitbyforum.com/) – Carolyn Custis James

·         Willis Wired (http://www.williswired.com/) – Randy & Joleen Willis,

“When we say ‘built on common ground,’ we mean that the Common English Bible is the result of collaboration between opposites: scholars working with average readers; conservatives working with liberals; teens working with retirees; men working with women; many denominations and many ethnicities coming together around the common goal of creating a vibrant and clear translation for 21st century readers, with the ultimate objective of mutually accomplishing God’s overall work in the world; in essence, helping Bible readers live on common ground,” says Paul Franklyn, PhD, associate publisher for the Common English Bible.

The Common English Bible is written in contemporary idiom at the same reading level as the newspaper USA TODAY—using language that’s comfortable and accessible for today’s English readers. It’s available—with and without the Apocrypha—in multiple editions and bindings. Information about the Common English Bible is available on its website, Twitter stream, Facebook page, and video.

Combining scholarly accuracy with vivid language, the Common English Bible is the work of 120 biblical scholars from 24 denominations in American, African, Asian, European, and Latino communities, representing such academic institutions as Asbury Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary, Denver Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, Wheaton College, Yale University, and many others.

Additionally, more than 500 readers in 77 groups field-tested the translation. Every verse was read aloud in the reading groups, where potentially confusing passages were identified. The translators considered the groups' responses and, where necessary, reworked those passages to clarify in modern English their meaning from the original languages. In total, more than 700 people worked jointly to bring the Common English Bible to fruition; and because of the Internet and today’s technology it was completed in less than four years.

Visit CommonEnglishBible.com to see comparison translations, learn about the translators, get free downloads, and more.

The Common English Bible is sponsored by the Common English Bible Committee, an alliance of five publishers that serve the general market, as well as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (Chalice Press), Presbyterian Church (USA) (Westminster John Knox Press), Episcopal Church (Church Publishing, Inc.), United Church of Christ (The Pilgrim Press), and The United Methodist Church (Abingdon Press).

For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with Paul Franklyn, please contact Audra Jennings, ajennings@tbbmedia.com or Diane Morrow, dmorrow@tbbmedia.com, at 1.800.927.1517.

An article by the Association of Religion Data Archives (@ReligionData) says, “Even though research shows spiritually alive churches are the most likely to grow, the percentage of US congregations reporting high spiritual vitality declined from 43% in 2005 to 28% in 2010, according to the latest Faith Communities Today survey.”

The drop was accompanied by a decline in the emphasis given to spiritual practices such as prayer and scripture reading across nearly all groups aside from white evangelicals and congregations with 1,000 or more attenders.

The most notable slide occurred among white mainline Protestant denominations, which have been aging and losing members faster than any other major religious group.

The reasons are varied:

·         Declining financial health in the recession saps morale

·         Aging memberships are less likely to embrace new forms of worship

·         Some denominations have shifted emphasis away from personal piety toward social service programs.

Read this in full.

The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) is this Sunday, Nov. 13.

Christian martyrdom is an ongoing worldwide crime. In too many countries, Christians face violence, imprisonment, and death for declaring allegiance to Jesus Christ.

According to Open Doors USA (@OpenDoors), the top 10 most oppressive countries for Christians are North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Maldives, Yemen, Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Laos. See the list of 50 (pdf).

To give biblical perspective leading up to IDOP, the following verses are taken from the Common English Bible (http://CommonEnglishBible.com) (@CommonEngBible, http://facebook.com/groups/CommonEnglishBible, http://facebook.com/LiveTheBible, http://vimeo.com/commonenglishbible):

“So we cried out for help to the LORD, our ancestor’s God. The LORD heard our call. God saw our misery, our trouble, and our oppression.” Deuteronomy 26:7 (CEB)

“The LORD is a safe place for the oppressed— a safe place in difficult times.” Psalm 9:9 (CEB)

“Sing praises to the LORD, who lives in Zion! Proclaim his mighty acts among all people! Because the one who avenges bloodshed remembers those who suffer; the LORD hasn’t forgotten their cries for help.” Psalm 9:11-12 (CEB)

Have mercy on me, LORD! Just look how I suffer because of those who hate me. But you are the one who brings me back from the very gates of death so I can declare all your praises, so I can rejoice in your salvation….” Psalm 9:13-14 (CEB)

“Let all those who are suffering eat and be full! Let all who seek the LORD praise him!” Psalm 22:26 (CEB)

“Speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable.” Proverbs 31:8 (CEB)

[Jesus said:] “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, I have chosen you out of the world, and you don’t belong to the world. This is why the world hates you.” John 15:18-19 (CEB)

[Jesus praying:] “I gave your word to them and the world hated them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t belong to this world. I’m not asking that you take them out of this world but that you keep them safe from the evil one.” John 17:14-15 (CEB)

“We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Romans 5:3-4 (CEB)

“Who will separate us from Christ’s love? Will we be separated by trouble, or distress, or harassment, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?... But in all these things we win a sweeping victory through the one who loved us. I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth, or any other thing that is created.” Romans 8:35, 37-39 (CEB)

“In fact, anyone who wants to live a holy life in Christ Jesus will be harassed.” 2 Timothy 3:12 (CEB)

“You know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” James 1:3 (CEB)

“Those who stand firm during testing are blessed. They are tried and true. They will receive the life God has promised to those who love him as their reward.” James 1:12 (CEB)

“Look at how we honor those who have practiced endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job. And you have seen what the Lord has accomplished, for the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” James 5:11 (CEB)

“You have shown endurance and put up with a lot for my name’s sake, and you haven’t gotten tired.” Revelation 2:3 (CEB)

“Pray continually.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (CEB)

For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with its associate publisher, Dr. Paul Franklyn, please contact Audra Jennings, ajennings@tbbmedia.com or Diane Morrow, dmorrow@tbbmedia.com, at 1.800.927.1517.

Barna research findings about young Christians abandoning church are included in a new book by David Kinnaman (@davidkinnaman) titled You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith.

The research project was comprised of 8 national studies, including interviews with teenagers, young adults, parents, youth pastors, and senior pastors. The study of young adults focused on those who were regular churchgoers Christian church during their teen years and explored their reasons for disconnection from church life after age 15.

No single reason dominated the break-up between church and young adults. Instead, a variety of reasons emerged. Overall, the research uncovered 6 significant themes why nearly 3 out of every 5 young Christians (59%) disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15:

·         Churches seem overprotective.

·         Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow.

·         Churches come across as antagonistic to science.

·         Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.

·         They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.

·         The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.

Read this in full.