Nelson Newsroom

(Nashville, TN) August 3, 2011- This week, Thomas Nelson Publishers, the world’s largest Christian and inspirational publisher, welcomed Casey Francis as its Director of Corporate Communications.   Within this role, Francis will oversee all corporate communications, working to enhance and maintain the public image of the Thomas Nelson brand.  She will develop public relations and communication strategies to emphasize the Company’s overall mission, to inspire the world.

“I am thrilled for this opportunity!” Francis stated.  “To become part of an amazing organization, with such astounding core values is a remarkable gift.  I am honored to be a part of the Thomas Nelson team and working alongside so many talented individuals who fuse this Company together.”

Francis comes to Thomas Nelson from Commonwealth Brands, Inc. where she was the Public Relations and Communications Officer, responsible for Corporate and Government Relations.  She established the Company’s internal and external communications, including: all media relations, creating and editing the Company magazine, oversight of the State legislative engagement and initiating and maintaining relationships with federal officials and Members of the United States Congress.   During her tenure at Commonwealth Brands, Casey also served on the Company’s Political Action Committee and managed the Company’s corporate website.

“I look forward to my future with Thomas Nelson and the direction that this Company is headed,” Francis continued.  “It is a refreshing thought that Thomas Nelson has accomplished so much in publishing and live events industry, yet, the growth potential seems limitless.”

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Thomas Nelson is a leading provider of Christian content including Bibles, books, and live events emphasizing Christian, inspirational and family value themes.  For more information, visit our website www.thomasnelson.com.

Apps Available Today Through iTunes®

(Nashville, Tenn)- Thomas Nelson Gift Books released a line of apps today for their bestselling devotionals. The first apps in the launch include the platinum-selling devotional Jesus Calling and Max Lucado’s newest devotional Live Loved. These apps, priced at $9.99 each, are available for purchase today in the iTunes® Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad with apps for Droid phone and tablets following this fall.  The $9.99 app includes customized formatting for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Each app includes all of the devotions and scripture from the book, as well as features that take each devotional to the next level in terms of interactivity and ease of use, including the ability to:

• Share excerpts or thoughts on social media platforms
• Add personal notes for each devotional
• Customize with a choice of beautiful backgrounds
• Search by topic, date, verse, or keyword
• Watch special videos and interviews with the author
• Shop for other products by the author
• Gift the app to a friend

“God’s love is vast, His grace unending,” says pastor and best-selling author Max Lucado. “My hope is that the Live Loved devotional app will provide each user with a continual, interactive reminder of God’s overflowing love and encouragement.”

With the print versions of these titles already showing great success in the consumer market, Thomas Nelson anticipates that these daily devotional apps will provide hope, encouragement and inspiration to a whole new generation of readers on the go.

“After Jesus Calling was made available to the public, I was astonished to hear people say, time after time, each day’s reading seems to be written just for me,” recalls author Sarah Young on the success of Jesus Calling.

Thomas Nelson is happy to provide these apps as a continued path toward convenient and user-friendly gift and inspirational product offerings.

Thomas Nelson Gift Books Publisher Laura Minchew explains, “Apps offer a new level of accessibility for this outstanding devotional content.  I especially love the ease of sharing content via Facebook or Twitter and the immediate giftability of the apps.”

Max Lucado has more than 100 million products in print, including 80 million book products, and a publishing career spanning 25 years. Many of his titles have been on national bestsellers lists like The New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and ECPA. Lucado has been featured on many national media outlets including The TODAY Show, Good Morning America and Fox & Friends in the last year. Max and his wife Denalyn live in San Antonio, Texas, where he is Minister of Preaching at Oak Hills Church. More on Max Lucado can be found at www.MaxLucado.com.

Sarah Young is quietly leading millions of men and women worldwide on a journey of intimacy with Christ. Sarah and her husband have traveled around the world planting churches and counseling. They currently are ministering to a Japanese-speaking community in Australia. Hometown: Perth, Western Australia.

For more information, contact Julie Solomon, jsolomon@thomasnelson.com

Thomas Nelson Gift Division sets the standard within the gift book industry by placing exceptional quality and innovative design in each and every one of its journals, devotionals, promise books and gift books. For more information, visit our website www.thomasnelson.com.

