(Nashville, TN) Thomas Nelson, Inc. announced today that they have been nominated for five Outreach Awards. The awards are given annually by Outreach magazine in recognition of the products which best enable churches to reach their communities with the message of Jesus Christ.

Outreach subscribers will select winners for each category. The Fifth Annual Outreach Award winners will be announced in the May/June issue of the magazine.The Thomas Nelson finalists are:

3:16 The Numbers of Hope by Max Lucado (Hardcover ISBN: 9780849901935, $24.99) Personal Evangelism Category

If 9/11 are the numbers of terror and despair, then 3:16 are the numbers of hope. Best-selling author Max Lucado leads readers through a word-by-word study of John 3:16, the passage that he calls the “Hope Diamond” of Scripture.The inspiring book is filled with fresh insight and new understanding. It offers hope and encouragement for believers and seekers alike. Christians and churches will find a new passion for sharing the Gospel and the plan of salvation.

3:16 DVD Study for Small Groups Kit (Kit ISBN: 9781418529260, $34.99) Small Group Outreach Category

It’s more than a book, it is a mission of global proportions that invites Christians around the world to unite around the central message of our faith, embodied in the words of John 3:16. Join Max Lucado as he unpacks this timeless message - phrase by enduring phrase.This dynamic study for small groups brings together the compelling 3:16 Bible Study Guide, which explores some of the most important take-aways and truths from the 3:16 Trade Book along with the Stories of Hope DVD, featuring 12 sessions filled with Max Lucado’s insights and inspiration. The kit also contains Evangelism Tools, a Leader’s Guide, and promotional materials to engage your small group as never before, while experiencing the essential truth of the Christian Faith.

New Start for Single Moms: Small Group Kit by Diane Strack (ISBN: 9781418528539, $99.99) Target Outreach Category

The New Start for Single Moms program is as simple as one woman sitting next to another woman for ten weeks, studying God’s Word, planning for the future, learning to work through conflict, challenge, and family communication, and praying together. This kit, and the corresponding participant’s guide, are fueled by relational Christianity, and can be God’s provision for the single mothers in your community. It also gives an outlet to women seeking ways to reach-out and help others.

Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren (Hardcover ISBN: 978084990183, $21.99) Justice Evangelism Category

What do the life and teaching of Jesus have to say about the most critical global problems in our world today?Acclaimed author and Emergent church leader Brian McLaren states, “More and more Christian leaders are beginning to realize that for the millions of young adults who have recently dropped out of church, Christianity is a failed religion. Why? Because it has specialized in dealing with ’spiritual needs’ to the exclusion of physical and social needs. It has focused on ‘me’ and ‘my eternal destiny,’ but it has failed to address the dominant societal and global realities of their lifetime: systemic injustice, poverty, and dysfunction.”McLaren asks, “Shouldn’t a message purporting to be the best news in the world be doing better than this?” What he sets forth in this provocative, unsettling work is a “form of Christian faith that is holistic, integral, balanced, that offers good news for both the living and the dying, that speaks of God’s grace at work both in this life and the life to come, both to individuals and to societies and the planet as a whole.”Look for the companion curriculum kit slated for release in September 2008.

The Bishop of Rwanda by John Rucyahana (Hardcover ISBN: 9780849900525, $19.99) Outreach Testimony Category

In 1994, as his country descended into the madness of genocide, Anglican Bishop John Rucyahana underwent the mind-numbing pain of having members of his church and family butchered. John refused to become a part of the systemic hatred. He founded the Sonrise orphanage and school for children orphaned in the genocide, and he now leads reconciliation efforts between his own Tutsi people, the victims of this horrific massacre, and the perpetrators, the Hutus. His remarkable story is one that demands to be told.

Contact:Lindsey NoblesDirector of Corporate Communications
tel: (615) 902-1109
cell: (615) 476-5984
lnobles@thomasnelson.com

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