(Nashville, Tenn.) Wayne Hastings, Senior Vice President and Publisher of Thomas Nelson’s Bible Group, is pleased to announce that Carla Ballerini has joined Thomas Nelson’s Bible Group as Vice President of Marketing. Ballerini will be filling the position vacated by Audrey Kidd who left the company to serve as the Chief Operating Officer for the United Methodist Publishing House.

“The company’s mission to inspire others through God’s Word matches my personal mission,” notes Ballerini. “Thomas Nelson is a place where my Christian values and beliefs will be supported, strengthened, and utilized to fuel the professional marketing efforts for some of the most dynamic Bible and study products available today. I am excited by both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.” READ MORE »

(Nashville, Tenn.) When the 14th Annual Audies® Competition announced its top picks in a May 29 award ceremony, a group of Hollywood’s biggest young stars emerged from a competitive category as the very best.  The Word of Promise Next Generation®: New Testament Audio Bible rose above audio books on Abraham Lincoln, Sidney Poitier, and Mother Teresa to take home the coveted 2009 Audie® in Inspirational/Faith-Based Non-Fiction.  This year’s contest drew in a record 1,000 entries from audio publishers, reflecting the health of the audio industry.

John Kirby, Director of The Word of Promise Next Generation, expresses the pride of everyone who worked on the project: “What an honor to have won this prestigious award and to have been surrounded by such inspiring nominees who are heroes of mine,” he says. READ MORE »

Best-selling author and Texas pastor Max Lucado visited Ethiopia May 5-11, 2009 with international humanitarian agency World Vision. Joined by his wife Denalyn, his daughter Jenna and her husband Brett Bishop, World Vision President Richard Stearns, Thomas Nelson CEO Michael Hyatt and Women of Faith president, Mary Graham, Lucado experienced first-hand the immense need for aid in this remote area of Africa. As a long time sponsor of World Vision children, Lucado was deeply moved by the joy of the Ethiopian people in the face of such hardship and by the difference World Vision is making in that country.

Before he even left the United States, Lucado made it his goal to help World Vision sponsor 25,000 more children. Interested sponsors can go to the website link: http://maxlucado.com/ethiopia/. READ MORE »

(Nashville, Tenn.)  Grammy-award-winning producer Ken Mansfield, former U.S. manager of Apple Records who also helped create the groundbreaking “Outlaw” sound in country music, revisits the landscapes of success and excess he frequented in those days in Between Wyomings: My God and an iPod on the Open Road (Thomas Nelson, $16.99, June 9, 2009). READ MORE »

“Life is short and the world is waiting”

(Nashville, Tenn.) In every way, nine-year-old Austin Gutwein was a typical little boy who could often be found shooting hoops in his backyard in Phoenix, Arizona. That is until he had his “Maggie moment” in 2004.  After that, everything changed for him and more importantly, for the lives of children halfway across the world.

Austin was captivated by a video that told the story of a little girl named Maggie.  Maggie lived in Zambia in Southern Africa.  She lost almost everyone she loved to AIDS, an epidemic that ravaged the country and deprived it of an entire generation, leaving nearly a million children orphaned.   READ MORE »