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Scott MacIntyre to Release Autobiography By Faith, Not By Sight in May 2012

(Nashville, Tenn.) – Thomas Nelson, Inc., is pleased to announce the acquisition of American Idol finalist and accomplished singer/songwriter Scott MacIntyre. MacIntyre has signed a one-book publishing agreement for his literary debut, By Faith, Not By Sight – an autobiography chronicling his journey as a musical prodigy, blind from birth, and the medical miracle that helped save his life in 2007. The book will be in stores May 2012.

Though only 26 years old, MacIntyre has lived a story worth telling. He has achieved more as a blind twenty-something than most do in a lifetime without physical impairments. His tale begins at the age of three when he first played the piano by ear and includes an impressive education, graduating college at age 19 and receiving his master’s in music overseas.

“Scott MacIntyre continues to inspire people all over the world with his remarkable commitment to perseverance in times of adversity and overcoming what many would consider a disability,” says Matt Baugher, Senior Vice President and Publisher at Thomas Nelson. “His appearance on American Idol is just one small part of this amazing young man’s life. I can’t wait for others to experience his character and passion. We’re thrilled to be partnering with him on this important book.”

While MacIntyre’s list of accolades is impressive—honored guest at the White House, played with musicians such as Alice Cooper and Jason Mraz, headlined concerts in the U.S. and abroad—he attributes glory and success to his Christian faith which remains central to his message.

Baugher believes in the life-changing potential of MacIntyre’s written story: “For Scott, his blindness is merely part of who he is and his much broader story will astound, challenge, and most of all inspire.”

Scott MacIntyre is represented by Frank Breeden, Managing Partner of Premiere Authors Literary Agency (Nashville & Washington, DC).

You can learn more about Scott MacIntyre online at www.scottmacintyre.com, and follow him on Twitter @ScottDMacIntyre.

SCOTT MACINTYRE AND MATT BAUGHER ARE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS.

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Thomas Nelson is a leading provider of Bibles, products, and live events emphasizing Christian, inspirational and family value themes.  For more information, visit our website www.thomasnelson.com

For more information, please contact:

Stephanie Newton

Publicity Manager

tel: (615)902-2320

email: snewton@thomasnelson.com

Since its release in early November 2010, sales momentum for Heaven Is for Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent has continued to surpass every expectation. On July 17, Heaven Is for Real moved up to the #1 position on the Canadian Globe & Mail best seller hardcover non-fiction list.

Heaven Is for Real also is listed currently at #1 by New York Times (paperback nonfiction), #6 (all books) by USA Today, #2 (nonfiction paperback) by Publisher’s Weekly, #2 (nonfiction paperback) by National Public Radio, and #1 (all books) by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

In addition to being ranked near the top on numerous best seller lists, the 4 millionth copy of the acclaimed title has recently been printed.

“We’re thrilled to see Heaven is for Real hit #1 on The Globe and Mail best seller list,” said Rod Schumacher, Director of Export for Thomas Nelson, Inc. “To my knowledge, this is the first time a Thomas Nelson title has occupied the top spot on an international best sellers list; it’s great that Colton’s story of hope and inspiration is one that resonates with people all over the world.”

In March 2003, Todd and Sonja Burpo were on the verge of their worst nightmare – losing a child. Their 4-year-old son Colton’s appendix had unknowingly burst days before, and he was now fighting a life-threatening infection. To save Colton, surgery was the only option. But what would happen during that surgery was more than healing through modern medicine.

Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back (Thomas Nelson, 978-0-8499-4615-8, $16.99, November 2010) is the true story of the Burpo family and Colton, who during his life-threatening illness and sudden surgery, slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He narrowly survives. Several months later while passing by the same hospital that saved him, Colton begins talking about his experiences during surgery and making a trip to heaven. The family didn’t know what to believe, but soon the evidence was clear.

Written in the first-person narrative of Colton’s father, Todd, and by New York Times best-selling author Lynn Vincent, Heaven Is for Real walks readers through the revelation of Colton’s trip, his parent’s initial uncertainties, and the lessons learned by such a small child.

The Burpo family is represented by Joel Kneedler of Alive Communications.

Todd Burpo is pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan and a volunteer fireman. His wife Sonja is a children’s minister, busy pastor’s wife, and mom. Colton, an active eleven year old, has an older sister Cassie and a younger brother Colby.

Lynn Vincent is the New York Times bestselling writer of Same Kind of Different as Me and Going Rogue: An American Life. The author or coauthor of nine books, Vincent worked for eleven years as senior writer, then features editor, at the national news biweekly WORLD Magazine where she covered politics, culture, and current events. A U.S. Navy veteran, Lynn is also a lecturer in writing at the World Journalism Institute and The King’s College in New York City.

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Thomas Nelson is a leading provider of Bibles, products, and live events emphasizing Christian, inspirational and family value themes.  For more information, visit our website www.thomasnelson.com

For more information, please contact:

Stephanie Newton

Publicity Manager

tel: (615)902-2320

email: snewton@thomasnelson.com

Hope of a Life That Transcends Culture’s Shallowness

(Nashville, Tenn.) – Many Christians live with the tension between what they know the Scriptures promise, and what they are actually experiencing in their lives. God seems distant, and the life described in Scriptures seems more like a series of rumors than reality. As pastors of different mega churches in large suburban US cities, these two friends share a passion to help people break free of the spiritual ruts they are trapped within, and perhaps for the first time, come to life. In Rumors of God (Thomas Nelson), fellow Aussies Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson lay out the spiritual obstacles they see the North American church facing, and provide insightful ways to overcome them.

Believers and non-believers have said that a lot of Christians cynically feel the greatest days of the church are in the past. The authors disagree. This book is their small rebellion against that notion. Rumors of God is a rally cry for the church in which Whitehead and Tyson share compelling stories, cultural observations, and illuminating Scriptural insights about the work and activity of God today. They believe that if you listen to the rumors of God, you will hear that God is doing something new in the church, and they desire to confirm these rumors with their own lives. Whitehead and Tyson believe God is writing an epic, global, redemptive story in which every single person has been invited to participate.

Key points of Rumors of God:

• Our attention has drifted from God and rested on the trappings of the world. All the while, our Father has something better awaiting us if we simply ask.

• Rather than trusting God to supply our needs, we get caught in the frenzy of accumulation. In contrast to this mind-set, Jesus says life is more important than material pursuits.

• When we forget the wonder of our identity and position in Christ, we end up relegating the church to a mere organization, while our union with God falls to the theoretical.

• If we are going to transform rumors of grace into powerful encounters with its reality, we need to reexamine our approach to sin, judgment, the gospel, and truth.

• Deep in the believer’s soul is a longing to see the fame and deeds of God renewed and known in our time, and a belief that we were all created for a radical pursuit of Jesus and His kingdom.

In his forward, Bill Hybels, founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., and chairman of the board for the Willow Creek Association says, “In Rumors of God, Darren and Jon have somehow succeeded in slipping 3D glasses over our eyes. The results are that passages from scripture come alive in ways that will impact readers for a long time.”

Originally from Australia, Darren Whitehead has been on staff at Willow Creek Community Church for 6 years.  As Teaching Pastor, Darren and Senior Pastor Bill Hybels share the weekend service responsibilities to provide teaching for all five campuses. He also leads the Next Gen Ministries and Creative Arts Departments. Prior to Willow Creek, Darren served as Teaching Pastor and Director of Student Ministries at The People’s Church in Nashville, TN. He lives just outside of Chicago, IL with his wife Brandy and their three half Aussie, half American daughters. For more information about Willow Creek, go to www.willowcreek.org. Twitter: @DarrenWhitehead

Jon Tyson is the Lead Pastor of Trinity Grace Church with five locations in New York City. Originally from Australia, Jon moved to the United States 14 years ago and worked at several suburban mega churches in next-gen ministry before planting TGC 4 years ago. He is also on the board of City Collective, a network of incarnational churches committed to multiplying missional church networks in the urban centers of the world. You can see more about their church at www.trinitygracechurch.com and the network at www.citycollective.org. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Christy, and two children. Twitter: @JonTyson

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Thomas Nelson is a leading provider of Bibles, products, and live events emphasizing Christian, inspirational and family value themes.  For more information, visit our website www.thomasnelson.com.

Rumors of God

By Darren Whitehead &  Jon Tyson

Available from Thomas Nelson

Release date: July 2011

Pages: 256

Trade Paper ISBN: 9781595553638 / $15.99 / 5.5” x 8.38”

E-Book ISBN: 9781595553645 / $14.99

BISAC category: RELIGION / CHRISTIAN LIFE / SPIRITUAL GROWTH

AUTHOR INTERVIEWS, IMAGES, ARTICLES, AND EXCERPTS AVAILABLE.

Contact: Brenda Smotherman, Thomas Nelson,

bsmotherman@thomasnelson.com